“[System Warning, System Warning. Mission trajectory has diverged and severely deviated from its course. Please task executor carefully comprehend the meaning of ‘dazzling.’]”

After a “ding” sound, what came was not the system’s congratulatory announcement, but 666’s stern warning. Jian Xingzhi froze, then looked up at the screen where the progress bar remained completely motionless, making him so angry he nearly flipped the table.

How could such a universally captivating spectacle not count as dazzling? What exactly does dazzling mean?!

“The Sect Leader of the Shangshan Sect?” The young man sitting in the high seat at the front smiled. “This seat has been in seclusion for too long and has never heard of this sect. I wonder—this Shangshan Sect, how many Tribulation-Crossing Daoists does it have, and what outstanding contributions has it made to the cultivation world?”

The young man’s words seemed to register in her ears, yet at the same time she couldn’t understand them at all. Qin Wanwan stood on Jian Xingzhi’s and Xie Gutang’s shoulders, maintaining her sword-raising posture, her mind filled entirely with one repeating phrase:

Save me save me save me.

Seeing that Qin Wanwan couldn’t speak, the young man was about to say more when Luo Bufan sighed, turned his head away in embarrassment, and waved his hand: “Come down first.”

With that, Luo Bufan turned to explain to the young man: “Venerable One need not be confused. This is my sect’s eldest disciple and his friends. There is no Shangshan Sect—they were being mischievous and trespassed into the Wuxiang Sect. I hope the Venerable One will forgive them.”

Hearing Luo Bufan’s explanation, Qin Wanwan and the others followed Xie Gutang to stand in a row behind Luo Bufan with lowered heads.

The young man glanced at them, then returned his gaze to Luo Bufan’s face and said warmly: “This seat has always believed that people from the Heavenly Sword Sect were rigid and upright. I never expected there would be such interesting individuals. Qingxuzi, in the years you’ve been sect leader, the Heavenly Sword Sect has certainly changed quite dramatically.”

Luo Bufan gave a dry laugh and didn’t respond. The young man turned to look at the others: “Since they’re all juniors, this seat won’t hold it against them. This seat slumbered in ice and snow for nine hundred years. After awakening, I heard that to resist the Evil God, the three sects and four cities jointly established the Immortal Alliance. The Evil God has now been silent and unseen for a hundred years, but recently, the Wuxiang Sect divined a heavenly fate.”

As he spoke, the young man raised his hand. The ground rumbled as an astronomical instrument rose up from below. Lights appeared on the instrument, and then a vast starry river materialized in the air. One star crashed into another, then blazed with brilliant light, swallowing the entire galaxy.

“This is…” Liu Yuehua stared blankly at this scene. The young man spoke calmly: “This is the celestial trajectory the Wuxiang Sect observed. That ominous star that swallowed the galaxy is the Evil God. When the Evil God’s radiance blazes forth, all living beings will cease to exist. This…” The young man glanced at everyone. “This is the fate of world annihilation in the future. So this seat has summoned you all here to ask one question: with such an ominous star above, will you all return home to properly enjoy your final days, or will you reform the Immortal Alliance and jointly campaign against the Evil God?”

“No one wants to wait for death,” Song Xinian said, clenching his fists and gritting his teeth. “But… but right now we don’t even know where the Evil God is. How can we campaign against him?”

Everyone glanced at him without saying much.

The matter of Wenxin Sect’s Shen Zhiming being possessed by a demon seed, falling into demonic cultivation, and brutally killing the father and son of Le City’s Jun family was already known throughout the realm. Le City was currently in complete chaos, with the Jun family members fighting over the city lord position, completely unable to attend the Immortal Alliance assembly. Meanwhile, Song Xinian had inherited the position of sect leader at Wenxin Sect. Anyone with eyes could see that once Le City settled down, Wenxin Sect would become Le City’s target for accountability.

Shen Zhiming, harmed by the demon seed, had left Wenxin Sect as a complete mess for Song Xinian. If one had to say who most wanted to kill the Evil God among those present, it would be none other than this young sect leader who wanted to avenge his master.

Yet even he had little confidence in the matter of eliminating the Evil God.

