Tu Shan Jun looked toward the black-robed cultivator walking out of the shadows.
He was a middle-aged man, his face as sharply chiseled as if carved by knives and axes, making him all the more handsome and distinguished. His confident smile and star-calm eyes seemed capable of infecting everyone around him.
The restless gloom in Tu Shan Jun's heart turned into wind and blew away.
His cultivation could not be discerned, yet Tu Shan Jun knew with certainty that this man was an unparalleled powerhouse.
An inexplicable panic rose within Tu Shan Jun.
Like a beast with its throat seized.
The stronger the man before him appeared, the greater the fear in Tu Shan Jun's heart became.
If everything had been this man's scheme, and he had even been able to foresee the Soul Banner beforehand, then his cultivation was surely unfathomably profound. Even with the ancestor's protective means, Tu Shan Jun might not be able to retreat unscathed.
He might even lose control of his own fate from this day onward.
Could someone whose fate was not their own become immortal?
Tu Shan Jun did not know.
The trembling stopped at once.
Warmth suddenly spread across his palm. Following it with his gaze, Tu Shan Jun saw a hand as white as jade tightly gripping his larger one.
Xu Hongshang, whom he had originally shielded behind him, stepped forward and stood in front of him. Looking at her father, she seemed to organize her thoughts and feelings before asking in a low voice, "You're alive?"
The black-robed middle-aged man looked at Xu Hongshang with a gentle smile.
Then he examined the silent Tu Shan Jun behind her.
Smiling, he said, "I died long ago."
Xu Hongshang was startled, but confusion swiftly appeared on her face. "Why did you do