In the dead of a cold night, within the territory of the Divine Family’s mansion, silence reigned beneath the pale wash of moonlight.

  Yet in that stillness, two children remained awake.

  Long past the hour when the world should have been asleep, they kept each other company, quietly drawn into the unsettling shift in their dynamic.

  Lying on her side, Chen Linlin, the young princess of the Divine Family, kept her gaze fixed on Xue Hui.

  He sat in the center of the room, legs crossed, breathing steady as faint spiritual energy gathered around him, the quiet rhythm of cultivation filling the space between them.

  Earlier, Xue Hui had explained part of his plan to her, how he needed to increase his strength first before speaking with her father, and how everything that followed would depend solely on Chen Zhenlong’s reaction after their conversation.

  As he explained all of this to Chen Linlin, Xue Hui made sure to emphasize that she should not be angry with her father if he refused to believe everything Xue Hui said, even if it ended with him being chased out of the Divine Family mansion.

  Although worried by everything she had heard, Chen Linlin understood that her father might become overly cautious toward Xue Hui after speaking with him, and that he might try to drive him away in order to keep her safe.

  Chen Linlin hoped that her father would believe Xue Hui and work with him. She disliked the idea of Xue Hui leaving her side for a long period of time, bearing everything alone just to help her rid herself of her illness.

  Especially since it might take years before Xue Hui gained enough strength to return to her.

  A glint of worry shone in her teal eyes as she looked at the boy sitting cross-legged in the middle of the room, cultivating.

  Xue Hui had long since entered a meditative state. At this moment, his mind drifted within a space reminiscent of the interior of the [CREATION ORIGIN ANCESTRAL MANUAL].

  Although it seemed as though his consciousness had returned to that mysterious space, Xue Hui was not actually inside it.

  Instead, his consciousness had recreated a perfect copy of the [CREATION ORIGIN ANCESTRAL MANUAL]’s inner space within his own mindscape, allowing him to think and cultivate.

  After being trapped in that place for hundreds of thousands of years, Xue Hui had unconsciously come to regard the room within the [CREATION ORIGIN ANCESTRAL MANUAL] as the perfect place to study and gain insight.

  Thus, he ended up recreating it within his own mind.

  “First, I need to break free from the shackles of my constitution.”

  Holding a scroll inscribed with a cultivation technique, Xue Hui steeled himself as he prepared to unblock his soul realm, the first step in properly beginning his journey as a cultivator.

  In the past, Xue Hui had been unable to cultivate due to his abysmally poor innate talent.

  Even when he was given a chance to cultivate back then, his body could neither sense nor gather the spiritual energy in his surroundings. Even with the help of cultivation resources provided by Chen Linlin, the result had always been the same.

  In the end, he gave up, accepting the fact that with such poor talent, he simply could not cultivate.

  However, the problem persisted even after he entered the space of the [CREATION ORIGIN ANCESTRAL MANUAL]. At first, he believed the issue lay in his inability to comprehend the cultivation techniques within the space.

  Yet after hundreds of years of trying to understand even a single technique, he still failed to gather so much as a strand of spiritual energy.

  Thus, he decided to use the ability of the [CREATION ORIGIN ANCESTRAL MANUAL] to alter his constitution into that of a normal person. To his surprise, the moment the change was complete, he experienced breakthrough after breakthrough.

  It was then that he realized the problem had never been his ability to comprehend cultivation techniques, but his constitution itself.

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  Over the years of study, he gradually uncovered the true reason.

  His soul realm was outright rejecting every cultivation technique created by others.

  From the lowest to the most supreme cultivation methods, none of them were able to cause even the slightest change within his soul realm.

  Thus, a conclusion dawned on him, he needed to create his own cultivation technique.

  At first, the idea sounded ridiculous. Yet upon careful consideration, wasn’t every cultivation technique known to mankind originally created by supreme experts of the past?

  With that realization, Xue Hui focused on studying every cultivation technique stored within the [CREATION ORIGIN ANCESTRAL MANUAL], comprehending their insights and principles to gradually form a unique path of cultivation tailored solely for himself.

  This eventually led to the creation of the [Creation Origin Ancestral Canon].

  As for the name, it was simply Xue Hui being petty. After being trapped within the space of the [CREATION ORIGIN ANCESTRAL MANUAL] for who knew how long, he decided to claim its name for his own cultivation technique as a form of compensation.

  As the scroll unfurled, it circled around Xue Hui like a soaring dragon. He began absorbing the spiritual energy in the air, only to immediately collide with the barrier within his soul realm that had long prevented him from cultivating.

  Without stopping, Xue Hui recited the first chapter of the [Creation Origin Ancestral Canon], bombarding the barrier within his soul realm until fine cracks slowly spread across its surface.

  Xue Hui furrowed his brows. With a sharp huff, he gathered all the spiritual energy around him and compressed it into a single surge, driving it forward to strike the barrier head-on.

