After waiting for ages, Liu Ruyan still had not appeared.
Had he guessed wrong?
Jiang Chen felt somewhat disappointed, even a little afraid in hindsight.
He had thought that the battle just now had been Liu Ruyan testing the results of his cultivation, which was why he had remained so calm.
Could it really have been a fight to the death?
A chill ran down Jiang Chen's spine. He had no choice but to personally cover the Burial Ground with enough dirt, stones, and fallen leaves, leaving no trace of anything unusual.
Only then did he climb over the ridge and head out of the sect.
As he descended the slope, he finally heard a woman's voice behind him:
"Do you not think your grasp of the Demi-Immortal's Book is a little too perfect?"
Jiang Chen stopped. Although he knew Liu Ruyan had leaked the information and used someone else to probe his strength,
the fact that she had followed him meant she was seriously beginning to consider whether this so-called fated opportunity was real.
He remained impassive and did not turn around.
In the next instant, a petite and graceful figure had appeared before him.
The night concealed her, making her silhouette all the more hazy and alluring.
"Where did the jade slip you used to cultivate spirit control come from? Could you lend it to me?"
Jiang Chen was slightly taken aback.
Come to think of it, Chen Gongxing's annotations on the Basic Spirit Control cultivation method were overly thorough.
Aside from the Spiritual Power Spiral Ball, Spiritual Power Snap, and Spirit-Infused Sword Art he had already cultivated, there was also a legendary spirit-control technique called Myriad Phenomena Resonance that had yet to unlock. It required his physique, soul, and cultivation to reach certain conditions before it could be seen.
At present, Jiang Chen did not want to harm Steward Chen, so he hurriedly changed the subject.
"It has nothing to do with the jade slip. The key to cultivating the Demi-Immortal's Book lies in soul arts."
Touching her delicate lips with a fingertip, Liu Ruyan asked in confusion:
"I also simulated my dantian into a Five-Element Endowment and cultivated the Demi-Immortal Method for several days.
"This method looks flawless, yet it demands extremely high resistance from the soul. Even an illusion expert like me nearly had her soul fall into the Abyss.
"Yet you remained completely unharmed, fusing Demonic Aura to command the five-element spiritual power. Why?"
Jiang Chen shrugged and said bluntly:
"I can deduce the details. You can only deduce the direction. That is the difference between us."
Liu Ruyan suddenly leaned closer and, under cover of the night, actually took Jiang Chen's small hand.
"I want to know where it all begins."
Jiang Chen remained unmoved.
It begins with the soul of a transmigrator backed by a system. I can break Reverend Guiqi's Soul-Severing Art, pull my soul back from the Abyss of cultivating the Demi-Immortal Method, and survive the explosive shock of demonic and spiritual energies fusing into an Abyss within my sea of qi...
The words reached his lips, but he deliberately put on an inscrutable air, playing hard to get.
"If you want to know the true root of it all, then it depends on whether you are my fated opportunity."
Liu Ruyan released Jiang Chen's hand. After thinking for a moment, she suddenly smiled.
"Then stay tonight."
He could stay, but not tonight... Jiang Chen thought. If Liu Ruyan truly meant it, the best course would be to leave the Azure Mist Sect with him tonight.
Unfortunately, she was waiting for the Heavenly Demon Sect to attack the mountain.
This woman was selling out both sides and could not be trusted completely. Who knew what she wanted by asking him to stay? What if she harvested his kidneys? What if she implanted a chip in his brain?
Without a Plot Simulation, Jiang Chen did not dare to take such a risk.
He had to continue deepening his exchanges with this fox demon in the Plot Simulation. Only after he truly understood her would he dare to take things further in reality.
"If it truly is fate, we will meet again."
Leaving those words behind, Jiang Chen strode down the mountain and departed the Azure Mist Sect without looking back.
Only Liu Ruyan remained. With a wave of her hand, she added an illusion restriction to his Burial Ground.
Holding her cheeks in both hands, she watched Jiang Chen's back vanish into the night and murmured:
"Sometimes strong, sometimes weak; sometimes bold, sometimes timid... The fated opportunity I waited three thousand years for is truly adorable!"
"Fortunately, you left the Azure Mist Sect in time..."
"As long as you are not one of Liyue's people."
After leaving the Azure Mist Sect, Jiang Chen flew low on his sword through the barren mountains. Upon reaching the desert region, he switched to high-altitude sword flight and headed straight for Xiyang City.
On this journey, Jiang Chen was like a bird soaring into the blue sky, a fish entering the vast sea—free at last from all restraints.
When he reached an uninhabited region, he counted his spoils.
Storage Ring ×1.
Heavenly Demon Sect Demon Shrine ×1.
Disciple Sword ×1.
Low-grade Spirit Stones ×36.
Spirit-Healing Pills ×5.
Spirit-Nurturing Pills ×7.
Breath-Hiding Pills ×12.
High-grade Hedgehog Armor ×1.
Jiang Chen thought that the Demon Shrine and Breath-Hiding Pills proved that fellow truly had been a Demon Sect spy. Killing him had been the right call.
