The Eighth and Ninth Heavenly Steles

2,141 words

Xiao Chen had already seen seven Heavenly Steles, but the discovery that an eighth and ninth existed beyond the mundane world caught him off guard. If each stele contained a mystical art, then the accumulated wealth of power would be incalculable. He had already mastered the ancient methods from the first six steles, and on the seventh he had seen a summary of the entire system. If an eighth and ninth stele truly existed, what would they hold? The thought stirred a fierce anticipation within him. The markings on the dragon-skin map seemed to hint at an intrinsic connection between them.

The Little Defiant Dragon frowned. “These markers look like they might be related…” The Ancestral Dragon skin map was crudely drawn, but the fact that so many artifacts were listed upon it meant it was anything but simple. Xiao Chen had dimly noticed that the Heavenly Steles, the ancient lamps, the Great Palace of Chaotic Land, the Ninety-Nine Stone Steps, and others seemed linked. Their marked positions followed a certain pattern, yet in the short term it was impossible to deduce the underlying principle.

There was no time for detailed study now. The group searched through the second palace for any other discoveries, then pressed on toward the third and final palace.

The last palace was utterly still. A thick layer of dust covered the floor, showing that no one had entered for countless years. The vast hall was empty, save for a stone platform at the far end. “Look, there’s a broken jar on the platform,” said Sha Polang, striding over and casually lifting the cracked vessel. He shook it, and a strange sound came from within. Curious, he held it to his ear.

No sooner had the jar touched his ear than Sha Polang shrieked, flinging it away. Xiao Chen, reacting swiftly, shot out a beam of divine light and caught the broken jar securely. Meanwhile, Sha Polang looked dazed, as if trampled by a herd of wild elephants, staggering and nearly collapsing. “What happened to you?” asked the Nine-Headed Serpent. “Dammit, it—it assaulted me!” Sha Polang roared. “Don’t misunderstand! I mean it assaulted my ear! It felt like a savage dragon rammed into my ear canal, shattering my eardrums. The whole world is just a buzzing roar—it hurts like hell!” He stumbled about, grumbling furiously for a long time before calming down. “Serves you right for being so careless,” the other three said without sympathy.

Xiao Chen was examining the jar intently. Suddenly, he called out, “True Sight!” Twin beams of golden light shot from his eyes, enveloping the palm-sized, broken stone jar. In an instant, the jar transformed. All its cracks vanished, the missing sections filled in, and the gray stone changed into a dread black-red, as if forged from blood mixed with mud. A dense, talismanic seal covered the mouth of the jar, binding it shut. “Why does it look like that now?” Sha Polang asked in surprise. “This is its true form. The earlier appearance was only an illusion. You nearly made a terrible mistake; if you had shattered it, the consequences would have been dire.” Xiao Chen’s face was grave as he examined the jar closely. “A seal?” said the Little Defiant Dragon, also startled. “The thing inside this jar seems extraordinary.”

Just then, the jar began to shake. The hall grew oppressive, as if everyone were trapped in quicksand, a weighty pressure making it hard to breathe. Extreme danger! In that moment, Xiao Chen realized that the jar held a being more powerful than he could imagine! The jar vibrated violently, straining against Xiao Chen’s grip, a lethal aura spilling out that sent chills down the spines of the Little Defiant Dragon and Sha Polang. Sweat broke out on their brows.

Xiao Chen snorted coldly, injecting more power into the jar to reinforce the seal. The talisman at its mouth blazed with light, and strange patterns flowed across the body of the jar, like iron chains coiling around it, biting deep into the stone. The jar shone, radiating immense divine power. With Xiao Chen’s energy fueling them, the sealing forces surged, and the violently shaking jar gradually stilled. “Such a powerful seal! What is locked inside this jar?” The Little Defiant Dragon stared in shock. “Something extremely dangerous. Its strength is incalculable. Fortunately, it’s sealed within; otherwise, we’d be in serious trouble.” Xiao Chen carefully held the palm-sized jar, maintaining his vigilance.

