Arrogant Young Master Template A Variation 4

by Little Merger

You have come to a world where adepts are self-improving in an attempt to achieve immortality. You've got a system at your disposal that you've read a lot about. But why do you feel like you've been fucked somewhere? Ah, you're not the main character. You are an arrogant young master who insults the main character and dies at his hands after a couple of dozen chapters. Life is pain

3. 65 - 80

Arrogant Young Master Template A Variation 4 #Chapter 65: Cost of Exposure - Read Arrogant Young Master Template A Variation 4 Chapter 65: Cost of Exposure Online - All Page - NOVEL NEXT

Han De's previous cultivation speed was slow enough that he wasn't concerned about the tribulation in the midterm. But that situation changed 2 weeks ago when he cleansed his roots and upgraded his understanding of the Starfall Scripture to Grand Master level. According to Han De's current calculations, he was going to reach the Nascent Soul realm in a few years at most. A completely different result than his initial estimate of 20 years for the late-stage Core Formation realm!

He still had to survive until then, but the possibility of a tribulation became an ever-growing concern. The cultivation idiot was a genius at cultivation and was able to overcome the tribulation of the Core Formation realm rather easily. While Han De did have the complete video recording of that event in the form of his memories, he was, at the end of the day, an amateur watching a tutorial video of an easier level.

The Starfall Mountain had many resources concerning tribulations. But these resources came from people that successfully entered the Nascent Soul realm. The sect also had many low-level elders that couldn't surpass the Core Formation realm. In his position though, asking them about their failure could be interpreted in a variety of ways that went against his Hidden Expert transition.

'Becoming chief advisor of an empire at only Core Formation realm is nothing to scoff at. This guy probably has rich experience in failing to overcome tribulations.'

Han De ordered Old Peng to bring Wu Fu to him. Offending a single unrelated guy was different than bullying his own sect elders over and over again.

Wu Fu followed Old Peng and elegantly bowed to Han De with practiced ease. Han De adopted an unfathomable and uninterested expression and directly asked him the question. He didn't want to butter him up, that didn't fit the Hidden Expert persona of his.

"Why are you still stuck at the Core Formation realm?"

Han De watched Wu Fu's uncomfortable silence. This old man with the wrinkled face wasn't angered, he just looked at Han De and his disciples and faintly nodded.

Over the last few days, Han De's disciples followed him wherever he went, so their presence became a normal part of his daily life very quickly. But of course, a master asking a question with his disciples' presence had a different meaning than asking privately.

Han De realized he should've noticed this before, but he was just dealing with some random people from his perspective, so there wasn't any need to pay attention to such details.

Wu Fu started explaining with a tired voice.

"Everyone has a different destiny. During my youth, I thought my talent was as high as the heavens. I thought I was a genius among geniuses, but my path for cultivation was cut short. The reality disagreed with my ambitions."

Han De patiently waited. Thankfully, Wu Fu was a tactful grandpa. He continued with a bitter smile. His disciples were listening to Wu Fu intently as well.

"While I was able to form a Core much earlier than my peers, the special constitution of my soul prevented me from taking that last step and forming a Nascent Soul. Spiritual pills and herbs could do nothing to remedy that shortcoming."

The Nascent Soul realm was a realm that was concerned with the soul, as the name suggests. Not all souls were capable of reaching the Nascent Soul realm, just like not all people could become cultivators.

The cultivation idiot's soul was most likely tested when he was born, and any shortcomings were probably long addressed by his parents before he could even walk. Since Han De's soul was integrated with the System, he assumed that there were no problems in that regard. There wasn't anything related to soul constitutions under his status screen anyway.

"I have done extensive research and experimentations. I have translated ancient texts about the soul, grew spiritual herbs for years, learned and practiced many soul cultivation methods. I even created one of my own in the process. But all of it failed one afternoon in a field full of soul lilies. In the end, I could only give up and find a new purpose."

Wu Fu continued his tale about his efforts and talked mostly toward Han De's disciples. The disciples themselves were fascinated with his story. Meanwhile, Han De was half listening, and half thinking about the Soul Lily spiritual herb family that Wu Fu mentioned in the passing.

'An artificial Seven Colored Soul Lily should be a mutation of fourteen different soul lilies after 2 phases of successful grafting. It makes sense that he planted an entire field with them. What an ingenious idea. Hmmm, wait, you can't really plant them en masse without filtering the excreted spiritual energy.'

Han De realized his knowledge about the Soul Lily varieties was lacking. While Wu Fu was still talking, he nonchalantly took out several spiritual jade slips that held the next few volumes of the standard herbalism scriptures.

[Profound Points: (-5) 44 - 39 ]

"Advisor Wu Fu. You mentioned a field full of Soul Lilies. Did you try forming your Nascent Soul in that field?"

"Yes. Soul Lily varieties are known for stimulating the soul, especially the violet one has the closest effect to the Seven Colored Soul Lily. Because of that, it is often the recipient of the first grafting phase. Mass quantities of Violet Soul Lily are hard to cultivate properly and often require other varieties to compensate."

Wu Fu answered the question without thinking, but at the same time, he was wondering the reason for the question. He stopped talking after he finished and waited.

Han De nodded. This guy knew his stuff. It was a shame he couldn't advance due to his soul constitution.

"Did you use high quantities of Violet Soul Lilies every time you tried to form a Nascent Soul?"

Wu Fu narrowed his eyes while answering.

"Yes, this spiritual herb is hard to refine but the raw effects of it are miraculous for the soul."

A basic plan for his Nascent Soul was being formed in Han De's mind. Through the power of money, he was going to prepare many sets of Nascent Soul pills and spiritual herbs. Comprehending additional volumes helped him to understand the effects of soul lilies. As long as he paid attention, cultivating an entire valley of them was feasible.

He could even try to make his own artificial versions of the Seven Colored Soul Lily. The one he bought at the auction some months ago was also an artificial variety.

