The Great Golden Immortal Descends from Heaven

Ten years.

These three thousand six hundred and fifty days and nights were an endless death by a thousand cuts for Ye Xuan.

He cultivated like a madman, absorbing spiritual energy day and night, even taking on the most dangerous demonic beast hunting missions, all just to exchange for a single low-grade pill.

He hovered on the edge of life and death countless times, his body covered in scars, just to get a little closer to the Golden Core stage, even if only by a tiny bit.

But it was useless.

Ten years had passed, and despite risking his life, he had only barely crawled to the fifth level of Qi Refining.

And what about Zi Yao?

Piled high with massive amounts of resources and aided by countless men, her cultivation advanced a thousand miles a day.

Foundation Establishment, mid-stage Foundation Establishment, late-stage Foundation Establishment...

Ye Xuan could only watch helplessly.

Watch as she wore a dancer's dress as thin as cicada wings at the sect's grand banquet, dancing gracefully under the watchful eyes of the crowd.

Watch as she, for a pill that could help her break through, sat smiling on the lap of the fierce-looking Elder Li, allowing his rough, large hand to roam over her jade-like thighs.

"Martial Niece Zi Yao, this skin is truly as smooth and soft as cream, hahaha!" Elder Li's lecherous laughter pierced Ye Xuan's eardrums.

Zi Yao did not dodge.

Not only did she not hide, but she also picked up a wine cup and, with eyes as charming as silk, brought it to Elder Li's lips, giggling coquettishly:

"The Elder jests. As long as the Elder promises to give Zi Yao that 'Barrier-Breaking Pill,' Zi Yao is willing... to play the zither to entertain the Elder tonight."

She was smiling.

But Ye Xuan, who was hiding in the corner holding a serving tray, clearly saw that her other hand, hidden in her sleeve, had its nails dug deeply into her palm, drawing blood.

The banquet dispersed, and rumors flew everywhere.

"Tsk tsk, that Zi Yao is truly a stunner. I think Elder Li's soul was completely hooked away."

"Hehe, I heard that to win over Elder Li, she stayed in his cave dwelling for three days and three nights without coming out. I wonder if that delicate little body of hers could handle it."

Every time he heard these filthy words, Ye Xuan's heart bled.

He rushed to Zi Yao's cave dwelling like a madman, questioning her, roaring at her to stop.

"Zi Yao! How long are you going to keep degrading yourself?!"

"That Elder Li is almost two hundred years old! His hands... his hands went right into your clothes! And you could actually still smile?!"

Facing Ye Xuan's breakdown, Zi Yao only coldly adjusted her somewhat messy clothing.

She turned around, revealing a glaring red mark on her neck—a hickey left by someone forcefully sucking on her skin.

"Ye Xuan, calm down."

Zi Yao's voice was terrifyingly cold, as if discussing an insignificant business deal:

"I haven't lost my purity."

"Elder Li is a lecher, but I slipped him Illusionary Passion Powder. He spent three days in the cave dwelling gnawing on a pillow, thinking it was me, that's all."

"As for the banquet..."

Zi Yao lowered her head and looked at her thigh, which had been rubbed red. A trace of disgust flashed through her eyes, which then turned into hard ice:

"So what if I was touched a few times?"

"So what if I was kissed a couple of times?"

"As long as I guard my final Primal Yin, as long as I don't let them truly succeed, my body is clean."

"But don't I find it dirty?"

Ye Xuan's eyes were bloodshot. Pointing at the kiss mark on her neck, he cried out:

"In the eyes of others, you're already a slut that anyone can have! In their mouths, you've already been played with until you're ruined!"

"Zi Yao, I am a man! I am your husband! How can you expect me to endure this?"

"Could it be that in your eyes, so-called innocence means that as long as your maidenhead isn't broken, you can be toyed with however they please?"

Slap!

Zi Yao viciously slapped him across the face.

"Then what do you want me to do?"

