Chapter 7 The Pagoda Reaching the Heavens

Shi Buyi was looking around anxiously when a sudden premonition of danger struck him. He instinctively looked up just in time to hear a thunderous explosion right beside his ears. Over a dozen golden lightning bolts crashed down directly from above. Caught completely off guard, Shi Buyi was struck by the lightning, his entire body shuddering heavily before crashing onto the ground. Several large bumps were even raised on his head by the lightning strikes.

Immediately afterward, twelve rays of golden light shot simultaneously from the eyes of the six golden kylins, firmly locking onto his body. They immediately lifted the limp Shi Buyi off the ground. Suddenly, one of the golden kylins flickered, darting right in front of Shi Buyi. It opened its mouth to spit out a golden soft rope that bound his body tightly, while raising its front paws—sharp enough to split gold and shatter stone—and lashed down fiercely with glinting, sharp claws.

To everyone's surprise, this strike hit nothing. The kylin paused in confusion, and the next moment, it heard a roar from its companion. Reacting with astonishing speed, the beast whipped around a full 180 degrees. Just as it stood its ground, a loud "thwack" sounded squarely on its forehead, followed by Shi Buyi's regretful voice: "Ah, I forgot! Metal overcomes wood. Dealing with you blockheads made of metal doesn't seem to work with wood-based physical attacks, huh!"

Although Shi Buyi's raw power was not as formidable as Shi Jun's, these tiny, low-grade spiritual souls of smelted gold were still no match for him. The six golden kylins had merely seized the initiative just now; now that their advantage was completely lost, Shi Buyi instantly began to assert his dominance. Stretching out his small hand with a crisp "pop" sound, a bright yellow flame flared up in the palm of his hand. Pouting his lips, he gave it a gentle blow, and the flame instantly scattered in all directions, transforming into millions of rotating golden stars that shot outward. The largest cluster of them struck dead-center on the golden kylin that had just ambushed him.

The moment the golden kylin came into contact with those flames, it immediately burst into a raging fire, its entire body covered in a glowing crimson hue. The golden kylin could no longer endure this; although the flames unleashed by Shi Buyi were few in number, they were the "Heavenly Flames" of the Demon Realm—the most difficult to refine. Also known as "Flying Flowers Everywhere at the Edge of the World," they were created thousands of years ago by Jiang Tianya, a prodigy of the Demon Realm, and belonged to an extremely difficult offensive spell to master. A single tiny golden flame would transform into ten thousand shooting stars to attack the target simultaneously. Because this spell did not distinguish between friend and foe once cast, it was a technique that even beings at the Heavenly Demon and Earthly Demon levels in the Demon Realm found extremely difficult to master. Yet, Shi Buyi had executed it with effortless ease. Naturally, his current abilities were still limited; if he were to use it properly, it was feared that the entire smelted gold domain where he currently resided would be completely incinerated into ashes.

"Haha... Awesome!" Watching the golden kylin charging at the very front shrink into a tiny lump within a split second consumed by the Heavenly Flames, Shi Buyi jumped for joy. "It worked, it worked! Take that, you bad guy!"

Shi Buyi was Shi Jun's primordial spirit avatar, but why could he use spells from the Demon Realm? As it turned out, before this little fellow left Shi Jun's body, besides receiving a replenishment of Nisu's primordial spirit power, he had also obtained an even more formidable power—at that time, those three forces were modifying Shi Jun's body with their respective attributes, and along the way, they had also poured a portion of their own cultivation into Shi Buyi's body.

Although these three forces (or rather, the three primordial spirits) had lost all memories of their past lives, they retained immense cultivation and instincts. In their view, Shi Jun as their host was utterly troublesome. It would be fine if he just remained an ordinary mortal, but he insisted on becoming a nether-enforcer, running around everywhere without a care in the world—bursting into the Nether Realm one moment and chasing after ghost spirits the next, nearly getting himself killed on several occasions.

