A Fortuitous Breakthrough

The sun gradually dipped westward, its bright rays dimming to cast a mellow, golden hue.

Qian Ying had been seated in the rattan chair for an entire day.

Within Tianhe Gate, Qian Ying was never one to remain idle.

Despite the grand victory and the settled merits and rewards, the returning expeditionary army presented a myriad of complex affairs that still demanded attention.

Given his advanced age and high status, Hu Feng typically only outlined the general direction. The remaining intricate and trivial matters usually required Qian Ying’s final decision. Consequently, throughout the day, more than a dozen groups of people had come and gone from the Golden Bamboo Courtyard. Even Qin Wanzhao and others, having heard the news, sent people to inquire about the situation, but all were ultimately turned away by Biyan.

However, this latest arrival was someone Biyan truly could not stop.

“Master,” Bai Yuan greeted, standing at the courtyard gate and bowing to the newcomer.

“Going in for a look?” Yang Xuan, dressed in casual clothes, raised an eyebrow, observing Bai Yuan with keen interest.

“Yes, it should… be almost time.”

Bai Yuan estimated Qian Ying’s state within the courtyard. No sooner had her words faded than a clear, resonant whistle echoed from inside.

It was a pure, lucid sound.

“She’s succeeded.”

A hint of joy flickered in Yang Xuan’s eyes upon hearing the sound, yet he showed no immediate haste. He paused at the gate for a moment, waiting until the whistle subsided before he finally stepped, slowly, into the courtyard.

Inside the small courtyard, Qian Ying had already risen from the rattan chair. She was gazing down, momentarily stunned, at her own hands. Hearing the movement behind her, she spun around abruptly.

“Brother Xuan, I’ve broken through!”

Upon seeing the newcomer, Qian Ying’s pretty face was alight with uncontainable delight. Indeed, the barrier that had long stood before her had finally shattered, naturally filling her with immense elation.

“Congratulations, Ying’er.”

Yang Xuan’s face held a genuine smile, as if a great weight had finally lifted. “With this hurdle behind you, you’re one step closer to the Xiantian realm.”

“It’s all thanks to Sister Yuan,” Qian Ying said, sniffing softly. Her gaze shifted, landing on the white-clad woman who followed behind Yang Xuan, hidden in the courtyard wall’s shadow. “Without Sister Yuan’s guidance, I… don’t know how much longer it would have taken me to overcome this obstacle.”

To discern the difference between ‘he’ and ‘I,’ to clarify the path ahead, and to lay the foundation for the Great Dao—the journey from the peak of the Houtian realm to the Xiantian realm sounds simple in theory. Yet, only those who truly walk it understand its arduous nature.

Qian Ying knew her innate talent was inferior to Qin Wanzhao’s and Liu Qingyue’s. She had explored this path for several years. Even with the guidance of her husband, a Xiantian Grandmaster, and frequent assistance from Qin Wanzhao and Liu Qingyue, and even with Yin Shuang’s unwavering generosity with elixirs, she still stumbled along.

At times, she couldn’t help but feel disheartened.

She had never anticipated that today she would cross the threshold in a single leap—and this was entirely due to Bai Yuan’s guidance.

For two consecutive days, she had received the benevolence of this former great enemy.

For a moment, gratitude, guilt, and perhaps a touch of bewilderment intertwined within her. The emotions in her heart were truly complex and inexpressible.

“It was merely a coincidence, Sister Ying. Your cultivation was already sufficient, only lacking a catalyst,” Bai Yuan replied, her expression serene and unperturbed. She turned her head slightly to look at Yang Xuan. “I imagine Master specifically came here because you and Sister Ying must have much to discuss. I won’t intrude further.”

With that, she bowed. Without waiting for their reactions, she turned and returned to her own room.

Inside the room, the tea on the table was still warm. The lingering glow of the sunset streamed through the window, diffused by the rising mist from the tea.

Her vision slightly blurred. Bai Yuan sat at the table and closed her eyes.