“That’s right,” Ning Buyan said, hearing Song Xinian’s words with considerable worry. “The Evil God appears and disappears without a trace—no one has ever seen him. Even if we form an alliance, if we can’t even find the enemy, what can we do?”

“Who says no one has seen the Evil God?” Hearing this, Cuilu, standing on Qin Wanwan’s shoulder, spoke up. Everyone turned to look as Cuilu transformed from bird form to human form, jumped down, walked to the chair beside Ning Buyan and sat down, then pointed at Jian Xingzhi and Qin Wanwan. “These two have fought the Evil God. Why not ask them?”

“May I ask who you are?” As Cuilu spoke, the young man seemed rather puzzled. Cuilu raised her teacup and offered a salute to the young man. “Venerable Miaoyan, I am Cuilu of Ghost City, currently the City Lord of Ghost City.”

“Seeing once is better than hearing a hundred times,” the young man said, nodding. He then turned to look at Qin Wanwan and Jian Xingzhi. “And who are they?”

“Two experts from the Shangshan Sect—Sect Leader Qin Wanwan,” Xie Gutang interjected, pointing at Qin Wanwan. Qin Wanwan gave an awkward salute in return. Xie Gutang then pointed at Jian Xingzhi. “And Elder Jian Xingzhi.”

“This sect,” the young man asked curiously, “didn’t your master say it doesn’t exist?”

“This sect lives in seclusion and doesn’t emerge into the world, so others don’t know of it,” Xie Gutang explained with a completely serious expression. “These two experts came out of the mountains to hunt down the Evil God and uphold justice.”

“Who they are doesn’t matter,” Cuilu said impatiently, seeing the young man continuing to question them. “Just listen to what they have to say about the Evil God.”

“You’ve seen the Evil God? What does he look like? How can we track him?”

Hearing this, Song Xinian also realized that the Evil God was now the most important matter, and he turned to look at Qin Wanwan.

Qin Wanwan and Jian Xingzhi now both had their celestial realm appearances, so Song Xinian didn’t recognize them at all. When questioned, Qin Wanwan didn’t panic and spoke honestly: “Every time we’ve encountered the Evil God, he was possessing someone else’s body. He should have no physical form and cannot be tracked.”

“Isn’t that just stating the obvious?!”

Song Xinian clenched his fist and slammed it on the table in anger. Jian Xingzhi scoffed: “How did you become sect leader with that brain? Your sect is going to die out in your generation, isn’t it?”

“You…”

“A spirit entity having no physical form means either his spiritual power is insufficient, or his power is incomplete. He cannot condense into a physical body, nor can he find a vessel that can truly merge with his spirit form,” Jian Xingzhi reminded everyone. “In other words, the current Evil God is actually very weak. This is also why he’s been hiding. And for this kind of monster that feeds on human malicious thoughts to be so weak in this small world proves that this small world has something restricting him. So if he can destroy the world in the future, there must be some kind of opportunity. Based on our several encounters with him, his opportunity is the Linglong Jade.”

“Linglong Jade?”

Song Xinian was stunned. Jian Xingzhi nodded: “That’s right. He’s collecting Linglong Jade. So although we can’t track him down, we can wait for him near the Linglong Jade. At the same time, we take a three-pronged approach: First, eliminate demon seeds to reduce his energy source. Second, search for Linglong Jade and wait by the stump for the rabbit. Third, establish the Immortal Alliance and prepare for the final battle of world annihilation.”

“We’re already eliminating demon seeds and searching for Linglong Jade,” Liu Yuehua frowned. “Do we still need to prepare for a world annihilation battle?”

“Heavenly fate cannot be defied,” Jian Xingzhi glanced at the astronomical instrument. “We must prepare for all contingencies.”

“Then,” Luo Bufan pondered, “I’ve heard that four Linglong Jades have already appeared in the world, leaving only the last one. This final piece… where will it appear?”

“For this matter,” Jian Xingzhi turned to look at the young man on the seat, “you should ask Venerable Miaoyan. Your Wuxiang Sect excels at divination—can’t you calculate it?”

“You have two pieces of Linglong Jade in your possession,” the young man said with a smile. “If you give the Linglong Jade to this seat for a moment, this seat can deduce the specific location based on the jade.”

