“Fellow Daoist Yun Zhao, you have been arrested for flying a sword without a license.”
That was what the enforcement disciple told her.
Standing opposite him was Yun Zhao, who had just escaped from her sect only to be dragged here by the enforcement team.
“…?”
She stopped looking around and pointed at herself.
“Me?”
Enforcement disciple: “Yes, you.”
Yun Zhao slapped the table and then poured herself a cup of water to calm her nerves.
You should have said so earlier! She thought they had caught her because she was planning to kill her husband to prove her Dao.
According to the latest ascension statistics in the cultivation world, the number of people who successfully survived their tribulations by killing their wives to prove their Dao was rising sharply.
As a result, killing one’s wife to prove one’s Dao had become the hottest method of ascending to immortality.
Although the Alliance of Ten Thousand Immortals had explicitly forbidden the practice, countless cultivators were still eager to give it a try. Yun Zhao, who had repeatedly failed her tribulations, was no exception.
So, she decided to take a dangerous gamble and descend the mountain to kill her husband to prove her Dao.
But whom should she kill?
The system, which had been obsessed with fishing ever since she transmigrated into this world, suddenly jolted awake from its deathbed.
“Chu Buli.”
Chu Buli was a character in Abandoning Immortality, the fictional world Yun Zhao had transmigrated into. He was the gentle second male lead who continued to respond to the world’s cruelty with kindness, even when the world itself hurt him.
Note: This referred specifically to the version of him before he turned evil.
In the later stages of the story, the only members of the main cast who remained sane were the male and female leads, who spent their days visiting graves and burning paper offerings. And Chu Buli was responsible for that outcome.
After crying at one grave, they had to cry at another.
There was simply no end to the grieving.
Most importantly, the story was only just beginning. At this point, Chu Buli’s combat strength was low, making him an easy target.
Yun Zhao thought it sounded pretty good, too.
“Then he’s the one.”
And that was how she ended up getting arrested for flying a sword without a license.
Yun Zhao: …
Damn it! If she had known this would happen, she would have taken the sword-flying qualification exam before leaving!
There are countless roads in life, but safety comes first.
“Since this is your first offense, we won’t confiscate your flying sword. Once you’ve served your punishment, go take the qualification exam. Remember to carry your license from now on. Fly safely and exercise caution whenever you ride your sword.”
Yun Zhao blinked.
“Punishment?”
“There are two forms of punishment,” he explained. “You can either pay a fine or spend some time in the Immortal Prison. The choice is yours.”
Yun Zhao asked, “How much is the fine?”
He held up two fingers.
“Two hundred spirit stones.”
Yun Zhao cautiously asked, “Then how long would I have to stay in prison?”
The enforcement disciple continued holding up the same two fingers and smiled faintly.
“Two hundred years.”
Yun Zhao: “…”
She was going to file a complaint with the headquarters of the Alliance of Ten Thousand Immortals!
After paying the entire fine, Yun Zhao counted the last two spirit stones remaining in her pocket. Gritting her teeth, she finally retrieved her beloved flying sword.
She was just about to leave when she turned around and accidentally collided headfirst with someone.
The scrolls the person had been carrying spilled all over the ground. Yun Zhao hurriedly crouched down to help pick them up and asked curiously, “What are these?”
The person explained, “Wanted criminals being hunted by the Alliance of Ten Thousand Immortals.”
“This is a flower-stealing demon. Its cultivation is equivalent to the Foundation Establishment stage among human cultivators. The reward for capturing it is fifty spirit stones.”
He picked up one of the scrolls and showed her the picture of a plump young man drawn on it.
Yun Zhao pointed at another portrait.
“Is this one also a flower-stealing demon?”
Unlike the previous picture, the ink on this one had not yet dried, and the handwriting was so messy that it was almost impossible to make out. Clearly, the portrait had been hastily drawn and sent over.
The person depicted was very tall, wearing a large black hood that concealed half his face in shadow. His features were impossible to see clearly.
As though he had noticed someone peering at him from outside the portrait, he turned sideways and cast a sidelong glance in her direction. A strand of white hair fluttered beside his cheek in the wind, while the long sword in his hand was still dripping with blood.
Where his eyes should have been, a faint, dark-red glow seemed to flicker.
His overwhelming murderous intent practically pierced through the paper, carrying a bone-chilling coldness with it.
It was astonishing that a mere portrait could convey such a terrifying presence.
Yun Zhao couldn’t help shivering.
“No.”
The person grew solemn. After glancing around to make sure no one was listening, he leaned closer and whispered into her ear.
