Sword wind… What was he thinking?
Xia Lun lowered his head and stared at the utterly ordinary fine-steel longsword in his hand, as if he could still feel the bewilderment of his expectations being dashed when he swung it.
He could indeed unleash sword wind, but only when he was highly focused. How could it be as simple as casually swinging his sword and sending out a blade of wind?
Where had this inexplicable illusion come from?
The clash between this deeply ingrained “illusion” and the cold reality sent a chill down his spine.
Xia Lun felt that there really was something wrong with his mind.
Could it be that he had relied too heavily on the power granted by the Goddess, causing his control over that power to become disordered?
His chaotic thoughts buzzed inside his skull like a swarm of trapped bees.
It was possible.
The thought made his heart race. If the problem originated from the source of his power, then perhaps the only being capable of answering his questions was the one who had bestowed that source upon him.
Xia Lun decided to find the Goddess and get a proper explanation.
Wait… find the Goddess? There was something abnormal about that idea in itself. Was an existence like the Goddess really someone he could meet whenever he wanted? In the next instant, the sheer presumption of his own thought left Xia Lun drenched in cold sweat. The idea itself was absurd—almost blasphemous, or perhaps… insane.
Xia Lun swallowed. His condition seemed to be getting worse and worse.
“Musen… where’s the nearest church of the Goddess?” Xia Lun took a deep breath and asked Musen, who was driving the carriage. “We may need to change course and stop there.”
“What’s wrong, Xia Lun?” Liyana immediately leaned over and joked in an exaggerated tone, “What are you going to the church of the Goddess for? Don’t tell me some foolhardy evil spirit possessed you! Hahaha, what rotten luck it would have had—of all people, it chose you…”
“I feel like something’s wrong with me… It might be possible…” Xia Lun covered his forehead, his expression showing a trace of pain.
Upon hearing Xia Lun’s answer, Musen’s shoulders visibly tensed for a moment. His expression turned solemn as he realized how serious the matter was. He glanced back at Xia Lun, his voice heavy as iron.
“The nearest church of the Goddess is about ten kilometers from here… I’ll head there right away.”
He raised the whip high, and the horses pulling the carriage immediately broke into a gallop.
Liyana was thrown back into her seat by the sudden acceleration. She hurriedly grabbed the handrail, the joking expression on her face replaced completely by panic.
“Are… are you all right? Xia Lun, you’re not joking, are you? How could an evil spirit possibly dare possess you? Aren’t you a hero blessed by the Goddess?”
“Captain Xia Lun wouldn’t joke about something like this, would he?” Moke also looked anxious. He began rummaging frantically through the bags and packages piled in the corner of the carriage, while the clinking of bottles and jars rang out. They were all potions Miss An Koula had prepared for them.
Before long, Moke found a palm-sized glass bottle sealed tightly with a cork. The liquid inside was clear and transparent, reflecting a faint glimmer as it swayed.
“Found it! This is holy water we exchanged for at the cathedral after completing our last mission. It’s extremely pure! Try it and see if it works!”
“Thanks.”
Xia Lun accepted the holy water, pulled out the cork, and a faint, refreshing fragrance—something like a mixture of sandalwood and mint—drifted into the air.
Without giving it much thought, Xia Lun gulped it down.
Liyana and Moke exchanged glances, both of them clearly stunned.
Xia Lun shook his head. “It doesn’t seem to have done anything. I don’t know why, but I still feel… awful.”
“Um…” Liyana spoke timidly. “Xia Lun, that isn’t meant to be drunk. You’re supposed to rub it on your body.”
“Ah, really? No wonder it tasted a little strange.” Xia Lun looked at the now-empty glass bottle in his hand and sighed. Only after Liyana pointed it out did he notice the slight sourness lingering in his mouth.
“But it should work even better if you drink it. After all, it can purify you from the inside…” Moke nodded vigorously, as though trying to convince himself. In truth, he seemed rather uncertain as well. “Still, Captain Xia Lun doesn’t seem to be reacting at all. Perhaps he isn’t possessed by an evil spirit.”
“That should be good news, right? Maybe it’s some other harmless kind of ghost…” Liyana had no idea what was happening to Xia Lun, and her eyes were filled with worry.
“In any case, we may find out once we reach the church of the Goddess.” Moke stared at Xia Lun without blinking.
With Musen urging the horses onward at full speed, they soon reached the nearest church of the Goddess.
The church was not located in a large city, but in a remote little village.
The hurried carriage shattered the village’s tranquility. Several farmwives washing clothes by the stream looked up in surprise, while a few curious yet wary faces appeared in the doorways of the houses. The children hid behind the adults, staring wide-eyed at the unfamiliar carriage that had arrived in such a cloud of dust and with such imposing momentum.
After entering the village, the carriage headed straight for the church.
The church was not large. Only an elderly nun and two young novices were stationed there, and there was no male priest.
Still, though small, the church had everything it needed. There was a statue of the Goddess, and it was a place within the Goddess’s sight. That alone was sufficient.
Musen took the initiative to explain why they had come, and the nuns immediately vacated the church for them.
Liyana suspected that Musen’s appearance had frightened them. Perhaps they had mistaken them for bandits, which was why they had so readily lent out such an important place of worship… But there was no time to worry about that now.
