Loyal Heart Roaming the Skies

Chapter 2: Lord of the Dongzhen Ruins

The Dao Meridian is the foundation of cultivation.

This "Dao" is not the Dao of the Daoist Sect, but the Dao of the Great Dao. No matter if it's a cultivator from the Daoist, Confucian, military, ink, or any other school, revealing the Dao Meridian is always the first step in cultivation.

In ancient times, the so-called cultivation seeds were those who were born with the Dao Meridian. However, the human race does not rely on innate talent for life. The Opening Meridian Pill is one of the methods to solve the problem of cultivation aptitude.

By borrowing the power of medicine, the human body's Dao Meridian can be manifested. It can also nourish the body with the vitality of heaven and earth. With the feedback of Qi and blood, the Dao Yuan can be nurtured, and one can embark on the path of cultivation.

Compared to the tools destroyed by the explosion like Zuo Guanglie, the Opening Meridian Pill should not be considered precious.

But for this beggar who is in dire straits, this is the only key to open the treasure trove of the human body.

The eternal hardship is only death, and at the end of his life, he begs for heavenly grace!

Now, the beggar has grasped the key to his hope.

He is so devout.

He held the jade bottle with trembling hands, aimed his quivering lips at the mouth of the bottle, and tilted his head back!

Beside him was the silent Po Guan, and in the distance were the bodies of the beggars, with broken bones and flesh by his side.

At this moment, the setting sun was shining, and the clouds scattered in the sky. The corpses lay in the wilderness, and the sick beggar swallowed the pill.

The Opening Meridian Pill rolled onto his tongue, turned into a warm stream, and flowed down his throat, then dispersed into his limbs and bones.

The beggar closed his eyes slightly, and at this moment, thousands of images flashed through his mind.

Practice in cold and heat, practice swordsmanship in spring and autumn.

Chase down the great thief, fight against the fierce bandits.

In the end, he walked out of the bandits' gathering in the Western Mountains alone, covered in blood.

This was only exchanged for a Opening Meridian Pill.

How many years did he spend approaching the extraordinary world?

He did his best, struggled to advance at all times, and how did he get to this point?

His mother died early, and his father, who died of illness later, almost exhausted the last bit of wealth in the family.

He was alone, and he was his own support.

He entered the Dao Academy through a competition of thousands of miles, and dominated the outer courtyard in fierce competition, finally grasping the key to the extraordinary.

But that Opening Meridian Pill was taken by the person he trusted the most.

Poisoned and besieged.

He fought to the death and made his way out, and to avoid being searched, he mixed into the beggars' pile.

He intended to wait for the opportunity, but his body could no longer hold on.

He became weaker and weaker, and finally could only lie on the straw waiting for death.

He struggled with his illness to search for the battlefield, just because of an unyielding heart, but he did not expect to pick up an Opening Meridian Pill!

Why would someone like Zuo Guanglie carry an Opening Meridian Pill? The reason has been lost with his legend, and no one knows.

But the beggar's story continues because of this.

Fate is unpredictable, nothing is more so than this.

The beggar turned his attention back, feeling the indescribable changes in his body.

He felt the warm power emanating from every corner of his body, "flowing" through his body in a way he couldn't understand, and finally converging into his spine.

This process was slow and clear.

After an unknown amount of time, a faint power rose from his tailbone, following his spine upward...upward. This feeling was like a worm swimming upstream in a river.

This process was difficult, but the warm power emanating from every part of his body continued to support it...the "little worm" finally swam through this long journey, penetrated his spine, and rushed straight to the heavenly spirit!

A miracle happened.

He seemed to see light in his body.

Warmth burst from every corner of his body and flesh.He no longer felt cold, weak, or pain.

As his meridians appeared, vitality nourished him.

The beggar opened his eyes, his gaze bright and clear.

He felt his body filled with strength, and he finally took control of his own destiny!

His meridians had manifested, and even though his true meridian spirit was only the lowest level of a tiny earthworm, it meant that he could officially step onto the path of transcendence.

Flying through the sky, entering the blue abyss, no longer an unattainable dream!

Someday, he could do what the likes of Gongyang Bai, Mo Jingyu, and even Zuo Guanglie and Li Yi could do!

...

The beggar stood up and looked down at the pile of flesh beneath his feet.

Life staring at death, the beginning and end connected.

He buried Zuo Guanglie and those beggars outside the Broken View. Even though his meridians had just appeared and he was full of energy, he didn't finish until the middle of the night.

It was perhaps a useless little thing, but it was a principle he was practicing.

Although those beggars chose to abandon him when danger came, they did not abandon him in his dying days. Although they couldn't provide him with medical care, they at least gave him a few sips of water.

For these reasons, he should bury them when he had the ability to do so. So that they wouldn't suffer in this life and have no place to go in the next.

People believed that only by being buried could one rest in peace. In the vast and compassionate embrace of the earth, the souls of the dead could find peace.

Finally, the beggar stood in front of Zuo Guanglie's grave.

"It was not an unknown person who buried you, but Zhuangguo Qinghe County Fenglin City..." Under the moonlight, the beggar stood in front of the small grave, dirty and covered in mud, but he stood tall and said his name with great composure: "Jiang Wang."

Tigers are not yet tamed, but they have the spirit of eating cows.

