“…”

At this moment, Jian Chou just wanted to sigh deeply and ask: What exactly was going on?

Watching Shen Jiu, who claimed to be the fourth disciple under Fudao Shanren, after asking whether Jian Chou had a dao companion, actually face opposition from all the Yashan disciples still gathered below!

And moreover…

The words they spoke truly made one break out in cold sweat.

If not for what she’d seen and heard along the way to Shijiu Zhou, giving Jian Chou a clear understanding of Yashan’s reputation outside, she might have thought this was a bandit’s den.

Ahead, the elegantly postured Shen Jiu also heard the loud voices of doubt from behind.

He smiled apologetically at Jian Chou: “Senior Sister Jian Chou, please don’t blame them. Our Yashan disciples have always been the most infatuated group on this Shijiu Zhou land, so they don’t understand social customs. Let junior brother properly teach them a lesson.”

“Bullshit!”

Someone below immediately shouted disrespectfully at the top of their lungs.

“You’re fucking dishonest! How can you take advantage of having the chance to guide Master Uncle Jian Chou and make the first move?!”

Shen Jiu’s snow-white robes and perfectly beautiful smile finally showed a crack.

Jian Chou saw him slowly turn around, standing on the stone path, facing the boiling crowd below.

“Who just shouted about pursuing Senior Sister Jian Chou? Stand up!”

“…”

Complete silence below.

A few hotheads found it strange and finally stood up: “Us!”

“You?” Shen Jiu’s lips curved in an unusually pure and kind cold smile as he crossed his arms over his chest. “What generation are you? Do you have the qualifications to pursue my Senior Sister Jian Chou? You two should call her Master Uncle! Should I tell the sect master about this and see what he says? See what the elders say!”

Damn!

Everyone was speechless for a moment.

Only now did their heated minds finally cool down.

Tell the sect master, tell the elders?

Did they still want to live?

They had declared they wanted to pursue the newly arrived Master Uncle Jian Chou. If they succeeded, how would the generations be calculated?

Would they have to make their masters bow their heads when meeting them?

You must know that even the sect master and the four elders had to call out “eldest senior sister” when seeing Jian Chou!

Reminded by Shen Jiu, everyone finally woke up.

Seeing that hint of a pure and kind smile on Shen Jiu’s lips, everyone felt a chill down their spines.

That bastard Shen Jiu!

Too much bullying!

Someone reacted: “But Master Uncle Jian Chou belongs to all of us. Why do you get to pursue her first?!”

“Why?”

Shen Jiu twisted his neck and raised his hand, pointing at his face.

“Although we all rely on our faces to eat in Yashan, I am the best-looking one in Yashan. Are you so dissatisfied that you want to draw swords?!”

When he said the words “draw swords,” Shen Jiu’s voice suddenly rang out sharply.

In that instant, a battle disc two zhang in diameter suddenly lit up on the Yashan path, suspended on the mountainside!

The suddenly appearing magnificent silver light was extremely dazzling, clear, and eye-catching in the gradually deepening night!

The wildly spinning battle disc stirred up swirling spiritual energy!

Shen Jiu’s robes fluttered and flew up, and his face became even more handsome under the battle disc’s illumination.

The people standing in the plaza below looked up to see Shen Jiu standing at the center of the battle disc and fell silent.

Shen Jiu was now a Nascent Soul cultivator!

Draw swords?

How were they qualified to talk about drawing swords with Shen Jiu?

Simply perverted!

This was blatant bullying!

Unfortunately, no one dared say a word.

Seeing that releasing his battle disc had intimidated so many people, Shen Jiu breathed a sigh of relief.

He turned to look at Jian Chou.

Jian Chou’s gaze fell on the battle disc beneath his feet, seeming very interested.

With a thought, Shen Jiu’s Wanxiang Battle Disc flashed and suddenly disappeared into the ground.

He turned back toward the crowd and softened his tone: “Alright, all senior and junior nephews should go back first. It’s getting late, and everyone welcoming the eldest senior sister today must have moved her greatly. Master also instructed me to settle the eldest senior sister properly—I can’t delay. Everyone can meet again tomorrow. As for any dissatisfaction, let’s meet at the Sword-Drawing Platform!”

“Forget it, let’s just disperse.”

“Originally, I was just joining the excitement. Our Yashan has its first female disciple—isn’t a group of female disciples not far away?”

“Haha, exactly.”

