[System: I Fought Ruthless? Seriously?]

Die, little thief!

The elderly Divine Bridge woman wore a savage expression. The spirit-linked weapon in her hand glimmered brightly, radiating an eerie blue light as she charged toward the stone-wall cave dwelling.

For one thing, she was hostile toward Lin Xian because she could not stand the sect leader breaking the rules and allowing him into the Scripture Pavilion to read scriptures and study divine arts.

That was practically exposing every weakness of a sect to him. If Lin Xian were an undercover agent sent by an enemy sect, Jade Cauldron Cave Heaven would not be far from destruction.

For another, Lin Xian was far too young. He had formed a grudge against her, and there was no way to resolve it.

She was already old and no longer had the strength to make another breakthrough. If she did not eliminate this hidden danger early, then once Lin Xian reached the Other Shore, neither she nor her entire lineage behind her would meet a good end.

Destroy! the elderly woman shouted, unleashing one Divine Rune after another and manifesting all of her Dao arts. Even when a lion hunted a rabbit, it went all out.

Boom! The stone-wall cave dwelling exploded.

Blood trickled from the corner of Lin Xian's mouth, his face pale as he fled in panic, displaying every sign of defeat.

Stay!

The elderly Divine Bridge woman was delighted at the sight and pressed her advantage, carrying herself with an invincible air.

In her eyes, Lin Xian was already half crippled. As long as she caught up to him, she could kill him within ten moves.

Two streams of light, one before and one behind, broke out of Jade Cauldron Cave Heaven's territory and gave chase toward the deeper wilderness mountains.

Deep in the old forest, the moonlight was tranquil, broken only by the scattered, disorderly cries of crows. The farther the elderly Divine Bridge woman chased, the more something felt wrong. She gradually stopped, her expression grave as she muttered, "If he were truly crippled, how could he have run this far?"

"A moonless night is perfect for murder, and a windy night is perfect for arson. Fellow Daoist, do not delay your journey to the afterlife." Lin Xian suddenly turned back. A droplet of water appeared in his hand—it was the Tranquilizing Mind Divine Spell.

"Not good, it's a trap!" The elderly woman's expression changed drastically as she recognized the water droplet's origin. Elder Ma Yun had been forcibly controlled by this very droplet for a long time. If she were struck by it, would she not be at someone else's mercy?

The elderly woman exerted all her strength, even sending out her spirit-linked weapon to block the droplet. Yet she had not expected Lin Xian to flash forward, leaving countless afterimages behind. He moved like lightning, flew behind her, struck with all his strength, then fled far away.

"You... how can you be this strong?!" The elderly Divine Bridge woman was horrified. Like a meteor, she crashed heavily into the ground without the slightest ability to resist.

"It is not that I am too strong. It is that you are too weak." Lin Xian did not reveal himself. His voice came from deep within the forest, as he remained wary of any hidden trump cards she might possess.

"You were toying with me." Despair appeared in the elderly woman's eyes. It was like a cat playing with a mouse, step by step leading her into a carefully laid trap. She had believed herself to be the hunter, yet she had already become the prey.

"I was merely being cautious." Lin Xian smiled faintly but still did not show himself.

"Was that really necessary?" The elderly woman coughed up blood, her eyes widening as she took her final breath in resentment. She died with her eyes open.

Lin Xian clearly possessed the strength to kill her head-on, yet he had still gone to such lengths to set this up. She simply could not understand it.

"The cultivation world is filled with killing intent everywhere. The day your true strength is exposed is also the day your death draws near."

"Unless you are some fierce figure who can break through during battle, an exceptional talent whose strength changes by the day, or a prodigy who charges triumphantly all the way onto the Emperor Path, who would dare reveal their full hand?"

"Even after attaining the Dao, there is still a scheming phoenix constantly coveting your Longevity Immortal Essence."

"The universe is a dark forest."

Lin Xian shook his head and used Spirit Summoning and Dispatching to seize the elderly woman's soul, confirming that she was truly dead.

A wisp of black smoke that screamed without end, along with a few specks of light, flew from the elderly woman's remains. It landed in his palm and turned into a dark Yin Pearl.