She had no idea when Qian Ying had broken through this bottleneck in her previous life. She only knew that even a decade later, the Second Madam of the Yang family was still some distance from taking that final step. Otherwise, she wouldn’t have been caught off guard by Bai Yuan’s ambush amidst the chaotic army back then.

But this time, she thought, things would surely be different.

After all, she had done a good deed, hadn’t she?

Bai Yuan opened her eyes, gazing into an unknown distance. She picked up the teacup, paused for a moment, then tilted her head back and drained it.

The fragrant tea flowed down her throat and into her body, a warm sensation slowly permeating outwards. Prompted by this, a spiritual energy, previously dormant within her, suddenly began to surge.

A faint sound of surging tides echoed in her ears.

‘This is…’

Bai Yuan was initially startled, then carefully examined it. She realized—it was the benefit gained after “falling prey” to the alcohol last night?

The power of the spiritual elixir, crafted from over a dozen rare heavenly treasures meticulously combined and refined by a master alchemist using a unique technique involving the so-called “fire in water,” was originally meant to slowly disperse throughout the body during cultivation, mellow and gentle, without any trace of artifice. Clearly, only Yin Shuang in Tianhe Gate currently possessed such ability. However, today, it was suddenly stimulated by some unforeseen trigger.

Waves of medicinal power surged, driving the tides to grow even more turbulent and mighty.

Bai Yuan did not forcefully suppress it. Instead, following that faint spark of intuition, she immersed herself in her inner landscape.

Azure waves rolled sky-high, crashing against the reefs in successive surges, churning up countless sprays of white foam.

The low-lying fortress on the reef shore, though still rudimentary, was incredibly solid. It was thoroughly imbued with rich spiritual light, standing unmoving amidst the towering waves. In fact, with each successive impact of the waves, it seemed to subtly rise.

‘This… could this be… a fortuitous encounter?’

For a moment, Bai Yuan was speechless. In her previous life, ever since that ‘system’ thing left, she had never had such luck. Everything had to be fought for and seized by herself. Every breakthrough, every hurdle, often required several times the effort of an ordinary person to achieve any success.

She had long grown accustomed to this.

She hadn’t expected to encounter such a thing today.

Such thoughts merely flickered through her mind. Patiently waiting in cultivation, deeply cultivating her foundation, and then exerting all her strength to seize every possible opportunity—this had long become an instinct ingrained in her bones.

With a shift of her thoughts, the technique she had mentally rehearsed and calculated countless times was activated.

A faint, ethereal clear light emanated from the fortress, illuminating the void.

Within the clear light’s embrace, the countless waves crashing against the reef suddenly receded, as if all their power had been drained by some strange force in an instant.

Further away, beyond the reach of the clear light, the tides, recoiling from this force, surged violently, rising and falling relentlessly. At times, they stood like sheer cliffs; at others, they plunged into abyssal depths.

They churned and tumbled, boiling over, yet they could never cross that single step beyond the clear light.

As if in resonance, simultaneously with the clear light’s bloom, the runes covering the fortress walls lit up layer by layer, dazzling brilliantly. They flowed like water, connecting, gathering, and interlocking, forming concentric rings. Ultimately, they coalesced into a hollow cylindrical phantom.

It was several zhang long, angled towards the sky, perfectly fitting the previously empty cannon emplacement without the slightest gap.

Everything unfolded with astonishing smoothness.

Filled with emotion, Bai Yuan’s divine sense descended, settling upon the fortress walls. She gazed silently at the illusory form before her, then raised her hand, making a gesture as if lightly tracing with a brush.

Amidst the misty, clear light, a Daoist true character slowly materialized in the void. It then drifted down, merging with the phantom.

“Boom—”

A massive cannon, entirely composed of clear light, solidified and settled into its emplacement, connecting and intertwining with the surrounding rune arrays and spiritual mechanisms to become one.

On the cannon’s body, the character for “Slay” glowed brilliantly.

Its name was—the Grand Abyss Demon Slaying Cannon.