She finally erupted, roaring hysterically:

"If I don't sacrifice my looks, who will give me pills? If I don't pretend to play along, that old devil would have drained me to death through dual cultivation long ago!"

"Ye Xuan, you are so noble! You are so amazing!"

"If you have the ability, take me away! If you have the capability, kill them all!"

"Other than crying here, other than being disgusted that I'm dirty, what else can you do? You can't even earn a single lowest-grade spirit stone, so what right do you have to control who I let touch me?"

This string of questions was like a series of heavy hammers, smashing Ye Xuan's last bit of dignity to pieces.

He opened his mouth, looking at the woman before him who had become unfamiliar, who had become materialistic, yet who was also struggling bitterly in a desperate situation.

He wanted to hug her, but felt that she was covered in the scent of other men.

He wanted to scold her, but realized that he was the most incompetent piece of trash.

"I..."

Ye Xuan slumped to his knees on the ground, grabbing his hair with both hands, letting out a desperate whimper like a wild beast.

This feeling of powerlessness, this feeling of humiliation, was worse than killing him.

He clearly possessed a heart that loved her the most in this world, yet he lacked the power to protect her.

He could only be a bystander.

To be the entire sect's recognized King of Cuckolds, wearing a glowing green hat.

A day later.

By the river, facing the heavens and the earth, he madly cursed the heavens for their unfairness.

"Thieving Heavens! Why!"

"Why did you give me these proud bones, but not the matching talent!!"

"Why must you make me watch helplessly as my beloved woman, just to survive, has to put her dignity on display like dog meat on a butcher's block for others to pick over!"

"She clearly hasn't lost her purity... but she makes me suffer even more than if she had!"

"If I had power... If I were a powerhouse..."

"I would definitely slaughter all these animals! I would chop the hands that touched her into pieces! I would sew shut the mouths that kissed her!!"

That desperate roar echoed through the empty river valley, eventually dissipating in the wind, with no one to answer.

Only that endless hatred was deeply carved into his soul.

Just as Ye Xuan knelt by the river, roaring in despair at the heavens, wishing he could tear out his heart to question this unjust world...

A deafening shattering sound actually responded to his cries.

The originally heavily clouded sky split open without warning, revealing a massive black fissure. The rift was like a giant maw opened by the heavens, surrounded by terrifying lightning that made the entire Southern Region tremble.

Immediately after, a human figure burning all over with golden flames plummeted from that rift like a meteor.

The figure smashed heavily onto the riverbank, blasting a giant crater a hundred meters deep into the ground. River water poured backward, and smoke and dust rose everywhere.

Ye Xuan was sent flying by the shockwave, but ignoring the pain in his body, he climbed up in horror and looked toward the bottom of the crater.

A man lay there.

He wore a suit of purple-gold battle armor that was already shattered beyond repair. He was covered in blood, and there was a gaping, see-through bloody hole in his chest, as if he had been pierced by some sharp weapon. But he still had a breath of life left, and around his tightly shut eyes radiated a terrifying coercive aura that made one want to prostrate in worship.

Although Ye Xuan was only a minor cultivator in the Qi Refining stage, he knew that this was a serendipitous encounter, and also karma.

He gritted his teeth, hoisted this man who was much heavier than himself onto his back, and dragged him step by step back to his secret cave in the back mountain.

This caretaking lasted for a full three months.

During these three months, Ye Xuan had to go to the cliffs every day to pick hemostatic spirit herbs, and also catch the most tender spirit fish to boil into soup, feeding it bite by bite to this mysterious man.

Even though this man remained unconscious the entire time, and even though the wounds on his body were terrifyingly gruesome, Ye Xuan never slackened for a single moment.

Finally, on the last day of the third month.

The man opened his eyes.

What kind of eyes were those?

They contained the rising of the sun and the setting of the moon, the birth and destruction of stars. Just by meeting his gaze, Ye Xuan felt as if his very soul was going to be sucked away.

The man did not speak immediately.

