Downstairs, the lights were splendid and the tide of people swelled. Everyone’s faces were amiable and mutually praising. Lu Gandang was like a butterfly flitting through the flowers as he walked in the crowd. With the help of this opportunity, he claimed higher-level connections with all kinds of greats clans and powers.

“Our Edge Peak Legion won’t disappoint you one bit.” At this moment, he was restraining his excitement and cupping his hands towards a middle-aged man as he laughed: “Our Edge Peak Legion is absolutely not some legion with an undeserved reputation. In fact, we’ll take on missions and our diligence is in completing them. I won’t enter seclusion; I’ll only advance myself in missions. Although the realms of the Edge Peak Legion presently isn’t high, I, Lu Gandang, dare to guarantee that it’ll be the best legion in twenty years!”

“Fellow Daoist Lu is courteous.” The middle-aged man smiled amiably, balling his hands together and bowing with them in front: “With Fellow Daoist Lu’s talents, first place is only a question of time.”

Both parties laughed heartily and went no further. Lu Gandang was so excited that his face was flushed red! Just now… that was the deputy elder of Mingshui’s Gou Clan! In the entire nation, the Gou Clan’s pill elixirs were renowned. If the deputy elder gave him a 50% discount, he would be able to save a great deal of spirit stones!

“Just wait…” Lu Gandang grinded his teeth, his gaze fiery as he looked towards the ceiling: “Seclusion? Ridiculous!”

“Cowardice incarnate… do you still fucking think now is the age of ancient cultivators? Did you read too many cultivation novels? A cultivator disconnected from reality in the struggle for resources during the End of Days, you’ll be the very first I step on!” [1]

“Without resources, how could you be a genius? You can only become my stepping stone!”

But just at this moment, a boundless spiritual pressure frantically engulfed everyone present, as if it could collapse mountains and overturn seas! Foundation Establishment spiritual pressure!

Swish… One person set down their teacup, and a second person followed and so did a third… Every person put a halt to their business at hand, their gazes watching the door from where the spiritual sense had come from with incredible reverence.

Qi Condensation and Foundation Establishment. The separation of a heavenly moat facing towards all four sides! The two simple words of Foundation Establishment was the greatest aspiration of all the present cultivators!

Lu Gandang sucked in deeply, and his gaze immediately blazed! This was the silent prestige of a Foundation Establishment cultivator. He was bound to reach this step! In the first moments he calmed down, he promptly cupped his hands and shouted: “Respectful greetings, Branchmaster Thousandedge…”

Swoooosh! Before Lu Gandang’s voice even fell, a human-shaped streak of qi flew above everyone with a boundless squall, as if it was a bomber! It carried the momentum of driven winds and burning fires. No one could see it clearly as it swiftly faded away at the entrance!

From beginning to end, no one had said a word. Lu Gandang was stunned. What was this? Branchmaster Thousandedge… hadn’t come to bolster him?

Why… He didn’t utter a word. The branch master had just left like so?

“What’s going on?” As he thought of this and the others did as well, an old cultivator said in shock: “This… has something pressing happened?”

“Why did Senior Thousandedge leave without saying a word?”

“It seems something extremely great has occurred, otherwise, he wouldn’t be so hurried…”

Lu Gandang’s complexion flushed and paled in shades of red and white. He didn’t know why, but a shred of panic suddenly bubbled in his heart. In all of his affairs, it seemed some variable had appeared… The ceremony upstairs had convened earlier in advance and then Branchmaster Thousandedge had left madly without uttering a word… just as if… as if… He gritted his teeth, not daring to continue this thought.

Just as if… something major had occurred upstairs?

Clack clack clack! At this moment, the sound of hurried leather shoes rang out. Everyone looked at the entrance in astonishment, only seeing two young men with flushed red eyes. The men had stuck on Spirit Travelling Talismans and charged outside!

“That’s…” An old woman gasped coldly: “That’s Senior Thousandedge’s first and second secretaries…”

Something big had undoubtedly happened… Furthermore it was different from the norm, an unimaginable major event! Else not, it was an impossibility to stick on a Spirit Travelling Talisman in a building! The situation seemed to be wild! The men possessed not a sliver of a secretary’s essential inner calmness!