Although Musen was built like a brawler, there was no doubt about his identity as a priest. He was fully capable of handling the crucial ritual himself.
In no time, Musen had prepared the ritual site and lit incense around the area.
Xia Lun sat cross-legged in the center of the formation, dressed in a robe. His leather armor, which had been inconvenient for the ritual, had been removed and placed on one of the church benches.
Liyana really wanted to joke that Xia Lun looked as if he were about to be offered to the Goddess as a sacrifice, but given the solemn atmosphere, she managed to keep it to herself.
“Xia Lun, I can summon the Goddess for you, but as for what happens afterward…” Musen looked troubled. Even when Xia Lun had said he wanted to speak with the Goddess, Musen had been utterly bewildered.
Even as a devout follower of the Goddess, he had only received a divine revelation once—when he awakened as a priest.
The Goddess would not simply descend whenever someone called out to her. Otherwise, even if she had countless avatars, she would never have enough time. After all, no one knew how many believers she had throughout the world.
“I know. Begin,” Xia Lun said, nodding at Musen.
Musen began to pray softly before the statue of the Goddess.
Almost as soon as Musen spoke the first line of the prayer, a sacred white light appeared before Xia Lun’s tightly closed eyes. It rapidly spread, soon filling his entire field of vision.
e, Immortal Body, Transmigration, System, Progression Fantasy, Academy Setting, Third-Person Perspective. Alternate Title: Transmigrating into a High Martial World and Reading Live Comments. Bad news: I transmigrated. This is a terrifying high-martial world, and my original, pathetically weak body fell into a coma and never woke up. Good news: I got a Popularity Points system upon arrival. I can see live comments and even create an unkillable alternate identity. Starting out, the alternate identity has all stats at 1. The system tells me that to grow stronger, I must participate in the plot, gain popularity points to allocate stats and grow stronger, and ultimately awaken my original body. And so, carrying my original body on my back, I officially entered Huaqing Academy, where the story's protagonist resides. From that moment on, Chen Guan kicked the original plot to pieces. Live Comments: [Doesn't anyone find this mysterious coffin guy creepy? He can summon indescribable grey misty hands.] [Is this guy a hero or a villain? What kind of onion became a spirit?] [By the way, does anyone know who's in the coffin? Shouldn't the debt for saving his life be repaid by now?] [According to unofficial histories, the person in the coffin was Chen Guan's first love. Their love was once passionate and earth-shattering, but they were separated by life and death due to worldly circumstances. What a star-crossed pair.] ... Years later, the world knew of a demon god born from a coffin, shrouded in grey mist, impossible to gaze upon directly. His foremost divine emissary often wielded a scythe, reaping lives like the god of death. As war approached, facing former friends and a boundless sea of enemies, Chen Guan merely raised his scythe. "Would you like to dance as well?"
s + Rent Collection Wealth】 At the start, he inherited a rundown house in the urban village from his grandfather. The house had no tenants, but the moment he was diagnosed with a terminal illness, a self-proclaimed empress from the Tianxuan Continent arrived as his first tenant. Ye Chuan soon discovered that with every new tenant moving in, not only did he receive massive daily payments, but he also obtained unique items related to their backgrounds. 【Acquired Bai Qianshuang’s related item: Tiger Strength Pill—dramatically enhances physical power!】 【Acquired Bai Qianshuang’s related item: Deer Blood Pill—significantly boosts vitality!】 …… From that day on, all sorts of bizarre tenants began appearing in the house: the empress from Tianxuan Continent, an apocalyptic sorceress from the Magic Realm, a mysterious scientific girl who fell through a spacetime rift… Every single day, he received strange, powerful items and endless money. Then one day, he suddenly realized—he had become invincible. Enough, enough! Stop giving me more!
nto another world, I bought a slave for the first time, never expecting the silver wolf girl to be so cute... Lin Feng: I know it's cold, but you don't have to sneak into my bed! Yuna: Just sharing body warmth, if you dare do anything naughty, I'll definitely...
nd fell into a coma while saving his younger sister from an out-of-control car. He became a vegetable. No one knew that his consciousness had crossed into a world of cultivation. Over the course of sixty years, he began as the lowest kind of mine slave, struggling to survive amid mountains of corpses and seas of blood. By sheer chance, he eventually obtained the complete memories of a fallen Immortal King. Alchemy, medicine, formations, feng shui, physiognomy, artifact forging… Every great inheritance of the cultivation world was now his. But when he opened his eyes again, he discovered that ten full years had passed in the modern world. To pay for his treatment, his father had sold the family’s shop and house, leaving himself covered in lasting injuries and illness. His mother had cared for him day and night, and more than half of her hair had already turned white. His younger sister, who had been only fifteen back then, was now twenty-five. To help repay the family’s debts, she had been forced to lower her head and put on a smiling face in places of glittering lights and endless revelry. Only then did Chen Xuan understand that what he had lost was not merely ten years. He had lost the life his entire family was meant to have. The good news was that he had brought back the memories of an Immortal King’s entire lifetime. The bad news was that his soul had returned alone—his cultivation had not come with him. Spiritual energy was scarce, resources were depleted, and the modern world still had firearms, surveillance, capital, and laws. If he wanted to protect his family, break free from everyone’s control, and become truly invincible beneath the heavens, he would have to start all over again.
