[At the Si hour, in the shade of Mount Lebo, beneath the ancient phoenix tree, a person of destiny is in mortal danger. Save him immediately.]
A thousand-li sound-transmission talisman crossed ten thousand hectares of jade towers and a thousand miles of misty waves, carrying a tail of golden light straight toward Shen Shu. It burned brilliantly right before his eyes, and the urgent prompting of the Deity of Destiny filled the entire immortal mansion.
A mission has arrived!
Shen Shu was overjoyed. With a start, he scrambled up from his hard couch, raised his hand to form a hand seal, and soared on the wind straight above the azure clouds.
The heavenly realm was boundless, surging with immortal energy and colorful clouds. There were thirty-three celestial palaces in the west and seventy-two treasure halls in the east, their roofs carved with coiling dragons and their pillars etched with qilin.
Soaring phoenixes led vermilion birds and azure bluebirds to fly side by side, circling around the exquisitely blooming and competing hundred-flower garden. Fluttering their wings, they carried an intoxicating fragrance as they drifted gracefully toward the south.
Faced with such an unparalleled, magnificent view, Shen Shu had no leisure to admire it closely. He was in a rush to complete a mission and pay off his debts.
When he underwent his heavenly lightning tribulation to ascend years ago, he suffered an accident. Although he finally achieved the righteous fruit, his divine soul was damaged, and he had lingered in the immortal mansion of the Primordial Emperor recuperating until now.
Countless immortal pills and spiritual springs had been consumed during this time, all charged to the ledger of the heavenly realm, totaling a debt of nearly five million merits.
Five million! Shen Shu couldn’t help but feel a headache coming on. As a loose immortal with no official position in the heavenly realm, no sect ties in the cultivation world, and no temple shrines in the Divine Land, he truly had nothing at all. Even if he wanted to make money, he had no doors to enter.
Fortunately, an immortal friend had reminded him that he could go to the Palace of Ultimate Yang to receive missions from the Deity of Destiny to earn merits. Otherwise, he really would become the first immortal in the heavenly realm to be struck from the roster due to unpaid debts.
And so, just yesterday, Shen Shu went to the Palace of Ultimate Yang to greet the Deity of Destiny. Today, opening his doors brought great fortune as happiness arrived at his doorstep. The Deity of Destiny truly was a boy scattering wealth.
It was just a pity that the mission was urgent and left no room for hesitation. Shen Shu didn’t even have time to let the Deity of Destiny show him a white bamboo slip before he was urged to descend to the mortal realm.
All he knew was that upon descending, he was to disguise himself as the Loose Immortal Danxiao, who practiced cultivation within Mount Lebo, save the person of destiny from peril, and assist him in ascending to immortality.
As for the remaining cumbersome details, he knew not a single one.
Shen Shu had never been one to overthink things. Wasn’t it just saving someone? What was so difficult about that?
Riding the wind forward, he reached the Divine Land in less than an hour. Right beneath his feet lay Mount Lebo. Shen Shu poked his head out, peering around for the ancient phoenix tree mentioned in the sound-transmission talisman.
At that single glance, he fell silent.
Mount Lebo featured sheer, towering peaks, jagged rocks, swirling mountain mists, withered yellow soil, and not a single blade of grass.
There wasn’t even a shadow of a tree here!
Not only was there no tree to be found, but the spiritual energy in this wretched place was so sparse it was practically negligible. Just how much capability could the Loose Immortal Danxiao, who cultivated here, possibly possess?
He let out a long sigh, and before he could look around again, a furious roar echoed from afar: “Pei Zizhuo, you cannot escape!”
Shen Shu gave a start. His gaze followed the direction of the voice, only to see a youth in purple robes covered in blood, his breath hanging by a thread, his steps unstable as he stumbled in flight toward the foot of Mount Lebo.
Behind him, three or four cultivators dressed in azure longrobes flew on swords, their eyes fierce and filled with murderous intent, looking as though they were about to skin someone alive with overwhelming momentum.