“Master Uncle Jian Chou seems quite kind, completely different from Great Master Uncle Fudao.”

“I’m also curious how Master Uncle Fudao could take in such a… such a… normal disciple?”

“Could it be that Master Uncle Jian Chou only appears kind on the surface?”

“That can’t be…”

Someone wailed.

Amid the varied discussions, the crowd finally dispersed.

Jian Chou stood in place, picking up quite a bit from their conversations.

She looked at Shen Jiu with some inquiry in her gaze.

This fourth junior brother seemed a bit different from the others.

Seeing everyone had left, Shen Jiu smugly whistled.

He walked back to Jian Chou’s side with a relaxed manner, smiling: “Now that they’ve left, it’s finally quiet. Master entrusted you to me. How about I show senior sister around this Yashan?”

Jian Chou temporarily said nothing.

She looked to the side.

When coming up from the Yashan path, she remembered there was also Junior Brother Qu Zhengfeng, who seemed unreliable but perhaps more reliable than the one before her.

However, the moment she saw the expression on Qu Zhengfeng’s face, she finally couldn’t help but twitch her eye corner.

“Junior Brother Qu?”

Qu Zhengfeng still looked at Jian Chou with that strange admiring gaze, his voice carrying a tone of praise: “Indeed worthy of being Eldest Senior Sister Jian Chou, who could bring Master back!”

Then he looked at Shen Jiu with a half-smiling expression.

Indeed worthy of being our Yashan’s most handsome Junior Brother Shen. Very impressive when displaying the battle disc earlier! Our Yashan has successors…”

“…”

This Junior Brother Qu was a bit frightening, wasn’t he?

Jian Chou inexplicably sensed some danger and, after thinking, decided to pretend she hadn’t asked anything, turning back: “Junior Brother Shen.”

“I’m here.” Shen Jiu quickly smiled. “What instructions does the senior sister have?”

“No instructions, but arriving at Yashan today and meeting Junior Brother Shen for the first time, I find him quite witty and humorous.”

Saying this, Jian Chou felt somewhat sorry for her conscience.

She paused and continued: “When Junior Brother Shen asked if I had a dao companion earlier, my answer was… no.”

“Wonderful!”

Shen Jiu’s eyes lit up.

Jian Chou didn’t even lift her eyelids, smiling slightly as she asked: “However, traveling all this way, I also have a doubt I’d like Junior Brother Shen to help answer.”

“Senior Sister Jian Chou, please ask freely. Shen Jiu will tell you everything I know!”

Without hesitation, he made grand promises.

Shen Jiu looked completely sincere.

Jian Chou nodded and asked: “When you ask if someone has a dao companion, are you declaring your feelings to them?”

“…More or less.”

Shen Jiu never expected Jian Chou to directly ask such a question—so straightforward, it caught him completely off guard!

After being stunned for a moment, he answered with two words.

“I see.”

Jian Chou thought, if that was the case, then Li Sui had also declared his feelings to her?

But…

She looked at Shen Jiu once, ultimately shaking her head without speaking further.

The red sun on the horizon had now sunk heavily below the ground level.

The entire plaza was dim, with a pale crescent moon slowly emerging from the sky’s edge, becoming clearer and clearer.

Jian Chou looked toward the stone stairs on her right, from where she could descend to the plaza.

She also wanted to walk around Yashan, so she stepped forward.

This action fell into Shen Jiu’s eyes with an inexplicable strangeness.

He quickly followed Jian Chou’s steps, walking beside her, step by step down the stone stairs.

“Why doesn’t Senior Sister Jian Chou ask more? What ‘I see’?”

“Nothing more to ask. I just feel that cultivators’ dao companions seem different from mortal couples.”

Jian Chou stepped on each level of the stairs, looking at the warm yellow lights around the plaza’s edge, so warm they gave her the illusion of seeing village lights from the past.

However, she knew they weren’t.

“When I came to Shijiu Zhou, on Zhanye Island, someone asked me the same question. But at that time, I didn’t know what a dao companion was.”

Hearing this, Shen Jiu was startled.

But Jian Chou didn’t look at his expression, smiling faintly: “I had a husband in the mortal world and once had a child. Mortals are perhaps truly more common, requiring two hearts never to part, growing old together. Unfortunately, I couldn’t achieve that. Dao companions among cultivators seem much more casual, much more utilitarian. I don’t like it—not today, not in the future.”

This was a rejection.

But this rejection somehow made Shen Jiu feel an indescribable feeling.

