Volume Five: Destitute and Downcast, Gazing North at the Cloud Stele. Chapter Nineteen: Setting Forth

Ten days later, Zhuo Hua had fully recovered. Su Mengling was carefully unwrapping the bandages from his head, bit by bit.

"Ling'er, thank you for taking care of me all these days. I am deeply grateful."

"Big Brother, what are you saying? Do you really have to be so formal with me?" Su Mengling pouted, feigning displeasure.

Zhuo Hua remained silent, his gaze fixed out the window as he asked, "Ling'er, is all the luggage packed?"

Su Mengling nodded and replied, "Yes! Uncle Su is handling the final details. We can set off this afternoon."

"Have you really thought this through? Are you sure you want to come with me to Beilun Continent?" No sooner had the words left his lips than Zhuo Hua realized he shouldn't have said them. He immediately added, "I mean, the journey ahead is fraught with difficulties. If we were to travel by riding the winds, we would arrive in twenty days. But..."

Zhuo Hua watched the bustling crowd outside and the long line of carriages, the words he wanted to say catching in his throat.

"Big Brother, if you have urgent matters at the Cloud Palace, you should go ahead. These are things my father left for me; I don't want to abandon them. Once I go to the Cloud Palace this time, I won't be coming back. I can arrive later with the guards! I've already checked—we will definitely arrive before the Dragon Boat Festival." As she spoke, Su Mengling tidied away the used bandages and carefully wiped a smudge from Zhuo Hua's forehead.

"That won't do! The world outside is in chaos. I’ve asked Yan Mufeng, and aside from Xiqi Continent, which remains relatively stable, the other continents have been ravaged by the Dark Li Clan and the Sun-Worshipping Sect, leaving nine out of ten houses empty. You, a young lady, traveling with so much heavy baggage? No! Absolutely not!" Zhuo Hua shook his head repeatedly.

Su Mengling placed her hands on his shoulders, smiling to reassure him. "Oh, Big Brother! I have so many guards! They are all General Yan's personal elite, every one of them a master! You don't need to worry about me!"

Zhuo Hua took her hands off his shoulders and said firmly, "Do not insist on this. I have already made one mistake regarding your father; I cannot make another regarding you. I will travel with you."

Su Mengling released his hands, turned away, and sighed. "Well! Now the whole world will say that the God-Lord of the Cloud Palace ignores the affairs of state just for a little girl!" She burst into a light, melodic laugh.

Zhuo Hua looked helpless. He tapped her forehead with his finger and scolded playfully, "All you ever do is make fun of me."

Su Mengling stuck out her tongue, grinned mischievously, and ran off with the medicine box, calling back, "Big Brother, I’m going to help Uncle Su! You can sit there and brood by yourself!"

A trail of ethereal laughter echoed in the courtyard.

Zhuo Hua watched her retreating figure, his thoughts drifting back to that mysterious voice he had heard earlier.

"Something comes from nothing, and all things arise from something. To stick to the old ways is to turn the void into a river." Zhuo Hua whispered the words repeatedly, unaware that he had already descended into his own consciousness.

His sea of consciousness, which had been deathly still, was slowly beginning to revive. Floating in mid-air, Zhuo Hua stared at the sixteen golden characters before him.

"What is the mystery behind these words?" He could not fathom it. A surge of inexplicable agitation gripped his heart. He thought of the common folk outside being slaughtered daily by those demons, and the uncertain state of the Cloud Palace. His cultivation had not fully recovered, making it impossible to establish contact with the palace immediately. Yan Mufeng had dispatched an urgent message, but in these chaotic times, it was uncertain if it would even arrive.

*Bang!* With a forceful punch driven by inner energy, he struck the sixteen characters, shattering them instantly. Golden dust drifted down like a shower of metallic snow.

Zhuo Hua waved his hand to disperse the dust. Just as he turned to leave his consciousness, he caught a glimpse of something incredible: the dust he had blown away was swirling back, forming a rotating void on the ground. The golden dust spiraled into the center, falling into an endless loop.

Zhuo Hua was stunned. *Isn't this the vortex abyss that appears before the Devouring Galaxy erupts? But based on the Qi-Stabilizing Bead inside me, it should be impossible to trigger a vortex abyss! Furthermore, even if I could trigger the Devouring Galaxy, it would be no match for Lan Ling of the Divine Stage.*

Suddenly, a thought struck his mind like lightning.

