When the Sword Master left the Infinite Sword Sect, the scene could only be described as "tragic and solemn."
From the supreme elder at the top to the outer court servant disciples at the bottom, everyone lined the path to see him off. High and low, men and women alike, each shed a liter of tears.
"I heard that once you go to that so-called Real Realm, there's no coming back. Sword Master! How is this departure any different from riding a crane to the west!"
"Sword Master! Take me with you!"
"Just thinking that I won't see the Sword Master anymore, what pleasure is there left in practicing the sword?"
"Hurry! A few of you, carry the disciples who fainted in the back to get treatment!"
It wasn't just the people of the Infinite Sword Sect.
Many sects and noble families from the Five Realms sent people to see him off.
The Sword Master's charisma was absolutely maxed out.
Those who came to bid him farewell genuinely didn't want him to leave, and truly approached it with the mentality of attending a funeral—to see the Sword Master one last time.
Emotionally, the Sword Master was reluctant to part with all these friends from every direction.
But deep down, he hoped to advance his cultivation to a higher level, to unravel the mystery of his ability to comprehend divine powers, and to truly unleash that strength.
Only then, he felt, would he have no regrets in this life.
The Sword Master had already lived for over two hundred years.
There was nothing left in the mortal world that he found rare or novel, nor anything he was unwilling to let go of.
The Sword Master stood alone, now facing the Path to Immortality, recalling those tear-streaked faces during the farewell at the sect, and couldn't help but smile faintly.
The next moment, the Sword Master's gaze turned icy cold. His sword unsheathed with a resonant hum.
"Sword brother, are you also yearning to go to the Real Realm?"
The Sword Master's sword had a spirit, but at this moment, only the Sword Master could hear what the sword spirit said.
"Haha! Good! Let the two of us shatter the iron law that a Martial Saint cannot walk this path! The road is right beneath our feet—how could it be impossible to tread!"
The Sword Master stepped onto the Path to Immortality. The starry river projection on the bridge surface rippled in layers with his arrival.
The mere attempt to take the first forward step sent the Sword Master crashing off this rainbow bridge of stars, thrown back by a tremendous resistance.
Shen Yang watched and shook his head.
"Though a Martial Saint can stand on it, finishing this path is truly too difficult."
Chen Yi remained silent.
Because he understood the Sword Master.
He would not give up!
The Sword Master rallied again, charging forward with his sword, pouring out sword intent along the path. Sword light illuminated the sky, and his sword momentum pressed down upon the vast sea!
"Break!"
This time, the Sword Master managed to take three full steps forward!
Shen Yang's eyes lit up.
"Has his cultivation suddenly increased by a lot?"
Chen Yi smiled.
Now that was more like it.
The Sword Master was the kind of person who, if you asked him whether he won or lost, would tell you that he understood!
Though he had made a good start, the Sword Master's extremely difficult journey had only just begun.
The Path to Immortality could not be reached midway or at the end by flying; one had to walk from the very beginning.
The visible portion stretched about ten thousand steps long.
For the first thousand steps, the Sword Master took an entire month.
During that time, he exhausted his strength many times, having to use his sword to prop himself up and catch brief moments of rest before pulling himself together again.
Hua Wuyan, Shen Yang, Chen Yi, and the others could not help him.
If a second person intervened, the resistance of the Path to Immortality would instantly explode, blasting everyone on it down.
Time and again, he stopped to recover, time and again pushing his body to its limits.
The Sword Master's clean and neat robes were soaked through with sweat repeatedly, then dried under the blazing sun over and over.
From resisting the force, his muscles tore countless times, forcing him to use pills for quick healing, only to tear them again.
Yet, the Sword Master discovered that with every step forward, his swordsmanship actually advanced another notch!
This made the latter half of the journey easier for him than the first half.
Half a year later.
With just one step left before leaving the Mortal Realm, the Sword Master looked back.
Chen Yi was still below the Path to Immortality.
The Sword Master said nothing, only nodded slightly at Chen Yi.
The next moment, he stepped without hesitation into the other end of the Path to Immortality.
The Sword Master vanished.
The Path to Immortality disappeared along with him.
[Simulation mission progress: 2/4.]
Chen Yi let out a sigh.
"Watching someone ascend, it's oddly bittersweet."
If the Great Demon were here, he'd probably ask: Why don't you feel bitter when watching me ascend?
Hua Wuyan patted Chen Yi on the shoulder.
"Time to head back."
Chen Yi asked,
"Senior Hua, are you really not considering going to the Real Realm?"
If Hua Wuyan could walk the Path to Immortality, then in two more years, they could simulate it.
