Ancient Immortal

Chu Zeming returned to his residence.

Chu Zeming began secluded cultivation.

This journey into the secret realm had yielded quite a harvest. Not only had he obtained the broken sword and the Azure Blue Pearl, but the barrier between the early and middle stages of his Golden Core cultivation had also begun to show faint signs of loosening.

Spiritual energy circulated through all the meridians in his body for thirty-six heavenly cycles. Chu Zeming held his breath, focused his mind, and concentrated on breaking through the bottleneck.

He sat in the pool within his residence's inner chamber. The icy water reached his chest, yet Chu Zeming could not feel the slightest chill. Heat radiated from his entire body, and a thin sheen of sweat had already seeped across his forehead. Pain showed on his handsome, striking face.

Breaking through was no easy matter.

Using the Azure-Blue Pearl might reduce the obstacles to his breakthrough. But the Azure-Blue Pearl was exceedingly precious, and there was only one. This was merely a minor realm advancement, so unless driven to the brink, Chu Zeming did not want to use that hard-won pearl.

The pain lasted for roughly two full hours.

Then, all at once, the spiritual power that had been blocked and congested found an opening and surged forth. It was as though floodgates had opened, spiritual power pouring out like a raging flood. The pain vanished instantly, replaced by an unprecedented sensation that filled his entire body. Chu Zeming felt the injuries within him disappear, and strength brim from head to toe.

Breakthrough.

Middle-stage Golden Core.

Chu Zeming opened his eyes and slowly exhaled a breath of turbid air.

His black hair had long since been dampened by sweat, strands clinging to his forehead. His whole body was covered in black filth... impurities forced out during the breakthrough.

After washing the sticky black substance away in the pool, Chu Zeming rose and put on the dark robe that had long been prepared beside the water.

During the days Chu Zeming had spent in seclusion breaking through, Xiao Hei seemed to have overeaten after devouring the dragon spirit and had remained asleep on the cold jade bed.

Chu Zeming stared at the newly grown head, then recalled the nine-headed black shadow that had battled the dragon in the cave.

There was no doubt that Xiao Hei was powerful—powerful enough to fight a dragon. But... no matter how he looked at it, it did not resemble any respectable spirit pet.

Malice covered its entire body, and vicious aura clung to it. Calling it a spirit pet would be less accurate than calling it a terrifying ferocious beast.

No wonder it had refused to form a contract with him at the Spirit Realm Platform.

He wondered whether, once Xiao Hei grew nine heads in the future, it could defeat Yue Lian's Little Azure Dragon.

Chu Zeming got up and left the room. He set up a barrier for Xiao Hei so it could sleep properly, then headed toward the sect's Artifact Refining Hall.

Every sect had an Artifact Refining Hall. Within it burned ever-living earthfire, and countless cauldrons stood above the flames for sect cultivators to smelt their natal magic artifacts.

Chu Zeming intended to reforge the Luminous Glaze Sword.

Yet only a few steps after leaving his residence, Chu Zeming saw Ling Yunzi standing quietly some distance away, apparently waiting specifically for him to emerge from seclusion.

Chu Zeming's first instinct was that nothing good could come of it. He wanted to pretend he had not seen him and take a detour. But the next instant, Ling Yunzi's lofty, cold gaze turned toward him.

Chu Zeming: "..."

He could no longer keep pretending to be blind, so Chu Zeming respectfully stepped forward. "Master."

Ling Yunzi's gaze swept over Chu Zeming, and he said blandly, "Congratulations on your breakthrough."

Chu Zeming said, "It is all thanks to Master's excellent teaching."

Ling Yunzi stiffened.

For the first time, a trace of discomfort appeared in those ever-lofty, icy eyes. Chu Zeming's flattery was painfully clumsy, and Ling Yunzi even suspected he was deliberately speaking this way to disgust him.

After a moment of silence, when the awkwardness had eased slightly, Ling Yunzi spoke again. "According to the elders overseeing the secret realm, you performed very well during this expedition. Everyone returned with a full load. After leaving the secret realm, Ling Tian had gained nothing, yet you gave him a magic artifact."

