Gently stroking the smooth jade disc with his fingers, after a long while, Qin Jianglan reluctantly set the jade disc down.

Next, he took pills and meditated to regulate his breathing. After recovering for a full day, his complexion finally improved. Such an injury would have taken three to five months to heal in the past, but the True Spirit Realm had abundant spiritual energy. Not only did his cultivation advance rapidly, even injuries also healed easily.

After changing clothes, Qin Jianglan packed his things and left the cultivation inn where he was temporarily staying.

As soon as he stepped out of his room, the inn’s servant enthusiastically greeted him.

He nodded slightly and continued walking down. The inn was quiet with few cultivators inside. Three cultivators sat in the main hall—a man and a woman, both at the late Golden Core stage, sat by the window, nodding and smiling at Qin Jianglan when they saw him.

A black-robed sword cultivator sat in the corner. His strength was unfathomable, which was enough to indicate his power exceeded Qin Jianglan’s own. Qin Jianglan only glanced briefly without letting his attention linger on the black-robed sword cultivator to avoid causing displeasure, yet unexpectedly, that seemingly very cold sword cultivator also raised his head, glanced at him indifferently, then nodded and showed what could be considered a gentle smile.

Qin Jianglan didn’t respond. He wasn’t a particularly warm person to begin with, and he now harbored doubts about this world.

Walking out of the inn, he found it was a rare good day with clear blue skies and a cool breeze.

Walking straight ahead along the bluestone street, there were many vendors hawking their wares along the way, creating a very lively scene. When he reached the entrance of the Treasure Pavilion again, the shopkeeper inside immediately stood up to greet him upon seeing him, asking, “Friend Qin, our shop recently acquired a phoenix-tail skirt inlaid with one hundred and eight Fire Crane Stones. Would you like to come in and take a look?”

Seeing Qin Jianglan pause, he added, “There are also matching ornamental hairpins and accessories, all spiritual treasures crafted by the weapon forging grandmaster Yuan. Legend has it they were originally meant as gifts for a beloved, but unfortunately…” He shook his head without continuing, instead inviting Qin Jianglan into the shop and ordering the shop assistants to bring out the treasures and display them before Qin Jianglan.

“The phoenix-tail skirt is a high-grade spiritual treasure, just one step away from being an immortal treasure. Not only is it beautiful in style, but its defensive power is particularly strong. Even a full-strength attack from a Tribulation Transcendence stage cultivator could be blocked by this magic treasure. If taken to auction, it would surely cause countless female cultivators to fight over it.” The shopkeeper pointed at the skirt and asked, “What does Friend Qin think?”

Qin Jianglan’s heart skipped a beat.

Every time he entered these places, he would glance at the prices marked outside and pay attention to the prices called out by street vendors. Combined with his frequent reading to understand information about this realm, Qin Jianglan could estimate the value of these magic treasures quite accurately. Usually, both parties seemed very satisfied. But now, he said flatly, “One high-grade spirit stone.”

One high-grade spirit stone wouldn’t even buy a single Fire Crane Stone.

The shopkeeper seemed stunned for a moment upon hearing this price. Qin Jianglan frowned slightly, about to explain and then leave, when he heard the shopkeeper say, “One high-grade spirit stone definitely won’t work. If Friend Qin lacks spirit stones, you could work in my shop. In just half a month, all these things could be yours. How about it?”

The shopkeeper smiled kindly, appearing very reasonable, yet it was precisely these kinds of details that made Qin Jianglan feel extremely strange.

He said he would consider it, then left the shop. After walking forward for not much longer, Qin Jianglan left the city. Once outside the city, when he looked back carefully at the city where he had lived for nearly half a month, he suddenly discovered that the city was repeatedly shrouded in clouds and mist, making it impossible to see clearly.

He suddenly remembered a previous experience with Little Skull in the mountains.

Little Skull had run around the mountain and before long brought back a rabbit, holding it and shouting, “Little Uncle, why isn’t this rabbit moving at all?”

However, just as it approached him, the rabbit kicked its legs and ran away.

Although there seemed to be no connection, this scene kept floating in Qin Jianglan’s mind. He looked at the grass blades beneath his feet, at the sky above his head, at those chirping little birds flying overhead. The light in his eyes flickered, and the mountains and waters before him all seemed to become ethereal and illusory.

He stepped on the Songfeng Sword and continued flying forward, reaching thousands of li away in an instant. Now that he had reached the Nascent Soul stage, his divine sense could see very far. If the previous town had defensive formations that prevented his divine sense from seeing through the city, what about other places?

Qin Jianglan flew on his sword without rest for two full days. After two days, he returned along the same route.

Looking back, Qin Jianglan discovered a phenomenon that shocked him greatly.

When he passed by going out, those people and things were a certain way, and when he returned, there seemed to be no significant changes. This was what he had always found strange, but previously, absorbed in reading and cultivation, he hadn’t interacted much with others. The few people he had met, he had only dealt with once or twice. Because of buying things at the Treasure Pavilion, he had only been there three times. And people who had more contact with him showed greater changes…

A thought formed in Qin Jianglan’s mind: Was this True Spirit Realm the True Spirit Realm?