'Yes, that should take off the edge of the disharmony between the different varieties. Otherwise even just a field of it can have adverse effects on the soul. Huh, I wonder what this guy's soul constitution is. Why would he need to take such a risk? Shame he wasn't crippled during the fight. I could've looked at his stats if that was the case...'

Han De was baffled at his own thought process and shook his head as a reflex. He thanked Wu Fu and sent him away. While the soul cultivation method he invented intrigued him, it was probably tailor fit to the special soul constitution that he had.

'I could also ask Jin Shu to mutate some of the lilies. Yes, that might be a good idea...'

Meanwhile, Wu Fu was in deep thought after his meeting with Han De. After the conference at the Starfall Mountain, he had extensively researched Han De's history and found many mild inconsistencies. On their own, they meant nothing, but on the whole, every action of his was highly suspicious.

This battle was also another highly suspect point. It seemed as if everything was predicted by Han De. His subordinates had many life-saving treasures and high-quality healing pills. The one of a kind spiritual boat played a key role in the battle, and the subsequent struggle for survival. Not to mention the sudden closure of the enormous Breach.

Wu Fu's eyes started shining.

From outside everything looked as if it was an accident. But Wu Fu could smell a plot. It was a good thing he accepted the 'kind offer' of the Han family.

'I wonder if there is a thing I missed with the violet soul lilies…'

Silent Silhouette found his disciple exactly as he divined. His soul was eroded significantly. Some of it was his own doing, some of it was caused by something that grazed him. The power he exerted during his escape was about to break his mind and body.

Silent Silhouette's divination also showed dozens of Transcendent Han family guards, which had caused him to start doubting the divination's accuracy at first. But now, just as he predicted, 30 Transcendent guards were closing in on him.

"I hope you will give me some face and leave this matter alone."

Although he was still deeply injured due to the strange event that occurred near the weak point, he could still utilize his aura and scare away these Transcendent guards. Killing them was also possible, but it would slow down his healing process.

Unexpectedly, the guards stood their ground, and one of them crushed an exquisite white spiritual jade.

'So they were under direct orders of little Xiu. This damn idiot, bringing trouble wherever he goes…'

Silent Silhouette used the power of space and temporarily sealed the space around the Han family guards, then teleported himself and his useless disciple away. They arrived at a dark cave that was lit by a faint yellow light. His disciple Yuan Zemin immediately collapsed to the ground. Silent Silhouette sighed with emotion.

'Sometimes my divinations are just too accurate. Good thing I prepared this cave a few hundred years ago. It really was well worth the effort.'

The 'distract and teleport away' method he utilized was actually the most power-efficient one he could divine. All others would end up reducing his healing speed. This was the first time he utilized this hidden cave as well, it would be hard for anyone to find him here.

"Master, I don't know if you have given up on our cause, but you have to do something…"

Silent Silhouette frowned. He brought out eight coins with square-shaped holes and started divining. Yuan Zemin patiently waited.

Just like before, the events surrounding the battle around the capital of the Ming Empire were nebulous. He was hoping that having access to his disciple would clear the divinations, but that wasn't the case. Half of the reason why he came just vanished to thin air.

"What exactly happened to you?"

Under intense scrutiny, Yuan Zemin explained everything starting from the prayer beads, how he thought he killed Han De but failed, how Han De 'didn't die' and made a deal with the Ming emperor with the support of the Xin family. Then moved on to the betrayal inside the Silent Silhouette sect, and finally the battle at the Ming capital and the siege of the Starfall Mountain.

Silent Silhouette closed his eyes and nodded.

"Your first mistake was to ignore the origin of those Prayer Beads. You really think Long Xiu wouldn't know if her only son, one of the two reasons for her staying in this world, received a heaven-defying treasure like that?"

He shook his head.

"You really think that girl would let it go?"

Yuan Zemin's head dropped. He didn't have the courage, nor the energy to defend his choices.

Silent Silhouette sighed and ignored his disciple. He tried another divination for the means of Han De's survival. As he expected, it failed. He tried to divine how Han De survived Yuan Zemin's attack during the battle. It failed yet again. He tried to divine Han De's past, present, future. Failed, failed, failed. After each failure, his sense of crisis began to grow.

Before giving up, he tried to divine Han De's disciples. Finally a result! But that only increased his wariness. He could divine the disciples, but only their past before they met Han De.

Silent Silhouette tried to organize his thoughts.

'Makes sense for the Ming brat to make a deal for the weak points. Little Wei would know the Ming brat couldn't refuse such a good deal and supported his son Han De from the shadows. The situation was a win-win for them. Ming will breakthrough easily and the Han family would get their weak points. If one of them connects to the Eternal Fire realm, the Xin family gets a pass too. A good smokescreen.'

'Han De's soul returning back from a sliver could only be done with prior arrangement. Which means this idiot's assumption about the betrayers in the sect was accurate to a degree.'

Divination coins scattered on the ground once more.

'Yes, it is Yuan Zemin's brother.'

Betrayal was a fact of life for Silent Silhouette, so he wasn't surprised that one of his disciples betrayed the sect. First, he thought it was Yuan Zemin, but now it turned out to be his brother. But it didn't matter to him at all.

Han De's grandfather Han Shan and Silent Silhouette were very old friends. Their relationship cycled between friends and enemies over tens of thousands of years. Silent Silhouette thought he had a good grasp of his friend's character. But now he was not so sure.

'Making a deal with a higher void being. Now that is something unexpected. It could only be done through the Long family.'

"M-Master, you cannot let them cause another intersection!"

Silent Silhouette could only scoff.

"They aren't trying to cause another one, they are trying to make the one that already exists disappear."

Yuan Zemin blankly looked at his master. Silent Silhouette could sense his disciple's thoughts from a mile away.

"Are you really thinking 'that isn't such a bad thing', really? Who do you think is going to suffer when fate tries to right itself after all this time? Do you think people will be able to survive? Do you think you will be able to survive? Are you that certain of your own karmic ties?"

