In the Southern Border bamboo forest, Su Zhuyi had practiced only one sword strike to break the sword formation.
That sword of hers had no deceptive flourishes—straight thrust, power concentrated at the sword tip, arm and sword forming a straight line, integrating her body’s potential and indomitable momentum into the sword, cutting through thorns and advancing without retreat.
She had practiced that move millions of times. For that one sword, she had been covered in wounds, constantly whipped by green bamboo. Now, inside the lotus petals, Su Zhuyi circulated her spiritual energy to its limit, exerted force with her wrist, and thrust forward with both herself and the sword. At this moment, she was like a sword herself.
Su Zhuyi’s cultivation had advanced and her physical body had become stronger. This sword strike was more powerful than before. However, these lotus petals were stronger than the bamboo forest. This thrust created a sword point impression on the petals but didn’t pierce through them.
But this time, she felt confident and didn’t panic.
Cutting through green bamboo could break the formation.
Cutting through lotus petals meant rebirth.
Now, she was about to be reborn. After this rebirth, she would have giants as her backing.
Giants were Pangu’s descendants with formidable strength.
If she got out early, she could eliminate Elder Hua from the Dong Fushang Sect and the Yunxiao Sect. Su Zhuyi had grievances to settle and revenge to take. She had seen past events in the Rebirth Pond—emotionally, she had indeed moved on from her previous life, but the twenty-odd years since her rebirth remained exceptionally clear and vivid.
Su Zhuyi still remembered her grudges. Previously, it was because her strength was slightly insufficient, and she had too many matters to handle, leaving no opportunity for revenge. Now her cultivation had advanced to Golden Core Great Perfection, and after getting out, her relationship with the giants wouldn’t be poor. If she could have a giant’s help, she would have no enemies here, and treasure hunting would be convenient too. With such a favorable situation, how could she give up?
Breaking out of the lotus this time, she would surely slay all her enemies in the secret realm.
Breaking out of the lotus this time, it wouldn’t be long before she could break through to the Nascent Soul stage and no longer be controlled by the Love Gu.
Breaking out of the lotus this time, even Little Skull might very well grow flesh. In that case, Little Skull’s treasure gourd and the stone lotus platform inside could all be used by her.
Breaking out of the lotus this time, she could see Qin Jianglan again.
Even though her heart felt empty, Su Zhuyi now clearly understood that she had once loved him. If not for the Love Gu, she would still be loving him.
So…
She must break out of the lotus!
Dawn was breaking, and a red sun leaped out from the mountain ravine.
She seemed to see outside sunlight scattering on the petals, filtering through those pristine white petals, making the petals above her head appear crystal clear, like crystal.
Su Zhuyi’s eyes sharpened as she struck with her sword again.
No bending.
No yielding.
No giving up.
The moment the flying sword thrust out, the Broken Sword’s light blazed. The originally very short sword blade suddenly became a full section. At the same time, the Sword Ancestor, who hadn’t made any sound for so long, let out a sword cry.
The sword’s momentum was like a swift wind, the sword’s cry like thunder.
In that sword cry, Su Zhuyi heard a familiar cold snort.
Broken Sword: “Hmph, you’ve been practicing diligently recently. Keep it up.”
“This sword barely unleashed one percent of my original power.” After saying this, it snorted lightly again.
The Sword Ancestor’s blade was very sharp, but she had originally been too weak to unleash its full power. Now, that azure light pierced through the petals, creating a gap. She passed through the gap, her sword momentum undiminished, her body shooting outward, but she didn’t fall into the pond.
“She’s out, she’s out! I can see her head!” Pan Siji had been holding his breath nervously, not daring to speak. Now seeing the person inside break out of the lotus and successfully reincarnate, he finally couldn’t help but speak. His hand was still at the edge of the lotus pond, and the sword qi that pierced the lotus petals cut a gash in his palm. But even with his palm cut and a trace of blood flowing, Pan Siji didn’t let go. Instead, he gently blew on it, using spiritual energy to caress the newly reborn friend, lowering his voice: “Hello, whose reincarnation are you? Do you still remember your name?”
Su Zhuyi had exhausted all her spiritual energy executing that sword strike. Standing in place, standing in the giant’s palm, hearing the giant’s question, Su Zhuyi frowned slightly and said, “I don’t remember.”
She had heard everything the giants said outside earlier. Now, Su Zhuyi didn’t know how to answer about her identity, so she simply acted as if she knew nothing. Though her heart was somewhat uneasy, her face remained very calm. She heard the giant continue: “Forgot?”
“Being so weak, forgetting is normal. Since you’ve forgotten, shall we call you Little Forget?” He lifted his palm, bringing his hand to his chest level. Su Zhuyi could hear the thumping heartbeat. Seeing his chest rise and fall, at first glance, it looked like waves.
“Little Forget, Little Forget, woof woof woof…”
Su Zhuyi: “…”
After standing steady in the giant’s palm with a speechless expression, she asked: “What about the person who came with me? Where is his lotus flower?”
