He has been reincarnated through countless worlds, adorned with billions of mythological terms!

Xiao Yanzhi remained silent.

Helian Rong also fell silent.

A person who walks the same road a hundred times is not cultivating themselves, but rather being polished.

Like a piece of iron, repeatedly forged and folded to remove all impurities, the remaining fine steel can cut through anything that hasn't undergone the same forging process.

"What will she do next?"

Helian Rong asked.

"have no idea."

"But it definitely won't stop."

Shen Qingqing walked out from under the rose trellis, sat down at the stone table, and poured herself a cup of tea. "She used to hide when she killed reincarnators, and after killing them, she cleaned up the traces perfectly, like a cat burying its poop."

"Things are different now—sheet music, phonographs, humming tunes in the street, she's afraid people won't know she's the one who did it."

"Establish authority."

"right."

Shen Qingqing nodded, "Tell all the reincarnators within the Song Dynasty—I'm here, you can't escape."

Why did things suddenly change?

Xiao Yanzhi raised his head, "A person who has been cautious for so long has suddenly become careless."

"Something must have triggered this change."

Shen Qingqing did not answer.

She held her teacup, her gaze falling on the shadows of the rose trellis.

She thought of Yun Yi—could it be him?

But that's not right. She hasn't left these past few days, and she's certain the other person hasn't left either.

And who is that?

"Regardless of why she changed," Shen Qingqing put down her teacup, "she is now a threat to all reincarnators within the Great Song Dynasty, and also a threat to our alliance."

"She's already got her eye on us—when I received the message, it came with another message: Xu Youlan is inquiring about Luozhou City."

Helian Rong clenched his fist:

"How far has she investigated?"

"It's not clear yet."

"But the mere mention of 'Luozhou City' was already a threat."

Xiao Yanzhi was silent for a moment, then spoke:

"If you are going to take action against Xu Youlan, I have a few conditions."

"explain."

"First, it can't be in the city."

"The battlefield of Nascent Soul stage cultivators is too vast. Once a battle breaks out, unless it's an instant kill, at least half a country will be wiped out."

"When the time comes, she won't even need to kill us; the strong natives of this world will be the first to target us."

"Although the natives of this world are weak, there are a few individuals who are ridiculously strong—clearly something is wrong with this world."

Xiao Yanzhi extended one finger, then a second. "Secondly, I need at least half a month to set up the formation."

"A Nascent Soul stage cultivator cannot be trapped by conventional formations."

"I need to set up a complex array—a trapping array, a killing array, a bewildering array, and an anti-air array stacked together, and I also need to set up a special soundproof barrier to counter her musical attacks."

"Half a month is the minimum timeframe."

Shen Qingqing looked at him: "But what's the point of doing this? With the opponent's strength, it won't be difficult for them to discover the formation you set up."

Xiao Yanzhi shook his head:

"I've set up the formation, but how to get the other side to walk in is your problem."

"Otherwise, I can't bear all the burden alone, can I?"

Helian Rong also stood up: "I am now a terrestrial immortal god, plus the realm of Martial King - two physical systems, plus the fusion of the way of beast taming, with the three major systems in my body, my physical body is enough to rival the god of transformation."

"I can confront Xu Youlan head-on, which will definitely buy you a lot of time."

"But—" He looked at Shen Qingqing, "If her music can shatter the sea of ​​consciousness from a distance, I need someone to help me block her sonic attack."

"After all, spiritual sense is not my forte."

"I'll do it."

Liu Xier spoke up.

She is one of the three remaining reincarnators, and "spiritual awareness is my forte."

"Although I have never cultivated the path of immortality, I have already reached the fifth level in the spiritual mind master system."

"In terms of spiritual power alone, it is no weaker than that of a cultivator who has reached the Nascent Soul stage."

The six discussed some details—the specific location of the formation, the communication signal, the emergency retreat route, and what to do if Xu Youlan didn't come—before leaving the teahouse.

Shen Qingqing was the only one left under the rose trellis.

She sat for a while longer, finished the tea that had gone cold in her cup, then stood up, walked out of the tea shop, and headed towards the Yun residence.

Yunyi sat in the study for a long time.

A blank jade slip lay open in front of him, and a half-cold cup of tea sat beside it.

The spring sunlight streamed through the gaps in the new leaves of the locust tree, casting dappled patterns of light on the tabletop, which swayed gently in the breeze.

He had been sitting in this position for three whole days—not cultivating, but pondering a question: how to break through the Golden Core.

It sounds absurd.

When others cultivate to the peak of the Golden Core stage, they think about how to nurture the Golden Core, how to accumulate foundation, and how to find that opportunity to break through to the next level.

He was thinking about how to shatter the golden elixir.

Because his golden core was too solid.

After nine cycles of cultivation, it was no longer a golden core—it was something harder than a diamond, with nine dragon patterns coiled on it, each representing a mark left when cultivation reached its peak.

The true essence is compressed to a near-liquid density inside, rotating extremely slowly, but each rotation carries immense force.

Such a golden core, let alone breaking it to form an infant, might not even be cracked open by heavenly lightning.

Yun Yi opened his eyes, picked up the now-cold tea, took a sip, put it down, and continued thinking.

If the nascent soul cannot be broken, then let's not try to break it for now.

When one reaches the Golden Core stage in the Immortal Path, the Nascent Soul stage is just ahead; when one reaches the Earthly Immortal God stage in the Martial Path, what lies ahead?

Old Jiang never said that.

Old Jiang had told him about celestial beings, martial arts masters, and terrestrial immortals, but he hadn't mentioned a word about what lay above terrestrial immortals.

Among the 103,000 scrolls of secret manuals in Nachuan's bag, not a single one contained any record of this.

Yunyi used to think he just hadn't found it, but after reading the whole thing, he realized one thing—it wasn't that he hadn't found it, it was that it really didn't exist.

Old Jiang isn't unaware; he just chooses not to write it down.

Why not write it?

Because the realms beyond terrestrial immortals and gods cannot be written down.

It's not that words can't describe it, but rather that everyone who reaches that point has taken a different path.

Martial arts progresses from third-rate to first-rate, from first-rate to innate, from innate to grandmaster, from grandmaster to great grandmaster, from great grandmaster to celestial being, from celestial being to martial arts mastery, and from martial arts mastery to terrestrial immortal—each step has a clear path, a method to follow, and the experience of predecessors to refer to.

But there is no road above the terrestrial immortals and gods.

Yunyi only understood this after the fifth leaf, "Return to One".

The 103,000 volumes of secret manuals, all martial arts, all systems, all paths, ultimately point in the same direction.

That direction is not a particular skill or a certain realm, but an "origin"—the essence of power, the essence of life, the essence of heaven, earth, and humanity.

Starting from that origin, any direction you take will lead to a completely new path.

That's a path only you can walk. All the experience of those who came before you is useless here, because they started from that origin and walked that path, but you are not one of them.

Yunyi called this realm "a true god among men".

It wasn't Lao Jiang who taught him the name; he chose it himself.

The reason is simple: he could vaguely sense that once you break through to this level, what matters is no longer your realm or strength, but your understanding of the "Tao".

He was unclear about other things, but as for his understanding of the "Tao"—since the fifth leaf "returned to oneness" grew out, his understanding of the 103,000 volumes of secret manuals had increased day by day. With the verification from other reincarnators of different systems, he was unsure of what level he could reach once he broke through.

But there's nothing wrong with the name.