Chapter Twelve: Shifting Stars and Changing Constellations

"I feel much better now." Yusu Jue leapt from Xu Zhong's embrace, oblivious to his discomfort.

Her forepaws touched the ground, hind legs poised, and she stretched luxuriously, shaking loose a shower of fur.

"I don’t feel very well," Xu Zhong replied, his face pale and uncertain.

"What?" Yusu Jue turned her head.

Her eyes widened in disbelief.

"You, you, you..."

From the ground beneath Xu Zhong, worms began to emerge, crawling into his body through pores, and with their arrival, his flesh began to turn to stone.

Stone encased his ankles, his feet devoid of any sign of blood or flesh.

He realized he could no longer move.

"Why am I unharmed?" Yusu Jue hopped around, unaffected; she even reached out a paw to swipe at the worms on Xu Zhong.

But it was as if they were illusory—her claws could touch nothing except Xu Zhong himself.

"Is it because you’re human and I’m a demon?" Yusu Jue tilted her head upward.

"I don’t know, but I really don’t feel well," Xu Zhong shook his head, unable to explain.

He could no longer feel his legs.

"Let me help you!"

Yusu Jue spat out a gust of demonic wind, attempting to blow Xu Zhong away, but he remained immovable.

"Stop!" Xu Zhong felt his body being torn apart.

His numb legs seemed to be shredded, a piercing agony.

"My flesh seems to be fused with this land," Xu Zhong hissed, cold sweat beading his forehead.

Seeing Xu Zhong suffer so, Yusu Jue dared not try anything else.

Xu Zhong closed his eyes, examining himself inwardly.

The five luminaries shimmered; seventy-two spell marks flashed rapidly before his mind’s eye. He sought among them a spell to save his life.

"There!"

Within the secret trove of the Earth Luminary, he found a spell mark called Piercing Stone, which allowed him to traverse mountains and see through barriers and illusions.

He activated the mark with his spiritual energy, and the basic technique of Piercing Stone appeared in his mind.

"Can you help me increase my wisdom?" Xu Zhong asked.

Yusu Jue nodded and produced her demon core.

She was not worried about anyone entering—the fate that had befallen Xu Zhong would deter any intruders.

Xu Zhong’s wisdom grew steadily.

Those obscure, arcane writings became simple; his spiritual energy changed, coursing through his body, opening pathways, until at last he opened his eyes.

He had mastered it.

Though only the simplest part of Piercing Stone.

Yusu Jue withdrew her demon core.

Xu Zhong cast the spell.

But his body could not be extracted from the stone.

"Piercing Stone won’t work!" Xu Zhong closed his eyes again, and Yusu Jue produced her demon core once more.

The demon core hovered above Xu Zhong’s head, radiating divine light.

"If I can’t escape immediately, I must slow the petrification."

Xu Zhong quickly found another spell.

Above the secret trove of the Water Luminary was a spell mark called Qi Seal.

Qi as a seal—the seal prohibits.

With magical power, one forms a prohibition: internally, it halts the flow of blood and energy, blocks spell erosion, and prevents poison from spreading; externally, it can shield against magical treasures and cut off enemy spells.

Xu Zhong learned it swiftly.

By the time he mastered it, his lower body was entirely turned to stone.

He hurriedly channeled his spiritual energy.

The energy sank, forming a prohibition that cut off the circulation of blood and energy.

---

He found the petrification slowing.

Most evidently, the worms entered his body more slowly.

Now, they had to penetrate the prohibition before reaching his flesh—like silkworms munching mulberry leaves, chewing through the seal.

"The speed is slower. This spell works!" Yusu Jue visibly brightened, but her joy faded quickly. "It works, but not completely."

Xu Zhong felt a headache.

If he couldn’t find a solution, petrification was inevitable.

Were those others like him, sealed into stone by this strange spell?

He had no answer, and none to provide one.

"Dispel calamity, resolve misfortune!" After casting Qi Seal, Xu Zhong sought out two more spells.

Dispel Calamity—a grand spell, a mighty power to break free from disaster, plague, or disease, a spell of the five elements, but beyond his ability.

The other, Resolve Misfortune, he could cast.

Resolve Misfortune connects with beings of great power—gods, demons—and borrows their strength to dispel calamity and break through hardship.

Xu Zhong could cast it, but only with a token of the being’s faith.

Without the token, he could not summon nor borrow their power.

He was troubled, but Yusu Jue was unconcerned.

"Perhaps you could try summoning Shi Yao!"

Yusu Jue helped him remove his sword case and fetched her rattle-drum.

"Can Shi Yao’s power really help me out of this predicament?"

But at this point, there was no other option.

If the monster outside wasn’t present, he could have sought help from the serpent, who surely would not mind.

Xu Zhong gripped the Xuan Guang Sword, closed his eyes, cast the spell, and tapped swiftly along the blade.

Suddenly, in the depths of his mind, a gate appeared before him.

He reached out and pushed it open.

A figure stumbled from the gate.

Hair disheveled, face unshaven and lifeless, clothes in tatters, covered in mud, smelling foul. Xu Zhong could barely breathe, the stench made him retch.

