The scene shifted, and Xu Qi An saw a “monster” covered in wounds, dragging its mountain-like body into a bottomless ravine.

The monster’s bodily structure was terrifying—tendons protruded like roots, and muscles bulged like boulders, forming a mountain made entirely of flesh.

This mountain of muscle had rows of air holes that spewed dark green mist, which coiled up into the sky, forming emerald clouds.

Viscous shadows flowed at the base of the flesh mountain.

The Gu God!

The last time he’d seen the Gu God was in his drowsy dreams after being with the Imperial Mentor.

Compared to then, the Gu God’s aura had weakened to an extreme. Its flesh-mountain body was covered in wounds, with no mating creatures nearby or animated corpses following in its wake.

Though this was just a dream, Xu Qi An could sense the Gu God’s weakness.

As the Gu God entered the Extreme Abyss, the scene shattered. Xu Qi An opened his eyes in the dark room, feeling something gnawing at his arm.

Turning his head, he saw Xu Ling Yin hugging his arm, gnawing while asleep, her delicate brows slightly furrowed as if puzzled why she couldn’t bite through the “pork knuckle.”

*Really, that’s enough. How did I end up with such a foolish and gluttonous sister…* Xu Qi An pulled back his arm and pinched Xu Ling Yin’s little nose. After about ten seconds, she rubbed her eyes and woke up, looking adorably confused in her drowsy state.

“Are you hungry?”

Xu Qi An asked.

“Big Brother, I was dreaming about delicious food!” The little dumpling gestured excitedly, speaking in an exaggerated tone.

Then she said pitifully: “But I couldn’t bite through it.”

*If you could bite through the Grand Completion stage Vajra Art, you could go down to the Extreme Abyss and eat the Gu God…* Xu Qi An pointed at her right hand covered in tiny bite marks:

“Look, you’ve been gnawing on your hand too.”

Her right hand still bore faint teeth marks, though the saliva had evaporated. Xu Qi An guessed that when biting her wrist, it probably hurt a bit, so she instinctively hadn’t bitten too hard.

But when biting him, Xu Ling Yin had used all her strength.

The little dumpling looked at her right hand, and seeing the bite marks, her eyes widened in exaggerated surprise:

“Who wants to eat my hand?”

“It was Li Na!” Xu Qi An said.

The little dumpling immediately became alert upon hearing this. After pondering for a while, she declared loudly:

“She must be coveting the meat I ate tonight.”

It took Xu Qi An several seconds to understand her meaning:

Li Na wanted to eat her to get the meat she’d eaten earlier.

“I just chased her away,” Xu Qi An consoled her.

“Thank you, Big Brother~”

The little dumpling relaxed. If Master wanted to eat her, there was nothing she could do about it, since Master was stronger than her.

Xu Ling Yin had just advanced in cultivation and her appetite had grown accordingly. She was too sleepy to wake up from hunger, which led to her sleeping while gnawing on the “pork knuckle.”

Xu Qi An went out and found a large animal leg in the kitchen. He sliced it and stir-fried a plate of meat for Xu Ling Yin.

In the dimly lit room, at the table, he watched his little sister eat with oil dripping from her mouth, while his thoughts drifted far away.

Gods and demons were once the rulers of heaven and earth. How terrifying they truly were, no one today could clearly say.

But one could glimpse their might through the power of their descendants.

The Beast Barbarians dominating the north, the Nine-Tailed Celestial Fox, and various powerful spirit beasts across the Nine Provinces and overseas—these were all descendants of gods and demons.

From this, one could deduce that the ancient gods and demons must have been overwhelmingly powerful.

Later generations of human cultivators endlessly debated the cause of the gods’ and demons’ end.

The most widespread, mainstream theory was that humans and demon races rose and defeated the gods and demons who had ruled all living things across the ancient continent.

After the gods and demons died, their descendants fought against humans and demon races for thousands of years before being eliminated.

“In the scenes I saw, there were no humans or demon races…”

“These scenes, if I’m not mistaken, should have been ‘transmitted’ to me by the Seven-Fold Gu, and the Seven-Fold Gu is likely the Gu God’s means of breaking the seal. In other words, these scenes might be part of the Gu God’s memories.”

“If not humans, then what kind of beings could massacre the gods and demons? How did the Gu’s God survive? It looked like it was beaten nearly to death too.”

Xu Qi An thought of the “Gatekeeper”—what gate was being guarded? No, “gate” must have another meaning.

