Southern Border.
Deep within a mountain, a hundred meters underground, lay a vast cavern. The cavern walls were adorned with countless murals depicting ancient sacrificial sites, their scenes mysterious, eerie, bloodstained, primitive, and chaotic.
The moment Han Yi's sword shattered Li Yuanyi's blood-colored eyeball, the cavern trembled violently, sending sand and gravel cascading from its walls.
A monstrous, eerie roar reverberated through the subterranean chamber.
At that instant, four pillars of spirit light erupted from the cavern's corners, each three meters tall and flickering intensely. As the pillars pulsed, the shaking gradually subsided.
It felt as if a terrifying entity lurking beneath the cavern had been pinned down by these luminous pillars.
The Four Sages Immortal Formation.
With the roar silenced and the cavern restored to stillness, the four flickering pillars of light slowly faded away, concealing themselves once more.
Outside Shu Capital.
Several kilometers from the city, three cultivators emerged from the void and descended into the surrounding forest.
Leading the trio was a youth in splendid purple battle robes, his eyebrows sharp as swords and his eyes sparkling like distant stars.
Beside him stood a middle-aged Confucian Scholar and an elder who appeared utterly unremarkable. In the mortal realm, one might easily mistake him for a butler at first glance.
The middle-aged Confucian Scholar flicked his wrist, summoning a silver Formation Plate. He reached into the plate with his other hand and slowly drew out an ethereal projection—a constantly shifting image of light and shadow. Had Han Yi been present, his eyes would have bulged in astonishment.
The projection depicted the battle between Han Yi and Li Yuanyi, specifically the initial clash: Li Yuanyi descending, Han Yi drawing his sword, and the blade piercing through Li Yuanyi's Magic Artifact, Magic Treasure, and forehead in a single, fatal strike.
As the Blacklight flashed and Li Yuanyi's forehead was pierced, the Confucian Scholar recoiled violently, releasing his grip on the projection as if burned. The ethereal image vanished instantly.
Turning to the Youth in Splendid Attire, the Confucian Scholar said solemnly, "Marquis, this appears to be a Fallen Demigod—one who has severed their Immortal Path and lost their Symbol."
"However, the entity merely projected a wisp of intent through some medium; their true Thought hasn't descended. With the medium destroyed, the Demigod can no longer manifest their Thought here."
Meanwhile, the Elder, having witnessed the ethereal projection, unleashed his terrifying Divine Sense, sweeping across several miles of the surrounding land before expanding further.
"Hmm, intriguing."
"Marquis, the cultivator from that projection is now four miles away, fleeing toward Shu Capital."
"Mid-Foundation Establishment, yet he annihilated a Peak Foundation Establishment cultivator with a single sword strike? Could this sword cultivator be a disciple of the Scarlet Cloud Sword Sect?"
The middle-aged Confucian scholar and the youth in splendid attire swept their Divine Sense outwards, both detecting Han Yi four miles away.
"Hmm, he's even mastered the Disguise Technique?"
"Old Liu, this sword cultivator seems destined to cross paths with you," the Confucian scholar remarked with a smile. The elder returned the smile, as he was the creator of the Disguise Technique.
The youth in splendid attire withdrew his Divine Sense and said with a peculiar expression, "You probably don't know who this sword cultivator is."
"At His Majesty's two-thousandth birthday celebration, eighteen cultivators received imperial rewards. This sword cultivator was one of them."
"His name is Han Yi, from the Heaven's Will Sect. I even saw Old Thief Tianxin personally escorting him into the Great Qian Immortal Palace."
The smiles on the Confucian scholar and the elder's faces froze abruptly, then vanished completely.
"The Heaven's Will Sect?"
"One of Old Thief Tianxin's people?"
The youth in splendid attire, Liu Shentong, the Champion Marquis and one of the youngest Nascent Soul True Monarchs in the Great Qian Immortal Kingdom, turned and stepped back into the void, disappearing without a trace.
Behind him, the Confucian scholar and the elder shook their heads.
"What a pity to waste such a promising talent. That Old Thief Tianxin is truly corrupting people."
