Chapter 53

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The study was so quiet that the fall of a needle could be heard. Outside, the wind howled fiercely, and the sound of shattered snow and hail striking the walls produced faint, subtle noises.

Two formidable Golden Immortal Realm experts—figures who commanded the winds and rains outside—were now both kneeling on the ground.

And utterly unable to move.

A terrifying spiritual pressure forcibly pinned them down; their entire spiritual power felt as if frozen, and their primordial spirits seemed cast into their bodies like solidified metal.

They could neither use their spiritual energy nor shift an inch, not even breathe or speak.

They remained in a posture of obeisance, listening as the newcomer spoke leisurely.

“Though I took disciples late, Second Brother, you’ve been under my tutelage for at least eight hundred years…”

When did she appear?

From beyond the mansion walls of the Shen family, heavy barriers were laid, extending even near this study room.

If she had broken through them, that would be one thing, but the barriers remained intact. She passed through them like a ghost, appearing directly inside the room.

And it seemed she had been here for some time.

They had discovered her on purpose; otherwise, they would have been oblivious until they left the mansion.

...Is this the power of a Saint Realm expert?

“I believe I have reminded you more than once to stay away from those demonic cultivators. If you are ever summoned by the Demon God, report to me immediately—I will handle it for you.”

The Wind Chant Immortal Sovereign spoke calmly, “I also said this matter is crucial; even if I am in seclusion, it does not matter—you can come to me directly.”

Elder Xu suddenly gasped, regaining his voice, and the pressure on him lessened considerably.

He gritted his teeth and lifted his head. “Master did indeed say so, and I have not forgotten. But your temperament is always such... forget that you are in seclusion, how many would dare disturb you at will even if you were not?”

The Wind Chant Immortal Sovereign glanced at him. “Oh, so it’s all my fault then.”

Elder Xu closed his eyes briefly. “In the past, Seventh Junior Sister bore the Mark of the Law God…”

“She is dead,” the Immortal Sovereign said coldly.

“She perished at the Ascension Realm, not at your hands,” Elder Xu said gravely. “Master does not concern herself with the conflict between the demonic and righteous paths, nor does she care for the lives of unrelated people.”

The head of the Shen family remained silent, his expression shifting repeatedly as he struggled to speak, but the oppressive spiritual pressure completely silenced him.

“So you think my warnings were just formalities? Like the palace rules read to you upon entering the mountain?”

The Wind Chant Immortal Sovereign spoke indifferently. “Others might be dismissed, but the Blood God’s cultists who murdered my entire family—I generally don’t bother moving. But if any Soul Devouring Sect demonic cultivators approach my sight, I will kill each one I see.”

Elder Xu’s face changed drastically. “Master, you have never said that!”

“Hm.”

She lowered her gaze to him. “I do not say it because I know you fear me. If I said it, you would never dare act, or if you did, you would never return.”

Elder Xu looked at her in shock, his face gradually turning hopeless.

His spiritual energy seemed calm, but his hand inside his sleeve had quietly formed a secret spell, preparing to tear his primordial spirit and flee to the demon realm.

The Immortal Sovereign cast a scornful glance and calmly said, “I just wanted to see how many among these around me would willingly serve Him.”

Elder Xu sighed and said self-deprecatingly, “Master is indeed as such. Now that matters have come to this, I only ask for a swift death. I beg you, in consideration of the hard work my fellow disciples and I have put into managing the sect for centuries, spare me further torment.”

“Very well.”

The Immortal Sovereign’s voice softened. “Then rest assured and go.”

The head of the Shen family was sweating profusely.

Killing a Golden Immortal Realm cultivator would cause considerable upheaval; not only would this entire mansion be affected, but the immortal mountains within a radius of dozens of miles might be blasted to ruin.

Moreover—

She even killed her own direct disciple; others would have no chance of survival!

Before he could think further, the spiritual pressure inside the study suddenly shifted.

Countless cracks appeared on Elder Xu’s body, from which streams of blood-red light shot out—a clear sign of his demonic transformation.

Yet, in a single instant, his body exploded with a bang, and he never revealed his demonic form.

That faintly glowing red-gold light had already fallen into the grasp of the Saint Realm expert.

Elder Xu’s primordial spirit emitted a chilling, agonized scream. “Master, you—”

The Wind Chant Immortal Sovereign smiled slightly. “Since I have decided to kill you, I must erase all your anchor marks, so you cannot escape with your residual soul.”

