Chapter 36

Perhaps.

Su Zhen had just returned to the entrance of her courtyard, not even having stepped inside, when she sensed her master’s summons. Without a moment’s hesitation, she channeled her spiritual power, attempting to seal off the telepathic connection. Though her cultivation realm was slightly inferior, her profound mastery of mental arts allowed her to force a seal—a technique typically reserved for Earth Immortal cultivators—effectively barring all external spiritual influence from her primordial spirit.

"..."

The divine sense of the Immortal Venerable Yu Chen dissipated entirely.

Su Zhen breathed a sigh of relief. If he had insisted on making contact, her seal might not have held, but by doing this, she was making her stance clear: she did not wish to listen for the time being. He did not press the matter further.

Su Zhen’s footsteps faltered; her figure swayed, and she came to a halt on the steps.

"What is it?"

Xiao Yu walked up from behind. He withdrew his hand—which had instinctively reached out to steady her—in a fluid, unnoticeable motion, his fingertips lingering behind her waist for a heartbeat before falling away.

"Surely you know what happened, Senior?" Su Zhen turned to look at him. He stood two steps below her, allowing them to meet each other’s gaze. Seeing him, she couldn't help but recall their previous absurd and outrageous conversation, and her head began to ache. She had dealt with all sorts of people and situations, but this was truly a first. Still, the feeling was strangely familiar; it had likely begun the very first time they met.

"And another thing," Su Zhen crossed her arms. "Why are you following me, Senior?"

Xiao Yu blinked. "We hadn't said our goodbyes yet. I thought you might still have things to discuss?"

"I have nothing left to say." Su Zhen spoke casually. "Also, you were wrong before. I am not in a hurry to tinker with my sword. I am going to study the Resurrection Orb first."

Upon hearing those three words, Xiao Yu’s lips curved upward. "Would you like some company to deliberate on it?"

"No." Su Zhen shook her head. "I am used to doing these things alone."

Xiao Yu nodded decisively. "Then I shall take my leave?"

Su Zhen pondered for a moment. "Senior... do you have a residence on Lingxiao Peak? Do you usually rest in your own cave dwelling?"

The smile in Xiao Yu’s eyes deepened. "It is the courtyard I was assigned after I entered the sect. I used to meditate there, but I don't rest there much these days—mostly just read books. Do you wish to visit?"

Su Zhen turned her head. "I just realized that you have visited my place many times, yet I have never been to yours."

"You want to see it?" Xiao Yu was taken aback, his joy evident. "That is my oversight. I apologize. Once you have some free time, may I invite you over?"

Su Zhen had only spoken off the cuff. After all, the dwellings of high-level experts were almost all the same. They were inevitably filled with spiritual plants—each one worth a fortune—with every pillar, wall, and brick crafted from rare spiritual ores that others would grind their teeth to afford just to forge a single magical treasure. Still, considering Xiao Yu’s character, perhaps his residence would be different. Seeing his earnest expression as he apologized, Su Zhen felt a smile tugging at her lips. "I will meditate for a while first, then we shall see."

She bade him farewell and turned to enter her courtyard. She took out the Sweetwood Spirit Orb, examining it closely once more. She traced every pattern on its surface and allowed her consciousness to permeate it, attempting to sense its past. Unfortunately, this was not a standard magical treasure; it did not possess a sword spirit like Liuchun, which held its own memories. This Resurrection Orb was purely a branch of Sweetwood, and the Kunxu Divine Tree itself possessed no sentience—or so she assumed; otherwise, it would have long since cultivated into a demon. The wooden orb emitted a faint, fresh fragrance, revealing an undercurrent of powerful vitality.

Su Zhen placed the orb on the table and channeled her spiritual power. Golden brilliance suddenly bloomed before her eyes, and dense, miniature spell formations manifested in the air. Regarding the art of artifact refining, Su Zhen only had a rudimentary understanding; in her previous life, advancing Liuchun by one grade had cost her a great deal of effort. Though the process was tedious, it was far simpler than forging from scratch. Now, staring at the layered, intricate secret spells and formations, she felt a massive headache coming on. However, if she could master the knowledge within, she might be able to replicate such an object, or even steal a few techniques from medical cultivators. After all, anything involving the restoration of a primordial spirit—especially one that had been completely destroyed—was tantamount to bringing the dead back to life.

