The white figure finally revealed herself to be a young maiden, fair as carved jade.
She glanced at the fallen Jing Sushì, then moved to the corpse of Fuying. Staring at her dead comrade, she couldn't help but spit in disdain:
"Truly a fool!"
At that moment, a raven black as ink descended from the skies, landing upon Fuying's body.
The raven opened its beak and spoke in a human voice:
"Aoli, the investigation is complete. The Su clan has a direct descendant who left the island; she should still be on Hunzhou Island. I've already sent word to have her seized.
The Jing clan also has a newborn son, carried away by the Spider Matron. You are to help Fuying kill these two.
If the direct bloodlines of the Jing and Su families are not wiped out, the island's Life Furnace will not easily be extinguished!
Though this battle went smoothly, we cannot yet know how the other Fate Islands will respond.
You two must finish quickly and return to secure the spoils of war!"
Hearing the raven's message, Aoli seethed with anger.
Fuying's incompetence was intolerable; not only had he been killed by an old woman, but he had also left behind loose ends for her to clean up.
He could die and be done with it, but with one less eighth-rank Dragon-Elephant, she would surely face the Island Lord's punishment.
Still, anger was one thing; her task was another.
Aoli casually flicked out a strand of blue flame, casting it upon Jing Sushì's body.
In an instant, the corpses of grandmother and granddaughter were consumed.
The fire burned fiercely, yet exuded a cold that bit to the bone.
The young girl, never having entered the Dao, was reduced to nothing but a single tiny, crystalline blood pearl.
Jing Sushì, an eighth-rank Dragon-Elephant cultivator with an extraordinary body, endured the flames for over three hours.
Only when her Soul-Weaving Spider Matron manifestation shattered did her body finally succumb, transformed into a glimmering jade sculpture of a spider.
The spider gleamed with a green-blue luster, clearly no common artifact.
Aoli carefully stored it away, then picked up the blood pearl. With a wisp of her power, she activated it.
At once, an invisible ray of spiritual light shot off into the distance.
Aoli cast a glance in its direction, then stepped onto the sea.
The waves surged, but with every step she took, the waters beneath her feet froze solid, forming blocks of ice for her to stride upon.
With a single bound, she covered ten zhang, moving swiftly across the waves.
Thus, Aoli pursued Jing Qian's trail across the sea.
Judging from her speed, though Jing Qian had a half-day's head start, at most three days would pass before she caught up.
...
Inside the Stele of Fate's space, Jing Qian sat cross-legged, digesting the newly acquired memory.
The tall, thin cultivator's foundation had not been shallow, and the very first memory fragment he offered was priceless. Within it lay the distilled knowledge and cultivation experience accumulated over decades.
For Jing Qian, nothing could be more valuable.
He devoured the knowledge like a starving man, as though he had stepped through the gates of an entirely new world. Before him slowly unfolded a grand, majestic blueprint of the cultivation path.
In this land of Hunzhou, spiritual energy was abundant, resources plentiful, and cultivation thrived.
Cultivators could nourish their essence, fix their fate, refine laws to extend longevity, and raise islands with blazing furnaces all in pursuit of immortality. It was a path vast and luminous, passed down for countless generations, enriched with the accumulated wisdom of predecessors and refined into an intricate, precise system of advancement.
Thanks to the Stele's strange powers, Jing Qian bypassed years of study and accumulation, instantly mastering a vast trove of cultivation knowledge.
In this world, those with potential relied on the gifts of their bloodline and a strong physique to amass Life Essence.
Once a cultivator gathered their first complete Life Essence, the chance to formally step onto the Dao arrived.
By relying on a sect's Fatebinding method, one could connect to a Life Furnace and draw upon its Fate Fire to temper body and soul, awakening their first Life Pattern.
This was the first great heavenly barrier of the path. Fail, and both soul and body would be gravely wounded, with the Dao forever cut off. But succeed, and the heavens would open wide, elevating one into the Ninth Rank Fatebinding Realm, becoming a true cultivator.
From that point on, with a foundational Life Pattern, cultivators could continue accumulating Life Essence and fusing further Life Patterns through secret arts.
These Life Patterns were the very heart of cultivation. Each one carried a unique law or power, strengthening body and spirit while granting extraordinary abilities.
When a Fatebinding cultivator cultivated long enough, quantity would transform into quality, their Life Essence undergoing its first evolution.
At the Ninth Rank, the Life Essence shone pure white. This was the White Fang stage.
After its transformation, white turned to green, its quality increasing tenfold. This was the Azure Wing stage, signifying entry into the Eighth Rank Dragon-Elephant Realm.
At this level, divine abilities flourished, spiritual power was vast, and every gesture carried immense might. In Hunzhou, Dragon-Elephant cultivators were pillars of power, guardians of Fate Islands.
Beyond this point, progress depended on one's heritage.
Life Patterns were infinitely varied, and their quality determined a cultivator's future achievements. High-grade, rare Patterns were coveted, for the combinations they formed could unlock miraculous powers.
When a Dragon-Elephant cultivator followed a specific lineage and assembled a complete system of Patterns, they could condense a unique Manifestation.
The entire Dragon-Elephant stage revolved around forging this Manifestation. Once it was achieved, and more accumulation followed, one could elevate Life Essence to the Blue Blood stage, advancing to the Seventh Rank Longevity Realm.
At that level, one could ignite the Life Furnace, establish their own Fate Island, cultivate followers, and reign as a regional lord.
To reach the Longevity Realm had been the life's dream of the tall, thin cultivator. Yet he had only managed to fuse three Life Patterns, remaining at the Ninth Rank Fatebinding Realm.
His knowledge was detailed when it came to entry into the Dao. But beyond that, how to condense a Manifestation, or ascend into the Longevity Realm, his understanding was fragmented, incomplete.
As for what lay beyond Longevity, he knew nothing at all.
In Hunzhou, this was the fate of scattered cultivators. Lacking complete lineages, most never advanced further. Only a handful within the great Fate Islands held complete Manifestation inheritances and thus monopolized the path to Longevity and beyond.
But those lofty matters were for the future.
For Jing Qian, what mattered now was the accumulation of Life Essence and gathering the resources needed to practice the method recorded in that memory, the "Three Beasts Fatebinding Law".
That was his true, immediate goal.