"Enough. Let's go."
Meanwhile, on the other side...
Two grueling hours had passed by the time Han Yi, pale-faced and forcibly suppressing the urge to cough up blood, finally reached the foot of Shu Capital. Those two hours had been the most perilous of his life.
Another Robber Cultivator at the Early Foundation Establishment Stage would have sealed his fate right there.
No, not even a Foundation Establishment cultivator. Even a Qi Refining Seventh Layer expert could have pushed him to the brink of death.
Fortunately, Shu Capital was under strict martial law. For the past several days, cultivators from the Six Ministries had been patrolling the city's surroundings and had preemptively eliminated a group of nearby Robber Cultivators. The remaining bandits had wisely retreated, avoiding Shu Capital's reach.
Only through this circumstance was Han Yi able to drag his severely injured body to the city gates.
After retrieving his sword artifact, he had immediately fled towards Shu Capital. Upon arriving, he discovered that this was the twenty-third side gate, a full seven gates away from the one he had left earlier.
This time, he entered Shu Capital through the land passage, not the higher Immortal Boat route.
The gatekeeper, a cultivator at the Ninth Layer of Qi Refining, frowned at Han Yi's pallid complexion, wide, bloodshot eyes, and traces of blood at the corner of his mouth. After reminding Han Yi of the city's lockdown measures and receiving Han Yi's confirmation, he finally granted him entry.
Upon entering Shu Capital, Han Yi immediately sought out an inn catering to ordinary Qi Refining cultivators. Severely injured and barely able to stand, he had neither the time nor the energy to search for the renowned Ten Thousand Immortals Inn.
After prepaying for two months' rent, Han Yi quickly deployed the Seven Stars Profound Origin Formation within his room. He then attempted to retrieve a Medicinal Pill from his Storage Ring, only to realize he couldn't even muster the Divine Sense to access his Storage Pouch. He had reached the end of his rope, completely drained of vitality.
In the next instant, darkness enveloped him, and he collapsed stiffly onto the floor.
He didn't know how much time had passed. Han Yi slowly opened his eyes, struggling to sit up cross-legged with a bitter smile twisting his lips.
This is the first time I've been this utterly defeated, he thought, so utterly exhausted that even my consciousness gave out.
Still, he was grateful he had made it to the inn. Had he collapsed outside, the consequences would have been dire.
When Han Yi tried to retrieve something from his Storage Pouch, he found his Divine Sense still sluggish and his body completely devoid of Mana. He realized he was now no different from a Mortal, save for his slightly stronger Physical Body.
He took a deep breath, which aggravated his injuries, causing him to cough up several mouthfuls of blood. With a light swipe of his sleeve, he wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth.
Next, Han Yi laboriously circulated the Great Sun Divine Gang, feeling as if he were back in the early stages of Qi Refining, relying solely on his Cultivation Technique.
Fortunately, although this inn catered only to Qi Refining cultivators, its Spirit Qi was equivalent to that of a Second-Tier cultivation site. Within an hour, Han Yi had recovered a sliver of his Mana.
Two hours later, his Divine Soul in the Sea of Consciousness Space finally coalesced completely, now in the form of a Soul Tower.
With his Divine Soul restored, Han Yi immediately opened his Storage Pouch and frantically stuffed Soul Pills, Heavenly Net Pills, and other Medicinal Pills into his mouth, disregarding any concerns about pill toxins. He could purge them from his body later.
He then resumed cultivating with Mid-Grade Spirit Stones.
Half a month later:
Han Yi's physical body had fully recovered, his Divine Soul had regained 70% of its strength, but his Spirit Sea was only 30% healed.
A month later:
Han Yi's Divine Soul had completely recovered, and his Spirit Sea was 80% restored.
The remaining damage to his Spirit Sea couldn't be healed overnight. Han Yi estimated it would take at least two years to fully recover from his injuries.
Even this timeframe was remarkably short, a testament to his First-Grade Immortal Foundation and the fact that the foundations of his Sea of Consciousness and Spirit Sea were dozens of times stronger than those of ordinary cultivators at his level.
