360: Chapter 360 A Snap of the Finger Brings an Opportunity, the Cloud Ripples Secret Realm First Appears

"Bring it here, let me see."

Zhou Wannian's long, fair finger pointed nonchalantly at the old Jade Slip at Sect Master Tianshuzi's waist.

On the muddy street, the air seemed to have been sucked dry.

Those Mortals and low-level Cultivators lying in the puddles were even careful with their breathing.

Sect Master Tianshuzi's whole body shook as he looked down, following Zhou Wannian's finger.

That Jade Slip?

That was a Sect secret passed down orally through generations of the Xuantian Taoist Sect's Sect Masters, never to be revealed! The Jade Slip was neither gold nor jade, cold to the touch; it contained no Cultivation Technique, only a fragmented map and a vague ancient prophecy.

Sect Master Tianshuzi did not hesitate in the slightest.

After witnessing the tragic scene of the Zhou Tian Instrument shattering and Elder Tianming's sudden death, his so-called dignity as a Sect Master had long been crushed into the mud.

His hands trembled as he untied the Jade Slip from his waist, holding it like a piece of scalding hot charcoal.

He didn't dare to stand up, so he knelt in the muddy water and moved toward the inn's threshold step by step on his knees.

"Senior... this is a fragmented slip left by our Sect's first Ancestral Master..."

Sect Master Tianshuzi held the Jade Slip high above his head, his voice hoarse, as the muddy water on his forehead dripped onto the ground from the tip of his nose. "If Senior is interested, please take it..."

Zhou Wannian was still sitting on that slightly wobbly wooden stool.

He didn't reach out to take it.

He merely cast a faint, deep glance at the Jade Slip.

One look.

Just one single look.

A meaningful, faint smile curled at the corner of Zhou Wannian's mouth.

"That first Ancestral Master of yours was quite the daydreamer." Zhou Wannian picked up the chipped teacup and blew on the murky tea. "Treating this place as a treasure land of an Immortal's remains? It's truly like a blind man touching an elephant, utterly ridiculous."

Sect Master Tianshuzi lay prostrate on the ground, not daring to breathe.

This was the top secret left by the founding ancestor of their Xuantian Taoist Sect! Yet in this young man's mouth, it became a daydream?

"However..." Zhou Wannian put down the teacup and tapped his index finger twice on the rough wooden table, "the aura clinging to this is somewhat interesting. It smells a bit like some residue I crushed a while ago."

He looked at Sect Master Tianshuzi, his gaze calm.

"Which direction is this forest drawn on the stone?"

Sect Master Tianshuzi felt as if he had been granted a great pardon and hurriedly looked up, though he didn't dare look directly into Zhou Wannian's eyes.

"Re—Reporting to Senior, the place indicated on the Jade Slip is called the 'Yunlan Ancient Land,' and it is in the deepest part of the Yunlan Mountain Range behind this Chunyu City!"

He swallowed hard and added urgently.

"Legend has it that it is shrouded in a gray mist all year round, and the internal Formations are extremely dangerous. Sect Masters of our Sect have tried to enter and investigate over the generations, and several Middle Stage Nascent Soul Seniors even perished there without a trace... To this day, it remains an inaccessible Forbidden Ground!"

"Dangerous Formations?"

Zhou Wannian seemed to have heard something very funny.

The rhythm of his long fingers tapping on the table didn't change, and his tone carried a natural laziness.

"A Bewildering Formation set up with a few pieces of broken wood and rotten stones, and you dare call it dangerous?"

He looked at the trembling Sect Master Tianshuzi lying in the muddy water.

This Late Nascent Soul Stage Cultivator had mottled and impure Spiritual Qi in his body, and his Meridians were even left with hidden injuries from forcibly attempting a Breakthrough to the Soul Transformation Stage.

"You've been stuck at your current Realm for four hundred years, haven't you?" Zhou Wannian asked out of the blue.

Sect Master Tianshuzi's whole body shook as if struck by a bolt of lightning.

He looked up, his face full of horror.

Four hundred and twelve years!

He had been stuck at the Late Nascent Soul Stage for exactly four hundred and twelve years! To achieve a Soul Transformation Breakthrough, he had exhausted the Sect's resources and tried all kinds of Medicinal Pills, yet he still couldn't take that step. Instead, due to Qi Deviation, he had left behind hidden dangers, and his Lifespan was accelerating away.

This matter, apart from himself, not even the core Elders of the Sect knew!

"Senior... Senior is divinely insightful!" Sect Master Tianshuzi's voice trembled.

Zhou Wannian picked up the teacup and took a light sip of the bitter tea dregs.

"It's not that I'm divinely insightful; it's that you're as stupid as a pig ramming into a southern wall."

Zhou Wannian's tone was flat, without any sarcasm, only the coldness of stating a fact.

"Your Cultivation Technique emphasizes 'Dao follows nature,' yet you insist on forcibly extracting the Qi of the earth's veins for an empowerment. It's like forcing the water of a river into a small mud pit; you're lucky you didn't explode."

Sect Master Tianshuzi's eyes widened, and his breathing became rapid.

"This... this... Junior is dull-witted, I beg Senior for guidance!"

He suddenly kowtowed in the mud, his forehead hitting the bluestone floor with a thudding sound, blood flowing down with the muddy water.

Zhou Wannian put down the teacup and casually brushed the hem of his green robe.

"Disperse that clump of mixed Earth-attribute Spiritual Qi in your Dantian, and sink your Divine Sense into the Root Chakra. The Spiritual Qi of this heaven and earth is meant for breathing, not for swallowing."

Zhou Wannian's voice wasn't loud, yet it was like a great bell, exploding directly within Sect Master Tianshuzi's Sea of Consciousness.

