"Just like that... it's over?"
"Wait, I just got back. What happened?"
"You two, explain it to me!"
When Little Earthworm returned, he found that the Hunyuan Immortal Sect had been wiped out, and the battle seemed to have already ended.
Had he been gone that long?
Why did it feel like he had missed something major?
However, in response to Little Earthworm's questions, Da Huang and Yi Tuo were staring at Chen Chang'an with shock and admiration.
"So strong!"
"That was way too strong!"
"Just one sword strike!"
"Everyone died!"
"Not a single survivor left."
"Little Earthworm, you missed it. That sword strike just now was unbelievably cool."
"I’d describe it as earth-shattering and awe-inspiring."
"When big brother gets serious, he’s the most dashing. No one can compare."
Hearing Da Huang speak so unusually, Little Earthworm was stunned and deeply regretted missing such a crucial moment.
"Big brother!"
"Just... how strong are you now?"
"Immortal Venerable?" Da Huang asked in astonishment.
"Immortal Venerable?"
"Not sure. Never fought one. But against these people, one sword strike was enough."
The Hunyuan Immortal Sect wasn’t particularly powerful—probably on par with the Nine Clouds Immortal Sect, if not weaker.
If not for discovering someone impersonating him, Chen Chang'an wouldn’t have bothered coming here to flaunt his power.
There was no sense of achievement in it.
"By the way, Little Earthworm, where did you go earlier?" Chen Chang'an asked.
"Hehehe."
"Da Huang said, 'A thief never leaves empty-handed.'"
"Since we were here, it wouldn’t be right not to take something," Little Earthworm replied with a grin.
While Yi Tuo had been eavesdropping, Little Earthworm had gone to loot the Hunyuan Immortal Sect’s treasures.
Among the three of them, Little Earthworm had the sharpest nose for valuables and was the best at locating hidden stashes.
"Good job."
"Did you get a lot?" Chen Chang'an asked with a smile.
"Tons!"
"Way too much!"
"Seems like the Hunyuan Immortal Sect has been raking in benefits lately."
"Even mid-grade immortal spirit stones—over a hundred million!"
"And they’d also collected a bunch of congratulatory gifts."
"I swiped them all while their disciples were storing them away."
"Otherwise, I would’ve been back sooner."
Over a hundred million mid-grade immortal spirit stones? That was quite the haul.
"Wait!"
"Did you see any Law Fragments?" Chen Chang'an suddenly frowned and asked.
"Nope."
"If I had, I would’ve mentioned it already," Little Earthworm shook his head.
None?
Chen Chang'an sighed in disappointment. The one thing he truly wanted wasn’t here. Still, the other spoils weren’t bad.
"Big brother, I’ve realized that pillaging is a great way to get rich."
"Should we hit a few more places?"
Little Earthworm was already addicted. The thrill of looting treasures was intoxicating.
"Then I’d really be a bandit."
"I have standards."
"I can’t do something so morally bankrupt."
"Let’s go. We still have a long way to travel."
Standards?
Where exactly were these so-called standards?
The three of them had their doubts but didn’t dare voice them.
Meanwhile, the Hunyuan Immortal Sect, which everyone had expected to rise to prominence, had vanished without a trace from the Ancient Immortal Domain.
"Did you hear?"
"That Chen Chang'an from the Hunyuan Immortal Sect was a fraud."
"No way! Someone actually dared impersonate Chen Chang'an?"
"It’s true. The entire sect was wiped out, and multiple factions confirmed it."
"They saw the real Chen Chang'an in action—his sheer dominance."
"He single-handedly annihilated the Hunyuan Immortal Sect."
"What? The real Chen Chang'an appeared?"
"Exactly. Otherwise, how would anyone have known the other one was fake?"
"Tsk tsk, what a twist. Everyone used to envy the Hunyuan Immortal Sect, but look how they ended up."
"So... that man really was Chen Chang'an."
"Huh? What man?"
"Nothing, just remembering something."
The debate over the real and fake Chen Chang'an raged on, but by then, Chen Chang'an had long since moved on.
"Big brother, you know what they say—where there’s one, there’s two."
"Do you think others might be impersonating you elsewhere?" Da Huang asked curiously.
"You said it yourself—where there’s one, there’s two."
"There’s no shortage of people willing to take risks."
"But not everyone is as shortsighted as the Hunyuan Immortal Sect, blinded by petty gains."
"Those who profit at my expense will have to face the consequences. I’m sure many will think twice."
"Still... some might follow in the Hunyuan Immortal Sect’s footsteps."
"There’s no stopping it."
The Ancient Immortal Domain was vast, and Chen Chang'an couldn’t possibly hunt down every impostor.
"Uh..."
"Are we sure we didn’t take a wrong turn?"
"Why is there nothing but water ahead?"
"Is this... a sea?"
Half a year later, Chen Chang'an found himself standing before an endless expanse of ocean.
"Nope, this is the right path."
"If I remember correctly, this is the Pristine Sea."
The Pristine Sea?
Did that mean these waters could purify the soul and cleanse one’s heart?
"Big brother, the Ancient Immortal Domain has plenty of seas."
"It’s not all land, you know."
"But this Pristine Sea is interesting."
"Rumor has it no living creatures dwell within, and the water possesses a mystical power—it purifies the heart."
"If an evil person stays in the Pristine Sea long enough, they’ll become pure of heart, turning into a good person."
"Of course, that’s just hearsay. Whether it’s true or not, who knows?"
"Still, this place isn’t dangerous."
"Once we cross the Pristine Sea, we’ll be about halfway there."
Over a year had passed since leaving the Flowing Clouds Domain, and they were only halfway?
This journey was far longer than expected!
"Yi Tuo, it’s up to you now."
"But... are you sure you’ll be fine swimming here?" Chen Chang'an asked.
"Big brother, I don’t know if I’ll be fine."
"But... I can’t swim."
"I’m not an actual turtle!" Yi Tuo grumbled.
"You... can’t swim?"
"Can you at least fly?"
"Skimming over the water’s surface—surely you can manage that?"
't think I'm that capable, I'm just trying my best to stay alive. I've been kind all my life, never did anything bad, yet worldly suffering spared me not one bit. The human world is a nice place, but I won't come back in my next life. A kind young man, who wanted to just get by singing, but through repeated deceits and betrayals, has gone down an irredeemable path.
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.
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!
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?!
