The female cultivator’s name was Yun Feifei. Twenty four years old, she was a Dao Foundation stage cultivator between the foundation solidifying stage and the vitality restoring stage. It was possible that she had already reached the vitality restoring stage. She hailed from a small sect as the Swelling Water God Palace.

The Palace of Absolute Beginning actually had something to do with its founding. Four hundred years ago, a Palace disciple named Yun Xihe traveled to the west of Ning Province to expand the borders. After a fortuitous opportunity allowed him to become an Avatar, he left the Palace of Absolute Beginning and founded his own sect, naming it the Swelling Water God Palace. As the Swelling Water God Palace was founded on the belief of incense and divine worship, it did not align with the Palace of Absolute Beginning’s Dao orthodoxy or lineage.

After founding the Swelling Water God Palace, Yun Xihe lived another five years before passing away. Four heads succeeded him in the next three hundred years, all of them were high cultivators who were only a hair weaker than a World Ruler. That was why they were able to maintain their presence despite the fact that the west of Ning Province were surrounded by hostile races.

Three years ago, the Shamans launched a sudden, massive assault against Ningxi Commandery. The human race suffered a crushing defeat and had to concede over six thousand li of territory. One grotto-heaven and six small sects within this territory was destroyed, including the Swelling Water God Palace. Later, the human race launched a counterattack and reclaimed this territory. However, they suffered consecutive defeats within the next three months and were forced to retreat once more to the Yun Province. The Shamans themselves sustained heavy casualties and had to withdraw to their original territories to recuperate. Thus, the territory became ownerless.

Two wars had been fought in this six-thousand-li-wide territory in just the span of two years, shattering its earthly veins and throwing its heavenly mysteries into chaos. As a result, the shattered pieces of the grotto-heaven plummeted to the ground and spawned all kinds of treacherous badlands. Make no mistake, these fragments were no fortuitous opportunity. They were simply the graveyard of countless cultivators. It would probably take a century or longer before the spirit energies of this domain gradually recovered. The reason it came to be known as the Shattered Realm was because it held little to no value to speak of.

This great war—a conflict between the humans and the Shamans—involved two feudal states, Western Jin and Zhao. Many big sects had taken part to varying degrees as well. It would not be an exaggeration to call the tangled web of complex relationships between the various factions an absolute mess. After the Shamans withdrew, neither Western Jin nor Zhao had the strength or the interest to take over this region. Since the Shamans could potentially return any moment, neither big nor small sects were willing to establish mountain gates here either. Thus, thousands of li of land turned into a lawless frontier that was completely devoid of any law or order.

Originally, the Palace of Absolute Beginning’s attitude toward this battlefield was no different from all other battlefields. This lasted until a surviving disciple of the Swelling Water God Palace sent a message not long ago. They claimed that they possessed a major opportunity originating from Yun Xihe, founder of the Swelling Water God Palace, and they wished to exchange it for the right to send a couple bloodline descendants back to the Palace of Absolute Beginning. The message did not explain what the opportunity was, only that the clue was hidden on Yun Feifei. They claimed that the Palace would find out as long as they located Yun Feifei and took her back to the sect. 𝚏𝕣𝕖𝚎𝚠𝚎𝚋𝚗𝐨𝐯𝕖𝕝.𝕔𝐨𝕞

The mission details did not explain what the opportunity was or what the item Yun Feifei was carrying on her person was either. However, it had to be extraordinary. An Immortal Lord would not have gotten involved otherwise. For the same reason, they weren’t planning to place all of the burden on a newly ascended, Dao Foundation stage greenhorn like Wei Yuan as a matter of course. He was sure that he was just one of the many moves the Immortal Lord had made to see the mission through. He only wondered if he was a declared card or hidden piece.

After he was done poring over the mission details, Wei Yuan checked out the sash he was given next. The sash looked just like an ordinary silk sash, featuring a jade buckle at the center without any additional embellishments. However, the crux of the mystic artifact was not the highly conspicuous jade buckle, but a single silk thread within the sash. When energized with Dao energy, it could contain objects measuring approximately three square chi. Moreover, it was imbued with a fragment of the Immortal Lord’s divine thought equaling a single strike from an Avatar Trueman when unleashed.