Only then did the head of the Shen family understand—Xu must have left imprints in other planes, and his apparent surrender was actually an attempt at self-preservation by severing his own tail.

But all of them were destroyed by his master.

An incomplete primordial spirit is no match for a whole one; without pre-established anchor marks, it would be difficult to flee instantly.

The Wind Chant Immortal Sovereign said no more.

The space near her warped and collapsed, instantly forming a small world. Inside, the primordial spirit struggled and writhed, as if hitting an invisible wall.

Then, a vast, overwhelming spiritual force swept through like a tsunami, crushing the fragile boat of the primordial spirit, engulfing it entirely.

All this transpired within that small world; not a single paper or item in the study was damaged.

The head of the Shen family watched in shock, unaware when he might be free to move again.

He leaned back, collapsing onto the floor. “Immortal Sovereign, I am not a disciple of your Wuri Palace, nor have you made any pact with me or the Shen family…”

The Wind Chant Immortal Sovereign tilted her head, looking at him. “My useless disciple just said it—I do not care for the lives of unrelated people. So, you didn’t listen?”

Smiling, she rose. “You do not value the lives of these sacrifices because they trade their lives for the Demon God’s power. Naturally, I do not value you because killing you pleases me.”

Before she finished speaking, the Shen family head’s figure was frozen, mere moments from launching a spell to escape, yet forcibly held in place.

The Wind Chant Immortal Sovereign raised her hand.

Her slender, pale fingers slid smoothly into his brain.

The sturdy body and bones of a Golden Immortal Realm cultivator, reinforced by spiritual energy, were as fragile as tofu beneath her touch.

She withdrew her hand, forcibly pulling out a glowing orb of golden light from his body.

The primordial spirit trembled wildly, realizing it had no chance of survival, then cursed fiercely, “Qin Song, you shall not die well—”

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The Wind Chant Immortal Sovereign smiled brightly at the primordial spirit. “You say I shall not die well; in truth, you are the one who has no way against me.”

Outside, the cold wind blew fiercely, slamming open the window shutter. She slowly released her hand, and specks of light fell from her fingers like ashes, scattered and shattered by the wind.

Only a corpse remained in the study.

She turned leisurely and left. Suddenly, a blue flame burst to life in the room, engulfing the corpse in an instant.

The fire wrapped around the entire building, quickly spreading in all directions, growing stronger with the wind, expanding rapidly.

The cultivators of the Shen family were alarmed, fleeing from their rooms—some flying on swords, others stepping through the void, a few hurriedly casting spells.

Amid the thousand-mile snowstorms of the northern cold mountains, all that could be seen was a pale, desolate expanse, with this single blue flame blazing brilliantly, swallowing palatial halls, pavilions, and jade towers.

The flames roared fiercely, extending countless tendrils like chains that bound the fleeing figures.

No matter how they cursed and cried, they were all dragged back and thrown into the endless blaze, burning and burying them in this resplendent tomb.

Smoke and dust rose to the sky, obscuring the horizon’s dark clouds.

...

The Void Realm.

Deep within a dense forest, vines hung tangled, shadows of trees swayed, and through the gaps in the branches, a dark purple sky was visible. The marsh was littered with floating bones, and a strange floral fragrance filled the air.

Su Zhen wielded her heavy sword, exchanging blows with several strange beasts.

“The Shen family is probably finished.”

She paused. “Want to take a look?”

Surrounded by ancient trees with gnarled roots and towering branches, Xiao Yu perched in the canopy. He nodded at her words. “Yeah, they’re pretty much done for. Most of them are dead.”

“Mostly?” Su Zhen asked. “Could the Wind Chant Immortal Sovereign leave survivors?”

“He cast a spell, a sort of filter. Anyone tainted by the Blood God’s power died, those who thought joining the Soul Devouring Sect didn’t matter also died. What’s left are those who deeply detest people like Shen Du.”

Su Zhen immediately understood. “I suppose it’s her Soul Purging Ghost Flame.”

She spoke admiringly.

Xiao Yu glanced at her. “I can do that too.”

“Oh.”

“...”

Suddenly, a white shadow flashed through the swamp. Su Zhen sidestepped, a gust of wind swept past her face, cutting off a lock of hair.

