Immortal Venerable Jiuyue's long purple hair danced wildly.
The hideous black patterns on her body erupted with an even more demonic light. Surges of black energy, like maggots attached to the bone, madly eroded her last shred of clear consciousness.
"Kill!"
"Kill! Kill them all!"
"Everyone... who stands in my way, must die!"
Those eyes, which had just recovered a trace of clarity, were once again swallowed by pure inky blackness!
The pitch-black blade aura suspended in mid-air erupted with a destructive presence once more, looking as if it were about to slash down again!
This Immortal Venerable's mind was even more chaotic than he had imagined!
Even the name "Ah Feng" could only make her waver for a brief moment.
It seemed that the Yinfeng Sword's influence on her was not as great as he had thought.
A montage of his life was already flashing through Su Ji's mind.
Recalling all sorts of past events...
Damn it...
My fellow townsman really screwed me over...
"Take a look at the ruins of... Qingqiu for me."
So what if he had a resurrection item?
In this situation, even ten lives wouldn't be enough for the Immortal Venerable to beat out of him...
Wait a minute?
There seemed to be another sentence back then...
"Bury my sword together with her..."
Could this place... be the ruins of Qingqiu?
And those dark shadows were the former foxes of Qingqiu?
Thinking of this, Su Ji could only let out a sound like a dying duck: "Karma... is settled! Bury the sword in Qingqiu!"
"Buzz—!"
The Yinfeng Sword, which had been swatted away by Immortal Venerable Jiuyue's claw and was stabbed diagonally into the top of the stone pillar, erupted without warning into an unprecedented, dazzling light!
Streaks of somber sword qi soared into the sky from the blade, unexpectedly condensing in mid-air into an indomitable, blurry figure holding a sword!
The figure's face could not be seen clearly, but it carried an aloof arrogance that would rather die singing loudly in the rain than live under someone else's roof.
He just stood there quietly, yet it seemed as if he had become the center of this world.
The Yinfeng Sword was autonomously protecting its master!
No!
It wasn't protecting its master!
It was responding!
Responding to the aura of its true master, who had long passed away in the long river of time!
The phantom figure holding the sword slowly raised his head.
His gaze pierced through the endless years, landing on the figure being madly consumed.
Slowly raising the sword in his hand.
Then, making a phantom slash towards the bright moon.
An unremarkable sword light flashed and vanished.
Under this sword light, the bizarre black patterns unexpectedly melted and disintegrated silently, like ice and snow under the scorching sun.
Immediately after, the sword-wielding phantom swung his sword again.
This time, his target was the hideous black chains binding Immortal Venerable Jiuyue!
"Clang—!"
A clear and resonant sword cry echoed.
The sword light flowed like water, rushing for thousands of miles.
Those indestructible black chains, which even Immortal Venerable Jiuyue herself found hard to break free from, were entirely severed one by one under this sword light, like fragile rotten wood!
Having done all this, the light of the sword-wielding phantom slowly dimmed.
The Yinfeng Sword also let out a mournful cry, all the brilliance on its blade withdrawing as it plummeted from the sky.
"Ah Yue, our era has already passed."
Immortal Venerable Haoyue stood blankly in place.
She looked at the phantom that was about to dissipate, and the Yinfeng Sword that had already fallen to the ground and lost its luster.
Those eyes swallowed by the ink color revealed, for the first time, a trace of... grievance.
The light of the black patterns on her body also dimmed accordingly.
That monstrous killing intent slowly receded like the ebbing tide.
The sword-wielding phantom had no facial features.
Even his outline swayed slightly in the air, as if he would be blown away at any moment by the foul, baleful wind in this mine tunnel.
But he just stood there, and that casualness seeping from his very bones made Immortal Venerable Jiuyue, who was kneeling on the ground, cry like a child who had lost her candy.
Black tears of blood slid down her cheeks covered in demonic patterns, dripping onto the top of the stone pillar and burning shallow pits into it.
"But... I cannot accept this..."
Immortal Venerable Jiuyue's voice was hoarse.
She reached out, wanting to grab the corner of the phantom's clothes, but only grasped a handful of empty air.
Those eyes soaked in ink were filled with desperate pleading.
"My Qingqiu... my friends... and you..."
"They are all still waiting for me... how can I just let it go?"
"I was clearly... clearly only one step away!"
The phantom fell silent for a moment.
Then, an extremely soft sigh echoed above this deathly silent abyss.
"So what if you cannot accept it?"
The phantom slowly crouched down. Although he had no physical body, that movement revealed a familiar casualness, just like back then on the grassy plains of Qingqiu, when he accompanied her to watch the moon.
"Ah Yue."
"We have already died in someone else's memories."
These words were like a heavy hammer smashing ruthlessly against Immortal Venerable Jiuyue's chest.
Her entire body trembled, and the madly spreading black patterns unexpectedly came to a brief halt because of this single sentence.
"Died in memories..." she muttered to herself, her eyes hollow. "Yes... we are all dead..."
The phantom raised his hand, seemingly wanting to help her wipe away the bloody tears on her face, but his fingers passed right through her cheek.
