Chapter 8 System, Resurrection on the Spot

Blood flowed across the ground, and the air was thick with the metallic scent of carnage. What was meant to be a joyous occasion—the concubine-taking ceremony of the Azure Cloud Sect’s patriarch—had instead transformed into the anniversary of his suicide. The entire scene was deathly silent, an oppressive stillness hanging in the air.

"Ah!"

A shrill, heart-wrenching scream pierced the heavens, so piercing it made everyone’s eardrums ache. Some of the weaker cultivators present actually collapsed into unconsciousness. Fu Hongying, driven to the brink of madness, fell straight to the ground, senseless.

"Master!"

A beautiful woman rushed into the square, tears streaming down her face as she cradled Fu Hongying in her arms. It was her disciple.

"Are you her apprentice?"

A cold, chilling voice accompanied the flash of a blade, its sharp tip pointed directly at the woman’s forehead. Qin Jian had arrived. With the patriarch dead, she was consumed by grief and had sworn to kill everyone involved. Yan Qingyu felt the will to live drain from her; she looked down at her master and smiled bitterly. "Yes. You want to kill me? Fine. Do it then..."

Qin Jian moved to strike.

"Wait."

The Profound Ancestor suddenly appeared, intervening just in time. At this moment, the Azure Cloud Sect patriarch seemed to have aged centuries. His expression was weary as he waved a hand slowly. "If you kill this master and disciple, I fear the Old Ancestor will not be able to cross the Yellow Springs in peace..."

Qin Jian’s slender frame trembled, and as she looked toward the figure in the pool of blood, the sword in her hand suddenly vanished.

"System, this little Profound fellow really understands me," Chen Ping’an’s voice rang out, though no one could hear him. His physical body was dead, but his soul, existing in a special state, drifted in the air, gazing down at everything below.

The system manifested as a ball of white light before him.

System: "Ding! Your ex-girlfriend, Fu Hongying, has forgiven the host. Obtained 99 points of purity. Task complete. A grand gift package is ready. Would you like to open it?"

Chen Ping’an sighed internally, his true feelings laid bare. "Little Ying is truly in love; it was worth suffering through those nine sword strikes and six slices..."

System: "99 points is quite high, indicating her deep love for you. However, if the final point were filled, the host’s reward would double."

"It cannot be filled," Chen Ping’an said with a bitter smile. That final missing point was likely the lingering regret of an unfulfilled union.

"Wait, what is that?"

As he spoke with the system, Chen Ping’an noticed a dark green, slightly ethereal star-point manifest on the forehead of the unconscious Fu Hongying, slowly rising into the air.

Following that, dark green star-points emerged from her Tiantu acupoint beneath her jade-like neck, her Tanzhong and Juque acupoints on her chest, her Shenque and Guanyuan acupoints on her abdomen, and her Huiyin acupoint below. They all rose into the sky.

The seven dark green stars formed the pattern of the Big Dipper in the air. As soon as the constellation was complete, a green light rapidly connected the stars. The Big Dipper flared with intense brilliance before dissolving into countless tiny specks of light that fell back into Fu Hongying’s body and vanished.

Many onlookers were stunned by this celestial anomaly.

"This... could it be..."

As if recalling something, the Profound Ancestor’s expression shifted; he took several steps back, his eyes filled with terror. Seeing even the little Profound one so frightened, Chen Ping’an realized things were taking a turn for the worse.

"System, resurrect on the spot!" he commanded.

The resurrection card previously rewarded by the system was an active-passive hybrid, allowing him to choose the location and time of his revival. As the words left his lips, Chen Ping’an’s ethereal soul was enveloped in a cocoon of white light, descending vertically from the air to the ground.

The previous seven-star anomaly had already shocked the Profound Ancestor and his peers, and now, the sight of the glowing white cocoon stunned them once more.

"What is this?" Sensing the terrifying aura within the light, the Profound Ancestor trembled and retreated further.

Floating within the sphere of white light, Chen Ping’an watched his body rapidly reform. A question arose in his mind: "System, if someone attacks while I am resurrecting, will the resurrection fail?"