A long tail bristling with bone spikes sank into the mud but soon curled back up.

She held her heavy sword horizontally. The blade was ensnared but with a wrist twist, layers of water light rippled along the edge, spiritual energy spreading out, conjuring countless sword shadows.

The bone blades were sliced into fragments, which quickly fell into the mud and were swallowed by the churning bubbles.

Su Zhen sat panting on a tree root, her hair and clothes filthy.

She reached to a nearby thorn bush and plucked a cluster of crimson Soul Refining Flowers. The blossoms were tiny and dense, vividly beautiful, but once removed from the bush, they quickly faded and withered.

She hurriedly stuffed them into her mouth, speaking muffledly. “How did you discover this method?”

Xiao Yu, seated higher up, looked down. “It was written in a book.”

Su Zhen coughed, suddenly realizing. “The ‘Record of Sword Searching in the Nine Realms’?”

Xiao Yu nodded. “Yes, that so-called original text. Several chapters tell of Xie Changfeng accidentally entering this place and discovering that the Soul Refining Flower could strengthen the primordial spirit. His primordial spirit was badly damaged then. By chance, he realized the worse the damage, the more beneficial the flower was for cultivation. Also, this thing…”

Su Zhen finished his sentence. “Its blooming period is highly unstable, ranging from fifty to two hundred years, and each time only lasts a few months.”

“That part you might not have seen. Xie Changfeng ascended to the Golden Immortal Realm right here.”

Su Zhen was stunned and then realized this event hadn’t happened yet—obviously a later plot point in that book.

“I’ve always remembered this section and occasionally glanced here. Now that we’ve encountered it, I hurried to bring you.”

Xiao Yu lowered his voice. “It might be a bit uncomfortable.”

Su Zhen shook her head. “That’s nothing compared to other discomforts…”

She ate another cluster. “Can Xie Changfeng and Liu Yunyao be killed?”

She was asking if the protagonists could be killed or if such an act would violate the world’s rules.

Xiao Yu pondered. “Well, they can be killed, but the consequences… I don’t mind, but you definitely can’t handle it yet.”

“When can I?”

“Saint Realm.”

Su Zhen was silent.

This probably involved the laws of this world.

“Alright, I was going to ask anyway—Senior, do you want the Holy Sword?”

Xiao Yu sighed deeply. “I really don’t need it, but you do.”

Su Zhen hadn’t expected him to say that. “Why?”

“If I told you everything, you’d have a headache. By the way, your current wish is still to ascend here and shatter the void?”

“Yes.”

“Then you need it.”

Su Zhen was taken aback. “But the book didn’t mention it…”

The swamp churned again. Several white shadows shot toward them. Mud splashed everywhere. She leapt up, dodging the beasts’ attacks.

Su Zhen sighed. “If you say I need it, then I’ll go find it.”

Xiao Yu sat upright. “You trust me that much?”

She smiled at him and swung her sword to cut off a bone spike aimed at her neck.

“I’ve only regained a little strength. I could barely stand and speak before, and after fighting this long, I’m about to collapse. If someone else asked me to keep using spiritual energy now, especially against the Void Realm beasts…”

Those creatures looked ordinary but were truly strange spiritual beasts. A single touch would shatter her body and primordial spirit alike.

“…I’ll definitely kill this one first.”

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Su Zhen said calmly, “But when you left me here, my first thought was that you must have a purpose. My second thought was maybe you were taking revenge for me pinching your face.”

Xiao Yu couldn’t help but laugh. “I didn’t mind. I quite enjoyed it. You can pinch as much as you want…”

Su Zhen was still entangled with the beasts.

They all lurked beneath the swamp’s surface. If this fight dragged on, it might take weeks or months.

Spirit energy here was scarce; her recovery was slow. Even the small gains were used to fight these creatures. To return to peak strength, it might take tens of days.

The process was tedious but had to be taken seriously, or failure was inevitable.

Though Xiao Yu watched from above, and even if she failed she wouldn’t die, who wanted to waste effort?

“Hang in there a bit longer.”

Xiao Yu thought for a moment. “First, strengthen your primordial spirit, then go get the Primordial Dew.”

Su Zhen was stunned and suddenly stepped back, appearing beside him. “You found it? It’s still there?”

Mud splattered on the tree as white shadows pursued, silently shattering midair.

Xiao Yu turned his head. “Are you slacking off?”

