Chapter Seventy-Six: Forcing You to Improve

Ling Xiao was a bundle of nerves after losing sight of Wang Li.

He had a hunch that Wang Li had brought him out to help with some personal task again. Even if he didn’t quite buy Wang Li’s “I have high hopes for you,” he could sense no ill will from the man. As the saying went, opportunity knocks but once—a senior looking out for him was a blessing. But the sudden disappearance of this “senior” was something else entirely.

Ling Xiao searched the area for a long while but found no trace of Wang Li. Not daring to linger outside alone, he hurried back to New City at full speed and reported Wang Li’s sudden disappearance to the leading figures.

Only then did everyone realize how different Vengeance City was with and without Wang Li. When he was there, everything ran like clockwork: taking missions, cultivating, repeating the routine. All had grown accustomed to it. But with Wang Li gone, everyone felt suddenly lost, like a ship without a captain.

News of Wang Li’s disappearance quickly spread, shrouding the hearts of nearly ten thousand people in unease—even Mission 257 was suspended.

The Lin brothers, Luo Heng, and the others were all at a loss, unsure of what to do next. In the end, Jiang Yu pushed Jiang Yue forward, urging her to use her influence from the Chosen Ranking to temporarily steady the people’s nerves.

Upon learning Wang Li was missing, Jiang Yue insisted on going out to search for him. With her feminine wiles, she managed to persuade several experts to organize a search party. Led by Ling Xiao, they combed every inch of Wang Li’s last known location. Not only did they fail to find him, they also inadvertently triggered a hidden quest—more than a hundred members of the search party disturbed a Nightmare Beast and were all trapped in a dream world...

Wang Li had no idea what his disappearance had set off in New City; at this moment, he had enough trouble of his own.

When he and Ling Xiao were swallowed by spatial turbulence, Ling Xiao, blessed by the heavens, managed to escape, while Wang Li, the unlucky one, was exiled as if he were trash, cast out beyond the Chosen Ruins.

Truly, he was outside the Chosen Ruins.

For when Wang Li opened his eyes, he found himself facing a massive, oval “great sphere,” with nothing but emptiness around him.

Master Sheng informed him that the “great sphere” was the spatial world where the Chosen Ruins existed. He had been expelled because that world had activated its self-purification system, banishing useless things into the void.

Wang Li, not bound by the world’s rules, was swept out like garbage when the Chosen Ruins “cleaned house.”

Upon learning his situation, Wang Li couldn’t help but scoff, “So I’m just a pile of trash, then!”

Master Sheng manifested in his mind and grinned wickedly, “You don’t even qualify as trash. Take a look—where do you think all the real trash that got expelled with you is going?”

“Could you use a different verb? ‘Expelled’ has a certain flavor coming from you!”

Despite his bravado, Wang Li’s body responded honestly, as he began to observe the things around him.

There was a great deal expelled along with him: mostly decayed or deathly objects, the remains of beasts and cultivators who’d been dead who knows how many years, withered stones and plants, and even fragments of once-mighty spiritual weapons, now reduced to junk.

As soon as these things entered the void, they began to break down into pure energy of various elements, which was then absorbed back by the “great sphere.”

Wang Li asked, “Master Sheng, what’s going on here? Isn’t this all just trash the Chosen Ruins’ world didn’t need? Why is it being absorbed like this?”

“Trash is merely misplaced resource,” Master Sheng replied. “These things are part of the Chosen Ruins’ space. It can’t digest them on its own, but by using the rules of the Celestial Mystery World, it completes an energy cycle. That’s what it means when they say, ‘other mountains’ stones may sharpen your jade.’ I always tell you to read more, but you never listen.”

Master Sheng chuckled, “Keep this up and you’ll never be more than a brute.”

“I’m just doing as you said—keeping myself alive. All my time is spent cultivating; where would I find time to read?” Wang Li retorted, then asked, “So what should I do now?”

“Of course, you need to return to the Chosen Ruins,” Master Sheng replied.

“Can I go straight back to Pure Yang Temple?”

“No!” Master Sheng shook his head, holding up two fingers. “First: returning to Pure Yang Temple means crossing a world barrier. The Celestial Mystery World may be weakened, but it's still a complete world. I can cross freely, but with you tagging along, it's tricky. Your illegal crossing would draw the world’s attention and bring trouble to me.

“Second: even if the world’s will can’t locate you directly, when the Chosen Ruins end, it will recheck everything and everyone brought in. If you’re missing, it’s a loophole—and that could expose my existence.

“So you must go back, because you can’t transcend the world's rules!”

Wang Li shook his head. “I get the first part, but what does that last bit mean?”

“That’s above your pay grade,” Master Sheng answered matter-of-factly.

“Uh... Fine, just tell me what I should do.”

Wang Li gave up resisting and resigned himself to his fate.

Master Sheng was right—he was just a small figure. No matter how much protection he had, every step was like walking on thin ice.

Master Sheng was both his opportunity and his greatest danger.

In that instant, Wang Li saw it all clearly.

Master Sheng, pleased with himself, said, “You’re in the void now. There’s only one way to get back.”

“What way?” Wang Li sensed the familiar undertone in Master Sheng’s smugness, but since he’d already resigned himself, there was no need for caution.

“Transform yourself into elemental qi of the five elements and smuggle yourself back through the loopholes in the rules!”

Master Sheng laughed. “This isn’t me forcing you—it’s reality itself pushing you to grow!”

Wang Li’s face fell. “So you’re saying I need to master the Five Elements Technique?”

“Exactly!” Master Sheng snapped his fingers. “Before the elemental energy around you is all absorbed by the Chosen Ruins’ world, you need to complete cultivation of the Five Elements Technique. Then, turn yourself into pure elemental qi and let the world absorb you. I’ll protect your spirit as you cross the barriers. Once your body is reformed inside, I’ll help you return to it—safe and efficient. How’s my plan?”

“What can I say? Let’s do it!”

Without hesitation, Wang Li drew out his Five Elements Technique and began to cultivate.

He had no idea how to transform himself into elemental qi, nor how Master Sheng would help reconstruct his body, but he believed that if Master Sheng said it, it could be done.

This was an open and honest stratagem, forcing him to willingly cultivate the Five Elements Technique—he had no way to refuse.

The fact that he and Master Sheng were now inseparable left him no choice but to compromise, again and again.