Ju Hua's full name was Zhuanshui Juhua, and his younger sister was named Zhuanshui Qiu. The two siblings were members of the Zhuanshui Clan in the Great Xia World.
Just as Ju Hua had made up his mind to make good use of the book Desolate Era, Zhuanshui Qiu, who had just left, returned with four or five servants. Each servant carried a steaming dish.
"Big Brother, I made all of these myself. Hurry and try them!" Zhuanshui Qiu looked at Ju Hua expectantly.
"Thanks for all your hard work, little sister!" Ju Hua smiled. He had the servants set the food down, then dug in.
"Is it good, Big Brother?" Zhuanshui Qiu asked.
"Mm!"
Ju Hua gave her a thumbs-up.
"What does that mean?" Zhuanshui Qiu asked, puzzled.
"Of course, I'm saying you're amazing!" Ju Hua said with a laugh.
"Hehe, you're flattering me, Big Brother!"
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As he ate the food his little sister had made, Ju Hua asked her about what had happened over the past three years, especially the changes within the Zhuanshui Clan.
The Zhuanshui Clan was a powerful clan that had existed since the Three Realms were born. It had survived for countless eons, so three years passed in the blink of an eye. Just as Ju Hua had expected, everything in the clan remained as usual.
He had not been unconscious for long, and the prestige of an Immortal still lingered. Though some people had said unkind things during that time, no one had bullied his little sister.
"But Emperor Xia is going to conscript troops again. Before, you could use the fact that you still had to undergo tribulation as an excuse, Big Brother. Now that you've become a Loose Immortal, the clan will definitely make you lead troops into battle!" Zhuanshui Qiu said, full of worry.
"Emperor Xia is conscripting troops?" Ju Hua paused, then nodded.
Emperor Xia was the ruler of the Human Race in the Great Xia World. Under his rule, the Human Race had steadily expanded its territory, capturing or killing countless Xiantian Gods and Demons.
But behind those glorious achievements lay the sacrifices of countless people.
In the war between the Human Race and the Xiantian Gods and Demons, the Human Race held the overall advantage. Yet the Xiantian Gods and Demons were no easy prey, and they had inflicted tremendous casualties on the Human Race as well.
As one of the oldest clans in the Great Xia World, the Zhuanshui Clan had once vied with the Xiamang Clan, led by Emperor Xia, for control of the Great Xia World in the distant past. After losing the war, the Zhuanshui Clan had submitted to the Xiamang Clan and now followed them in their campaigns across the Great Xia World.
Whenever Emperor Xia conscripted troops, the Zhuanshui Clan was bound to send out a large force. As a Loose Immortal who had just failed his tribulation and had no future prospects, Ju Hua's name appearing on the roster for this expedition was only natural.
"Why aren't you saying anything, Big Brother? Aren't you worried?" Zhuanshui Qiu asked.
"Don't worry, little sister. I won't die on the battlefield. Not only will I survive, I'll live for several million more years, perhaps—" Ju Hua stopped there, since what he had already said seemed unbelievable to Zhuanshui Qiu.
"If you can live for several million years, Big Brother, you'll be an incredibly powerful Loose Immortal, no weaker than a Celestial Immortal Ancestor!" Zhuanshui Qiu said, sounding hopeful.
"Hahaha!" Ju Hua laughed. He ruffled Zhuanshui Qiu's hair, then got up and walked to the window.
Beyond it stretched the boundless Zhuanshui River. Its waters rushed swiftly, yet brimmed with life.
The Zhuanshui River originated at the World Pillar and emptied into the boundless sea. It was one of the Great Xia World's largest rivers.
Legend had it that the Zhuanshui Clan was connected to Emperor Zhuanxu, one of the Five Emperors of the Human Race. Emperor Zhuanxu's descendants had migrated to this Great World and settled beside the Zhuanshui River. As time passed, they took the name Zhuanshui, and the river itself was formally named the Zhuanshui River.
As Ju Hua gazed at the endless river, his heart gradually opened up.
He, Ju Hua, had been a genius since childhood. After obtaining the Immortal Abode, he had soared to new heights. Failing his tribulation had indeed dealt him a heavy blow, but it was not the end.
In this world, countless powerful beings could rival Celestial Immortals despite being Loose Immortals. Loose Immortals could reincarnate and attempt their tribulation again in their next life. He could even cultivate a second primordial spirit and have it undergo tribulation, or follow the God-Fiend Path and become an even more powerful Celestial God.
An ending is also a beginning! Everything is only just beginning!
Ju Hua closed his eyes. His heart, unsettled by his failed tribulation and by that divine book, Desolate Era, gradually calmed. He felt his heart expanding, his consciousness drifting through heaven and earth along with it.
After an unknown length of time, Ju Hua slowly opened his eyes.
"What a strange feeling!"
Ju Hua muttered to himself. When he had reached the Myriad Manifestations True Person stage, his soul had transformed and given birth to divine sense. Back then, he had felt as if he'd gained a pair of eyes that could see everywhere. Now, he felt as if he had gained another pair.
These "eyes" were even more ethereal and mysterious than divine sense.
"Could this be heart-consciousness?"
Ju Hua was unfamiliar with "heart-consciousness," but he remembered reading about it in Desolate Era.
Beyond divine power and magic power, there was a third kind of strength: heartforce!
Heartforce had six major levels: entry, Iceheart, Dominator, Mortal Dust, Return to Truth, and World of Heart.
Once one reached the entry level of heartforce, heart-consciousness was born!
The more Ju Hua thought about it, the more he felt that this had to be heart-consciousness.
"Heartforce? I've actually reached the entry level just like that?" Ju Hua was stunned. Had his true talent always lain in this direction?
"Right, little sister..." As if remembering something, Ju Hua suddenly turned around. But at some point, his room had become completely empty.
His little sister Zhuanshui Qiu and the servants had all quietly left!
"My little sister's a Myriad Manifestations True Person by now, more or less. She should've been able to tell that I couldn't be disturbed in that state!" Ju Hua sent out his heart-consciousness to search the area. Soon, he spotted his little sister standing alone by the Zhuanshui River, lost in thought.
The Zhuanshui Clan's grounds were protected by countless formations and wards. Before, he had been unable to use divine sense to search the surroundings. But now that he had heart-consciousness, the clan's formations and wards could no longer stop him.
"Too bad I don't know any techniques for using heartforce. And entry-level heartforce is so weak!" Ju Hua shook his head and put the thought aside.
He was already very satisfied to have reached the entry level of heartforce by chance. There was no point in thinking too much about it now!
"I should go take a look over there." The thought crossed his mind, and in the next instant, Ju Hua vanished from his room.
When Ju Hua appeared again, he was inside an incomparably vast hall. Several enormous cushions lay scattered across the floor. Beside the hall stood a magnificent gate, beyond which stretched a vast expanse of mist.
Ignoring the cushions around him, Ju Hua walked slowly toward the magnificent gate.
Just as he was about to step through it, suddenly—
Whoosh!
A towering bear-shaped phantom appeared before Ju Hua. It stood more than two zhang tall and was covered from head to toe in yellow fur.
"You're here?" the great bear asked slowly.
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