Li Xuanxiao was a transmigrator.
He had transmigrated into this world twenty years ago.
He was not a Child of Destiny, nor did he have a system.
He had no choice but to rely on hard work.
Fortunately, his aptitude was fairly good, and his heart was devoted solely to pursuing the great Dao of immortality.
Luckily, in this chaotic age where demons and devils coexisted, Li Xuanxiao was discovered by the Shushan Sect Leader.
Afterward, he became a disciple under the sect leader and grew to adulthood beneath Shu Mountain's protection.
Twenty years. It had already been that long.
After completing his mission, Li Xuanxiao returned to Shu Mountain.
The moment he returned, the sect leader's sword let out a hum, then turned into a streak of silver light and vanished from Li Xuanxiao's sight.
Li Xuanxiao raised his head and looked at Shu Mountain amid the drifting clouds and mist.
White cranes flew out.
Shu Mountain's white cranes ordinarily did not fly out.
Whenever white cranes flew out, it meant a Shushan Disciple had died and vanished.
Legend had it that the white cranes could guide the souls of Shushan Disciples back.
This time, there were especially many white cranes flying out of Shu Mountain.
The Shu Mountain Sect Leader—that shameless old thief—was dead.
On the way back, Li Xuanxiao had long since prepared himself.
The other disciples along the way looked at him strangely, their expressions complicated.
Li Xuanxiao walked straight toward the main peak.
He saw his master, Daoist Master Lingxu.
Lingxu extended his broad palm and patted Li Xuanxiao's shoulder.
"You did very well."
Li Xuanxiao lowered his head slightly.
His other four martial uncles also cast approving looks at Li Xuanxiao.
Li Xuanxiao felt the gazes of the four men.
He had originally prepared himself to return to Shu Mountain and be criticized by others, to be unwelcome in the eyes of his elders.
After all, he had personally sent the sect leader on his final journey.
In a sense, he was the murderer who had killed the sect leader.
Yet unlike what he had expected, his master and martial uncles treated him just as they always had.
There was even a little more approval in their eyes.
"Go see the sect leader. After all... he was the one who found you back then. Now that you have sent him on his final journey, it can be considered fate," Daoist Master Lingxu said.
"Yes."
"..."
The sect leader had not yet been buried.
Li Xuanxiao expertly entered the western side of the main peak's grand hall, then followed the small path there toward the back mountain.
The sect leader usually disliked staying in the grand hall and spent more of his time in a thatched hut on the back mountain.
Inside the hut, the sect leader sat peacefully in his chair, his eyes closed, as though he were merely asleep.
The wind of Shu Mountain seemed to slow.
Li Xuanxiao suddenly recalled many years ago.
It had been the fifth year since his transmigration, after the initial exhilaration of realizing he had transmigrated had given way to five years of despair.
No system, no cheat, no status as a Child of Destiny, no protection from a Lineage.
Everything from modern society was gone; even food enough to fill his belly was a luxury.
Then he fell gravely ill, and Li Xuanxiao felt that he was probably the unluckiest transmigrator in history.
The cold winters were the hardest to endure, and every year, countless people froze to death.
Li Xuanxiao had thought he would die that winter.
Then he met that old man who was not quite respectable.
The Shu Mountain Sect Leader who claimed to be the greatest under heaven.
That shameless old thief saved him, then tricked him away from his parents.
Dressed like a beggar, with wine in his gourd, he took Li Xuanxiao wandering across the world.
When they saw injustice on the road, they would roar once—then run after roaring.
Stealing chickens and dogs, galloping across the grasslands on horseback, lying atop mountain peaks and watching the stars fill the sky.
They trod through famous mountains and great rivers, seeking the sources of rivers and streams.
White clouds and black dogs shifted and changed like images in a revolving lantern.
Li Xuanxiao closed his eyes.
It was fate at work; it was what had once been ordinary.
Li Xuanxiao suddenly drew his sword, drawing it amid the snow.
The wind was swift, and the snow was swifter still.
Li Xuanxiao had practiced this Heaven Earth Man Three Talents Swordplay for a very long time.
From the day he met the old thief, he had practiced it until now.
Yet he had always remained at Earth, never reaching Heaven.
The old thief's voice seemed to ring beside his ears.
That year by the lakeside, the old thief had held a wooden stick.
With Sword Qi dancing between his swings, he cleaved the great river in two.
"Remember, we Shushan Disciples take eliminating demons and defending the Dao as our duty.
Knowing something cannot be done, yet doing it anyway—even when facing the great demon beyond the frontier, we must never retreat even half a step!
Even if the road ahead is fraught with countless perils and life and death are impossible to predict, we must use the sword in our hands to defend the righteous Dao of this world and protect all living beings under heaven.
We Shushan Disciples must forge ahead bravely, forsaking life and forgetting death. Even if we face nine deaths and one life, we shall have no regrets!!"
Li Xuanxiao's hand brushed over the blade, and the sorrow in his eyes gradually gave way to resolve.
"Sweep demons and evil across the land, slay a horde of demons with one sword!!"
Sword Qi howled forth, instantly tearing apart the air around him and wildly churning everything nearby.
At the same time, the snowflakes filling the sky as they drifted down seemed drawn by some mysterious force. Carried by the swirling Sword Qi, they began to spin and dance at high speed.
Snowflakes and Sword Qi intertwined, forming a strange spectacle of breathtaking beauty and murderous intent.
"Hahahaha!!"
This time, Li Xuanxiao heard the laughter clearly.
He raised his head in astonishment.
There before him stood the old thief who should have been dead.
The old thief reached out and patted his head. "You didn't disgrace me!"
Li Xuanxiao planted his sword into the ground and dropped to one knee.
"Shushan Disciple Li Xuanxiao respectfully sees the sect leader off!!"
"..."
Following the small path, he left the back mountain.
When Li Xuanxiao looked up, he spotted a figure sitting in a tree.
"Senior Brother."
Xue Yun drank wine and said lightly, "You accomplished what I could not. You are better than me."
Li Xuanxiao forced out a smile, seemingly finding Xue Yun's words somewhat amusing.
His senior brother was a peerless genius for all eternity, something even the Heaven Devouring Demon Lord had personally acknowledged.
If he had lived in the same era as his senior brother, his own brilliance would surely have been overshadowed.
There was no helping it. His senior brother was simply far too dazzling.
Sometimes, Xue Yun was so dazzling that Li Xuanxiao suspected his senior brother was the true Child of Destiny who had transmigrated here, while he himself was merely a supporting character.
"The sect leader is dead... the old man... although he was my biological father, I could never bring myself to like him."
As Xue Yun spoke, he tossed a jade box to Li Xuanxiao.
"The old man originally left it for me. I am unworthy of it. It is yours."
Li Xuanxiao caught the jade box.
Xue Yun sighed again. "My biological father is dead, and the woman I love is about to marry someone else. They say the strong can change everything. I am very strong, yet I could not save my father, nor could I win back the heart of the woman I love.
Xuanxiao, do you think I am a failure?
If it were you, how would you win back the woman you love?"
Li Xuanxiao pondered for a moment. "I would devote myself to cultivation, then strive to Achieve Dao and Immortality."
Xue Yun clenched his fists. "That's right! I will take her back."
Li Xuanxiao: (⊙o⊙)...
That wasn't what I meant.
Xue Yun excitedly leaped down from the tree.
"That's right! That's right, exactly! Thank you, Xuanxiao. I cannot live without her."
With that, Xue Yun vanished from Li Xuanxiao's sight.
Li Xuanxiao said, "Senior Brother, no... no... your father just died... the first seven days haven't even passed yet..."
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