Su Zhen went to her study, retrieved a stack of treatises on artifact refining, spread them across the table, and set up a few base platforms made of spiritual stones. She flipped through the books while attempting to trace the formations on the platforms. This was far outside her area of expertise; naturally, she failed repeatedly at first, and hours passed without a single success. Finally, she stood up and set the most complex barrier she knew outside her courtyard, ensuring not even a knock could penetrate it, signaling her refusal to be disturbed. Then, she buried herself in her scrolls.

Months passed in the blink of an eye. She sat at the table, barely moving, until she had completely decoded the final formation. She even applied several techniques to mask the tracer signatures left by the original creator, ensuring it wouldn't be as easily tracked as before. Drafts, some neat and some chaotic, covered the tabletop, and a pile of scrolls and bamboo slips lay scattered at her feet. When Su Zhen stood up, her mind was still stuffed with complex incantations, leaving her feeling dizzy and disoriented as to what day it was.

She stepped outside to clear her head with the breeze, withdrew the courtyard barrier, and checked her jade slip. Seeing greetings from her cousins, she promptly replied. Not long after, a knock sounded at the door. Su Zhen tidied the stone table and went to open it.

"Zhenzhen!"

Standing before the door were two young cultivators, both tall and slender, with handsome, clear-cut features—their faces bearing a striking resemblance—and adorned in luxurious attire.

The one on the left stepped forward first. "You..." She studied her cousin at the door thoughtfully. "Your spiritual pressure is a bit strange."

Su Zhen blinked. "Would you like to take another look, Cousin?"

Pei Xun stared at her for a long time. "It is definitely not the spiritual pressure of the Deity Transformation Realm, but I cannot tell exactly what it is."

Su Zhen sighed. "I am indeed no longer in the Deity Transformation Realm, but I still wanted to pretend. It's a pity I couldn't even fool you two; wouldn't the elders see through it at a glance?"

They were both in the Earth Immortal Realm, and there were many more elders in the sect at the Heaven Immortal and Golden Immortal levels.

Pei Yang crossed his arms, staring at her. "Then what are you?"

Su Zhen tilted her head. "Guess."

"Reached the Great Vehicle Realm?" Pei Yang looked at her suspiciously. "You couldn't have reached the True Immortal Realm, could you? Are you..."

Pei Xun walked over, hooked her arm through her cousin's, and pulled her into the courtyard, whispering, "Did you go to the Demon Realm again? Do you have any soul-binding contracts on you?"

Su Zhen leaned against her cousin—the latter was half a head taller, making the gesture easy. "I went. And no, I don't."

Pei Xun breathed a sigh of relief. "You have your own discretion, but do not gamble with this. If you are carrying such a mark, do not return. Ordinary people might not notice, and leaving aside our Master, under the watchful eyes of our grand-uncle, you certainly wouldn't be able to hide it. We don't know his temperament; if he truly dislikes demon cultivators, he could kill you without a second thought."

Pei Yang walked over from behind and tugged at her other arm. "But it has been so long, and we haven't seen Immortal Venerable Zhaohua. It’s as if he evaporated from the human world."

Su Zhen’s heart felt complicated. He had indeed evaporated from the human world, mostly because he had been in the Demon Realm the entire time.

Su Zhen: "Aren't you two contradicting yourselves? If you can't even see him, why do you think I could get under his nose? Perhaps he is no longer in the human world at all."

"It’s hard to say where he is now, but he might return soon." Pei Yang looked at his little cousin as if she were a fool. "Have you forgotten the Immortal Alliance Trials?"

The Immortal Alliance Trials were held every fifty years by the five major sects of the five regions. All righteous cultivators in the cultivation world who had joined the Alliance, were under five hundred years of age, and were below the Golden Immortal Realm could participate. The rewards for the top finishers were incredibly generous—either top-tier pills and materials or even immortal artifacts. Even if one didn't place in the overall competition, there were separate rankings for each of the lower seven realms, and the top performers in each realm still received immense benefits. The next session was approaching, and because each sect had a limited quota, a series of internal competitions would be held to determine which disciples would claim those spots.

Su Zhen: "...I did forget. After all, I have zero interest in it, and I suspect he doesn't either." She had participated far too many times in her previous life.

"Huh?" Pei Yang looked at her strangely. "You only participated once, and you’re already uninterested? Last time, you were beaten so badly you were crying for your parents, and you said you would definitely get revenge next time..."

