In the dim universe, twelve stellar lights spanned the firmament, illuminating the sky as they traversed their established orbits, seeming as if they would never extinguish.
However, at the exact moment You Xuexin was slain by Wang Ping, one of those stellar lights abruptly produced a slight ripple. Like a pebble dropping into a lake, it stirred subtle waves that sank deep into the heart of the stellar light.
There lay a magnificent continent.
Surrounded by oceans on four sides, with towering mountain ranges and sprawling rivers, it boasted countless famous relics and ancient ruins. Streams of flying light zipped back and forth—a true immortal realm holy land.
Yet right at that moment, in the northwestern corner of the continent under the bright blue sky, thunder suddenly crashed. No clouds or rain were in sight, only rolling peals of thunder passing across the sky. The sound grew increasingly intense, startling the beasts on the ground into a frenzy and sending birds scattering in flight. Mortals fell to their knees in prayer while cultivators looked around in bewilderment.
“What’s happening?”
Young cultivators exchanged glances, clueless about what was transpiring.
Only a few veteran cultivators revealed expressions of deep emotion at the sight:
“Thunder echoes from the sky without a clear cause. A Qi Refiner must have been disturbed, giving rise to anger, and heaven and earth are conforming to his intent—hence this thunderclap from a clear sky.”
“Looking at the source of this thunder… Is it Sun Moon Lake?”
As they conversed, a young cultivator clapped his hands:
“I remember now! Martial Uncle Mingyou of Sun Moon Lake is approaching the end of his lifespan. He must have realized his remaining time was short while meditating, which sparked this sudden outburst of anger…”
“Hush! Mind your words!”
Before he could finish, the senior brother beside him forcibly clamped a hand over his mouth, using so much force he nearly tore his lips apart.
“Have you lost your mind!?”
The senior brother snapped furiously, “Back in the day, Martial Uncle Mingyou refined the 【Truth and Delusion Enlightenment Qi】! With a single thought, he can see you if you speak carelessly!”
The young cultivator paled in fear. “Is… is he really that formidable?”
“Nonsense! Which Martial Uncle’s lineage do you belong to? How do you not know this?”
“Uh, I haven’t officially taken a master yet. I’m still just an inner sect disciple…”
“Oh, inner sect. No wonder.”
The senior brother took a disgusted step back, used spiritual power to cleanse the hand he had just used to cover the young man’s mouth, and turned to walk away, leaving the young cultivator standing dazed in the wind.
Similar chaos erupted across other parts of the continent. Many people looked up, gazing from afar toward the origin of the thunderous clear sky.
Sun Moon Lake.
Though named a lake, its scale was immense—an inland sea divided into black and white waters, resembling a classical ink painting.
In the center of these black and white waters, where the two principles divided, stood a small island. On the island sat a thatched cottage. At this moment, someone stepped out from within—wearing black and white robes and a fish-tail crown, holding a whisk in hand. Though dressed in formal attire, he possessed the appearance of a young boy.
He stood there, looking up at the sky.
Surrounding the thatched cottage for ten thousand miles, thunderous snakes coiled, peals of thunder rolled across the void, and brilliant clouds of dawn wavered, casting matching hues across water and sky alike.
The boy stared fixedly at the colorful clouds above, a flicker of light burning in his eyes before dimming. Then he lowered his head and let out a long, slow sigh:
“Xuexin is dead.”
The voice stood in stark contrast to his youthful appearance—it was ancient and thick with twilight.
“She died on the path of escorting the 【Five Thieves’ Heaven-Stealing Myriad Transformation Divine Talisman】. Sending this item to me shows filial piety, but in the end, she abandoned her post.”
The morning clouds rippled slightly, shifting colors.
Seeing this, the boy frowned, his tone hardening: “Regardless, she cannot die just yet. I need her to continue watching the 【Eight Trigrams Furnace】 for me.”
As his voice fell, the clouds solidified, and the boy nodded slightly: “So be it.”
Immediately after, he turned his gaze toward the other side of the celestial canopy, locking his eyes onto one of the stars. He then gently nudged the fish-tail crown on his head.
Rumble!
In an instant, a three-colored auspicious cloud, as majestic as a mountain, erupted from the ground. It surged straight into the clouds before expanding into a grand canopy.
The canopy reached up to the sun and moon above and suppressed the rivers below. Thunderous light lingered around its edges, occasionally transmitting the sound of heavenly drums
. Spanning the celestial dome and resting at the center of heaven and earth, a single breath drawn by it caused the spiritual qi from all four cardinal directions to race toward it in resonance, decorating its surroundings with thousands of radiant hues.
Then, the canopy of auspicious clouds rose rapidly.
In a flash, it broke through the Thirty-Three Heavens and plunged into the cosmic starry sky. Wherever it passed, stars flickered in turn, heaven and earth shook, and it vanished into the infinite distance.
Almost simultaneously, the boy disappeared as well.
As the saying goes—Leave a trail of fire across the stars, and ascend with the clouds beyond Ding Lake!
Space shattered, 【Heaven in a Pot】 collapsed, and the flying ship fell from the void, crashing heavily onto a mountain peak.
“Not good, not good, not good!”