“The White Emperor didn’t ask the Gu God about the fall of gods and demons, which means it knows the truth. If the Gatekeeper slaughtered the gods and demons, why would it ask unnecessarily?”

“And the Gu God said it originally thought the Gatekeeper was the Confucian Saint, but the Confucian Saint was from a thousand years ago. This suggests the Gatekeeper wasn’t the one who slaughtered the gods and demons. There must be another reason for their fall.”

“The White Emperor first asked where the Dao Sovereign was, learned he might have fallen, then asked who the Gatekeeper was—does this mean the White Emperor suspected the Dao Sovereign was the Gatekeeper?”

“‘He won’t be absent when the great era’s curtain falls’—tsk, could this be why the Confucian Saint sealed all the Transcendents?”

Through careful logical reasoning, he still drew some useful conclusions.

“Ah, right, Minister Wei once said in his last letter that this world was far crueler than I imagined. Did he know these secrets, or had he guessed something? If so, Minister Wei’s perspective suddenly extends far beyond just court politics.”

At this moment, Xu Ling Yin licked the ceramic plate with lingering desire and said:

“I’m full.”

Xu Qi An came back to his senses and looked at the plate that needed no washing:

“Full?”

“It would be nice to have another plate,” Xu Ling Yin tried to push her luck.

“Enough, don’t eat too much at night.”

Xu Qi An picked her up and tossed her onto the bed: “Go to sleep.”

“But if I’m not full, I can’t sleep,” the little dumpling struggled to resist. Several minutes later…

“Snore, snore…”

She was sound asleep.

Xu Qi An merged with the shadows and left the clan leader’s courtyard.

Sleep was a luxury for him, not a necessity. Today’s information overload had taken away his desire to sleep.

After walking around Mount Bo, he found a clear pond where he could see the bottom.

He decided to take a bath and wash his clothes while he was at it.

After fighting with the Gu clan leaders today and going to the Extreme Abyss, he was not clean.

“Sigh, since entering the jianghu, my hygiene standards have dropped considerably. I often sleep without bathing or brushing my teeth…”

Though hygiene wasn’t that important for a Supernaturalist expert.

*Splash…*

He stripped off his clothes and jumped into the water. The cool comfort invigorated his spirit.

The pond only came up to his waist. Standing in the cool water, his upper body muscles were proportionate and beautiful, flowing lines full of strength but not exaggerated bulk.

Combined with his handsome, masculine face, even setting aside his other qualities, his body would be deeply alluring to women.

“Tsk tsk! Just seeing Sir Xu’s body makes one weak in the knees.”

A coquettish laugh came from the shore.

In the moonlight, a tall and beautiful woman stood gracefully on the bank, wearing a white chest wrap and white shorts, covered by a thin gauze dress.

Her legs were long and firm, her slender waist adorned with defined muscles, her chest full beneath the wrap, her face alluring and charming.

“What are you doing here?”

Xu Qi An said irritably: “Though I agreed to accompany you for three months, it’s not now.”

Luan Yu covered her mouth and laughed softly, raising her hand to brush her fragrant shoulder, letting the gauze dress fall. She slowly walked into the pond, the cool water flowing past her long legs, past her slender waist…

She walked up to Xu Qi An, batting her eyes coquettishly:

“After absorbing that little slut Chun Yan’s love poison earlier today, the accumulated poison makes me itch unbearably. I especially miss Sir Xu.”

*Are you sure it’s your heart that itches…* Xu Qi An said coldly:

“Go back.”

Luan Yu pursed her red lips and said coyly: “You men just love to say one thing and mean another. If not to meet me privately, why are you here? Don’t tell me you couldn’t detect me following you.”

Xu Qi An sighed:

“I didn’t come here to meet you privately, but for someone else.”

Luan Yu’s expression changed slightly: “That little slut Chun Yan?”

Xu Qi An shook his head: “Look behind you!”

Luan Yu turned back suspiciously. In the moonlight, by the pond’s edge stood a woman in feather robes. She wore a lotus crown and carried an ancient sword on her back, with a horsetail whisk draped over her right arm.

Her features were incomparably beautiful, enough to topple kingdoms. A dot of vermillion between her brows accentuated her cold, immortal air.

A night breeze stirred her feather robes, making it seem as if she might ascend to the heavens at any moment.

That this person could silently approach within five zhang of herself made Luan Yu’s eyebrows rise as she demanded:

“Who are you!”