He’d only heard that Master had taken in an older disciple, but Shen Jiu hadn’t expected that this was not only a previously married woman but someone who had even had a child.

She had come to Yashan, but what about that child?

Shen Jiu instinctively wanted to ask, but seeing the calm smile on Jian Chou’s face, he somehow held back.

“I understand. Shen Jiu was presumptuous today—I’m usually so frivolous… Well, please don’t blame me, Senior Sister Jian Chou!”

He pretended to be honest, scratching his head and laughing foolishly, quite resembling Fudao Shanren’s style.

“As for those senior and junior nephews today most were just joking around without any ill intent. After all, having female cultivators in our Yashan is quite rare. Senior sister might not understand well, having just arrived at Yashan, but… well, you’ll get used to it after a while!”

Jian Chou had also observed the earlier scene.

She didn’t see any frivolity, only genuine enthusiasm, without any disgusting malice, so naturally she didn’t mind.

She was just curious about what exactly cultivators’ “dao companions” were.

Thinking this, she finally reached the last stone step, her feet touching the ground. Standing on the plaza and looking up, she could better feel the plaza’s vastness and the opposing platform’s height.

“Yashan is quite good.”

This tone carried an inexplicable warmth that made people feel cozy.

Yashan was good?

Good?

In all his years at Yashan, Shen Jiu had never heard anyone speak with such warm and simple words.

He suddenly realized that this eldest senior sister before him was indeed different from those rough-as-can-be Yashan fellow disciples, and not simply because she was a female cultivator.

She was different from other female cultivators, too.

At that moment, Shen Jiu even had an absurd thought: Could Master have suddenly grown a conscience and specifically found such a unique eldest senior sister to reform them?

The image of Fudao Shanren’s crafty smile immediately appeared in his mind.

Shen Jiu shuddered and quickly suppressed that thought.

“Well, Yashan is big when you say it’s big, small when you say it’s small. Yashan sect’s territory is vast, but the real Yashan is right here. This plaza is called Lingzhao Peak, though it’s generally used for martial practice.”

Jian Chou listened and nodded.

Now Shen Jiu finally acted as a guide and narrator, walking half a step ahead.

The plaza was large, and their pace was neither fast nor slow.

Shen Jiu pointed to the left—the plaza’s side against the steep mountain wall, with lights seeming to shine from within.

“The side of the plaza against Yashan’s cliff wall is generally residential, with many rooms carved into the mountain wall. I saw Junior Brother Qu had already left earlier—probably preparing quarters for Senior Sister Jian Chou. Look over there—”

Changing direction to the plaza’s surrounding buildings.

“Starting from the left, there’s the Artifact Refining Hall, Pill Refining Hall, Star Observation Hall, and Administrative Hall. Oh, the rightmost one is the Delicacies Hall, though generally no one uses it…”

Jian Chou could understand artifact and pill refining. Star observation was probably about celestial patterns, possibly related to the Wanxiang Battle Discs. Administrative hall was also understandable, but…

“Delicacies Hall?”

Legend said cultivators could practice inedia through cultivation. How did this Delicacies Hall sound particularly like a kitchen?

Mentioning this, Shen Jiu raised a finger to scratch his forehead, somewhat embarrassed.

“This… has a big relationship with our master. Well… I thought, senior sister, you… well…”

He spoke intermittently, but while speaking, he gave Jian Chou a “you know” expression.

Jian Chou easily understood his meaning, remembering the chicken leg that had never left Fudao Shanren’s mouth since their first meeting, remembering his drooling over Da Bai’e…

She helplessly nodded: “I understand.”

Jian Chou’s expression made Shen Jiu laugh out loud.

“What are you laughing at?”

“Nothing.” Shen Jiu held back. “Just feel that Senior Sister Jian Chou’s days with Master these past few days weren’t easy.”

More than not easy?

Jian Chou didn’t want to talk but said: “That said, Master is a bit greedy, a bit lazy, a bit stupid, a bit stingy, a bit scheming…”

Speaking, Jian Chou suddenly fell silent.

Shen Jiu looked at the sky: “What other virtues could he possibly have?”

Jian Chou was silent for a long while, then tentatively said: “Good person?”

“…”

Shen Jiu immediately looked at Jian Chou like she was some kind of beast!

This eldest senior sister seemed a bit different from his initial impression!

She could say “good person” with such a calm, composed expression! Indeed, the same type as that old bastard Fudao Shanren!