"System, want a bite of a Divine Bridge cultivator's origin?"

Lin Xian asked with a beaming smile, "Crunchy and chicken-flavored."

System 10086's resentful voice sounded. "Not long ago, you said you would give me the World Tree, a universe seed, and Primordial Purple Qi. Why is there only a Divine Bridge Origin left today?"

"What is wrong with Divine Bridge Origin? This is a cultivator second only to the great figures of the Other Shore." Lin Xian spouted nonsense without missing a beat. "Do you know what the Other Shore is? It is a realm where one traces back and unifies part of the past, sees and contains part of the future, links oneself into a line within the river of time, then condenses an illusory Great Dao into an illusory Dao Fruit. Those are great figures!"

System 10086 said, "Heh."

This Other Shore was not that Other Shore. By the host's logic, the Immortal Kings of Eternal Life and Perfect World Immortal Kings would also be in the same realm.

"Milk will come, bread will come. Now that we have 'Divine Origin,' can 'Immortal Origin' be far behind?" Lin Xian continued babbling as he tossed up the Divine Bridge cultivator's origin in his hand—Divine Origin for short.

"What Divine Origin? It is clearly just a chunk of 'Origin Deity.'" System 10086 muttered, but did not disdain it. They reclaimed the Divine Bridge Origin. Even a mosquito was still meat, so it could at least fill the database.

But as they ate, System 10086 increasingly felt that something was off and asked in return, "A few days ago, you asked me to accumulate all kinds of divine arts. Today, you want me to eat cultivators' origins. What are you planning?"

"Ahem, System, I have always believed that you possess unmatched talent and peerless brilliance, with the bearing of a Heavenly Emperor!" Lin Xian's expression turned solemn. "The human body has its limits. Even if one cultivates the Heaven-Swallowing Demon Art, one cannot surpass the Heaven-Swallowing Great Emperor. The demonic body imprisons the Great Dao, making it impossible to evolve a true Chaotic Body. But I think you can."

"Huh? I can break through Ruthless's limitations? Seriously?" Even System 10086 was stunned.

Could it be... that I, System 10086, could also become a Heavenly Emperor?

"Give it a try. You are a system, after all." Lin Xian said calmly, "It would be best if it succeeds. If it does not, there will not be much loss anyway. It will merely be a deduction."

"If it fails, we can observe Ye Xian's Chaotic Body and mooch off Ye Fan's Chaos Immortal Scripture from his fifth life."

"All roads lead to Rome. As long as your thinking is willing to slide downhill, there will always be more solutions than difficulties."

"As expected of you, Host. You truly do not want to suffer even a little." System 10086 mocked, yet they did not object. They had comprehended the Emperor Talisman Immortal Characters within the Bronze Coffin. If they could evolve a Chaotic Body, it would provide some help for their future high-level system architecture.

The Chaotic Great Dao had attaining the Dao as its lower limit, but no one knew how high its upper limit was. System 10086 only knew that something called the Chaos Sea existed.

After dealing with the elderly Divine Bridge woman's belongings, Lin Xian summoned a Five Thunder Righteous Method and blasted her corpse into dust, fertilizing the mountains and forests.

"A dignified Cave Heaven elder, yet she did not have a single Source Stone on her. What a poor ghost."

Lin Xian muttered as he put away trash like the Hundred Herbs Liquid. He held the only valuable item, the spirit-linked weapon, in his palm for examination. It was a small azure bowl.

A few Divine Runes covered it. Though they had not formed Dao and principles, they exuded a spiritual aura. It was the primary weapon of a Divine Bridge cultivator, and it was indeed extraordinary.

Presumably, the elderly woman had once been a genius who wanted to forge a single weapon and achieve greatness late in life. Unfortunately, instead of becoming great late, she never became great at all and wasted her entire life.

Without opportunities, scriptures, or background, reaching the Divine Bridge realm was already the limit for an ordinary genius.

Lin Xian did not study the Divine Runes. Instead, he began researching the process by which the weapon had taken shape.