  True to the name of his self-created cultivation technique, Xue Hui completely ignored the established laws of the universe that bound all living beings, choosing instead to create his own rules and walk his own path.

  Shattering sounds reverberated within his mind as the barrier of his soul realm was completely annihilated, finally allowing spiritual energy to pour inside.

  Slowly opening his eyes, Xue Hui revealed a satisfied smile when he sensed his soul force surge from one to five.

  This was the first time his soul force had ever increased.

  The increase within the [CREATION ORIGIN ANCESTRAL MANUAL] did not count, as he had been forced to alter his constitution just to practice the cultivation techniques within that space.

  ‘Ignoring all rules and shaping my own fate truly is the best path for me’, Xue Hui thought, quietly appreciating the fruits of his labor.

  “Hui-hui… you smell bad.”

  Hearing Chen Linlin’s muffled voice, Xue Hui lifted his head and looked toward his friend, who was still lying on her side and facing him.

  This time, however, she was tightly covering the lower half of her face with both hands, tears threatening to spill from the corners of her eyes.

  Only then did Xue Hui catch a whiff of his own scent. The moment he did, he nearly vomited. The smell was utterly rancid.

  These were likely the impurities that had been clogging his soul realm. After successfully cultivating the [Creation Origin Ancestral Canon], they had been expelled from his body all at once.

  Wincing as he realized that Chen Linlin had probably been forced to endure the stench for quite some time, Xue Hui immediately leaped up and flung open the window, allowing the foul air to escape.

  Without wasting another second, he rushed into the bathing room connected to Chen Linlin’s chambers and washed himself thoroughly.

  Five minutes later

  Freshly bathed, Xue Hui awkwardly scratched the back of his head as he looked at Chen Linlin apologetically.

  He had completely forgotten about the impurities that would be expelled from his body after breaking the barrier within his soul realm.

  “Seven minutes! I had to endure it for seven whole minutes! I almost puked the moment I caught a whiff of that stuff coming out of your body. If you hadn’t woken up from your meditation, I might’ve had to force my legs to move just to open the window!”

  Being reprimanded by a little girl certainly didn’t feel right, but Xue Hui could only endure it in silence.

  “Sorry, Linlin. It won’t happen again, I promise. Now that I’ve removed all the blockages in my soul realm, I can finally cultivate normally.”

  Upon hearing his words, the anger on Chen Linlin’s face was quickly replaced by curiosity. Her eyes lit up as she eagerly asked about his current strength.

  “I’ve successfully increased my soul force to five.”

  “Oh!”

  Hearing how small the increase in his soul force was, the excitement on Chen Linlin’s face dimmed slightly.

  Seeing this, Xue Hui fondly rolled his eyes. Of course she would feel underwhelmed by his progress. Back when she could still cultivate, her soul force had soared to the two-star Bronze Rank Demon Spiritualist realm in just half a year.

  Naturally, a one-in-a-million genius would find his progress lacking.

  Xue Hui didn’t mind it, though. With all the knowledge he had obtained from the [CREATION ORIGIN ANCESTRAL MANUAL], he was the least concerned about the speed of his cultivation.

  “Linlin, can I borrow some of your cultivation resources? I need to step into the one star Bronze Rank as soon as possible, and I can only do that with sufficient resources.”

  Hearing this, Chen Linlin’s eyes widened as she realized that he truly needed external resources to accelerate his cultivation.

  “There! I put all my interspatial rings over there. You can take whatever you need.”

  Without the slightest hesitation, Chen Linlin pointed toward the drawer beside her bed, where all her possessions were stored.

  Walking over, Xue Hui opened the drawer and took out an expensive-looking box filled with interspatial rings.

  Without a second thought, he picked them up one by one, checking the items stored within each ring.

  Once hailed as a once in a generation genius of Glory City, Chen Linlin had naturally been supplied with an enormous amount of cultivation resources enough to nurture her into the next Legend Rank Demon Spiritualist.

  But tragedy had befallen her.

  Remembering the poisoning that had befallen her, Xue Hui tightened his grip on the interspatial rings in his fingers. He still needed to find the culprit and make them pay for what they had done to his friend.

  One by one, Xue Hui transferred all the cultivation resources from multiple rings into a single interspatial ring, fully intending to keep everything with him in case his conversation with Chen Zhenlong went poorly and he was driven out of the mansion.

  “I took everything. Let me borrow it, I’ll return it all in the future, with interest,” Xue Hui said.

  Chen Linlin nodded. She understood that if Xue Hui truly could help her regain her mobility and restore her soul realm, then the items within her interspatial rings were nothing more than an investment.

  It wasn’t as if she could use any of those resources in her current state anyway. She might as well entrust them to him.

  “Then let’s begin.”

  Xue Hui turned toward Chen Linlin and smiled. “Want to see some alchemy refining?”

  Upon hearing this, Chen

  Linlin’s eyes shone with wonder as she stared at him.

  Could Xue Hui actually perform alchemy?! she asked herself in disbelief.

  End of Chapter 8