The Overseer of the Directorate of Celestial Observation was kneeling below, his voice trembling as he said, "To glimpse the secrets of the heavens is to draw the gaze of the Heavenly Dao itself. I fear... this matter will not end peacefully..."
The Emperor of Great Qi remained silent for a long time. He looked outside the study hall, as if gazing upon the current prosperity of the Great Qi Dynasty, and finally spoke:
"If this is Heaven's mandate, then Great Qi cannot escape this calamity."
He slowly stood up. Though his figure had always been slightly stooped, it now straightened with deliberate intent. Though not tall, he suddenly seemed to bear up the sky itself!
An awe-inspiring imperial might, vast and solid as a mountain range, erupted from him, engulfing the entire imperial capital.
At once, countless palace attendants fell to their knees in the direction of the throne hall. Even the cultivators throughout the capital turned to face that direction with solemn reverence.
Within the Directorate, the deranged and babbling astrologer, who had just moments ago been dancing and muttering incoherently, suddenly quieted. Trembling, he knelt down.
The Emperor of Great Qi clasped his hands behind his back and spoke in a low voice:
"Even so, I shall do everything in my power to preserve the lives of Great Qi's people... to ensure most of them survive."
He reached out a hand and brushed the sky. A flash of golden light streaked across the heavens before everything returned to calm.
On the surface, nothing had changed. But from this moment onward, should celestial phenomena reappear in the sky, those who looked up would perceive nothing unusual, what they should have seen would simply be skipped over.
The Emperor had acted, sealing off the heavenly secrets!
The Emperor of Great Qi... had actually attained the Second-Grade Daoist Shore Realm cultivation, a genuine Saint!
The Great Qi Dynasty was the last surviving state from the Age of Ten Thousand Nations in antiquity, and the only great power within the Central Domain that stood on its own, without relying on any sect.
Its Emperor was one of the realm's most formidable cultivators.
Even without drawing on national fate, he still reigned supreme over countless sects!
"Great Qi's good fortune lies in having Your Majesty!"
The Overseer once again prostrated himself in deep reverence, then said, "I vaguely discerned that the tear in the sky might have been deliberately torn open, and it seems to have occurred over a small southern village. Should we send someone to investigate?"
He added with concern, "If someone is intentionally using this to subvert the dynasty... such a malicious being must not be allowed to live!"
The Emperor of Great Qi mused aloud, "Is it possible to see the person responsible?"
"It is," said the Overseer. He brought forth a celestial compass, muttering arcane incantations as he adjusted its position several times. In an instant, a shadowy image appeared upon the disk.
In the image, Chen Kuang and Xi Mengquan were clearly visible inside their thatched cottage.
One seated, one standing, Chen Kuang was instructing Xi Mengquan on how to play the zither.
The Overseer pointed at Chen Kuang and said sternly, "It is this man who has brought calamity!"
But then, as he focused his gaze more carefully, he suddenly froze, because Chen Kuang's cultivation... was only at the Sea-Cleaving Realm!
This... this was too low!
The Overseer looked down at the celestial compass in his hands, beginning to wonder if he had miscalculated.
How could someone at the Sea-Cleaving Realm accomplish something so earth-shattering as splitting the heavens?!
Could it be that the heavenly secrets had been obscured, leading him to the wrong place?
The Overseer couldn't help but say, "Your Majesty..."
But the Emperor seemed already to know what he meant. Looking at Chen Kuang in the projected image, he shook his head and said:
"He does not belong to this place."
"Now you understand, you, I, and all under heaven are mere puppets strung by fate. If fate decrees that he must come... then the fall of Great Qi is also predestined. He is not to blame."
"If not now, then one day... we would all witness that scene."
The Overseer fell silent.
This was because the Directorate of Celestial Observation was currently conducting research on a Heaven-Covering Grand Array, attempting to use astronomical phenomena to calculate Great Qi's fortune for the year ahead, to glimpse the future.
If their research succeeded, perhaps they really would be able to witness that rift in the sky.
The Emperor smiled faintly. "This matter no longer concerns you. You may go."
The Overseer bowed and stood. "Yes, Your Majesty."
After he had left, the Emperor called, "Yang Xiuxian."
