Xie Yuan heard those two words clearly and froze on the spot.
The white jade fan slipped from his sleeve and hit the ground with a sharp clack.
“You,” he began.
Before he could finish, Shen Zhuo suddenly erupted with an astonishing surge of strength. He gripped Xie Yuan’s collar and abruptly pulled the man toward him. The distance closed instantly, close enough for Xie Yuan to see the fine fuzz on the youth’s face.
In the next second, something soft pressed against his lips.
The kiss came fast and fierce. The impact left Xie Yuan’s teeth and lips aching. His entire body went rigid as if struck by lightning, while the other’s rapid, ragged breath fanned across his face.
Xie Yuan’s first instinct was to push him away, but as his palm pressed against Shen Zhuo’s shoulder, he felt a damp coldness, soaked through with sweat. The youth shivered beneath his hand as if still enduring some form of torture. This kiss did not feel like an act of passion; it felt like a drowning man grasping at a lifeline.
In that moment of hesitation, a strange ripple of spiritual energy flowed between their lips. Startled by the anomaly, Xie Yuan was about to circulate his spiritual power to investigate, but Shen Zhuo, trapped in agony, deepened the kiss as if he had finally found the antidote. He clumsily bit Xie Yuan’s lower lip, his tongue brashly prying open the teeth to lick wildly inside.
A buzz went off in Xie Yuan’s head, and his thoughts shattered into a mess of static.
[Ding! Task complete! Punishment terminated!]
[Reward issued: 1% cultivation restored.]
As the system notification faded, the bone-eroding pain receded. Shen Zhuo’s head slumped forward weakly. His back, drenched in cold sweat, heaved violently as the exhaustion of a near-death experience flooded his limbs.
What had he just done?
Shen Zhuo’s dilated pupils regained their focus, the lingering shock still visible in his eyes.
“You!”
Caught off guard, Xie Yuan violently shoved Shen Zhuo out of his arms, stumbling back three steps. Completely forgetting his jade fan on the ground, he wiped his mouth hard with the back of his hand.
“Shameless! A cultivator of your standing actually committing such, such a,” he stammered.
The second half of the sentence caught in his throat, turning Xie Yuan’s handsome face a deep shade of crimson. Furious, he snapped his sleeve and turned to leave, only to stumble over a flat piece of ground before hurriedly vanishing out the door.
Shen Zhuo stared blankly at the empty doorway, touching his lips in a daze. He had never seen this face look like that before. Right now, Xie Yuan possessed a face identical to Mo Yuan’s, yet he looked like someone whose ears turned red and who could not even finish a threat properly.
He actually seemed a bit cute, Shen Zhuo thought.
Shen Zhuo licked the residual metallic taste of blood from his lips, the thought crossing his mind privately. This absurd notion caused the corners of his mouth to lift involuntarily. Before the smile could fade, the dark-robed figure returned, standing stiffly at the doorway and glaring at him.
Xie Yuan’s face was still flushed. Forcing a sense of composure, he squeezed out a sentence. “If you dare look at me one more time, I will gouge your eyes out!”
He threw out this utterly non-threatening warning and immediately averted his gaze. Xie Yuan’s wandering eyes suddenly fixed on the ground near Shen Zhuo’s feet. Following his gaze, Shen Zhuo noticed the white jade fan Xie Yuan had been playing with earlier was lying on the floor.
Xie Yuan stepped forward quickly to pick it up, but his fingertips accidentally brushed against the top of Shen Zhuo’s shoe. Xie Yuan pulled his hand back as if he had been electrocuted, and the fan dropped to the floor a second time with a clack.
Shen Zhuo instinctively took half a step back to give him space, but the slight movement made Xie Yuan even more flustered. Just as he was about to grab the handle, his overly frantic movement accidentally pushed the jade fan further toward Shen Zhuo’s feet.
Shen Zhuo crouched down, picked up the fan, and held it out. “Here.”
Xie Yuan blinked, hurriedly reaching out to take it. In the chaos, his hand, which only intended to grab the fan, brushed over Shen Zhuo’s fingers.
The jade fan hit the ground for the third time. Shen Zhuo could not help but let out a small laugh. He looked down at the fan. The white jade gave off a warm, gentle glow. This time he did not move, letting Xie Yuan finally scoop the fan into his palm, brush off the dust, and tuck it into his sleeve.
“I,” Xie Yuan began. He looked up to speak, only to lock eyes with Shen Zhuo, who had not looked away yet.
Both of them froze. The distance between them was barely a foot. In that narrow space, their breaths mingled. Shen Zhuo’s equally startled face was reflected in Xie Yuan’s pupils.