He first looked down at his own storage ring, its brilliance concealed yet still worn on his finger, and then he looked at Ye Xuan, who was sitting to the side boiling medicine in tattered clothes.

Boy.

The man's voice was hoarse, yet it carried a calmness that had weathered the vicissitudes of life.

You saw the things on me, didn't you?

Even a single pill casually leaking out of that ring would be enough for you to be revered as an ancestor in this lower realm. You guarded me for three months, why didn't you take it?

Ye Xuan's hand, which was fanning the fire, paused slightly.

He raised his head, his still-childish face filled with magnanimity and stubbornness.

That is your belonging, it has nothing to do with me.

I saved you because I wanted to save you. If it were for the sake of murder and robbery, then how would I be any different from those outside who humiliate my wife?

The man stared at him for a long time, then suddenly laughed.

Good boy.

Good temperament, quite interesting.

The man forced himself to sit up, leaning against the rock wall, and introduced himself.

My name is Wei Wuji.

As soon as these three words came out, even the air in the cave seemed to freeze for a moment. Although Ye Xuan had never heard this name, he instinctively felt the weight behind it.

Without any hesitation.

Thud!

Ye Xuan dropped straight to his knees and kowtowed heavily.

I beg Senior to take me as your disciple!!

Wei Wuji looked at the youth kneeling on the ground, a playful smile appearing on his pale face. Oh? Why do you think I am powerful? Just because I have a good name?

Ye Xuan looked up, his eyes revealing an almost insane persistence and pain.

Senior fell from a spatial tear above the Nine Heavens, yet your physical body remained intact. You must possess heaven-shaking abilities!

I don't want to be trash anymore! I want to become stronger! I want to protect the person I want to protect!

I beg Senior to take me as your disciple!

Wei Wuji looked at his burning eyes and sighed.

I have observed you for three months.

Wei Wuji's voice became distant.

Every night in your dreams, you call out the name Zi Yao, and after waking up, you go to the river to vent your hatred.

You are a person of extreme emotion and true nature, a good seedling for cultivation. What a pity...

Wei Wuji shook his head, a trace of coldness flashing in his eyes.

That woman named Zi Yao, I have also looked at her with my divine sense. Her mind is complicated, and her eyes are full of calculation and desire. She is not suitable for you.

Ye Xuan's body trembled, his eyes instantly filling with tears as he gritted his teeth and argued.

She is my wife!

She was forced to become like that! It was to survive!

She said she hasn't lost her chastity... I believe her!

Hasn't lost her chastity? Wei Wuji sneered, his laughter full of insight into human nature. Boy, what you see may not be true, and what you hear may not be real. You just believe whatever she says? It might not be the truth.

Ye Xuan's heart twitched violently, but he still stiffened his neck and roared.

She had no choice!

In this man-eating demonic sect, as a weak woman, what else can she do besides dealing with men?

The cave fell into a dead silence.

After a long time.

Wei Wuji let out a long sigh, his eyes actually revealing a trace of pain and desolation that resonated with Ye Xuan.

No choice...

Hehe... Once, someone said the exact same words to me.

Ye Xuan froze, asking subconsciously, Who was that person?

Wei Wuji closed his eyes, two streams of clear tears rolling down his aged cheeks.

My wife.

Ye Xuan was completely dumbfounded on the spot.

Such a peerless powerhouse who descended from the sky actually had the same pain as him?

He shuffled forward on his knees and grabbed the corner of Wei Wuji's clothes, as if grabbing the only life-saving straw.

Senior... I beg you! Teach me! Since you also understand this kind of pain, you should help me even more!

Wei Wuji opened his eyes, his gaze like a torch, looking straight into Ye Xuan's soul.

Why exactly do you cultivate?

Ye Xuan's eyes were ice-cold, his killing intent awe-inspiring.

Revenge! Kill all those who humiliated me! Rescue my wife and take her far away!

Revenge? Save your wife?

Wei Wuji sneered, his tone turning chilling.

