Chapter 22: Dying in the Sunlight

Wang Wu was overcome with immense excitement. Such an expert was akin to a terrestrial immortal—a being he had never dreamed he would encounter in his lifetime. He took a deep breath and said, "In a manual left by my ancestors, I once read a phrase: 'Once the mysterious pass is found, internal energy may be transmuted into mana.'"

"Where is this mysterious pass?" Qin Yuan asked, frowning.

"The manual contained a four-line verse," Wang Wu added:
"Upon entering the womb, the breath settles without a trace,
Internal reflection finds stillness, the heart casts no shadow.
Reborn, one sheds the dust to forge a new foundation,
A single awakening of the spirit illuminates the Great Void."

Qin Yuan pondered these lines repeatedly in his mind, but the meaning remained elusive.

"Oh, right! My master once said that when the mysterious pass is opened, it is like the sun at high noon—the spirit alone shines with brilliance."

"Like the sun at high noon, the spirit alone shines with brilliance. Like the sun at high noon, the spirit alone shines with brilliance..." Qin Yuan mused for a moment, then attempted to gather the vital energy within his body, driving it to surge repeatedly.

He began with the Dantian acupoint. After one attempt, he found nothing unusual, save for the pain. Acupoints are delicate; only a madman would strike them so recklessly. He turned his focus to other areas.

When a massive surge of internal energy struck the Yintang acupoint—the space between his eyebrows—it was not mere pain, but a sharp, piercing sensation, as if a steel needle had driven through his skull. Suddenly, a dull thud echoed within.

*Ugh.*

Gritting his teeth against the piercing agony, Qin Yuan continued the assault. Once, twice, three times... *Boom!* The space between his eyebrows began to glow with a brilliant, divine radiance, as if he were a god or a Buddha.

At the same moment, a void appeared where his Dantian had been, and his millennium of internal energy automatically poured into it. Instantly, it began to churn like boiling water. In a short time, only one percent of the original volume remained.

"The quantity has decreased, but the quality has been elevated."
"This space must be what is known as the Sea of Qi."

Qin Yuan lowered his head to smell himself. Instead of the foul stench described in novels after a physical rebirth, he emitted a faint, pleasant fragrance.

Wait, the two options in his mind had changed. The original, "Immortality and 100 days of internal energy per day," had become "Immortality and 10 days of mana per day."

Had the hundredfold multiplier become a tenfold one? No, the cheat hadn't changed; only the unit had. And exchanging one for ten was still a massive bargain. Anyone with half a brain would know that ten days of internal energy could never equal one day of mana.

"Senior, are you still there?" Wang Wu’s voice broke the silence. Because Qin Yuan had been still for so long, Wang Wu feared he had already left.

"I am here," Qin Yuan replied.

"Senior, you... you succeeded!" Wang Wu was deeply moved, as if he were the one who had achieved the breakthrough.

"I suppose so." As Qin Yuan spoke, he appeared outside the cell.

His current appearance was that of an elderly man with white hair and a youthful complexion. Even his own mother would not recognize him, let alone Wang Wu.

"I shall save you and get you out of here."

"There is no need," Wang Wu replied, shaking his head with a bitter smile.

"Why?" Qin Yuan asked, perplexed. After being trapped for ten years, should he not be desperate for freedom?

"I am dying."

Qin Yuan listened closely to Wang Wu's heartbeat; indeed, the man was failing. He had previously assumed it was merely exhaustion.

"Senior, may I ask one favor of you?"

"Speak."

"Please bury me in the cave on the sunny side of the mountain. I have spent ten years underground, and I have grown to fear the darkness."

Qin Yuan understood. Had he been buried underground for a decade without seeing the light of day, he too would suffer from severe psychological trauma.

"I promise you. But you must also do something for me: kill a man."

"I cannot even kill a chicken in my current state," Wang Wu said, looking distressed.

"I will lend you my strength."

Qin Yuan appeared directly before Wang Wu and pointed a finger through the air toward his Dantian. A strand of mana surged into him. The man who had been on the brink of death began to swell with power, his aura growing formidable.

"This is... mana," Wang Wu gasped in awe. He had spent his entire life chasing something he never attained, only to possess it in such a manner. It was a life not lived in vain.