“You,” Xie Yuan’s voice was stuck. He could not force out the rest.
Shen Zhuo watched as the man’s earlobes turned a bright scarlet. A second later, his vision was blocked by the white jade fan.
“Today’s events,” Xie Yuan said while fanning himself rapidly. A muffled voice came from behind the jade. “They shall be treated as if they never happened. If you ever commit such reckless acts again.”
Xie Yuan backed away as he spoke, his voice rising sharply until he hit the doorframe with a thud. He let out a pained grunt and stumbled out the door, never finishing his sentence.
Shen Zhuo found it genuinely amusing. He was so pure and shy just because of a kiss. Xie Yuan’s disheveled state made it difficult for Shen Zhuo to associate him with Mo Yuan anymore.
At the thought of Mo Yuan, the amusement in his eyes darkened. One would never see such innocence in Mo Yuan. Mo Yuan’s eyes never tolerated a hint of playfulness. If anyone dared to treat Mo Yuan that way, they would likely be decapitated in the next second. Xie Yuan’s ears would turn red over a kiss, but Mo Yuan would only choke him. Mo Yuan’s eyes always held blades dipped in poison.
But why?
Shen Zhuo lowered his gaze, his long eyelashes partially obscuring his pupils. He suddenly closed his fingers, and a sword in the corner of the room began to hum. The blade vibrated for a moment before flying into Shen Zhuo’s hand.
The moment his fingers touched the hilt, a sense of familiarity surged through his meridians. The original owner of this body seemed to have spent countless days and nights with this sword. The sword was nothing special. It was a standard weapon issued by the Xuanyun Sect to its disciples.
Shen Zhuo used his thumb to nudge the sword from its scabbard. It was well-maintained. The cold light on the steel was like water, reflecting his features. The person in the reflection looked exactly like him, yet it was not him. It looked more like him at nineteen or twenty.
Shen Zhuo stared at the reflection. Two Xie Yuans, two Shen Zhuos. There truly were too many similar faces in this world. He sheathed the sword, the tassel hanging at his waist.
“System,” Shen Zhuo focused his mind, feeling the faint flow of spiritual energy in his meridians. “Have the task rewards been issued?”
[Yes, Host. Currently, 1% of your cultivation has been restored.]
This amount of power was a mere drop in the ocean compared to Shen Zhuo’s original Tribulation Stage cultivation, but it was enough to feel the stirrings of spiritual energy in his dantian. From this moment on, this body was no longer mortal.
First level of Qi Refining. It was not high, but it was the first step on the path back to immortality.
Shen Zhuo pushed the door open and walked out, asking the system, “What year is it?”
[Host, the current year in this plane is the 327th Year of the Celestial Calendar.]
Year 327? Shen Zhuo’s pace faltered slightly. At this time, he should still have been imprisoned in Mo Yuan’s sunless underground palace. And in another year, Mo Yuan would declare war on the righteous sects, single-handedly triggering the Great War of Immortals and Demons. It was during that catastrophe that Shen Zhuo found the chance to escape Mo Yuan’s side.
Thinking of the figure who had carved a path to life for him through a sea of blood and corpses, Shen Zhuo’s tense shoulders relaxed slightly. Based on the conversation between Xie Yuan and those two outer disciples, he should be reuniting with an old friend soon. He only wondered if that person would still look the same.
“System,” Shen Zhuo said as he stepped on a withered branch under the corridor. “Is this not my original world?”
[Yes, Host. This is a parallel plane. The historical trajectory deviates from your original world.]
“Then why throw me into this plane? Was this also the will of Heaven?”
[No. This was your own choice.]
“My choice?” Shen Zhuo asked back in disbelief.
[Yes, Host.]
Shen Zhuo felt a flash of realization, but a sharp pain in his temples instantly extinguished it. He tried to ask again, but the only response was the cold wind howling through the hall.
Walking out of the woodshed, he realized he was within a large estate. The woodshed was in a remote area with a small courtyard, but everything reflected the meticulous taste of a wealthy family. After walking about ten paces and turning past a screen wall, he found a path leading to another courtyard.
As Shen Zhuo walked, he looked down and realized something was wrong. The area around the woodshed was deserted, and the paths were usually overgrown with weeds. But the path he was on now was bare. The grass in the cracks of the stone slabs was bent low as if recently trampled.
He looked up to see a three-story building standing deep within the desolate yard. A three-story building was rare. Why build such a structure in such a remote place? Large patches of gray plaster had peeled off the walls, revealing the rotting wooden frame beneath. It looked even more dilapidated than the woodshed he had just left.