That aside, his heart loved to shine brightly day and night, constantly attracting large swarms of prawn soldiers and crab generals in pursuit. One misstep and he would be wiped out, taking all three of them down with him. The only viable plan at present was, firstly, to find a way to make Shi Jun grow stronger as quickly as possible, and secondly, to conceal that disaster-prone heart of Shi Jun's.

These three forces came from different origins and each possessed powerful cultivation and strength. Thus, without his own knowledge, Shi Jun had undergone a complete rebirth, unexpectedly acquiring the abilities of the Monster, Nether, Immortal, and Demon Realms. Shi Buyi naturally shared in the benefits, except that Shi Jun remained completely unaware and had summoned him out before the three forces could finish their operation; otherwise, the power of this tiny avatar would have been far greater than this.

Although Shi Jun still had no idea what had happened to him nor how to manipulate his newly acquired powers, Shi Buyi had sensed this through the spiritual awareness of the magic treasures themselves, which was why he handled the Pagoda Reaching to the Sky with such practiced ease.

* * * * * * * *

Seeing Shi Buyi display such mighty prowess, it was the Pagoda Reaching to the Sky's turn to panic. Sensing that the situation was turning ominous, it instinctively threw out every single trump card it had left in reserve—all at once, lightning and spell-arrows from all directions swarmed like locust plagues, mixed with all kinds of bizarre techniques, catching Shi Buyi off guard as he proudly puffed out his little belly and revelled in his triumph.

As the saying goes, two fists are no match for four hands. Furthermore, he had not yet gained much practical combat experience from Shi Jun, and for a moment he couldn't recall which techniques to use. Fortunately, his quick-witted mind worked fast; seeing that he had become the sole target of numerous offensive spells, he simply flew like lightning without letting his feet touch the ground, dashed straight to the edge of the platform, and leaped off without a second thought.

With a heavy "thud," Shi Buyi's bottom slammed hard onto the metal floor. A powerful force suddenly surged upward, and before Shi Buyi could even look around to see where he had arrived, he was swept up by this mighty force and tossed down onto the ground with another "thud." Just as he straightened himself up, he saw the black and white dual energies of the "Reversal of Heaven and Earth" swirling and roaring straight toward him!

"Oh mother!" Shi Buyi let out a strange cry of bitter distress. As Shi Jun's avatar, he naturally inherited all of Shi Jun's experiences and memories, and he was well aware of how terrifying the "Reversal of Heaven and Earth" could be. However, he was still not entirely certain of his own current limits. In the human realm and the Stone Forest Mountains, the "Reversal of Heaven and Earth" had twice displayed its might, and deep down, Shi Buyi harbored a certain wariness toward it.

Yet Shi Buyi did not know that the "Reversal of Heaven and Earth" unleashed by the Pagoda Reaching to the Sky was vastly inferior to Little Tian's version; as long as he launched a proper counterattack, he would suffer no harm at all.

While he was hesitating in alarm, the black and white dual-colored Qi currents had already closed in. Thinking that preserving his life took precedence, Shi Buyi hastily struck out in a rush with a "Mountain-Splitting" technique—this was an Immortal Realm spell. A fan-shaped sheet of black Qi spread from his palm, abruptly cutting into a sharp blade-like radiance that slashed straight across the waist of the "Reversal of Heaven and Earth" with the speed of thunder. With a series of loud cracking explosions, the "Reversal of Heaven and Earth" was severed right at the waist. Its lower half instantly became paralyzed, and the two whirlwinds broke apart into black and white Qi that scattered in all directions, causing the razor-sharp metal Qi wrapped within them to instantly dissipate. Meanwhile, its upper half wobbled and flew about erratically like a drunkard, but it clearly lost its previous target and momentum, becoming spent force. After crashing violently against the tower body a few times, it plummeted down.

Although the Pagoda Reaching to the Sky had tasted bitterness, it remained unrepentant. The moment the "Reversal of Heaven and Earth" failed, it immediately whipped up a storm of golden sand. Shi Buyi, who was still celebrating his successful disruption of the "Reversal of Heaven and Earth," suddenly felt the ground beneath his feet turn soft. His body plummeted rapidly as a massive force pressed down from above.