“He’s stronger than you, so his lotus bud will take longer to emerge from the water,” said a red-haired giant.
“You’re so small. What should we do with you being so small?” The giant beside Pan Siji leaned his head over, using one finger to press down gently, hovering above Su Zhuyi’s head with only a hair’s breadth from her scalp, giving her a sense of oppression. However, that giant seemed even more nervous—his breathing was heavy, his arm trembling as he said with a shaking voice: “One finger could crush her…”
“For her, the outside world is so dangerous.” It seemed like any spiritual beast from the mountains could bite her to death. Spiritual beasts that giants would notice were already extremely powerful top-tier beasts in heaven and on earth. Su Zhuyi was still a bit away from breaking through the Golden Core stage and indeed couldn’t contend with such spiritual beasts.
During their conversation, one giant wearing a green grass skirt raised his hand and plucked a tree leaf.
That tree was also very large—the leaf was like a small spirit boat to Su Zhuyi. The giant’s fingertip emanated radiance, drawing several runes on the leaf. Immediately, that leaf became a green glowing little boat, with a thin, long leaf stem and a small leaf on top, like a spirit boat with a green umbrella.
“You’re too small. This spirit boat is for your transportation,” the giant said, then introduced himself: “I am Pan Shan.” After giving his name, Pan Shan beckoned Su Zhuyi onto the spirit boat.
Su Zhuyi leaped onto the spirit boat, then discovered that this was just a spirit boat the giant had casually crafted from a leaf, yet it was an immortal treasure…
This giant’s strength was too formidable.
He could randomly craft things that became immortal artifacts? Standing on the spirit boat, the giant called Pan Siji extended his finger and gently pushed the leaf stem. Su Zhuyi discovered the light boat whooshed forward, extremely fast—much faster than her own sword flying.
With this whoosh, Su Zhuyi drifted away from the Rebirth Pond. She simply continued flying forward, wanting to see if she could find cultivators from Dong Fushang Sect.
But she hadn’t drifted far when Su Zhuyi felt the earth behind her shaking. She saw two giants running after her. Their steps were enormous—one step could cross a small hill. Running in front were the braided Pan Siji and the female giant Pan Yue.
Another giant behind them was shouting: “She just reincarnated and wants to look around everywhere. Don’t chase her—let her go look!”
“But she’s so weak, how can she go out wandering?” Pan Yue asked worriedly.
“Let’s accompany her,” Pan Siji said, worried that their newly reborn companion would be injured. After all, there were too many dangers around, and she was so weak, weaker than many spiritual beasts. If she went out wandering and something happened, what would they do? If she had to reincarnate again, her primordial spirit would continue weakening. Would she have the ability to emerge from the lotus next time?
“One of us following is enough.” Pan Siji felt that this newly reborn companion was discovered by him, and since she had lost all her memories, he was like her father, responsible for protecting her safety, teaching her knowledge, and nurturing her growth.
“I’m enough,” Pan Siji said, shooing Pan Yue away. “You go back to the Rebirth Pond and wait—there’s still another one.”
After Pan Yue left, Pan Siji walked to Su Zhuyi’s green leaf boat in just a few steps.
“We Pangu clan live in Rebirth Valley.”
Pan Siji said cheerfully, “We’re too tall and dangerous to other living beings, so we only stay in Rebirth Valley. Each time we go out, only one person goes.” Su Zhuyi’s spirit boat flew near Pan Siji’s shoulder. His voice was gentler, and with the boat’s defenses, Su Zhuyi felt his voice didn’t have the overwhelming spiritual pressure of before—listening to him speak wouldn’t give her a headache.
“We don’t have anything particularly important when we go out—just looking to see if there are any similar auras. But you know, we haven’t encountered anyone with the same source for nearly ten thousand years. For the past hundred years, I’ve been the one walking outside. Though I never found anyone, we never gave up. Even if they all gave up, I wouldn’t give up! You don’t know how happy I was to see you.” He spoke while grinning foolishly. “Little Forget, Little Forget, I feel like we Pangu clan giants can live another ten thousand years!”
Su Zhuyi said, “If there were a method to prevent primordial spirits from scattering into heaven and earth, would you be able to live forever?”
“Yes,” Pan Siji nodded. “We just haven’t found a way.”
“Heavenly fate is hard to defy!” He shrugged, swinging the axe in his hand and shouting twice, appearing very happy.
“We’ll find a way,” Su Zhuyi said.
Pan Siji took Su Zhuyi’s words as comfort. He thought, this child is so understanding—even having lost her memory, she still knows how to comfort people. “Yes, there will be a way.”
“Do you see that mountain peak ahead?”
He pointed to the mountain peak ahead: “See how those two mountains form an arch bridge? If we go through there, we can leave Rebirth Valley. There are so many living beings outside—do you want to go see?”
Su Zhuyi immediately nodded.
“Go!”
With such a powerful bodyguard beside her, why wouldn’t she go?