Yù Quán walked back through the door, holding the notes on the Yellow Qilin Dance. When he returned, everyone was in the same place they had been, with the exception of Liàng Píng and Yin Mengxia. Elder Jiang stood up and shook his head.

“You are not the first.”

Yù Quán smiled. “I’m quite lucky, Elder Jiang. Hopefully, I can be the last.”

A faint smile appeared on Elder Jiang’s face before disappearing. He then hopped off and walked over to the pedestal. He got right in front of the pedestal and looked at it. It was small for a pedestal, standing at about one meter tall. It was made of a peculiar type of stone. It looked just like regular stone, but it seemed to have a slightly lighter texture and resembled smoke filling up the stone. It was pentagonal in shape, with a plain black mat on top of it. Without turning around, Elder Jiang began explaining the pedestal.

“This is the Inheritance Archive. It was created thousands of years ago with the collaboration of a few of the masters of our Yellow Qilin Academy. The academy has a long heritage, and this is all that is left of it. The Inheritance Archive is where all strong masters, before leaving or dying, will put together an inheritance to be placed inside. When someone is allowed inside it, they will be surrounded by inheritances, but they can only accept one that is suited for them.”

Yù Quán nodded. The name helped him get the general gist of it earlier. However, he didn’t realize it would be such a magical existence. A pedestal alone could hold the inheritances of thousands of years of masters? Yù Quán couldn’t help but believe that the Yellow Qilin Academy was stronger than it seemed. Or at least stronger in the past.

“Sit and meditate atop the pedestal.”

Yù Quán followed his directions. Getting on the pedestal and sitting in lotus. He closed his eyes and began to meditate. For a moment, nothing happened. Then, out of nowhere, Yù Quán felt as if he was no longer sitting on the pedestal. He instinctively opened his eyes and was no longer in the lobby with the elders and his fellow disciples. He was now among the stars.

“Space?”

Yù Quán knew as much as the average person regarding space, but that was probably more than the people in this world. Sure, there were other possibilities, but he didn’t think the laws of space would be too different from the ones on Earth.

Yù Quán looked around and noticed that something was off. While this looked like space, he couldn’t quite explain it, but something felt doctored or crafted. He guessed this wasn’t a real place in space but a place created to imitate it.

Around him were many stars of different colors and sizes. This also was different from space from his world. The stars should only be white or pale yellows, but one out of many would be pale versions of red, blue, or other colors.

“So… what do I do?”

Yù Quán shrugged and began walking. As he walked, he watched the stars move out of his view. There were no planets or anything, so he only had the stars to appreciate. He looked back and realized that space had shifted. Somehow, it was made to be thinner, like a hallway.

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“This is definitely not the space I know…”

Eventually, he felt a pressure descend. It felt like something was trying to enter his mind. Instinctively, Yù Quán tried to fight it. But before he could correct his mistake, it felt like the gates of his mind were blasted open. A river of voices flowed in. He couldn’t understand anyone over the others. All he was hoping was to survive.

Between the pain of all the voices in his head, he noticed some would fade away. Then, new voices would come to take their place. After what felt like an eternity, one voice sounded slightly louder than the others. Yù Quán could feel this voice getting closer and closer. Every bit closer made it a bit louder and more apparent.

Eventually, he could make out the words the voice was saying. “Murder is not malignant, nor is my mistress. Murder is for my use.”

When Yù Quán heard this, all other voices went quiet. He began to think.

‘I have killed in this world… but I wasn’t traumatized or disgusted. I guess I’ve never really had a significant reaction to murder in my world. I haven’t witnessed it either. That and the fact that I’m in a world of my own makes me not care much about killing. Murder isn’t malignant, since it isn’t necessarily evil or wicked unless used for those reasons. Mistress is obviously figurative… because I don’t necessarily enjoy the act of killing; I don’t love it or get pleasure from it.’

Yù Quán looked up to see a crimson-red star. He felt that it was staring into his soul. He swallowed, then steeled himself. As Yù Quán began to speak, he simultaneously heard the voice from earlier talk.

“Murder is a tool.” they both said.

…

It had been a few hundred seconds since Yù Quán had begun meditating. To them, there had been no change. Rèn Chāngmíng was worried, but Yàn Lìqín and Elder Jiang were calm, so he didn’t need to act.

A few moments later, crimson red qi began gathering around Yù Quán. It seemed to be trailing from the pedestal to his forehead.

“Blood qi?!” Liàng Píng exclaimed.

Yàn Lìqín shook his head, and Elder Jiang replied.

“No, while the colors are similar. This is more crimson than maroon. Plus, this qi emits killing intent. This is a murderous qi.”

All the disciples were surprised. Blood qi was already unsightly and barely accepted by the majority of cultivators. But, murderous qi? They had never heard of it, but it sounded evil.

Yàn Lìqín smiled. “I know what you all are thinking. There are very few masters who use murderous qi, and even fewer known to be members of the Yellow Qilin Academy in the past. If this is who I think it is, Yù Quán shouldn’t be in danger or any danger to us.”

This settled their fears, but they stayed on guard just in case. Yàn Lìqín didn’t say he was entirely sure, so who’s to say he isn’t wrong?

…

Yù Quán

Realm: Qi Focusing Realm

Stage: 1st Level Essence Refinement

Main Cultivation Art: [Stolen-eyed Mùmùlián Body](Level 1)

Techniques:

[Mùmùlián Eye Stealing](Level 1)

[Mùmùlián Eye Refining](Level 1)

Attributes:

[Star Gazing Eyes](Level 1)

[Top-Quality Mortal Avarice Eyes](Level 1)

[Top-Quality Mortal Avarice Eyes](Level 1)

[Top-Quality Three-Finned Boar Aggression Eyes](Level 5)

[Top-Quality Three-Finned Boar Aggression Eyes](Level 1)(x5)

[Top-Quality Five-Finned Boar Aggression Eyes](Level 1)