Swoosh! Just as the two men charged the entrance, a short silhouette leaning on a walking stick stood before them. The silhouette had come very quickly, and the two secretaries barely had any time to halt in step. They didn’t even look at the man before them or speak. At this instant, their eyes held nothing else, and they yelled, their voices hoarse: “O-out of the way! Hurry up and step aside!”

“What happened?” An old man with gray hair shouted angrily. It was then that the scrambled pupils of the two secretaries gained a little vigor to them, but it was immediately erased by a screen of frenzy. Right now, only a single word remained in their minds.

Pill.

The Dao of Pills had resurfaced! After a separation of two centuries, the Dao of Pills had emerged once again!

“Speak!” The old man yelled furiously again.

Without any consideration at all, the two secretaries shouted almost in chorus: “The Dao of Pills! The Dao of Pills has appeared!!!”

“The Xingtian Legion’s Legion Inauguration Ceremony! The eve of holding a Pill Dao auction!!! A genuine medicinal pill!”

The old man’s facial expression broke off from anger. In barely a few milliseconds, his expression instantly transformed into incredible astonishment! His mouth was unable to restrain itself from slightly opening and even his lower lip was trembling a little! His eyes had even opened larger than the size of a chicken egg! In the next second, followed by a woosh, the old man was struck by a feeling of reminiscence. [2]

“Old thief!!!” Followed by a mournful cry, a middle-aged man stuck on three Spirit Travelling Talismans on his body in a second and rushed upstairs like he was insane!

“My heavens!”

“The Dao of Pills?! The Dao of Pills lost for almost two hundred years?!”

“An auction?! H-how is this possible?!”

These startled cries rose and fell in succession, unable to be contained! However, despite these startled cries, the movements of the people weren’t slow in the least bit! At the same time they shouted out in alarm, countless Spirit Travelling Talismans were stuck on the bodies of different people. Their silhouettes were like sharp arrows leaving a bow string, fading away at lightning speed!

They only had one objective! At this moment, a wisp of extreme regret ascended in the hearts of an untold number of people. Why… weren’t they originally upstairs?

Swoosh swoosh swoosh! In the minute before, the surroundings were still packed with company and the seats filled. In the next minute, the people were gone and the room empty!

As the last silhouette vanished, the flesh of Lu Gandang’s face was trembling. He clenched his fists in a death grip as he stood in place. He hadn’t left. Yet he even couldn’t say he had an urge to stay! At this very moment, his heart was filled with an extreme anger, and he instantly overpowered his thirst towards the Dao of Pills!

What was striking face? THIS was striking face!

He had given out words, and Thousandedge was personally lending a hand, yet he hadn’t expected that a single word from upstairs would cause everyone to defect! Thousandedge had even been the first to leave! As the rest had left, no one whatsoever had considered him!

Spirit teas and spirit fruits filled the tables. Mechanical puppets were arranged on the floor without any emotion, but right now, he was the only person in the party.

“AARRGHH!!!!!!” After a few seconds, he snarled, exhausting all of his strength. A meter-long qi blade suddenly radiated in his hand, and he diced the stretch of chairs and tables in front of him one after another with a passing wave!

“Son of a bitch!!!” Like he was crazy, he turned his hand over again and waved, carving a deep gorge and chopping through countless tables and chairs. Such naked ridicule was even more difficult to endure than a direct slap on his face!

So it turned out… All he had done still couldn’t compare to a single word from Xu Yangyi! Originally… he had done so much, yet the other hadn’t even reacted by a hair. It wasn’t because of fear, but rather the victory ticket had long since been grasped!

“The Dao of Pills… The Dao of Pills!!!” His voice was fairly crowing. After venting his feelings for a full several tens of seconds, the meeting floor had already been destroyed by him, not a single place left unscathed!

Crack crack… On the ground, the shattered mechanical puppets were making an ear-piercing crackling. The floor was covered in spirit tea, and the whole room was in shambles. Afterwards… he used a faster speed and stuck on a Spirit Travelling Talisman, madly rushing upstairs! He was unconvinced! Why?! What goody had Xu Yangyi spread out?!