"Am I out?" The figure was ecstatic, instantly shedding his defeated aura, becoming immortal and elegant.

"No, this is the spell to dispel calamity. Who summoned me from that cave heaven?"

His gaze was cloudy and ancient, reflecting centuries of solitude. "Did you inherit my legacy, Si Tu Nan?"

"How long have I been gone!" Si Tu Nan plunged into a mental storm.

He had not summoned Shi Yao, but Si Tu Nan.

"Help me!" Xu Zhong felt his spiritual energy draining away; he had no time to converse with Si Tu Nan’s consciousness. "Your corpse gained wisdom and transformed into a corpse demon. My cultivation comes from the corpse demon."

"He has refined soul into spirit, forged a human soul, and is about to replace you."

"I can help you reclaim your body."

Xu Zhong spoke quickly.

Si Tu Nan listened clearly.

He saw that Xu Zhong had only reached the Five Luminaries stage, opening only the Fire Luminary trove.

He could not verify if Xu Zhong spoke truthfully.

But Xu Zhong was the only person Si Tu Nan had seen in fifteen centuries.

"Alright!"

Si Tu Nan’s consciousness suddenly radiated divine light.

Outside, Yusu Jue saw Xu Zhong’s Tianmen, Baihui, and Yuzhen points flash with golden light, connecting in a line.

The line expanded, becoming a gateway.

The gateway opened, revealing the undeveloped Niwan.

The Niwan remained primordial.

Yet a divine soul, shining with spiritual light and flowing with Dao, stepped inside.

---

He occupied Xu Zhong’s Niwan, his power expanding.

In a flash, Xu Zhong’s entire body was suffused with this flowing energy.

The Five Luminaries were opened, and boundless power surged forth, evolving into spells—he achieved the Unity stage.

Xu Zhong’s power did not stop at Unity; in the span of two breaths, he transcended Unity, shedding illusion for truth.

The momentum of power growth was checked.

Xu Zhong opened his eyes; they were utterly unfamiliar, unlike Shi Yao’s gaze.

It was Si Tu Nan!

Yusu Jue guessed as much.

"This palace..." Si Tu Nan glanced around, sensing something amiss.

"Someone has used supreme divine arts to seal all life within the palace."

To him, the entire palace was shrouded in red, layered with countless seals, nested upon one another. Besides the seals, there was a vast formation, cycling through reincarnation, transforming life.

Within the formation, a thread of vitality remained.

It seemed someone had sealed their lives, awaiting a day when they might be awakened.

"Any life entering the palace becomes a stone statue. But why are you unharmed?" Si Tu Nan glanced at Yusu Jue.

"Your energy has been recognized by this cave heaven," he said, withholding half his thought: "Everything here may be connected to you, or to your ancestors."

"I feel you left something in my mind," Xu Zhong said.

"You offered to help me. What I left behind lets you find me," Si Tu Nan replied with a smile.

"That place cannot be seen until you reach the True Essence stage."

"Only when you reach True Essence will my mark be activated."

Si Tu Nan said no more.

The Five Luminaries within him shimmered, countless apertures throughout his body flickered, endless magical power was mobilized, blood and energy stirred, essence and spirit moved...

All the power within his body was summoned, to condense a spell mark.

"This mark is called Shift Stars and Change Constellations—it can conceal fate and alter destiny."

Xu Zhong felt his lifespan slipping away.

He lacked the strength to perform such a spell, so he burned his life to gain power.

One year, two years, ten years!

He sacrificed nearly ten years of life.

At last, all his power condensed into a spell mark.

"If this mark can hide fate itself, how much more so can it obscure this formation, this seal?"

Si Tu Nan spoke with some despair.

He had spent three hundred years in that cave heaven to acquire this spell.

Yet lacking a body, he could not cast it.

To forge a body from nothing, he cultivated day and night, never slackening—five hundred years to achieve the External Scene, seven hundred more to reach the Equal Things stage.

Now, using all his External Scene power, he mobilized every ounce of Xu Zhong’s strength to cast the spell.

In an instant, fate changed, destiny rewritten.

Xu Zhong’s body seemed to transcend the Dao, unbound by any constraint.

He took a single step, and all external forces vanished, including the spell seed.

"This spell can only be used once in a lifetime—I used it for you. I hope you reach True Essence and come to that cave heaven to rescue me."

Si Tu Nan’s soul gradually withdrew from Xu Zhong, and Xu Zhong slowly regained control of his body. "One more thing: this is not a cave heaven, but an External Scene. You are in the External Scene of a cultivator."

Si Tu Nan departed; Xu Zhong regained his body, his destiny transformed.

The palace’s formation no longer affected him, at the cost of only ten years of life.

He did not know he had borne only a fraction of the cost—the greater share fell to Si Tu Nan.

As the gateway closed, Si Tu Nan’s External Scene collapsed.

Yusu Jue leapt onto Xu Zhong, scrutinizing him: "You seem... somehow different!"

Xu Zhong did not answer her, instead posing a question: "What is an External Scene?"