Aboard the wrecked flying ship, the man surnamed Lin was filled with terror. A jade pendant in his arms had suddenly shattered—a secret treasure he had specially obtained before setting off.
It could sense fluctuations in the qi of heaven and earth. If any change occurred within the 【Twenty-Four Qi Current】, he would detect it through this artifact.
And just now, the 【Truth and Delusion Enlightenment Qi】 rippled violently, the sheer intensity shattering the jade pendant on the spot. This meant he was the root cause of the fluctuation. Thinking of You Xuexin’s master—that figure who resided long in Sun Moon Lake… the terror in the man surnamed Lin’s heart could no longer be contained.
“He… he’s coming!”
“How is this possible…? He realized You Xuexin died? With a Qi Refiner’s divine ability, traveling via the qi of heaven and earth, he will arrive shortly!”
The more he thought, the more terrified he grew.
In an instant, he couldn’t even care about the nearby 【Five Thieves’ Heaven-Stealing Myriad Transformation Divine Talisman】. He pulled a talisman out from his clothes and ignited it with spiritual power.
“No, I have to run first…”
The next second, fire roared. This was a divine ability talisman engraved with the 【Fire Escape】 divine ability, enveloping the man surnamed Lin.
His figure vanished within the flames, fleeing to another territory. Only a group of fanatical rogue cultivators remained on the spot.
Three breaths later.
All the rogue cultivators froze mid-action. Among them, the boy appeared out of nowhere, holding the 【Five Thieves’ Heaven-Stealing Myriad Transformation Divine Talisman】 in his hand.
That magnificent canopy of auspicious clouds now appeared above the sky alongside the boy.
Looking up, three colors intertwined within the clouds, blending water and fire. To the countless living beings beneath its cover, it was effectively “Heaven”!
“Heavens above…”
With a series of thuds, all the rogue cultivators fell to their knees in unison, gazing up at the canopy of auspicious clouds with utter devotion. Then, amidst their worship, they dissolved into ash.
“Fled?”
The boy looked around, quickly spotting the firmly rooted 【Six Desires Heavenly Demon Banner】 and You Xuexin’s soul floating helplessly in the air.
However, calling it You Xuexin’s soul was generous. Lacking sufficient cultivation, once a soul lost its physical body and was recklessly exposed to heaven and earth, its true spirit would rapidly dissolve into the surrounding spiritual qi, returning to the natural cycle of the universe. Thus, it possessed not a shred of consciousness, acting as nothing more than a wandering ghost of yin qi.
In other words, he was too late.
“Interesting.”
The boy sneered, then reached out toward the empty scenery before him, as if grasping an invisible object, and slowly turned it.
Splash!
The roaring sound of surging rivers suddenly echoed between heaven and earth. The clearly visible scenery of all phenomena blurred, growing hazy in that instant.
Immediately after, all the rogue cultivators who had been reduced to ash miraculously came back to life within the hazy scenery. Everything began rewinding toward the past.
Before long, flames flared, and the man surnamed Lin, who had just escaped, was forcibly dragged back, standing right where he had been!
Yet this was still not the end.
Time continued to flow backward. Finally, You Xuexin’s soul underwent a transformation. Her true spirit, which had already merged into the cycle of spiritual qi, was forcibly pulled back.
Her soul regained its sentience.
Then it sank.
Simultaneously, her body, which had turned to ash, rapidly reconstructed. Her full, delicate body remanifested, her soul merging inside, and her stopped breathing was reignited.
“Huff… Gasp!“
The next second, You Xuexin bolted upright, her eyes filled with bewilderment. The hazy, illusory world around her regained its clarity once more.
“This is…” You Xuexin shifted her gaze, quickly spotting the boy’s figure. Her pretty face froze before she seemed to realize something; her complexion turned deathly pale. She slowly shifted her body, prostrating herself on the ground: “To trouble Master to personally descend to the mortal realm… I ask for Master’s punishment.”
Her trembling voice held both terror and excitement.
Terror, because her death had disturbed the boy, leaving her fearful of his wrath; excitement, because she was awestruck by the divine ability he had deployed.
The 【Reversing Heaven, Sun-Turning Sundial】!
That’s it, it has to be this great divine ability! Otherwise, it would be impossible to drag back someone like me whose true spirit had already dissolved into the cycle of spiritual qi.
People always said time could not flow backward and years would never return.
Yet to the “Qi Refiners” of the immortal sects, even precious time had to bow to their will and yield before their mighty power!
“Rise,” the boy spoke in a deep tone.
“It matters little. This place is not too close to the mortal realm. Besides, I have some connections within the Divine Weapon Institute; they won’t dwell on it too much.”
Saying that, the boy glanced at the 【Six Desires Heavenly Demon Banner】 beside You Xuexin. Under his gaze, the demons within the banner and the Six Desires Heavenly Demon King had nowhere to hide, completely open to his inspection. After a moment, the boy said in a low voice: “The cause of your death was this spiritual artifact.”
“You forged this yourself, didn’t you?”
“Your refining technique was too crude, causing the main soul to lose control and go wild when activated. It already harbored resentment toward you, so it turning on you was natural.”