Silent Silhouette wearily sighed. This situation was due to the sins of their ancestors. Playing with fate like a child playing with fire. The Han family had one solution to the problem, he had another.

"Fortunately, the formation will activate in less than 25 days. Once that is done, the difficult part will be containing the fury of Han Shan. Your attempt was admirable, but it only made things worse in the end..."

Yuan Zemin's head dropped once again. Consciousness was finally leaving him.

Silent Silhouette organized his thoughts. He hadn't contacted Han Shan since the birth of Han Wei. He tried to find a way for reconciling, but everything was past the point of no return. His friend had finally outplayed him.

He tried to ignore the repercussions of the battle. It was better not to think about the higher void entities for too long. But, Silent Silhouette was fairly certain whichever deity that was, it wouldn't bother with this world once it was sealed. But he didn't dare divine anything about it.

Han De happily sat at his new movable spiritual bunker. It was a rush job, but it was better than nothing. He was already feeling nervous about having to carry around more than 241 armed nuclear warheads.

His disciples were all around him. He was used to their presence at this point and nearly completely filtered them out.

"Peng. Find some way to seal everyone's scent. We will only enter the city once that is done."

"Y-Yes, young master."

The bloodline effect was called Scent of the Progenitor. Han De didn't know its exact mechanics, maybe that was just a name, maybe it really worked with his scent.

'If it is a scent, then things like clothes should have some temporary effect. Hmm. It is a bloodline, does my blood have that 'scent' in it? Or am I just secreting it like a pheromone?'

Han De thought about it. He couldn't test this just by going to a city incognito. The best option was to establish its mechanics first, and then do a live test. Peng was still in the room, contacting someone with a voice transmission. Han De spoke after he was done.

"Hire spiritual beasts, demons evolved from spiritual animals, and if there are any, netherworld hybrids or netherworld demons. Hire 20 of each, move them to a clear area outside the city where I can meet them."

Then he looked at the empty corner of the room and talked.

"Get someone with an invisibility spell. I want one that works on all the people that are being hired."

"By your will, young master."

The disciples were silently listening from the side. Yao Qing was surprised, but she was reminded of the weird tense behavior of the fox tribe.

Han De nodded at the guard. Once he was done with this, they could start their journey to the shore. He wanted to use this time to improve his disciples' cultivations. Now that Treebeard's spiritual roots couldn't be instantly restored, he needed at least 800 points for the Spiritual Roots Healing Token.

'I hope only 1 token is enough, it's going to be a serious problem if it needs 3 just because he has 3 element spiritual roots.'

An hour later, they arrived at the open area near the city. The 'test subjects' were already there. Everyone was arranged according to his instructions. However, the sight of them made Han De frown.

"Why are they in cages?"

It wasn't just the spiritual beasts, but he could see intelligent demons that were also in cages. He had already asked out of reflex, but a closer look at their attire answered Han De's question. Old Peng, being an understanding lackey, explained it to him anyway.

"They were bought as slaves, demons are only allowed as slaves inside the White Forest city."

'Yep, looks like an isekai city.'

Slavery was very common in this world, and it wasn't limited to demons either. Han De thought about it and smiled. Ming Emperor was awaiting his eternal torture, so this city was actually quite available for the taking. And he already had the perfect man for the job to take the fall.

"Bring my cousin Bai here. I'll have a talk with him afterward."

Everyone's scent was already sealed by a spell that was originally used by the spiritual beast hunters. Invisibility spell was also applied to Han De and Ning Bi. Han De realized invisibility was actually perfect for testing. He decided to explore the possibilities with his Heaven Defying Tyrannical Scripture later.

Demons, spiritual beasts, and a few netherworld demon hybrids were placed in a grid. The breeze was suppressed by another spiritual spell. It was perfect conditions for testing his bloodline. He opened the vial filled with blood and waited for the scent to permeate through the air. This vial was specifically excluded from the scent seal.

'Hmm, a near-instant reaction? That crocodile looking thing really has a sharp sense of smell.'

'...'

'Why did it stop breathing?'

The crocodile looking beast had jerked first, but after a few sniffs, it froze completely. A few more spiritual beasts started giving the same reaction. All of them froze. Han De looked at the demons nearby.

'They seem concerned, but they are in a cage, and these beasts are acting pretty odd. In hindsight, this contaminates the experiment involving demons…'

Han De didn't fret, he waited for a while longer.

'No effect from netherworld hybrids? Shit, that's not a good sign.'

He closed the lid of the blood vial. After nearly 20 minutes the beasts started going back to normal. The next test was his body odor. He removed one of the life-saving items he was wearing underneath his robes from the scent seal. The reaction was more or less the same, albeit a little bit weaker. He experimented with range by getting closer to different spiritual beasts and demons.

'Range does seem to matter, but only because it makes the scent stronger. Some of the beasts have better scent detection than others. It's not conclusive, but the intelligent demons evolved from spiritual animals seem to get quite nervous. I couldn't see such an effect from the fox tribe. The current unique situation might be exaggerating the effects. After all, they are in a bunch of cages in the middle of nowhere, and the animals near them are acting up.'

For a fast test, this was good enough. Next he could go to the city incognito and try to observe more natural reactions. He knew the effective range and some properties of the effect.

'It is really concerning how nothing happened with netherworld hybrids or netherworld demons though...'

While Han De and Ning Bi were slowly walking back to the spiritual boat, from the corner of his eye, Han De spotted the immortal chef. The Transcendent guards had brought her with them under orders from his mother. He couldn't do anything about it. The woman was trembling as usual.

'She made… dumplings?'

[Exposure Threshold Reached]

{...ope that they will be to your liking, oh exalted one.}

[Congratulations!]

[New Bloodline Effect Unlocked!]