For an ordinary Mid-Foundation Establishment cultivator, injuries of this magnitude would be nearly impossible to fully recover from. Even if they could, it would take a decade, or even several decades, to heal completely.
With eighty percent of his Spirit Sea restored, Han Yi felt no immediate urgency. There was no point in rushing what couldn't be rushed.
He opened his eyes and slowly exhaled a mouthful of stale air.
"What exactly was that damned thing? It was so bizarre and terrifying."
"Thank goodness I acted decisively. If I hadn't been strong enough to detonate the Magic Treasure, I would have detonated the Seven Stars Kunwu Sword directly."
"Phew, I'm just glad to be alive."
Even now, recalling that perilous moment, Han Yi couldn't shake the lingering fear.
"Li Yuanyi is definitely dead. A Blacklight Sword through the center of his forehead? There's no way he could have survived that."
"The core of that Strange Entity must have been those blood-colored eyeballs that sprouted from his forehead. And those eyeballs only emerged after the blood-colored patterns on Li Yuanyi's face burrowed into his brain."
"This situation is utterly bizarre. I've never encountered anything like it before, and I can't even begin to understand what it truly is."
Han Yi frowned, racking his brain for any relevant passages in ancient texts or hidden scrolls. Nothing matched this unprecedented phenomenon, and no historical precedent came to mind. He had no choice but to abandon his search.
Han Yi knew that the strange entity that had descended through Li Yuanyi's body was definitely not affiliated with the Fragrant Teachings. Even if they were an evil sect, they could never conjure something so bizarre.
He suspected it might be an Evil Immortal or a mutated Heavenly Demon, but without concrete evidence, he couldn't be certain.
"Forget it," he thought. "Even if I knew, it wouldn't change anything."
Unable to act regardless of the truth, Han Yi simply pushed the matter from his mind.
Reviewing the events, he realized that what had possessed Li Yuanyi wasn't even a complete thought, but merely a wisp of intent, utterly devoid of intelligence. This wisp simply followed its master's ingrained patterns, acting like a set of pre-programmed actions.
When Han Yi activated the Seven Stars Kunwu Sword, the wisp sensed the imminent danger. Its master, located unimaginably far away, likely attempted to project a fragment of their consciousness.
Unbeknownst to Han Yi, even if he hadn't destroyed that wisp, the Four Sages Immortal Formation would have blocked the projection, preventing it from traversing the vast distance.
Seven more days passed.
Han Yi finally settled his bill and left the Ten Thousand Immortals Inn, the inn closest to the twenty-third side gate.
Next, Han Yi soared into the sky on his sword, heading toward the Eighth Immortal Ring.
He had lost both his Immortal Boats—one destroyed by a Preaching Envoy of the Fragrant Teachings, the other by Li Yuanyi. Coupled with the two forced returns he had endured along the way, he now carried a psychological scar.
Still, he refused to be deterred. His destination in the Eighth Immortal Ring was the Myriad Immortals Pavilion, where he planned to purchase another Immortal Boat before departing.
Using the face of Han Yi from his previous life for transactions with Shangguan Yun had proven safe in the past.
This time, after buying a new Immortal Boat and leaving Shu Capital, he couldn't believe another Li Yuanyi would be waiting for him.
If misfortune struck again upon exiting the city, he resolved to apply to his Sect for permission to establish a permanent residence in Shu Capital. He would then wait several years to see who possessed greater patience.
Han Yi soared into the sky on his sword, the Green Ripple Sword still beneath his feet. In addition to acquiring a high-quality Immortal Boat, he also intended to purchase a top-tier Top-Grade Magic Artifact to replace the nearly destroyed Black Light Broken Sword.
While the Green Ripple Sword possessed its own peculiar qualities, its power still fell short of that offered by the finest Top-Grade Magic Artifacts.
An hour later...
Just as Han Yi was about to cross from the Ninth Immortal Ring to the Eighth, his brow suddenly furrowed. Over ten miles away, a cultivator was approaching on a sword flight at an impossibly rapid pace.
The crucial factor was the cultivator's terrifyingly dense aura, far surpassing Han Yi's own and even exceeding Li Yuanyi's.