“What in the world is it?” Sha Polang rubbed his still-ringing ear, annoyed. Xiao Chen and the Little Defiant Dragon studied the jar for a long time but could not discern its nature. Without fully understanding it, Xiao Chen dared not remove the sealing talisman. He cautiously stored the jar within the Primordial Demonic City that resided in the space between his fingers, unwilling to keep such a dangerous object in his acupoint spaces.

After a thorough search of the third palace turned up nothing else, the four turned back along the path they had come. When they reached the first palace, they saw the Stone-Man King puppet standing in the doorway, its hollow gaze fixed on them. “That thing…” The Nine-Headed Serpent’s voice trembled. A murderous aura filled the first palace. The puppet’s empty eyes were terrifying, like twin abysses threatening to swallow them. It began to walk toward them, one step at a time.

Though the Stone-Man King had been killed—there was a hole in its skull—its stone body still contained unimaginable combat power, like a demon god of slaughter, exuding overwhelming might. “We can’t fight it head-on. Let’s go!” Xiao Chen unfolded the Eight Aspect Worlds, intending to teleport the group away. Eight illusory realms enveloped them, and they vanished instantly—but the Stone-Man King puppet’s right hand slammed down, and a powerful domain flooded the first palace, sealing heaven and earth. This was a king’s battle domain, capable of suppressing everything! Even Xiao Chen’s peerless Eight Aspect Worlds were forced to materialize; they could not break through the barrier to escape.

However, Xiao Chen was not afraid. He now had sufficient resources, and his opponent was not a true Stone-Man King—it had no consciousness. A dark glow flashed between his fingers, and the Primordial Demonic City emerged. Three Heavenly Marks reinforced the city within its space, providing an endless stream of divine power. The palm-sized city expanded to the size of a house, shattering the surrounding seal, and crashed down upon the puppet. The Stone-Man King puppet seemed to sense something, pausing for just a moment as it looked up—it made no effort to dodge. With a thunderous roar, the Primordial Demonic City swallowed it whole. The puppet’s domain vanished instantly, and the seal was broken.

Xiao Chen and the others raced out of the first palace. The stone doors slammed shut with a heavy boom. They looked at each other in astonishment—the powerful puppet had offered no resistance and was simply taken by the demonic city. It had been too easy. Xiao Chen held the city in his palm and examined it closely. To his great surprise, the puppet was not inside. “How is that possible?” He then summoned the stone jar. On its surface, there was now a clear image: the Stone-Man King puppet was imprinted upon the jar, bound by chains of patterns. “Jackpot! This jar is the key to controlling the puppet!” Sha Polang rubbed his hands excitedly. “That means we have a powerful fighting force!”

“It’s not that simple,” said Xiao Chen, studying the jar. “Though the puppet seems to be controlled by the jar, we don’t know how to use it yet. And if we accidentally release the terrible being sealed inside, the consequences would be disastrous.” With a rumble, Xiao Chen tossed out the Primordial Demonic City. It descended upon the central palace, absorbing the entire undamaged structure, then swept across the ruins. All the stones and rubble were gathered into the demonic city to serve as material for a grand battle city. When the broken fortress was fully collected, the demonic city returned to his palm—it had clearly evolved, now even more inscrutable. “Has it truly become a King’s Divine City?” asked the Little Defiant Dragon. “In terms of divine power, yes, but it still lacks a qualitative change, because no one has taken the Final Step within it, so it cannot undergo its own final transformation.”

Back at a hotel in Yan Capital, Xiao Chen immediately unrolled the dragon-skin map for detailed analysis. The map held the clues to the nine Heavenly Steles, and if he could decipher them, he might quickly obtain the remaining Heavenly Marks. Under the soft glow of crystal chandeliers, the ancient dragon-skin scroll exuded an eerie, mysterious aura. The Yellow Clay Altar, the Heaven-Reaching Death Bridge, the Ninety-Nine Stone Steps, the Great Palace of Chaotic Land, the Nine Ancient Lamps, the Heavenly Steles… all these mysterious and powerful artifacts had their marks on the Ancestral Dragon skin map.

