Realms In The Firmament
Chapter 9: A Peculiar Bead, A Quirky Egg

Ye Xiao put on his clothes slowly and felt his whole body relax. He had finally began the journey of cultivating the number one martial arts method since the beginning of time – the East-rising Purple Qi!

He tried using a normal method to circulate the power he had gained from cultivation. As he guided his qi towards his palm, it started to shine with a bright primrose yellow light.

“Level 1 in the Grade of Diyuan!”

Ye Xiao felt relieved. What a nice surprise!

He had realized that this mortal world was quite different from the Qing-Yun Realm that he had stayed in during his previous life. In Qing-Yun Realm, the lowest grade was the Grade of Lingyuan. When he was in his prior life, he had reached the top in the Grade of Daoyuan, which was the highest level in the Qing-Yun Realm.

However, in this mortal world, it began with the Grade of Renyuan.

The Grade of Renyuan, Grade of Diyuan and Grade of Tianyuan were the only three grades in the mortal world at the moment. Above the Grade of Tianyuan, it was the Grade of Lingyuan, which only appeared in the Qing-Yun Realm.

The nine levels in the Grade of Renyuan were the nine steps to become a hero. The nine levels in the Grade of Diyuan were like nine mountains that were, one after the other, harder and harder to climb. The nine levels in the Grade of Tianyuan were like nine different clouds at various heights while each upgrade equaled a step closer to heaven!

“Level 1 in the Grade of Renyuan allows people to establish themselves in the mortal world; level 5 would allow one to get wealthy; Aside from life and death, all routes in this world lead to the 9th level. The level that officially lets you truly stand apart from ordinary people!”

A man in the Grade of Diyuan could be called a real cultivator. People who had reached this grade usually had already achieved numerable accomplishments… However, in the Grade of Diyuan, to level up could be compared to climbing the tallest, most challenging mountains in the world..

“So in fact I have already become stronger than ordinary people… I deserve to be called a real cultivator now…” Ye Xiao actually started to show a slight trace of complacency.

In his prior life, he had spent a full year to cultivate himself from level 1 in the Grade of Renyuan to level 1 in the Grade of Diyuan. This time however, it only took him one day!

“Such speed…” Ye Xiao was rubbing his chin and felt a bit lightheaded. A cultivation speed like this was something he wouldn’t dare to dream about in his past life.

Although he knew that it was the benefit of being a cultivator of the East-rising Purple Qi, he was still satisfied enough that he wouldn't regret dying again for it. Only those who had cultivated themselves before knew the difficulties of increasing their strength…

Although the former Ye Xiao - the foppish playboy - was ignorant, he had practiced some spiritual kung fu under pressure from his father. He was more or less at level 3 in the Grade of Renyuan. There was a silver lining found after living in the General’s House after all. The departed lord Ye had a certain amount of qi inside his body, however, there were too many impurities in it.

“It is good he had created a base for me, although he had debilitated his body so much that I don’t even want to look at it… However, at least I have a body and am alive.” Since he was very satisfied at the moment, he didn’t wish to dwell on it.

“I wonder... Would there be any other functions in the sphere?” Ye Xiao was in good spirits.

While enjoying the progress he achieved in cultivation, he was more interested in the Pure Heavenly Crystal. He had only just entered the space inside the sphere and used the qi obtained from the Pure Heavenly Crystal, yet the ablution of his muscles and bones had already taken place. This was truly wondrous! Moreover, the waste-like body had broken into the Grade of Diyuan because of it.

“What if… What if I take another piece, what would happen… like, I want to laugh hehe hehe heh…”

Thinking of that, he reentered the sphere. Ye Xiao walked straight to where the Pure Heavenly Crystal was located and looked up. He rubbed his chin and thought, “Shall I… cut off another piece?”

Ye Xiao thought of something and immediately took action. He jumped up and reached his hands out to grab the Pure Heavenly Crystal…

He had previously failed to cut the crystal with a knife, but now that he had the power of the Grade of Diyuan. He thought, “This time I can finally fiddle with this tough thing no matter what!”

However…

Booom!

Purple lights attacked him at once.

Ye Xiao was blown onto the floor and nearly got his hip decimated into eight pieces. The shock, however, made him oblivious to the screaming pain of his body.

The Pure Heavenly Crystal was right in front of him and could be clearly seen.

But… He might be able to lay his eyes upon it, but it was still far beyond reach. He couldn’t reach it no matter what he tried!

That wasn’t all, the moment he had tried to lay his hands on it, he was cruelly beaten away by the purple lights coming from within the Pure Heavenly Crystal…

“What the hell is going on? This thing had cost me innumerable hardships to obtain and now that it has finally become mine, I can only look at it from a distance?! Is there still justice?!” Ye Xiao was kneading his hip with frustration flashing across his face.

He wouldn’t give up just like this and gave it another shot, but the results were the same.

Ye Xiao was frustrated after being beaten down time and again, with dirt smeared all over his face, “It really is impossible to reach!”

Looking up at the highly standing Pure Heavenly Crystal, Ye Xiao sighed and groaned, “I’ve never seen something like this shit… I got it and it is in my place. It is obviously mine, but it actually won’t let me touch it! You… ratty space in the sphere, can you be reasonable?”

After trying a few more times, Ye Xiao feebly lied down on the floor of the space.

He finally understood. Even though he could get the Pure Heavenly Crystal into this sphere, his level was too low to take charge of this space. He didn’t have the right, or should we say power, to rule here.

Ye Xiao knew clearly that using such a treasure like the Pure Heavenly Crystal for now would really be a huge waste! Although it could immediately boost his cultivation to unimaginable heights, it could bring some hidden troubles with it. After all, it strength didn’t come from arduous cultivation then a cultivators base was doomed to be weak. It would be a difficult journey for him to get back to the status of his power growing endlessly.

