Against Heaven's Will

Chapter 4: Upgrade Fragments - Part 2

Xuefeng was different from all other Fate Holders, the hosts for Fate Spirits. Many of them treated their Fate Spirits as slaves, only exploiting them for knowledge and their abilities with no feelings involved.

Xuefeng, on the other hand, came from Earth’s modern times, so his thoughts and values were much more developed. It didn’t matter for him if the women in front of him were Spirits, Elves, Titans, or Humans. There were many races but Xuefeng grouped them all into one category, Women. No matter the race, every woman deserved his respect and love.

Especially if they were meant to spend the rest of his life with him as Ling and Ming would.

Being his Fate Spirits, they were bound to him forever, or until he dies. Only after his death would they be separated and return to the reincarnation circle, searching for another host to continue their lives.

In theory, Fate Spirits lived forever.

Knowing the two beauties were sentenced to stay with him for a lifetime, Xuefeng naturally treated them special, considering them as his women. He was the only male they could be with so they treated him the same.

Eventually, feelings brewed between them.

"Us too..." Ling murmured before they started, asking to even up the score.

Tianshi concurred the idea, leaning over to suck on his neck.

"Ah, just one..." Xuefeng gave in.

Ling’s lips were needy, pleading for attention before eventually opening fully, gushing with passion and energy.

Tianshi was different, attacking with her own plan from the start, knowing exactly what she wanted. She tried to make the best use of the limited time they had.

She almost lost him once and decided to take full advantage of the time she has with him. Tianshi also came from Earth, following him after he saved her life. Both carried their love from one world to another, proving that love could overcome every hardship.

Pa! Pa!

Xuefeng’s heavy hands smacked their butts at the same time, returning back the order.

"Enough," Xuefeng called out and turned to Ming. "Is there anything else I need to know about those Upgrade Fragments? How can I find them most efficiently? I suppose this is the only method to improve the quality of my Qi, right?"

"It’s not the only method but the fastest and most efficient one. As I said, Upgrade Fragments are born from nature and it can be considered a mini phenomenon. It is not necessarily impossible to find one but luck definitely plays a huge role in Fragment Hunting," Ming replied.

She didn’t stop and added in one go, "If I remember correctly, there are usually close to a thousand new Upgrade Fragments being born every day on each Land. It sounds like a lot but considering the size of each land and the number of Cultivators coveting them, its an extremely small number."

"Is it possible to just buy them?" Xuefeng asked curiously, already finding the hunt bothersome.

"It is but almost no one is selling them. Everyone who finds them is either using them or exchanging for high ranked treasures. No amount of Spirit Stones will help you buy them."

"How much of those fragments do we need to improve our Qi?" Tianshi joined the conversation. "It shouldn’t be such a high number, right? All those Cultivators laughed at us for still being at the base level so it must mean all of them already advanced, right?"

"Those Cultivators were mostly after their Third Refining. The number of Upgrade Fragments required is increasing the more you refine. First Refining needs ten fragments, Second Refining almost fifty while the third a hundred. Everyone is stuck at that point as the next one requires a whooping five hundred fragments. Unless you have connections, it’s really hard to find so many on your own." Ming answered and took a deep breath, preparing for a long lesson.

"In theory, you can refine your Qi endlessly as long as you have Upgrade Fragments but in practice, it’s impossible. At some point, the effects are so small you would need a mountain amount of Upgrade Fragments to complete another refining."

"There was one Expert called Refining Master who devoted his life to determine the maximum number of Qi Refining a Cultivator can perform. Eventually, he stopped at the Ninth Refining and created a universal guide that everyone is using to this day."

"Mhmm," all three listeners nodded their heads, showing they were listening attentively. Ling was also learning, not having much knowledge about the Heaven Realm.

"You mentioned Qi Materialization being the name of Fourth Refining. What are the rest?" Xuefeng questioned second.

"Even though you can refine your Qi nine times, only two of those really matter, Fourth Refining and Seventh Refining," Ming continued. "After refining four times, you can finally materialize your Qi, this stage called Qi Materialization."

"At that point, your Qi is so dense it can become your weapon like that Shadow Assassin from before, almost acting like a physical body. The Seventh Refining, Qi Incarnation, is even more powerful, allowing you to temporarily slip your own soul into the body made from Qi. Those bodies are commonly known as Avatars," Ming introduced.

Xuefeng’s eyes widened in realization. Everything made sense now.

Back in Earth Realm, he met one of those Avatars after he consumed Titan’s Blood, gaining some of their bloodline. Only now did he recall the Avatar words, claiming they will find him once he enters the Heaven Realm to take him home to his brothers and sisters.

Should he be worried already? He didn’t plan to join any races.

"So should we focus on gathering Upgrade Fragments from now on?" Tianshi asked curiously. "That Qi Refining sounds quite powerful. No wonder everyone gives it so much attention."

Ming had a quick response to that.

"Balance is the key to a healthy growth. Qi Refining is important as it improves your battle prowess but without proper Skills and Cultivation, you will be like the group we just defeated, useless. In our case, we already have the skills so we only need to focus on the other two. After all, with your Elemental Bracelet, having high quality Qi would make you invincible."

It was indeed a terrifying combo. His only Elemental Stone gave him the ultimate power over Air Element but if he met someone with a higher quality Air Qi than him, Xuefeng doubt he could control it easily. If two fireballs met of different quality, the one with more Qi Refining would win.

"I suggest we try to collect as many Upgrade Fragments as we can while traveling but we shouldn’t lose our main goal," Xuefeng proposed. "All my wives are split throughout the Heaven Realm. Until we all reunite, I don’t plan to heavily focus on anything else."

Some things were important but his wives were the top priority.

"Mhmm, I agree," Tianshi nodded, fully supporting him.

"What about Cultivation stag—" Xuefeng was already in the process of changing topics when Ming suddenly turned around, gazing at the waterfall. "We have a company."

Poof. Poof.

Ling and Ming disappeared back into Xuefeng’s body, ready to support him from the inside.

’It’s the same people from before. It seems they found us using some Tracking Artefact. You left so much of your Qi behind that I shouldn’t be surprised,’ Ming commented. ’They shouldn’t know where exactly are we. I fully concealed this cave.’

The waterfall was huge while the cave only few meters tall. Unless they bombarded the whole place, they wouldn’t discover them.

Tianshi let go of him, just in case he needed to act swiftly but still stayed close. They watched the lone middle-aged man fly in front of the waterfall and stop, watching them from afar.

He cupped his fists and called out, "Young Master, I came in peace. I was sent by the Main Elder of our Sect. Can we talk?"