"Those who attack the system shall perish!"

Chen Ping’an: "o(￣▽￣)d!"

He was very satisfied with the system’s domineering tone. It was worthy of being a system, after all. It was just a pity he couldn't use it to borrow a knife to kill someone.

"What kind of deity are you?" The Profound Ancestor asked, his expression grave as he slowly raised a hand, a powerful, ancient sword appearing in his palm.

*Is he trying to die?*

Chen Ping’an was startled. If the Profound Ancestor attacked, he would be instantly obliterated by the system.

"Little Profound, stop! It’s me."

"Old Ancestor?"

Hearing the familiar voice, the Profound Ancestor was overcome with excitement. He glanced at the Old Ancestor in the pool of blood and grew confused. How could there be two Old Ancestors? One dead, one alive. Even as experienced as he was, he was completely baffled, to say nothing of the others in the Azure Cloud Sect.

The light faded, and a familiar figure walked forward.

"It really is the Old Ancestor!" The Profound Ancestor rubbed his eyes, staring at the man before him in stunned silence. He hurriedly looked to the side, but the Old Ancestor in the pool of blood had vanished, and even the blood on the ground was gone.

*Could this be the power of an eternal being?* A thought crossed his mind. Survivors of the Eternal Coffin were rumored to be immortal, impossible to kill by anyone save a Great Emperor.

"Little Long," Chen Ping’an said, looking at the crowd in the square. "No more concubine-taking. Let everyone disperse."

"As you command, Old Ancestor." Du Rulong snapped out of his shock and quickly issued the order.

Although many of the various factions were disappointed, having witnessed the Azure Cloud Sect’s patriarch rise from the dead, they were filled with awe and dared not complain, leading their people away obediently. The disciples of the Azure Cloud Sect were also dismissed.

Only the ancestors, Sect Master Du Rulong, Fu Hongying and her disciple, and Chen Ping’an remained.

"He... he actually lived." Watching the handsome man walk toward them, Yan Qingyu was deeply moved, her emotions complex. Like her master, she had fallen for this man at first sight, but her love was a secret she could not bring herself to speak.

Gazing down at the unconscious Fu Hongying, Chen Ping’an sighed and asked in a low voice, "Little Profound, what is this dark green seven-star mark?"

"Old Ancestor," the Profound Ancestor replied respectfully, "if I am not mistaken, this is the Seven-Star Soul-Breaking Poison."

"Seven-Star Soul-Breaking Poison?" Chen Ping’an paused. In his past life, he couldn't cultivate and had spent all his time chasing women; his knowledge of the cultivation world was shallow.

"Old Ancestor, this is a sinister poison," the Profound Ancestor explained. "It uses seven types of venomous insects possessed by ghosts to refine a toxin that causes the soul to scatter. The victim will suffer from intermittent confusion in the short term, and over time, lose their sanity and memories..."

"Who poisoned Little Ying?" Chen Ping’an’s brow furrowed, his expression darkening. This poison gave him a strange, unsettling feeling.

"My master has indeed been suffering from confusion lately..." Yan Qingyu looked at the Profound Ancestor, her expression pleading and sorrowful. "Senior, how can this poison be cured?"

The Profound Ancestor sighed. "The one who tied the bell must untie it. It is said that to cure this, one must find seven rare insects: the Phantom Butterfly, the Ghost Shadow Worm, the Cloud Dream Snake, the Thirty-Three-Year Cicada, the Yellow Springs Gall, the Purple Blood Flying Leech, and the Great Compassion Poison Ox. One must draw their blood while they are alive and mix it with ten-thousand-year spirit milk to consume."

Hearing names of insects she had never even heard of, Yan Qingyu felt a wave of absolute despair.

"Little Profound," Chen Ping’an looked toward Fu Hongying and said softly, "will she be able to wake up?"

"Her spirit was severely damaged, which fully activated the poison. Now that the seven stars have appeared, it indicates the poison has reached its final stage. She will fall into a permanent coma, and I fear... she will not wake again." The Profound Ancestor’s voice trembled.