What kind of map was this? The Little Defiant Dragon and Sha Polang no longer felt the same shock as when they first saw it, but they still sensed its extraordinary origin. The four stared fixedly at the mysterious parchment. The Ancestral Dragon skin was dark red, clearly stained with blood. The seven Heavenly Steles were prominently marked, but the eighth and ninth were faint—the ninth especially almost invisible, only discernible through powerful divine perception. The map was clearly mysterious; only with great spiritual strength could one see its full scope.

After studying it for a long time, Xiao Chen still could not deduce the origins or clues of the steles. The map seemed less a conventional chart than a patchwork of different worlds. But both Xiao Chen and the Little Defiant Dragon had noticed that the Heavenly Steles, the Ninety-Nine Stone Steps, the Heaven-Reaching Death Bridge, and others seemed to be connected. The Death Bridge, for instance, seemed to be a true bridge, connecting to an extremely perilous pass that could only be crossed by traversing it. Divine diagrams and bone fragments lay scattered along the path like clues. The Ninety-Nine Stone Steps appeared to be a stone stairway leading to a mysterious region. The Nine Ancient Lamps were odd: they truly seemed to be only nine lamps, meant to scatter light along a mysterious passage. The Great Palace of Chaotic Land appeared to be a waystation on that path, providing necessary supplies. The nine Heavenly Steles were like nine signposts, recording everything along the road—or like nine tombstones marking the remains of nine powerful beings who had fallen on the journey. A stone key was also clearly marked, though longer than the one Xiao Chen held. He suspected the key on the dragon-skin map was the true, complete key.

The group stared for a long time, all deeply shaken. The artifacts were clearly connected, all pointing toward some extremely special destination. The more they looked, the stronger this feeling grew, until the objects seemed linked together, leading into a mysterious unknown. Xiao Chen felt his scalp tingle. This map was far larger than he had imagined, encompassing many of the world’s most mystical artifacts. The Great Palace of Chaotic Land and the Ninety-Nine Stone Steps were each a sacred relic of a particular world. Yet a single map connected the sacred objects of different worlds, guiding toward an unknown place—it was staggering. It could well be called the greatest secret of the ages! Such a grand design assaulted their minds; no one could remain calm. “This is…” Even the normally steady Little Defiant Dragon felt his mouth go dry and cursed under his breath. “Unbelievable, a madman’s feat. Is this even possible?!” Sha Polang stammered. “The Heavenly Steles, the Divine Diagram, the Great Palace, the Stone Steps, the Ancestral Dragon Platform… all are artifacts on one map, things needed to reach a mysterious road. This is truly insane—unimaginable!” The Nine-Headed Serpent tried to dismiss it, saying, “That’s too absurd. Who would make such a meaningless map?” But he knew even he didn’t believe his own words—who would waste an Ancestral Dragon skin on a meaningless drawing?

“What we have seen today must never be spoken of. Not a word can leak out.” Xiao Chen warned them, aware that he had inadvertently stumbled upon clues to a shocking secret, perhaps about to unveil something beyond imagination. Truly a grand design, connecting multiple worlds. And that was only a first impression. On closer inspection, the map also contained many rivers, treacherous mountains, and other mysterious artifacts. It was truly a blurry, unfathomable ancient chart. After examining it, all four drew in sharp breaths. “It seems we have uncovered a piece of history that is a myth even to the strongest beings—a bizarre, mysterious world sealed away by endless ages. But perhaps we are only witnesses…”

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Reading Guide Decoding

The Grand Map: Unveiling the Connection of Celestial Artifacts

Cultural / Xianxia Notes

The Ancestral Dragon skin map is a profound artifact in itself: made from the hide of an Ancestral Dragon, it records not just locations but the relationships between legendary relics. In traditional Chinese mythology, maps of this kind often appear in legends as guides to forbidden secrets. The Heavenly Steles (天碑) are central to the cultivation system of this novel—each stele contains ancient methods, and assembling them grants access to supreme power. The map now suggests that the steles are not isolated objects but part of a larger network. The other artifacts—the Yellow Clay Altar (黄泥台), the Heaven-Reaching Death Bridge (通天死桥), the ninety‑nine stone steps (九十九重石台阶)—each have their own mythological weight. For instance, the bridge and steps evoke the idea of a celestial ascent that only the most powerful can attempt. The map’s depiction of these items as stations on a single path implies a grand, perhaps cosmic, purpose that links the major realms of the novel: the Mortal World, the World of Immortality, the Death World, and beyond. The mention of a stone key (石钥匙) longer than the one Xiao Chen possesses hints that the map itself may provide the means to unlock a final gate. This chapter reinforces the xianxia trope of a hidden, world‑spanning legacy left by ancient beings.

