Xu Jinghong is currently at the mid-stage of the Mystic Immortal realm, trapped in eerie and ominous circumstances, dazed and unable to maintain clarity. He is like a bomb with an extremely sensitive fuse—the slightest disturbance could set him off!
And the fuse of Xu Jinghong’s bomb is none other than that wisp of Xiuzhi’s remnant soul!
Basically, as long as the fuse is removed, the bomb will stabilize, and Xu Jinghong will regain his senses.
But who can remove it?
The Little Golden Dragon is only at the peak of the Mystic Immortal realm. No matter how many tricks it has up its sleeve, it can’t touch Xiuzhi’s "fuse" without detonating Xu Jinghong’s bomb!
After all, Xu Jinghong is far too sensitive in his current state. If you were to slash him with a sword—or even kill him outright—he might not react at all. But the moment anyone gets close to Xiuzhi’s lingering remnant soul, he explodes instantly!
So the Little Golden Dragon can’t do it—or rather, doesn’t dare!
But Chen Yi has no such concerns. He can stir up trouble right under the nose of a supreme being like Ling Xiao, a Heavenly Emperor, without being detected immediately. Handling a mere Mystic Immortal is child’s play for him.
The Little Golden Dragon knows this all too well. To this day, it still can’t figure out how this guy managed to slip unnoticed into the alternate dimension of the Primordial Chaos Creation Disk, sneak up on it without warning, and then grab it for a thorough "lesson"!
It’s like being in your own home—doors locked, windows shut, everything under your watchful gaze, every sound amplified. Anything foreign that intrudes should be detected immediately!
Yet, under these very conditions, he didn’t come through the door, didn’t climb through a window, and didn’t make a single sound. Without the slightest warning, without a trace of hesitation—he just appeared!
Absolutely absurd!
So when it comes to defusing Xu Jinghong’s bomb, who else but him?!
"Chen Yi, that’s the situation with Old Xu. Are you confident?" Shen Lingxi asked with a sigh.
"Easy. Did your group leader have anything else to say?" Chen Yi waved his hand dismissively before suddenly locking eyes with her.
In that instant—
Shen Lingxi felt as if something had invaded her consciousness, but it vanished just as quickly, leaving no trace.
Frowning, she eyed Chen Yi warily. "Our group leader only asked me to brief you on Old Xu’s condition. There were no other instructions. If there’s nothing else, I’ll take my leave."
She didn’t dare stay any longer.
This man was far too terrifying. Though he seemed unassuming, that brief moment had felt like... a supreme predator blinking at her?
Her instincts had never been wrong—this guy was definitely a wolf in sheep’s clothing!
Playing the harmless fool just to lull others into complacency!
If she lingered any longer, she might end up like her dear Qianxue!
This place was too dangerous—time to retreat!
Without another word, Shen Lingxi turned and left, her resolve unshaken as she strode away without looking back.
Chen Yi watched her go with a hint of regret but didn’t stop her.
For a fleeting moment, he had considered freeing her from her suffering, reuniting her with Qianxue, and severing the influence of Ling Xiao’s will imprinted upon her.
But alas, the top-tier experts in their prime were far too sensitive!
Not that Shen Lingxi herself was overly perceptive—she was actually quite slow on the uptake. No, it was Ling Xiao’s will that was hypersensitive. Before Chen Yi could even act, it had already begun stirring!
How was he supposed to work under these conditions?
Spooking the snake now would ruin future plans, so for the sake of the bigger picture, he had to abandon his "ill intentions" toward her.
Instead, he quietly left behind a single Chaos Pearl wrapped in the same material as his Concealing Cloak.
And he dared not leave more than one—Ling Xiao’s will was already twitching in agitation!
Honestly, what bad intentions could he possibly have?
He just wanted to give a vulnerable woman some protection in case of danger. Was it necessary to guard against him like a thief?
Well, now that the mark was set, the path ahead was long. Slowly increasing the stakes, gradually desensitizing her, making her grow accustomed, making her think dizziness was normal, making her...
"A fully alert No. 2 is too tricky. Let’s see how this dazed No. 3 fares..."
"This Xu Jinghong... he’s quite the character."
Chen Yi’s gaze deepened as he observed the raging spatial vortex, now unrestrained without Shen Lingxi’s suppression. With a flick of his wrist, eighteen Chaos Pearls shot into the void, silently halting its expansion.
At the vortex’s center, a faint, eerie glow swirled—the miniature parallel universe formed from Xu Jinghong’s Dao Domain when he broke through to the Mystic Immortal realm!
Setting Sun City.
Hongxiu Tavern.
"Have you heard? The Peerless Sword Immortal’s decade-long arena challenge ends tomorrow!"
"Ah, ever since the Soaring Sword Immortal went into seclusion, it seems no one in the world of swordplay can last three moves against him."
"Who do you think is stronger—the Peerless Sword or the Soaring Sword?"
"A new generation replaces the old. The Soaring Sword hasn’t been seen in years—he’s probably washed up by now. This is the era of the Peerless Sword!"
"I disagree. The Soaring Sword is superior. That man single-handedly carved through the lair of the Outer Realm Demons. What has the Peerless Sword done? Even if he defeats everyone else, as long as the true No. 1 lives, he’ll always be second!"
"But the Peerless Sword Immortal has been openly taunting him, and the Soaring Sword hasn’t responded at all. Is he biding his time... or is he afraid?"
"Who knows?"
"Hey, Old Xu, what do you think? Rumor has it you used to be a swordsman too?"
Amid the chatter, one patron suddenly called out to the tavern’s owner, who was busy serving drinks.