A cultivator’s state of mind ought to be detached and compliant so that they could follow the natural order and ascend the great dao. Should their state of mind become unstable, their cultivation would end right there.
The most ferocious among them was Ling Chi, the senior head disciple of Shanhai Palace. He landed directly in front of Pei Zizhuo to block his path, raising his sword as he shouted angrily: “Pei Zizhuo, you carry the lives of thousands in the sixteen prefectures of Yanyun. Instead of repenting and atoning for your sins within the Soul-Burning Pagoda, you even dared to think of escaping! Your crimes are utterly unforgivable! Today, I shall restore the reputation of Shanhai Palace and cleanse the sect on behalf of our sect master!”
With that, he channeled his spiritual energy into his sword, and the weapon in his hand suddenly blazed with a cold light, heading straight for Pei Zizhuo.
Without a second thought, Pei Zizhuo raised his palm and drew a circle, conjuring a spiritual shield out of thin air before him to block this heavy blow.
However, because of internal injuries, he failed to hold out for even a moment before he was knocked over onto the ground, feeling as though his limbs and bones were about to shatter at the slightest movement.
“Do you still think you are the pride of the cultivation world?” Ling Chi walked up to Pei Zizhuo with large strides, ridiculing him with a contemptuous expression and tone. “Most of your immortal bones are destroyed, leaving you with what capability? As long as you are willing to beg for mercy on your knees and kowtow three heavy heads before me, perhaps I’ll show great mercy, spare your life, and let you return alive to the Soul-Burning Pagoda.”
Pei Zizhuo coughed up a mouthful of bloody froth, laughing in an unrestrained and wild manner.
He rolled over onto his back, his face as pale as paper without a shred of color, his scarlet red eyes staring provokingly at Ling Chi. “Senior Brother Ling, the destruction of my immortal bones was all thanks to you. I merely lay in the Soul-Burning Pagoda for a few days. Did you really think I was completely crippled?”
Ling Chi felt not a shred of shame, lowering his gaze to admire Pei Zizhuo on the ground. How arrogant and extraordinary this person used to be, and how disheveled and miserable he was now.
This wretched state made his mood exceptionally pleasant, and even his tone carried schadenfreude: “Junior Brother Pei, if you hadn’t tried to show off and save people back then, you wouldn’t have been possessed by the Nightmare Demon, nor would you have become feared by the cultivation world as a result. All of this is your own fault for courting death with your self-importance. What does it have to do with me?”
Pei Zizhuo laughed so hard he clutched his stomach, completely ignoring the flare-up of pain throughout his body. “I never expected that after not seeing you for many days, your skin has grown thick enough that three awls wouldn’t draw a single drop of blood. Such a fine line about what it has to do with you. With the self-awareness to say those words, I dare bet that your cultivation in this lifetime will stop right here and go no further; any further and you’ll be struck by lightning.”
“Hah,” Ling Chi sneered. “What about you, then, genius? Only a few years have passed, and you’ve fallen from the Mahayana realm all the way down to the Golden Core. If you die today, wouldn’t your lifetime cultivation also stop at the Golden Core?”
“That’s hardly certain.” Pei Zizhuo pulled out a dark white dagger from his sleeve, concealing it silently in the palm of his hand.
“You’re still hoping to break through your realm right now? What a pipe dream!”
“Because as for me, I cannot die.”
In an instant, the Pei Zizhuo lying on the ground suddenly flipped up into the air, slashing across the empty space toward Ling Chi and cutting an incision half a foot long across his chest.
Not an ounce of strength was held back with this strike; the skin and flesh on Ling Chi’s chest instantly burst open in a bloody mess, deep enough to expose the bone.
The members of Shanhai Palace were all deeply shocked. Ordinary magical treasures could not pierce through the immortal robes they wore, let alone injure a cultivator in the Nascent Soul stage, unless the weapon in Pei Zizhuo’s hand was above the heavenly grade.
They rushed forward anxiously to meet the injured Ling Chi, checking his wounds while exclaiming in disbelief, “Before entering the Soul-Burning Pagoda, weren’t Pei Zizhuo’s magical treasures all confiscated? Where on earth did he get a dagger?”