*Bang!*

Wang Wu easily shattered his chains and asked, "Whom shall I kill?"

"Cell number sixteen, Yellow block. Wang Jixin." A man like Wang Jixin, who appeared so honest and upright, was a scourge that would only cause trouble if left alive.

***

In the tidy, clean cell of Yellow-16, Wang Jixin was enjoying the water chestnut cakes sent by Prince Gong that afternoon. Thinking of the various courtesies shown to him by the Prince over these past few days, Wang Jixin revealed a knowing smile.

After finishing the pastry, he took a sip of the top-grade Silver Needle tea—also a gift from the Prince, said to be worth two hundred taels of silver per ounce. He muttered to himself, "Perhaps, once the uprising succeeds, we need not rely entirely on force to overthrow the Great Hun. We might establish a new nation through negotiation."

He stood up, walked to his desk—which was neatly arranged with brushes, ink, paper, and an inkstone—and closed his eyes to gather his thoughts. He then picked up a brush and began to write his latest insights on a sheet of spread-out rice paper. He would pause occasionally to think, scrubbing out parts of what he had written to rewrite them.

*Bang!*

The cell door was kicked open violently.

Wang Jixin looked up, displeased; he hated being interrupted while writing. When he saw that the intruder was a skin-and-bones prisoner dressed in blood-stained rags, his expression turned wary.

"Who are you?"

"I am the one who has come to kill you."

Wang Wu struck out with a simple blow through the air, shattering Wang Jixin’s skull. He then turned and fled toward the prison exit.

Wang Jixin lay on the floor, his eyes wide open, staring in death.

***

Following this, Wang Wu, relying on the mana gifted by Qin Yuan, cut down anyone who stood in his path. By the time Wei Ting received the news and rushed over with his blade, Wang Wu had long since escaped with Qin Yuan’s assistance.

"Damn it!" Wei Ting slashed the great gate of the dungeon to pieces. "Mobilize the entire army! Even if you have to turn the entire capital region upside down, find Wang Wu!" he roared at his subordinates.

***

North of the capital, in the Yanshan Mountains where the earth was blanketed in withered yellow leaves, a cave faced the rising sun, carved into the side of a sheer, barren cliff.

"From now on, you will be bathed in sunlight every day," Qin Yuan said.

Leaning against the stone wall, Wang Wu smiled weakly. "Thank you, Senior."

"Do you have any family left?"

Wang Wu shook his head. "Seven years ago, while resisting the Western Sea nations with the Yellow Lotus Sect, they all perished."

Qin Yuan was silent.

"Oh, and Senior... you must be wary of one person."

"Wei Ting?"

"No. It is the Empress Dowager. Wei Ting told me she has mastered the 'Rebirth of the North' technique. It allows her not only to absorb internal energy but also to absorb martial arts techniques..."

Upon hearing this, Qin Yuan cursed inwardly. As someone who relied on a cheat, nothing annoyed him more than someone else having one too.

"I suspect the Empress Dowager has already reached a realm beyond that of a Grandmaster: the Mountain-Sea Realm."

"The Mountain-Sea Realm?" This was the first time Qin Yuan had heard of such a state.

"It takes its name from the idea of 'refining essence into energy' until it is as vast as the mountains and seas. Specifically, it involves refining the Sea of Qi in the body. I read about it in my ancestors' manual. As for what lies beyond that, I do not know. I suspect it involves refining other parts of the body."

Having spoken his last words, Wang Wu began to gasp for breath. The mana provided to him had been nearly exhausted.

"Do not speak anymore," Qin Yuan urged, hurriedly channeling more mana into him.

"No... do not waste your mana," Wang Wu said, offering a faint smile. Remembering something, he gasped, "If... if my brother, Huo Junqing, falls into Wei Ting's hands, please... save his life."

"I will," Qin Yuan promised without hesitation. Wang Wu had helped him so much; saving a friend was the least he could do.

Just then, the orange sun rose from the east, and a ray of light fell upon Qin Yuan’s face.

"The sun is rising," Qin Yuan said, looking toward Wang Wu.

The latter’s head had already slumped forward, as if he had simply fallen asleep.