What if your wife is willing? What if she doesn't need you to save her at all?

Impossible!! Ye Xuan shook his head madly, on the verge of collapse. She is just doing it to survive! She loves me! She only has me in her heart!

Wei Wuji looked at this youth who was trapped in the barrier of love and unable to extricate himself, as if seeing his past self.

Too similar.

Simply exactly the same.

Never mind.

Wei Wuji took a deep breath, seemingly making a decision.

Since you are so persistent, I will take you as my disciple.

But, as my inheritor, you must promise me one condition.

What condition? Ye Xuan asked eagerly.

Help me get revenge. Wei Wuji's eyes erupted with monstrous hatred. Kill your way back to the Immortal Realm! Go and chop off the heads of that adulterous couple for me!!

Although Ye Xuan didn't know where the Immortal Realm was, nor who that adulterous couple was, he nodded without hesitation.

As long as Senior teaches me skills, let alone killing my way back to the Immortal Realm, even if I have to pierce through this heaven, I will do it!!

Good! Wei Wuji laughed wildly. If you stop for a woman, you will have delayed me! But if you can carry this hatred and charge up to the Nine Heavens, then you are my, Wei Wuji's, good disciple!

What do you want to learn?

Ye Xuan's eyes flickered with extreme coldness and desire.

I want to learn the strongest killing spells in the world! To tear those who humiliated me into a million pieces!

And... the strongest evasion art! So I can take her and escape any danger, and no one can catch us!

Wei Wuji looked at him, the corner of his mouth curving into a proud arc.

Killing spells? Evasion arts?

Good! Then I shall pass onto you the Immortal Slaughtering Art and the Kunpeng's Carefree Roaming!

The following days were a miracle of rebirth for Ye Xuan.

Wei Wuji did not let him cultivate step by step.

Because Wei Wuji's time was running out, and Ye Xuan's aptitude was too poor.

A mixed five-element spirit root? Trash.

Wei Wuji snorted coldly and directly slapped his palm onto the crown of Ye Xuan's head.

Endure it! Today, your master will use the origin power of a Great Luo Golden Immortal to cleanse your marrow and forcibly impart cultivation to you!!

Terrifying energy poured in like a reversing river, madly surging into Ye Xuan's dried-up and narrow meridians.

Pain!

Heart-tearing, lung-splitting pain!

All the bones in his body were shattered and reassembled; every drop of his blood was burning.

But Ye Xuan gritted his teeth tightly, not uttering a single sound.

Qi Condensation Sixth Layer... Qi Condensation Great Circle...

Foundation Establishment!

Mid-Foundation Establishment... Foundation Establishment Great Circle...

Golden Core!

Golden Core shatters, Nascent Soul forms!

It took merely ten days.

This promotion speed, which could be called a myth in the cultivation world, happened right here in this nameless cave.

Relying on the empowerment from Wei Wuji, a Great Luo Golden Immortal burning the last of his life force, Ye Xuan leaped from a lowly ant at the Qi Refinement stage to become a great cultivator at the Nascent Soul stage!

Although his foundation was somewhat unstable, in the Lower Realm, this was already an extremely terrifying level of strength.

Late at night on the tenth day.

Wei Wuji withdrew his hand. His entire person instantly aged countless times over. His body, which originally flowed with golden light, had now begun to turn transparent, as if it would dissipate in the wind at any moment.

"Master..."

Feeling the surging, ocean-like power within his body and looking at Wei Wuji, whose oil lamp was about to run dry, Ye Xuan's tears fell like rain.

"Don't cry."

Wei Wuji waved his hand and leaned against the rock wall. He looked at the bright moon outside the cave, his voice weak yet calm:

"I don't have much time left."

"Disciple, before I go, let me tell you about my origins. It will also let you know who it is you must kill."

Ye Xuan wiped his tears, knelt to the side, and listened respectfully.

