Xie Xuanyi stood before the futon, unsurprised by the emptiness of the forbidden area before him.

He had long known.

The master was not within this "Divine Travel World."

So ever since he awoke, he never set foot here.

"Master, I've come to see you."

Even though the futon was empty.

Yet Xie Xuanyi still spoke, standing in the rift where the sunlight filtered through, speaking to the flickering shadows as if to himself.

"Whew..."

The breeze blew, the grass leaves brushed past.

Xie Xuanyi sat down beside the big stone and slowly said, "I've been here for five years. In these five years, I've traveled to many places, as you said... I've seen quite a few landscapes."

The cause and effect of the Divine Travel World had undergone a shift.

Old acquaintances no longer recognized.

White hair seeing off black hair.

Everything here was "new."

Xie Xuanyi sat alone in the sunlight-drenched forbidden area, recounting the events and landscapes he had witnessed over the past five years, one by one.

He spoke very slowly, very meticulously, sometimes deliberately teasing.

As if the master was truly listening beside him.

"Five years, it's about the limit of my 'Divine Travel.'

Xie Xuanyi lowered his eyelids and softly said, "It turns out that staying in one world for too long, you truly forget who you are... I'm almost forgetting the things of that world, also almost forgetting the meaning of stepping into this River of Destiny. Divine Travel is only five short years, yet it feels like a whole sixty years."

Divine Travel... comes with a cost.

Five years of Divine Travel.

Xie Xuanyi's Divine Soul "decayed" at an extremely fast speed, no, rather than decayed, it returned to its place.

He had a premonition.

If he stayed longer, his Divine Soul would likely be worn away by this world.

These five years... it felt like the original "Xie Xuanyi" was seized by a soul that didn't belong to him, and then the soul thought of the Seize began to be gradually worn down.

...

...

"What's going on with Senior Brother Xuanyi?"

"Disappeared for a full five years..."

"As soon as he returned, he headed for the Lotus Forbidden Land!"

At this moment, the Da Sui Sword Palace was quite clamorous. News of Xie Xuanyi's appearance spread throughout the peaks, and many disciples came to witness outside the Lotus Forbidden Land, waiting eagerly.

Everyone wanted to know.

Where Xie Xuanyi had gone and what he had done these past five years.

With a boom.

The Lotus Forbidden Land suddenly opened.

"He's coming! He's coming!"

Amidst the uproar, a ray of sword light shot out, and Xie Xuanyi rode the sword soaring into the sky, heading straight for Yuping Peak.

The sword light was too fast.

Even if the elders wanted to intercept, they had no time to act—

In just an instant.

Xie Xuanyi landed on the summit of Yuping Peak.

Jiang Miaoyin sat before the waterfall, her celestial presence extraordinary, yet her posture seemed like that of an old monk in meditation. Only the constant clanging of swords echoing from the Sword Washing Pool could be heard, with countless sword weapons rising from the pool, hanging and reflecting, truly like a magnificent waterfall. Xie Xuanyi stood before this dazzling silver Sword Weapon Waterfall, hands behind his back, facing Jiang Miaoyin's back.

The clanging of the Sword Washing Pool waterfall was ceaseless.

The woman's transmitted voice was melancholy, "You still know to come back?"

"Five years, passed in the blink of an eye."

Xie Xuanyi calmly said, "This should be nothing. To you, five years without seeing me should be a good thing."

"..."

Jiang Miaoyin was silent.

"In these five years, I went to the Li Kingdom and saved many people."

Xie Xuanyi suddenly spoke.

Jiang Miaoyin slowly stood up, turned around, and met Xie Xuanyi's gaze across the Sword Weapon Waterfall.

She remained silent.

"Of course, I also killed many people."

Xie Xuanyi continued, "After all, as you know, I'm better at killing than saving. I killed Nalan Xuance's 'Five Extremes Warriors,' the three Sword Concealment Venerables of the One Strike Sect, the Great Elder of the Chao Yin Pavilion."

At these words.

Jiang Miaoyin's expression slightly changed.

"Next, I'm planning to kill more."

Xie Xuanyi, with hands behind his back, calmly said, "King Yanle, the Snow Master, Emperor Chu..."

This time, he was finally interrupted.