It was the divine thought of an Immortal Lord. It boasted many other abilities besides destructive power. For starters, no one—not even a True Lord—could scan the sash with their perception and notice anything amiss. Once it was activated, it would automatically seek out the target with the highest cultivation or the enemy that posed the greatest threat to Wei Yuan and attack them. It would remain functional after Wei Yuan had fallen unconscious. Besides that, its activation was perfectly undetectable and swift as lightning. Its attack could not be diminished by any defensive mystic artifact or array below the level of a True Lord either. In other words, this attack was guaranteed to surprise an enemy even if Wei Yuan was standing face to face against them, and they were fully on guard against any sort of trickery.

Wei Yuan immediately put on the sash. Then, he went through the minor items it carried and researched them thoroughly.

There were seven days left before the departure time. Wei Yuan planned to pay Zhang Sheng a visit and seek his council regarding the Dao Foundation Chapter of Outlawed by Heaven and Earth; to see if there were any areas that needed improvement.

It was getting late, so Wei Yuan decided to cultivate for the night and seek out Zhang Sheng first thing in the morning. After entering the cultivation chamber, Wei Yuan assumed a meditative stance, entered a meditative state, and sucked in a deep breath.

Inhale....

To his great surprise, he did not choke halfway like he previously had. In fact, it was such an amount of spirit qi that a drizzle began falling across his entire sea of consciousness and nourishing the dry, lifeless land that was his Dao Foundation.

Wei Yuan breathed out slowly before drawing another breath.

Inhale....

At this moment, Wei Yuan did not know that a new spirit vein was branching out of the mountain’s network of spirit veins and connected straight to his cultivation chamber. Not only was it nearly as thick as all the other spirit veins combined, it was connected directly to the mountain’s root vein.

Right now, a drizzle was continuously falling in Wei Yuan’s sea of consciousness. The spirit qi was transforming into specks of vitality and becoming one with the land. He wondered what would happen when enough vitality was accumulated that life began sprouting on the barren wasteland.

Not only that, Wei Yuan could sense that the speck of vitality within his jade hill had become livelier. It was beginning to absorb the spirit energies in the drizzle.

Unfortunately, this was the moment where the new spirit vein directly underneath his praying mat began to dim once more. The torrent of spirit qi ultimately could not keep up with the consumption and kept growing sparser. In the end, it had dried up completely. As the new spirit vein was directly connected to the mountain’s root vein, its depletion meant that the main spirit vein was depleted as well.

Thus, the great spirit gathering array appeared once more. A bunch of flickering later, spirit qi had once again disappeared from the mountain! Chaos erupted throughout numerous abodes, and the few disciples who had just entered secluded cultivations were forced out once more. Such was their distraught that they nearly experienced qi deviations.

Like a drowning man, a strong sense of suffocation kicked Wei Yuan out of his meditative state. When he probed the spirit vein, he realized that the spirit qi had dried up once more. As this was the third time he experienced this, he finally realized that the problem probably lay with himself.

Wei Yuan checked the time and noted that he had cultivated for eight hours straight, leaving with only an hour left before his scheduled visit to Zhang Sheng. So, he rose to his feet, picked up his transcribed copy of the Dao Foundation Chapter of Outlawed by Heaven and Earth, and began reciting it silently, pondering possible improvements.

Before he had forged his Dao Foundation, Outlawed by Heaven and Earth could only empower him and enable him to control a living creature. It could not be another human or a member of a foreign race who possessed a powerful soul either. But now, his primordial spirit was much stronger than what it was before. He could simultaneously control between several and dozens of living creatures at once. The quantity depended on the amount of fortune and the depth of his control.

Besides that, Wei Yuan himself would gain a significant boost after invoking Outlawed by Heaven and Earth. All of his functions would improve by fifty percent, and both his physical body and primordial spirit would be greatly enhanced as well. Besides that, Wei Yuan was temporarily replacing his own fortune with otherworldly fortune when invoking the secret technique. During this period, his level of existence would be significantly higher than normal, and all Dao spells related to extrapolation, tracking, manipulation, deception and more would be rendered ineffective.

