Chapter 393: Stealing Celestial Secret: Soaring Divine Fire

Wan Ze was speechless.

‘Man, you’re just too honest.’

Zhai Jia chuckled.

Zhai Yu drove with his eyes fixed on the road, not joining their conversation, though the corners of his mouth lifted slightly.

‘Xiaojia never disappoints. I’ll beat him up sooner or later.’

The car drove over a bumpy stretch of road, jolting the chassis.

“So this thing… how exactly do you use it?” Zhai Jia suddenly asked, tilting his head to look at Wan Ze with curiosity written all over his face.

Wan Ze shook his head. “I don’t know. I still haven’t figured out how it works.”

‘In fact, I don’t even understand how a real-world object can be used for Stealing Celestial Secret.’

‘Magic Sense is a concept from Huangliang. It’s the domain of Qi Refiners, not the Martial Dao.’

‘Why can a Jade Pendant from the real world, one with no apparent connection to Huangliang, allow me to steal Magic Sense?’

‘There has to be a truth to this that I don’t know.’

Zhai Jia frowned and shook his head.

‘I’m no Qi Refiner, so I don’t get any of that stuff. Asking more questions would just be getting in Wan Ze’s way.’

The car fell silent for a moment.

“One more thing,” Zhai Yu said suddenly.

Zhai Jia turned his head to look at him.

“Xiao Ya left a note in the safe,” Zhai Yu said.

Zhai Jia was taken aback. “Holy shit, can she predict the future or something?”

Zhai Yu’s tone was grave. “This Xiao Ya… she’s definitely not as simple as she seems.”

Zhai Jia nodded, then asked, “So, what did it say?”

“‘Looking forward to cooperating with us,'” Zhai Yu said offhandedly.

Wan Ze handed him the note.

“Damn, this woman really knows how to put on an act.” After reading the note, Zhai Jia clicked his tongue in amazement and shook his head. “I’m really curious what this mystery woman even looks like. Hey, Brother Yu, how about we make a deal? Let me disguise myself as Ah Ze next time. We’re about the same size. I promise I won’t crack up, seriously.”

Zhai Yu shot him a look in the rearview mirror. “Get lost. Are you really not afraid of things getting out of hand? Just don’t cause me any more trouble.”

“Alright, alright, alright. Just pretend I never said anything.” Zhai Jia raised his hands in surrender, then lowered them to cradle the back of his head, crossing his legs and sinking back into his usual lazy posture.

「More than half an hour later.」

The car didn’t go back to the martial arts academy.

Zhai Yu drove into the underground parking garage of Zhai Jia’s convention center. The headlights swept across the garage walls, illuminating signs for “NO SMOKING” and “SPEED LIMIT 5 KM/H.”

The underground garage was huge and empty, with only a few cars scattered here and there. The thin layer of dust on their roofs showed they hadn’t been moved in a long time.

The convention center Zhai Jia had chosen wasn’t far from Lingyun Manor, less than a twenty-minute drive away. Plus, it had plenty of rooms—more than enough for the three of them to rest.

The convention center was a property his family had left him. It was usually empty, but always kept spotless.

He parked the car and killed the engine.

The three men got out and pulled the two burlap sacks from the trunk. Zhai Jia didn’t let Wan Ze lift a finger; he and Zhai Yu shouldered one sack each and headed for the elevator.

The elevator was spacious. The three of them stood inside, shouldering the burlap sacks.

The elevator reached the top floor and the doors opened onto a hallway lined with a dark carpet.

Doors lined both sides of the hall, each adorned with a brass number plate.

Zhai Jia led the way, swiped a key card to open one of the doors, and pushed his way inside.

The room was huge—a suite.

Zhai Jia dropped the burlap sack onto the living room floor. It landed with a dull THUD, and the floor vibrated slightly.

Zhai Yu dropped his sack on the floor as well. The two bulging sacks lay side by side.

Zhai Yu sat on the sofa, removed his mask, and set it on the coffee table. A red line, an imprint from the mask’s edge, ran from his cheekbone down to his jaw. He rubbed it with his fingers, and the mark slowly faded.

Throughout it all, his expression remained calm.

Zhai Jia walked to the window and glanced at the night view. The convention center was in the eastern suburbs of the Holy City, on higher ground. From the window, he could see most of the city spread out below, a vast expanse of darkness. He yanked the curtains shut.

“Ah Ze, what’s the plan?”