[Bloodlines]

--

[Primordial Void Dragon (Unawakened)]

[Concentration: 0.01%]

[Power: Extremely High]

[Effects]

[Aura of the Progenitor]

[Higher beings touched by the aura cannot be disrespectful.]

[Notes: Cannot be detected by lower beings.]

[Scent of the Progenitor]

[Beings evolved from spiritual animals will pay their respects when they detect the scent. Beings evolved from the netherworld will accept your rule when they detect the scent.]

[Notes: Effects will be extremely limited on lower beings.]

[Will of the Progenitor]

[Higher beings will understand your will by instinct. Communications from higher beings can be understood regardless of their medium.]

[Further effects are locked.]

Her master's actions had made Ning Bi quite curious, and concerned at the same time. While on the spiritual boat, he had filled a vial with his blood through great effort. His flesh was healing too fast, so he ended up making many deep cuts to his palm while ignoring the concerned looks of his disciples.

From the looks of the beasts and demons in cages, his blood seemed to have strange effects of beasts and demons. She remembered her master's assurance before he awakened their bloodlines. He told them if something were to go wrong, he would remove the bloodline immediately.

Did her master awaken to a bloodline himself? What kind of bloodline would cause fierce beasts to be frightened so much that even their breathing would turn shallow?

Her elder sister Jin Shu's parasitic bloodline was removed by her master. After that incident, Ning Bi had asked various questions to Jin Shu about it. The more she heard, the more worried she became for her elder sister. But thankfully, that parasitic bloodline was removed and there was nothing to worry about anymore.

Ning Bi thought about her master's character. He looked stern and unapproachable from the outside, but in reality, he was a kind and caring person. Often he would put his disciples above his well being.

Ning Bi and her elder sisters were sure that he would prefer to suffer in silence than to let others worry about him. This was something they as his disciples discussed with his mother at length. Ning Bi was concerned the situation pointed toward a detrimental bloodline. This needed some further deliberations, as soon as possible!

While she was thinking, she followed her master as if on autopilot. She now realized they have stopped and did not move for nearly a minute. Her master seemed to be just standing there, distracted by something.

Now that she thought about it, her master did have some odd habits.

Han De was sweating profusely. If there wasn't a spiritual spell that blocked his scent, the test subjects behind would've turned stiff from his progenitor stench.

'... She just talked… But didn't talk? No, she did talk...'

He had already read the skill, but while the description made it sound simple, the real effect was anything but.

[Will of the Progenitor]

[Higher beings will understand your will by instinct. Communications from higher beings can be understood regardless of their medium.]

'Almost as if I heard it from inside my head, but at the same time it wasn't there, it somehow felt like it was coming from a great distance. Definitely not a voice transmission...'

The voice was also similar but different than her physical voice. The woman bowed from a distance and disappeared into the spiritual boat. For a moment, Han De really wanted to know what she really was.

{Exalted one, one day this being was awakened, and one day this being was brought here. This being does not have any more memories.}

Han De grabbed his head and tried to correct his balance. The world started spinning as he heard the melodious voice. Thankfully, the woman stopped talking, or whatever that was supposed to be.

'Can she read my thoughts?! F#$%!!'

'If you can read this, please respond…!'

'...'

'...'

For a while, Han De tried to appease the woman with polite thoughts. But she didn't respond. Han De read the skill description again. There wasn't any indication of turning it on or off. In this test, he just tried to ascertain the effects without trying to interfere with the bloodline. The actual test for turning it off was during his incognito walk around the city.

'If I can't turn it off, and didn't offend her, that means she can't read my thoughts?'

Han De's released a shaky sigh. Ning Bi had gotten closer to him and was ready to support if he had lost his balance again. He gave her a mental 1, this girl was really dutiful. Fortunately, he didn't need any help, it was just slight vertigo, not something serious.

As a test, Han De wanted to 'will' something. The first thing that came to his mind was steamed buns.

{Your wish is this being's command, oh exalted one!}

Another slight vertigo, accompanied by a mild headache and dizziness this time. Han De felt something coming from his nose.

'Huh, I haven't had a runny nose for some time. Wait, do I even have a handkerchief with me?'

Before he could even search his pockets, a small hand presented him with a tiny, wool handkerchief.

"Oh, thank you!"

He quickly used it and then froze. Han De he realized his Hidden Expert persona had slipped for a second. Of course a cultivator wouldn't have a runny nose!

The tiny and simple looking handkerchief had a small red dot on it.

'Uh, when I… interpreted… the tentacles' movements, nothing strange happened. Now just hearing her voice makes my nose bleed? The strain of the bloodline on my body is that high?! Can I turn this off? Can I get a refund?!'

While Han De was staring at the red dot, and lamenting this new 'skill' of his, Ning Bi took the opportunity and grabbed the handkerchief.

"Master, are you… alright?"

Han De smiled to hide his awkwardness. Making a 13-year-old worry for his well being was embarrassing enough, but this 13-year-old was also an MC with that perverted grudge skill. He cleared his throat and patted Ning Bi's head.

"I am fine. I overdid a new technique just a little. My constitution heals superficial wounds really fast, so there is nothing to worry about. Let's go."

Once Ning Bi nodded, Han De continued toward the spiritual boat. He already forgot about the blood on the handkerchief and didn't see Ning Bi putting it in her storage ring with a serious expression. He was too busy theory-crafting while walking back to the spiritual boat.

'That awakening stuff can mean many things. Is she a higher being that somehow has fallen to this state? Is she a higher being that is in the process of awakening? Is she a higher being hybrid? Maybe it is a high bloodline?'

'If I ask her directly, that might jolt something and cause her to remember more. The result of that could go either way for me. The effect of my bloodline says higher beings cannot be disrespectful. That can mean anything really…'

Han De was worried that the woman may or may not turn hostile after awakening. Being respectful didn't mean being friendly. Accepting his rule may not mean following his every word either. She, or the eldritch horror could respectfully follow his rule while doing whatever the hell they wanted in the end.

