Near Immortal, Near Demon

Wang Xuan berated himself: What did I just say? In this desolate place, under this terrifying atmosphere, I absolutely shouldn't speak carelessly.

There wasn't a sound. A pale white moon suddenly appeared high in the sky. Weeds grew in the dim ruins, and the scene became increasingly unsettling.

The woman, with her hair disheveled, covered her face, and floated in the night sky. She was less than a few feet away from Wang Xuan, her pair of bright red shoes just before his eyes.

Wang Xuan's heart pounded. Was this the residual spiritual energy of the Female Daoist practitioner? And why is the moon out? It's not bright at all, more like a bloodless, extremely pale face.

He stopped talking. Silence was golden at this juncture; he would adapt to whatever changes came.

He circulated the Root Method of the Pre-Qin Daoist practitioners, drawing mysterious factors from the void. They drifted down like specks of light amidst the eerie and terrifying broken walls and ruins.

The woman in mid-air also made no further movements; she just hung there. Her white clothes were so conspicuous in the night, and although her figure was slender and pleasing, her face was hidden by her long hair. She resembled a faceless ghost, silent and truly chilling.

Wang Xuan waited for a moment. The woman under the pale moonlight remained silent and still, confronting him like this.

He felt that waiting like this wasn't a solution. He spoke earnestly and sincerely, "I have no intention of offending. I merely entered this Inner Scenery Realm by accident. As someone from a later generation, my words and actions might not conform to the etiquette of the Pre-Qin period, but this is not due to disrespect on my part. It's just that times have changed, and people today converse like this. If you feel any form of etiquette is required, I can provide it."

However, in the ruins overgrown with weeds, it was still silent. The woman showed no reaction.

Wang Xuan considered whether he should move more. Perhaps stirring up a few wisps of wind with his feet might cause this residual spiritual energy from the past to dissipate.

He wanted to bypass the woman and leave this ruin.

As he moved, the rubble on the ground and some half-collapsed walls vanished, but the woman still hung in the air.

Furthermore, she was silent. The moment he tried to go around her, she reappeared before him, her bright red shoes level with his forehead.

Wang Xuan realized something was wrong. A chill ran down his spine. Something had truly gone awry in the Inner Scenery Realm; this woman was not right.

How did she appear just now? A bolt of lightning descended from the sky, blindingly bright, and then she manifested.

If she were truly an evil spirit or a demon, she should fear lightning. What was her situation?

Was she a dense cluster of residual spiritual energy? Wang Xuan avoided her and walked towards the outside of the ruins. As he did, the woman followed, always hanging before his forehead.

Wang Xuan's head began to ache. Had he been targeted and locked onto? What did she want? Thinking about it carefully, he felt no fear. The person had been dead for three thousand years; what could residual spiritual energy do?

He refused to believe in the supernatural. He walked out of the ruins and began practicing his Golden Body Art as if he didn't see her. His power circulated, and specks of golden light flashed in his eyes.

His spiritual power was abundant. He was calm and composed. If there were truly ghosts and monsters, then the yang energy on his body should be terrifyingly dense. After all, he was young and full of vital energy, unafraid of spirits.

Wang Xuan was very steady, practicing the Golden Body Art. The movements of this Body Art were naturally large, and at one point, he even touched the woman with her red shoes and white clothes.

With a swish, she dissipated and vanished.

Wang Xuan remained calm, feeling no joy. He continued at his own pace, telling himself that if something was strange, it would eventually cease to be strange through familiarity.

His strength was steadily increasing. Standing in the ethereal flow of time was incredibly important to the Pre-Qin Daoist practitioners; it was one of the sources of their power.

Let alone for Wang Xuan at this stage. As time passed, his body vibrated, and faint golden light appeared when he circulated the powerful Body Arts.

It wasn't until he was once again extremely fatigued and stopped that he realized he should circulate his Root Method to draw in mysterious factors.

Suddenly, he sensed something unusual. A cold, eerie wind blew past his neck. Only then did he realize that, he didn't know when, the woman who had been hanging in front of him had moved.

He had been too engrossed in practicing the Golden Body Art and had ignored everything around him. Now, turning around, he was shocked to discover that the woman, with her snow-white long skirt fluttering and her red shoes striking, was behind him.

"There's wind..." This made his heart flutter. The situation was becoming increasingly unfavorable. Could the residual spiritual energy of the Female Daoist practitioner interfere with the Inner Scenery Realm?

He turned around, but the woman followed him like a shadow, always hanging behind him. Her red shoes were almost touching his shoulders.

It was truly like a thorn in his back, almost unbearable.

He began to analyze the situation. Theoretically, death should extinguish everything, leaving nothing behind.

The Female Daoist practitioner had died three thousand years ago. If she could still be alive, she wouldn't have waited until now.

"Residual spiritual energy..." He was certain the problem lay here. Was it originally scattered throughout the Inner Scenery Realm, or was it... brought in by me not long ago?!

When he considered the latter possibility, Wang Xuan felt a chill. He had shattered the Ascension Stone, and the mysterious factors within, along with the residual spiritual energy of the Female Daoist practitioner, had rushed in, causing this anomaly?

Theoretically, the dead could not be resurrected. However, the Inner Scenery Realm was different from the real world; it was still incomprehensible. Ancient people had not provided clear descriptions, and it was mysterious and unfathomable. If there were some anomalies here, it wasn't impossible.

"Whether you were originally here or I brought you in, what are your thoughts and intentions? Can you make them clear to me? It's not a solution to keep following me like this."

Wang Xuan kept his back to her, not turning around again. He desperately wanted to understand what this mass of residual spiritual energy wanted.