“Venerable Miaoyan has miscalculated,” Qin Wanwan immediately spoke up when she heard this. “When we fought the Evil God in Flower City, our Linglong Jade and the dragon core from my abdomen were both stolen. Even if we wanted to give them, we can’t.”

“Oh?” The young man raised an eyebrow. “So this seat miscalculated.”

“That’s right.”

Cuilu nodded: “Can’t give them.”

The situation became tense. Ning Buyan thought for a moment, then turned to the young man: “Venerable One, with your power, can you really not calculate where the Linglong Jade will appear?”

“I can calculate it, but it requires time,” the young man’s voice was calm. “If there is no Linglong Jade, then I must trouble everyone to wait a moment.”

“Then we trouble the Venerable One. We others will go prepare other matters.” Luo Bufan looked at everyone. “We others should first instruct the disciples of each sect to begin thoroughly investigating demon seeds. At the same time, the Immortal Alliance is being rebuilt for battle and should have an alliance leader to take command. How should this alliance leader be selected? Does anyone have any ideas?”

“Facing the Evil God this time, we shouldn’t limit ourselves to just the three sects and four cities,” Liu Yuehua pondered. “Why not summon the hundred sects for a competition to select the alliance leader? First, this can prepare for the world annihilation battle and select elite talents who can be cultivated. Second, while conducting the selection, we can simultaneously test the many sects for demon seeds, saving time. Third, it also gives other sects more opportunities, so the other sects won’t feel that the three sects and four cities dominate everything, causing them to lose their fighting spirit early.”

“I have no objections.”

Cuilu spoke lazily. Luo Bufan nodded: “This is an excellent method.”

“The Ning family also has no objections.”

“Since everyone has no objections,” Song Xinian’s voice was calm, “Wenxin Sect also has no objections.”

In any case, it wouldn’t fall to him, this young sect leader. Whoever became alliance leader made no difference.

After everyone discussed this, they turned to look at Venerable Miaoyan on the seat.

The young man smiled: “This seat needs to spend time deducing the specific location of the Linglong Jade. As for the matter of the alliance leader, you all can decide as you see fit.”

With that, the young man gestured to a pale-faced young man beside him wearing a robe embroidered with the sun and moon. “This is the current sect leader of our Wuxiang Sect, Yuehu. From now on, if there are other matters, you can directly find Yuehu.”

“Yes.”

Everyone responded respectfully. The young man stood up and stretched: “Ah, this seat is tired. That’s all for now. Everyone, please make yourselves comfortable.”

After Venerable Miaoyan finished speaking, he led his people and left first. Yuehu turned around and looked at everyone calmly: “Everyone, please follow the attendants to the guest rooms to rest for a while. Today I will send out notifications to the hundred sects regarding the Immortal Alliance assembly and alliance leader competition. Tomorrow I will discuss with you all the specific process for selecting the alliance leader.”

With that, maidservants came forward one by one to lead everyone away.

Luo Bufan walked in front, glared at Xie Gutang, and waved his hand: “Gutang, come with me.”

“Yes.”

Xie Gutang lowered his head and followed Luo Bufan away.

Jian Xingzhi held the doll-sized Nanfeng and stood beside Qin Wanwan, watching with concern along with Cuilu as Xie Gutang walked away with Luo Bufan.

“Will he be alright?”

Jian Xingzhi was somewhat worried. Qin Wanwan couldn’t be sure either, murmuring: “Will he be beaten? Put in solitary confinement?”

“I’ve heard that the Heavenly Sword Sect has strict rules…” Cuilu wasn’t very certain, but after thinking, she looked at Jian Xingzhi. “This is all your fault!”

Jian Xingzhi froze. Qin Wanwan also reacted and turned to look at him, joining Cuilu in reproaching him: “This is all your fault!”

“Hey, wait…”

Before Jian Xingzhi could explain, he saw Qin Wanwan and Cuilu walk away together.

Jian Xingzhi stood in place thinking for a moment, then lifted Nanfeng up to eye level and asked him: “Do you also think it’s my fault?”