This was no accident. In the entire estate, only this building stood tall like a crane among chickens, yet it was deliberately abandoned here. It looked as if the owner had specifically ordered craftsmen never to approach it.
“Interesting,” Shen Zhuo whispered.
He narrowed his eyes, about to enter the courtyard to see who lived there. Suddenly, he heard the sound of scurrying footsteps behind him. It was the two outer disciples from earlier. They had clearly been waiting for a long time, specifically blocking the only path out of the woodshed area. Unless Shen Zhuo retreated back to the small yard, he had nowhere else to go.
“Isn’t this our inner disciple Shen Zhuo?” the hot-headed disciple spoke first. His eyes looked at Shen Zhuo as if they were dipped in poison. “What, you think just because you clung to Xie Yuan, you can sleep soundly now?”
His companion joined in. “Shen Zhuo, don’t think this matter is over just because Xie Yuan bailed you out. While we are still being nice, you had better hand over Junior Brother Huo’s Ascension Pills yourself.”
Shen Zhuo stood his ground, his robes fluttering slightly in the wind. “I told you,” he said coldly. “I did not take them.”
“Enough talk!” The hot-headed disciple impatiently drew his longsword. “Senior Brother Li, let’s just cripple him and search him! Junior Brother Huo said whoever finds those two Ascension Pills gets to keep them!”
Though Senior Brother Li did not draw his sword immediately, he had already begun circulating spiritual energy into his hands, ready to strike at any moment. In their eyes, dealing with a useless trash who could only rely on others for protection was easy work for two Level 3 Qi Refining cultivators. To them, Shen Zhuo’s current calm was nothing more than a desperate bluff.
“Go!”
At Senior Brother Li’s command, the spiritual energy in his hands lunged forward. The energy transformed into a streak of ghostly blue light aimed directly at Shen Zhuo’s face. Almost simultaneously, a sword flash circled toward Shen Zhuo’s back. If Shen Zhuo dared to dodge the energy in front of him, he would be impaled by the sword behind him. It was a dead end in every direction.
Looking at the weak ripples of spiritual energy in the air, Shen Zhuo found it almost laughable. It had been a long time since he had seen spiritual power at the Qi Refining level. As the two attacks tore through the air, he did not dodge. He simply flicked his toe.
Two pebbles rose from the ground and flew in different directions with uncanny precision. The first pebble pierced through the blue energy. Encased in a milky-white glow, the stone traveled upward, causing the blue light to vanish mysteriously before it reached Shen Zhuo. The second pebble hit the sword blade dead-on. The disciple holding the sword felt his wrist go numb, and the blade veered off course, thrusting into empty air.
“Dammit! What happened?”
The disciple with the sword was carried forward by his own momentum, stumbling several paces before stopping five steps away from Shen Zhuo. He whipped his head around, his eyes filled with disbelief. Five steps away, Shen Zhuo remained standing calmly, unruffled as if the exchange had nothing to do with him.
“Spiritual energy?” Senior Brother Li saw the faint spiritual aura covering the pebbles and gasped in shock. “How do you have spiritual energy?”
“Bullshit!” the other disciple shouted. “Senior Brother Li, what are you saying? Impossible! How could this trash have spiritual energy?”
“He definitely used spiritual energy to neutralize my attack,” Senior Brother Li regained his composure quickly after the initial shock. “But it is weak, at most Level 1 Qi Refining. Junior Brother!”
The moment Senior Brother Li finished his sentence, the other disciple understood and swung his sword again. Shen Zhuo felt the sword intent closing in from behind and sighed softly.
“Sigh. A crooked style, all form and no soul. Your wrist strength is too flimsy.”
He shifted his body slightly, a tiny movement that perfectly evaded the blade. At the same time, his left hand reached out like a willow branch caught in a breeze and caught the swordsman’s wrist.
“Too slow.”
Shen Zhuo gripped the wrist and gave it a gentle twist. A blood-curdling scream pierced the air. The disciple clutched his arm, which now hung limp and useless, unable to stop the cry of pain.
Following the scream, the sword at Shen Zhuo’s waist suddenly unsheathed. Senior Brother Li felt a chill at his throat, and before he could react, the cold edge of a blade was pressed against his windpipe. He stared intensely at the blade that was a second away from cutting his throat and swallowed hard. His gaze traveled down the length of the sword and back to Shen Zhuo.
“You, you are not Shen Zhuo. Who are you exactly?”
Shen Zhuo let out a light chuckle. “I am indeed Shen Zhuo.”
“Your talent is not bad, but you need more practice,” he said as he performed a casual sword flourish and sheathed the weapon. “Go back and tell your Junior Brother Huo: I did not take the Ascension Pills.”