"A higher... World."
Yang Kai's world shattered at the utterance of those three simple words. His entire worldview crumbled, leaving him standing stunned beneath the starry midnight sky. The cold wind bit at his skin as the space crack closed behind Liu Zheng, who vanished without a trace, leaving Yang Kai alone with the weight of a new reality.
He felt as though he was standing on the edge of an abyss, the unknown world Liu Zheng spoke of lying just beyond his reach. The enormity of it all crushed his thoughts, swirling in a storm of disbelief and confusion. For the first time in his life, the skies above didn't seem as boundless—they seemed insignificant.
"A higher world..."
He repeated to himself, trying to grasp the full implications of what Liu Zheng had said, but the more he thought, the more questions filled his mind. What was this world? How did Liu Zheng know so much? Why had he, Yang Kai, never even heard a whisper about such a place?
....
High above, the wind whipped across a floating platform of Qi. Zangetsu stood with his arms crossed, his eyes narrowed as he gazed down at Yang Kai.
"Is this kid really worth all the effort?" He asked with a hint of annoyance as he couldn't get why the brat was so important.
Liu Zheng, standing beside him, smiled faintly as he watched Yang Kai haul the Yang Stone toward his hut. "I think he is. If we get him on our side, it would be a huge advantage."
Zangetsu tilted his head, skepticism etched on his face. "And if he becomes a threat, why not eliminate him now? That would solve all future problems, wouldn't it?"
Liu Zheng shook his head, the calm in his voice unwavering. "It would be wrong to kill an innocent man just because of what he might become. We can't predict the future."
Suddenly, a voice broke the tension—a gruff, weathered sound that seemed to come from the shadows themselves. The Old Man stepped out, his long, flowing robes fluttering gently as if in tune with the rhythm of the night. "Liu Zheng's right. Besides, this child is more than he appears. His death may cause unforeseen consequences."
Zangetsu scoffed, though a flicker of interest flashed in his eyes. "What consequences?"
"Yang Kai isn't some arrogant young master of a renowned clan or hardworking side character ," Liu Zheng explained, turning his gaze to the horizon. "He's what you call the child of destiny".
"What could possibly happen that we cannot deal with and what do you mean child of destiny?"
"Yang Kai is the 3000 World's defense mechanism. He's destined to rise against Ink. The world itself has set up everything for his success, right amount of opportunity and right amount of danger at the right time."
Zangetsu's brow furrowed. "The world is spoon-feeding him strength?"
"Not exactly but yeah. He did have to through a life and death situation a lot of times which build his spirit and strength but the danger was always something he could deal with or escape, and the opportunities..... the sheer amount of them, It was just ridiculous. People call it 'plot armor,' but we know better now. It's fate." Liu Zheng explained.
Zangetsu crossed his arms, deep in thought. "But didn't you take his most important opportunity, The Soul Warming Lotus? That's a huge handicap moving forward because his soul is no longer indestructible."
Liu Zheng chuckled softly. "True, I did take that opportunity. But their presence right where they should have been for him and surviving a fight between Transcendent realm masters while being a Initial element realm, that should have killed him. Perhaps even my kindness towards him—letting him live—wasn't coincidence. It's all part of a larger design."
"Hmmm, makes sense." Zangetsu understood why Yang could be so important.
The Old Man nodded solemnly. "The world doesn't play games when it comes to those it favors."
"But the biggest reason is not that he will be useful but quite the opposite, his death might cause us many unexpected problems. For now Yang Kai is the chosen one, but if he dies and it causes world to get desperate. It might just spawn a cluster of all talents and treasures with even more heaven defying luck. We could end up with a far bigger problem on our hands"
A slow grin spread across Zangetsu's face. "On second thought, this kid isn't so bad, don't you think?"
Liu Zheng chuckled, shaking his head as his zanpakuto shamelessly flipped his opinion in a moment. "Yeah, Yeah. Come back now." Both of the zanpakuto spirits returned to their home after many days, inside Liu Zheng's knowledge sea.
"By the way using an illusion to make it seem like you teleported using the crack was very uncool."
"It looked cool to him, and that's all that matters. I'll learn it soon anyway." He said as left for home.
.....