Su Zhen spread her hands. “They recover quickly anyway, and giving you a chance to save me—aren’t you touched? Answer me!”

Xiao Yu smiled. “Fine, I’m touched… What did you say, it’s still there? Of course it is.”

Su Zhen was speechless.

Besides the hindrance of her half-demonic bloodline on cultivation, Liu Yunyao’s luck was quite good.

Of course, much like Xie Changfeng, as Xiao Yu said, they had protagonist auras—random blessings falling upon them, always encountering good fortune.

Liu Yunyao went from someone unable to temper spiritual roots to barely ascending to the Quasi-Saint Realm by the end, all thanks to luck.

Regarding the Primordial Dew—

About five hundred years later, Liu Yunyao accidentally fell into a lost secret realm when crossing worlds and obtained three drops of the supreme Primordial Dew, which propelled her to the Quasi-Saint Realm.

This happened long after her death.

If Su Zhen hadn’t seen this event in the book, she would never have known her junior sister got such a break.

However, the book’s description was vague, only stating that she was pursued, fled to the Void Realm with a teleportation talisman, and accidentally entered another secret realm within the mystical path.

Where exactly in the Void Realm she was heading was never mentioned, so Su Zhen couldn’t replicate this luck.

Unless she followed her for four hundred years.

But perhaps in four hundred years, she wouldn’t need it anymore.

“This part of the plot isn’t in the book, but it’s mentioned in the game, so I found that place long ago.”

Xiao Yu said casually, “I was Golden Immortal Realm then, and Liu Yunyao was too when she went. Although her combat power was weak, her primordial spirit strength was at least there. If someone with a lower realm entered, their primordial spirit might explode, so you need to strengthen yours first.”

He smiled as he spoke. “Just thinking about it makes me happy—stealing the protagonist’s cheat.”

“Senior.”

Su Zhen looked at him in surprise. “When you found it, you were Golden Immortal Realm. Didn’t you use it yourself?”

It could at least promote someone by a major realm!

Ascending from Celestial Realm to Golden Immortal Realm was already extremely difficult—she had even fallen into madness over it in her previous life—and ascending from Golden Immortal Realm to Quasi-Saint Realm was even harder.

He actually gave up such an opportunity—

Alright.

This guy really could do that.

“It’s for you!”

Xiao Yu said without hesitation. “The maximum lifespan at Golden Immortal Realm is already over two thousand years, enough for me to see you alive. So I wasn’t in a hurry back then. My biggest motivation was not to die before you were born.”

Su Zhen: “…”

He said such things with such natural ease, making her mood complicated.

After speaking, Xiao Yu tilted his head, looking at her with innocent eyes. His blue eyes shone brightly, long lashes fluttering, and his handsome, slender face beamed with a smile.

Su Zhen couldn’t help but feel a bit itchy.

She was supposed to thank him.

...Though his face was slender, his skin was smooth as jade, quite pleasant to pinch.

Now, the two of them stood and sat among the broad, sturdy branches. She leaned on her heavy sword with one hand and reached out with the other to pinch his face.

Xiao Yu sat perfectly still, letting her grasp his cheeks.

Before she could retract her hand, he suddenly grabbed her wrist.

His fingers circled her entire wrist, pressing with just the right weight, leaving her unable to move forward or back.

“You’re welcome.”

Xiao Yu said seriously, still holding on. “I just remembered—I should have praised you for wiping out the Shen family without a single drop of blood.”

Su Zhen raised an eyebrow. “If I hadn’t read the book, I wouldn’t have known the Wind Chant Immortal Sovereign hated the Soul Devouring Sect so much. It was just an information advantage…”

“Is that so?”

“That’s a fitting way to put it.”

Su Zhen chuckled. “These ‘modern’ terms are quite interesting. Soon, I’ll be corrupted by you.”

Unable to resist, she spread her fingers and continued to pinch his cheeks.

Her fingers weren’t very clean and left streaks of grey smudges on his face.

Xiao Yu chuckled and tightened his grip slightly, holding her slender pale wrist against his face.

He turned his head slightly, his long lashes brushing her fingertips, light as falling feathers. Then he looked up at her.

In the shadow cast by his brow, his sapphire eyes were deep and mysterious, like a secluded lake hidden from the sun, waiting for travelers to discover.

“It hurts a little.”

He said softly, but with a smile in his voice.