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

Every encounter felt like a beautiful dream, and Jiang Yuetian probably loved this little courtyard house more than anyone else.

He always hoped that the courtyard house could exist forever, and that he could cook for Yuan'er forever.

Thinking of this, he couldn't help but smile.

But he didn't keep it up; the corners of his mouth slowly disappeared.

He summoned the letter he had previously stored in his storage ring, took a deep breath, and let his gaze wander over the incredibly familiar words.

……

That wasn't a letter from a fellow gambler at all.

"call……"

Jiang Yuetian let out a long sigh. His spiritual energy stirred slightly, and he stepped out with a burst of illusory flames. He flashed through the air and his figure disappeared from the courtyard.

In the darkness, Jiang Yuetian disappeared from the mountaintop where the courtyard house was located, and when he reappeared, he was a spark that suddenly appeared at the foot of the mountain.

He was enveloped in darkness from all sides, and everything around him was an impenetrable shadow.

"You're here?"

—That wasn't Jiang Yuetian's voice.

Her long purple hair fluttered in the wind at that moment. The darkness obscured her vision, but it could not block her ability to hear.

That voice... it's so familiar.

It was so familiar that Jiang Yuetian couldn't help but wonder if she was dreaming.

"What's wrong? You look like you've seen a ghost."

A mocking voice pierced through the darkness.

His breathing suddenly became rapid, and just as the person in the darkness had said, his expression was one of utter shock, as if he had seen a ghost or a god, his eyes filled with disbelief.

Because that is indeed beyond our comprehension.

"Who are you?!"

Jiang Yuetian shouted sharply, reached into the void, and a sharp light suddenly appeared. An ice-blue ring danced at the tip of the spear, and purple flames flashed on the shaft.

The firelight... became the only source of light besides the moonlight.

Even Jiang Yuetian himself didn't realize that his marksmanship, which had reached the level of "at will," was now causing his hand holding the gun to tremble uncontrollably.

He was afraid... he was panicking.

Because under the illumination of the purple flames, Jiang Yuetian saw... a face hidden in the darkness.

That face of a man, covered with ancient spell runes, as if he had been waiting for a long time!

"Haven't you already read that letter? Do I need to explain who I am?"

This moment—

In the purple-haired beauty's eyes, only that face remained.

That face, so familiar to me, that had once become an unforgettable shadow in my life…

That voice, that appearance, that expression, that look in her eyes...

The same.

Even the handwriting on that letter he wrote to himself was the same.

Everything points to one person.

That person's name was written at the end of the letter.

It's very short, just three words.

“Jiang Shengxuan…”

A chill ran through my entire body, from head to toe.

Why are you still alive...?

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.

It's almost the end of the month, you all know what I mean by monthly tickets and tips, right?

I won't even bother with hints, I'll just rob them outright!

(By the way, the plot has entered a new phase, and some parts are a bit angsty, but don't worry, Lao Yu Nian has never written tragedies—probably.)

56. Then there is only one answer.

Jiang Shengxuan is a deceased person.

Jiang Yuetian still vividly remembers how the former dean of Yuntian Academy wiped out the Jiang family, one of the six extremes of the Extreme Heaven Domain, in one fell swoop. The Jiang family patriarch and three ancestors were all destroyed in the blink of an eye.

Not even a trace was left.

Not to mention the Jiang family, which was once like an imperial city—within a radius of nearly a thousand miles, there was no life left to speak of, and the vast land was barren.

Jiang Shengxuan, who was recuperating at the Jiang family home at the time... Jiang Yuetian's elder brother, the elder brother who fought to the death with him in the battle of the myriad sects... should have died in that incident as well.

What was presented before their eyes was a scene that completely contradicted reality.

He even wondered if he had drunk too much that night and was hallucinating.

But no matter how many times the brain denies it, the still relatively clear consciousness can still recognize it from the voice and appearance—a man standing in the darkness, draped in a dark robe that blends into the night...

It was Jiang Shengxuan.

"Yes...that's right..."

Jiang Shengxuan himself also acknowledged Jiang Yuetian's statement.

He reached out, his withered arm, also marked with countless strange runes and spells, resembling a dense bandage wrapped around his face, and gently lifted it to touch his parched face.

At this moment, Jiang Yuetian noticed that Jiang Shengxuan's facial features seemed somewhat distorted. His eyeballs bulged out excessively, and his nose was not straight but crooked, as if it had been pieced together.

