Where Is the Chronic Ailment?

"So whether you believe me or not isn't important."

"The truth is right before your eyes."

Lu Yuzhen said calmly, "I imagine you noticed something unusual around your dantian long ago... Even if I hadn't told you this, when you formed your Grotto-Heaven in the future, you would have uncovered the truth sooner or later."

"The Immortal Spring... is inside my body?"

Xie Xuanyi looked bewildered.

He reached out and gently pressed his lower abdomen.

A scorching, searing aura lingered around his dantian.

Lu Yuzhen smiled faintly. Everything went without saying.

"Tonight's meeting was for this matter."

The white-robed Daoist said, "Grandmaster Mozhen died and his Dao dispersed; the promise of reincarnation vanished into smoke with him... But those cultivators who know of the Immortal Spring's existence will not let the matter rest. The Great Chu Dynasty is now in turbulent times, rocked by wind and rain, and the demon kingdom is only in greater chaos. To fight over the legacy Grandmaster Mozhen left behind, several Grandmasters have long since come to blows."

"It can be said that, over these past years, the entire demon kingdom, as well as the upper echelons of the human race, have been searching for Mozhen's 'Immortal Spring.'"

Lu Yuzhen said with narrowed, smiling eyes, "So I must remind you: this is far more dangerous than having your identity as 'Xie Xuanyi' exposed. Letting the Great Chu Imperial City know that Xie Xuanyi is still alive would amount to nothing more than another 'Battle of the North Sea.' But if the world learns that the 'Immortal Spring' is inside you... tsk, tsk..."

If what Lu Yuzhen said was true, then Xie Xuanyi could not imagine what kind of storm the Immortal Spring would stir up across the entire world.

Great opportunities, great fortunes.

Meant great danger!

This was a truth... Xie Xuanyi had always understood.

"What do you want?"

Xie Xuanyi got straight to the point.

He knew there was no kindness in this world without cause, much less pies falling from the sky!

"Straightforward."

Lu Yuzhen raised a thumb, praising him first before speaking regretfully. "I heard that, years ago, Mozhen was merely a tiny demon beast. Relying on the 'Immortal Spring,' he leapt through the Dragon Gate and became a lofty Grandmaster of the demon kingdom. Countless heroes under his command bowed their heads and obeyed; with a single hand, he could churn the winds and clouds of the world. Yet there was one matter he could not solve until the day he died."

"That was the limited quantity of the Immortal Spring."

"After Mozhen died and his Dao dispersed... every drop of Immortal Spring water left behind meant one drop less."

Lu Yuzhen sighed. "This poor Daoist was fortunate enough to obtain several drops. I had wanted to see whether there was a way to increase its quantity, but alas, after countless arduous attempts over the years, all ended in failure. This Immortal Spring seems to require a 'host' with a suitable constitution before it can propagate... Such a person may not even appear once among ten million."

Xie Xuanyi gave a cold chuckle. "Don't tell me I'm that one in ten million."

"Ha."

Lu Yuzhen laughed awkwardly. He said nothing further, merely staring intensely at Xie Xuanyi.

"So you want Immortal Spring water?"

Xie Xuanyi frowned. "This thing... the demon kingdom reveres it as a divine relic, but I have no use for it. If you want it, I can give it to you. The karma from the North Sea ten years ago will be settled once and for all."

"No, no, no."

Lu Yuzhen hurriedly shook his head. "I told you before... I have Immortal Spring water. Though I used some, I still have some left."

Xie Xuanyi fell silent.

"Xie Xuanyi, I want you to 'live on.'"

Lu Yuzhen said meaningfully, "Among all the heroes under heaven, how many can live a second life? In this life, I hope you live well—cultivate to heights greater than those you reached before, and truly stand upon the pinnacle of the world."

"Heh. Why do those words sound so ironic?"

Everyone in the world wanted Xie Xuanyi dead.

Yet Lu Yuzhen wanted him to live.

Xie Xuanyi said, "Aren't you afraid that, after I recover my cultivation, the first thing I do will be to kill you?"

"Then kill me."

Lu Yuzhen smiled freely. "If I die by your hand, then that is my fate. I was meant to die beneath your sword."

"You... really are a madman."

Xie Xuanyi said coldly, "You should know that my divine soul realm is very high. Friend or foe—I can tell at a glance..."

"From the very first moment I saw you, I knew you were no good."

To be precise, even before meeting Lu Yuzhen, merely upon hearing Deng Baiyi mention his existence, Xie Xuanyi had already subjectively concluded...

that this fellow was no good.

Lu Yuzhen merely smiled, neither angered nor inclined to refute him.

"So long as there is even a one-in-ten-million chance that I may become friends with you, Xuanyi, Yuzhen will be completely satisfied."

He grinned. "Like I said, even if we can't be friends, we don't necessarily have to be mortal enemies... Perhaps what we need to do is actually the same?"