Chapter Overview

After narrowly escaping the dangerous stone-man puppet, Xiao Chen and his companions retreat to Yan Capital, where a shocking discovery awaits. The Ancestral Dragon skin map, plucked from the depths of the ruined palace, reveals far more than mere geography. On its surface, eight and even a faint ninth Heavenly Stele appear, alongside the Yellow Clay Altar, the Heaven-Reaching Death Bridge, the ninety-nine stone steps, ancient lamps, and the great palace of the Chaos Land. These legendary artifacts, scattered across different worlds, now seem to be connected, forming a single, cryptic passage leading toward an unknown destination. The tone of this chapter is one of profound awe and creeping realization—Xiao Chen and his allies sense they have stumbled upon a secret that transcends eras. The sheer scale of the map suggests a plan that involved the ultimate powers of multiple civilizations, and the implications shake even the most seasoned among them. This is not merely a treasure map; it is a schematic of a path that gods may have traveled.

Key Plot Points

Inside the third palace hall, the group discovers a seemingly broken stone jar. When the Purple Diamond Skeleton Sha Polang carelessly lifts it to his ear, a deafening, painful blast of energy nearly disorients him. Xiao Chen immediately activates his "Void-Breaking Eye" and sees the jar's true form: a blood-and-black‑earth vessel sealed by dense talismanic script. The jar trembles with contained power, and Xiao Chen recognizes it as a prison for an entity of terrifying strength. Using his own power to reinforce the seal, he safely stores the jar within the Primordial Demon City—not daring to keep it in his acupoint space. Moments later, the stone‑man puppet that guards the palace awakens, its battle domain sealing the entire hall. Xiao Chen unleashes the Primordial Demon City, which expands and swallows the puppet with surprising ease. Yet when he checks the city, the puppet is gone—only to appear as a relief image on the surface of the stone jar, bound by the same chain‑like patterns that seal the jar. This reveals that the jar is the key to controlling the puppet. After stowing the entire central palace ruins into the demon city (which undergoes a noticeable evolution), the group returns to their hotel to study the Ancestral Dragon skin map. Under careful examination, they see not only the seven known Heavenly Steles but also the eighth and a shadowy ninth. More striking, the map links the steles with the Yellow Clay Altar, the Heaven-Reaching Death Bridge, the ninety-nine stone steps, ancient lamps, the Chaos Land palace, and even a stone key (longer than the one Xiao Chen possesses). The artifacts seem to be arranged like a trail of signposts or stations on a single, epic road leading to a mysterious ultimate place. The group realizes they have uncovered a record of a grand design—possibly a path left by powers that spanned across worlds and ages.

Reading Guide

This chapter sets up a major narrative arc: the mystery of the Ancestral Dragon skin map and what its connected artifacts reveal. Readers should pay close attention to the map’s details, as they foreshadow Xiao Chen’s future journey—likely toward the location where all these artifacts converge. The sealed stone jar is another ticking bomb; its contents could be either a deadly enemy or a potential ally. The fact that the stone‑man puppet is now bound to the jar offers Xiao Chen a new, formidable weapon, but controlling it without unleashing the sealed entity will be a challenge. The chapter ends on a note of hushed revelation—the map is “madness” and “unimaginable”—which primes the reader for the next phase: Xiao Chen must decide how to use this knowledge. With the Nine Provinces under siege and the Celestial Realm looming, such a grand map may be the key to turning the tide. The coming chapters are likely to explore the origins of this map and the path it charts, potentially bringing Xiao Chen face‑to‑face with the ultimate truths of his world.