Old Xu, his face scruffy with an unkempt beard, furrowed his sword-like brows, his entire demeanor steeped in an unsolvable melancholy.
He sighed softly. "That’s all in the past. I’m just a lowly liquor peddler now—what would I know about the skills of immortals...?"
"Pity. Why’d you quit the sword?" the patron pressed.
"Pity..." Old Xu murmured, his eyes hollow and distant. "After losing her... nothing else mattered..."
Meanwhile, deep within the Unfathomable Clouds...
A faint, ethereal figure was trapped within a radiant yet gentle glow, her expression frantic as she gazed down at the despondent Old Xu below.
"Yi'an! Can you hear me? Wake up! Don’t give up! I’ve never blamed you, Yi'an! Please, wake up! Wake up...!"
Yi'an was Xu Jinghong’s courtesy name—one only Xiuzhi ever dared to use.
So the answer was clear: this trapped, fading spirit was none other than Xiuzhi’s remnant soul, the one Xu Jinghong had desperately shielded.
Originally, she was nothing more than a fragment of lingering obsession—her true spirit scattered, her consciousness gone, incapable of thought, let alone calling out to her beloved.
But Xu Jinghong had relived their memories in endless cycles, using boundless love to wrest fragments of her true spirit back from the merciless clutches of fate, restoring a sliver of her self.
Yet, alas...
A remnant soul is, after all, just a remnant soul. Lingering due to unresolved attachments, it will eventually fade away once those attachments dissipate.
Xiuzhi's soul remained because she couldn't bear to leave Old Xu behind, but in the end, once Old Xu returns to normal, her lingering will shall vanish.
Perhaps it was precisely because he knew this that Xu Jinghong refused to wake up, deceiving himself all along.
In this realm, the unparalleled Sword Immortal existed as his greatest inner demon. If he were to pick up his sword again and shatter it, he could awaken immediately—yet he refused to wield the blade. He could not overcome that most crushing burden!
"Alas, a swordsman who has lost his heart can no longer even raise his sword. Very well, let me lend you a hand!"
Chen Yi's gaze sharpened as he turned toward Xiuzhi's restless remnant soul, pacing in distress.
ing gift was a patch of barren land, and disciples were all picked up along the way. He spent fifty years diligently building three "ramshackle little sects," thinking he could finally live a carefree life relying on his disciples. But right at the fifty-year mark, he was suddenly swept away by a spatial rift and exiled to the Chaos Desolation, the Disorderly Ruins. There was no spiritual energy there, only slaughter. Relying on the cultivation feedback from his disciples, Gu Changyuan hacked his way through a sea of blood for eleven hundred years. When the system finally fished him back out, he discovered the ramshackle little sects he'd built back then had developed a rather... unusual style. Hold on... I vanished for a thousand years, so how did my ramshackle little sects become holy lands?!
ut it can buy an entire year of absolutely perfect training results! Su Yu stared at his empty wallet and decisively opened up various online loan platforms. “Borrow a thousand bucks! Recharge my vitality!” Boom! His vitality broke a hundred points, shattering the limits of the human body! “Borrow ten thousand bucks! Recharge my combat skills!” Boom! A basic punching technique so common it was everywhere instantly maxed out, revealing the ultimate assassination technique of Five Elements Unity—Inner Force! When a rich kid hired assassins for a midnight ambush, aiming to break both of his legs, they instead ran headfirst into a monster—a human-shaped tyrannosaur, brimming with dragon-like vitality. With just two fingers, Su Yu snapped a steel staff reinforced with alloy. Staring at the killer’s stash of stolen cash—a staggering quarter-million dollars—he showed a corporate-sincere smile: “Thanks for the pre-exam gift pack, Mr. Zhao! I’m gonna go re-invest this!” Three days later, at the National Martial Arts College Entrance Exam, while everyone else struggled just to reach the passing line, Su Yu threw a single punch—and more than a thousand vitality points literally detonated the entire arena!
lanned to earn money steadily and take life at a slower pace. But he never expected... his father's remarriage, and the stepmother bringing along a dependent, would completely disrupt his life's plans...
e bizarre and supernatural had descended. The previous emperor was a thoroughgoing tyrant; no longer satisfied with human women, he had set his sights on a stunningly beautiful supernatural entity. He met his end in his bedchamber, drained of all his vital essence. As the legitimate eldest son and crown prince, Wang Hao was thus hastily enthroned, becoming the young emperor of the Great Zhou Dynasty. No sooner had he awakened the "Imperial Sign-In Intelligence System" than he was assassinated by a Son of Destiny—a classic villain's opening. The Great Zhou, ravaged by the former emperor's excesses, was in national decline. The great families within its borders harbored their own treacherous schemes, martial sects began to defy the imperial court's decrees, and border armies, their pay and provisions in arrears, grumbled incessantly against the central government. Fortunately, the central capital was still held secure by the half-million Imperial Guards and fifty thousand Imperial Forest Army who obeyed the court's orders, along with the royal family's hidden reserves of power, barely managing to suppress the realm. As the Great Zhou's finances worsened and supernatural activities grew ever more frequent, the court sat atop a volcano. Ambitious plotters everywhere dreamed of overthrowing the dynasty, and even some reclusive ancient powers emerged, attempting to sway the tides of the world. At the first grand court assembly, the civil and military officials nearly came to blows, fighting tooth and nail over the allocation of fifty million taels of silver from the summer tax revenues. The spectacle opened Wang Hao's eyes—the Great Zhou's bureaucracy was not only corrupt but also martially proficient, a cabinet of all-rounders. Some officials even had the audacity to suggest the emperor release funds from the imperial privy purse to address the emergency. Wang Hao suddenly felt weary. Let it all burn.