Chu Zeming nodded.

Yet he found it strange that Ling Yunzi had come to say these things.

Then, the very next moment, Chu Zeming understood Ling Yunzi's purpose.

Because Ling Yunzi continued, "You and Ling Tian have never gotten along, yet you were willing to give him a magic artifact. Why did you not give one to your junior martial brother as well?"

Chu Zeming: ????

Hearing Ling Yunzi's words, Chu Zeming's mind filled with question marks. If he had to use something to describe how he felt at this moment, it would be a "black man question-mark meme."

What an oddball.

A truly outrageous oddball.

But this oddball was a mid-stage Nascent Soul cultivator, the head of a sect, and nominally the original owner's master. Chu Zeming could not directly snap back at him, so he raised his head apologetically and looked at Ling Yunzi. "Master, to be honest, Junior Brother Ling Tian failed to find an opportunity entirely because I thought there was treasure in the cold pool, causing him to waste five days and lose the chance to search for opportunities. That is why I felt guilty and gave him a magic artifact I had found myself."

Ling Yunzi's eyes flickered, and he said softly, "So that was the case. This Venerable One was unaware. But among all the disciples, only Lian'er failed to find even the slightest opportunity. As the senior brother..."

He left the sentence unfinished. Clearly, he still meant for Chu Zeming to give something away.

Chu Zeming was furious. With a cold, hardened expression, he said blandly, "Master, every opportunity I obtained in the secret realm was won through untold hardship, nearly at the cost of my life. Yet with a few words, Master wishes for me to hand what I gained over to my junior martial brother... Forgive me, but I cannot do that."

He refused outright.

Ling Yunzi had not expected Chu Zeming to be so unyielding, and he could not help but freeze. Several traces of astonishment appeared on his face, as fair and serene as moonlight and clear wind. He was somewhat displeased, but it would not do to forcibly make Chu Zeming surrender treasures from the secret realm. So, in a chilly tone, Ling Yunzi said a few more empty words about working hard and caring for fellow disciples before flicking his sleeve and leaving.

Watching Ling Yunzi's cold and aloof back.

Chu Zeming found it somewhat strange.

Because he had read the novel, Chu Zeming had always believed Ling Yunzi treated Yue Lian well out of love. From the beginning of the book, the powerful master had spoiled and cared for the pure, delicate bottom in every way, their path sweet and cloying all the way through.

But after transmigrating into the novel, Chu Zeming had clearly sensed a difference between reality and the book.

Because Ling Yunzi's kindness and care toward Yue Lian... seemed more like ingratiation.

At that moment, a faint feeling arose in Chu Zeming's heart.

Nothing was as simple as it appeared, and that absurd novel, Master Above, I Below, was like a pirated book compared to this real plane. It could only serve as a reference, not a guide.

Upon reaching the Artifact Refining Hall, Chu Zeming handed over a certain amount of spirit stones and selected a cauldron fueled by high-grade earthfire. He then summoned the Luminous Glaze Sword from within his body and threw it in together with the broken sword obtained from the secret realm.

Sitting cross-legged before the enormous cauldron, Chu Zeming activated the spiritual power within him and made the earthfire beneath the cauldron burn even fiercer.

Refining a natal magic artifact took a long time, and he could not afford to be distracted.

It took a full thirty-six hours before the Luminous Glaze Sword took shape again within the cauldron. After merging with the broken sword, its sharp, flamboyant air gained four parts steadiness and ancient vastness. It seemed to contain the flavor of heaven-and-earth laws.

The Luminous Glaze Sword rang with a clanging cry and even emitted a deep, terrifying hum. Chu Zeming pressed a drop of essence blood onto it, deepening the bond between himself and the Luminous Glaze Sword. Only then did it finally settle down.

Elder Han, who watched over the Artifact Refining Hall, had been drawn over by the commotion some time ago. Standing beside Chu Zeming, he clicked his tongue in admiration as he looked at the radiant, peerlessly beautiful Luminous Glaze Sword. "If the Artifact Refining Hall's formation were not suppressing the newly born sword spirit, your sword would likely have flown away."