'Besides, is the effect of the scent permanent in the first place? In the lower beings it seems to be a pretty short-lived effect. The first day when Yao Qing escorted her back, she calmed down after pretty quickly as well. Was that the scent wearing off?'

'...'

'If that is the case, is the effect going to wear off from that tentacle monster as well? If the effect is just recognizing the bloodline, there shouldn't be a magical wear off mechanic… Probably...'

Although he wanted to get rid of the bloodline for his sanity, he completely gave up on that thought. This bloodline might be the only thing that could help him once that eldritch horror shaped timebomb blew up.

The cave that Silent Silhouette carved deep inside a mountain 267 years ago was now empty of life. As a divination expert, Silent Silhouette was a deeply paranoid man that frequently walked the line between life and death. Once he learned of his disciple's plight, he decisively took him and left.

The only things left inside the cave were the spiritual lantern that was barely illuminating itself, and a certain prayer beads, left more as a distraction rather than reparation. Silent Silhouette wasn't about to leave anything to chance.

An hour after they left, Long Xiu arrived. Her patience was at its limits, so she directly ripped apart the lonely mountain with the power of space to get to the small spiritual energy signature.

She ignored the thunderous sounds created by the debris from the broken mountain and focused on the cave. Once she saw the prayer beads, a warped smile appeared in her previously expressionless face. Her aura started leaking, but this time a little bit of her Dark Qi mixed into it. Anything the aura touched withered away nearly instantly.

Long Xiu regained her expressionless state a moment later, and the corrosive Dark Qi disappeared. She sent a voice transmission to the thirty Transcendent experts following her, and left on her own to start her clean up operation.

Unexpected strengthening of the veil meant a change of plans. She suddenly had a lot of work to do!

The mountain from before was turned into rubble, and the evergreen forest around it was now nothing but a pile of sand. The Han family experts were used to this sight and left without batting an eye.

"You want me... to become their overlord?"

Han Bai was looking at his cousin Han De with a weird expression. Han De didn't mind his reaction, but he made a point to fix his cousin's mistake.

"Not overlord. As I said, you will become their savior."

Han De was talking with a kind smile. Although it was a fake smile, underneath it, he was deeply enjoying it.

He had spent most of his time in this world at the Starfall Mountain. He would never leave the sect if it wasn't for his parents' insistence. Fear of death was all too real, and his abode was very comfortable and luxurious!

Han De's nerves held up pretty well on that horrific battle, and he could hold his worries and panic inside so far. But that didn't mean an invisible pressure wasn't building up. The battle was only 30 minutes long, but he nearly died many times! The brutal reality of a Xianxia world had shown its ugly head once again. The situation was never stable, and everything could turn haywire in just a matter of seconds!

Because of that, the current circumstances became a really good release valve for Han De. A chance to exercise his power for the good of common people!

'I can't wait to see those cultivators going purple with rage. Oh, I'm going to enjoy this, so very much!'

The simple plan was to take over the city, and announce the end of the slave trade and the slavery itself. Everyone would be equal in the eyes of the law. A Nascent Soul expert killing a mortal would be judged the same way as a mortal killing another mortal. A few Transcendent experts would be left behind as liaisons and enforcers to prevent chaos, while Tan Renshu would take over the management of the city and start providing jobs to the former slaves.

This was just an extension of the previous plans he made with the Brass Stallion patriarch Tan Renshu during their drug-fueled discussions. The only modifications were the annexation of Ming Empire cities, and Han Bai being the poster child for the whole initiative. Especially the latter part had eliminated Han De's worries about his transition to a Hidden Expert template.

Han De's smile grew wider with anticipation. The disciples that heard the plan ultimately ignored it.

Ning Bi was a mortal just 77 days ago. Although she romanticized cultivators a lot, in her heart, she was still no different than mortals like her parents. Her father's stories did mention the bad sides of cultivators, but she brushed away those with ease. Who would care about those minor details? She was much more concerned about the dangerous bloodline of her master.

Yao Qing and Jin Shu had no idea what was going through their master's mind. The former had countless years of experience, and the latter was a member of a noble family in her world. In their eyes, this kind of equality and fairness was useless at best. They were much more interested in what Ning Bi told them through voice transmission. They got in contact with the Transcendent expert that was in charge of their communications with Long Xiu.

Han Bai faked a smile and excused himself. This was the first time he had talked with his cousin since introducing Jin Shu to him. After reaching his private cabin, his fake expression disappeared. He fell into deep thought. After deliberating for an hour, he decided not to send a message to his aunt Long Xiu.

'Even if he knows, she won't do anything anyway. She is pampering him way too much.'

Han Bai didn't mind taking some of the backlash from his little cousin, but that was beside the point. He sighed and shook his head.

'Grandmother won't be pleased…'

Merry and Pippin were leading Han De's lackeys into the Han family estate through the long route. They were only at the Nascent Soul level, but they had seniority over all others.

All of Han De's lackeys were fiercely loyal to him, and they would never question his orders. This was the unsurprising result of the Long Xiu's special training regiment. They weren't only trained in the body, but they were trained in mind as well.

By getting bestowed the nicknames of Merry and Pippin, these two became the de facto leader of the retreating group. Only Treebeard and Old Peng were their seniors, and they weren't here. This tradition was started 15 years ago by the cultivation idiot. He couldn't remember the names of his lackeys, he pointed to a vaguely familiar-looking one and called him Old Peng. Simple because in his mind, he looked like an Old Peng.

Currently, the lackeys were discussing how to approach the Han family estate, which was behind the perimeter of the siege.

"The tunnel 14C doesn't have an exit point yet, but we can open one from the western side, as long as it is deep enough, no one will suspect anything. We just need to be careful as we lay the formations. After that, it is just a matter of switching to the correct branch."

The one that talked was the designated formation expert of the group. Everyone nodded after hearing his idea. They could break through the siege with minimal losses, but their young master explicitly told them to be safe and avoid taking any risks.

