Chapter 1
Chapter 1: A New Journey
Once, there had been an immortal domain whose living beings trampled the natural order. Heaven struck it down, casting it into a Lower Realm.
A million years later, the little li realm had served its sentence. After enduring one last heavenly punishment, it was reborn and reconnected to the Immortal Realm. The point of connection emerged as a brand-new continent rising from a vast ocean.
The Crime Realm’s return sent a ripple through the Immortal Realm—not an earthquake, but enough to turn heads. Mistakes happened. Exile was common. But those who made it back were rare.
For the little li realm to survive a million years of banishment without being erased, and then claw its way back alive, meant it had run into a once-in-a-lifetime stroke of fortune. And by long-standing rule, any realm that rose from below—whether through honest advancement, powerful backing, or true repentance—would receive blessings from heaven and earth as reward and encouragement. Those blessings usually meant gifted people, fertile land, rare treasures, and dazzling natural wonders. Exactly the kind of opportunity outsiders coveted.
So the Immortal Realm surged toward the new continent, some to recruit talent, others to hunt for treasure.
Grateful beyond measure, the three races of the little li realm named the continent heaven’s grace. One end lay in the sea between the three continents of the little li realm—Qi Ye Heaven, Yun Jing Heaven, and Huan Mo Heaven—while the other end opened into the Immortal Realm.
Immortals had their own methods. The moment they sensed a Lower Realm returning, they realized others were already arriving in waves, afraid to be even a step late. In a place like this, late meant empty-handed.
The little li realm, however, had no such confidence. Cultivators above the Nascent Soul Stage from all three races formed groups and explored cautiously. Everyone else stayed behind, waiting anxiously on their own territories—waiting for good news from their seniors, and for protection from the seniors who had once ascended to the Immortal Realm.
Yet one person from the little li realm went in alone. Neither danger nor treasure could stop her from chasing the direction she sensed deep in the dark.
She was young and fast. A blue-and-white skirt was cinched tight with a dark, wide belt, her sleeves bound close for movement. Her thick hair was slicked back and pinned firmly in place.
She rode the wind, shooting up into the clouds and diving into the forest in a blink. Even as she ran, she kept glancing over her shoulder.
She was an itinerant cultivator of the little li realm named Hu Qing. She had dual metal and fire spirit roots, a Nascent Soul Stage cultivation, and specialized in artifact refining.
Because she had been closely tied to the little li realm’s upheaval and return, and because she had helped everyone welcome and withstand the final heavenly punishment, fortune clung to her. The moment she stepped onto heaven’s grace, she sensed an opportunity granted by the heavens—and sprinted after it without hesitation.
Hu Qing looked back again. She had run without sleep for three straight days, and only now had she finally shaken off that annoying, vicious bird of some unknown species. She let out a long breath.
The heaven-sent opportunity was the Spiritfire she had dreamed of for years. At this point, not even an immortal could stop her from making that dream come true.
Otherwise… she would kill whatever came.
“The demon beasts in the Immortal Realm really are harder to deal with than the ones in the Lower Realm,” Hu Qing muttered, still shaken.
She wiped sweat from her brow with her left wrist and caught sight of her sleeves twisted tight around her arms. Rows of uneven holes punctured the fabric—souvenirs from that swan-looking monster. The bird was an expert in sound attacks; the instant it opened its beak, lines of compressed air needles shot toward her.
Luckily, Hu Qing had kept up body tempering. Her physique was tough enough to rival a spirit tool. Still, it hurt to see her good clothes ruined.
Several loops of cloth were wrapped around her left wrist like bracelets. That was Juan Bu, twisted tight and wound there.
Juan Bu was Hu Qing’s greatest support—and also her greatest stroke of luck.
It had once been an immortal treasure. After separating from its original owner, it drifted from hand to hand until Hu Qing stumbled into it by sheer dumb luck. It even served as her rag for a long time, until the newly cultivating Hu Qing finally noticed something strange and dug out its secret.