The Next Morning
After a deep and restful sleep, Liu Zheng awoke with a clear mind. The events of the previous day echoed faintly in his thoughts as he stretched his body. He mentally reviewed his plans for the day.
'Setting up the purification pool for the sect? With so many new changes already happening, it could wait. Absorb the Jade Spirit? Should wait until my wife comes out.
Study the space array in the dragon ravine to understand the mysteries of spatial wormholes that can most likely connect two points in space without effecting the time? Hell Yeah.
But that is something which will take a long time'
A sly grin formed on his lips. "Let's do dr*gs."
Liu Zheng finally having decided what to do took out the alchemy furnace to revisit the attainments he had previously made and improve his comprehension through the newly acquired True Alchemy Way Scripture.
He decided to start over since his previous methods were nothing compared to the ones mentioned in the scripture even for the low level pills and his basics were not worth mention which was understandable since he didn't have a proper master nor a special body.
While meditating, he went through the first few minor parts talking about the significance and miracles of alchemy through the author's past experience, following up with the much needed basics of herbs, fire, furnace, spirit and everything an alchemist, especially a skilled one needed.
Then came the most important thing, the True Alchemy Way. Just like cultivators who cultivate the Martial Dao have different techniques especially their cultivation arts serves as the foundation, those who pursue the Alchemic Dao naturally do so as well.
The True Alchemy Way or what can be described as a method, comprises of everything in the process of alchemy. From selecting variety, quantity and quality of her, purification, liquification, assimilation, temperature control, spirit arrays, balance of the elements and everything until the pill formation.
Hours passed in the blink of an eye as Liu Zheng absorbed the knowledge, the different spirit arrays and methods mentioned in it. Theories swirled in his mind, and he could almost feel his understanding of alchemy growing with every page he read. But without practice, the theoretical knowledge isn't much helpful so he took out the herbs.
Lighting the furnace, he began.
After just a few unsuccessful tries, he was able to concoct an ordinary grade pill.
'It is still quite ordinary as its grade suggests but its potency is much better than the ones I made before. The pill has completely retained the essence of the herbs and enhances it a tiny bit too. Let's continue'
Days passed in quiet concentration. Liu Zheng became immersed in alchemy after that and continued to make pills after pills, with majority being failures, of course. He found peace in alchemy, it was a form of meditation for him as he was solely focused on one thing, away from all the distractions.
It was also somewhat enjoyable to him since in his previous life, when he was child, he wanted to become a doctor. This dream of him stemmed from watching his grandma in his early days suffering from sickness. He wanted to grow up fast, study hard and become a doctor so he could treat her.
His dream never came true as she died after a few years and the last of his motivation to help people vanished after his parents death, without their support he was destined to be nothing as even working for teenagers was illegal in his country so he was never officially employed anywhere, leaving him with money to barely survive.
Alchemy unlike other things which usually cause destruction was about creation. The pills that he made could elevate people's suffering. Liu Zheng was motivated to excel in alchemy not for its undeniable potential to aid his Cultivation but for its potential to protect the people he cared about from harm.
Time passed, Su Yan had already come out of seclusion after breaking through to 9th Stage True Element and heard from Old Man that this time Liu Zheng has gone into seclusion for Alchemy. She focused on her cultivation and Quincy training, now with the special bloodline physique as well as all the support from Liu Zheng and family, she was trying to break through Immortal Ascension Realm soon.
---
A Month Later
"Phew... It's finally done."
Finally after many failures, floating on the palm of Liu Zheng hand's was a Heaven Grade pill. It was also a high rank one.
The only reason he was able to achieve this so quickly was thanks to his inhumane Qi control and not focusing on forming pill veins, because for pill veins, at least for a high chance of success, It was necessary to have favorable mutation for alchemy - Conflagrated knowledge sea or Spirit Medicine Body.
As he prepared to leave the room and celebrate his achievement, Zangetsu's voice echoed in his mind.
"Partner, those guys have finally arrived. Want me to handle them?"
"No need to scare them right off the bat man. I'll be there in a moment."
******************************
Cultivation - Immortal Ascension 5th Stage
Body Cultivation - Top Rank Mysterious Grade
Combat Power:
- Unrivalled in Immortal Ascension(Base-Fused Shikai)
- Transcendent Realm 2nd Order (Bankai-fused)
Sharingan - Mangekyou Sharingan