The Dao of Pills! This was Pill Dao! These two insignificant words had ruined his ten-odd years of bitter cultivation! These two words had caused his years of cultivation hardship, seizing of the paragonship, and the ascendance of his life as first place on the award stage—a cultivator’s first take-off point—to turn into flying ash!

It was all because of this man! Xu Yangyi… It was all because of him! As he dashed, his face was already distorted. You have no morals or ability… You have no morals or ability, but you take precedence in everything!

Boom! Simultaneously, the upstairs door was smashed open with a rumble by surging spiritual pressure! There was no sound whatsoever. A tide-like qi caused everyone to go sluggish in their hearts!

Foundation Establishment spiritual pressure! Thousandedge had arrived in the flesh! To Qi Condensation cultivators, this complete eruption of spiritual pressure rushed forth like a landslide or tsunami. It caused each person’s breathing to falter! Long accumulated might, the name of a Foundation Establishment cultivator, caused almost everyone to half bow out of reflex and immediately cup their hands: Respectful greetings…”

“STEP ASIDE!!!!!!” Thousandedge thundered, sandwiched within his rolling spiritual pressure. In a twinkling, everyone was nearly flicked several meters away!

Boom boom boom! All the seats went flying everywhere! Surprisingly, Thousandedge had forcibly charged an empty path through the ceremony floor!

Xu Yangyi sucked in deeply. That spiritual pressure like mountains and seas… was akin to physical matter. It seemed as if an infinite asura ground had unfolded in front of him. Of Qi Condensation cultivators, he had risen above over a hundred. Perhaps only a few of the very best would be able to barely survive.

Is this the total eruption of Foundation Establishment power…?

The two words of Pill Dao has caused Thousandedge’s emotions to burst out in an instant. Right now, his Foundation Establishment might shrouded the heavens and concealed the earth!

Swoosh! In the next second, before Xu Yangyi’s eyes could even blink, Thousandedge’s figure was already standing before him. The duo’s gazes suddenly met. They were sharply opposed to each other, neither of them prepared to retreat a single inch.

Xu Yangyi didn’t bow, and he didn’t cup his hands. He just looked serenely at Thousandedge.

Thousandedge didn’t speak, both his hands at his back. He stood in midair, independent from the void and resistant to the wind. Carrying limitless coldness and complications, he strongly pushed down his murderous desire and fixed his eyes tightly on Xu Yangyi.

There was no talk or opening of mouths. All that remained was the endless billowing qi at Thousandedge’s sides, similar to archangels unfolding his wings. This auspicious qi was like a thousand ribbons!

In silence, Thousandedge suddenly discovered he didn’t know what to say. He was supporting Lu Gandang. He had decorated and arranged for so long, but the result was that he was actually the very first to come!

Downstairs, he dared not even imagine what it had turned into. This invisible slap to the face not only slapped Lu Gandang, but it moreover slapped his own! A slap from a Qi Condensation cultivator. Contrary to reason, he presently dared not flare up in anger at all! Breaking out into displeasure was beyond his capabilities!

He even… wanted to talk nicely!

Anxiety and fury attacked his heart, but so did expectation. A state of mind difficult to give words to creeped upwards like an extending vine. Both his hands beared behind his back cracked as he wrung them. His aged Adam’s apple shivered a few good times. Perhaps by the work of the Dao, gods, or devils, he said these words.

“Young… friend, I heard that you… Commander Xu, had…” Gnashing his teeth, Thousandedge forcefully squeezed out the shred of a smile: “A medicinal pill?”

[1] 閉門造車 - “Disconnected from reality”. I often enjoy literally translating phrases, but somethings just don’t work. This idiom literally means “shutting oneself inside and building a cart”. The meaning is something that gets at the idea that one “ignores the real world and only focuses on their own matters”. Originates from the era of the Song dynasty.

[2] “Struck by a feeling of nostalgia”, the actual Chinese is literally “Man goes, building empty”. Apparently, this is an idiom that dates backs to the Tang Dynasty’s Cui Hao, a poet. Supposed to evoke an idea of nostalgia/reminiscence. In a sense, this is also a play on words, since the old man is also leaving the room.