A gaunt, elderly eunuch who had been silently waiting by the door entered. "This humble servant is here."
The Emperor reached into his sleeve and took out a thumb-sized seal, upon which was engraved only a single character: "Qi". He handed it over.
"Take it."
The old eunuch's face blanched in horror. "Your Majesty! You mustn't!"
This was not the national seal, but rather the private seal of the royal family, passed down from the Great Qi imperial ancestors of the ancient era. It represented inheritance and expansion of Great Qi's legacy.
The character "Qi" was even part of the ancestor's name.
In a dynasty like Great Qi, where strength ruled above all, this seal held meaning far greater than the national seal!
The Emperor smiled, though his tone admitted no argument. "I watched you grow up. You are the one I trust the most."
"From today onward, retire from court and return to your home to live out your years in peace."
"When the time is right, take this seal to that man."
The old eunuch accepted it with trembling hands, his eyes brimming with tears. "Your Majesty..."
The Emperor waved a hand. The eunuch suppressed his sorrow, backed away one step at a time before kneeling outside the study to offer three bows and nine kowtows, then finally departed.
The Emperor stared after his fading silhouette, murmuring,
"A Saint may live for three thousand years... but the life of this world may not last even that long. I once thought my instincts were wrong... Let this move in the grand game grant Great Qi a chance to endure."
...
From that day on, Chen Kuang settled into a life of seclusion in the nearly abandoned village, gradually learning about Xi Mengquan's circumstances.
The village had nearly fallen into ruin a few years ago, with only a handful of households remaining.
Apart from Xi Mengquan, the other families were all elderly folks in their fifties or sixties. The village was overgrown with weeds, and the fields lay untended.
Xi Mengquan had been abandoned at the village gate as a baby and was raised jointly by several of the elders.
Unfortunately, this wasn't one of those delightful plots where every old man turned out to be a hidden master.
They were all simply ordinary people.
The thatched cottage where Xi Mengquan lived had belonged to an old musician, the very one who first taught him to play the zither, who had passed away just last year.
After Xi Mengquan turned ten, he began traveling to the city with passing merchant caravans to sell medicinal herbs planted by the elderly, thereby supporting the village.
It was during those trips that he witnessed how disciples of the major sects treated commoners, and gave up on the idea of ever joining one.
Chen Kuang asked curiously, "Then how did you begin cultivating?"
Xi Mengquan replied, "From the first time I touched a zither string and plucked my first note, Spiritual Energy began to gather naturally. That's how I realized how to cultivate."
Chen Kuang: "..."
I apologize for disturbing you. Farewell.
He had assumed that with his system and passives, he was already among the top-tier prodigies, but now it turned out there were even greater talents.
He'd needed to unlock his 'Fetal Breathing Technique' passive and get guidance from Grandmaster Huo Hengxuan just to begin cultivation.
Xi Mengquan, meanwhile, didn't even need instruction, he just... started cultivating automatically.
So this was the starting point of a Saint?
No wonder he was ahead by miles.
Chen Kuang was left speechless. He simply continued teaching Xi Mengquan the knowledge that had always belonged to him in the first place.
After tearing the sky open that day, Chen Kuang had strictly warned Xi Mengquan never to speak of the incident, just pretend it never happened. Then, he settled down in the village.
To the other elders, Chen Kuang claimed to be a wandering scholar who, having recognized Xi Mengquan's potential, decided to stay and teach him.
The elders were especially warm and welcoming, bringing fruits and vegetables every day, and constantly praising Xi Mengquan's good character and natural talent.
Though Chen Kuang's status panel still hadn't shown any signs of life, he was enjoying a rare period of genuine peace and comfort, so much so that he didn't want to leave.
But he knew this was only a temporary reprieve. Even if he was in a different timeline, there was no way he could actually wait two thousand years, far too much could happen in that span.
Enough to erase someone from existence altogether.
What a pity, though, since that day, he had never once succeeded in using the Void-Slicing Sword to tear open space again.
And he didn't dare try randomly slashing the sky anymore...
However, over the course of these repetitive and dull days of revision, his understanding of the "Five Tones" grew ever deeper.
