Having cultivated myself into an immortal, all I want to do is raise female disciples.

She gazed at Xu Yanliu with eyes as deep as the ocean, her memory filled with Zhang Xiaohan's image: "His elixir is hanging in front of the Jin Yao Dao Alliance. You said it yourself, it's specifically for us to see."

"The Ash Demon Alliance is telling us—they killed Xiao Han..."

"They did it on purpose."

Yes, it was intentional.

Xu Yanliu knew it could be Ding Rong, it could be that senior brother, or it could be that monk named Fahai—

But undeniably, this is a provocation...

A genuine provocation.

"Ruoxue..."

"I won't let this go."

The girl stood up from the stool and skillfully attached the arm armor to her forearm.

She was serious.

She won't, absolutely not.

Zhang Xiaohan was her closest relative, and she still remembers the days she spent with him.

Although she had no cultivation, no magical artifacts, and had not yet tempered her physique at that time, she was just a mortal, living as an ordinary person with her younger brother.

But she truly loved those fleeting moments.

So she won't let this go, absolutely not—even if it costs her everything.

Whether Xiao Han is a demon, a monster, or a human, to her, he is her younger brother.

Her dearest younger brother.

Xu Yanliu fell silent.

She didn't know how to dissuade Zhang Ruoxue, or even whether she should dissuade her at all.

She herself had once been just like her, almost insanely eager to take revenge on the Ash Demon Alliance, and she longed to destroy everything in the Ash Demon Alliance.

However, she saw her own weakness and incompetence, hated, loathed, and grieved, and with all of this in her heart, she cowardly survived.

Xu Yanliu knew she was no match for the Ash Demon Alliance, but Zhang Ruoxue, in her lifeless eyes, seemed to harbor some kind of belief—

And that belief was not unfounded, but truly existed.

—She genuinely believed she had some means of winning.

……

After a brief hesitation, Xu Yanliu also stood up.

Despite still being filled with doubt and confusion deep inside, and even from a rational perspective, she still couldn't understand what a weak cultivator like Zhang Ruoxue could accomplish, she still stood up.

"I will go with you."

Her words successfully caught Zhang Ruoxue's attention.

Zhang Ruoxue turned around and stared blankly at Xu Yanliu: "Why?"

“If you really have a way to make the Jin Yao Alliance pay the price…” Xu Yanliu gritted her teeth and said something she herself could hardly believe: “I mean if, if you really can do it… I have to go with you.”

"Why?" Zhang Ruoxue asked again.

"Because I have a desire to see the Jin Yao Dao Alliance destroyed."

……

A cold wind brushed against her face, ruffling the girl's short hair.

Xu Yanliu became increasingly hesitant to look at Zhang Ruoxue's face, but in the end, her gaze inevitably fell upon Zhang Ruoxue's face.

She saw the girl she knew so well gradually smile, but this time, Zhang Ruoxue's smile was as cold as winter.

"it is good."

The girl said this.

------

The netherworld and ghost realm.

The woman, dressed in brightly colored and revealing clothes, lay sprawled on the bed, her body limp and powerless.

Her gaze fell upon the ethereal white figure before her.

"I don't quite understand..."

Her voice was much weaker than before.

The white phantom darted twice, gradually revealing a humanoid form: "There are many things you don't understand."

"I didn't expect you to contact me at this time..."

Yes, the Netherworld Ghost Fire never expected that it would be approached by "this guy" at this time.

The timing was too strange and too unbelievable. Logically speaking, even if she really wanted to come to him, it was too much of a coincidence.

It just so happens that it's precisely when I'm about to lend a helping hand!

"I just think you're really too much of a burden, just like last time." The white figure's voice sounded particularly ethereal, as if it came from a distant place: "You could have just ignored it and let them die at the hands of that old monk, so why did you insist on helping them?"

"Could it be because he... asked you for a favor?"

The moment "him" was mentioned, Xiao Chunjie's pupils contracted slightly: "You only did this because of him..."

"More or less~" The white figure spread his hands: "So you're admitting it? I didn't expect him to care so much about his female disciples, hiring a level 21 Extreme as a bodyguard. That's really extravagant."

"Unfortunately, we still couldn't save that little demon's life."

Xiao Chunjie gritted her teeth and glared at her resentfully.

At that time, she genuinely wanted to save Zhang Xiaohan. Although Yunping didn't ask her to save Zhang Xiaohan's life, given the relationship between Zhang Ruoxue and Zhang Xiaohan, if she didn't save Zhang Xiaohan, Zhang Ruoxue would probably come to her death on her own, and Yunping would likely blame her then.

But unexpectedly...

She was stopped just as she was about to make her move.

Or rather, they were forcibly pulled into another space.

Then she saw the scene that was like a nightmare.

That was a scene of carnage that even I, as a ghostly flame of the underworld, found terrifying.

The culprit behind this horrific scene was the white figure standing before her.

"Why did you..."

"Because I can't stand the way he begs you."

The other party's answer was really too strange.

"What do you mean?" Xiao Chunjie couldn't understand.

“He is mine. He has been mine for a very long time. He was mine during the reign of Emperor Wu, he was mine during the reign of Emperor Wen, and he will be mine now.”

The other person's voice gradually became distorted, even becoming somewhat...

sharp.

"It's just that the time isn't right yet. Neither you nor those disciples are meaningful to him or to me. He doesn't understand yet, but I believe he will."

Xiao Chunjie looked at her as if she were a madwoman: "What are you talking about..."

Suddenly.

The other person's voice became more stable and exceptionally gentle.

"No, this has nothing to do with you. You are indeed the Twenty-One Ultimate."

"But that's just the extreme."

After she finished speaking, her figure gradually disappeared.

Xiao Chunjie was the only one left in the entire space.

She touched the pain throbbing in her chest, took a deep breath, and stared at the direction where the white figure had disappeared, her face more somber than ever before.

Twenty-one is the ultimate...?

That's simply the name that people in the world give to these powerful beings.

But in the eyes of some beings, the ultimate that can contend with the Great Dao is truly just the ultimate.

The two ancestors were like that, the Martial Emperor and the Civil Emperor were like that, and that white figure... was also like that.

"Ye Xuanqiu...could she really be..."

She didn't know the answer to that question.

Perhaps, and we never will know.

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

I went to bed a little late yesterday (Nergigante stuck on me for three hours).

So there's been no update, it's my fault. I'll try my best to update in the next few days, please believe me~

81. Don't ask, the answer is always "Goodbye and don't come back."

Lately, it's not just Kuntian Domain that's been causing trouble.

The news of the new head of the Emperor's Pavilion taking office has spread throughout the three heavenly domains. All sects, whether large or small, famous or unknown, as long as they have the ability to cross the heavenly domains, have basically begun to prepare to set off.

Leaving aside the major families of the Extreme Heaven Domain, the giants of the Desolate Heaven Domain are also starting to stir.

"Have you prepared all the gifts?"

The snowy plains of the far east.

The giant that has stood on this pale land for countless years without showing any signs of decline, the sect called the Northern Ice Palace, has seen countless disciples temporarily put aside their cultivation and begin preparing for various troublesome matters.

Even the Snow Palace, which was specifically responsible for managing internal affairs of the Far East Snowfield, temporarily put aside its work and devoted itself to dealing with matters concerning the Imperial Pavilion.

—Of course, the order was issued by the Palace Master of the Northern Ice Palace.