The Innate Immortal Eye Bearer!

[A full-force strike from the Void Refining Realm was utterly beyond what an old man at the Spirit Transmutation Stage could withstand. The old man died on the spot beneath Gu Xinyue's Sword Qi.]

["You're courting death!"]

[At that moment, you heard an angry roar from behind you. The aura that erupted was actually slightly stronger than Gu Xinyue's.]

[Gu Xinyue's expression turned somewhat grave at those words. She suddenly stopped and looked at you.]

["Junior Brother, go first. I'll hold this city lord back."]

[From the spiritual energy that had erupted just now, you knew the city lord was at least at the middle stage of the Void Refining Realm. You could not help worrying about Gu Xinyue.]

[Gu Xinyue beside you seemed to see through your concerns. She gave you a reassuring smile.]

["Don't worry, Junior Brother. Your Senior Sister isn't that weak! Don't forget—there have never been weaklings in our Sword Pavilion!"]

[Her words immediately brought you to your senses. The Sword Pavilion's requirements for accepting disciples were extremely high; without being a peerless genius in the Sword Dao, one could never join the Sword Pavilion.]

["Senior Sister, I'll leave markers along the way. Follow them, and you'll find me."]

[With that, you no longer hesitated and left Qingshan City with Wei Qing.]

[You knew that staying here would only hold Gu Xinyue back.]

[Just after leaving Qingshan City's boundaries, you sensed an intense battle erupt within the city.]

[You looked at Wei Qing beside you and asked where the two of you should go next.]

[Wei Qing was clearly more familiar with the situation in the Southern Region than you, an outsider.]

["We definitely can't return to Qingshan City now, and the nearby cities all have dealings with Qingshan City."]

[Wei Qing lowered his head and pondered for a long while. Then he raised his head, looked in one direction, and said,]

["We'd be best off going to the capital. Fighting is forbidden there, so it suits us well."]

["The capital?"]

[You did not know what place he meant by the capital, so you told him that you came from Youzhou and were still unfamiliar with the Southern Region.]

[Wei Qing was surprised that you had come from Youzhou. In his impression, it was nearly impossible for Void Refining experts to appear in regions outside Zhongzhou.]

[He then explained that the area you were currently in belonged to the Great Zhou Dynasty of the Southern Region.]

[Qingshan City was merely a remote little city under the Great Zhou Dynasty.]

[The capital, meanwhile, was the central city of the entire Great Zhou Dynasty, where powerful experts were as numerous as the clouds.]

["Alright! We'll go to the capital!"]

[And so, Wei Qing led you onto the road to the capital of the Great Zhou Dynasty.]

[It took you nearly a year to reach the capital.]

[After entering the capital, you discovered that even the guards here had a minimum cultivation of the Nascent Soul Realm.]

[With such cultivation, one would at least be an Outer Sect Elder in the Qingyun Sect, yet here they could only serve as guards.]

[A year later, you and Wei Qing had fully settled down in the capital. You bought an abandoned Courtyard in a corner of the city and moved in.]

[Yet what worried you somewhat was that Gu Xinyue had not come looking for you after more than a year.]

[When you left Qingshan City, you had left her a strand of Sword Qi, telling her that you would head for the capital.]

[Yet Gu Xinyue still had not come to the capital. You did not know whether your Senior Sister had managed to escape Qingshan City.]

["Su Ming, I'm back. These are the spirit stones I earned this month—have a look!"]

[Just as you were worrying about Gu Xinyue, Wei Qing pushed open the Courtyard gate.]

[Ever since the two of you had settled in the capital, you had chosen not to join any faction. Instead, you earned spirit stones using your status as a Fourth-grade Alchemist.]

[After briefly checking the number of spirit stones, you took a portion and left the rest for Wei Qing to buy materials and fund his own cultivation.]

[In the tenth year, your fifth year since arriving in Zhongzhou, your cultivation finally broke through to the Nascent Soul Late Stage.]

[At the same time, your alchemy proficiency also broke through to that of a fifth-grade alchemist.]

[Over these past years, your reputation for alchemy had rapidly grown throughout the capital. With low prices and excellent quality, you had won the favor of many customers.]

[Yet after so many years, Gu Xinyue still had not come looking for you, and you gradually forgot about the matter.]

[Gu Xinyue had originally talked you into coming so that you could seek opportunities in Zhongzhou's ruins.]

[But now, simply waiting for Gu Xinyue had cost you five years.]

[In the fifteenth year, ten years after arriving in the Great Zhou Dynasty, you still had not received any sign of Gu Xinyue.]

[By this time, many people in the capital had begun calling you Pill King Su.]

[Gradually, you began to enjoy this life. You seemed to be sinking into the wonderful life of the Great Zhou Dynasty, forgetting that these people were actually Sinister Worms.]

[At the end of that year, a rumor began circulating through the capital. Wei Qing told you about it the moment he returned to the Courtyard.]

["Su Ming, did you know? One of the Great Zhou Dynasty's princesses has been stripped of her status and demoted to a commoner."]

[You had no interest in such gossip, so you did not ask any further.]

[The next day, you went to Kyoto's Rogue Cultivator trading street as usual—put bluntly, it was Kyoto's black market.]

[After selling the pills you had refined yesterday, you prepared to return to the Courtyard.]

[When you returned to the Courtyard, you discovered that a young girl had somehow begun following behind you. You used True Sight to examine her identity.]

Zhou Lingxi: Human Race

Talent: Innate Immortal Eye

Cultivation: Third Level of Qi Refining

Spiritual Root: None

[When you saw that she possessed the Immortal Eye, you froze slightly.]

[She had no Spiritual Root, yet she had cultivated to the Third Level of Qi Refining. You felt that this Immortal Eye was simply too terrifying.]

["Miss, I'm home. How much longer are you going to follow me?"]

[Zhou Lingxi looked at you with her clear, wide eyes.]

["I'll keep following you!"]

["Ahem! No, no, no! I don't take anyone in!"]

[As you spoke, you prepared to close the gate, but Zhou Lingxi's next words stopped your hand.]

["You're not a monster, so I'm going to follow you!"]

[You understood the meaning behind her words, but what astonished you was how someone at the Third Level of Qi Refining had detected the existence of the Sinister Worm.]

["Can your Immortal Eye see the Sinister Worm clearly?"]

[Upon hearing your words, Zhou Lingxi's entire body trembled slightly as she stared at you with widened eyes.]

["You... how did you know I have the Immortal Eye..."]

["Come inside first. It's not entirely safe out here!"]

[You did not directly answer her question, instead telling her to come in before discussing it.]

[After you entered the Courtyard, Wei Qing saw that you had brought a young girl back and immediately looked at you strangely.]

["Su Ming, where did you abduct her from?"]

[You did not respond to Wei Qing's remark. Instead, you shot him a glance and said solemnly.]

["She's an Awakened One!"]