"What about the anomalies?"

No one paid any attention to the one that asked, but this was the burning question that everyone wanted an answer on. They were very diligent, and they all knew the importance of these anomalies to their young master. Everyone looked at Merry and Pippin to make the call.

The leaders of the bunch, Merry and Pippin, didn't have a single doubt in their minds. Merry answered without delay.

"Everyone knows of their importance, so there is no need for any debates. We will take all of them with us!"

Lackeys nodded in unison. Pippin continued after Merry as if it was natural.

"Obviously, we need to grab the ones that rejected too. We have to cover all our bases. We cannot be concerned about saving face! Young master is adamant about not leaving any loose ends. All of their families and loved ones should be taken as well."

Merry continued Pippin's words.

"Might as well take out their enemies and store them too. Some anomalies might require their bodies."

Lackeys nodded in agreement and started dividing the anomalies amongst themselves.

The sun was setting as Han De and his disciples arrived at the White Forest city. Surprisingly, the area around the city was an endless grassland. Han De rolled his eyes at the Ming's naming sense.

White Forest city was yet another generic Xianxia city. It didn't have any distinguishing features other than an ancient inner wall that surrounded the market district. The so-called market district was the main attraction of the city. The majority of its wares were slaves of various races and spiritual beasts.

Han De, his disciples, and Old Peng landed outside the city perimeter to avoid suspicion. Checking the reactions of the demons and beasts would be meaningless if he attracted unwanted attention.

[Fame: Cloudy Mountains: (-1) 507 - 506]

He was about to ignore the pop-up window, but he realized it was something he hadn't seen in a long time.

'... 2 months for a single point huh. I guess as a cultivator that time frame means nothing, but I nearly died god knows how many times in those 2 months.'

He shook his head and continued walking. He was hoping that his fame would gradually fade with time. However, cultivators lived a long time, and Han De was worried that his fame would live a long time as well. But losing 1 point of fame now gave him reassurance. This was good news for his hidden expert transition.

'I bet I can calculate a similar statistic with divination. As long as I have the requirements ironed out, it is just a matter of going through the motions as many times as possible.'

As a Grand Master divination expert, Han De was tempted to give it a try, but he stopped himself. Naturally, he couldn't divine anything while he had this many Transcendent experts following his every move. Focusing on the task at hand was much more productive.

They slowly made their way into the city and started closing in on the market district. Han De didn't try to restrain his bloodline so far. In all fairness, he didn't even know how he could make such an attempt. Unlike his body constitution, this bloodline was completely intangible. As he was thinking that, he suddenly felt uncomfortable and looked around.

'That Core Formation guy, is staring at me? Why is he so shocked? Does he know who I am?'

He was about to get someone to capture the guy, but he remembered another, much more likelier scenario. Old Peng confirmed it as he was about to ask. That guy was actually a pig that became a cultivator, a regular demon evolved from an animal. Forming a core would allow regular demons to assume human forms. At Han De's cultivation level, it was hard to tell them apart from humans if they wanted to stay hidden.

Han De's disciples also noticed the shocked gaze and immediately figured out the reason. They silently followed their master and kept a watchful eye on their surroundings.

Aside from that single guy that they left behind, no one else paid them any real attention. A young master with 3 veiled girls and a caretaker walking around the streets was a common enough sight in the city.

The market district was noisy throughout the day. Spiritual beasts were smarter than normal animals, but they were still beasts. Poor conditions of their cages would typically cause them to cause a ruckus, and the crowd would naturally raise their voices while talking and shopping

Han De could hear the buzz of the market very clearly even though they were still some distance away from the center. As they got closer, he noticed that the noise didn't increase as he expected. By the time they passed the inner wall, the market had turned silent. The beasts were not moving, and some of the slaves were nervous.

The sight nearly caused Han De's face to twitch.

'I understand the effects are limited on lower beings, but isn't this too much? I get the wear off time getting shorter, but why is it converting paying respects into fear?'

The lack of information about anything related to the System was a constant source of headaches for Han De. The new bloodline effect he got was supposed to make him understand communications from higher beings, but that effect was clearly too much for his current body. There were probably many unspoken things that might cause complications down the line. Thinking about them only increased his frustration.

While they were walking, Han De realized more and more eyes were looking at them. The spiritual beasts didn't dare move a muscle, but the regular demons were looking at him with undisguised horror in some cases. That was bound to attract the attention of others. He tried to turn off the bloodline, but naturally, nothing changed.

Han De resisted the urge to jump on his sword and fly away. That would only attract unnecessary attention since flying inside the perimeter of the city was forbidden. He moved his group to the exit of the market district instead. There was no need to continue the experiment. It was better to complete the takeover as soon as possible.

Just as they were exiting through the inner walls of the market district, a shout full of rage caused Han De to stop.

"Get that brat!!"

"Break his legs!"

100 meters behind them, Han De saw 5 burly men chasing a child that looked around 10 years old. Han De narrowed his eyes and watched. A few seconds later the unfortunate boy tripped over nothing and face planted onto the stone tiles. The men behind started sneering and laughing.

"Boy, this is what you amount to in the end. Running away only earned you broken bones..."

The man sneered as he talked. The boy tried to crawl away but it was already too late.

Han De facepalmed.

"Peng."

"Yes, young master!"

The ever-reliable head lackey immediately appeared near them. Unfortunately, Han De didn't see the crooked smile on Old Peng's face as he was giving the order. He only realized what was going on once Old Peng started brutally beating them up.

"AAAAAHH!!!!"

"Y-YOU!! YOU DAREE?!"

Han De wanted to stop Old Peng, but the scene somehow felt very familiar to him. It was almost nostalgic. He watched the merciless Old Peng as he was slowly and methodically turning his victims into a meat paste. The rhythmic sound of broken bones finally jolted Han De's memory. He indeed witnessed this sight many times through the memories of the cultivation idiot.