A Golden Core cultivator.
A Golden Core True Person.
A sudden unease surged through Han Yi's heart. Fortunately, his Disguise Technique was active, masking his aura as Early Foundation Establishment and transforming his appearance into that of an elderly cultivator.
He subtly adjusted his sword flight trajectory, only to realize the pursuing Golden Core True Person was still closing in directly on him.
This isn't good!
He's really after me!
The True Person had already closed the distance to about three miles. Strangely, Han Yi found the True Person's aura vaguely familiar.
His pupils abruptly constricted.
Now I remember! This familiarity stemmed from the cultivator who had relentlessly pursued him two months ago after he killed three Preaching Envoys of the Fragrant Teachings and fled back to Shu Capital.
This was one of the Thirty-Three Hall Masters of the Fragrant Teachings.
Damn it.
A tremor ran through Han Yi, but he remained composed. He abruptly shifted his momentum, plummeting from mid-air into the dense mountain forest below.
Han Yi sheathed the Green Ripple Sword behind him and flipped his hand, the purple Seven Stars Kunwu Sword materializing in his grasp.
If push comes to shove, I'll blast him into oblivion, he thought. I even obliterated a Malevolent Entity that descended from afar. I'm confident that even a Golden Core cultivator would be injured by a strike from this magic sword.
But a nagging doubt lingered in his mind amidst his grave thoughts.
How did they find me?
He had altered his appearance and concealed his aura. The only visible clue was his magic robe. Yet with countless such robes in the world, how could they possibly identify him as their target based solely on his attire?
Wait a minute.
Han Yi suddenly realized he had overlooked something else.
The Green Ripple Sword and its sheath.
No, that's not right either.
Shu Capital alone held tens of thousands of swords. Even if there were only nine thousand with similar designs to the Green Ripple Sword, how could they pinpoint him based solely on a sword's color and appearance?
If that were the case, they would have had to exhaustively search the entire city. Given Shu Capital's vastness, it would have been impossible for them to track him down so quickly.
There was definitely something Han Yi didn't know.
A chill ran through his heart, but this was no time for speculation.
His pursuer was closing in. It would be foolish to stop and argue, claiming, "Senior, you've mistaken me for someone else. I'm not the cultivator you're looking for." Would the Daoist simply kill him first and investigate later?
Having navigated the Cultivation World for so long, Han Yi knew better than to make such a foolish mistake.
As Han Yi plunged into the forest, the Golden Core cultivator several kilometers away accelerated, unleashing a wave of murderous intent that swept across the land like a storm.
Han Yi instantly activated his Aura Concealment Technique to its fullest extent. Simultaneously, he channeled all his energy into the Light Body Technique, his figure blurring as he weaved through the ancient trees, shifting positions with lightning speed to cover a hundred meters in an instant.
He knew that remaining airborne would make him a sitting duck. No matter how fast he was, he couldn't outrun a Golden Core cultivator in open flight. His only chance lay in disappearing into the dense forest, using the ancient trees as cover.
However...
His pursuer clearly anticipated his move.
A Daoist figure followed Han Yi into the forest, their movements as fluid as water.
"Han Yi of the Heaven's Will Sect, you can't escape."
A voice brimming with furious intent roared through the mountains and forests.
Lu Jie held two identities. Publicly, he was a Golden Core Elder of the Southern Dipper Divine Palace; secretly, he was one of the Thirty-Three Hall Masters of the Fragrant Teachings.
As a Golden Core cultivator, he had spent nearly half a year hunting down a mere Foundation Establishment cultivator, only to come up empty-handed. The target had vanished without a trace, eluding every tendril of the Fragrant Teachings' extensive intelligence network.
After months of fruitless pursuit, Lu Jie finally realized the truth: his quarry had mastered spells to alter his appearance, even his aura. His initial amusement at this cat-and-mouse game shattered, replaced by a burning rage at being outmaneuvered.