By this time, Shi Buyi's confidence had soared greatly. He thought to himself: *This is a great chance to practice and see just how powerful the things I learned from Shi Jun really are!* Pushing downward with his outstretched hand, his body soared into the air as two energy spheres—one cyan and one red—instantly gathered in his palms. He laughed heartily, "Want to fight me? Fine! Let me, your grandpa, give you a taste of some color!"

In an instant, non-stop clanging and chiming echoed throughout the Pagoda Reaching to the Sky, accompanied by overlapping lights and shadows. Force fields of various spells battered the tower body into a resounding roar. Having scored a hit, Shi Buyi's confidence doubled, and he frantically unleashed every single offensive and defensive spell he knew all at once. Knowing his opponent was the Pagoda Reaching to the Sky itself, every single move and stance was aimed directly at the tower body. Carried away by the thrill of the moment, the violence-loving little fellow simply flew straight back to the top floor in one breath, testing his spells layer by layer from top to bottom and from all directions, single-mindedly intent on blasting a hole through the tower body to avenge his defeat in the first round and the bruises and bumps he had suffered from the "sneak attacks."

The Pagoda Reaching to the Sky finally could take no more. Just as Shi Buyi was closing his palms around a bowl-sized clump of ominous ghost-slaughter nether-fire, gathering his strength, he heard a voice choked with tears: "Stop hitting, stop hitting! Haven't you hit enough yet? I surrender, alright?"

* * * * * * * *

Although Shi Jun had his back turned to Yinyan, the moment Yinyan leaped forward to attack, a premonition of danger suddenly flared in his heart. Without a second thought, he struck out with a backhanded palm strike that landed squarely on Yinyan's abdomen. With a low, mournful howl, Yinyan's body was sent flying backward, crashing heavily into the mountain wall before dropping down.

Shi Jun abruptly spun around, looking down from above at the curled-up Yinyan, and blurted out without thinking, "What is it, little fellow? Are you still unconvinced?"

The moment the words left his mouth, he felt his heart leap violently, almost as if it were about to fly out of his chest. He froze completely on the spot.

Why would this happen? Why did this sentence sound so familiar? He clearly felt like he had heard it somewhere before—what was going on?

In a flash of lightning, an image suddenly crossed his mind—

Amidst pale blue mist, a tall man in black walked alone with his hands behind his back. Judging from his back, he appeared very young. Behind him, a young woman in cyan quietly followed, holding a small animal in her arms... Shi Jun could not see the faces of the man in black and the woman, but he was startled to discover that the creature resting in the woman's arms was none other than the untransformed Yinyan beast!

Who was he? And who was she? Was it Chiyang?

Before Shi Jun could ponder further, he vaguely saw the Yinyan beast in the woman's arms suddenly leap down, its body swelling violently in an instant. With blood-red eyes locked fiercely onto the man in black ahead, it lunged forward...

The man in black did not even look back, casually flicking out a backhanded palm that sent Yinyan flying far away.

"Yinyan!" the young woman cried out anxiously, rushing to Yinyan's side. "What's wrong with you?"

Shi Jun suffered a violent jolt: Chiyang! It was her; this was her voice! He strained his eyes, desperately trying to see more clearly—that's right, the cyan clothes, the dark braids, the exquisitely delicate face... Only, why did this Chiyang look slightly more youthful, without that cold and haughty demeanor, appearing much more innocent than she did now?

He instinctively took two steps forward, wanting to get a better look, but with a blur before his eyes, the sudden vision inexplicably vanished. He only heard a familiar voice saying softly: "What is it, little fellow? Are you still unconvinced?"

"...still unconvinced?"

"...unconvinced?"

...

The voice of the man in black echoed in the cavernous cave before gradually fading away.

Shi Jun was left in a complete fog of confusion and doubt. Without realizing it, he sat down, staring thoughtfully at Yinyan not far away, and muttered to himself, "Who is he? Why would I say the exact same words?" As he spoke, a sudden thought struck him, and he straightened up, his eyes lighting up.