This was a lackey in its natural environment.

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"Alright, enough…"

Old Peng's punch stopped in mid-air. He immediately tied the thugs up with professional movements and stood on the side at a respectful distance.

Looking at Old Peng's refreshed face, Han De's eye imperceptibly twitched. Only a few hours ago they participated in a life and death battle and lost many good lackeys. Yet here was Old Peng, gleefully beating low-level thugs. This guy didn't even consider the dignity of a Nascent Soul expert and just beat the Foundation Establishment rookies without even blinking an eye!

Han De decided to ignore it. He didn't want to expose Ning Bi to further violence, but at least this time the culprits were obviously and comically evil. Han De, and therefore his disciples, started approaching the unfortunate boy, who was looking at Old Peng with an alarmed expression.

As they got closer, the boy's gaze shifted from Old Peng to Han De, then to the girls behind him, then back to Han De. As he looked, his face got whiter.

Han De watched the entire process and adopted a benign smile. Since an MC type event happened right in front of him, of course he was going to check the stats of the potential MC!

The boy got even more nervous as Han De crouched near him. Han De gave a look at the beaming Old Peng and returned his attention to the boy, who had already assumed the fetal position.

"Little guy, what is your name?"

[Name: Li Gui]

[Races]

--

[Leatherback Turtle (76.07%)]

[Monarch Jellyfish (16.14%)]

[Armored Yin Crab (5.82%)]

[Green Sea Centipede (1.97%)]

[Gender: Male]

[Age: 10]

[Cultivation: Qi Condensation (13/13) (96.14%)]

[Constitution: None]

[Bloodline: Azure Temple Turtle (Awakened) - (61.57%)]

[Roots: Water (40%)]

[Potential Points (Total: 22)]

--

[Will: 7]

[Talent: 3]

[Comprehension: 5]

[Luck: 7]

[Cultivation Methods]

--

[Heavenly River (Mortal)]

[Power: Extremely Weak]

[Mastery: Intermediate (2/7)]

[Stage: Qi Condensation (13/13)]

[Martial Arts Methods]

--

[Basic Fist (Mortal)]

[Power: Extremely Weak]

[Mastery: Intermediate (1/7)]

[Fate]

[Master of the Azure Temple Sect]

[Notes]

[Cannot be accepted as a disciple.]

Han De faced the boy with his benign smile, but he was actually reading his status.

'What's with his race? Why can he assume human form with only Qi Condensation cultivation?'

[Bloodlines]

--

[Azure Temple Turtle (Awakened)]

[Concentration: 61.57%]

[Power: Extremely Weak]

[Effects]

--

[Can assume human form regardless of cultivation.]

[Extremely minor improvement on underwater breath holding.]

[Extremely minor improvement in swimming speed.]

[Very slightly increases sensitivity towards Water Qi.]

[Cannot be disoriented while underwater.]

'How did this guy awaken his bloodline to such a degree?'

After he finished looking at the boy's status screen, Han De looked at the horrified boy once again. Tears were starting to form at the edges of the boy's eyes and his chin was shaking. Han De held back his sigh and looked at his lackey instead.

"Peng. Option 6. Variation D. Coordinate with Transcendent experts."

Old Peng's mouth dropped, but he pulled himself together quickly.

"Yes! Young master!"

Old Peng immediately contacted the remaining lackeys of Han De and got to work.

Option 6 meant supporting the anomaly. The first five options were termination, containment, expulsion, insulation, and ignoring the anomaly. Variation D meant open and full support to resolve any and all conflicts within the anomaly's path.

'I really want to get this tour over with, I get the feeling that if I stay here too long, I'll get dragged into all sorts of trouble…'

The girls sent dubious looks at the boy and their master, but ultimately they refrained from saying anything. Han De saw their expressions and sighed inside. He only got the quest 2 days ago, but he was already dearly missing his privacy. Keeping up the Profound/Hidden Expert act all day long was exhausting.

'I definitely need some sort of hobby during the journey. I can't cultivate all day. I just can't!'

Since he couldn't take a medicinal bath in front of his disciples, Han De started thinking about hobbies that a Hidden Expert could take up, all the while heading to the city palace.

'I can't cook anymore, that woman is just too amazing! Plus she said she's going to make more of those steamed buns. The dumplings were extraordinary too…'

Muffled explosion sounds could be heard from the distance, but Han De didn't care at all. If there was anything dangerous, his guards would make a move on their own.

'Should I pick up alchemy? Not exactly a hidden occupation, but at least it doesn't require much space. No, no, no. I never tried concocting pills before. Cultivation idiot never tried either. It would be too embarrassing if I failed on my first try in front of my disciples!'

Roars echoed throughout the city. The pedestrians started looking towards the west, which was the estate of the Li family.

'Formations take too much space, plus it requires too much math. Not my type of thing.'

Han De tried to recall hobbies from Earth that he could reproduce here. Perhaps he could introduce chess, which was an isekai classic. But back on Earth, he didn't play more than 10 games of chess in his entire life! Besides, it was a two-player game, and the only available players next to him had stupidly high comprehension scores! He needed to craft a chessboard too. If he used some pieces from mortal board games, the result would be too ghetto for his Hidden Expert persona.

He considered other hobbies like painting, sculpting, writing, and more, but none of them were practical. At last, after 20 minutes of walk, the city palace was in sight. Han De held back his sigh.

'Well, I guess horticulture is the only valid choice. It is innocuous and even an idiot can do it. Plus, it might be beneficial to test some strategies for soul lily production.'

The Palace gates opened, and Han De spotted his cousin Han Bai across the giant courtyard.

"You think the Ming Empire will stand for this?! Does the Han family truly dare to start a war after all this time?!"

The man that was shouting at his cousin was most likely the mayor. His name was Li… something. Han De forgot what it was. He was really bad at remembering Xianxia names.