Putting away the Luminous Glaze Sword, Chu Zeming lifted his eyes and asked, "A formation?"

Elder Han stroked his beard. "It is the Heaven and Earth Cosmos Formation laid down by the founding patriarch."

After thinking for a moment, Chu Zeming asked, "Elder, do you know much about formations? I once saw a strange formation, but I did not recognize it. I would like to learn what kind of formation it was."

With that, Chu Zeming walked to a table nearby, rolled up his sleeve, picked up a brush, dipped it in a little vermilion ink, and drew on a sheet of plain white paper the formation he had seen in the secret realm palace.

Chu Zeming said, "I do not remember the details very clearly, but it should have roughly looked like this."

Elder Han stood beside Chu Zeming, frowning as he stared at the formation he had drawn. After pondering for a long while, he slowly said, "This should be a sealing formation. Where did you see it?"

Chu Zeming replied, "A few days ago, in the Extreme Sea Secret Realm. I saw it in a ruined palace within the secret realm. At the time, there was also a man of terrifying strength at the center of the formation."

"Wait here and help watch over the Artifact Refining Hall..." Elder Han suddenly said. He took the formation Chu Zeming had drawn, studying it as he walked outside.

Less than half an incense stick later, Elder Han returned.

He was also carrying a treasure box in his hands.

He sat at the table, set Chu Zeming's drawing aside, then solemnly opened the box. Inside lay a battered, blackened ancient tome. He carefully flipped it open and searched for a while before a smile appeared on Elder Han's face. "Found it. This is it. The most ancient sealing formation, used specifically during ancient times to seal immortal mighty figures. It is very rare. Your luck is excellent—you may have encountered a living ancient immortal in the secret realm."

A living ancient immortal?

All at once, Chu Zeming felt as though he understood many things.

—Ling Yunzi might know something about Yue Lian's background. The reason he fawned over Yue Lian might have been to win the favor of that Black Lotus.

After all, no matter how one looked at it, the white lotus and Black Lotus surely had blood ties.

After thanking Elder Han, Chu Zeming left the Artifact Refining Hall. His head ached a little the entire way.

Back then, after being kissed, he had failed to restrain himself and stabbed that person with a sword. Now, Chu Zeming regretted it deeply.

During this trip into the secret realm, he had made an enemy of terrifying strength.

He did not know whether that person had emerged from the secret realm when the Extreme Sea Secret Realm opened. Chu Zeming felt faintly uneasy, and that unease manifested in his cultivation becoming increasingly frantic.

Chu Zeming could not bring himself to imitate Ling Yunzi and curry favor with Yue Lian to escape that powerful figure's retaliation. He had to rely on himself to protect himself.

After the Extreme Sea Secret Realm ended, Chu Zeming's reputation within the sect improved. Following the senior brother's example became a trend, and the entire Nine-Clear Haoran Sect was like a crow's nest that had been poked—every two or three steps, there was someone dressed in black.

The sect elders were helpless about this, but they turned a blind eye.

After all, their idol was a cultivation madman, and the entire sect had rarely entered such a state of striving to catch up with one another in cultivation.

It was a good thing.

Amid this wave of diligent cultivation, the once-every-five-years joint grand competition between cultivation sects was about to begin. The competition would be held at the greatest cultivation sect in Luyu Cangzhou—the Guiyuan Sect.

Beside the training grounds, Chu Zeming and Xuan Mo sat side by side beneath the shade of a tree.

Looking at the communication jade talisman in his hand, Xuan Mo sighed repeatedly. "They are sending us to compete again this time... If we do not go, people will mock the sect for having no one. If we go and lose again, they will still mock us."

Chu Zeming ignored Xuan Mo's resentment.

He stared at the jade talisman in his hand, his mind filled with the reward for this Joint Grand Tournament—an ancient secret treasure.

Author's Note:

Chu Zeming: An ancient secret treasure... I need to find a way to get it.

Yue Lian: I truly wish I could transform into a treasure and let Senior Brother seize me by force.