I've already become an immortal lord, and only now is the spiritual energy reviving?

"hiss......"

His eyelids felt incredibly heavy, and Xu Sixing's gaze gradually focused.

What comes into view is a stone chamber cave.

"woke up?"

A sudden, soft sound drifted into my ears.

Xu Sixing felt a jolt.

Turning my head, I was surprised to find a person sitting upright in the corner of the stone chamber.

Dressed in white, her expression was aloof and serene.

"Miss Su... Miss Su?!"

"Now that you're awake, drink this first."

Shu Yan casually pushed the jade bowl, and it came to a steady stop in front of Xu Sixing.

The bowl contains a pool of clear water, reflecting a waning, cold moon, its surface shimmering.

Xu Sixing had no more reservations and drank it all in one gulp.

The coolness entered my throat, instantly easing the heat in my internal organs and restoring clarity to my confused mind.

"Miss Su, what... what exactly is going on?"

Pressing his aching temple, Xu Sixing tried hard to recall.

The only remaining memories are of him handing his body over to Zhu Ming and the intertwining of golden light and raging fire.

After that, all was nothingness.

"The situation is very simple."

Shu Yan's tone was flat:

"Wen Xianyun used the evil spirit within the treasure seal to manifest his power, but you are no pushover either, so you borrowed external force to fight him to the death."

"With a single sword strike, he burned away both his physical body and soul, resulting in a stalemate between him and the evil spirit."

"As for why he didn't die..."

"Perhaps it was not your time to die, or perhaps Guanhuamen did not want you to die."

Shu Yan stood up, gently waved her hand, and pushed open the heavy stone door, letting in a flood of light.

"After a good rest, come to the back mountain. There are some people and some things we should see."

After saying that, she didn't wait for Xu Sixing's response and strode out.

The cave returned to deathly silence.

Xu Sixing sat on the stone bed, his eyes somewhat glazed over.

He lowered his head and opened his left hand, which had been clenched tightly.

A broken sword hilt lay in his palm, with faint traces of some kind of burn mark remaining on it.

That was his sword, and the only thing Zhu Ming left him.

"An old man?"

He tentatively called out in his mind.

no respond.

"An old man? Zhu Ming?!"

The tone was raised.

The sea of ​​consciousness is empty and desolate, with only echoes.

In the past, no matter when, a shout would always bring out the talkative, boastful, and occasionally profound old man.

But now...

"Zhu Ming!"

"Stop playing dead! Didn't you pretend to be dead to fool me last time too?! You must have fallen asleep from exhaustion this time, right?"

No one answered.

A profound sense of emptiness washed over him, overwhelming him.

That remnant soul who was both a teacher and a friend, who accompanied him through the darkest years of the Imperial Sword Sect, seems to be... truly gone.

Xu Sixing's eyes reddened, and he gripped the broken sword in his hand even tighter.

Suddenly, he noticed something was amiss.

The sword hilt trembled.

Guided by his thoughts, the broken sword body extended on its own, and two completely different auras intertwined.

Thunder is associated with Zhen, and fire with Li.

At the spine of the sword, two ancient cloud-shaped characters appeared—【Zhen Li】.

"This is....."

My spiritual sense probed into the sword's body, where the inner world was solemn and mysterious beyond description.

Above, crimson flames and flowing gold hang, the great sun patrols the sky, and the Vermilion Bird soars and dances, manifesting the shape of the Eight Trigrams [Li].

Below, it receives the divine grace of thunder and lightning, with thunder generals guarding it, and a dragon raising its head, implicitly embodying the trigram Zhen.

A supreme sword tower entwined with thunder and fire.

【Li Zhao Zhen Ze Jian Que】.

Zhu Ming's final gift, which was also his Dao foundation, was sealed within the sword.

"The old man without a heir..."

"You dumped all your belongings on me and left so cleanly! But this debt... where am I supposed to repay it?!"

Xu Sixing wiped his face, his features contorted, looking as if he were both crying and laughing.

Then look inward at yourself.

The situation was frighteningly bizarre.

The dantian was shattered beyond recognition, yet it seemed to have been patched up and was barely able to continue functioning.

His cultivation level fluctuated wildly between the first and sixth levels of Qi Refining, like he was having a seizure.

But when the divine sense touched the [Zhenli] sword, a terrifying illusion arose that could shake the heavens and earth.

Xu Sixing straightened up, leaning against the wall, and tidied his disheveled clothes.

Push open the cave door.

The sunlight was a bit too bright.

Before us lay a winding stone staircase leading to the summit.

