Volcanic Age

"Whoo!"

His breathing patterns started changing.

Due to altering my body's constitution, I've consumed most of the core's qi. The consumption is quite large.

A physique immune to over a thousand types of poisons—this kind of constitution hardly appeared innately and was mostly human-made. Even most poison cultivators struggled to attain such a state after years of research. A body impervious to poisons without needing to neutralize or block them out with qi? There was no way such a constitution was easily created.

Hm, the core still has some qi left. Well then, what do I do with this?

Zhou Xuchuan pondered, maintaining his breathing.

I can reach the Harmony Realm just by increasing the quantity of my qi, or I can try to aim for Bodily Reformation.

However, he lacked the qi to do both, requiring the energy from the Seven-horned Serpent's core.

Harmony Realm or Bodily Reformation. Which one do I do first?

There was a Millennium Snow Ginseng in the Great Snowy Mountains anyway. Absorbing that would allow him to resolve one of them, but the issue was that the order he did them mattered.

Bodily Reformation came with numerous changes, with the best of them being a healthy body and an excellent physique. The body would become stronger, aging would be reversed, illnesses would disappear, and there was also increased muscle density.

On top of that, a reformed body had the perfect balance and talent to train martial arts. Putting everything aside, a higher compatibility with martial arts was the most important as it increased the rate of cultivation.

It won't take too long to deal with the matters in the Great Snowy Mountains, at least two or three months.

Even if he failed to discover a Millennium Snow Ginseng, he would have to return to the central plains because of the Fiend Demon's Tomb. It wouldn't matter even if his cultivation didn't increase during this period, it wasn't like his speed would slow down.

He didn't hesitate for long—or more precisely, he didn't have much time to hesitate. He could risk the core's energy dissipating if he delayed things any further.

Setting aside thoughts of Bodily Reformation, Zhou Xuchuan started to focus on reaching the Harmony Realm.

Hm, should I bring up the sensation from back then?

It was a nostalgic sensation, and it wasn't that hard to bring it up again. In the face of death, he had put everything down, thinking that he didn't have long left to live and accepted his fate.

Although it was brief, the moment he put everything down, he obtained the one thing he dearly wished for. He could never forget the sensation he had back then.

As Zhou Xuchuan already had the insights, he didn't have any difficulties. All he needed was the necessary level of cultivation and internal qi, and now he fulfilled all the criteria.

It felt something like this, right?

The bottleneck to reach the Harmony Realm was high, and the path was undeniably complex. There was a reason many cultivators failed to reach that realm. Reaching the Harmony Realm required a deep understanding, luck, and a spark of enlightenment. Teaching it was difficult, and explaining it in words was even harder.

Zhou Xuchuan just let his body take over, allowing his memories and sensations from the last time to guide him.

Before he knew it, he had fallen asleep. When he woke up, his eyes gleamed in tranquility.

"Hmm."

He checked his body. The qi he got from the Seven-horned Serpent's core was gone, but his qi didn't increase by much. However, something had changed, and he could feel it.

Zhou Xuchuan got out of bed and picked up the sword he had placed on the ground. He looked at his reflection on the blade of his sword.

"Phew."

He took a deep breath and tried imbuing his qi. A thin layer of qi waved around his sword; this was his sword qi. As he waved his sword, the qi trailed along, still formless.

After staring at Frostedge covered in sword qi for a while, he narrowed his eyes and imbued his qi into the sword again before manipulating it.

The internal qi he had accumulated in his dantian surged. The true qi that stemmed from below his navel flowed through the meridians in his shoulder, arm, and hand before ultimately reaching the sword.

The imbuing of true qi continued, and as the density of qi increased, the qi's form became more distinct.

Pzzzt!

"Done." Zhou Xuchuan smiled in satisfaction.

Proof of the Harmony Realm was right before him, in the form of a sword surrounded by augmented qi. Based on how it was still blue and not purple, it seemed that he had managed to avoid accidentally advancing the stages of the arts he had learned by reaching the new realm. Although he had a slow progression with the Violet Haze Divine Art, he didn't want to reach full mastery too quickly because of the traits it had.

He had now reached the Harmony Realm, a dream for most cultivators. Any other cultivator would be dazed due to the shock of the enlightenment, but he was an exception. He had already experienced it once, so it happened very quietly.

"How long has it been?"

He could tell that he had slept, but he couldn't tell for how long. He opened the door to go downstairs and check.

"Young Master!"

When he went down, he found the uneasy clerk who smiled when he saw him. Zhou Xuchuan could tell from the changes in his expression that reaching the Harmony Realm had taken longer than expected.

"How long has it been since I went into the room?"

"Three days. I was worried sick and thought something had happened to you. I was going to contact the head merchant if you still hadn't come out by tomorrow."

It was a relief that Zhou Xuchuan had told him not to come inside even after a full day. Otherwise, he might have been interrupted midway and faced trouble.

