After clearing the level, the fairies were reborn!

"How about it? Amazing, isn't it?"

Xu Ze looked at her, and a sudden realization dawned on him.

This seems to be an extremely important moment in time, which is why it was recorded in the Heavenly Book.

The Immortal Continent of the Central Plains, ten thousand years ago.

At that time, there was no Great Xuan Dynasty, no Empress Dowager Mu Yan, no Four Great Families, and no Six Princes.

At that time, the Central Immortal Continent was a place where various sects stood side by side.

Based on the map information provided by the system, Xu Ze roughly knew which forces comprised the current Central Immortal Continent.

Among them, the three largest sects are the leaders.

Jinma Hall, Huoyun Valley, Tianshan Club.

These three top sects, like a tripartite balance of power, divided up most of the resources of the Central Continent.

They fought each other openly and covertly, sometimes forming alliances and sometimes turning against each other, stirring up a storm throughout the Central Continent.

The town in front of us is under the jurisdiction of "Fire Cloud Valley".

"Fire Cloud Valley?"

Xu Ze's heart stirred.

He had heard this name in real life.

Fire Cloud Valley, one of the three great immortal sects suppressed by the Empress Dowager three hundred years ago.

The remaining forces are now operating under assumed names and in secret, seemingly still plotting something.

Ten thousand years ago, Fire Cloud Valley was a top-tier sect at its zenith.

The reasons behind this are intriguing.

"What are you thinking about?" Mu Yan, in her girl form, leaned closer and looked at him curiously.

"It's nothing." Xu Ze came back to his senses. "Let's go and take a look at the town ahead."

The town is small, with a main street running north to south, lined with various shops and residences on both sides.

The street was bustling with people: vendors carrying loads, herb gatherers with baskets of herbs, and groups of teenagers.

Xu Ze led Mu Yan through the crowd.

Although Mu Yan has transformed into a young girl, she still doesn't quite fit into the role of an "ordinary person."

She looked left and right, full of curiosity about everything.

"What's this?" she asked, pointing to a stall selling sugar figurines.

The stall owner was an old man in his fifties, who was shaping various small animals out of melted sugar syrup.

Rabbits, butterflies, birds... all so lifelike.

"A sugar figurine?" Xu Ze said. "You've never had one?"

"Food?" Mu Yan blinked. "I...I've never eaten anything like this before."

She almost let it slip, and quickly corrected herself.

Xu Ze smiled, took out a few copper coins, bought a rabbit-shaped sugar figurine, and handed it to Mu Yan.

Mu Yan took it and carefully licked it.

"So sweet!" Her eyes lit up.

Then he licked it again.

Take another lick.

Soon, the sugar rabbit figurine was reduced to just one bamboo skewer.

Xu Ze looked at her and suddenly remembered the scene when he was shopping with the little girl Mu Qinghe in Donghua City in Beiju Luzhou.

Back then, Mu Qinghe was the same way. He couldn't resist the sight of sugar figurines and wanted one of every kind, but in the end, he never finished eating any of them.

Her little face was covered in sugar stains, and her eyes curved into crescent moons as she smiled—it's still quite vivid in my memory.

For some reason, Xu Ze felt somewhat moved at this moment.

"What are you thinking about?" Mu Yan suddenly asked.

Xu Ze snapped out of his reverie and shook his head:

"nothing."

The two continued walking forward.

The street was getting more and more lively, and there seemed to be a crowd gathered ahead, with faint sounds of arguing and crying coming from within.

Xu Ze frowned and quickly stepped forward.

In the center of the crowd stood several young men dressed in fiery red robes, with swords at their waists and arrogant expressions; they were clearly disciples of a major sect.

Before them knelt an elderly man with white hair and beard.

The old man was dressed in rags, his face streaked with tears, and his forehead pounded against the ground with a loud thud.

"Please, esteemed immortals, spare my daughter! She's only fourteen years old..."

A petite girl was hiding behind the old man.

The girl was dressed in patched, coarse cloth, her face was pale, she was trembling, and her eyes were filled with fear.

Among those male disciples, the leader was a young man with a pointed mouth and monkey-like cheeks.

He crossed his arms, looked down at the old man, and sneered:

"Old man, stop pretending to be pitiful."

"It's a blessing that your daughter has caught the eye of our young master. She'll be able to come back to Fire Cloud Valley with us and enjoy a life of luxury, which is much better than suffering in this wretched place with you."

"No, no..." The old man kowtowed desperately, "Please, Immortal Master, have mercy! Please, Immortal Master, have mercy!"

"Have mercy?" The sharp-mouthed youth sneered. "Do you know who our young master is? He is the direct grandson of our valley master! A genius with extraordinary talent, one in a hundred years!"

"Your daughter is incredibly lucky to have married him!"

Several of his disciples behind him also joined in the jeering:

"That's right, don't be ungrateful!"

"If you cause any more trouble, I'll arrest you and take you back too!"

"You old fool, you won't listen to reason, so you'll have to suffer the consequences!"

The onlookers whispered among themselves, but no one dared to step forward.

Fire Cloud Valley is the overlord of this region; if you offend them, your whole family will not survive.

The old man continued kowtowing, his forehead already bleeding, blood flowing down his cheeks—a shocking sight.

The girl finally couldn't hold back anymore, rushed out and hugged her father, bursting into tears: "Father, Father, please don't kowtow... I, I'll go, I'll go, okay..."

"No!" The old man hugged his daughter tightly. "You can't go! Those immortal masters... they're not even human! You'll die if you go!"

The sharp-mouthed youth's face darkened: "Old man, you're asking for death!"

He raised his foot and kicked the old man.

That kick carried a surge of spiritual energy; if it had landed squarely, the old man would have been seriously injured, if not killed.

Just now.

Suddenly, a figure blocked the old man's path.

"boom!"

The sharp-mouthed youth kicked the blade of a longsword.

The longsword was dark red all over, with faint flames flickering within it.

Xu Ze stood with his sword in hand, calmly looking at the few Fire Cloud Valley disciples in front of him.

"In broad daylight, they forcibly abducted a woman."

"Is this sect called Fire Cloud Valley full of beasts like you, worse than pigs and dogs? That's interesting."

His voice wasn't loud, but it reached everyone's ears clearly.

The sharp-mouthed youth was taken aback at first, then his face turned ashen.

"Who are you? How dare you meddle in our business?!"

"Just someone passing by," Xu Ze said calmly. "I couldn't stand it, so I intervened."

"You!" the sharp-mouthed youth roared. "Do you know who our young master is? Offend him, and you'll regret it!"

Xu Ze smiled.

That smile carried a hint of mockery.

"I don't care who he is," he said slowly. "If he's not satisfied, let him come find me himself."

"you!"

Enraged, the sharp-mouthed youth drew his long sword and slashed at Xu Ze.

The blade flashed sharply, carrying the fluctuations of the laws of fire.

Although this sharp-beaked youth was not a good person, his cultivation was not weak; he was actually at the mid-stage of the Nascent Soul realm.

Tens of thousands of years ago, the spiritual energy between heaven and earth was extremely abundant, and the cultivation level of cultivators was generally higher than it is now.

In Xu Ze's eyes, this level of cultivation was no different from that of an ant.

He did not draw his sword.

He simply extended two fingers and gently pinched the knife between them.

The young man with the pointed beak's expression changed drastically.

He tried to pull the knife back, but found that it seemed to be rooted to the spot and wouldn't budge.

Xu Ze twisted his two fingers gently.