The moment the words "Undying Spring" were spoken, Chen Jingxuan's expression immediately turned serious.

"Lu Yuzhen..."

He subconsciously spoke, uttering the name.

"Who?"

The tall man behind the screen furrowed his brow slightly.

Chen Jingxuan rubbed his temples: "A... very troublesome enemy."

"Even you find him troublesome?"

The tall man raised an eyebrow, chuckling with some surprise, "Is this person really that formidable? I've never even heard of this name..."

"This person is very dangerous."

Chen Jingxuan's expression was solemn, as he brought his fingertips together to sketch out the approximate appearance of the Paper Taoist Daoist Master in the void with his Divine Thought: "If you ever meet him one day, make sure to stay far away."

"Is that so..."

The man suppressed his smile.

He gazed intently at the image in the void for a long time, then nodded: "Alright, got it."

"The resurgence of those Great Venerables from the Demon Country is most likely his doing."

Chen Jingxuan whispered: "This individual's body harbors the 'Undying Spring'..."

"Harboring the Undying Spring, yet still daring to make an appearance?"

The tall man could not comprehend such a thing.

"As long as one's power is sufficient, showing oneself isn't much of an issue."

Chen Jingxuan said gravely: "This guy... is at least at the Yang God Eighth Layer Heaven, or even the Ninth Heaven."

Upon hearing this, the tall man stiffened momentarily.

Yang God Eighth Heaven, Ninth Heaven?

Did he hear that correctly?

Such "invincible existences" standing atop the pinnacle, can they appear so easily?

"In any case."

Chen Jingxuan did not explain further, but earnestly warned: "This person is extremely dangerous; you over there... take care."

...

...

The fierce wind blew, and Xie Xuanyi opened his eyes.

All around was no longer the cold frost and snow, but an expanse of desolate wilderness.

"Did I... successfully enter the dream?"

Xie Xuanyi frowned slightly, reaching out his hand, his gaze lingering on a bloody stain on his palm.

The blood was still warm.

The strong wind blew up scattered bits of grass, and Xie Xuanyi looked down slightly; several corpses lay piled at his feet, emitting a faint aura of wickedness. From the scattered identification tokens, it was clear these were disciples of Yin Mountain's evil cultivators.

"This is... twelve years ago?"

Not far away was a small stream, and Xie Xuanyi walked over to the water, looking at the blood-stained pale face, feeling a bit lost.

If he remembered correctly.

This was near the Jiangning Territory.

He had just escaped from the Imperial City, intending to head south, but upon seeing the Great Chu Royal Family's "order for his capture" in the Jiangning Territory, was ambushed by Yin Mountain's evil cultivators, and had no choice but to head north instead.

Afterward came the infamous "Thousand Mile Blood Battle."

The Forget Worries Divine Power had actually pulled him back to twelve years ago...

"My Divine Soul should have merged into Jiang Miaoyin's Soul Sea."

"So, this Illusion Realm is born of her obsession?"

Xie Xuanyi quickly regained his composure.

He never expected the dream to be so real, so real that even while remaining fairly lucid, it was hard to distinguish between truth and falsehood.

Xie Xuanyi of course vividly remembered that bloody battle twelve years ago.

But the attire and magic artifacts of the Yin Mountain disciples he casually killed, he naturally wouldn't recall.

"If I remember correctly, it won't be long before Junior Brother Si meets me..."

Xie Xuanyi crouched down, washed his face with the stream water, silently reminiscing.

In the past life.

He prepared a letter for Si Qi to take back to the Sword Palace...

The letter was not actually a plea for help, but a hope that the Sword Palace would sever ties with him at this crucial moment to avoid being implicated in any disaster.

Shortly after.

The clear cry of a crane resonated above right on time.

"Senior Brother Xuan Yi!"

Si Qi, pale-faced, arrived riding a crane, landing on the wilderness.

His eyes were filled with worry.

"Senior Brother... are you alright?"

Si Qi could smell the bloody aura from afar.

Along the way, he saw many corpses, all evil cultivators, all killed by Sword Qi.

The recent days in Great Chu had been very unsettled; Senior Brother had just set foot in the Imperial City, and then a major tragic event of the Emperor's demise occurred, followed immediately by a great fire in the Imperial City with a hundred demons escaping... The Imperial City Department almost sealed off all communication channels to the outside world... At such a critical moment, Xie Xuanyi lost contact with Lotus Peak.

The uneasy premonition in Si Qi's heart had already reached its peak.

"I... am fine."

Xie Xuanyi's expression was somewhat complex.

Twelve years of ups and downs.

He had already reached the end of this calamity, cleared all accusations, and personally witnessed the Holy Empress's demise.

Yet this time, all would happen again.

He still felt indefinable pressure.

Xie Xuanyi touched his lapel, where an already-prepared letter was hidden, and if everything developed as in his memories, Xie Xuanyi should be sending out this letter now.

But...

He hesitated.

After a moment of silence, he looked at the corpses on the ground.

"These people are all Yin Mountain's evil cultivators."

Xie Xuanyi said softly: "White Ghost is leading disciples to besiege me."

Si Qi was taken aback.

"White Ghost must be incredibly audacious!"

He gritted his teeth and said coldly: "These filthy evil cultivators dare to provoke the Sword Palace inside the territory of Da Chu? Why not use the Communication Order, Senior Brother?"

"Sometimes, a Communication Order is not a good thing."

Xie Xuanyi smiled: "Da Sui Sword Palace is already being watched by Ren Shou Palace... They're just waiting for me to send a message."

"Ren Shou Palace?"

Si Qi was again taken aback.

He didn't understand what connection Ren Shou Palace had with Southern Border evil cultivators.

"I killed the Emperor Chu."

Xie Xuanyi said impassively.

Just one sentence, like a clap of thunder, left Si Qi stupefied on the spot.

"Half a day later, the Great Chu Imperial City will issue a capture order... By then, everyone in the world will know this news."

"Senior Brother, you..."

Si Qi was so stunned he was completely frozen.

Of course, he had heard the news of Emperor Chu's demise.

But... he could never connect this news with his senior brother...

Honest Si Qi simply couldn't accept this news.

He was tongue-tied, unable to speak for a long while.

"Of course it wasn't me."

Xie Xuanyi shrugged, speaking indifferently: "But who would believe it if I said so?"

Si Qi remained in shock.

"I called you here originally to send a letter."

Xie Xuanyi wryly smiled and took out the letter, burning it directly with Primordial Fire.

Sizzling.

The letter burned in the wind.

In just a few breaths, it turned to ashes.

"Looking at it now... this letter seems to no longer have any significance to send..."

He paused slightly.

"Junior Brother, after returning to the Sword Palace, don't tell anyone you've seen me."

Xie Xuanyi looked at Si Qi, speaking earnestly: "Next, I will leave Jiangning, head north, go to Qing State, then to Northern County. Don't worry; this time, they won't be able to kill me."

...

...

(PS: The story of Xie Xuanyi and Jiang Miaoyin has long been roughly outlined, but figuring out how to start writing has indeed stumped me. Tonight I finally thought of a satisfactory entry point. Sorry to keep everyone waiting so long, this update is a bit short, more to come tomorrow morning.)

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.