Hong Baichuan fell silent. After a long moment, he said, "Let’s take this opportunity to summon the Sect’s Elders and the various Hall Masters to confirm the direction for our relocation."

-----------------

The half-month deadline arrived on schedule. Following a resolution by the various Hall Masters, Elders, and the Sect Leader, the entire Celestial Craft Cave was to be relocated. Their destination: the treacherous Ghostly Wail Abyss in the southwestern lands of Lingnan Dao.

Meanwhile, atop Guniu Mountain, Xu Yunfan sat as the first brilliant rays of dawn broke over the horizon and bathed him in light. He was circulating his Blood Qi, practicing the fundamentals of the Pure Yang Qi Skill.

’You are bathed in the warmth of the first wisp of purple qi arriving from the east. A sudden impulse stirs within you. The Blood Qi, circulating according to the Pure Yang Qi Skill, is no longer sluggish and resistant as it once was. Instead, it flows freely at your will, and wisps of nascent Pure Yang energy begin to rise within your body.’

’You have achieved Initiation in the Pure Yang Qi Skill.’

As he read the notifications that appeared in his field of vision, it dawned on Xu Yunfan.

’So that’s it. To make any progress in the Taoist Sect’s Pure Yang Qi Skill, you have to observe the rising sun and draw in the purple qi from the east.’

’Regardless of whether the Heaven and Earth Primordial Spirit was reviving, this Martial Art incorporated a Mental Realm. Without attaining that Mental Realm, it was impossible to even begin, no matter how hard one trained.’

’How interesting. It seems that Martial Arts beyond the Outer Three Harmonies begin to manifest all sorts of unimaginable and mysterious qualities.’

’Or perhaps, the Martial Arts of the Taoist Sect were just so refined they bordered on the incredible.’

Before he could fully process it, a series of rapid changes began to take place within his body.

Three sharp cracks echoed from Xu Yunfan’s spine, as if someone had flicked his tailbone three times. The sensation made him bolt upright like an alert cat, goosebumps erupting all over his skin.

As the morning breeze, thick with mist, swept across his sweat-dampened back, he was stunned to find his skin could clearly distinguish the temperature of each individual strand of air. The coldest carried the chill of dew from the pine needles at the cliff’s base. A slightly warmer current was laden with moisture from the eastern mountain stream. The warmest wisp, however, distinctly smelled of his own freshly evaporated sweat.

This was the resonance between sinew, bone, and skin that came with the initial completion of the Outer Three Harmonies—the ability to ’listen’ to the wind.

He tried twisting at the waist. His right fist instinctively fell into the opening stance of the Vajra Pestle. His deltoid and external oblique muscles tensed in unison, and the simple act of his heel grinding against the blue flagstone sent a vibration through the fascia of his entire leg, like a taut bowstring being plucked.

This wasn’t a simple increase in strength. It was the first time his skeletal alignment, the pathways of his tendons, and the tension of his skin had achieved a state of perfect, precise synergy.

"KRAK!"

The fist he threw stopped abruptly, a mere half-inch from an old pine tree on the cliff’s edge, yet the force of it alone vibrated three pieces of bark loose.

Xu Yunfan stared at the bulging veins on his forearm. Those dark, purplish vessels now intertwined with the grain of his muscles to form a strange geometric pattern.

He finally understood what his master, Zhan Yan, meant by his description of the Outer Three Harmonies Realm: ’When sinew and bone open and close, internal qi flows.’

Xu Yunfan hadn’t even realized it himself, but as he’d tested the move, his feet had executed incredibly precise footwork within the space of a square inch.

The most miraculous part was the complete absence of soreness in his knees. It felt as if the joints where his bones connected had been perfectly resurfaced, each bony prominence fitting flawlessly into the corresponding hollows of his muscle groups.

He tore open his sweat-drenched tunic, and in the morning light, the muscles of his back unfurled like the wings of a raptor.

But these were not the chiseled, blocky muscles of a bodybuilder. They were the streamlined arcs formed by the natural extension of his trapezius and latissimus dorsi, every groove and channel perfectly aligned with the most efficient path for power transmission.

The mountain wind whipped a piece of gravel against his lower back. In a flash, Xu Yunfan spun and lashed out with his left leg.

The incoming piece of gravel exploded into dust in mid-air. It wasn’t shattered by brute force, but by a specific frequency generated by the friction between the sharp edge of his shin and the air.

The self-resonating hum of the Celestial Cicada Force at Bone Refinement Perfection!