Shen Jiu felt completely deceived.

He stared at Jian Chou for a long time, not knowing what to say!

Finally, with twitching mouth corners, he squeezed out: “Maybe.”

Ha, could Fudao Shanren be a “good person”?

The sun would rise in the west, and even the Yashan sect master would particularly love his current position!

Go fool ghosts!

Since becoming Fudao Shanren’s disciple, Shen Jiu hadn’t had a single good day, being tormented to death, finally becoming the old hand he was today after great difficulty—truly tears of bitterness!

Unexpectedly, today, Master took in an eldest senior sister who said Master was a good person!

Was the eldest senior sister white on the outside but black inside, or was Master good to the eldest senior sister?

Thinking this, Shen Jiu suddenly felt terrible.

Either way was frightening!

So, better not think about it.

Wiping the cold sweat that inexplicably appeared on his head, Shen Jiu finally broke the silence again.

This time when he spoke, there was some trembling.

“Anyway, this Delicacies Hall is generally only used by the Master. In the three hundred years Master wasn’t here, it probably grew mushrooms.”

While speaking, the two had reached the center of Lingzhao Peak—the spring pool Jian Chou had seen from the Yashan path, which looked quite large.

On both sides of the spring pool were streams flowing toward the left and right sides of Lingzhao Peak.

On this windless evening, the pool’s surface reflected the crescent moon above, shattering the moonlight and spreading it across gentle ripples.

Standing by the pool, Jian Chou looked down but couldn’t see the bottom.

“This pool seems quite deep.”

“This is a cold spring, very deep indeed. It goes straight down through this mountain to underground depths. Every August, a flock of white cranes flies down from the sky to rest here—supposedly the flock raised by Yashan’s founding master, so it’s called ‘Returning Crane Well.'”

Shen Jiu also stood over with a smile.

“In another month, senior sister will be able to see the cranes.”

So it was a well. She had thought it was like the small stone pool she’d seen on Deng Tiandao.

Her gaze fell on the rippling waves of Returning Crane Well’s surface, but Jian Chou’s mind quickly flashed with images of nearly transparent mayflies in morning light.

For a moment, she was stunned.

Looking up at the moon, today was almost over—it was now deep night.

How was that youth doing?

“Senior sister?”

Not seeing Jian Chou react for a while, Shen Jiu found it strange and couldn’t help asking.

Only then did Jian Chou come back to herself: “Just now seeing this Returning Crane Well reminded me of someone…”

“An old friend?” Shen Jiu interjected.

Jian Chou shook her head: “No, a chance encounter, strangers who knew nothing of each other, an unimportant person. But this Returning Crane Well—I wonder what it will be like in August. I’ll have to look then and broaden my horizons.”

“Yashan has many more beautiful scenic spots. Besides the cranes of Returning Crane Well, there’s also Zhaixing Platform on the Yashan path, Lanyue Stairs of the front mountain’s Lanyue Hall, and going down from Lingzhao Peak, there’s Fengyin Valley…”

In short, there were too many fun and beautiful places.

Shen Jiu counted them one by one, leading Jian Chou to continue forward.

Further ahead was that enormous high platform.

Previously on the Yashan path, when Jian Chou looked from afar, she only saw that this platform’s base was thirty zhang from the ground, but walking closer, she discovered there was indeed something supporting the space between the platform and the ground.

However, this supporting object was even more shocking.

Supporting the high platform was a thirty-zhang long sword!

The sword was very thin, its point embedded in this enormous Lingzhao Peak, while its hilt pressed tightly against the platform above.

This platform was twenty-five zhang wide, forty zhang long, and five zhang thick!

How much must such an enormous platform weigh?

Could this sword support it?!

Standing in the enormous shadow the platform cast on the ground, Jian Chou stopped and looked up, feeling an inexplicable tremor in her heart.

Shen Jiu’s voice was unusually calm in the night.

Standing beside Jian Chou, he said: “This platform is called the Sword-Drawing Platform.”

“Sword-Drawing Platform…”

Jian Chou murmured.

Shen Jiu said, “All we Yashan disciples maintain righteous hearts and uphold the Way. We draw swords against evil demons, draw swords against injustice, draw swords against violations of conscience… The world has all kinds of worries and troubles—why not draw swords to resolve them?”

“So that’s why you said ‘draw swords’ to so many people earlier?”

Jian Chou still remembered that on the Yashan path, Shen Jiu had shouted “draw swords,” and everyone immediately fell quiet.