Spring passed, autumn came, and in the blink of an eye, five years had gone by.
...
Outside, a gentle rain was falling.
Xi Mengquan, as usual, sat cross-legged beneath the eaves, calmly brewing himself a pot of tea.
He was now eighteen years old, looking fully like a young man.
Though his appearance had grown more ordinary, no longer exhibiting the delicate femininity of his youth, he still retained a dignified, refined air.
Over these five years, he had learned to use his music to attract animals, and had discovered a herd of deer in the mountains near the village.
By harvesting deer antler velvet, Xi Mengquan had earned a decent sum of money. With that, he carried out some repairs around the village and even built a large courtyard. The remaining elders of the village were all provided for under his care.
Naturally, such actions drew the attention of ill-intentioned individuals.
In the earlier years, when Xi Mengquan's cultivation wasn't strong enough, it was Chen Kuang who stepped in to resolve the trouble. But before doing so, he always enjoyed watching Xi Mengquan get beaten to a bruised and pitiful mess before swooping in to rescue him at the last moment.
"That'll teach you to try and scheme against me."
But Chen Kuang's gleeful days didn't last long. By the second year, Xi Mengquan had already advanced to the Innate Realm, and average petty thugs and rogue cultivators no longer posed a threat to him.
Still, Chen Kuang quickly found new amusement.
He began wandering around aimlessly and, for various bizarre reasons, would deliberately provoke cultivators wherever he went.
At first, he antagonized rogue cultivators, then later entire martial sects!
And without fail, he would always leave behind a name and origin: "Xi Mengquan, of Heyun Village in the Western Outskirts."
As a result, Xi Mengquan constantly found himself being challenged by angry strangers with personal vendettas, utterly confused about why.
The true culprit, meanwhile, would sit on the sidelines, snacking on melon seeds and gleefully watching the chaos unfold, clapping his hands in delight... to the point that Xi Mengquan's teeth ached with fury. But he couldn't do anything about it.
Because Xi Mengquan still couldn't discern Chen Kuang's true cultivation.
Outwardly, Chen Kuang's cultivation had reached the Moon-Embracing Realm four years ago. Every gesture he made harmonized perfectly with the Dao, resonating with all things.
Yet even now, Xi Mengquan could not perceive his limits.
Once, someone finally realized that it was Chen Kuang, not Xi Mengquan, who had been causing trouble under the latter's name. They assembled almost an entire sect and even brought along a Grandmaster to deal with the "culprit."
But all Chen Kuang did was allow the opponent a single move. The Grandmaster immediately surrendered and left in disgrace!
Back in the present, Xi Mengquan set down the teapot and looked up toward the figure in white seated on the rooftop, playing a zither in the rain.
The rainfall was gradually growing heavier.
Yet around the figure in white, the raindrops parted on their own. Despite this, no Spiritual Energy fluctuations emanated from his body.
Xi Mengquan could feel it in his gut, if Chen Kuang wished, he could ascend directly to the Master Realm.
But for some unknown reason, Chen Kuang refused to do so. It was as if he were deliberately lingering at the Moon-Embracing Realm.
There he sat on the roof, eyes closed, plucking at a guqin across his knees.
Upon closer inspection, one would notice that the zither had no strings.
This was a genuine ancient guqin that Chen Kuang had purchased some time ago. Nearly a thousand years old and crafted from top-tier wood, its value should have been immense. However, it had a fatal flaw, it had no strings.
According to rumors, the zither had been damaged in wartime, its strings completely destroyed.
Without the original matching strings, all replacements were like putting a pig's tail on a mink, a grotesque mismatch.
The previous owner had fallen into poverty and sold it in desperation. In the end, it was purchased by Chen Kuang for a mere one hundred taels of gold.
After obtaining it, Chen Kuang did not restore it.
In truth, he was drawn to it precisely because it had no strings.
...It absolutely wasn't because he wanted Xi Mengquan to sell off family property to fund the purchase. Absolutely not.
At this moment, though the guqin in his hands was stringless, each motion of his fingers still produced sound. Invisible ripples flowed forth with mysterious resonance.
But the melody he played now only emitted sound from three tones, Jue, Zhi, and Yu.
The other two tones were silent.
