Changes to the Reincarnation Record Point

After descending the steps of the Detention Center and passing through another corridor, the Thousand-Year Ancient Tree in the central courtyard came into view.

The White-robed Girl walked quickly, far more hurriedly than she had on her way here.

Steward Song of Shang Gong Hall was dead.

But since the Spirit Tracing Technique could still trace his true qi signature, it meant he had not been dead for long.

She had to hurry and report this news to Master, to the sect's High-level.

The sooner they acted, the greater their certainty.

Bang!

Just as the White-robed Girl and Chen Yan stepped into the central courtyard, a round object was thrown from the entrance of the Black Iron Gate of the Law Enforcement Hall, landing at their feet.

By the moonlight, they looked closely—

It was a human head.

The face on that head looked young. Its eyes were still open, its expression blank and dull.

As though he had yet to realize what was happening before his head was severed.

"What wind has blown you here?"

A soft, effeminate male voice came from the direction of the Black Iron Gate. A man dressed in the daoist robes of the Empty Mountain Sect stood there.

The distance was too great for Chen Yan to make out his expression, but for some reason, he felt certain that man was smiling.

"Who are you?"

The White-robed Girl's voice was very low.

"Is that important, Chief Chu?"

Chief?

Chen Yan's breath caught.

Could the White-robed Girl beside him actually be Chu Xiyao, the current Chief Disciple of Qingchan Peak—the daughter of Chu Chen, Qingchan Peak's Sword-wielding Elder?

Though he had already guessed her identity as highly as possible, he had never imagined it would be this high.

Chu Xiyao, Chief Disciple of Qingchan Peak, and also the First Disciple of Qingchan Peak's Sword-wielding Elder.

Among the current generation of disciples in the Empty Mountain Sect, her status could undoubtedly rank among the top three.

The man at the gate shifted his gaze to Chen Yan, who stood slightly behind the White-robed Girl, and narrowed his eyes faintly.

"This little brother is...?"

Danger.

The instant that man's gaze fell upon him, Chen Yan sharply sensed it.

"He's merely an ordinary Outer Court Disciple I casually caught to lead the way."

Chu Xiyao said.

The man gave a soft laugh, his voice still effeminate.

His gaze remained on Chen Yan as he spoke.

"Then, little brother, don't blame me. If you must blame someone, blame Chief Chu. Who told her to drag you into this?"

The man lightly tapped a finger through the air, and a faint thread of true qi rippled outward.

Chu Xiyao reacted swiftly. She drew the sword at her waist and stepped in front of Chen Yan.

A flash of sword light came first, followed by the metallic wail of something striking the blade.

Chen Yan knew that in that instant, Chu Xiyao and that fellow had already exchanged blows.

And the target of that man's finger strike had been him.

Martial Spring Realm.

Chen Yan, whose current cultivation had reached the Qi Condensation Realm Peak and stood only one step away from the Martial Spring Realm, understood their cultivation levels all too clearly.

Yet he could do nothing.

Because the gap between the Qi Condensation Realm and the Martial Spring Realm was like a heavenly chasm.

If not for Chu Xiyao, Chen Yan would already have died beneath that man's finger strike in that instant.

Kongshan Finger.

This was a basic technique that every Qi Condensation Realm disciple of the Empty Mountain Sect had to learn, as well as its most widely applicable spell.

The technique Lu Li had used to kill Chen Yan back then had been this very Kongshan Finger.

And now, the technique this man had used in an attempt to kill Chen Yan was still the same move.

Simple, effective.

Not a single Qi Condensation Realm cultivator could withstand a Kongshan Finger from a Martial Spring Realm cultivator.

There were absolutely no exceptions. This was the fundamental gap between realms and strength.

"I'm giving you one chance."

Chu Xiyao's cool voice, like a breath of mint, rang out once more:

"If you surrender now, come back to Qingchan Peak with us, and confess everything you should confess, perhaps you can still receive a lighter punishment."

"Heh."

The effeminate man merely gave a short laugh, wearing a smile that was not quite a smile.

"Talking to dead men really is tiring."

The next instant, the man stomped off the ground and shot toward Chu Xiyao.

An endless stream of true qi surged from his Meridians, and he struck another palm at Chu Xiyao's face.

Wind Splitting Palm!

Another compulsory technique for Empty Mountain Sect disciples, a common move used when disciples sparred at the Training Ground.

This also made Chen Yan realize something.

This soft-voiced man was one hundred percent an Empty Mountain Sect disciple, not an outside enemy who had infiltrated the sect.

The waters within the sect seemed deeper than he had imagined.

Under the man's fierce assault, Chu Xiyao was beginning to look somewhat disheveled.

Even if she was one of the few immortal cultivation geniuses Empty Mountain Sect had seen in a thousand years, she was, in truth, still only a seventeen-year-old girl.

Not only did she lack combat experience, but her attacks were neither ruthless nor decisive, as though she always held something back.

At last, the effeminate man caught a gap in Chu Xiyao's defense. Another palm forced her back, leaving Chen Yan completely exposed before him.

Chen Yan's breathing stopped for a moment. He wanted to resist, but the true qi that should have been flowing through his Meridians seemed to have been locked down in an instant, utterly unable to circulate.

That sense of crisis made Chen Yan understand what would happen the next second.

A strange smile surfaced on the man's face, yet not a trace of emotion could be found in his eyes.

The hair tie behind him swayed faintly in the night wind, while the index finger of his left hand pointed directly at Chen Yan's chest.

A bloody hole the size of a bowl exploded in Chen Yan's chest. Before he even had time to feel any pain, he simply felt a sudden heaviness in his chest.

Like a kite with its string cut, he fell forward. Before his consciousness faded away, Chen Yan cast one last glance in Chu Xiyao's direction.

Her eyes stared straight at Chen Yan's body as it toppled toward the ground. No expression could be seen on her cool, breathtakingly beautiful face.

Only in those autumn-pool eyes of hers could one glimpse a trace of self-reproach and resentment.

It was exactly the same as the expression of the White-robed Girl at the entrance to the Training Ground when the calamity struck the outer court, at the very end of Chen Yan's last lingering moments.

[Reincarnation Ended.]

[This Reincarnation Evaluation: C (The Gears of Fate are slowly beginning to turn)]

[Accumulated Cultivation: Qi Condensation Realm Peak]

[Reincarnation Reward: Hidden Immortal Art (Conceal Heavenly Secrets; no one can see through your cultivation level, and you may disguise your cultivation as any realm below your true cultivation)]

[Reincarnation Settlement complete. Host will return to the Previous Reincarnation Record Point, inherit the Accumulated Cultivation from this reincarnation, and Restart Life.]

"Gah!"

Chen Yan abruptly sat bolt upright on the bed, gasping for breath.

All around him was darkness.

He was not beneath that large tree in the courtyard. Cheng Ziying was not beside him, and it was not before Lu Li began his sermon.

Then this time should be...

The very instant he had just awakened from the nightmare.

In other words—

The reincarnation record point had changed.