Shen Jiu had originally just casually mentioned matters regarding the Sword-Drawing Platform, not expecting Jian Chou to think in that direction.

He somewhat embarrassedly touched his nose: “They say draw swords to cut heart demons, cutting away worldly troubles… but in our Yashan, everyone just… draws swords at the slightest disagreement!”

Draw swords at the slightest disagreement!

Whoever wins is the boss!

Shen Jiu was an outstanding member among this group of “sword-drawing sect” disciples in Yashan, never losing after drawing his sword.

So when he made that harsh statement on the Yashan path today, everyone chickened out.

Jian Chou hadn’t expected Shen Jiu to suddenly say, “draw swords at the slightest disagreement.” It sounded simple and brutal enough, yet very straightforward without so many complications.

After thinking for a while, Jian Chou nodded: “I like this.”

“Eh?”

Shen Jiu looked at Jian Chou with great surprise, his eyes immediately lighting up.

“Does senior sister intend to become a member of our sword-drawing sect?”

Sword-drawing sect?

Jian Chou was puzzled.

Shen Jiu became somewhat excited and quickly explained: “Senior sister, you know that in any sect, there are people with different ideas. Some think reasoning is better, while others are naturally without so many complications in their heads—bold and straightforward, like junior brother me.”

He was quite good at putting gold on his face. Jian Chou silently thought this was very similar to Fudao Shanren.

Naturally, Shen Jiu didn’t know what Jian Chou was thinking and continued: “The sword-drawing sect is the largest faction among our Yashan disciples. Everyone doesn’t reason; they only talk about strength. When there’s something uncomfortable, they go directly with force. Senior sister, you… Well, want to consider it?”

Consider drawing swords at the slightest disagreement?

Listening, Jian Chou felt that Shen Jiu before her was quite an interesting person.

“I’ll consider it.”

She sighed deeply, glanced at the high Sword-Drawing Platform, and slowly turned around. Now all of Yashan was in her view.

When she came, she looked down from the Yashan path. Now, standing beneath the Sword-Drawing Platform, she looked up at Yashan.

The crescent-shaped mountain wall half-embraced the circular Lingzhao Peak. The Yashan cliff seemed to have window after window, with varying depths of spiritual light shining through, as if people were cultivating inside, occasionally showing human figures.

The murals and totems on the Yashan path, under the gentle moonlight, were only half visible, the rest somewhat blurred.

Directly ahead, below the Yashan path, was a giant gate with bright lights.

Shen Jiu thought there would be plenty of time later. Since the eldest senior sister was also a Master’s disciple, she would eventually join their sword-drawing sect anyway.

Seeing Jian Chou looking ahead, he remembered: “That’s where Yashan disciples gather, sitting together to chat when there’s nothing to do, though major assemblies are held on this Lingzhao Peak.”

Jian Chou nodded, looking up at this lofty Yashan.

She had climbed up the Yashan path and now stood on solid ground, actually above the layers of clouds.

Yashan…

From Daxia’s small mountain village, crossing the sea eastward, coming to Shijiu Zhou, now standing here.

This enormous change suddenly filled Jian Chou with boundless emotion.

This would be her home from now on.

She slowly lowered her head, lifted her plain robe, overlapped her palms, and covered her forehead, solemnly and reverently kneeling.

From now on, she was no longer the Xie Jian Chou of the mortal world who married and taught children, but—

A disciple of Yashan, Jian Chou.

Only now did that truly genuine feeling of rebirth envelop her.

Jian Chou’s forehead touched Lingzhao Peak’s cold ground. She recalled that when she first bowed to Fudao Shanren as master, it seemed the same.

Cold all over.

But unlike then, now her heart was warm.

“Senior Sister Jian Chou…”

Shen Jiu, standing beside her, hadn’t expected Jian Chou to make such a gesture. After being stunned for a moment, he quickly moved to help her up.

But Jian Chou just slowly stood up, turning with a carefree smile: “Don’t worry, I’m fine.”

“…”

Shen Jiu’s eyes flickered, feeling quite strange.

He remembered Jian Chou saying she had been married and had a child, yet now stood alone on this Yashan Lingzhao Peak. He remembered her saying cultivators’ dao companions were different from mortal couples—growing old together without separation, but she had been unable to achieve it…

Without asking why Jian Chou had come to Yashan, Shen Jiu thought about it and even suppressed all his questions, smiling: “It’s getting late, and senior sister has come all the way up from the Yashan path—you must be tired. Junior Brother Qu has probably prepared senior sister’s place. Please follow me.”