This made the resulting piece completely off-key, like a child banging randomly on strings. One could only describe it as "cacophonous, grating, and hard to endure."
Each time Chen Kuang played, faint glowing characters appeared in his palm. Of the five tones, only the 'Yu' character remained stable. The lights of the 'Jue' and 'Zhi' characters flickered weakly, sometimes vanishing altogether.
This was the fruit of five years' labor.
Starting from the 'Yu' tone, Chen Kuang had originally intended to teach it to Xi Mengquan and let him gradually comprehend it,so he could then secretly learn it back himself.
But to his surprise... even the 'Yu' character was far too profound for Xi Mengquan in his current state.
He simply couldn't grasp it at all!
Left with no choice, Chen Kuang had to keep teaching while continuing his own research.
In the end, after five years, he had directly taken all the musical theory Xi Mengquan had once taught him, fully internalized it, and independently deduced the 'Jue' and 'Zhi' tones from the 'Yu' character.
At this rate, he suspected he could fully master the Five Tones in another two years.
Xi Mengquan was completely useless!
He still had to rely on himself!
Chen Kuang sighed deeply.
Over these years, his comprehension of the Dao of Space-Time had grown even deeper. He had the feeling that if he posed a question to the heavens now, choosing Space-Time as his Dao, he could immediately ascend to the Grandmaster Realm.
Yet he refused to do it.
Worse, whenever he even thought about doing so, his Blood Premonition would be triggered.
Vaguely, he felt that if he truly chose Space-Time as his Dao and advanced on that path, something catastrophically dangerous would occur.
Combined with the visions he had glimpsed through the Heavenly Rift, he decided it was best not to act rashly.
Suddenly, he heard the sound of construction and carpentry off in the distance, prompting him to pause his playing.
He squinted his eyes toward the source of the noise: halfway up the nearby mountain, a Daoist temple was being built.
Xi Mengquan explained coolly, "A few days ago, in order to scrape together that hundred taels of gold for your zither... I sold that mountain."
The deed to the land around the village, including the small mountain, was all in Xi Mengquan's hands.
Chen Kuang pretended not to hear the implied complaint and asked, "You sold it to a cultivator?"
Xi Mengquan nodded. "I saw the other party had a pure aura and seemed to be a peaceable rogue cultivator, so I agreed."
Chen Kuang wasn't surprised.
Though this place appeared remote, thanks to his Mountain and River Diagram Divine Ability, he could perceive the hidden topography.
Near that mountain lay a minor dragon vein, where Spiritual Energy gathered, a highly suitable location for cultivation.
That someone would take interest in it wasn't strange at all.
Chen Kuang gave his tacit approval and resumed his path of Dao-comprehension, playing the zither daily.
However, only a few days passed before the person on the other side came knocking.
Knock knock knock.
Three calm, unhurried knocks.
When no one responded from within, the figure at the door, a Daoist nun wearing a white gauze hat, hesitated briefly before speaking in a soft, gentle voice:
"Is the master of the house within? I have heard your zither for many days. I feel something stirring in my heart and yearn for insight. Might I have the honor of sitting with you and discussing the Dao?"
Chen Kuang stopped playing and exited the mystical state. From atop the roof, he looked down at the doorway.
A breeze swept by, lifting the gauze from the Daoist nun's hat and revealing a stunningly beautiful face.
She appeared to be in her early thirties, with dark hair and pale skin.
A sword hung at her waist, and in her hand she held a horsetail whisk. Her robes of white feathered silk fluttered gently in the wind, clinging to her graceful figure.
Her features were as charming as a fox spirit, yet her gaze was upright and solemn, clearly a serious cultivator.
Her cultivation was somewhat low, only First Stage Tower-Climbing Realm, and her aura was unstable, clearly she only recently broke trough.
Beneath her serious expression, one could faintly sense a trace of nervousness.
Chen Kuang did not recognize her, but since she was respectful and also a rare beauty, he said mildly:
"If you wish to visit, the least you can do is state your name first."
Joy flashed in the Daoist nun's eyes as she bowed:
"Rogue cultivator lu Zhexuan, Daoist title Qingpingzi, pays her respects to Senior."