He had no choice but to withdraw his hand, his tone carrying a bit of helplessness.
"Little fox, it's been a long time, and you are still the same as before..."
"Not purely good, and not thoroughly bad."
The phantom pointed at the baleful qi around them that hadn't completely dissipated, and then pointed at the hideous demonic patterns on Immortal Venerable Jiuyue's body.
"Using your body as a domain, transforming into a forbidden zone."
"You wanted to take the path of the evil entities in the forbidden zones... to live a second life."
"You wanted to rely on this land of extreme yin and extreme bale, along with the traits of the unsullied physique, to reverse death and reincarnate, reshaping your physical body."
Immortal Venerable Jiuyue lowered her head, her darkest secret having been exposed.
"But what happened?"
The phantom shook his head, his tone devoid of blame.
"If you really wanted to walk this path, you should have completely severed the past, devoured all spirits, and used the flesh and blood of all living beings as a sacrifice."
"What is a forbidden zone?"
"Only where no one survives can it be called a forbidden zone."
Saying this, he glanced at Su Ji again.
"You held back multiple times against this kid just now... let alone slaughtering all living beings..."
"You were afraid your sanity would be encroached upon, afraid you would turn into a monster that only knows how to kill, afraid that the living beings within millions of miles would suffer because of you..."
"So you drew a circle on the ground to serve as your prison, restricting yourself."
"You locked yourself to this pillar, enduring the pain of ten thousand arrows piercing your heart day and night, using your remaining sanity to fight against the continuously breeding evil thoughts."
The phantom stood up, looking down at her from above.
"Indecisive."
"Besides torturing yourself, what else can you do?"
"Look at how you are now."
"You're not pretty at all anymore."
The words "not pretty anymore" clearly had a greater lethality against the Nine-Tailed Sky Fox race than any divine ability or spell.
Immortal Venerable Jiuyue suddenly raised her head, a trace of panic actually appearing on her face covered in demonic patterns.
She subconsciously wanted to reach out and cover her face, only to find that her hands were already covered in black, bloody grime.
"Ah Feng... I..."
She babbled incoherently, like a young girl who had done something wrong.
"Let go of the past... it's too heavy."
The phantom's figure began to grow increasingly transparent.
"That era has already come to an end."
"I shall wait for you at the gates of the Yellow Springs."
With those words,
the phantom dissolved into a wisp of gentle breeze and faded away.
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.
【Prologue: The Beginning of It All – Use holy water to heal the saintess tainted by demonic energy, then converse with her.】 Shen Nian stared at his older sister sipping yogurt, lost in thought. So you’re telling me my sister is the saintess, and yogurt is the holy water? 【Main Quest 1: Brave Youth, Become an Adventurer! Reward: Rookie Adventurer Title.】 【Side Quest 1: Find the Adorable Kitty! Reward: 1000 Gold Coins.】 Shen Nian: "Wait, I’m a high school senior here—did some guy who got isekai’d accidentally bind his system to me?" Hold on, completing quests gives gold rewards? Titles even boost stats? Is this for real? (A lighthearted, absurd campus comedy—not a revenge power fantasy.)
saw a female celebrity tied up and stuffed in the trunk! Little did he know, countless cameras were aimed at him at this moment - this was a new type of reality show. The first randomly selected passerby was caught in less than an hour. But when Xu Moru was selected, things started to take an unexpected turn. "Damn, this isn't how the script goes. This Xu Moru is too bold, he's not following the rules at all." "Crap, is this guy taking it seriously?" "The female celebrity has been scared to tears!"
transmigrates into the world as the sect master of the Heavenly Yan Sect, which is on the verge of being wiped out. He binds a system that grants him cultivation power based on the number of disciples he has: for each disciple, he automatically gains a year's worth of cultivation every single day! Take one disciple: every day he gains 1 year of cultivation power. While others struggle through a year of bitter training, he gets the same just by sleeping through a single night. Take ten disciples: every day he gains 10 years of cultivation power. Foundation Establishment, Core Formation, Nascent Soul—he breezes through all bottlenecks without lifting a finger. Take one hundred disciples: every day he gains 100 years of cultivation power. Even a Soul Transformation Venerable before him can’t survive a single blow. Take ten thousand disciples: every day he gains 10,000 years of cultivation power! With a wave of his hand, he topples empires. With a single step, he crushes the sacred grounds of the universe. ... While others fight tooth and nail for secret techniques, Lin Yan casually hands out Nascent Soul-level cultivation manuals as beginner textbooks. While others strain to find talented recruits, Lin Yan opens his doors to anyone—so long as they’re human. In just three short years, the Heavenly Yan Sect went from a backwater sect made up of three crumbling huts to a sacred land that every cultivator under heaven would kill to enter. ... One day, otherworldly demon gods invade, with a million demon soldiers pressing down upon the realm. Lin Yan, yawning, rises from his lounge chair and glances at the system panel: [Current Disciples: 1.28 million] [Daily Cultivation Increase: 1.28 million years] He waves his hand casually, and the countless demon soldiers are reduced to ashes in an instant. “So noisy… interrupting my fishing.”