Indeed, he didn’t even possess ordinary magical treasures, let alone acquire a high-grade one, unless.
“Is this your qilin bone?” Ling Chi shouted in horror, realizing this madman had actually been ruthless enough to mutilate himself.
Every immortal cultivator possessed immortal bones, but only the immortal bones of heavenly-root cultivators could be called qilin bones. Everyone knew that single-element spiritual roots were hard to find, and heavenly spiritual roots were even rarer, with Pei Zizhuo being the only solitary sapling over the past thousand years.
Judged as a magical weapon, the grade of a qilin bone far exceeded the saint grade. Using this dagger to kill cultivators was as effortless as bending down to pick up straw.
The wound on Ling Chi’s chest could not be healed simply by casting a few healing spells. Painful to the point of baring his teeth, it was utter humiliation. His eyes darkened with murderous intent, and he barked an order: “Form the formation!”
The Seven-Kill Chart of the Sea of Shanhai Palace possessed immense power. If seven cultivators of the same realm formed the formation, they could even slay cultivators in the Tribulation Transcendence stage. Right now, only four of them were present, consisting of one in the Nascent Soul stage and three in the Golden Core stage. While the power of the formation was greatly reduced, it was more than enough to deal with Pei Zizhuo.
Under the influence of the magical array, his destroyed immortal bones suffered an unprovoked, severe pain, disrupting the true qi inside his body and the long-dormant malevolent qi. The two opposing streams of harsh energy churned endlessly near his heart meridians. Pei Zizhuo vomited a mouthful of black blood, growing dizzy from the pain as he dropped to one knee, barely managing to steady his stance.
His eyes were already completely red, and Pei Zizhuo’s wrist went limp, making it impossible for him to lift the dagger. Inevitably feeling a surge of sorrow in his heart, was he really going to fall right here?
At the critical moment of life and death, a white silk ribbon descended from the sky, swirling chaotically like a silver snake to shatter the formation and even sweeping away the four men’s flying swords.
“By bullying the weak with strength and outnumbering the few, what kind of reputable sect cultivators are you?” Shen Shu’s white robes fluttered in the air, his sleeves drifting with immortal aura as he landed lightly in front of Pei Zizhuo.
“You mother…”
Ling Chi wanted to curse angrily in frustration, but the moment he clearly saw the newcomer, the second half of his curse stuck in his throat. As their eyes met, his face actually flushed slightly.
The person before him possessed top-tier features, with a tall and slender figure and ink-black hair that made his skin appear exceptionally fair and clean. A pair of peach-blossom eyes were clear and bright like a limpid pool, with a high bridge of the nose and thin lips, forming a face as charming as a peach blossom.
That face was refined and otherworldly to the extreme. Even if he did nothing at all, merely standing in this vicious and desolate wasteland gave off a pure and flawless aura.
Not just him, but the three followers behind him also dropped their jaws in amazement, marveling that such a beauty could exist in this world.
Shen Shu felt creeped out by their staring, thinking to himself that since he had ruined their formation, why weren’t they attacking instead of standing there looking like idiots?
“What are you standing around for?” Shen Shu raised an eyebrow and said, “Are you going to fight or not?”
The moment he made his move, Ling Chi knew deeply that this person’s cultivation was far above his own, and a direct clash would surely end in defeat. Better to try to get on good terms first and have the other party give Shanhai Palace some face. “I am Ling Chi, the senior head disciple of Shanhai Palace. May I ask what Dao bucket you belong to, Fellow Daoist, and what your lineage is?”
Shen Shu had just witnessed his vicious and ruthless expression, only to see him turn frivolous and slick the next second. Feeling a sense of disgust in his heart, he snapped unpleasantly, “I haven’t even asked why you trespassed into my domain, yet you’re interrogating me instead?”