Perhaps his past life had indeed been with Chiyang? Shi Jun thought silently: *After my reincarnation, I lost my memories and forgot her, while she died without passing through the cycle of reincarnation, lingering in the Nether Realm ever since? Or perhaps she even became the Nether Emperor's girlfriend?*

Ever since he met Chiyang, Shi Jun had unconsciously begun to notice and care about her. In truth, reflecting upon it, the two of them had never even had the time or opportunity to nurture feelings. This unprovoked care sometimes baffled Shi Jun himself, yet emotions could not be suppressed—even when he learned of Chiyang's relationship with the Nether Emperor, he never stopped worrying about her.

As for Chiyang's attitude toward him, it was equally baffling: from her initial condescension and hostility to her later remorse and reconciliation; the look of deep concern Chiyang wore when they first met in the Nether Realm; her anxiety and tension upon hearing his voice in the snow valley secret chamber; and the tears she shed for him when Shi Jun was unaware, which summoned the Silver Hook and ultimately saved his life.

Silver Hook had once said: *"Everything I did is what Chiyang would have done. Those were instinctive reactions that I could not control myself. If that blade had been stabbed into her, she likewise would not have blamed you. If she saw you in danger, she would have similarly sacrificed herself to save you just like this, without a single shred of grievance or regret."*

If things truly were this way, then he believed Chiyang must never have forgotten him; her feelings for him had never changed. It was simply that she resented him for failing to remember the romantic sentiments of yesteryears all these years, which was why she had consistently refused to tell him the whole story...

* * * * * * * *

After standing in a daze for a long while, Shi Jun finally remembered that Yinyan might have been injured by his own hand. He quickly stood up and asked, "Yinyan, how are you?"

Seeing that Yinyan ignored him completely, he couldn't help but offer a wry smile, thinking that it was no wonder the beast didn't like him. Presumably, it blamed him for not seeking out its master all these years.

He immediately stepped forward and, disregarding Yinyan's fierce struggle, firmly grabbed it and probed its internal condition with his spiritual awareness. Finding that Yinyan was indeed quite seriously injured, he said apologetically, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to hurt you. Alright, don't move; I'll heal your injuries right now."

As he spoke, he freed one hand to rummage through his treasure pouch, pulling out a pile of pills. "Take a look! Which of these can treat you? Hurry up and eat them!"

Yinyan closed its eyes and ignored him entirely.

Shi Jun simply let go of Yinyan and said indifferently, "It doesn't matter if you won't eat them. Anyway, Chiyang is already injured and waiting for us to rescue her. If you aren't willing to heal yourself, I have no choice but to leave you be. However, when we encounter danger later and you can't help out, don't blame me." With that, he turned around and walked straight toward Nisu's uncollected treasure hoard.

Before he had walked even a few steps, he heard the sound of Yinyan pawing at the pills on the ground behind him, and he smiled faintly.

In a short while, Shi Jun gathered the remaining pills and books into his treasure pouch. Finally, he picked up the Shennong Cauldron and examined it closely—it was a small bronze cauldron about the size of a palm. The inside had been polished until it gleamed brightly, but the outside was dilapidated and covered in green bronze patina, as if it had not been wiped or maintained for years. It looked completely ordinary and unremarkable. The only feature distinguishing it from ordinary cauldrons was that this little cauldron possessed five legs, each shaped differently: one looked like a human foot, another like a tree root, a third like the front half of a sharp sword, a fourth like a water droplet, and the last one was cast from layers upon layers of overlapping flames.