The discovery made his pupils contract. ’The Outer Three Harmonies Realm can weaponize the body to this degree?’

Xu Yunfan leaped from the seventy-foot-high cliff. He landed with his feet in a balanced, ready stance. The impact stirred up thirty-seven pine needles, which hovered suspended in the air just six inches from his body.

This wasn’t any kind of Protective Gang Qi. It was an automatic adjustment from his muscles, which had dissipated the force of the landing after his skin keenly sensed the subtle shifts in airflow. 𝐟𝕣𝕖𝐞𝐰𝕖𝚋𝐧𝗼𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝗰𝐨𝐦

’A whole new world!’

As memories regarding the cultivation of the Pure Yang Qi Skill trickled into his mind like a clear stream, it was as if a veil had been lifted from Xu Yunfan’s eyes. He was seeing his own body in a completely new light.

’To think I used to waste so much energy with every single movement.’

It was a wondrous feeling.

Xu Yunfan even had the fleeting illusion that he had entered the Linn Character State.

After a long moment, he let out a soft breath, a joyful look on his face.

’The Outer Three Harmonies Realm... Next, I just need to perfectly integrate the training of my sinews, bones, and skin. Once that’s done, my Blood Qi will naturally permeate my flesh.’

’And then, I’ll break through to the Flesh Refining Realm!’

-----------------

By the time he returned to the Celestial Craft Fortress and entered the Weapon Casting Hall, Zhan Yan was already waving him over.

"Perfect timing."

"Master!"

Xu Yunfan bowed respectfully and stood beside Fu Jin.

An unconcealable look of admiration appeared in Zhan Yan’s eyes as he watched.

His gaze swept over the sea of Foundry Hall Disciples below. Many familiar faces were missing, replaced by a great number of younger, more inexperienced ones.

Zhan Yan sighed internally, but his expression remained unchanged as he announced, "This morning, a decision was made within the Sect. After nightfall, the relocation will begin. We are heading to Lingnan Dao—to the Ghostly Wail Abyss!"

Once all the instructions had been given and the disciples had dispersed, a faint smile touched Zhan Yan’s eyes as he watched Xu Yunfan turn to head inside.

"Yunfan, where are you off to?"

Xu Yunfan was baffled. "I’m going to pack my things, of course. Master, are you two ready?"

Fu Jin, who was standing to the side, gave a mischievous wave of his hand. "What’s there to pack? Just you wait and see."

As he spoke, he looked up at the dome of the Celestial Craft Fortress, his face full of anticipation.

"Been here over thirty years, and I’ve never seen a spectacle like this."

"Forget you, I want to see it too," Zhan Yan added. "Let’s see what kind of miracle a thousand years of work by the Ancestral Masters of Celestial Craft Cave can truly produce."

It hit Xu Yunfan in an instant. His face was a mask of shock.

"Are you saying... the entire Celestial Craft City can move?!"

Zhan Yan rapped his knuckles against the flagstone wall of the Weapon Casting Hall, revealing a hidden compartment. He reached inside and yanked a lever downward. The mountain wall suddenly split open, revealing twelve seams of interlocking gears. They began to turn slowly at first, then faster and faster, following the motion of the lever.

"For nine hundred years, seventy-six generations of Ancestral Masters of the Celestial Craft Cave hollowed out Guniu Mountain. Ancestor after ancestor poured their heart’s blood and exhausted their minds, step by step transforming Celestial Craft City into a mobile fortress."

Just past midnight, a solemn-faced Mo Han received confirmation that all halls and departments had completed their system checks. He inserted his prosthetic limb into the Master Control Disc.

The Celestial Sphere Instrument erupted in a blinding flash of light. The twelve layers of the Profound Steel Lotus City Wall bloomed open like a lotus flower. They began to rotate and reconfigure along eighty-eight concentric tracks, twisting and interlocking with one another.

The moment the Midnight bell tolled, seventy-two steam valves hissed, venting white vapor. A tremor, like an Earth Dragon Flipping Over, ran through the mountain. The roar of Guniu Mountain itself cracking apart startled birds for miles around.

The foundation of the Celestial Craft Fortress tore itself free from the Earth Veins. Three hundred and sixty tungsten-steel anchor spikes shot out like a swarm of locusts taking flight, pulverizing the surrounding hills into dust. Xu Yunfan braced himself against a trembling pillar in the corridor, watching through a Profound Steel viewport as the mountains and rivers below shrank into the distance.