Wei Wuji's eyes became hazy, as if piercing through the long river of time:

"I was originally just like you, a cultivator who climbed up step by step from the Lower Realm."

"When I was in the Earth Realm, I had a childhood sweetheart, a wife with astonishing talent. Her name was Ling Yun. She was a proud daughter of heaven, and her cultivation speed was much faster than mine."

"We were a divine couple in the Earth Realm for a thousand years. That was my happiest time."

"Later, she took a step ahead of me and ascended to the Spirit Realm. I, however, had dull aptitude and was a full thousand years late in ascending."

At this point, a painful contortion appeared on Wei Wuji's face:

"A thousand years..."

"When I, filled with joy, went through untold hardships to ascend to the Spirit Realm to find her... I discovered that she already had another powerful Dao companion by her side."

Ye Xuan's heart tightened, as if pricked by a needle.

"My heart was like dead ashes at the time, and I originally wanted to choose to give up."

"But she found me, crying a river of tears. She said she had no choice, that she had to rely on a strong expert to establish a foothold in the Spirit Realm. She said she still loved me in her heart and that her feelings for me remained."

"Heh... I believed her."

Wei Wuji laughed at himself, laughing out tears of blood:

"To win her back, to be worthy of her, I cultivated desperately in the Spirit Realm, even going so far as to practice forbidden arts."

"Finally, a century later, I defeated that man, and she returned to my side."

"After that, we stayed together in the Spirit Realm for another eight thousand years."

"But... history is always shockingly similar."

"Eight thousand years later, she broke through again, ascending to the Immortal Realm a step ahead of me."

"This time, I had experience. I dared not slack off and chased after her with all my might. But the gap between immortals and mortals is like a heavenly chasm. I was still three thousand years late."

"By the time I reached the Immortal Realm..."

Wei Wuji's voice was trembling, filled with the despair of being betrayed countless times:

"In the Immortal Realm, she had a new Dao companion again. And it was a regional overlord of the Immortal Realm."

Ye Xuan listened, dumbfounded, and couldn't help but curse, "Master, this wife of yours... is truly a piece of work!"

Wei Wuji shook his head, his expression instead calming down into the tranquility of a completely dead heart:

"I was furious at the time and also thought about letting go completely."

"But she came back again."

"She used the same excuses: 'I had no choice,' 'The Immortal Realm is cruel,' 'I just wanted to survive'..."

"Just like that, for this woman, I worked hard in the Immortal Realm for another ten thousand years."

"I tried every possible way to become stronger, tried every possible way to take her away from that overlord's control."

"Until three months ago..."

The hatred in Wei Wuji's eyes erupted explosively:

"I found a supreme treasure in an ancient secret realm. I originally wanted to give this supreme treasure to her to help her break through."

"As a result... she joined forces with that adulterer and, when my guard was at its lowest, stabbed me in the back with a sword."

"They robbed me of the supreme treasure, crippled my immortal spark, and struck me down to the mortal world, plunging me into this Earth Realm."

"It's just a pity that they didn't expect my life to be so tough. I actually kept a breath of life and met you."

The story was finished.

Ye Xuan sat blankly on the ground, unable to recover his senses for a long time.

"So much time... from the Earth Realm, to the Spirit Realm, and then to the Immortal Realm..."

Wei Wuji sighed:

"The path of immortality is boundless. Only by walking alone can one go far."

"Silly child, think about it. Two people have different talents, different opportunities, and different ascension times."

"For example, you go into secluded meditation for a hundred years and hit a bottleneck, getting stuck. But she breaks through and ascends."

"Or when undergoing heavenly tribulation, one succeeds, and the other fails and can only shed their mortal body and reincarnate."

"Time, distance, environment, temptation... to remain faithful from beginning to end is truly too, too difficult."

Ye Xuan felt panicked in his heart and hurriedly asked:

"Then... then in the Immortal Realm, are there no such couples? Those who support each other all the way from the Earth Realm, never abandoning each other even up to the Immortal Realm?"