The remaining pills and equipment were similar to the ones Liu Ruyan had given him, all standard supplies for Qi Refining cultivators.
Together, they were worth quite a bit of money—enough for him to settle down properly in Xiyang City for some time.
Day broke.
Jiang Chen finally arrived at the capital of the Fireburn Kingdom—
Xiyang City.
During his first year after transmigrating, Jiang Chen had been making glass in Guli, a frontier town. Cultivators scarcely settled in such small towns, which were known as mortal cities.
Xiyang City, home to tens of millions of cultivators, was the Fireburn Kingdom's only immortal city.
When he entered the city, dawn had only just begun to lighten the sky. Scattered lantern lights blended with the pale white of daybreak and the first rosy clouds.
Morning was the busiest time for the major flight docks, and streams of traffic flowed endlessly through Xiyang City's skies.
Flying beasts and flight artifacts of all sizes converged from the half-lit heavens, trailing dim, gleaming flames as they slowly descended toward the various flight docks.
At the same time, people who had stayed up through the night departed Xiyang City on flying swords, flying beasts, or airborne sedan chairs.
The princes and nobles who had spent the night in song and revelry returned to the royal city to conduct official business in the morning; sect disciples and Rogue Cultivators arriving from elsewhere entered the city to catch the morning market; only fairy maidens and wandering libertines continued their songs and dances, with wine flowing without pause.
It was Jiang Chen's first time witnessing the grand splendor of an immortal city, and he was deeply shaken.
Compared to the red windows, green tiles, carved beams, and painted rafters of the Song- and Ming-style ancient architecture in Jiang Chen's memories, which seemed determined to build a sacred hall inside a snail shell, Xiyang City's buildings were simple yet imposing. Their eaves stretched outward like wings, their bracket sets were sturdy and powerful, and their floating lights wound onward like dragons, giving the city an unrestrained elegance and magnificent grandeur.
Commerce in Xiyang City was exceptionally developed. The more-than-hundred-zhang-wide Xiyang Avenue teemed with people and traffic.
Although most passersby were mortals, there were also great numbers of sect disciples, Rogue Cultivators, princes, nobles, and people from all walks of life.
Clerks from spirit artifact shops shouted their wares right on the street, using dazzling hand seals and radiant immortal lights to announce all manner of spectacular promotions and discounts.
Lights flickered in the taverns above the inn lofts, where the laughter of guests and singing girls drifted down alongside the intoxicating fragrance of spiritual wine.
Cries of astonishment rose outside the auction houses as discussions buzzed nonstop. Every completed sale made the bronze bells on the rooftops ring, their pleasant immortal chimes resounding through the entire city.
Besides that, there were peddlers and hawkers setting up stalls along the streets.
There were Rogue Cultivators who farmed and sold spiritual agricultural produce, charlatans peddling fake Qi-Gathering Pills, craftsmen applying protective spiritual films to spirit swords and magical artifacts, fortune-telling immortals dressed as reclusive masters, and storytellers arranging tales of royal scandals...
Jiang Chen walked amid the endless crowd, feeling the lively, enchanting air of mortal life mingled with immortal aura. It felt as though he had crossed through time and space.
For now, he needed to find somewhere to stay.
This was an immortal city. His cultivation at Qi Refining, Third Layer was not worth concealing, and since the Azure Mist Sect was a major sect with many disciples in Xiyang City, there was no need to change clothes either.
After some consideration, he chose not to stay at an inn, where trouble was easy to invite, and instead went to find a guesthouse in the outskirts.
Spirit Spring Inn.
It was a cultivation inn with a proper license, its own cultivation formation, and services specifically for cultivators.
Although the formation's spirit-gathering density was not as great as Tranquil Heart Peak's, it was far better than Stubborn Stone Peak's, and it also offered restorative hot springs.
The guesthouse owners were an old man and old woman, so there was less likely to be any trouble.
Jiang Chen only booked three days. The price was not low—three spirit stones.
The old man was short, with a round face, a bulbous nose, and the smell of alcohol all over him. It was impossible to tell that he actually possessed Foundation Establishment cultivation.
Seeing Jiang Chen dressed in Azure Mist Sect disciple robes, the old man felt especially warmly toward him.
"Judging by your blue robes, young friend, could you be a disciple of the Azure Mist Sect?"
Jiang Chen nodded.
"Indeed."
"I was once an inner sect disciple of Renqi Peak. Which peak are you from, young friend?"
"A disciple of Tranquil Heart Peak."
"Tranquil Heart Peak... Speaking of which, is that wheat-growing prodigy, Chen Gongxing, still at the Azure Mist Sect after all these years?"
Jiang Chen was slightly startled. He had not expected Steward Chen to be so famous.
"He is. He is a steward now."
"What is his cultivation?"
"Foundation Establishment Peak."
The old man's face showed shock, and he sobered up by more than half.
"How is that possible? Back then, Junior Brother Chen was already at Foundation Establishment Peak. With his talent, how could he still have failed to form a Nascent Soul after a hundred years?"
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