“Not long ago, he fought his way out of the Demon Realm and escaped into the mortal world.”
The Demon Realm was a prison where the most wicked beings in existence were confined.
“In all these millions of years, no demon has ever escaped from there… except him.”
In short, this was an extremely powerful demon.
Yun Zhao had always avoided dangerous individuals like this whenever possible. She quickly returned the scrolls to the man and strode out of the building.
The wind scattered the clouds across the sky and brushed against the loose strands of hair at her forehead, making her feel a little itchy.
She casually brushed them aside. Then, remembering that she still had to take the qualification exam, her mood sank again.
“Do I really need a license just to fly a sword? When did they introduce this regulation? How come I never heard about it?”
The system transformed into a little black cat and hopped onto her shoulder. As it spoke, it used its tiny paws to wash its face.
“I think it was last year. Some higher-up had nothing better to do and happened to stumble across a complaint letter someone had submitted a long time ago. That’s how they started enforcing this rule.”
Last year?
At that time, she had been in seclusion, preparing to undergo her tribulation. No wonder she had never received the news.
Thinking about her most recent failed tribulation, Yun Zhao drooped like an orange that had been left out in the sun for eighty-one days straight.
She had been transmigrated into this world as a baby after dying unexpectedly in her previous life. According to her system, 999, the only way she could return home was by ascending to immortality.
So, every day, the moment she opened her eyes, she devoted herself to cultivation.
Yet even after being struck by heavenly lightning 101 times, her success rate remained a steady zero.
Worse still, every time she failed her tribulation, her cultivation level would fall back to the lowest stage, forcing her to start all over again.
Her ascension remained a distant dream.
Years ago, she had once asked her fiancé in this world why this kept happening.
The other party took a long time to reply.
“Perhaps you haven’t worked hard enough.”
She had broken off the engagement.
“If only I hadn’t been so impulsive back then.”
Yun Zhao felt utterly miserable.
“Otherwise, I could just chop his head off to prove my Dao now. Why go through all this trouble?”
“It’s fine,” 999 comforted her. “We can go chop up Chu Buli instead. He’s going to slaughter his way through the entire cultivation world in the future anyway. Killing him now would be a public service!”
“Here, this is an item I exchanged at the system store using the fifty-jin fish I accidentally caught yesterday. It’s called Thousand-Mile Red Thread. Once activated, it will automatically bind the two of you with a Dao Companion Contract. I guarantee he won’t be able to leave you ever again. Then, all you have to do is swing your blade once, and you’ll be able to go home!”
999 handed Yun Zhao a section of red thread, pretending to be nonchalant.
“It really was a fifty-jin fish. You don’t need to question that.”
Yun Zhao completely ignored the last sentence. Her eyes lit up, and she swiftly leaped onto her flying sword.
“Let’s head to Shuofeng City right now!”
In the original novel, Shuofeng City was where Chu Buli first appeared.
He had traveled there alone to broaden his horizons, but just before reaching the city, he had nearly been eaten by two demons.
Even so, he forgave them and insisted on converting them through the power of truth and reason.
In the end, the two vicious demons, who had harmed countless people, suddenly realized the error of their ways and took their own lives out of shame.
“According to the plot, he sustained hidden injuries because of this incident, and his immortal bones were completely destroyed.”
Yun Zhao began working out her plan.
“Those two demons aren’t very powerful. Even a useless Foundation Establishment cultivator could defeat them. I’ll appear at the critical moment when he’s in danger and save him like a hero rescuing a beauty. I’ll make sure his immortal bones remain intact. Wouldn’t he be so moved that he’d practically die of gratitude?”
999 burst into enthusiastic applause.
“Host, you’re so clever!”
Yun Zhao was thoroughly pleased with herself.
“Once he’s touched by my kindness, he’ll let his guard down, won’t he? Then I’ll simply raise my blade and hee hee hee!”
Someone beside her laughed as well.
“Hee hee hee!”
Yun Zhao looked puzzled.
“Why does your laughter sound so much like a villain’s?”
999 didn’t respond. It fell so silent that it might as well have been dead.
But the laughter continued.
Night had already fallen.
They were in a desolate mountain about two hundred li away from Shuofeng City. At a nearby mass grave, white funeral streamers stood crookedly in the ground, scattered in every direction.
As the wind blew, the tattered white streamers unfurled softly. Several eerie blue flames drifted around them, flickering and swaying unpredictably.
The laughter drew closer and closer until it was practically right against Yun Zhao’s eardrum, sending an itchy sensation through her ear.
“Heh heh heh…”
Yun Zhao: “…”
This was bad.