Wei Wuji looked at his hopeful eyes and cruelly shook his head:

"As far as I know, no."

"I originally thought I would be the first. I also originally thought that as long as I worked hard enough, as long as I ran fast enough, I could catch up to her footsteps and maintain this relationship."

"But I was wrong."

Wei Wuji looked at Ye Xuan, speaking with earnestness:

"This is very normal. When cultivators go into secluded meditation, it easily takes hundreds or thousands of years."

"The gap in cultivation realms leads to completely different horizons, lifespans, and social circles."

"Even if everything is fine in the Earth Realm, what about when you reach the Spirit Realm? Geniuses are as common as clouds there, and there are more temptations. Will she meet someone more amazing than you? Will she compromise for resources?"

"In the Immortal Realm, most of the Dao companions I saw were newly found. As for the old flames from the Lower Realm... they have long since turned into dry bones in tombs, or been forgotten in the corners of memories."

Ye Xuan fell silent.

The image of Zi Yao appeared in his mind.

Wasn't the current situation between him and Zi Yao exactly like this?

She had good aptitude, became a core disciple, and came into contact with a broader world.

While he had poor aptitude and was still struggling in the mud.

If it weren't for Wei Wuji's empowerment, perhaps in a few decades, Zi Yao would still be a youth-retaining Golden Core cultivator, while he would have become a decrepit old man at the Qi Refinement stage.

At that time, what love would there be left to talk about?

"Child, don't learn from your master."

Wei Wuji's voice grew lighter and lighter, and his body also began to turn into specks of golden light and dissipate:

"This path is destined to be a failure."

"If you want to achieve the Great Dao, you must first sever your ties with the one you love."

"However..."

Wei Wuji looked at Ye Xuan's pained and conflicted appearance and gave a bitter smile:

"Never mind. You won't turn back until you hit a brick wall. You can't listen to this right now."

"I am about to die. As a Great Luo Golden Immortal, after I die, although my physical body will dissipate, my origin bones can transform into an immortal artifact."

"This is the final gift your master leaves for you."

"What do you hope... it will look like?"

"A sword? A saber? Or a spear?"

Wei Wuji looked at Ye Xuan with anticipation. He hoped Ye Xuan would choose a sword, a sword of revenge to sever the threads of love and slaughter his way to the highest heavens.

However.

Ye Xuan froze for a moment.

In his mind, there was no sword, no saber.

His mind was filled only with the Zi Yao who wept by the river, the Zi Yao who once held his hand in the peach blossom grove and said with a face full of longing, Husband, in the future, you must give me a gold bracelet, the kind I can wear forever and never take off...

A bracelet.

Ye Xuan raised his head, his eyes firm and urgent.

Master, I want a bracelet.

Zi Yao wants a bracelet. I want to give this to her, even if it is just a parting gift, even if it is just a protective talisman... I want her to wear it.

Wei Wuji was stunned.

He looked at this foolish disciple, as if looking at the foolish version of himself from years ago.

To waste the embryo of a Great Luo Immortal Artifact capable of destroying heaven and earth, all for a woman.

Just to make a piece of jewelry?

Heh...

Hehehe...

Wei Wuji began to laugh, the last tear slipping from the corner of his eye.

Silly child.

What a truly silly child.

Never mind, never mind... Since this is your wish, as your master, I shall grant it.

I only hope... that this bracelet can, on my behalf and yours, protect the last shred of impossible hope.

As his voice faded.

Wei Wuji's body completely disintegrated.

Countless specks of golden light gathered, condensed, and compressed in the air.

Finally.

Accompanied by a humming sound that resembled a mournful cry.

An ancient-looking bracelet, entirely flowing with a dark golden luster and engraved with profound, protective Dao marks, slowly fell into Ye Xuan's palm.

This was the Love-Binding Bracelet.

Forged by a Great Luo Golden Immortal with his life and regrets, what should have been a divine weapon of slaughter ultimately became an accessory to protect a lover.