Chapter 21: What Is ‘Great Heaven’stilt (qīng) – tilt, slant, or lean (as in the title “Great Heaven’stilt”)’

Su Che found Lei Xiao’s training place—a two-story building built on a cliff. The back window on the west side even jutted out more than ten feet over the edge, giving it an air of a floating palace. Undoubtedly, the view from the windows must be spectacular.
The door talisman on the left side of the door was in normal condition, indicating that the owner was at home and not in seclusion. Su Che gently touched the restriction on the door to signal to the owner that a visitor had arrived.
“Junior Su, come in quickly!” The door opened automatically, and Lei Xiao’s voice came from inside.
Su Che entered the reception room on the first floor, and Lei Xiao, with a warm smile, came down from the second floor as well. After exchanging a few pleasantries, Su Che immediately stated his purpose: “Senior Lei, I need to capture a low-level demon beast alive. Do you know of any simple methods?”
“A low-level demon beast?” Lei Xiao asked. “Is a first-stage level one demon beast okay?”
“Yes,” Su Che nodded.
A first-stage level one demon beast was equivalent in strength to a human cultivator in the Qi Training phase. Thus, a first-stage level one demon beast was akin to a human cultivator at the early stage of Qi Training, ranking at the bottom in terms of strength among demon beasts.
Yet even the weakest demon beasts were beyond Su Che’s capabilities as a first-level Qi Training cultivator, which was why he turned to Lei Xiao for advice.
After some thought, Lei Xiao offered suggestions based on Su Che’s current strength: “Since it’s just a first-stage level one demon beast, it’s not difficult to obtain. You don’t even need to take risks to catch it. With spirit stones, you can easily buy them in certain areas.”
“How many spirit stones are needed?” Su Che asked.
“Not more than twenty spirit stones. Our monthly salary for two months should be enough.”
“Twenty spirit stones… that’s manageable…” Su Che nodded. He still had 110 spirit stones, which would suffice.
“That makes things easy,” Lei Xiao said with a smile. “Hundreds of miles east of Xuanji City lies the ‘Yinwind Gorge,’ one of the training sites for my sect’s disciples. Low-level demon beasts can be bought at the supply camp outside the gorge. Many disciples catch one or two low-level demon beasts in their spare time from completing their sect’s tasks, selling them to external cultivators in need to earn spirit stones or exchange for medicinal materials.”
“I see!” Su Che was pleased. He stood up and bowed. “Thank you, Senior Lei. I’ll head to the Yinwind Gorge right away.”

“Don’t rush, don’t rush!” Seeing that he seemed to want to leave, Lei Xiao waved his hand to stop him. “A few days ago, I took on a mission for our sect, which also requires a trip to the Yinwind Gorge. Honestly, there’s no rush—waiting ten or eight days won’t hurt. This is perfect; we can travel together.”
“Great, Senior Lei! When shall we set off?” Su Che agreed immediately. Lei Xiao had far more experience than he did, and having him accompany him would be excellent.
Noticing Su Che’s eagerness, Lei Xiao said, “Then let’s go tomorrow! I’ll come to your cave at dawn.”
“Okay,” Su Che replied hurriedly.
Lei Xiao added, “When traveling, you never know what might happen. Although that area is under our Tianxuan Sect’s jurisdiction, it’s full of all sorts of people—many evil cultivators with mediocre strength but huge audacity, capable of anything… Just in case, it’s never a bad idea to bring plenty of healing pills and various talismans.”
“Understood. Thank you, Senior Lei.”
Su Che nodded firmly. In fact, he could have thought of this on his own without being reminded. The wealth he had gained in the Blood Curtain Mountains—pills, talismans, magic swords—all fit in one Qiankun Bag, which he always carried with him. It’s better to be cautious; on the path of cultivation, preserving one’s life is the most important thing.
Early the next morning, the two set off early. It took them over a day just to travel from Xuanji Peak to Xuanji City, showing how vast Tianxuan Sect’s territory was. This situation would only improve once they mastered flight skills in the later stages of Qi cultivation.
As they passed through Xuanji City, Su Che asked, “Senior Lei, do you know the two executive disciples of ‘Weiran Residence’ this year?”
“The fat one and the thin one, those partners? I know them, but not very well,” Lei Xiao replied.
Su Che nodded silently. ‘Jiang Chen,’ who had tried to kill him, had now joined forces with Song the Fat and the hooked-nosed man from Weiran Residence. As the saying goes, like attracts like—those three weren’t good people. Even if he didn’t go after Jiang Chen for revenge, he believed they would still look for opportunities to target him. There was no doubt about their nature.
“Why? Do you have a grudge against them?” Lei Xiao was good at reading people’s expressions and guessed something from Su Che’s face.
“Yes,” Su Che nodded with a smile, his tone quite relaxed. “If my guess is right, our grudge will only deepen in the future.”