The Dao Foundation Chapter of Outlawed by Heaven and Earth also allowed him to wield his fortune with greater precision. For instance, assuming he was controlling a horse, he could opt for a modest enhancement that would significantly prolong the duration of the secret technique. Alternatively, he could opt for a tremendous boost that would only last for a short time and kill the horse after it had run out of vitality.

An hour later, Zhang Sheng picked up the Dao Foundation Chapter Wei Yuan had written and read it quietly. After poring over it a couple times, he finally lifted his head and gave his disciple a long look.

The young man was taller than him now.

A smile spread across Zhang Sheng’s lips as he said, “Your secret technique definitely contains the essence of my teaching. What’s even more remarkable is that, after innovating upon the old, you set a vision that is no less lofty than what I had set when I conceived this secret technique. Out of all the good qualities of this secret technique, I can tell you without a shadow of a doubt that this is the most precious of them all.

“There are countless cultivators out there possessing profound cultivation, yet lacking the corresponding mindset. They lived their entire lives in petty narrow-mindedness and ultimately failed to reach the summit as a result of it. If we, people who cultivate immortality, lack the heart to compare ourselves to heaven and earth, then how can we hope to stand alongside them?”

Zhang Sheng set down the jade paper and said, “There is little left for me to instruct or correct. You may refine it through your own experience when you employ it. This path is yours alone to walk, and how far you will journey depends entirely on yourself.”

Wei Yuan gave him a firm nod.

“I will submit this secret technique for you and exchange it for merits. Alas, you are the only one who can use it, so I’m afraid you won’t get much for your efforts.”

Wei Yuan wasn’t surprised. The Palace of Absolute Beginning valued pragmatism; a solitary text like Outlawed by Heaven and Earth was far less valuable than the six introductory methods for tempering the body for example.

Wei Yuan proceeded to tell his master about his mission. Although the specifics of the mission could not be disclosed, he could provide a general idea of the journey. The mission was arranged by Palace Lord Pei himself, so Zhang Sheng had no objections as a matter of course. He was still recovering, so he could not accompany his disciple on his journey. Besides, Wei Yuan had forged his Dao Foundation and completed his major exam. Now that he had formally embarked on the path to immortality, it was time he went on his own independent journey.

Back in the day, Zhang Sheng had left the mountain gate as soon as he had forged his Dao Foundation. He had fought all sorts of perilous and bloody battles during this time. After he mastered his Dao Foundation, he started searching the entire world for dragons. In the end, he found Wei Yuan.

Suddenly, Zhang Sheng was struck by a sense of melancholy. Before he knew it, it was time for the little boy he had raised to leave his nest. He even felt a twinge in his nose.

Zhang Sheng was never one to reveal his feelings, so he gave Wei Yuan a light tap on the shoulder and said casually, “Be careful.”

Wei Yuan nodded.

A moment later, he added, “Nothing is more important than your own life. Don't bite off more than you can chew.”

Wei Yuan nodded again.

Later still, he threw in a third piece of advice. “If the enemy is too strong, remember to come to me.”

Wei Yuan nodded just as seriously as the first two times. However, Zhang Sheng still couldn’t help but feel a little anxious. He couldn’t think of a fourth piece of advice no matter how hard he racked his brain for it, but for some reason, he still couldn’t shake off this nagging feeling that there were something more he should be saying.

He’s so tall that I have to lift my arm just to tap him on the shoulder. As for his head, well... Suddenly, Zhang Sheng understood some of Wei Youchai’s feelings a decade ago.

“There are still a few days before you leave. Feel free to find me if you encountered any problems during your cultivation,” Zhang Sheng said.

It so happened that Wei Yuan had one question to ask. “Master, you once told me that you had grasped the Immortal Sword Parting Sorrow yourself during the Body-tempering stage. However, I could never figure out how you did it. With your personality, how in the world did you fall into such despair?”

“Is that all? The truth is quite simple, my disciple. All you need...” Zhang Sheng paused for a moment, but ultimately decided to tell Wei Yuan the truth, “... is melodramatics[1].”

1. If you don’t get it, imagine a billionaire crying, “Oh, the humanity!” while drinking some extinct wine in a penthouse on his private island. That is to say, Zhang Sheng is very, very, very melodramatic. XD ☜