"The countdown to World Destruction: one thousand years."
"Please hurry and find the Sky Mending Stone."
"Location one: Kunlun Taiqing Sect, Jinling Cave Mansion."
"Identity: Qiu Changtian."
"Applying the Mirror Flower Water Moon template. Initiating temporal and spatial travel."
He suddenly opened his eyes and realized he was sitting on a stone bed in a cave chamber, his body still in a meditative pose.
He picked up the bronze mirror beside him and saw a handsome young man reflected in it.
Sword-shaped brows, starry eyes, a jade-like face, red lips and white teeth—gentle and refined.
Tsk, I'm so handsome. How could anyone be this handsome?
He set down the mirror and pondered for a moment, then heard a cool female voice outside:
"Senior Brother, are you there? Your junior sister has come to ask for your guidance in swordsmanship."
He froze for a moment at her words, then let out a long, quiet sigh.
Not again.
He walked to the entrance of the cave and confirmed his identity once more.
Right. He was Qiu Changtian, a newly inducted disciple of the Kunlun Sect and the Sect Master's personal disciple.
When Qiu Changtian left the cave, he saw a white-robed fairy standing outside.
Her features were as delicate as a painting, her bearing otherworldly. She wore a simple white Daoist robe, and her long black hair fell to her lower back, casually tied with a ribbon at her shoulder blades. She was graceful yet carried a hint of heroism—the kind of wildly popular heroine who would be instantly recognizable to audiences in a xianxia TV drama.
This white-robed fairy was his junior sister, Xu Yinglian.
She came from the Xu Family of Tiannan, a great cultivation household, and possessed the rare cultivation talent of a Seven Orifices Exquisite Heart.
So last month, the Kunlun Taiqing Sect had made an exception, waiving the entrance examination to admit her as a personal disciple under the Kunlun Sect Master. In every sense, she was a "heaven-blessed daughter."
Well, if he didn't exist, she would unquestionably be the foremost disciple of their generation.
Seeing Qiu Changtian emerge from the cave, Xu Yinglian formed a sword seal and summoned a streak of crimson light from behind her.
The sword was about three feet and seven inches long, hovering before her chest. A lifelike Divine Bird Crimson Feather was carved in relief on its hilt.
Xu Yinglian ran her slender fingers over the flying sword. Her tone was solemn, her expression utterly serious as she slowly said:
"This sword is called 'Yujia.' It has been passed down through my Xu family."
"Master sealed its latter eight layers of Daoist Magic, limiting it to the might of the Qi Refining Stage. That should make it a fair match for our sword spar."
Her fingers slid along the blade, drawing out a brilliant shower of sparks.
Her eyes brimmed with fighting spirit, as if flames were burning within them.
Qiu Changtian was speechless.
A moment ago, she'd called it "asking for guidance in swordsmanship." And now it was an unabashed "sword spar"?
Sigh.
His junior sister was wonderful in every way, except for one thing:
She was far too competitive.
If anyone beat her at anything, she would challenge them thousands upon thousands of times, determined to win at least once.
She'd come to challenge him under the pretext of asking for guidance in the Sword Control Technique this week. This was already the seventh time, wasn't it?
Qiu Changtian's attention wandered. Seeing that her senior brother was distracted, Xu Yinglian's lovely face clouded with a trace of annoyance. She asked again:
"Will you draw your sword and instruct me, Senior Brother? Or is it inconvenient?"
Qiu Changtian: ...
To be honest, he wasn't really the kind of person who liked showing off.
If he could, he'd deliberately lose to his junior sister in this spar, just so she could settle down for a few days.
But my Invincible Persona won't let me!
"I wouldn't presume to instruct you," Qiu Changtian said warmly. "Let's just spar and learn from each other."
He formed a sword seal as well, drawing out his flying sword, "Yuyan."
"My flying sword needs no introduction, does it?" Qiu Changtian asked with another smile.
His words were a little mocking, implying that his junior sister had lost to him so many times she knew his sword inside and out.
"Please enlighten me, Senior Brother." Xu Yinglian's expression remained blank, her words stiff.
They formed their sword seals again at the same time. Two streaks of light shot into the sky, one crimson and one jade-colored—their sword spar had officially begun!
Xu Yinglian rapidly formed hand seals, directing Yujia to slash at Yuyan.
She knew that by the standards of the Heavenly Stems Sword Forging Method, her senior brother's Yuyan was only seventh-tier, while her own Yujia was tenth-tier.
Although the Daoist Magic in both swords was sealed because they were only at the Qi Refining Stage, a tenth-tier flying sword far surpassed a seventh-tier one in hardness, sharpness, and speed.
Victory through the higher-tier sword—that was her winning strategy!