Otherwise, they'd have to wait for Li Wentian, a full four years.
Unfortunately, Hua Wuyan's stance was still firm.
"That Real Realm is a foreign shore. I prefer the Mortal Realm I know."
Back at White Cloud County, Chen Yi saw his third sister, Chen Yun, waiting for him at the Chen family estate gate.
"Third Sister, why not go inside and sit?"
Chen Yun saw Chen Yi flying over, and she had grown used to it.
Her husband had been flying around last year too.
In Chen Yun's understanding, her fourth brother and her husband had basically turned into immortals overnight.
Never mind martial arts cultivation.
Martial arts didn't turn someone from a ground-bound chicken one month into a flying dragon the next.
They had to be immortals.
"I just arrived... Fourth Brother, I want to ask, once someone goes to that Real Realm, can they really never come back?"
Chen Yi took his third sister into the Chen estate as he walked and said,
"That's not absolutely certain, but as far as I currently understand, traveling between the Mortal Realm and the Real Realm only exists in theory. Once a person goes to the Real Realm, it's not much different from dying—just without a corpse or a grave."
"I see..."
Chen Yun was pondering something, her pace slowing.
Chen Yi stopped and looked at her.
"Did my brother-in-law tell you about fusing with Patriarch Shen and about going to the Real Realm?"
"He didn't. I just got curious about how he suddenly became so powerful and kept pressing him. Then he said it was because of Patriarch Shen's power and that he has some special constitution that allows him to coexist with Patriarch Shen."
"Patriarch Shen is going to the Real Realm. If it's through my brother-in-law, he could go in optimal condition, but my brother-in-law is still considering it, isn't he?"
"No, he turned Patriarch Shen down. He hopes to spend this life with me and our daughter. If he's still alive then, he and Patriarch Shen will go to the Real Realm together."
Shen Yang was probably pretty frustrated too.
That way, he would either go to the Real Realm in his current state, or run a few more rounds of "Mirror Holder Selection" waiting for an aged Shen Qingshan.
Chen Yi didn't care whether Shen Qingshan and Shen Yang fused anymore; it was all up to fate now.
It didn't matter if Shen Yang didn't go to the Real Realm—there were others who could take the Path to Immortality.
If worst came to worst, he could wait a few more years before simulating.
After all, there were no major disasters in the coming years.
Chen Yun dropped a bombshell.
"I hope he can go to the Real Realm with Patriarch Shen."
"Third Sister, if that happens, you and Shen Jia will never see him again in this lifetime..."
"Family should be each other's pillars, not burdens. If he wants to go, I should support him. Holding him back because of me and our daughter, making him miss out on his opportunity—that would be unfair to him."
A few months later.
At the edge of the North Sea.
On a desolate island, Chen Yun and Shen Jia watched Shen Qingshan standing in midair, waving goodbye.
"Husband! Go without worry! I'll take care of things at home!"
"Dad! Come back soon!"
for mindless slaughter, this isn't for you.] My name is Ye Shu, and I'm a transmigrator. It seems I'm supposed to be the protagonist, but that feels pretty unlikely. This world has been invaded by a system. The antagonists on the other side have suddenly become pure, flawless saints. The female leads have been force-fed the so-called "original plot," making them think they've been reborn. Now, everyone thinks I'm scum. Including the old lady in my ring. And here I am, in the Monster Beast Mountain Range, braising pork. To put my situation in perspective— It's as if, the moment Xiao Yan stepped into the Monster Beast Mountain Range, the Soul Emperor already knew he would become the Flame Emperor, and Yao Lao had been turned to the enemy's side. I have nothing right now. Oh wait, that's not true. I do have a white-haired loli child-bride who's the Heavenly Dao, and her only skill is acting cute. So, tell me guys... what are my chances of making it to the end?
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?!
. As long as he maintains the villain image and follows the plot to the grand finale, he can obtain generous rewards and return to the real world. So Gu Chen'an entered the role and began to act as a scumbag villain, but who would have expected that the female leads could hear his inner thoughts. Miss Su from the Su family was shocked: "I originally thought Gu Chen'an was a scumbag, but I didn't expect he turned out to be a gentleman! What? You said I have to call off the engagement? I definitely won't, I'll piss you off!" Bai Yuan Tian was dumbfounded: "Young Master Gu is usually unreasonable and a complete brat, but he actually calls me little sweetie in his heart? What, Young Master Gu even said he likes me?" As the female leads' images collapsed more and more, the plot also collapsed with it. Gu Chen'an looked at all this chaos. "Ladies, don't aggro me, if you keep this up the male lead really will stab me, I still need to survive to the grand finale!"
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!
