Ghost!

Zhang Sanfeng: Good!

Zhang Sanfeng: Thirty years east of the group, thirty years west of the group! Don't look down on this poor old Daoist!

Zhang Sanfeng: A kindred spirit across worlds! If only we'd met sooner!

Meng Qi: Wake up, Master Zhang. Your kind of poor isn't his kind of poor.

"Hahahaha." Meng Chuan and Yao Chen burst out laughing when they saw the message.

Outside, Xiao Yan ultimately handed Nalan Yanran a written notice breaking off their engagement, then knocked his head against the ground several times before his father.

Truthfully, though Xiao Yan had harbored improper thoughts since childhood, he was still a man of deep feeling and loyalty. After seeing his own fate, Yao Chen's decision to take Xiao Yan as his disciple or not would make little difference. Yao Chen could deal with Hun Tiandi himself in the future.

Even so, Yao Chen had decided to follow the original course of events and take Xiao Yan as his disciple. For one thing, he had absorbed the boy's Dou Qi for three years. To Yao Chen as he had been then, that was an enormous favor.

For another, everything Yao Chen had seen happen between himself and the boy before him in his fate had made him feel a strong affinity for Xiao Yan, as though a bond had already formed between them.

"Elder Yao, if I remember correctly, to rebuild your body, you need a seventh-grade pill, the bloodline essence of a seventh-rank Magical Beast, and the remains of a Dou Zong, right?" Meng Chuan asked as he watched the scene outside.

"Uh, yes. A seventh-grade Life-Blood Bone-Melting Pill." Yao Chen nodded.

"If you use those to create a body, Elder Yao, will you still follow the path of Dou Qi?"

Yao Chen paused. He understood what Meng Chuan meant. If he no longer wanted to follow the path of Dou Qi, Meng Chuan could use divine treasures from the Shrouding the Heavens World to rebuild his body and wash away every trace of Dou Qi.

Yao Chen hesitated. Everyone in the Chat Group acknowledged the power of Meng Chuan's cultivation system. His own Dou Qi system could never catch up to the Shrouding Method, even if he went to the Great Thousand World and became its ruler. After all, the Shrouding Method could lead to True Immortal, Immortal King, and even supreme Immortal Emperor.

"Great Emperor, Dou Qi is in my soul and in my blood. I want to follow this path all the way into the dark." Yao Chen smiled with easy confidence. "Besides, even if I go to the Great Thousand World and that world has its limits, that doesn't mean I do! Who knows? Maybe one day I'll land myself the title of Great Thousand Dao Ancestor!"

"Hahahaha! Then allow me to greet the Dao Ancestor in advance!" Meng Chuan was delighted by Yao Chen's choice. No path stood above another, and he wanted a hundred flowers to bloom in the Chat Group. The Shrouding Method was powerful, but it was far from invincible.

He did not want every group member from a weaker world to abandon their world's unique cultivation system and switch to the Shrouding Method or the Lifetime Method. Those were the two strongest methods in the group now, but what about later?

What if a new member joined whose cultivation system was even more outrageous than either of them? Would everyone switch again? That clearly would not be healthy.

Even The Ancient One, who had gone furthest with the Shrouding Method, had not abandoned her original powers. Master one method and the others came into reach. The broader view she gained could only help her grow as a Secret Mage.

And at his core, Zhang Sanfeng was still a grandmaster of martial arts.

Meng Qi: Then I, a humble Primordial Heavenly Venerable, will also greet the Great Thousand Dao Ancestor in advance!

Bibi Dong: Shameless!

Lu Mingfei: A bald Heavenly Venerable at the Aperture-Opening stage?

Meng Chuan and Yao Chen had no desire to engage with these "treasures" of the group.

"There's no rushing the matter of my body. I'll probably have to wait until Xiao Yan grows stronger, or until my soul power recovers enough for me to handle it myself." Yao Chen looked at Meng Chuan and asked again.

"How can I help you, Great Emperor? You came here for the Burning Art, didn't you?"

"That's right. I'm refining my Dao Fire Furnace, and only one final thing is missing." Meng Chuan nodded. It was the main reason he had crossed into this world.

"I want to study the Heavenly Flames of your world. And I want to see something else."

"How does the Burning Art evolve in this world of yours?"

Yao Chen thought for a moment, then said, "The Heavenly Flame is easy enough. I have the Bone-Chilling Flame right now. But to see the Burning Art evolve, we'll have to wait until Xiao Yan breaks through to Dou Zhe."

