Amidst a vast expanse of ice and snow, a woman sat cross-legged on the ground, her eyes slowly closed. Howling winds whipped around her, the cold biting to the bone.
At that moment, a crisp crunch of snow suddenly broke the silence.
The woman’s brows furrowed slightly. She opened her eyes. A man was walking towards her slowly.
When she saw him, she froze completely.
The man came to stand before her and smiled gently. “Miss Qianmo, it has been a long time.”
The woman named Qianmo kept her face expressionary. “So it is the Sword Master of the mortal world. What brings you to this little place today?”
Ye Xuan stepped closer, gently brushed the snowflakes from her hair, and said softly, “I missed you.”
Qianmo’s body stiffened. A moment later she lowered her head. Teardrops fell onto the snow and instantly froze into tiny ice beads.
Suddenly she looked up at Ye Xuan. She stared at him, tears rolling down her cheeks, yet her eyes were filled with stubbornness.
Some people vanish without a word the moment they leave, as if they have disappeared from the world entirely.
It is truly infuriating.
Ye Xuan leant down, placed a soft kiss between her brows, then drew her into his arms. “My fault.”
My fault.
At those words, more tears streamed down the woman’s face.
All the grievances she had carried for so many years melted away in that instant.
…
Immortal Ancient City.
Ye Xuan walked along the bustling streets, alive with people coming and going.
Suddenly, a dragon’s roar echoed from the distant horizon, followed by a terrifying wave of draconic might sweeping down from the sky.
Everyone in the city startled and looked up.
High above, a colossal dragon tens of thousands of feet long soared through the air. Atop its head stood a young man in cyan robes.
Someone in the street cried out in shock, “That is Zhang Chen of the Mysterious Sect, a once-in-ten-thousand-years genius! He actually formed an equal contract with the Heavenly Dragon clan. How terrifying!”
“Zhang Chen? What is he doing here?”
“What do you think? Haven’t you heard he is courting the eldest young lady of Immortal Ancient City?”
“Ah, so that’s it!”
Hearing the crowd’s chatter, Ye Xuan paused for a moment, then smiled and quickened his pace towards the distance.
Soon he reached the city lord’s mansion. An old man blocked his path.
The elder stared at Ye Xuan warily. “Who goes there!”
Ye Xuan blinked. “You don’t recognise me?”
The elder frowned, looked Ye Xuan up and down, and shook his head. “No.”
Ye Xuan’s face darkened.
The elder glanced at him again. “Are you famous?”
Ye Xuan suddenly produced an ancient book titled Biography of the Mortal Sword Master.
Someone had completely made it up, of course, and it was written as if it were the most epic tale imaginable, incredibly impressive.
Most importantly, it contained his portrait.
Ye Xuan opened to the first page and held it out. The elder looked at the picture, froze, looked back at Ye Xuan, and finally stammered, “Do… do you possess the legendary Qingxuan Sword?”
Ye Xuan spread his palm. The Qingxuan Sword appeared.
Thump!
The elder dropped straight to his knees. “Sword Master! Why have you come? You should have sent word ahead! Appearing like this will scare a man to death!”
Ye Xuan smiled. “Rise quickly. I am here on some private business. Do not make a fuss.”
The elder hurriedly said, “Travelling incognito?”
Ye Xuan nodded.
The elder nodded vigorously. “I understand! I understand!”
Ye Xuan smiled again, spread his palm, and a manual flew into the elder’s hands. “A cultivation technique. Keep it and train.”
The elder opened it, immediately knelt again, and said shakily, “Sword Master… let me kowtow first!”
He banged his head several times. When he looked up, Ye Xuan had vanished.
The elder stood stunned.
Ye Xuan had only just reached the entrance to the inner hall when a voice rang out. “Miss Yao, I, Zhang Chen, truly love you. Why do you keep rejecting me?”
Inside the hall, a peerless beauty sat to one side, her face expressionless.
Beside her sat a white-haired old man.
This was none other than the ancient patriarch of the Immortal Ancient clan, Immortal Ancient Lin.
Immortal Ancient Lin glanced at Immortal Ancient Yao and said calmly, “Girl, young master Zhang Chen is acceptable. Stop being so picky.”
Immortal Ancient Yao replied calmly, “Old ancestor, I hear you accepted a great many cosmic crystals from the Mysterious Sect. Is that true?”
“Insolence!”
Immortal Ancient Lin flew into a rage. “You wretched girl, what nonsense is this? I am doing this for your own good! Don’t be ungrateful! Let me tell you, I have already promised the Mysterious Sect ancestor. This marriage is settled.”
Immortal Ancient Yao looked at him. “I already have someone I love.”
At those words, Zhang Chen, standing some distance away, frowned deeply. Immortal Ancient Lin slammed his palm down, shattering the table beside him, and roared, “You have someone you love? Tell him to come out! I’ll slap him dead with one blow!”
Immortal Ancient Yao clenched her fists, wanting to speak, but in the end said nothing. Feeling deeply wronged, tears suddenly poured from her eyes.
At that moment, a familiar voice sounded from outside the hall. “I’m here.”
Immortal Ancient Yao froze. She looked towards the entrance. A man was walking in slowly.
When she saw that familiar figure, her tears gushed forth like a broken dam, instantly blurring the young man’s outline.
She hurriedly wiped her eyes, stared at the approaching man, thinking she must be dreaming, and pinched herself hard.
It hurt.
It was real.
Immortal Ancient Yao cried and laughed at the same time.
Zhang Chen turned to Ye Xuan, his gaze ice-cold.