"You didn't die in an unknown place, this place is called True View. Although the plaque is difficult to read and it's not well-known, it will be known to the world because of you!"

After saying these words, Jiang Wang bowed deeply: "May you rest in peace in heaven."

This bow was not only because of the opening meridian pill left by Zuo Guanglie, but also because of the compassion, honesty, and bravery he displayed.

Zuo Guanglie was such a person, worthy of respect from anyone.

Tonight was a full moon, and the bright moonlight shone on the new grave.

As if there was a breeze blowing in the darkness.

Jiang Wang saw little bits of silver light drifting out of Zuo Guanglie's tomb, slowly rising in the moonlight and converging into a small, silver crescent moon. It floated above the new grave, appearing mysterious and noble within Jiang Wang's reach.

"This is..."

Jiang Wang was overjoyed.

He reached out and grabbed the silver crescent moon.

Everything went black.

In almost endless darkness, a gentle voice sounded. The voice seemed to contain the truths of heaven and earth, the mysteries of the great dao, and hearing it made one's mind clear and enlightened.

"Welcome, the master of the Dongzhen Ruins' blessed land!"

In the next moment, a point of light appeared, followed by countless points of light.

Countless lights obscured his vision, and when Jiang Wang regained his sight, he saw a dazzling river of stars flowing in front of him!

And in front of the river of stars, there stood a young man.

This person had clear and bright eyes, a high and straight nose, and a gentle expression that seemed to have no aggressiveness. Only his slightly pursed lips showed a hint of stubbornness. Apart from a dao robe of unknown material, he had no other decorations on his body.

Jiang Wang was stunned.Because this young man was himself. Although his clothes were different and much cleaner than his current state, how could he mistake himself?

And he was "looking at" himself from a non-visual perspective that he could not yet understand.

"Insufficient feedback from the Dao source, the 19th floor of the Performance Stage is sealed."

That gentle voice sounded again in the vast starry sky.

"The 18th floor of the Performance Stage is sealed."

...

"The 2nd floor of the Performance Stage is sealed."

Each time this sentence appeared, the stars in front of him dimmed by one point.

Jiang Wang tried to understand everything he was observing, and then heard:

"The 3rd floor of the Sword Discussion Platform is sealed."

"The 4th floor of the Sword Discussion Platform is sealed."

It continued like this until it stopped at "The 8th floor of the Sword Discussion Platform is sealed."

Jiang Wang didn't understand the meaning behind this, but he thought it was related to his low strength. The so-called "Lord of the Dongzhen Ruins", should be Zuo Guanglie instead of him.

At the same time, he observed a line of characters floating in his field of vision that he had never seen before.

These characters were completely different from the Zhuangguo characters he had learned, and were extremely unfamiliar to him. But he could clearly perceive the meaning of these characters.

"Power: 1850 points."

As Jiang Wang was pondering, the "himself" he was "looking at" suddenly took a step forward and merged with him.

This process was so short that it could almost be ignored. Jiang Wang moved his hands and feet, and everything was satisfactory. In this mysterious world, he finally had some kind of entity.

And in the next moment, the stars in the vast void suddenly churned, and a whole galaxy of bright stars rushed towards him!

He was submerged in the galaxy.

Time seemed to lose its meaning, and when Jiang Wang came back to his senses, he had appeared in a space full of immortal energy, with many messages flowing through his mind.

This was the world of the Tai Xu Illusory Realm, and the Dongzhen Ruins he was in was enveloped by this world.

The silver crescent moon he grabbed was called the Virtual Key, which was the key to enter this place. It used the power of the Taiyin Star to pull the host's spiritual consciousness into the Tai Xu Illusory Realm.

Everything here was simulated, and except for not causing any harm to the host's physical body, everything was no different from reality.

The Performance Stage was a place to deduce martial arts and Daoist techniques, and the consumption required for deduction was "power".

The Sword Discussion Platform was dedicated to sparring with other cultivators in the Tai Xu Illusory Realm.

"Power" was mainly generated from battles. In battles with cultivators of the same level, winning would add power and losing would deduct power. There were corresponding bonuses for challenging higher level cultivators.

In addition, there were some other ways. For example, corresponding Dongtian Fudi would regularly produce "power".

The East Sea Mountain Fudi, which ranked the lowest among the 72 Fudis, produced 100 power per month. For each level higher than that, the power production increased by ten for the lower 36 Fudis, and by 100 for the upper 36 Fudis.

The Dongzhen Ruins, occupied by Zuo Guanglie, ranked 23rd and could produce 1850 power per month.

This was Jiang Wang's current source of livelihood, although he was not yet clear about its specific effects. But he could already hear his own heartbeat pounding.

This place...this place!

This world of brilliant stars seemed to hide a huge secret.

Just the Performance Stage and the Sword Discussion Platform it showed had opened up a vast and turbulent world.

Deduction in the Fudi, sparring in the starry sky, how magnificent!

And before today, Jiang Wang had never even heard of its name.The turmoil in his mind was hard to calm down, until he cast his gaze on a sundial phantom and saw these words:

The master of the blessed land will face the challenge of the 24th master of the Qingyu Altar in 15 days.

Failure will result in demotion.

The five characters were as dark as ink and as heavy as a thousand catties.