Lei Xiao said, “All I know is that Weiran Ju is a shop under Tianwu Peak, which is also one of the ten major peaks. The two people you mentioned must be outer disciples of Tianwu Peak. As for their backgrounds, I’m not very clear about them.”
“One of the ten major peaks, Tianwu Peak…” Su Che already understood. Once that ‘Jiang Chen’ became an outer disciple, he would most likely join Tianwu Peak as well.
Lei Xiao didn’t think much about it. He believed Su Che must be someone with strong backing and had some minor disputes with other outer disciples, which could be resolved in just a few moves—nothing serious.
The two didn’t enter Xuanji City but headed east straight to the Yinfeng Gorge, hundreds of miles away.
As they walked and talked, the very talkative Lei Xiao kept telling stories and anecdotes from the cultivation world, never stopping, which was quite enlightening for Su Che.
During their conversation, Su Che asked again, “Senior Lei, I heard that some time ago, a terrible disaster struck the distant Yan’an Country, turning most of it to ashes. Is that true?”
“Yes!”
Lei Xiao nodded firmly. “It’s not just most of Yan’an Country—actually, Yan’an Country no longer exists. A region of five thousand li in radius was swept clean, hundreds of zhang deep. Everything above that was reduced to nothingness, not even the mountains… Needless to say, tens of millions of ordinary people perished, and even the few cultivation sects in Yan’an Country were completely destroyed, with almost no survivors.”
“It’s all true after all…” Su Che couldn’t help but feel sad, confirming that everything he had seen with his soul attached to the small tower was real. Mountains, rivers, forests, grasslands… the entire land had been swept away by hundreds of zhang—everything was gone…
Suppressing his sorrow, Su Che asked again, “Senior Lei, what kind of natural disaster could have such terrifying power?”
“A natural disaster?” Lei Xiao shook his head. “No, it’s not a natural disaster in the usual sense. To be precise, it’s an extremely rare Great Heaven Collapse!”
“Great Heaven Collapse?” Su Che asked urgently. “What is a Great Heaven Collapse?”
“As the saying goes, when gods fight, mortals suffer.” Lei Xiao pointed upward and whispered, “When extraordinary beings with immense powers fight each other, if their battle’s aftermath reaches the mortal world, it causes catastrophic disasters. In the cultivation world, such events are called Great Heaven Collapse!”

“How can this be?” Su Che’s inner world was instantly overwhelmed by turmoil as his voice trembled. “Even those with great powers shouldn’t despise the lives of ordinary people like this. Such a catastrophe will destroy countless families and lives… How can this be? How can this be…?”
Overwhelmed by emotion, Su Che could hardly speak coherently.
Lei Xiao glanced at him in surprise, not understanding why he was so out of control, but still explained, “Perhaps the battle was too intense, and the situation got out of hand. They might have lost control. Especially those cultivators of the demonic path—they don’t care about others’ lives at all. It’s not strange for them to devour the souls of hundreds of thousands of beings just to practice some dark arts…”
“Is this what cultivators are like?” Su Che gritted his teeth, his expression turning extremely grim.
“Junior Su, what’s wrong with you…” Lei Xiao frowned slightly, becoming even more convinced that Su Che’s emotions were off.
Su Che took a deep breath, trying hard to calm himself down, and explained, “To be honest with Senior Lei, some of my relatives live in Yan’an Country. I’m afraid they too won’t be spared.”
Ah, so that’s why! Lei Xiao finally understood. It must be personal pain that caused such agitation.
“Junior Su, please hold on to your composure,” Lei Xiao said gently. “Since it’s a great catastrophe, it must have been caused by the top figures in the cultivation world. People like us have no way to resist them.”
“I understand,” Su Che forced a smile. “Since I’ve embarked on the path of cultivation, I must accept such things.”
“That’s right. It’s best that you can think like that,” Lei Xiao patted his shoulder lightly twice.
“Then, does Senior Lei know who caused this great catastrophe?”
By the time he asked this, Su Che’s tone had returned to calm. No matter what he felt inside, he couldn’t let Lei Xiao sense too much emotion. Otherwise, it might arouse Lei Xiao’s suspicion, or even worry that he might drag Lei Xiao down with him…
“I have no idea,” Lei Xiao shook his head. “Such matters are beyond my reach as a mere mortal.”
Su Che nodded silently and didn’t ask any further.
Since he was sure the disaster was man-made, one day he would uncover the truth completely…
Of course, that was only possible if he had the right to seek revenge and the strength to bear all the consequences!