Jiang Shengxuan grinned, and scarlet blood flowed from between his teeth, staining his lips red.

Beneath the purple flames, a man named Jiang Shengxuan, his face contorted in a ferocious grin, sneered:

"But I came back to life, isn't that surprising?"

"Come back to life..."

“Becoming like this is the price I have to pay…” He looked at his strange arm, his eyes filled with self-mockery and sarcasm, but that sarcasm was quickly replaced by hatred: “However, at the cost of becoming a corpse puppet… I can see you again. For me, it’s not such a bad deal.”

A look of shock flashed in her alluring purple eyes, and the woman in the cheongsam exclaimed in surprise: "A corpse puppet?!"

He knew about corpse puppets.

Although he did not directly participate in the events when dealing with Yin Sha in the Lantian Empire, he later heard Yun Ping talk about Chu Jingqiao and had a rough impression of the Corpse Puppet.

If his memory serves him right, the Corpse Puppet technique is a long-lost and unorthodox method, and its activation conditions are extremely demanding... Why would his elder brother, Jiang Shengxuan, know how to use it...?

Thinking of this, he couldn't help but ask in a deep voice, "Who turned you into a corpse puppet?"

"So what if you know?" Jiang Shengxuan stared at Jiang Yuetian with interest, his black robe billowing in the cold night wind. "You don't even have the right to speak directly with that person."

"That person..."

"This kind of problem is fine no matter what—"

Jiang Shengxuan seemed somewhat impatient. He flipped his right hand, and dense demonic energy burst forth from his palm. The pale purple demonic flames bloomed into yin lotuses, and within the lotus stamens, streams of demonic energy rapidly condensed.

With a sudden clench of his right fist, he crushed the Yin Lotus in his palm. The black petals scattered and danced in all directions, and the drifting demonic energy gathered into a malevolent force, which then formed a dark red spear in Jiang Shengxuan's hand.

He skillfully flicked three spears, and bursts of demonic energy emanated from his feet, rapidly spreading outwards.

After becoming a corpse puppet... did he immediately succumb to demonic possession...?

An extremely cold current flowed from the top of his head to the soles of his feet. Jiang Yuetian's face darkened involuntarily. Under the oppressive feeling of this demonic energy, his breathing became somewhat unsteady.

Looking at Jiang Yuetian, whose face was already pale from just looking at him, Jiang Shengxuan's mouth stretched almost to his ears, and his eyes widened with excitement, "I didn't expect that after so long... you're still so weak!"

"What exactly do you want to do...?"

"Me? Need I even ask?!"

Jiang Shengxuan's gaze seemed locked onto Jiang Yuetian, and an extremely cold killing intent burst forth without any concealment: "What do you think I'm doing here in this disgusting manner? Jiang Yuetian, who do you think caused the destruction of the Jiang family?!"

"Is it because of your teacher? No! Even without your teacher's intervention, the Jiang family probably wouldn't have survived for long... and would have inevitably faced destruction in a short time."

Jiang Yuetian frowned, completely bewildered by Jiang Shengxuan's words: "What do you mean..."

"Do you think... the Jiang family's cold treatment of you since childhood was simply because you haven't awakened your spiritual root?"

Upon hearing this, Jiang Yuetian's expression turned cold, and his tone became more serious as he retorted, "Isn't that right? A family that values ​​cultivation talent so much clearly looks down on cultivators like me who awakened too late."

"That's just one point. The more important point is—your very existence is wrong..."

"That's right! Jiang Yuetian, you don't deserve to live in this world!"

……

Jiang Yuetian gritted her teeth and glared angrily.

He turned his gun around and pointed it at Jiang Shengxuan, his eyes icy cold: "If you've resurrected using the corpse puppet method just to provoke me... then I'll have to send you to hell again."

"I am not the same person I was before. Facing you again is simply another battle!"

Yes.

Jiang Yuetian is not afraid.

He had already poured his heart and soul into it once, so he wasn't afraid to do it a second time.

Having already successfully faced and even defeated the darkness of the past and the shadows of his childhood, the fear etched into his heart and soul, he was fearless in the face of facing it again.

Not only for himself, but also for Yuan'er... for the others at Yuntian Academy, and for the teacher who was willing to believe in him.

however--

Jiang Shengxuan shook his head, his eyes filled with pity and mockery for the ignorant as he looked at Jiang Yuetian.

"As expected, you didn't understand at all."

"Understand what?"