“This…” Nanfeng forced a smile. “There’s nothing in this world that can be blamed on Daoist Jian. It’s all my fault! If I hadn’t shouted that last time, everyone wouldn’t have been embarrassed…”

Nanfeng had originally meant to comfort Jian Xingzhi, but somehow the more he comforted, the sadder he became.

Seeing him blame himself, Jian Xingzhi tapped his head: “What are you thinking randomly about? You were being dutiful! Come on,” Jian Xingzhi tucked him under his arm and stuffed a candy into his mouth. “Let’s go rest.”

The group followed the attendants to the guest quarters. The attendants assigned everyone rooms, and after everyone returned to wash up and rest, they gathered together in the dining hall for dinner. Still not seeing Xie Gutang return, Jian Xingzhi, chewing on a steamed bun, was somewhat worried: “Why hasn’t Old Xie come back yet? Has the Heavenly Sword Sect detained him?”

“Pass me the pickled vegetables,” Cuilu called to Qin Wanwan while reminding Jian Xingzhi, “The Heavenly Sword Sect is his own sect. Even if they keep him, it would be legitimate. How can it be called detention? Speaking of which, why is this entire meal just pickled vegetables and steamed buns? Is this how the Wuxiang Sect hosts us?”

“Do you think that flowing feast place in Peach Garden will have roast chicken?”

Qin Wanwan bit into her steamed bun, quite dejected: “How can such a large sect not even have any meat?”

Just as the words left her mouth, footsteps sounded from the doorway. Everyone turned to look and found that Xie Gutang had returned.

He looked somewhat dazed. Nanfeng quickly stood up to support him: “Daoist Xie, are you alright?”

Xie Gutang didn’t speak, stumbling to sit down. Jian Xingzhi poured water for Xie Gutang, who took it and gulped it down in one go. Jian Xingzhi patted his back, comforting him: “Old Xie, don’t drink so fast. If you have any difficulties, tell me. I’ll definitely find a way to help you.”

Xie Gutang finished the water in one gulp, set down the cup, and looked up at Jian Xingzhi.

“Senior,” he gazed at him seriously, “is there any method to ascend to immortality overnight?”

Jian Xingzhi fell silent. After a long while, he spoke comfortingly: “Well, although I know today’s incident was quite a blow to you, you shouldn’t go astray. Whoever tells you about overnight ascension to immortality… that’s definitely a sca…”

Before he could finish, Xie Gutang collapsed onto the table, burying his face in his hands and saying nothing more.

Everyone exchanged glances. Qin Wanwan tentatively picked up a steamed bun: “Big Brother Xie, why don’t you eat a steamed bun? The pickled vegetables are good.”

Xie Gutang didn’t speak. Cuilu sighed: “Let him have some quiet time. With today’s situation, anyone would be unable to handle it.”

With that, Cuilu sighed with feeling: “It’s a good thing I’m a bird.”

Everyone fell silent. Jian Xingzhi didn’t dare speak, quietly feeding melon seeds to Nanfeng.

While feeding him, he observed everyone.

Xie Gutang composed himself a bit, sat up straight, looked at the table full of steamed buns and pickled vegetables, sighed, and stood up: “Let’s rest.”

“Master,” 666 said, seeing that Jian Xingzhi kept quiet and feeling anxious, “you haven’t completed your task. Say something! Quickly discuss with everyone what a truly dazzling person should be like!”

“Um…” Urged on by 666, Jian Xingzhi bit the bullet and spoke: “What do you all think—what should a truly dazzling person be like?”

Hearing this, everyone showed expressions of horror. A moment later, all of them had disappeared from the room.

Who cares about dazzling or not dazzling—none of them wanted anything to do with Jian Xingzhi’s task anymore.

—

**Author’s Note:** Qin Wanwan, Xie Gutang, Cuilu: “After ascending in the future, we need never meet again. May there be no Immortal Alliance in the celestial realm.”

Ahhhhh I’m such an idiot. This morning I happily put it in the webpage, clicked “publish directly,” and then I ran off to have fun.

Now I come home to see the little chrysanthemum spinning on the screen, and I fell into deep thought.

Damn, it didn’t publish successfully?!!