Why did it seem that only where he was present could those people converse normally and be called alive? And when he left, those people and things would gradually become still again? Qin Jianglan looked up at the sky. He had always thought he had returned to another realm from over a thousand years ago, so he hoped to leave here early. But he seemed to have forgotten that he had sacrificed the Liuguang Mirror.

He had originally thought the Qin Jianglan from over a thousand years later had sacrificed the Liuguang Mirror, but since time had flowed back to the past, the him from that time should still exist. Now, however, Qin Jianglan had an ominous premonition…

Thinking of this, his brows furrowed deeply, feeling only cold wind and penetrating chill.

This place might indeed be the True Spirit Realm.

But it was the True Spirit Realm within the Liuguang Mirror.

Little Skull was a ghostly thing, a dead object without life force, so its presence had no impact. When it ran off alone and encountered rabbits at a distance, they wouldn’t move. But he was still alive, with life force, so wherever he went, he could provide life force there, nourishing those so-called people and things?

He had sacrificed the Liuguang Mirror, so he hadn’t lived to over a thousand years ago in the same world as Su Zhuyi—he had come here.

He was like the center of this True Spirit Realm, providing nourishment for other beings, until he completely lost his memory, until he remembered nothing, becoming part of this True Spirit Realm, becoming part of this Liuguang Mirror, and then, together with them, waiting for new nourishment?

Was this entire True Spirit Realm composed of sacrifices once devoured by the Liuguang Mirror?

Thinking of this, Qin Jianglan felt his blood run cold.

He needed to find a way to set up a formation to summon Little Skull over to verify whether this speculation was true. He needed Little Skull to see whether, when not together with him, this entire world was static.

But regardless, he had to get out quickly. He had to leave this place.

…

At Changning Village, Su Zhuyi discovered the jade disc had gone silent, so she pressed it against her chest. She had previously speculated that Qin Jianglan might be inside the Liuguang Mirror, and the Liuguang Mirror seemed to be inside her body, so getting closer might produce some movement. She kept the jade disc close to her body, warming the cold jade until it was hot, but still didn’t hear a sound. Su Zhuyi twitched her lips, took out the jade disc, and put it back in her storage pouch.

From Qin Jianglan’s recent words, she had only heard two: Nascent Soul, ascension.

Little Skull had also said Qin Jianglan had Nascent Soul stage cultivation, so clearly Qin Jianglan was probably saying he had reached Nascent Soul stage and would quickly transcend tribulation and ascend to find her. How could he cultivate so fast? Could tribulation, transcendence, and ascension happen just like that?

Su Zhuyi didn’t feel much romantic sentiment in her heart, but rather felt great pressure. When Qin Jianglan ascended, she would still be a Golden Core stage cultivator—wouldn’t she be completely dominated?

In their previous life, the gap in their strength hadn’t been so great. She could barely manage a few moves against Qin Jianglan, but if he ascended, she would have absolutely no power to fight back. So thinking too much now was useless—earnestly improving her strength was what mattered. Anyway, there weren’t any attractive treasures or secret realms in the next hundred years, and in her memory, nothing significant happened in the world during this century. As for those unimportant people, whether they lived or died didn’t matter much. If she was constrained by her previous life, how could she break free from limitations in this life?

She might as well return to closed-door cultivation and improve her strength early.

In her previous life, she had obtained the Liuguang Mirror fragment when she was at late Nascent Soul stage, and even then she could sense the Liuguang Mirror’s existence. Now she couldn’t sense it, which must be because her strength was too low. So ultimately, she still needed to cultivate properly.

Su Zhuyi had originally planned to travel around the cultivation world to see and experience things, lest after returning, she couldn’t leave the mountain for another hundred years. But now she decided to return to Luoxue Peak for closed-door cultivation, and she could also watch over Luo Ying, whom she considered a key figure, to prevent her from being alone on the snowy mountain and having accidents without anyone knowing.

After making up her mind, she casually picked up the golden silk soft armor and tossed it into her pouch, then began walking toward the Gujian Sect. She hadn’t walked far when she suddenly felt azure light blazing behind her, with penetrating cold.

The Broken Sword had also been lying flat on the grassy slope earlier, quite far from her. When she got up to leave, she picked up the golden silk soft armor she had used as a cushion, but completely forgot about the Broken Sword. As a result, the Sword Ancestor was now furious…

She was cut by that azure light, losing a strand of hair. She felt the sword qi brush past her ear, freezing her body in place, and the half-step she had taken was immediately pulled back.

She had indeed forgotten the Broken Sword just now. When she finally recovered and was about to go back to pick up the Sword Ancestor, she saw the Broken Sword leap up, hit her head, and then disappear.

At this moment, she heard the Broken Sword speak a complete sentence.

“When the sword heart is stable, the broken sword will be reborn.”

It wasn’t that it couldn’t subdue the Longquan Sword.

It was just that the current couldn’t do so.