Thus, he secretly contacted one of the Fragrant Teachings' Eight Great Protectors, a high-ranking Guardian deeply embedded within the Six Ministries of Great Qian. This Guardian, wielding authority over the Shu Prefecture Imperial Observatory's powerful divination tools, pinpointed Han Yi's location.
Lu Jie immediately set out in pursuit.
From over ten miles away, his Divine Sense swept over Han Yi, revealing the truth: without the covert guidance of a True Monarch, he would never have recognized Han Yi, even if they had passed face-to-face. This revelation only deepened his fury.
Han Yi was now marked for death on his kill list.
After landing in the mountain forest, Lu Jie felt a surge of exhilaration mixed with his fury. The hunt was back on track, like a cat chasing a mouse.
Han Yi moved swiftly, but Lu Jie was even faster.
Even with the complex terrain to his advantage, Han Yi couldn't prevent Lu Jie from steadily closing the distance.
They were now approximately five hundred meters apart, well within striking range for Golden Core cultivators.
However, Lu Jie had no intention of killing Han Yi so quickly. He wanted to instill terror, crush his spirit, and capture him alive, bringing him back to his Pill Cultivation Field to nourish the Scented Fragrance Pill.
The gap narrowed further, to less than three hundred meters.
Suddenly, Lu Jie froze in shock.
Han Yi had turned to face him, his eyes blazing with a desperate, suicidal resolve. Roaring with twisted fury, he brandished a sword artifact radiating a destructive aura—a weapon Lu Jie recognized instantly.
Over the past half-year, Lu Jie had investigated Han Yi of the Heaven's Will Sect. Though his information was limited, he knew the man had murky ties to True Monarch Heavenly Heart and had recently been granted a Patrol Envoy Token and a Low-Grade Magic Treasure during the Great Qian Emperor's birthday celebration.
Lu Jie was certain that the sword artifact Han Yi was about to detonate was none other than the Seven Stars Kunwu Sword.
Even a Golden Core cultivator would hesitate to face the self-destruction of a top-tier Low-Grade Magic Treasure, especially one bestowed by the Great Qian Emperor himself. Lu Jie had no intention of being dragged down by Han Yi's suicide attempt. Capturing him alive would be ideal, but if that proved impossible, so be it.
With this in mind, Lu Jie soared into the sky, using his Escape Technique to vanish above the forest canopy.
Boom!
An explosion erupted from the forest ahead, but it was surprisingly brief and sounded weak.
"Hmm? Something's wrong."
Lu Jie's eyes widened. He abruptly descended back into the forest, spotting Han Yi already fleeing beyond the edge of his vision. Where Han Yi had been standing, only a shattered ancient tree remained, destroyed by a Magic Artifact's explosion. The sound had come from the tree's destruction.
Lu Jie's hair bristled with fury, his rage escalating like a wildfire.
"Han Yi!"
"I'll kill you!!"
Lu Jie roared, resuming his pursuit. This time, fueled by his unleashed rage, he pushed himself to his absolute limit, abandoning his earlier playful demeanor.
A kilometer away, Han Yi felt a pang of helplessness.
His earlier feint—pretending to self-destruct—was a trick he'd learned from a cunning old cultivator in Red Phoenix City, a desperate diversion to buy himself time to escape.
However, such a deception might work against opponents of equal cultivation, but against a cultivator a full major realm above him, even if successful, it would only enrage them further.
Han Yi had no choice. The maneuver had bought him only a few precious seconds.
As the Golden Core cultivator closed to within five hundred meters, he unleashed a sword artifact that shot through the air like a silver streak.
Yet, at that very moment, Han Yi's heart leaped with joy.
On his Proficiency Panel, a faint red light heralded a new development:
Light Body Technique (Return to Simplicity 1/100)
Previously, Han Yi's Light Body Technique had lagged behind his Sword Control Technique, stuck at 99/100 progress in Peak Perfection. His feigned detonation of the Seven Stars Kunwu Sword had been a desperate gamble to buy himself time for this breakthrough.
Boom!
The silver sword artifact effortlessly shattered an ancient tree and slammed into the spot where Han Yi had been standing.
"Hmm?"
Lu Jie felt neither relief nor pleasure, only shock.