There was a spirit inside Juan Bu. Hu Qing called it Little Bu.
Little Bu had collected countless techniques and secret arts, enough to rival the legacy of a major sect. Hu Qing had long since decided this was her cheat code after transmigrating.
Because yes—Hu Qing had come from a modern apocalypse.
She and her daughter, Hu Nuan, had stumbled into a strange fate that tied two people from different times together. They had lived through something bizarre and unexpectedly happy, and in the end, mother and daughter stepped onto the cultivation path of the little li realm together. Hu Nuan entered the great sect Zhaohua Sect, while Hu Qing chose the road of an itinerant cultivator.
In truth, Hu Qing only dared to roam alone because Juan Bu was in her sleeve.
Little Bu’s voice sounded directly in her mind. “That was just an ordinary demon beast. How are you holding up? Are we at the right place?”
Hu Qing scanned the wilderness, uncertain. “I think so? But this is the middle of nowhere. Don’t tell me there’s some hidden cave abode out here.”
“Look carefully,” Little Bu said.
Hu Qing was about to do just that. But the moment she stepped forward on the branch, the bright, gentle day snapped into lightning and thunder.
She spun around—and the lush green she had come through was gone. Darkness swallowed everything. Wind and rain hammered her eyelids. Thunder rolled overhead, bolt after bolt.
She had definitely blundered into some kind of barrier formation.
Hu Qing clenched her right hand, about to summon her life sword Bai Wen—
A bolt of lightning exploded above her head.
In the blue-violet glare, Hu Qing cursed violently. The next second, she fell backward, and the scene shattered again—turning into a warm, sunlit beach.
“Seems like this is your opportunity’s hiding place,” Little Bu said, already surveying the area.
Hu Qing sprang up and steadied herself. She was in a small secret realm.
Low mountains ringed the space, beyond them thick white mist. Inside the ring lay a deep blue lake so still it didn’t have a single ripple. Hu Qing stood on a narrow strip of sand barely two meters wide at the water’s edge.
Between the lake and the mountains grew a forest of white trunks and red leaves, wrapping around half the shoreline. Water in front, mountains behind. Everything was pressed close together, making the secret realm feel compact and tight.
“Look above the trees,” Little Bu said, voice bright with excitement.
Hu Qing followed his gaze. At the crown of the red-and-white canopy, something iridescent flowed like liquid light.
“Cloudshadow Aurora,” Little Bu said without hesitation. “Good stuff. It can raise your cultivation and nourish your soul. If you take it, you’ll reach at least Spirit Immortal.”
Cultivation in the Immortal Realm was broadly divided into three major grades: Heaven, Earth, and Spirit, each split into upper, middle, and lower.
When a Lower Realm cultivator at the Mahayana Stage ascended to the Immortal Realm, they entered the ascension pool and were remade by immortal essence—mortal bones stripped away, immortal roots reshaped. Only then did they step into Spirit Immortal.
And Spirit Immortal was only the starting line.
Hu Qing’s Nascent Soul Stage was unimaginably far from even a lower Spirit Immortal. But Cloudshadow Aurora, born from sun essence and the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, could bridge that gap. With it, she could forge a Spirit Immortal body at minimum.
She already had Immortal Realm techniques from Juan Bu. She would reach Spirit Immortal sooner or later. But when rare treasure fell into your lap, why refuse the shortcut?
Little Bu urged her to collect it.
Hu Qing didn’t move.
The treasure above the trees blazed like a beacon, but the lake below made her heart seize with dread. Dread so sharp that even knowing Cloudshadow Aurora was priceless, she didn’t want to take another step.
“What are you waiting for?” Little Bu pressed.
Hu Qing’s expression shifted. In a flash, she dropped low and shot toward the shore, half her body vanishing into a pile of lakeside rocks.
Her head tucked in. Her skin and hair dulled and changed color.
In the space of a breath, Hu Qing became a pale gray-brown stone, perfectly matching the rocks—utterly motionless.