"Guanhua Gate".

He murmured to himself, tightened his grip on the [Zhenli] sword, and stepped forward.

......

The room was dimly lit.

"Master Zhu Ming is truly blessed with good fortune and a long life."

Looking at the incense burner icon in the lower right corner of the screen, Qingyuan let out a sigh.

Amidst the swirling purple smoke, a faint red light within the [Furnace Realm] flickered between light and shadow.

Previously, when Zhu Ming burned his soul to fight against the mirage gold, Qingyuan thought he was definitely doomed.

Unexpectedly, a trace of Zhu Ming's spirit still remains in the [Furnace Realm].

As long as it is slowly nourished with incense, or if some spiritual items are found to nourish the soul in the future, it will eventually recover.

"Phew, thank goodness."

"If Zhu Ming really dies, it will be troublesome to train and guide Xu Sixing in the future..."

Incidentally, taking advantage of Zhu Ming's "return to the furnace" this time, Xianglu followed the clues and dug out a lot of shocking information about the Imperial Sword Sect from his mind.

For example, information about the [Undying Sword Tomb], and... the identity of Venerable Zhu Ming.

He's suspected to be a member of the Imperial Sword Sect, and might even be a former sect leader.

"If this identity is ever revealed, the Imperial Sword Sect will probably be in an uproar."

Qingyuan thought the scene was absolutely perfect.

Although Wen Zhibai's use of his grandson to get involved was somewhat unexpected, the overall situation didn't go astray.

Lang Che and Zhu Xuan, in particular, witnessed Xu Sixing's "death" firsthand.

In this way, Xu Sixing had a legal unregistered status in Guanhuamen.

No matter how hard they racked their brains, they couldn't come up with the idea of ​​"reincarnation."

Stable development is just around the corner.

As for Xu Sixing's current status, the information unfolds with a click of the mouse.

【Xu Sixing】

[Realm Level: Qi Refining Level 6/Foundation Building]

[Dao Foundation: Li Zhao Zhen Ze Jian Que]

[Note: Taking advantage of the opportune thunder and rain, and driven by a will to die, though the physical body is crippled, the foundation of the Dao is complete, and all cultivation is entrusted to the spiritual embryo 'Zhen Li'.]

[Current Status: The physical body is maintained by the "Water Moon Illusion" at the sixth level of Qi Refining.]

He has indeed established his foundation. As time goes by, the [Zhenli] technique will nourish his physical body, gradually replenishing his depleted blood and energy and cultivation.

Until it can bear the foundation of the sword.

Furthermore, [Zhenli] has reached the first-level quality of a spiritual embryo because it has integrated the foundation of [Qizhe], the true fire of Zhu Ming, and the heavenly thunder of [Tianyi].

Its growth potential is extremely high, and it may even surpass the broken seal of the Jade Seal in the future.

"Xiao Xu, you made a killing this time, and I didn't lose out either."

A kind smile involuntarily appeared on Qingyuan's face.

"Next, it's Shu Yan's turn to make her appearance, so you can make your vow."

"Once you're registered in Guanhuamen's household register, you'll have a long road ahead of you and plenty of work to do."

Just as Qingyuan was about to close the page, he suddenly remembered something.

Since Shu Yan and Chai Wu broke through to the Foundation Establishment stage, I should have received corresponding feedback as well.

But there was no movement inside the body.

"System? What about the rewards? You're deducting from this too?"

The system interface also displayed several messages.

[Note: The agents 'Shu Yan' and 'Chai Wu' have transcended the realm of the mortal.]

[Your current physical body is too weak to bear the feedback from Foundation Establishment at this time.]

[Your Excellency must step into the 'Qi Refining' stage and open the two bridges between Heaven and Earth to unlock all the benefits.]

You think I'm bad at the game?

So all those previous buffs to strength and eyesight were just seen as beginner protection by the system?

"Okay, that makes sense."

"I'll endure it so as not to explode on the spot."

This made him even more eager for the days to come.

[1 year remaining until the second "Dao Yan's Assessment of Heaven" settlement]

Last time I gave you the [Qi Observation Method] and the synthesis platform.

What about this time?

They turned a dying sect into a little tyrant; their rating should improve considerably, right?

Even a beginner's manual to help people practice their instincts in real life would be helpful.

"A year passes in the blink of an eye."

"When that time comes, I want to be a true immortal!"

Qingyuan was secretly delighted.

I turned my head to look out the window.

It's completely dark now; it's time to rest.

Tomorrow is the weekend, so I have to get up early and take my aunt and uncle around Shanghai.