He harbored no lewd thoughts. The saying "a woman three years older is a treasure" or "three thousand years older and she's an immortal" – if he had such thoughts, and if the residual spiritual energy of the Female Daoist practitioner truly had serious issues, it would likely kill him instantly!

Unfortunately, the woman remained quietly suspended behind him. The scene was indeed somewhat chilling: disheveled hair, white clothes, red shoes, no visible face, like a hanged ghost under the pale moonlight.

After speaking several times without a response, Wang Xuan completely gave up. He stopped trying to communicate with her. If something was going to happen, let it happen. I don't care anymore.

In the Inner Scenery Realm, mysterious substances drifted down. When Wang Xuan's spirit became vigorous again, he resumed practicing the Golden Body Art, letting the woman float behind him.

Thus, several years passed. Wang Xuan felt as if he had been here for seven or eight years, and the fourth level of the Golden Body Art was nearing completion!

He had progressed from the late stage of the third level to the late stage of the fourth level, significantly increasing his strength. Golden light occasionally flashed in the depths of his eyes.

"Ordinary daggers might not even be able to pierce my flesh," Wang Xuan's cold heart grew warm. Once he entered the Inner Scenery Realm, his strength would greatly increase. To him, this place was mysterious, unknown, filled with hope and immense power. The falling mysterious factors meant that the increasingly declining Old Arts might change their current predicament.

The Old Arts of the Pre-Qin period were exceptionally brilliant. Powerful Daoist practitioners might have involved powers of Ascension in their confrontations, and the early years of Taoism were also filled with various myths and legends.

As time flowed, in today's era, there were not many people still following the path of the Old Arts. In modern times, even producing a Grandmaster was extremely difficult, let alone someone with extraordinary abilities.

Soon, the Inner Scenery Realm began to shake, becoming unstable. Wang Xuan knew his time was up; he was about to leave this void.

The two Ascension Stones had allowed him to stay here for seven or eight years, yielding incredibly astonishing value.

Wang Xuan spoke solemnly, "I'm leaving. If my strength allows, I'll find a way to protect your physical body after I get out, and try to prevent them from messing with it!"

He was about to leave and hoped the woman wouldn't cause trouble, allowing him to exit smoothly.

Of course, he wasn't just saying it casually. He genuinely felt that if his Old Arts succeeded in the future and he could intervene in the experiments beneath the Greater Khingan Range, he would definitely offer assistance. He truly felt the Female Daoist practitioner was in a tragic situation.

Boom!

A brilliant bolt of lightning streaked across the heavens and earth. The pale, sickly moon in the sky fell, appearing directly behind the woman, transforming into a blood moon and casting her in an even more enchanting light.

Lightning intertwined. The woman before the blood moon raised her head, her long hair fluttering to reveal her true face. It was indeed the Female Daoist practitioner, her skin snow-white and crystal clear. Her beautiful face was almost unreal, like an immortal descended to the mortal realm, flawless in every way.

She wore white clothes and red shoes, suspended before the blood moon, possessing a unique aura that was a blend of immortal and demonic, leaving an extremely deep impression on Wang Xuan.

A woman who had died three thousand years ago watched Wang Xuan from within the Inner Scenery Realm. In the end, whether it was his illusion or the distorted and blurred light and shadow before the Inner Scenery Realm dissipated, he seemed to see the woman smiling.

Close to an immortal, close to a demon, with peerless grace and an incredibly unique aura, she made Wang Xuan feel she was stunningly beautiful while also sending a shiver down his spine, always feeling an unsettling allure.

The next moment, he completely left the Inner Scenery Realm and suddenly opened his eyes. In an instant, two faint golden lights seemed to flash through the room.

Wang Xuan stood up, the golden light deep within his eyes receding. He felt his own strength in reality; his Body Arts had indeed advanced to the late stage of the fourth layer of the Golden Body Art.

He picked up a dagger and drew it across his arm. It was quickly repelled, leaving only a faint bloodstain. Powerful vitality surged, and the seeping blood quickly disappeared.

The fourth layer of the Golden Body Art not only comprehensively enhanced the toughness of his flesh and blood but also made his mental power increasingly vigorous and strong. Furthermore, it granted him even more astonishing recovery abilities, brimming with vitality, and his physical fitness improved across the board.

As for his attack power, there was no need to even think about it; it was far superior to before!

Wang Xuan smiled. With such achievements, there was no reason not to be happy. He felt an indescribable sense of gain and satisfaction, his body and mind clear and joyful.

More importantly, because of the two Ascension Stones, he had discovered a viable path, allowing the Old Arts, which were very slow to take effect, to potentially shine brightly on him again.

"Some ancient temples have stood for thousands of years, with legends of eminent monks achieving rainbow ascension. Is this equivalent to Ascension?"

"On certain famous Taoist mountains and in their ancestral temples, legends of Ascension and flying to immortality are never lacking. If nothing unexpected happened, some miraculous items should have been left behind."

Wang Xuan believed that wherever a great "Ascension explosion" had occurred, Ascension Stones, such miraculous items, would likely be found.

Therefore, that night, he drifted off to sleep with a satisfied smile. He was still smiling when he woke up the next morning. However, he quickly had to get dressed and wash up because he had to go to work. He had only taken one day off for the Greater Khingan Range expedition, and if he didn't leave soon, he would be late.

Thanks to: Lin Xu Zhi Wang, jcwei1203, Yi Sheng Yong Hui, Yong Heng An Mian Qu, Xi Huan Chi Niu Rou De Hou Hou.

Thank you to the above Alliance Leader for your support!