However… the chance to achieve a meteoric rise in a single night was so alluring that no one would be resist it at all. As it was within sight but beyond reach for now, he no longer held any interests for it.

“Fine. This place will make for a fine storage room.” Ye Xiao settled for the second best option in an attempt to comfort himself.

Then he exited the space, grabbed a chair outside and tried to take it back into the space within the sphere…

“Erhh, no?” Ye Xiao looked at the chair in his hand and scratched his head.

“Is it too big? Maybe a smaller one will do.”

Ye Xiao grabbed a stone about the size of an egg.

But… it failed once again.

“What is the problem?” Ye Xiao was really confused.

“Even I can get in, how come this small stone can’t?!”

He tried it once again!

He had tried for several times until he shifted his attention and took a jade-crystal, which contained the essences of the universe and was left to him by his father, and at this point finally something happened…

It was not that the jade-crystal could enter the space, however…

“It lost some…” Ye Xiao looked at the jade-crystal which he held and found that something had changed, making him feel both happy and annoyed.

Normal people may not have been able to tell the difference, Ye Xiao on the other hand obviously felt it. The jade-crystal didn’t look different - it retained the same scale and the same sheen. However, the most essential qi it was harboring was gone, so it had become nothing more than a pillow with an embroidered case — pretty to look at, yet absolutely useless.

“Could it be that this space only accepts certain higher-class things…” Ye Xiao started to analyze it, “That means, every fancy treasure needs to be higher than a certain class to be able to enter this space. This fade-crystal is quite an example. Except for the most essential part of it, the rest is below the required class, so it can’t get in!”

Ye Xiao rubbed his chin and was thoughtful for a while, “This thing is picky with its food, isn’t it?”

“To absorb the essence of the sky and the earth and to gather the qi from everything, so as to expand the space and feed yourself. Only then can you become the unparalleled Monarch of this unbound space… This is the first temple of the unbinded space. To open the second temple, you need to master the second degree of East-rising Purple Qi.” Ye Xiao had finally found some words on the wall.

In other words, it was telling Ye Xiao that he should go get more valuable things to expand the space in this sphere before it could feed him back. Such circulation would cause both of them to improve.

“Hmm humph, so there it is…” At this moment, Ye Xiao couldn’t help but frown, “At the moment I just started with the East-rising Purple Qi, and I am even not at the first degree; I am only at the beginner’s degree.”

As for the present circumstance, he couldn’t know what the requirements would be to enter this second temple.

The Grade of Diyuan only corresponded with the beginner’s degree; it should at least be the supreme master’s level in the Grade of Tianyuan to achieve the second degree.

A question started to form in his head, “How many degrees of the East-rising Purple Qi were there?”

Followed by another question, “What degree would be the maximum he could possibly reach?”

“This is…” Ye Xiao sighed deeply.

A vast and hazy future had appeared in front of him. There was still a seemingly endless road for him to travel!

But in any case, the East-rising Purple Qi was absolutely thousands of times stronger than what he had been practicing in his previous life! Anyway, he would practice it to the supreme level and cultivate it even further!

The urgent question now was… where could he get all of the treasures which he was going to need?

From all the things around him in the General’s House, only the jade-crystal could barely be considered worthy — it was only a partial pass at best — what a tragedy!

“If you give me nothing, how can I obtain countless treasures?” Ye Xiao felt depressed and sighed deeply at the space, “Even if a treasure shows up, it will be in the hands of a noble family and used as tribute to coax someone like the king. Even if there would really be one that was worthy… I would still need the money to make the deal. If I were at a higher level, I could just go and rob it… but I am a mere weakling for now. If I go rob a top-level treasure to expand this shitty space, I am afraid that a single fart from the enemy will instantly kill me. What am I even complaining about?” A wonderful housewife could never cook a meal if she had no rice [1], just like Ye Xiao now, he also couldn’t do something if he wasn’t capable.

No one knew whether the space was disgusted by the pathetic tone of some Monarch or not, however, there was the purple qi floating in the air and the space was shaking. On the west corner of the space, a deep and serene tunnel appeared.

Ye Xiao went blank when he saw this. He was just simply grumbling, he didn’t actually expect any reaction from it.

“Is it because I am too pathetic so the gods showed pity for me? Oh no, I mean the space showed pity for me!”

He walked through the tunnel and saw a purple colored table at the end of it. On this purple colored table there was a lotus pedestal and at the center of the pedestal, there was a…An egg?

Endless purple qi was coming out from inside the lotus pedestal and going into the egg while the surplus qi frantically flew away…

“Erhh… an egg? No… a duck egg?” Ye Xiao was looking at the egg on the table and felt really confused.

It was obviously an egg!

Yet it was slightly bigger than an egg. Well if there was an egg with two yolks… it could be about this big.

“What kind of being could be in this egg?” Ye Xiao was stretching out his hand to pick up and see the egg up close, but when he reached it, he shockingly found himself unable to pick it up. He quickly triggered all his powers to pick it up apprehensively…

BAMM

Ye Xiao fell down on the floor!

He still couldn’t pick it up. He actually still couldn’t do it!

It was nothing but a small egg. For Ye Xiao’s cultivation now — he at least could carry up to a thousand kilograms — yet he actually couldn’t pick it up!

“!!!!!” Ye Xiao goggled widely, unable to utter a single word.

The next moment, he felt a burning sensation in his heart.

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[1] Something like if you have no hand you can't make a fist. Cooked rice is the essential food in Chinese meals.