Though there was still a bit over a month remaining before Su Qingcheng’s appointed “date” with Xiao Tie, it eventually still took Su Qingcheng three days to fully recover from her injuries and energy consumption. Waking up in a daze, she spotted Qin Fa tenderly watching over her like a nurse in attendance. Su Qingcheng blushed darkly as she fidgeted and felt a strange sensation on her neck. Qin Fa gently moved Su Qingcheng’s hand aside and inhaled a deep breath as she saw the ‘heart’ tattoo emblazoned on her neck. “This is…” Qin Fa muttered as she seemed to have recognized something important.

“What is it, Auntie?”

“It looks like you’ve absorbed some of the energy from the great tree.” Qin Fa simply stated, before passing the Fruit of Desire to Su Qingcheng, who placed it in a treasure box which she prepared before embarking on this trip. Then she stored it in her Dragon Hoard Ring before inquiring about this sensation.

Qin Fa shook her head. “This energy isn’t simple. It’s part of the divine energy that nourishes the tree and allows it to sprout the fruit. Since it came from the upper realm in the stories, it’s highly likely that the space power in your body attracted it. The energy from the tree is definitely extraordinary in origin, otherwise it wouldn’t seek to nourish your tianqi paths in this manner.”

Little brat, you keep surprising me again and again! Yao Meiyue’s voice rung loud and clear in Su Qingcheng’s head. This tree has a name that very few people actually know, naturally I am one of these people! This is the Star Soul Acacia, and the legends are true. The love between two warring clans of spatial beasts, had combined to create a tyrannical but nourishing energy. Their remains formed the roots of this grand tree. The Fruit of Desire is a powerful fruit because of the Star Soul energy created from this union! Yao Meiyue explained.

Su Qingcheng took in all of this information at once and sucked in a deep breath again. “Then what is the meaning of the thing I feel on my neck?”

“It is a tattoo. Try focusing your spiritual will on it…”

Su Qingcheng nodded timidly as she shut her eyes and concentrated, pouring her spiritual sense into the portion of her neck where the tattoo was placed. She began to swear as the response from the tattoo was shocking; Qin Fa could observe a faint aura emanating from Su Qingcheng but she dared not to interrupt. Su Qingcheng herself was able to see a very shocking image despite her eyes being shut. It was as if she had opened her third eye, and was looking a vast starscape. In the middle of her mental vision, she saw a gigantic eight-pronged wheel, with small extensions protruding out of each spoke of the wheel.

In Su Qingcheng’s memories, the giant wheel looked very similar to the Buddhist Wheel of Life, except this wheel was releasing beautiful cosmic stars, and now within her mind Su Qingcheng felt a very comforting sense of peace. However, the Dharma wheel appeared to spin faster and faster and this sense of calm didn’t last for long as Su Qingcheng began to see many images flashing past her. At first the images recounted the story of the giant tree which she obtained the Fruit of Desire on. This wasn’t what alarmed her. What shocked her was that she started seeing blurred visions of her past life, the scenes of all of her cherished moments with her loved ones, painful memories of her past break-ups, joyful memories when she celebrated a best-selling book release, so many memories of her past life. What shocked her most of all was the final image that flashed past her mind; the image of when she died and crossed over to the Liandou Continent. Now she was viewing her own death as if it were part of a TV show. She could see how her lover had always been preparing for that moment since long ago; how her resentment and jealousy was the result of Su Qingcheng not giving enough attention and love to her. Su Qingcheng realized only now after witnessing the circumstances of her own death that she had utterly fucked up, she was drunk on worldly success.

In the real world, Qin Fa saw Su Qingcheng begin to shed silent tears; Su Qingcheng had been crying this whole time whilst watching her death reel. She realized that she had gone too far back then. She was drunk on getting rich, so she failed to notice how her lover and wife had gotten jealous and angry. Finally, those last words she heard made so much sense – “When I take everything away from you, I’ll join you so that in the next life, we can try again.” Su Qingcheng’s heart felt like it had been shattered by a sledgehammer. Why was she so fucking stupid? Why did she not realize that it was so much more complicated than that? Su Qingcheng had disdained that kind of nouveau riche behavior, only to realize that she herself had been the same kind of despicable person!

Su Qingcheng suddenly opened her eyes; Qin Fa saw a wheel spinning in both of Su Qingcheng’s pupils, which greatly shocked her. Yao Meiyue had been suppressed by the Dharma wheel so she was only able to speak right this moment. Before she could say anything, Qin Fa had exclaimed something in surprise. “Transcendent Cosmic Wheel!” she blurted out, causing Su Qingcheng to stare at her in utter confusion.

“You… You!!! How did you…!” Qin Fa pointed at Su Qingcheng as if she were an Old Elder One from space.

“I don’t understand. I focused my spiritual will on the tattoo just as you asked, then I saw a vast starscape. The wheel, there was a giant Dharma wheel, I saw so many things, so many memories of…” Su Qingcheng trailed off, Qin Fa had quickly placed her hands on Su Qingcheng’s shoulders.

“You don’t understand; the Transcendent Cosmic Wheel is an incredibly rare, legendary phenomenon. It is said that only a handful of people could ever cause it to come into being. When it does, the environment around the wheel determines the kind of deific aptitude the person who saw the wheel would have! If you saw a starscape, that could only mean that you’re destined to inherit a power of space itself!” Qin Fa waved her arms around in excitement.

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“Universe Inheritor!” Qin Fa cried out. “We’ve gotta get back, we already had the Fruit, we’re done here, we must bring it up with your mother immediately!”