Though her eyes showed wariness, with Xu Qi An nearby she had plenty of confidence.

Luo Yu Heng’s smile was as cold as the pond, her eyes even more frigid:

“The one who’ll take your life!”

In an instant, the entire area was filled with sword energy, slashing at Luan Yu from all directions.

*Ding ding ding…*

The sword energy, fine as ox hairs but dense as rain, was blocked by a layer of golden light.

Xu Qi An opened his Vajra Art energy shield, blocking Luo Yu Heng’s angry strike and saving Luan Yu from being pierced by countless blades.

“Imperial Mentor, she is the leader of the Gu clan’s Love Gu sect and Great Daqi’s ally. Please show mercy.”

Xu Qi An hurriedly explained.

Then he turned to explain to Luan Yu: “She is Great Daqi’s Imperial Mentor and my Dao partner.”

Luo Yu Heng gave him a light glance, seemingly disdainful, but withdrew the sword energy filling the sky.

“Go!”

He pushed Luan Yu, sending her floating out of the pond and far into the distance.

Luo Yu Heng didn’t stop her.

After chasing away the third wheel, Xu Qi An smiled playfully:

“Coming to the Southern Borderlands on business, it’s quite far from Great Daqi, couldn’t contact the Imperial Mentor for a while.”

Luo Yu Heng’s expression was blank: “I went to find Sun Xuan Ji in Qing Province, he said you were in the Southern Borderlands.”

After coming to the Southern Borderlands, she had followed the sense of the protective talisman to find him here.

Xu Qi An stared at her for a long while, then said:

“It seems the Imperial Mentor can contain the karmic flames now?”

Luo Yu Heng nodded:

“The karmic flames have weakened somewhat compared to last month.”

*So she can suppress them until now?* Xu Qi An hurriedly congratulated her: “Congratulations! The Imperial Mentor is one step closer to becoming a Terrestrial Immortal.”

The first rank in the Dao path was called Terrestrial Immortal.

Only then did Luo Yu Heng show a slight smile, the snow lotus suddenly becoming radiant.

She looked around, slightly frowning:

“This barbaric Southern Borderlands has no inns. Let me take you back to the Central Plains.”

*Dual cultivation needs atmosphere?* Xu Qi An looked around and smiled:

“This place is perfect—deserted, no one to disturb us.”

Luo Yu Heng’s face was frosted with cold as she stared at him icily.

Xu Qi An walked to the shore and tugged at her wide sleeve.

Luo Yu Heng pulled it back, face cold and silent.

Xu Qi An pulled again, and Luo Yu Heng pulled back again.

After some back and forth, Luo Yu Heng frowned, half-resisting as she was pulled into the water.

…

Song Mountain County.

On the city walls, Xu Xin Nian wore military attire and carried a torch, walking along the cracked and pitted horse path, checking the military supplies for defending the city one by one.

Militiamen gathered in twos and threes on the walls, busy repairing the broken sections.

Song Mountain County bordered dangerous peaks to the south, with extremely high terrain. The city walls were taller than ordinary county towns. To the west was the Song River, a natural fortification that prevented large-scale enemy gatherings.

Therefore, the east and north gates needed to be strictly guarded.

This was Song Mountain County’s natural geographical advantage. Furthermore, within the region covered by the Grand Canal, trade flourished. Combined with fertile soil, the county was wealthy in money and grain, with abundant granary reserves.

For these reasons, it became one of the three most important cities in Yang Gong’s second line of defense.

Second Young Master Xu was entrusted by Yang Gong with the heavy responsibility of holding Song Mountain County.

“The city stands, we stand; the city falls, we fall.”

That was his response at the time.

Yesterday, six thousand rebel troops approached the city and engaged in a fierce battle with the garrison.

The rebel artillery company deployed forty cannons, exchanging fire with the twelve cannons on the city walls.

Under artillery cover, the infantry launched their assault on the city.

The two sides fought until dusk, when the rebels retreated, leaving eight hundred corpses behind.

The defenders lost three hundred men.

“You think those turtle sons will try a night attack?”

A casual voice came from behind.

Second Young Master Xu looked back. The speaker was an ordinary-looking young man holding a sword in one hand and a flatbread in the other.

He walked with a swaggering gait, wearing light armor covered in sword marks.

“A night attack in a siege would be pure folly.”

Second Young Master Xu said calmly: “Brother Miao need not worry.”