He gestured and led the way.

Jian Chou nodded and followed, slowly walking across this broad Lingzhao Peak, becoming a faint shadow under the pale moonlight.

Moonlight stretched for thousands of li, covering the entire land of Shijiu Zhou.

Continuing east from Yashan, crossing a long mountain range and spanning vast plains, one could see ten peaks standing prominently on the plains, with Jiutou River’s winding curves skirting these ten peaks’ edges, beautiful.

An ancient and mottled stone tablet stood by the Jiutou River.

—Kunwu.

“Didn’t expect that after three hundred years of abandoning Central Domain affairs, he’s returned…” An elderly Daoist with gray hair and a white beard stood by the river with his hands behind his back, gazing at the water.

The usually raging Jiutou River became unusually calm when passing Kunwu.

The broad river surface was like a smooth mirror without the slightest ripple.

Water light met sky, moonlight like silk.

Another young man carrying a sword stood behind the old Daoist, frowning: “Master, Fudao Shanren has always ignored worldly affairs. Since he hasn’t cared for three hundred years, he should have no interest in the Enforcement Elder position. With the time for re-selecting the Enforcement Elder approaching, his return now—isn’t it too coincidental?”

The old Daoist wore a peaceful smile, his wise gaze penetrating the shallow mist on the river.

“Whether he returns or not won’t greatly affect our Kunwu. He’s opposed me all these years—I know his temperament. I estimate it’s not for the Enforcement Elder position, just because he took in a new disciple.”

In the Central Domain of Shijiu Zhou, while Yashan’s special status was correct, if discussing actual strength and position, if Kunwu dared claim second, no other sect dared claim first.

Moreover, here was Hengxu Laoguai, currently the highest cultivator in the cultivation world.

Hearing this, the young man spoke cautiously, though his words carried hidden disdain: “That bunch of good-for-nothings in Yashan now took in a female disciple named Jian Chou—your disciple heard about it long ago. Master—”

The young man wanted to say more, but saw Hengxu Laoguai suddenly raise his hand.

All his words immediately stopped. Looking up.

A misty blue light broke through the river mist, crossing over at extreme speed.

A person in blue robes fluttered in the wind. Without using any artifacts, he came riding the wind, ethereal and otherworldly in temperament.

When closer, one could see his frost-touched brows and eyes, and an indifferent, emotionless face.

This was exactly the disciple Hengxu Laoguai had taken in thirteen days ago—

Xie Buchen.

Originally swift as flowing light, seeing Hengxu Laoguai, he didn’t slow down at all but became even faster.

The young man couldn’t help tensing his body, frowning tightly with hidden wariness.

But Hengxu Laoguai smiled with great appreciation, neither dodging nor avoiding.

That blue light charged straight forward without stirring the river surface even slightly, instantly stopping exactly three feet before Hengxu Laoguai.

He cupped his hands in salute with an indifferent expression.

“Greetings, Master.”

Seeing him like this, Hengxu Laoguai sighed deeply: “Buchen’s talent is exceptional, truly rarely seen in my lifetime. Originally, I didn’t want to disturb your cultivation, but recently, there are some Central Domain matters to discuss with you.”

Xie Buchen didn’t speak.

His eyebrows arched like the cold tip of a three-foot blue blade. His eyes were indifferent, even cold eyes without emotion, gazing at Hengxu Laoguai without particular reverence or affection.

As if everyone in his eyes was no different from grass and trees.

Standing lightly on the river surface, he seemed to have a brilliant radiance surrounding him, as good as water.

The appreciation and admiration in Hengxu Laoguai’s eyes grew stronger as he slowly explained the matter.

But the young man behind Hengxu Daoist had no mind to listen, only fixing his gaze on Xie Buchen’s feet—

Foundation Establishment could control artifacts, and Golden Core could fly through the air.

This “Junior Brother Xie,” legendary for achieving Foundation Establishment in ten days and reaching Foundation Establishment peak in thirteen days to become the foremost below Golden Core, stood lightly suspended above the river surface with nothing beneath his feet!

…

At that moment, the young man felt a chill rising from his heart.

Xie Buchen paid no attention, maintaining his indifferent appearance.

After hearing what Hengxu Laoguai entrusted, he slowly nodded with a calm voice: “This disciple understands.”