At dusk, a solitary moon hung high in the sky.
The night in the mountains was cool, the swirling clouds shifting like a blue sea, casting shadows over the rolling peaks.
VIP Building, Room 2013.
"We're going down the mountain tomorrow, better get some rest early."
Li Yishan yawned, lying on his bed playing with his phone. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Zhang Fan getting up and—incredibly—picking up his trekking pole.
"You heading out?"
"We're going down tomorrow, I'll take a walk, or two hundred eighty for the ticket would feel wasted."
Zhang Fan said casually, but in his mind, the image of Jiang Lai floated up.
That night of lights and shadows was like a dream, hard to forget. If he didn't go investigate Nanxuan Palace before leaving, his heart wouldn't be at ease.
"Don't go too far. I heard there are bears on Zhenwu Mountain," Li Yishan reminded.
Thud…
With the sound of a door closing, Zhang Fan, trekking pole in hand, headed alone down the mountain, toward Nanxuan Palace.
Within the mountains, the air was cold and clear, pitch dark without the faintest glimmer of light. He could only hurry along by moonlight, occasionally hearing the distant chirps of insects and calls of birds.
This atmosphere was at once peaceful and ethereal, yet filled the mind with rampant thoughts.
"Has my stamina improved?"
After an hour of mountain hiking, Zhang Fan didn't feel the least bit tired, striding swiftly as if on level ground, barely out of breath.
Back then, when climbing up, he and Li Yishan had to rest ten minutes for every ten they walked.
"Hmm!?"
Just then, Zhang Fan suddenly halted. Looking up, he saw beneath the faint moonlight, a cluster of palaces rising and falling with the terrain, half hidden in the misty night.
"Already here?" Zhang Fan raised an eyebrow and instinctively took out his phone to check the time.
He remembered when they first climbed, it'd taken three and a half hours to reach here; now, it was just about one hour.
As Zhang Fan was puzzling over this, a flickering firelight in the distant woods drew his attention.
"Someone's there!?"
Zhang Fan felt a ripple in his heart and crept cautiously closer.
In the forest, firelight flickered; beside it stood a warning sign reading: "No Mountain Fires, Absolutely No Open Flame."
By the fire sat two men—exactly the same two who'd booked out the hotel at the Golden Summit: Qian Shengwu and Qian Shaokun, the brothers.
"It's them?"
"Brother Wu, tonight on Zhenwu Mountain is the Jade Scroll Transmission… When do we act?"
At this moment, Qian Shaokun spoke.
"Don't rush… This is a rare opportunity; we must be sure of everything before acting… After all, this is Zhenwu Mountain—so many experts…" Qian Shengwu said in a low voice.
"If we can bring back the Difficult Insect, our Dian Nan Qian Family will definitely shine…"
"Brother Wu, is this Difficult Insect truly that powerful?" Qian Shaokun couldn't help asking.
The Dian Nan Qian Family specialized in Insect Gu, their family art traced back a thousand years.
Even so, among their treasured insects, the Difficult Insect was top grade, the tales of it spreading from mouth to mouth among clan disciples.
"So ignorant…" Qian Shengwu pushed up his glasses. In the dancing firelight, his cold eyes sparkled with a sharp light.
"Do you know the origin of the Difficult Insect?"
Qian Shaokun was startled, then shook his head.
"Over eighty years ago, the Daoist sects gave rise to a legendary figure—Three Corpses Daoist…" Qian Shengwu shifted tone abruptly.
"This man was both good and evil. No one knew his origins, yet his cultivation realm was unrivaled in the world… Great-grandfather always said that meeting him felt like a mayfly glimpsing the blue sky…"
"That level of cultivation likely surpassed even the Pure Yang Wuji Realm."
At these words, Qian Shaokun's face instantly changed.
The Pure Yang Wuji Realm means becoming a Zhenren—such beings are as rare as phoenix feathers the world over.
And above that…
Three Flowers Gathering at the Top, Five Qi Chaoyuan…
"Wouldn't that be the Three-Five Transformation? Is there really anyone who could reach such a realm today?" Qian Shaokun was doubtful.
Beyond the Three-Five Transformation is the Earthly Immortal—beings like Ancestor Master Chunyang. Nowadays, one can only glimpse such figures' style in ancient texts and Elixir Books.
"Three Corpses Daoist was shrouded in mystery. Years ago, he traveled across the land, once visited our Qian Family, thus forging a connection. Before leaving, he bestowed three secret techniques…" Qian Shengwu's tone became weighty.