*Metal, wood, water, fire, earth...* Shi Jun thought to himself: *That's right, this little cauldron can refine pills for all five realms, which is why it has such a strange shape. Nisu once told me to start my cultivation from earth-type spells to lay a solid foundation. After returning to the human realm, I should also carefully study the books he left behind; otherwise, getting into fights later will become rather troublesome.*

Through the battle in the Stone Forest Mountains, Shi Jun realized that his abilities truly needed to be improved as quickly as possible. Up to this point, he felt that the only thing he could boast about was his exceptional luck—every time a crisis struck, something would always happen to turn misfortune into safety. But whose good luck would follow them forever? Sooner or later, he would have to rely on his own strength to resolve problems; otherwise, charging recklessly through these five realms would be tantamount to handing his life over to others on a platter! Moreover, he wasn't as diligent in studying and cultivating as Hu Hai—in fact, he hadn't even had the opportunity; one sudden event after another had completely disrupted his normal life, and he hadn't even been to school for a long time.

At this thought, Shi Jun's heart suddenly stirred slightly: Just now, when Yinyan suddenly launched a vicious attack behind him, countless thoughts had flashed through his mind in an instant. Various spells, incantations, and counter-attack techniques had flooded in, the vast majority of which he had never seen before...

And the palm strike he had casually released, upon recollection, seemed to be a physical counterattack from the Monster Realm, mingled with a touch of the Demon Realm's "Soul-Searching Hand." Before Shi Jun could even react as to how he knew of such a thing as the "Soul-Searching Hand," relevant information about this technique flashed immediately in his mind: *"Soul-Searching Hand," an extremely rare semi-offensive physical technique in the Demon Realm. Because it was simple and easy to master, it became one of the mandatory initial practice techniques for beginners in the Demon Realm. It was one of the stances of the "Chaotic Sun Heart Manual," executed by striking out with minimal fire-attribute power combined with mighty palm force, completely devoid of any defensive measures. It was suitable only for general combat and sparring, and absolutely unsuitable for dangerous locations...*

As if an unseen mentor was earnestly imparting instructions by his ear, towering waves surged in Shi Jun's heart in an instant. Those powers bestowed by the three forces instantly awakened, continuously swimming within his body, causing his physique to tremble uncontrollably. His dark brown eyes instantly shot out two piercing beams of black light that looked almost substantive, and every single bone and inch of skin in his body brimmed with vitality. This power was so immense that it was practically about to seep out from his every pore. In an instant, a faint layer of water mist had enveloped his body, and he felt so full of energy that he suddenly had an impulse to roar at the top of his lungs. Shi Jun instinctively clenched his fists to steady his mind, but in the end, he could not suppress it. Prompted by what felt like someone urging him from beside his ear, he suddenly stepped off the ground without a second thought, instantly soaring diagonally into the air with a loud roar. His body twisted and reversed in mid-air as he formed hand seals and struck upward—

First came a deafening "boom," followed immediately by a continuous series of explosive sounds. The ceiling of the previously sealed cave was abruptly blasted through, creating a massive hole ten meters thick. Seeing the situation turn critical, Yinyan immediately flapped its wings and took flight, dragging its slightly sluggish body to hide far away in a corner. Shi Jun had never expected that the two punches he threw in his excitement would possess such terrifying might. Hanging suspended in mid-air, he suddenly saw dirt, rocks, tree bark, grass roots, and sticky mud falling endlessly from overhead. Failing to dodge in time, he was caught squarely by the downpour and buried head-on.

When Yinyan stabilized itself and looked over, it discovered that Shi Jun had vanished. He had been dragged down to the ground by those rocks and mud, buried deep inside a small earthen mound about five meters square.

"..." Yinyan stared blankly at the small earthen mound, utterly bewildered and having no idea what kind of mischief Shi Jun was up to.

Just at that moment, a "whoosh" sounded as a large group of things fell down from the hole overhead. Yinyan looked over alertly, only to realize that this flock of "things" hadn't fallen in by accident—they had charged right in. It was none other than the group of blue spirits that had been trailing Shi Jun all along. Closely following behind them was a person, who naturally was Lie Jin, having tracked the blue spirits here.

* * * * * * * *

"Surrendered?" Shi Buyi cackled triumphantly. "Of course not! At the very least, I have to knock a dozen large bumps onto your body for it to count!"