But Qiu Changtian reacted even faster. Yujia had barely twitched when Yuyan had already swept in first, slashing toward Xu Yinglian.
Xu Yinglian's gaze sharpened. She hurriedly called Yujia back to defend, trying to lock down Yuyan's attack.
But Yuyan changed direction twice with abrupt stops, easily breaking through Yujia's blockade. It became a streak of jade-colored light and closed in on Xu Yinglian in an instant, its tip hovering in front of her chest.
At that close range, the victor was decided.
"I lost." Xu Yinglian lowered her head.
Her face was full of unwillingness, so intense it nearly dripped from her.
At the same time, the Kunlun Mirror's voice rang in her sea of consciousness:
[Invincible Persona, synchronization +1.]
"Your swordsmanship has improved by leaps and bounds lately, Junior Sister." After receiving the Kunlun Mirror's notification, Qiu Changtian relaxed and smiled. "Given time, even I may not be your match."
"Really?" Xu Yinglian mused. "I suppose it's because sparring with you has taught me so much. I'll have to keep asking you for guidance."
Qiu Changtian's expression stiffened, and he changed tack:
"Ahem. Your progress has been remarkable, Junior Sister, but pushing yourself too hard with sword practice can lead to a bottleneck. Why not study some Daoist Magic instead, for a change of pace?"
You come to challenge me every day, and I can't refuse if I want to maintain this Invincible Persona. This is such a pain!
"Then I'll practice even harder, so I can reach the bottleneck sooner and break through it," Xu Yinglian insisted, unmoved.
"Junior Sister, what exactly do you want from me?" Qiu Changtian said helplessly. "I'm not your personal sparring partner. You come to find me every day, and I don't have any time left to cultivate on my own."
"Senior Brother." Xu Yinglian was silent for a moment, then said, "I want to beat you."
"That's easy. I can hold back—"
"You're not allowed to go easy on me!" Xu Yinglian snapped. "I want to defeat you with my own strength!"
"How long will it take you to get that good?!" Qiu Changtian snapped back.
The moment he said it, he regretted it.
Because what he meant was, "You could practice for years and still never beat me."
With Xu Yinglian's competitive nature, how could she possibly let that pass?
Sure enough, his junior sister's face immediately turned pale.
Xu Yinglian held back her tears, bit her lower lip, and struggled to bow.
"I really have been troubling you these past few days, Senior Brother. When I come back next time, it won't be for a sword spar. I'll be issuing you a formal challenge!"
Before Qiu Changtian could say another word, she mounted her sword and flew off in a huff.
The Kunlun Mirror spoke again:
[Invincible Persona, synchronization +1.]
Qiu Changtian: ...
Junior Sister, it's not that your senior brother wants to show off in your face.
It's just that, because of the Kunlun Mirror, I have to maintain this Invincible Persona, or I won't be able to keep cultivating!
Sigh. When you got right down to it, wasn't all this for the sake of saving the world?
He turned his gaze northwest. The Kunlun Mountain Range stretched on endlessly, its towering peaks blanketed in snow like silver drapery. The whole magnificent vista lay before him.
The sky was clear and blue, not a cloud in sight. The sight filled him with a sense of peace and ease.
But who could know that a thousand years from now, the world would face the Age of Dharma's End, with the heavens collapsing and the earth splitting apart?
The place where Nuwa had once mended the heavens would fracture again. The sky would tilt toward the northwest, the Milky Way would hang upside down, and the sun and moon would stray from their courses.
The heavenly river, with its nearly limitless waters, would gush madly through the breach, flooding the Divine Land until the world lay beneath a boundless sea.
Then countless stars would rain down upon the Nine Provinces, radiating limitless heat and light. Mountains would burn and melt; seas would boil.
"Flames would blaze without dying, waters surge without ceasing"—humanity would be wiped out, and the world plunged into utter silence!
If he were a mortal with a limited lifespan, he could simply give up. What would he care about after he died?
But he had barely crossed into this world before he was chosen by an Innate Supreme Treasure called the Kunlun Mirror.
It had ordered him to find the spare Sky Mending Stone left behind by the ancient Nuwa, then repair the place where the heavens had been mended, preventing the catastrophe of the Age of Dharma's End.
According to the Kunlun Mirror, the sole remaining Sky Mending Stone had been split into six pieces and scattered far and wide.
The reason he used the Kunlun Mirror's Mirror Flower Water Moon technique to disguise his appearance, act out an Invincible Persona, and take the assumed name "Qiu Changtian" to infiltrate the sect—
Was that one of the Sky Mending Stone fragments lay within the Kunlun Taiqing Sect!
On the Kunlun Sky Pillar, inside Yuxu Palace!
Before you continue