"That's fine. I have a year. I can wait. Once I obtain that final piece, my Dao Fire Furnace will be complete in an instant, so it won't delay me," Meng Chuan said unconcernedly.

"Then... what the fuck!" Yao Chen had been about to say more when he suddenly swore, tossed down a mass of white flame, and vanished into the ring.

"Great Emperor, that's the Bone-Chilling Flame. I'm going out to give that brat a beating!"

Meng Chuan sent his divine sense outside, and his expression turned strange.

Xiao Yan had fallen off a cliff...

Zhang Sanfeng: He took it that hard?

Lu Mingfei: His ass didn't crack, did it?

Yan Chixia: His ass... cracked?

Zhang Sanfeng: Get lost! @Lu Mingfei

Elder Yao's phantom appeared beside Xiao Yan. He seized the back of Xiao Yan's neck and hauled him straight up.

"Quit screaming! You jumped off a cliff yourself, and you still have the nerve to scream?" Yao Chen was thoroughly exasperated. "One broken engagement and you decide to jump? Some nerve you've got!"

Xiao Yan was still shaken, gulping down air. When he heard someone speaking beside him, he answered without thinking, "Who wanted to jump? I slipped!"

He even pointed to the stone at the cliff's edge. He had come here so many times without a problem. Who could have guessed that this stone would ambush him today?

Only then did he realize there should have been no one else here. He looked at Yao Chen, then scrambled backward on hands and feet.

"A ghost!"

Though Yao Chen had recovered some of his soul power, he was still an insubstantial soul. His feet hovered above the ground, and he was floating...

"I'm not a ghost. I'm a soul," Yao Chen explained. He had no desire to be called a ghost.

"..."

"Isn't that a ghost?" Xiao Yan stared at the old ghost before him, baffled. Was there a difference? And this old ghost did not seem eager to drain a person's vital essence the way ghosts did on television.

"You're not trying to drain my vital essence?" Xiao Yan asked tentatively, seeing that Yao Chen seemed reasonably kind.

Yao Chen's expression changed. Talk of draining vital essence brought back certain unpleasant memories, and his gaze at Xiao Yan suddenly grew deep and dark.

"Young man, your road ends here!" Inside the ring, Meng Chuan was laughing so hard he could barely stop. He had not expected things to begin like this; he had nearly snuffed out the Bone-Chilling Flame halfway through studying it.

Seeing Yao Chen's expression change, Xiao Yan thought he had hit upon the truth. "You really do want to drain my vital essence!" he cried, then scrambled toward the foot of the mountain.

"Ah! Spare me!" Yao Chen waved a hand, and Xiao Yan flew back even faster than he had fled, landing beside him.

It's over. This ghost is strong. I can't get away. Xiao Yan despaired, certain he would most likely die here today. Why couldn't it have been a female ghost? Why did it have to be an old one...

Xiao Yan really was remarkably optimistic. Perhaps all transmigrators were like that—thick-nerved?

Yao Chen promptly rapped Xiao Yan on the head.

"What the fuck, old ghost! Draining my vital essence wasn't enough, so you hit me on the head too? Take this!"

"What the fuck, you dare hit back?" Yao Chen flew into a rage when he saw Xiao Yan aim for his head. Had the brat never heard of respecting the old and caring for the young?

"Wait, old ghost—no, old man. You just said something."

"'What the fuck'?"

Their eyes met, and the air turned a little strange.

Thanks to Wuyan de Laoshu, Wuxian Lunhui Tianzun, Shiguang Renran, Kanzhe Shouji Fazhe Dai, Gangmen Xiazhui, Wo Fangxin, qw211, Shasha Dou Teng, Mengmengda de Lang Baobao, Jian Gou Fulangge Huanshi Wuji AQA, Huo Yuanzhen, Gao Yexuan 1, Feng Che Xue Ning, Haokan de Dongman, Qianhou Dou Youren, Xjiany. Zhatian Shenbang, Ji Wen You Gou, Feiyi 15, Wuji Tiandi r, Mo Yu Tianlin, pziwdmf, Mouren E, Pa Jin Qi Mingzi, Fengmi Tianxia v Shenye Duxing, Aoty, Ai Dian, Shijian, and Kandao Wo Jide Tixing Wo Qu Chong for your recommendation votes. Please send votes and add this to your favorites!