The Pagoda Reaching to the Sky groaned in pain, lamenting in a muffled, aggrieved tone: "Why must you do this? What's the point? Oh hero, grievances are best resolved rather than perpetuated, and we have no deep-seated enmity between us! Everything was entirely the scheming of that fellow Little Tian; if it weren't for his instigation, I would never have dared to offend you!"

"What?" Shi Buyi paused. At this moment, he was thoroughly enjoying the fight and really didn't want to stop. The ominous ghost-slaughter nether-fire flickered in his hand. He hesitated for a moment, ultimately choosing not to put it away, and shouted loudly, "What on earth is going on? Spill it! Confess and you'll be treated leniently; resist and you'll suffer!" He even dug up the ancient, dusty slogans from Shi Jun's memories.

To save its own skin, the Pagoda Reaching to the Sky couldn't care less about anything else at this point. It and Little Tian were originally born of the same origin and shared a linked consciousness, so it naturally knew all about Little Tian's little motives in luring Shi Buyi inside. Thus, it poured out everything like beans spilling from a bamboo tube, throwing in a whole string of Little Tian's malicious deeds for good measure. Seeing Shi Buyi hopping mad with anger, it didn't forget to fan the flames at the end: "Now you know, right? Little Tian is not a good person at all! He's harboring malicious intentions! Of course, I am also guilty of a million crimes for attacking you—truly, I am deeply, gravely guilty! How about this: to severely punish such despicable behavior of ours, heroic sir, why don't you just burn it and me to ashes together? It's just that our constitutions are exceptionally sturdy, and ordinary fire can't do anything to us. Can you summon a Gold-Smelting Beast? Using it to deal with the two of us would yield the absolute best results! It's much more effective than that so-called Boundless True Fire! Or should I just tell you the incantation?"

This display of "sincerity" from the Pagoda Reaching to the Sky left Shi Buyi full of suspicion. He blinked his eyes and remained silent for a long time—although he didn't know what deep enmity existed between the Pagoda Reaching to the Sky and Little Tian, he didn't believe this metal blockhead could be so kind and dutiful as to propose such a "death to atone for sins" method purely out of remorse, dragging Little Tian down with it while eagerly offering up the spell to kill them both.

Rolling his eyes, Shi Buyi smiled mischievously, looking thoroughly "sinister" as he said, "You're overestimating yourself, aren't you? Do you really expect to instruct me on how to do things? Don't forget, you're the one who lost to me!"

"Yes, yes, yes! You are brilliant and martial, possessing extraordinary skills—truly a sight to look up to like high mountains and flowing rivers... Ah-hem! Magnificently peerless, with an abyss-like depth... wait, standing like a towering abyss! In short, this little one admires you to the utmost!" The Pagoda Reaching to the Sky could no longer afford any pride, racking its brains to scrape together every flattery-sounding idiom it knew to express its admiration for Shi Buyi.

Shi Buyi was immensely pleased, accepting all the flattery wholesale. He nodded and said, "For you blockhead to actually recognize my prowess, you're not entirely hopeless. Still, don't think you can pull a fast one on me with this. Speak! What on earth is going on between you and Little Tian? If there is even a single word of falsehood, see if I don't punch a dozen transparent holes through you!"

"Please don't, hero!" The Pagoda Reaching to the Sky hadn't expected Shi Buyi to remain so clear-headed after absorbing so many flattering remarks. Having spent many years with Immortal Master Baopu, the immortals it had seen would usually shower Baopu with ten thousand hats the moment they met him; though it didn't work every time, it often managed to coax old man Baopu into a slight smile, and Venerable Siku in particular was a fellow with a honeyed mouth. The reason it had managed to secure the smelted gold domain was largely thanks to that glib tongue of its own.

Who would have thought that this little fellow before it had listened to all the sweet words yet showed no intention of stopping whatsoever? While speaking, he continued to toy with that clump of ominous ghost-slaughter nether-fire in his palm. Though the Pagoda Reaching to the Sky didn't recognize that it came from the Demon Realm, it felt an instinctive terror. Hardening its heart, it spilled the beans in a rush and finally revealed its long-standing history and grievances with Little Tian.