"Ah?" Su Zhen was bewildered. "Cousin, are you talking about yourself? I didn't place well, but when did I ever make such a scene?"

"You didn't make a scene," Pei Xun added suddenly. "You were just ashamed. You nearly soaked my robes with your tears, and then you were worried about losing face in front of your master—that you hadn't brought him any glory."

Su Zhen: "?" That sounded even worse than crying for her parents on stage.

Pei Xun studied her for a moment. "So, you don't pine for him anymore?"

Su Zhen curled her lip. "Sister, you know me. Back then, my junior sister hadn't even entered the sect, and I was blinded by ignorance. Besides, I probably just viewed him as a father figure. You know how it is."

The Pei siblings exchanged a look. Pei Xun sighed and reached out to pat her head. "That is good. As you meet more people, if you encounter someone interesting, don't hesitate to spend time with them. Then, you will stop taking the people of your past so seriously."

Pei Yang agreed wholeheartedly. "Exactly. But be cautious, especially since you keep running to the Demon Realm. Many people there are unreliable. Be careful that someone doesn't sleep with you and then turn around and sacrifice you..."

Su Zhen looked at the sky. "Does it have to be a member of the Soul-Devouring Sect? And Cousin, you sound like you’re speaking from personal experience. Has that happened to you a few times?"

The siblings wore a simultaneously subtle expression.

Su Zhen: "?"

Su Zhen silently wiped the face of Yao Wan from her mind. "...Alright, stop dwelling on the times you tripped in the gutter in your youth." She thought about the Immortal Alliance Trials; if she stayed in the mountains, she would likely have to participate unless she was severely injured. Or, she could lie and claim she had reached a critical juncture in her cultivation and was forced into seclusion.

"Is that so?" Su Zhen asked the two elders. "Or must it be when one is on the verge of breaking through?"

"Hard to say. The issue is that your master has very few direct disciples, and now that one has died, there are even fewer. It feels like the three of you won't be able to escape this fate. Unless you graduate, I fear you won't be able to dodge it." Pei Yang rubbed his chin. "By the way, I got distracted—what is your cultivation level, exactly? Be careful, don't let anything slip."

Generally speaking, those of a lower realm could not hide their spiritual pressure from those of a higher realm, but many demonic secret arts could break this rule, a fact many were aware of. Thus, if she hid it too well, it would also invite suspicion.

"It's fine, consider it a surprise," Su Zhen said casually. "I'll keep it hidden for now; it will be much more satisfying to slap them in the face when the time comes."

The siblings looked utterly bewildered.

Pei Yang blinked. "Slap them in the face?"

Su Zhen coughed lightly, thinking she had truly been influenced by someone, as her speech was starting to become unintelligible. "...You'll understand soon enough."

They were peers, and as her older sister and brother, they didn't hover over her. After a few more jokes, Pei Yang suddenly snapped his fingers. "You asked me before about someone who treated you very well." He looked at her with a strange expression. "So, is it someone you met in the Demon or Spirit Realm?" He waved his hand immediately after. "You don't have to tell me. It is your business, I am just curious how things are with that person now? If you don't want to say, that’s fine."

Su Zhen didn't know how to answer and was momentarily speechless. "How could it be? We’re just more familiar than before." He was practically acting like a dog for her. Su Zhen felt a strange sensation whenever she thought of it.

Pei Xun had been watching her and suddenly asked, "Were you two together recently?"

Su Zhen: "...We were together for a time, but you two can rest assured—if he really wanted to sacrifice me, he wouldn't have waited until after we slept together, and he is not a follower of the Blood God."

"We were just speaking casually. I would prefer you stay far away from the Soul-Devouring Sect; they are one more insane than the next." Pei Yang reached out and tapped her head. "Is his background clear?"

Su Zhen found this question equally difficult to answer. "More or less. Don't worry, Cousin, he is not a demon cultivator. Besides, the demon cultivators I know these days have either been killed by me, or they are people I want to kill but simply can't yet."

Pei Yang lectured her a bit more, all based on unreliable conjectures. Su Zhen listened and nodded vaguely, letting it go in one ear and out the other.

Once the siblings left, she stood at the courtyard gate, took out her jade slip, and replied to several messages. Soon, others began to knock. Most were cultivators from Weiyun Peak who were on good terms with her; they offered brief greetings before leaving. Su Zhen then went to the hillside to check how many shifts she owed.