Having been rebuffed, Ling Chi did not get angry, instead explaining earnestly and painstakingly, “It was I who was rash and abrupt; let me offer an apology to Fellow Daoist first. The person behind Fellow Daoist is an unfilial disciple of my Shanhai Palace, and we came here…”
Shen Shu’s mind drifted elsewhere as he discovered an arm-thick tree stump not far from Pei Zizhuo, precisely the sole remaining remnant of the ancient phoenix tree.
It seemed this really was his person of destiny. Since he had found him, saving him took priority. Interrupting him, Shen Shu stated bluntly, “You lot leave. I want this person.”
Ling Chi’s expression shifted. “Fellow Daoist, I advise you not to meddle with Shanhai Palace…”
Before he could finish speaking, Ling Chi’s mouth was bound by the white silk ribbon flying straight toward him, and along with his three unlucky junior brothers, they were swept up and thrown right out of Mount Lebo.
The moment they landed, the group was left dizzy and disoriented. A tall junior brother rubbed his bruised shoulder, wincing and puzzled as he muttered, “Mount Lebo has sparse spiritual energy. Why would that cultivator choose to practice cultivation in a place like this?”
“Yeah, besides that perverted Loose Immortal Danxiao in the cultivation world, who would set up their domain in a place like that?”
“Could the Danxiao you mentioned be that perverted Dan cultivator rumored to be fond of men, keep boy favorites, and raise human cauldrons? Didn’t that guy even write a letter inviting Pei Zizhuo to Mount Lebo for wine and pleasure over a decade ago? How long has it been since someone else occupied his mountain…” At this point, Ling Chi’s forced smile froze as he instantly figured out the crucial connection!
That white-robed cultivator possessed profound Daoist magic, resided long-term in Mount Lebo, and was willing to make an enemy of Shanhai Palace, the number one sect in the cultivation world, just to explicitly take away a half-dead Pei Zizhuo. Why were all these suspicious details pointing to one thing?
“Elder Senior Brother, you mean…” The tall fellow stammered, trembling as he asked, “That white-robed cultivator is Danxiao?”
Shen Shu raised his sleeve to retract the Myriad-Matter Silk, turned around, and half-crouched before Pei Zizhuo. Seeing that he was extremely weak and covered in blood, he prepared to channel a breath of immortal energy into him. However, Pei Zizhuo was injured too heavily and stained with blood, making it difficult for Shen Shu to distinguish whether the crimson on him came from wounds or the cloud patterns on his robes.
Scanning Pei Zizhuo from head to toe, only his handsome face remained completely undamaged. Without a second thought, Shen Shu cupped Pei Zizhuo’s face, meeting his gaze as those slightly bewildered dark eyes locked onto his.
Shen Shu smiled gently, raising a hand to tuck the strands of fine hair from Pei Zizhuo’s forehead behind his ear, revealing an unrestrained, handsome, yet somewhat dazed face. So this person was exceptionally good-looking. Blinking, Shen Shu sighed softly, “Even tumbled into such decadence, you are still as majestic as jade.”
Pei Zizhuo’s five senses had been dulled by the shock of the Seven-Kill Chart of the Sea, leaving him dizzy and lethargic. Although he heard the clear voice of the youth, his brain reacted a beat too slow, only regaining a momentary clarity when his face was cupped.
At a single glance, he was stunned.
The man stood against the light, a pale halo casting a golden rim along his silhouette. He was bathed in immortal energy, flawless like white jade, and sacred beyond violation.
Yet those peach-blossom eyes seemed filled with autumn water. Meeting them made one feel as though he were capturing souls and enchanting minds, causing people to sink into them involuntarily.
Pei Zizhuo felt a stir in his heart. “You…”
Before he could finish a single word, a wave of warm power instantly spread from his forehead across his entire body like charcoal in the winter, warming his entire being and suppressing the two turbulent streams of harsh energy raging inside him.
Trapped in the Soul-Burning Pagoda for dozens of days without a good night’s sleep, the accumulated exhaustion finally made its comeback. Pei Zizhuo faintly caught a whiff of a faint snow-lotus fragrance, causing the tightly strung cord in his heart to snap as he closed his eyes and collapsed heavily onto the man’s shoulder.