“I… this is too much information for me!” Su Qingcheng gasped. Qin Fa assured Su Qingcheng that she would explain what she knew along the way back. Qin Fa eagerly scooped up the girl into her arms and started to fly back to Tang Gu City at a comfortable speed – not too fast, not too slow. All in all, they had spent about four days at the mountains, so Su Ran was most likely to be worried. Along the way, Qin Fa began to talk about what she knew about the Transcendent Cosmic Wheel phenomenon.

“The Transcendent Cosmic Wheel’s conditions to appear are very mysterious; it has been the subject of hundreds of thousands of years of research. It’s said to be linked to the spirit of a Tianqi user, as well as their luck and fortune. The memories and images they would see from the wheel would be dependent on the life story of the person looking at the wheel, and also any stories coming from the thing which triggered the Transcendent Cosmic Wheel. According to you, you saw images from the legends of the tree of the Fruit of Desire, which does fall in line with the current records.” Qin Fa started with the origins of the phenomenon. “If, for some reason, the person witnessing the wheel had gone through the mystery of reincarnation, then they would see the circumstances around the death of their past life, from the very moment that their death was predestined!”

When Qin Fa mentioned the matter of reincarnation, the words hit Su Qingcheng like a heavy bolt of thunder. That meant that the moment she saw her wife plotting to kill her, she was already destined to be murdered. Hearing these words was both a comfort and a form of torment as Su Qingcheng’s gaze suddenly turned despondent. Qin Fa did not ask as she knew that if Su Qingcheng wished to talk about it, she would have mentioned it by now.

“The Transcendent Cosmic Wheel is mostly a sign, but after the person successfully witnesses those mental images and awakens from it, they would receive a big boost to their spiritual power as the cosmic wheel becomes a part of their being. It would continuously nourish the soul and the nascent souls within the person’s dantian. As I mentioned earlier, the environment in which the wheel appeared would determine the kind of mystical power you would be destined to inherit in the future. For example, a wheel inside a volcanic environment would allow that person to become King or Queen of the Flames, making them impervious to fire and allowing grand mastery over fire Tianqi.”

“Then what about the Universe Inheritor that you mentioned?”

“From my meagre knowledge of what lurks outside the jurisdiction of the three realms we live in, the vast space around it is part of what old monsters call the Spatial Universe.” Qin Fa explained.

“Spatial Universe…” Su Qingcheng muttered these words under her breath. From Qin Fa’s description, the Spatial Universe was very similar to Earth’s space and the universe having lots of pockets called ‘galaxies.’ The three realms therefore should be similar to a small portion of a ‘galaxy.’

“Right, the Spatial Universe is a mysterious environment which has many celestial bodies. We know them to generally be composed of stars, but there are also apparently inhabitable celestial bodies which those monsters refer to as ‘planets.’”

Unbeknownst to Qin Fa, she was essentially describing the universe of Su Qingcheng’s origin. The universe – an infinite expanse of galaxies which contained celestial bodies such as stars. Su Qingcheng tried very hard to resist the urge to talk back as she wanted to confirm her suspicions. Qin Fa nodded.

“One of my teachers was very well-versed in the study of these celestial bodies. He called himself an ‘astronomer,’ whatever that was. He said that the gateway to the Spatial Universe from the continent was to first visit Cloud Nine, which was in the Upper Realm, then find a gateway through the Cloud Nine’s sky layer in order to see the endless expanse of space. Once entering this expanse, you would be able to enter the Spatial Universe.”

“So, essentially the Spatial Universe is an infinitely sized space which contains celestial bodies of all shapes and sizes. This must be similar to the sun which shines over the upper realm and the continent, right?” Su Qingcheng asked, now thoroughly interested.

“That’s right, and that’s all I really know about it. However, I do know that the person who is capable of seeing the starscape no matter the method, is also capable of harnessing the power of the Spatial Universe. This must be why you have an abnormal aptitude such as being able to comprehend the First Mantra of the Dark Cosmos Fist at your level, even your mother only succeeded at her older age…” Qin Fa nodded. “If there was a way for you to directly enter the Spatial Universe in the future, it would serve a huge benefit for you in terms of growth and power. However, don’t even think about finding it for now.”

“I understand,” Su Qingcheng nodded. “Ever since I saw the Transcendent Cosmic Wheel, I feel as if I have learned a lot of things about myself.” Nobody knew the true meaning to those words aside from herself. After all, she found out the real reason why she died. She had brought it upon herself. Now, she was determined to get stronger and improve her character and temperament, so she would not repeat the same mistakes anymore. With true power and absolute strength, she could protect those close to her and cherish those she loved properly, and never again allow harm to befall them whether it be by her own selfishness or her negligence.

Silently she swore to herself she would not allow herself to repeat the same earthly and worldly mistakes she did before. Yao Meiyue naturally was cognizant of Su Qingcheng’s newfound determination but did not probe her about it. After a while, Su Qingcheng and Qin Fa finally returned to Tang Gu City, the trip took about half a day, so it was already dark by the time they returned. Su Ran was waiting for them, they landed in Su Ran’s courtyard where she leisurely sat there as if she already knew they’d be coming.

“Did you acquire the fruit?” Su Ran asked plainly.

“Yes.” Su Qingcheng nodded. Qin Fa ushered Su Qingcheng to stabilize herself and the latter nodded, since Qin Fa had wanted to speak privately to Su Ran.

“Sis Ran, the trip was very bountiful for us. However, there’s something I need to tell you of utmost importance.”

Su Ran watched her daughter leave and go to the Tiger’s Den. When she was out of earshot, Su Ran nodded. “Tell me.”

“The Demon Flame Sect is back.” Qin Fa frowned.

Su Ran’s face turned unsightly.