"If I turn this Qi-Stabilizing Bead into a vortex abyss, wouldn't I be able to absorb the purest spiritual energy at every moment? I wouldn't need the bead to generate Qi, and when fighting, the stronger the opponent, the stronger I would become. What a powerful and terrifying force."

"But how do I turn the bead into a vortex abyss?" He fell into deep contemplation.

He extended his right hand and manifested a common, first-grade mortal Qi-Stabilizing Bead within his consciousness. Using all his might, he delivered a strike as powerful as a crashing tide. The bead shattered into dust instantly.

Zhuo Hua exhaled, blew away the dust, and shook his head.

He then manifested a spiritual-grade bead, tossed it into the air, and shot a sword-Qi through its center. After flickering a few times, the bead cracked and scattered into glowing, leaf-like fragments.

"Still not enough!" He slammed his fist into the void.

Regulating his breathing, he gathered his courage and manifested a divine-grade bead. The words flashed in his mind again: *Something comes from nothing, and all things arise from something!*

"I must first turn it into 'nothing,' and only then can that 'nothing' become 'something,'" he thought.

He placed the bead in the void before him and condensed his inner energy into a pure, concentrated force. When the pressure within him felt as if it were about to burst, he slammed his palms together, trapping the bead between them.

With both palms exerting pressure, two powerful streams of energy converged on the bead from all sides. The bead began to glow brighter and grow hotter.

After the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, the bead, once the size of a fist, had been compressed to the size of a red bean. Its light and heat seemed to have reached their limit.

"But this is still not 'nothing'!" Zhuo Hua felt anxious and increased the output of his energy.

After another cup of tea, the bead could no longer withstand the external pressure. With a blinding flash of light, it transformed into a pinhead-sized, rotating vortex abyss.

The vortex expanded rapidly to the naked eye, and nothing in its vicinity could escape its powerful suction.

Zhuo Hua immediately felt his inner energy being drawn rapidly toward the abyss. Remaining calm, he used the brute force between his palms to push the nascent vortex into his own body.

In an instant, heaven and earth shook, and ghosts and gods wept.

Zhuo Hua felt as if he had merged with the void itself. Not only his aura, but all matter was now within his grasp, capable of being ground into dust in a heartbeat.

"This power is too terrifying!" Zhuo Hua emerged from his consciousness, drenched in sweat. "If such power is placed directly into the body, while it provides infinite combat capability, there is no telling when it might consume me in return."

He stood up. The cold wind outside cleared his thoughts. Seeing Su Mengling busy with the caravan and the bustling crowd, he seemed to know what he had to do.

"I must build something to contain it. Before that, I cannot release this demon into the world."

"Big Brother, the caravan is ready. We can set off at any time." Su Mengling trotted to his window, tilted her head, and blinked her large eyes at him, filled with anticipation for the journey.

"Right! Let's go." Zhuo Hua tapped her forehead, smiled, and walked out of the room.

Deep in the dungeons of the Cloud Palace, Lan Sheng sat cross-legged, sweating profusely as he meditated. In the opposite cell, Zhuo Yun saw his state and urged Lin Bai, who was next to Lan Sheng, "Palace Master Lin, please, look at Lan Sheng! What is wrong with him?"

Lin Bai, lying on a stone bed with a straw in his mouth, replied bitterly, "Don't call me Palace Master. I haven't been that for a long time."

"Brother Lin, please, check on him. He’s drenched in sweat and shaking. I’m afraid something will happen. If his inner demon escapes, it will be a disaster!" Zhuo Yun was on the verge of tears.

Su Xin leaned toward the bars, glanced at Lan Sheng, and then crawled back to her stone bed, bored. "Nothing! Just some agitation of the spirit! He won't die!"

Qin Ying glared at Su Xin and hissed, "When will you ever hold your tongue? That old python Song should have broken your legs. No, he should have just killed you to save everyone the trouble."

Su Xin rolled her eyes, turned over, and faced the wall.

After scolding Su Xin, Qin Ying went to Zhuo Yun, squatted down, and patted her back. "Don't worry! Lan Sheng has the spiritual consciousness left behind by Yuan Shang. He must be sensing some change in Yuan Shang. Don't worry."

No sooner had she spoken than Lan Sheng’s eyes flew open. He gasped for air, his chest heaving, his gaze filled with terror.

"Yuan Shang has encountered a great disaster. I don't know if it’s good or bad, but I can feel that he is terrified!"

The color drained from everyone’s faces as they gathered by the bars, desperate to hear more.