"Xie Xuanyi, are you crazy?"

Jiang Miaoyin spoke coldly, her voice carrying a hint of frost.

Their meeting on the mountain top had no Great Array to veil them.

In other words.

Their voices had already leaked out.

"What, are you scared?"

Xie Xuanyi laughed, "I kill... what is there for you to fear?"

These words seemed reasonable but were actually unreasonable.

The world knew.

Xie Xuanyi and Jiang Miaoyin were Daoist partners... If Xie Xuanyi committed grave sins, how could Jiang Miaoyin bear no responsibility?

"Swish!"

Jiang Miaoyin quickly lifted her sleeve, using the authority of the Yuping Peak Mountain Master to mobilize the Great Array, completely enclosing them, cutting off any Divine Thought probing, and preventing any external sensing.

"What... do you want to say?"

The woman's face was entirely shrouded in frost.

"What do I want to say?"

Seeing this scene, Xie Xuanyi smiled faintly, exhaling a breath of pent-up air, and casually found a large stone to sit on, just as he had before in the Lotus Forbidden Land.

This time, it was still casual conversation.

"Lu Yu, it really is you."

Xie Xuanyi said with a blank expression, "Although the Book Tower captured quite a bit of intelligence about you, there's no record of the 'Paperman Technique.' I always suspected that those Puppet Secret Agents implanted with the 'Paperman Technique,' what they saw and heard... all could be transmitted into your Divine Sea. Looks like I wasn't wrong."

On the other side of the Sword Weapon Waterfall, the woman gradually put her hands behind her back, which was not Jiang Miaoyin's usual gesture...

But at this moment, she remained expressionless, unmoved.

"I always felt, this world is unnaturally peaceful."

Xie Xuanyi murmured, "The Holy Empress, after all, was a Yang God Ninth Heaven, Tenth Layer Heaven character... Even if trapped by the Grand Emperor Array, she shouldn't have vanished without a sound. Such a person, even if she died one day, shouldn't disappear silently... Yet here, it's as if someone forcefully erased her. Even my master probably couldn't do such a thing, right?"

After a long deathly silence.

Jiang Miaoyin spoke.

She sneered, "Do you think I can erase 'Yuan Huang'?"

Her words, in fact, were tantamount to admitting her identity.

In fact, at this point, it didn't matter whether Lu Yuzhen admitted her identity or not.

The moment Xie Xuanyi arrived at Yuping Peak, it was to have this conversation with Lu Yuzhen.

"You can't do it, but Emperor Chu can."

Xie Xuanyi said calmly, "The stone you can't lift, someone else naturally can... This is the meaning behind the existence of the 'Paperman Technique.'

The Grand Emperor Array required the irrigation of Imperial Blood.

Lu Yuzhen couldn't kill Yuan Huang...

But the Emperor Chu, who foresaw the "future," certainly could.

"Continue," said Jiang Miaoyin.

"There's no regret medicine in this world, cause and effect, once there's cause, there will be effect..."

Xie Xuanyi said gently, "But you are an exception. You can use the [Daoist Brush] to traverse the River of Destiny. The Zen Master's words reminded me, disturbing the River of Destiny is no good for anyone... except you, you want to plant the 'causes' you wish to see."

"Thus, there is this world."

Xie Xuanyi said, "Here, you abandoned 'Yuan Huang,' chose 'Emperor Chu,' and proceeded to deduce a brand new Cause and Effect Line. This Cause and Effect Line was very smooth, the Da Chu Dynasty became unprecedentedly peaceful, until my arrival."

"Indeed."

The woman sighed, regrettably saying, "If I had known you would come, I would have been more cautious. When you met with King Yanle, did you notice the problem?"

"I actually didn't think there was anything wrong with King Yanle."

Xie Xuanyi chuckled softly, "It's just that big piece of white paper was too large, too conspicuous... so much so that I couldn't help but overthink. If Emperor Chu is your 'paperman,' then King Yanle certainly is too... Over the years, you must have cultivated many capable confidants, right? Perhaps there are even existences I can't imagine."

"King Yanle, that piece of white paper?"

Jiang Miaoyin was slightly surprised upon hearing this.

After listening, she shrugged and smiled helplessly, "That's just a coincidence, that guy just purely likes to paint..."

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