"Sorry to make you worry. What about the horns?"

"I retrieved them the day after you arrived. I just heard the news that the Ten Gale Swordsmen will arrive the day after tomorrow, but…"

"Good work. I'll tell the head merchant about your feats."

Three days was just the right amount of time. If it had taken a week or more, he might have had to change his plans.

"I'm heading to Tibet. I plan to visit this place when I return, so please wait until then."

Zhou Xuchuan picked up a candied fruit from the counter and took a bite. On his back was a backpack with daily necessities and some rations.

The clerk asked curiously after looking at his bag, "Do you plan to leave straight away? It won't take long for the Ten Gale Swordsmen to arrive…"

"It's okay. I can't postpone things anymore, and I don't have business with them either. Thank you for the comfortable stay."

He had practically been sleeping for three days straight, so he wasn't tired. His body felt as light as a feather. It seemed that the mental pressure of carrying the horns without anyone's notice was quite large. Finally reaching the Harmony Realm and unburdening himself felt like a weight lifted off his shoulders.

*

The "Great Snowy Mountains" as it is called in the Central Plains referred to the Chomolungma or Mount Everest in the southern regions of Tibet. This mountain, located west from Dehong, which was in the northernmost regions of Yunnan, was so high that it was sometimes called the roof of the world.

Tibet was mostly made up of highlands, which were connected to the treacherous mountain ranges, with many peaks with glacial snow reaching over seven thousand meters, and towering into the skies. The biting cold and the frosty winds seemed to bar any humans from entry.

In the said mountains came a man from the Central Plains.

"What the heck? It's not even that cold. I put this on for nothing." remarked Zhou Xuchuan, exhaling visible puffs of breath. He was wearing cold-resistant clothing made of bearskin over his usual Daoist robes. It was given to him by the clerk of the clothing store before he came to Tibet.

He accepted it because he couldn't refuse his kind gesture and put it on. However, just as he had expected, he didn't feel cold at all.

"The wind is pretty chilly, but I think it's just the perfect weather for a walk."

What he said was a ludicrous notion for anyone else. Sure, the weather was relatively calm, considering that he was in the Great Snowy Mountains, but the biting chill in the wind was undeniable.

Although it wasn't winter all year round like the northern seas, the average temperature was still on the lower side, especially because of the high altitude in the Great Snowy Mountains. The higher he climbed, the closer it would be to the Northern Seas.

He was just at the foot of the Great Snowy Mountains, so it was definitely less cold here. It also wasn't winter, so the cold wasn't as harsh. Yet, he was still grateful for the frost-resistant clothing.

It wasn't that it was warm or that his senses had become numb. Rather, it was all thanks to his resistance to extreme weather.

"This is Mother Nature, huh. It just makes me realize how small I am."

Zhou Xuchuan's hands were clasped behind his back as he observed the mountains. What he saw was just the tip of the iceberg.

"Okay then. Let's climb."

Strong winds tousled his hair.

"The Millennium Snow Ginseng supposedly lies near the corpses frequently found at the peak of the mountain. I still have a long way to go."

The climb began. He trekked, each step crunching on the snow. He walked toward the tallest peak he could see. Despite the wind, it wasn't that strong.

"Huh?"

About two hours later, he discovered corpses buried under the snow, ranging from skeletons to those partially decomposed or completely frozen. The only thing common about them was that they had lost their lives in this vast snow.

I wonder why those people came here.

There weren't many living creatures in the Great Snowy Mountains since the environment was inhabitable. There were animals and plants at the entrance of the mountains and in the highlands, so there should be no reason for people to come up here in search of food.

His thoughts were abruptly interrupted by a groan.

"Ugggh!"

"Is someone trying to poop?"

He went off on a tangent again.

"Let's not deny reality. It seems I'm not the only one climbing the mountain, but that isn't really good news."

Zhou Xuchuan lightened his weight and moved quietly. He hid his presence as much as possible and even slowed down his breathing.

The fact that he could hear a groan meant that whoever it was wasn't far away from him. He moved cautiously so that he wasn't exposed.

Soon enough, he spotted a figure on all fours. When he concentrated on his hearing, he could even hear the beating of the heart. Although it was faint, it seemed that the person was alive.

"I feel like I got caught up in something I shouldn't have."

He discovered a dying man in the Great Snowy Mountains, and not at the entrance either. The fact that this man made it all the way here meant that he wasn't an ordinary person.

If he were to save that man, he would get caught up in something he didn't want to be a part of. That was just how the martial world worked.

"I wouldn't have had this worry if I didn't see him."

Even as he grumbled, he approached the unconscious man and poked him with his foot. There was no response. There was no sign of the man hiding a weapon and trying to attack him either

Zhou Xuchuan put the man on his back.

"Dammit."

He cursed at the thought of climbing down again.

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