Zhai Jia stretched, raising his arms over his head and leaning back until his spine let out a series of cracks. He then lowered his arms, turned, and leaned against the windowsill, looking at Wan Ze.

‘We’ve been running around all night. If it weren’t for my training, I’d never have been able to keep up.’

Wan Ze sat on the sofa next to Zhai Yu and said after a moment of thought, “We’ll split the money later. I need to make a trip to Huangliang tonight.”

Zhai Jia’s eyes lit up. He walked over and plopped down on the sofa opposite Wan Ze, his gaze intense. “Something going down over there?”

Wan Ze shook his head. “I want to check on Xiao Yunkai. I touched that pendant of his once, and something felt wrong. I’m going in tonight to see if I can find anything in Huangliang related to it.”

Upon hearing this, Zhai Yu said in a low voice, “Be extremely careful in there.”

Wan Ze nodded.

An idea suddenly struck him. He turned his head, paused, then asked, “Brother Yu, Brother Jia, are you two busy tonight?”

Zhai Jia shook his head, looking lost. “No… Why do you ask all of a sudden?”

Wan Ze said seriously, “I’m going into Huangliang tonight, and I’d like you to watch over me. I want to know what state my body is in when I enter.”

Zhai Jia’s eyes widened, then lit up. “Hell yeah, no problem!”

Even Zhai Yu, for once, seemed intrigued.

The convention center room fell silent.

The convention center had a security system, and with a Refining Force Expert like Zhai Yu standing guard, it was perfectly safe.

Zhai Yu’s Refining Force cultivation ranked among the top in the Holy City’s Martial Dao Circle. In the entire city, there were fewer than ten people who could stir up trouble right under his nose.

And none of those ten would be showing up in a convention center hotel room at three in the morning.

“Ah Ze, should I turn off the lights?” Zhai Jia asked curiously.

Wan Ze sat down cross-legged and shook his head. “It doesn’t matter if you leave them on.”

He paused, then looked at them. “This is my first time doing this with an audience. I’m not sure if my body will disappear. Maybe it will, maybe it won’t. From your perspective, it might look like I’m just asleep with my eyes closed. Or my body might turn transparent. Or I might just vanish from the room entirely. Anything is possible.”

“So, Brother Yu, Brother Jia, you have to watch closely. No matter what happens, no matter what you see, remember it. When I come back, you have to tell me exactly what changes my body went through while I was gone.”

Zhai Yu nodded gravely.

Zhai Jia nodded as well. “Don’t worry, Ah Ze.”

Wan Ze nodded.

He took a deep breath, closed his eyes, then opened them again.

He committed every detail of the room to memory, then closed his eyes for good.

He placed his hands on his knees, palms facing up, and gently touched the tips of his thumb and forefinger together to form a circle.

This meditation posture helps to stabilize one’s Qi.

His breathing began to slow. The interval between breaths lengthened from a normal three seconds to five, then from five to seven, and from seven to ten.

The rise and fall of his chest grew shallower, his breathing grew fainter, until it was nearly silent.

Then, in his mind, he recited the word: ‘Spiritual Form.’

VMM!

A faint, ringing boom sounded through the air.

It was like a great bell struck in the distance; by the time the sound traveled through the air, it had become a nearly inaudible vibration that one could feel in their bones.

The Moonlight twisted, forming a red cord that tied itself around Wan Ze’s wrist and gave a gentle pull.

The instant Wan Ze activated his Spiritual Form, he lifted his head to look at Zhai Yu and Zhai Jia.

His eyes were open.

He just watched them, watched as their eyes widened slightly, trying to record every second and miss no detail.

‘But it seems they can’t see the phenomenon of the Spiritual Form activating.’

A strange feeling suddenly welled up inside Wan Ze.

A feeling of profound calm.

It was as if, deep down, he had already expected this outcome…

‘Makes sense, I guess.’

‘Spiritual Form is a thing of Huangliang, the domain of Qi Refiners.’

‘It’s only natural that Brother Yu and Brother Jia can’t see it.’

‘Brother Yu, Brother Jia, wait for me.’

Wan Ze thought the words, but it was already impossible to speak them aloud.

The red cord on his wrist tugged, and in an instant, his entire being was pulled out of reality.

His Qi surged. Wan Ze held his breath, seeking out the anchor point he had previously marked on Xiao Yunkai’s pendant.

The sensation of falling lasted a long time.

The next instant, Wan Ze’s eyes snapped open!

WHOOSH!

He landed.