Xie Xuanyi frowned slightly.

"Those people who attacked you ten years ago are still living quite well."

Lu Yuzhen said with a smile, "Yin Mountain, the Imperial City Bureau, All-Under-Heaven Pavilion, the Great Grain Sword Palace... Even if you truly want to kill me, you should follow the chain of cause and effect and sort out who comes first, shouldn't you?"

Xie Xuanyi drew a quiet breath.

Reckoning!

Of course he would settle those accounts!

For every grievance and debt from back then, he would settle every last one of them!

But from Lu Yuzhen's lips, he had heard a name that should never have appeared.

"...The Great Grain Sword Palace?"

Xie Xuanyi murmured.

"What, surprised?"

"Think carefully. When you fled north back then, who knew the route you chose and your whereabouts?"

"If there hadn't been a traitor in the Great Grain Sword Palace, how could your trail have been exposed..."

Lu Yuzhen smiled. "The White Wraith of Yin Mountain pursued you for three thousand li. Where did his intelligence come from? Ten years have passed—you can't still be unable to figure out something so simple, can you?"

Xie Xuanyi fell into a long silence.

When the four words Great Grain Sword Palace surfaced in his mind, what followed...

were countless faces filled with reverence.

Countless respectful praises.

Voices calling him Senior Brother echoed through Heart Lake.

"No. I don't believe it."

Xie Xuanyi raised his head, his expression icy. "Great Grain raised me and nurtured me. My master's kindness toward me was as heavy as a mountain. I grew up there! No one knows the Sword Palace better than I do! They had no reason to betray me!"

"There are always many things in this world that make no sense."

"Fine. Believe it or not."

Lu Yuzhen smiled.

He said leisurely, "The Sword Palace has sealed its mountain for ten years now. By my reckoning, it will soon reopen. Once the matter of Carp Tide City is settled, you can return to the sect and investigate those 'old acquaintances' from back then. With your abilities, uncovering the truth from ten years ago shouldn't be difficult."

Xie Xuanyi angrily lifted his head and stared at the white-robed Daoist before him.

He extended his palm.

From the distant river tide came a clear sword chime.

"Weng!"

A jet-black flying sword shone with exceptional brilliance beneath the pitch-black canopy of the sky!

"Chronic Ailment."

Lu Yuzhen looked at the black flying sword several li away. The smile faded from his face, and a measure of gravity entered his eyes.

He regretfully uttered two words. "What a pity."

The black flying sword swept forward through the river tide for less than a hundred zhang before vanishing in an instant—

Xie Xuanyi stood before Carp Tide City, constantly using his mind to communicate with his Lifebound Flying Sword.

He could feel it.

Chronic Ailment was beneath the great river!

For that brief instant just now, his Lifebound Flying Sword had established a connection with him, resulting in that scene of the sword bursting from the river!

But the next moment, Chronic Ailment's black shadow was wiped away.

Countless waves surged like lions and swallowed it whole.

Xie Xuanyi's face was dark as water as he stared fixedly at the distant river tide.

Chronic Ailment's aura had already vanished... but the trembling within Heart Lake remained.

Xie Xuanyi was certain.

His Lifebound Flying Sword was in this great river!

It was simply being "suppressed" by something!

"What a pity... It seems I am fated not to see Brother Xuanyi's Lifebound Flying Sword today."

Lu Yuzhen turned around without the slightest guard, presenting his back to Xie Xuanyi as he sat cross-legged atop the rolling river surface and watched the distant tide.

He smiled in admiration. "I heard that the Great Sage 'White Ze' from a thousand years ago once possessed an extraordinary supreme sacred treasure. That treasure could erase the karma of this world. Even if it were damaged and incomplete, it could erase or sever the connection between a cultivator and their lifebound object... What a pity that after White Ze departed from the world, his cave dwelling vanished into the dust and haze. No one knows where that treasure truly lies."

Xie Xuanyi froze.

Lu Yuzhen suddenly brought up something unrelated to the matter at hand. "Back then, Grandmaster Mozhen obtained countless blessings through the 'Immortal Spring'... It is said that the treasures under his command were piled high as mountains. Unfortunately, most of them bore his divine soul imprints and Dao patterns. Even if those few Grandmasters made a move, refining them would still take no small amount of effort."

He paused slightly midway through.

Then he smiled meaningfully. "But if one could obtain the treasure White Ze left behind, erasing Dao patterns would no longer count as much of a nuisance, would it?"

With a single sentence, he pierced through the heavenly secret.

Xie Xuanyi suddenly understood why the demon nation had gone to such painstaking lengths to send White Ze's Finger Bone across the border!

"Brother Xuanyi, since you have come back for another round, you might as well cast aside your airs and properly enjoy this life."

Lu Yuzhen said gently, "This game in Carp Tide City is truly quite interesting."