Immortal Ancient Lin was even more furious. He stood up abruptly and glared at Ye Xuan. “So you’re the one this wretched girl likes?”
Ye Xuan nodded. “Yes.”
Immortal Ancient Lin sneered. “What is your status? How are you worthy of someone from my Immortal Ancient clan?”
Ye Xuan blinked. “Little Yao and I are truly in love.”
“Rubbish!”
Immortal Ancient Lin waved his hand dismissively. “Don’t give me that romantic nonsense. Let me ask you this: Zhang Chen is a once-in-ten-thousand-years genius of the Mysterious Sect, the young sect master no less. Furthermore, he has formed an equal contract with the young patriarch of the Heavenly Dragon clan. Most importantly, next year he will head to Little View Continent and become a core disciple of View Mysterious Academy. And you?”
He looked Ye Xuan up and down, then continued, “Judging by your clothes, you probably don’t even have a single hair to your name.”
Hearing this, Immortal Ancient Yao covered her mouth and burst into laughter.
Ye Xuan was about to speak when Immortal Ancient Lin suddenly stepped forward. A terrifying aura instantly locked onto Ye Xuan, killing intent flashing in his eyes.
Ye Xuan frowned.
Immortal Ancient Lin declared, “I’m going to cripple you!”
He raised his hand to strike.
“Stop!”
A furious shout suddenly came from the side.
Immortal Ancient Lin paused and looked over. A middle-aged man was striding quickly towards them.
It was the current city lord of Immortal Ancient City, Immortal Ancient Bei.
He had once met Ye Xuan and even dealt with him before.
The instant Immortal Ancient Bei saw Ye Xuan, he felt as though lightning had struck him. The next moment he hurried forward, knelt slowly before Ye Xuan, and said in a trembling voice, “I did not know you had arrived! Please forgive my offence.”
Ye Xuan helped Immortal Ancient Bei to his feet with a smile. “No need for such courtesy, father-in-law.”
Father-in-law!
Immortal Ancient Bei was stunned, then overcome with excitement.
Holy crap!
He was now the father-in-law of the Mortal Sword Master?
Ye Xuan walked to Immortal Ancient Yao, spread his palm, and smiled. “I arrived late.”
Immortal Ancient Yao looked at him without speaking.
Ye Xuan took her hand of his own accord. “It’s too noisy here. Let’s go somewhere else.”
With that, he led her towards the outside of the city.
Immortal Ancient Lin stood stunned for a moment, then roared in fury, “Insolence! You…”
“You’re the insolent one!”
Immortal Ancient Bei suddenly pointed at Immortal Ancient Lin and bellowed, “Idiot! Complete idiot!”
Immortal Ancient Lin was livid. “You unfilial son! A clan patriarch kneeling to an outsider! You have disgraced the entire Immortal Ancient clan!”
With a flick of his sleeve, boom!
A terrifying force instantly sent Immortal Ancient Bei flying.
In the distance, Ye Xuan stopped, still holding Immortal Ancient Yao’s hand. He turned to look at Immortal Ancient Lin.
The old man stared back. “You truly do not put me in your eyes!”
As he spoke, his right fist clenched. In an instant, a horrifying power enveloped Ye Xuan completely.
“Insolence!”
At that moment, a thunderous shout rang out from the heavens. The next instant, hundreds of thousands of warriors clad in black battle armour stepped out of thin air.
“View Mysterious Guards!”
Immortal Ancient Lin froze at the sight.
The hundreds of thousands of View Mysterious Guards dropped to their knees in unison from the sky. “We greet the Sword Master.”
A middle-aged man hurried to Ye Xuan, fell to one knee, and said shakily, “Sword Master, we arrived late to protect you. We deserve ten thousand deaths.”
Sword Master.
Hearing the man’s words, Immortal Ancient Lin stood as if struck by lightning, utterly dumbfounded.
Zhang Chen’s body went limp and he collapsed to the ground.
A beam of white light shot out from his body. Moments later, a man rushed forward, knelt on one knee not far from Ye Xuan, and said tremblingly, “Young patriarch of the Heavenly Dragon clan, Ao Qin, greets the Sword Master.”
Ye Xuan looked at the middle-aged man and shook his head with a smile. “Protect me from what? In this universe, who can harm me?”
The middle-aged man lowered his head and said nothing.
Ye Xuan smiled. “Everyone, rise.”
The middle-aged man hesitated, then slowly stood. High above, the hundreds of thousands of View Mysterious Guards also rose swiftly.
Ye Xuan turned to the distant Immortal Ancient Lin. The old man immediately fell to his knees, voice quivering. “Sword Master…”
Ye Xuan held Immortal Ancient Yao’s hand and looked gently at her. “This man’s heart is crooked. He bears no good intentions towards you or your father. Keeping him in your Immortal Ancient clan would only bring disaster, therefore…”
He glanced at the sky. “Where is the Lord of Reincarnation!”
Boom!
The firmament split open. A middle-aged man stepped through shattered space, bowed respectfully to Ye Xuan, and said, “Greetings, Sword Master.”
Ye Xuan glanced at Immortal Ancient Lin. “Cast this man into reincarnation. Let him suffer for a hundred lifetimes before he may be released.”
The Lord of Reincarnation immediately replied, “As you command!”
Immortal Ancient Lin suddenly scrambled to his feet and roared, “I refuse to accept this! You bully me with superior strength!”
Ye Xuan looked at him. “You may summon your ancestor.”
The ancestor of the Immortal Ancient clan: “…”