“Ah? This…”
You Xuexin blanked, but on second thought, Master’s judgment couldn’t possibly be wrong. A look of regret quickly washed over her face.
However, she soon creased her brows.
“Forgive my boldness… but how exactly did I die?”
She couldn’t remember.
This shouldn’t be possible. Since time was rewound, she should have remembered her death vividly. Yet recalling it now, her memories were strangely hazy and blurred.
She only remembered that her death seemed… abstract.
Why was this happening!?
You Xuexin felt horrified. Looking up, she saw the boy also frowning slightly before shaking his head: “It must be that little thief’s methods.”
“His 【Five Thieves’ Heaven-Stealing Method】 possesses supreme mystique. If he used that method to kill you, it’s only natural you don’t remember. It’s understandable that I couldn’t spot any clues even after rewinding time. After all, that little thief loves erasing causality. Catching a small fry like this is already an unexpected boon.”
With that, the boy looked at the recaptured man surnamed Lin.
The man surnamed Lin: “Huh?”
Even now, he hadn’t snapped out of it. His consciousness remained stuck in the joy of using the Fire Escape Divine Ability Talisman to break free in time, his face a picture of daze.
To him, only an instant had passed, yet it also felt as if thousands of years had swept by.
The next fraction of a second, as the boy’s gaze landed on him, he finally regained the power of thought. Waking up from his stupor, his eyes met the boy’s.
Yet in his eyes, the boy’s figure was completely shrouded by an overwhelming, mountain-like aura of qi that paralyzed him with terror at a single glance.
I… I failed to escape…
Thud!
The man surnamed Lin fell to his knees on the spot, slamming his forehead heavily against the ground. He didn’t dare use spiritual power to protect himself, even actively tearing open his skin, blood instantly flowing like a river.
“I beg Master for mercy!”
“An inner sect disciple who hasn’t obtained a true legacy is worthy of calling me Master?”
The boy spoke in a flat tone. A single glance pierced through the man’s soul, yet finding no useful information, he waved his sleeve with impatience.
The next second, the man surnamed Lin and the rogue cultivators resurrected alongside him collapsed once more, their physical bodies disintegrating into nothingness.
Seeing this, You Xuexin swallowed hard.
“Master…”
Her gaze locked onto the 【Five Thieves’ Heaven-Stealing Myriad Transformation Divine Talisman】 in the boy’s hand. As if remembering something, she softly explained:
“Congratulations Master on acquiring this treasure. I inquired beforehand—it records the 【Thief of Life】, capable of stealing life force and primal qi. As long as Master cultivates this method, you can use it to replenish your lifespan without having to cater to the whims of the 【Divine Weapon Institute】 and 【Elixir Institute】.”
“The 【Thief of Life】…”
Hearing this, the boy looked over the jade slip in his hand again. The eerie demonic nature that could drive cultivators mad with obsession failed to shake his Dao heart in the slightest.
“…A useless thing.”
“That little thief is a scheming one. Everything leaked outside consists merely of incomplete fragments containing only spiritual arts, which cannot compare to divine abilities, let alone touch the qi of heaven and earth.”
“This item is useless to me.”
Saying that, the boy crushed the jade slip directly, then looked at You Xuexin: “You shouldn’t have accepted this task. Although motivated by filial piety, it proved counterproductive.”
“Go back, and don’t harbor any other ideas. You have only one task right now—watch the 【Eight Trigrams Furnace】 for me at the 【Divine Weapon Institute】, forge a life-extending Dharma Treasure as quickly as possible, and bring it back to me. Once accomplished, there will naturally be an opportunity for you to master a Great Divine Ability.”
You Xuexin bowed panic-stricken: “This disciple obeys!”
The boy nodded, adding casually: “Also, that 【Six Desires Heavenly Demon Banner】 of yours—though crudely forged, it’s not beyond remedy.”
“Guarding the 【Eight Trigrams Furnace】 this time is an opportunity.”
“Find a good time to throw it into the 【Eight Trigrams Furnace】 and patiently refine it for a decade or two. It might just undergo a complete transformation and advance to a Dharma Treasure.”
“Thank you, Master, for the guidance!”
Inside 【The Taiping Classic】 space.
Wang Ping sat on the high platform with lingering fear, watching the light floating and sinking on the towering book before him. Only after a long while did he let out a long breath.
At this moment, though his mind was full of thoughts, in the end, it could only turn into an exclamation of shock:
“Holy shit… this is ‘Refining Qi’?!”
Is there something seriously wrong with this cultivation system?!
Translator’s Note:
Ding Lake is a classical allusion to the legendary Yellow Emperor. According to the legend, the Yellow Emperor ascended to Heaven from Ding Lake by riding a dragon. As a result, “ascending beyond Ding Lake” became a poetic expression for ascending to immortality or departing this mortal world
The original term 晷仪 (guǐyí) literally means “sundial,” an ancient instrument used to measure time by the sun’s shadow. In classical Chinese literature, it often symbolizes the passage of time itself. Here, [Reversing Heaven, Sun-Turning Sundial] is the name of a supreme divine ability, with the sundial serving as a metaphor for dominion over time.