Those were the highest secret arts of the Dian Nan Qian Family.
"Those three secret techniques were the methods of refining three Ancient Insects: Evil Insect, Desire Insect, and Difficult Insect…"
"Desire Insect as well?" Qian Shaokun changed color abruptly.
The Desire Insect was one of the five Ancestral Insects the Qian Family worshipped.
It must be known: for cultivators, desire is most taboo.
Thus, since ancient times, many Seekers have retreated deep into the mountains, far from the Red Dust, cutting off desire to succeed in cultivation.
The Elixir Books all say: firmly restrain the Heart Monkey and lock the Yima, persistently refine mercury through patient effort. The Great Dao first teaches to halt thoughts—if thoughts run wild, all effort is in vain.
Only by severing desire can one succeed in cultivation. If otherwise, if a cultivator gives in to desire, even a thousand years of Dao Practice can be lost in a day.
Therefore, Desire Insect is the nemesis of cultivators, extremely dreadful.
"Back then, it cost our Qian Family countless efforts to refine the Desire Insect and the Difficult Insect…" Qian Shengwu said quietly, "When the Difficult Insect is first born, it appears mysterious; it can gather misfortune to forge the Great Medicine…"
The Daoist Sect's cultivation focuses on four words: planting, gathering, nurturing, refining.
Planting the medicine is to sow the seed—the true seed.
This seed is the Primordial Spirit, hidden within the ancestral aperture, the Profound Passage—the space between the brows.
After Initial Movement, one glimpses the Primordial Spirit; it's as if planting the seed in the soil.
The next step is gathering and nurturing the medicine.
The myriad things of Heaven and Earth, inner and outer essences—all can be harvested and refined.
For example, mountain animals gaze at the moon and thus gather the essence—the Moon's Radiance.
In fact, the human body also contains Sun and Moon Essence; Heart Fire is the sun, Kidney Water the moon. Taking the Moon Soul into the Solar Spirit is like merging lead and mercury, Taking Kan and Filling Li—the subtlety lies in the inversion.
Depending on each lineage's transmission, the kind of medicine gathered and the crucial points differ.
For instance, the Yin Mountain Sect of the Daoist Sect, most mysterious, specializes in Taiyin. Upon reaching the highest state, Taiyin then transforms to Pure Yang; the essence they gather is mostly the qi of corpses and bones.
"The Difficult Insect feeds on calamity but can also bring it… In the Mortal World, nothing is more plentiful than suffering…" Qian Shaokun couldn't help sighing.
"Back then, Third Granduncle took the Difficult Insect from Dian Nan all the way north, sweeping all obstacles, but ran into his destined nemesis."
At this, Qian Shengwu sighed.
"Who?" Qian Shaokun couldn't help but ask.
Their Third Granduncle was the highest ranked of the Qian clan, said to have unmatched talent—once the Qian Family's greatest hope to refine the Evil Insect. Yet, after losing a magical combat, he was left blind and crippled, since then living in seclusion, shunning the world.
"Chu Chaoran!"
"Chu… Chu Zhenren? The Zhenwu Mountain Sect Leader?" Qian Shaokun's face altered slightly.
He was regarded as the most revered figure in today's Daoist Sects, rumored to have already touched the Pure Yang Wuji Realm, an Earthly Immortal of this era.
"Back then, when Chu Chaoran suddenly descended from the mountain, his might was unrivaled. Encountering Third Granduncle driving the Difficult Insect in his rampage, he crippled him with Daoist Divine Techniques and sealed the Difficult Insect in Zhenwu Mountain's Qingwei Palace, within the Demon Suppression Well…"
"Daoist Divine Techniques… only fitting for Chu Zhenren." Qian Shaokun couldn't help but sigh.
Daoist Divine Techniques are not ordinary skills—naturally formed, near-divine, and unattainable by cultivation alone, their secrets known to few.
"Tonight is the Jade Scroll Transmission; all the experts of Zhenwu Mountain should be in attendance… We can take the chance to open the Demon Suppression Well…" Qian Shaokun sneered.
"To open the Demon Suppression Well and awaken the Difficult Insect, we'll still need a living sacrifice."
Qian Shengwu adjusted his glasses, a cold smile tugging at his lips, while his chilling gaze turned toward the thick woods—toward where Zhang Fan hid.
"A worm is still a worm… You've listened long enough; come out now."