Sect Master Tianshuzi's entire body trembled violently.

"Disperse the Earth-attribute Spiritual Qi? That was the Foundation he had painstakingly cultivated for hundreds of years!"

But looking at Zhou Wannian's eyes, which were as calm as an ancient well, a sudden surge of wild impulse rose in his heart.

"I'll risk it!"

Sect Master Tianshuzi bit the tip of his tongue and suddenly slapped his Dantian.

"Pfft!"

A large mouthful of black blood, mixed with the smell of earth, sprayed out.

His powerful Late Nascent Soul Stage cultivation base instantly dropped to the Middle Stage of the Nascent Soul.

But.

The moment that clump of mixed Spiritual Qi dispersed.

Sect Master Tianshuzi felt his Meridians, which had been blocked for over four hundred years, suddenly feel like a parched riverbed welcoming spring rain.

Following Zhou Wannian's words, he sank his Divine Sense into the Root Chakra.

"Buzz—"

A faint resonance sounded within his body.

The thin Spiritual Qi in the surrounding air was no longer forcibly plundered by him as before. Instead, like a gentle stream, it naturally flowed through his pores and merged into his Meridians.

Transparent.

Ethereal.

That feeling of suffocation, as if his throat were being squeezed, vanished.

"This... this is..."

Sect Master Tianshuzi felt the new cultivation power within him, which, though weakened, had become extremely pure and endless.

On his old face, tears flowed down.

The Bottleneck had loosened!

Given time, he would surely step into the Soul Transformation Stage naturally!

"Thank you, Senior, for the grace of remolding me!"

Sect Master Tianshuzi prostrated himself once more. This time, there was no fear in his voice, only endless fanaticism and worship.

Although the Elders behind him didn't understand what had happened, they could feel the Rebirth in the Sect Master's aura.

Such a method, where a few words could break a centuries-old Bottleneck, was simply unheard of!

Everyone lay on the ground, shouting: "Thank you for Senior's grace!"

Zhou Wannian ignored these bows.

He stood up.

A washed-out green robe swayed gently in the breeze.

He walked out of the inn's door.

He glanced at the muddy street and frowned.

Without any movement.

The muddy water within a foot of his feet naturally receded to both sides, revealing the dry bluestone.

He turned back and looked at the boy in gray, who was huddled in a corner, clutching that piece of grayish-black scrap metal tightly.

"Shitou."

Zhou Wannian's voice was casual and lazy.

"Let's go. Take me to the place where your father picked up this piece of junk."

"The mountain path after the rain is quite refreshing; consider it a post-meal stroll."

Shitou snapped out of it.

He looked at those living Immortals kneeling on the ground, and then at the big brother who looked like a Mortal scholar.

He gritted his teeth and stuffed the scrap metal tightly into his bosom.

He stumbled out of the teahouse and followed closely behind Zhou Wannian.

Sect Master Tianshuzi knelt on the ground, not daring to rise, only shouting respectfully: "Respectfully seeing off Senior!"

Until the backs of Zhou Wannian and the boy disappeared at the end of the street.

Only then did Sect Master Tianshuzi climb out of the mud with great difficulty.

He looked toward the Yunlan Mountain Range, a complex light flickering in his cloudy old eyes.

That was a True God.

A True God who could easily crush him to death or allow him to be reborn with a single sentence.

The Xuantian Taoist Sect must cling tightly to this leg! Even if it meant only eating some leftovers!

...

Yunlan Mountain Range.

The spring rain had just stopped, and a thin layer of mist permeated the mountain forest.

The air was mixed with the smell of earth and the fragrance of plants.

The deeper they went, the thicker the trees became, with lush branches and leaves blotting out the sun.

The rotten leaves underfoot made a "crunching" sound.

Zhou Wannian walked in front.

His pace was steady and relaxed.

He did not use Shrinking the Earth to an Inch, nor did he ride a light.

He was like a leisurely scholar touring the mountains and waters, occasionally stopping to look at unknown poisonous insects crawling on tree trunks.

Shitou followed behind, panting.

His thin gray clothes were already soaked by the rain on the leaves, and his tattered straw shoes were stuck in the mud.

But he gritted his teeth hard, desperately trying not to fall behind.

As they continued deep into the mountain range.

A very strange, light gray mist began to appear in the air.

This mist was different from ordinary mountain mist.

It lacked the moisture of water and instead carried an extremely dry and cold aura.

It was like the exhaust gas from some ancient, rigid machinery.

Zhou Wannian stopped.

His deep gaze looked at the gray mist drifting slowly among the trees.

A smile of realization appeared on his handsome face.

"As expected. That piece of scrap metal must have lost quite a few parts while fleeing for its life."

He ignored the gray mist and continued forward.

However.

Shitou, who was following behind.

The moment he came into contact with the gray mist.

His body suddenly stiffened in a very strange way.

In those clear eyes, a very, very faint mechanical light that did not belong to humans flashed.

The scrap metal wrapped in oilcloth in his bosom.

It actually began to grow slightly hot.

The gray mist drifting in the air seemed to be pulled by some invisible force.

It began, bit by bit.

Extremely slowly.

To enter Shitou's nostrils and into his thin body.

Shitou did not feel any discomfort.

On the contrary.

His legs, which were originally sore from fatigue, actually surged with a very strange power.

His breathing became extremely steady, and his heart rate became like a mechanical rhythm.

He stared blankly at his hands, somewhat at a loss.

"Big... Big Brother..."

Shitou looked up, wanting to ask.

But he found that Zhou Wannian had stopped at some unknown point.

He was turning around.

Those eyes, deep as an ancient well, were looking at him very calmly.

And at the gray mist being absorbed around his body.

A meaningful, faint smile curled at the corner of Zhou Wannian's mouth.