***
Within the Taixuan World, upon the Central Continent, lay the region known as Sword Province.
It was a day perfectly suited for entering a state of meditative seclusion, for concluding such a retreat to re-enter the mortal world, or for the meticulous refinement of talismans and the cultivation of magical laws.
High within the heavens, inside the designated flight routes established for cultivators of the Foundation Establishment Stage, various streaks of flowing light surged back and forth.
Each individual ray of flowing light represented a cultivator at or above the middle stage of Foundation Establishment who possessed the capability to fly by controlling a specialized tool.
In the current era, the world had already achieved the ability to mass-produce large-scale spirit artifacts designed for carrying passengers.
Nevertheless, the majority of cultivators still preferred this ancient method of controlling a personal tool to soar through the skies.
Among these practitioners, sword cultivators were the most numerous, and it was from this preference that these specific sword-flying routes were born.
Originally, this was supposed to be a day of no particular significance.
However, it did not take long before an inconspicuous, grayish-white light suddenly intruded from outside the authorized transit zone.
Its speed was incredibly fast, far surpassing the standard levels expected of a Foundation Establishment practitioner.
The hazy gray radiance it emitted seemed to possess an additional effect of concealing its own presence.
It traveled against the flow of traffic among the crowd of white light streaks for a long time, yet surprisingly, not a single cultivator managed to notice it.
This remained the case until the streak of light passed through the high-speed entry point for practitioners.
The large-scale spiritual energy detection system installed there suddenly registered a reaction.
Beep! Beep! Beep!
The prompt sound, which resembled a frantic seizure, instantly startled the route administrator who had been leaning back in a lounge chair fast asleep.
He leaped up with a violent shudder.
"What the hell!"
The technical effects produced by the Sound of Spirits Workshop were truly that effective, striking directly into the deepest depths of one's divine soul.
It was refreshing and mind-clearing, ensuring that a situation where someone could not be awakened would absolutely never occur.
He hurriedly turned his gaze toward the screen positioned to his side.
"For heaven's sake!"
Speeding combined with driving against the flow of traffic; he wondered who possessed the heart of a bear and the gall of a leopard to dare act with such arrogance.
Immediately, he grabbed the identification plaque resting on the desk and pinned it to his chest.
Name: Zhang Xiu.
Cultivation Base: Middle Stage of the Golden Core.
Employee Number: 9527.
He pushed open the door and pressed his fingers together to form a hand seal.
A dark red, ancient-looking longsword flew out from the scabbard hanging upon the wall.
Zhang Xiu stepped onto the blade and closed the door behind him with a practiced motion.
With the daily maturation of spirit-repulsion technology, it was now possible to keep the toll booths suspended at a sufficient height for long periods, and the associated costs were not particularly high.
Buzz!
He started immediately in fifth gear!
The spiritual pressure that erupted in an instant kicked up a violent wave of air at his original position.
A streak of red light sliced through the horizon, chasing directly after that grayish-white radiance.
"Which scoundrel deserving of a thousand cuts is speeding and going against the flow? Do you no longer value your life?!"
"If I catch that brat, I will definitely teach him a proper lesson!"
Zhang Xiu cursed under his breath as he pushed forward in pursuit.
However, half a minute later, Zhang Xiu could not help but fall into a stunned silence as he stared at the grayish-white sword light that had already vanished from the spiritual energy detector.
His current speed was the standard for the middle stage of the Golden Core!
Logically speaking, since he was an entire major realm higher than the other party, what kind of ghost was it that he could not even see their shadow?!
He continued the chase for a while longer, but he still could not see so much as a single hair of his target.
It was glaringly obvious that this person was definitely not merely at the Golden Core stage!
He wondered which great authority had not been properly looked after, allowing them to run into a Foundation Establishment route just to torment people.
Were they not afraid of being apprehended?
And yet, it just had to be him who ran into them!
"..."
Zhang Xiu ceased his pursuit and took out a communication device.
He reported this piece of information to his immediate superior.
The message received an instant reply; his superior told him to return first and stated that they would dispatch someone else to carry out the pursuit and capture.
Furthermore, the superior indicated that the police had already been notified.
Phew.
It seemed that this matter no longer concerned him.
Zhang Xiu stared into the distance for a moment longer before he stepped upon his sword to return.
Meanwhile, at this very moment, within that grayish-white streak of light.