As the sun set, the market square remained noisy and bustling, crowded with people. A lecture on spell-casting had just concluded, and dozens of cultivators carrying scrolls walked toward her. Su Zhen passed them by; they bowed in succession, and she merely nodded in acknowledgment.

As they lifted their heads, some turned to watch her retreating figure.

"...Does it feel like we haven't seen her in a while?"

"She must be in seclusion."

"I wanted to attend her lecture..."

"Does she seem unhappy?"

"Don't you know? Her relationship with her senior brother is bad; it’s all over the sect. Junior Uncle Jiang has reached the True Immortal Realm..."

"Oh, they had a fight, didn't they? I heard she had the upper hand?"

"That was last time; next time is hard to say. After all, the difference between the upper seven realms and the lower seven realms is like heaven and earth!"

"Pfft, as if you, a Foundation Establishment cultivator, know anything about it."

"My master said so! The difference between the Great Vehicle Realm and the True Immortal Realm is far greater than that between Deity Transformation and Great Vehicle. Besides, Junior Uncle Su is surely still at the Deity Transformation Realm, right?"

Su Zhen walked into the five-story tower of the Administrative Hall and found a familiar face on the first floor. She leaned over and pulled the person out from a pile of scrolls and bamboo slips. "Junior Sister Zhao, I've come to pay my debt."

The cultivator leaned over, pulled out a scroll, and unfolded it. "Hmm, Senior Sister Su, go patrol the northern mountains tonight. I will inform my senior brother that he doesn't need to go."

Su Zhen thanked her and turned to leave. After sunset, she followed her usual routine, starting from the foot of the mountain, releasing her divine sense while taking out her jade slip to write a few words. The night air was thin, a crescent moon hung high in the clouds, and the stone path was dappled with tree shadows. Suddenly, a long, dark shadow stretched across the ground.

That vast shadow fell from behind, completely engulfing her silhouette.

Su Zhen tilted her head and turned around. "What is the meaning of this, Senior?"

Xiao Yu stood a few steps below, looking up slightly. "What do you mean, 'what is the meaning of this'?"

Su Zhen shook the jade slip in her hand. "'Poke'?"

"It means exactly what it says." Xiao Yu spread his hands. "Just assume I actually poked you, signifying that I desire your attention?"

"...Fine."

They strolled along the mountain path. There were many cultivators passing by, but few paid Xiao Yu any mind, all bowing only to Su Zhen. Yet, from their various reactions, it was clear they were all aware someone was walking beside her. After a group of laughing youngsters passed, Su Zhen remembered the Immortal Alliance Trials and asked, "Are you participating, Senior?"

Xiao Yu naturally didn't misunderstand. "I can't be bothered to judge those people. I have no interest in watching Golden Immortal Realm cultivators fight, let alone those below the Golden Immortal level. They are all worse than the last—what is the point of watching them squabble? Unless, of course, it's you. If you want to go, I will certainly watch. Unless you don't want me to."

Su Zhen found this amusing. "I don't really want to participate either. I’m already thinking of graduating. I don't intend to stay here forever anyway. If he won't let me go, I'll just go to the Sect Master and cause a scene."

Xiao Yu chuckled. "That won't happen. If the man surnamed Xu won't let you go..."

Su Zhen thought he was going to say he would threaten him or simply control him.

Xiao Yu said calmly, "I will slaughter him, and you can be the Chief yourself. Then you won't have to worry about anyone else's opinion."

"Ah?" Su Zhen nearly rolled her eyes to the heavens. "How would that fall to me? Are the Golden Immortal elders all dead?"

Xiao Yu looked indifferent. "Then I will slaughter everyone stronger than you."

Good heavens. Su Zhen looked at him with great admiration. "I used to think you were like a demon cultivator, Senior, but I’ve changed my mind."

Xiao Yu raised an eyebrow. "Oh?"

Su Zhen: "...You are actually the fifth Demon God, merely walking the Nine Realms in a human skin."

Xiao Yu laughed. "Oh dear, you’ve seen through me. Actually, I am..."

Su Zhen: "?"

Xiao Yu raised a finger. "Give me a moment to invent a suitably grand title for a Demon God."

Su Zhen: "..."

He was clearly enjoying himself.