Xu Xing was maintaining a breath-concealing technique, his brows furrowed as he observed the little Foundation Establishment cultivators flying past him one by one.
Why did it feel as though the entire world had completely changed its appearance after he had merely finished a session of secluded cultivation?
This style of dress was much closer to what he remembered from before he had transmigrated.
The more Xu Xing looked, the more confused he became, thinking that it couldn't possibly be that the two worlds had merged during the period of his seclusion.
Or perhaps a massive technological explosion had occurred?
He retracted his gaze from a young girl flying on a sword who was wearing denim shorts that exposed her long, fair legs.
This world had absolutely undergone some changes that were entirely beyond his expectations!
If it had been before he entered seclusion, such an outfit would have been impossible to appear in broad daylight.
Emm... of course, that was excluding the Sect of Joy.
"The sword cultivator in front! You are speeding! Please pull over to the side and stop to cooperate with the investigation. Present your sword-flying license!"
A coarse and bold voice drifted over from behind him.
Hmm?!
This familiar sense of déjà vu... combined with the sound techniques of the Sound of Spirits Workshop.
Xu Xing paused for a moment and turned his head to take a look.
He saw a black shuttle-shaped flying artifact carrying a middle-aged man with a scruffy beard, who was continuously closing the distance between them.
Since when did the Sound of Spirits Workshop start recruiting men!
However, a Nascent Soul cultivation base...
At his age, it could be considered quite decent.
So, should he stop?
After a brief moment of hesitation, Xu Xing slightly increased his output of magical power.
Buzz!
The grayish-white sword light suddenly brightened, and its speed instantly increased by several orders of magnitude.
A surging wave of air tumbled outward, and even the nearby Foundation Establishment cultivators caught sight of it.
"Holy crap!"
"Who is that?"
The middle-aged man on the flying shuttle looked at the data being fed back by his spiritual energy detection instrument and could not help but come to a halt.
He watched helplessly as the sword light vanished into the horizon, yet he did not dare to give chase any further.
An expert of the Void Returning Stage!
He wondered which family's old antique had just emerged from seclusion, only for him to stumble right into them!
Only those great cultivators at or above the Void Returning Stage would enter seclusion for centuries or even thousands of years at a time.
Having missed the era of great reform, they understood absolutely nothing about the rules of this new age.
May the Holy Emperor protect him; he prayed that this old antique was absolutely not a practitioner of the demonic path!
While praying in his heart, he took out a talisman.
It was a Void-Escaping Communication Talisman!
It was extremely precious and was not to be used unless a major event occurred.
After using his divine sense to engrave the situation he had encountered into it, he released the talisman.
In a flash of spiritual light, the talisman had already vanished.
Next, he had to first soothe the little Foundation Establishment practitioners here and then arrange for their evacuation.
If that person truly was a great demonic cultivator of the Void Returning Stage, it would be no laughing matter.
On the other side, Xu Xing had already arrived above a city.
Tall buildings and great mansions stood in rows like the teeth of a comb.
Many transport vehicles resembling 'cars' traveled back and forth upon the wide and level public roads.
However, the vehicles themselves were driven by a hybrid of electricity and spiritual energy.
What did this count as?
Modernized cultivation?
The scene, which felt both familiar and strange, left him feeling somewhat dazed.
During these years of his seclusion, what exactly had happened?
After observing for a while, Xu Xing descended by the side of a road, and the gray spiritual light that had been hiding his aura was retracted.
At the same time, his black, narrow-sleeved long robes automatically transformed into a most ordinary white shirt and casual trousers.
Wait, the surface of this road seemed to be...
He crouched down and reached out to touch it.
It was actually paved with the fragments of spirit stones after their spiritual energy had been completely drained.
Furthermore, deep underground, there was an array foundation buried.
The majestic spiritual energy within that array foundation was almost equivalent to the total magical power of a Nascent Soul cultivator.
Xu Xing raised his head, and his expanded divine sense covered the entire city.
There were a total of three hundred and sixty-five array foundations, interconnected and interlaced to form an incomparably vast and exquisite grand array capable of covering the entire city.
Under full operation, the destructive power it could unleash would even surpass that of an ordinary Divine Transformation stage cultivator.
"Not bad."
The construction of the grand array was extremely sophisticated.
Even with Xu Xing's discerning eyes, he could not pick out too many flaws or omissions.
However, if it were to encounter an array master with a profound cultivation in the path of formations...
Retracting his divine sense, he stood up and walked directly into the city.