Li something-something saw Han De, and his furious expression changed into a murderous rage.

"You!! YOU DARE?!"

The sudden outburst startled Han De and made him remember the meat paste for a moment. He instinctively furrowed his brows. Getting shouted at by a higher realm cultivator wasn't a pleasant thing. If he didn't have even higher cultivation subordinates that shielded him from the suppressive aura, he would've been on his knees right now. Han De didn't notice it, but that thought alone irked him in a fundamental way.

'Why is this guy so ready to duke things out? He shouldn't have any idea about the battle in the capital. Unless my idiot cousin told him or something, but he wouldn't do that would he?'

Han De felt it was better to knock some sense over the mayor first, before the guy did anything stupid and pissed off his family. Unfortunately, this guy's cultivation was at Ancient Realm and none of his lackeys could deal with him. Thankfully, he had Transcendent guards.

"IMPUDENT!!!"

"Slap him."

A Transcendent guard appeared out of nowhere and the mayor of the White Forest city suddenly turned into a cloud of pink mist.

Han De didn't see or hear anything, as the guard appeared, the mayor disappeared into a dense, and pink, mist.

'Did he… slap? With full power?!'

"..."

The Transcendent expert bowed to Han De and gazed at the pink mist that was gently moving around. Han De used a small spiritual spell and directed the pink mist away with a breeze. The thought of that pink mist touching his clothes was enough to make him gag. Out of sight, out of mind…

While he was wondering why it was pink instead of red, the dissipating pink cloud revealed a hazy silhouette. Han De didn't need to see the murderous rage in this silhouette's eyes to know that this was the soul of the mayor.

Under normal circumstances, it was very hard to kill an Ancient Realm expert. Although the mayor's body was lost completely, his soul was still intact. The Transcendent expert looked at Han De again, waiting for his orders.

Han De finally understood the most crucial difference between his lackeys, and his mother's lackeys. While the former liked to beat people up, the latter seemed to favor killing them instead. It was a 'subtle' but crucial difference. This was something he should've thought of before, the lackeys' behavior would certainly be shaped by their master.

He realized he either needed to give them very explicit instructions, or not involve his mother's lackeys at all. He facepalmed to prevent himself from gulping.

'I said slap him, I didn't say kill him. Well at least you had the sense to suppress your own shockwave, I guess that is something...'

"Cousin! I did as you asked, and it was going well too, but..."

Han Bai looked at the silent rage of the mayor's soul then glanced at the rising smoke from the Li family estate.

"...Did you change your mind?"

Han De tried his best to ignore the soul and the pink mist, but the faint raw meat smell was persisting through his breeze spell.

"No, I just added some extra things, nothing too serious."

Han Bai looked at the dissipating pink mist again and rolled his eyes. Old Peng reappeared, his clothes seemed disheveled and his expression was serious. He bowed and looked at the surrounding people and the soul that was being suppressed before speaking.

"It's fine…"

Han De didn't mind his disciples hearing about how he dealt with anomalies. He didn't even mind if they heard the term 'anomaly' itself. This was all easily explainable within his character as benevolent Hidden Expert and as an active elder of the Starfall Mountain sect. In fact, he didn't take any measures to hide any of it on purpose. He was very well aware of the Streisand effect.

Han Bai seemed to have some unknown connection with his mother, judging from the tendencies of the latter, letting his cousin hear the handling of an anomaly didn't matter at all.

As for the soul that was bubbling with rage, Han De's hands were tied. At the beginning, he was going to let him go or confine him depending on how things went. But his mother's lackeys completely shut that down. This guy's fate was sealed.

At the same time, Yao Qing narrowed her eyes. She had tried to pry information out of Old Peng before, but failed every time. Although Old Peng did throw her a bone by telling her some of the absurdly crazy contingency plans, she was ultimately refused. Even abusing her position as a disciple didn't work. Even involving Jin Shu and Ning Bi didn't produce any results! Therefore, she was very curious about the inner workings of her master's group.

Old Peng nodded and started speaking.

"Young master, the boy's twin sister was being held by the Li family, along with hundreds of females belonging to various species. They were meant to be used as a cultivation vessel for the Li family patriarch's pursuit of immortality."

The key terms for Han De were cultivation vessels and the pursuit of immortality. These red flags indicated that there was some sick Xianxia stuff going on around the Li family. Han De didn't want to hear any details, so he waved his hand to stop the explanation. Old Peng being the diligent lackey, considered his next words carefully.

"According to the Li family elders, the twins are the 25th generation abominations and they are to be... handled appropriately..."

The boy was a hybrid of 4 different species. At the time, Han De thought that the percentages shown by the System were useless. He thought the boy had mixed and somewhat complicated ancestry. Trying to untangle that mess would've been futile. Especially when the boy was about to cry just by looking at him.

Now that the cultivation vessels and a noble family were involved, there was a new and unsettling possibility that could explain it.

"Did they make axlotl tanks?"

In Han De's mind, cultivation vessels were human pill furnaces. Demonic cultivators would use them… for reasons. Han De wasn't sure of the mechanics behind it, and now that he was in a real Xianxia world, he didn't want to find out either. Once he learned, there wouldn't be a way to unlearn.

This being a real Xianxia world, of course some insane cultivators would naturally find some insane new uses to further reduce their sanity points. That was all he needed to know.

"Master, what's an axlotl tank?"

Han De only realized he said that out loud after hearing Ning Bi's question. There was no way he could explain something like that to her. He mildly shook his head.

"Something from an old story, made by a fictional tribe called Tleilaxu. It is unpleasant, to say the least."

Han Bai was curious how his cousin would handle the situation. Using cultivation vessels to create a way for immortality was a common but futile effort among demonic cultivators. It was still rather surprising to see it happen in this world though. This Li family was ahead of the curve from the perspective of demonic cultivators.

The effect of Han De's breeze spell was long gone but the faint scent of raw meat still lingered. Han De kept thinking about what he should do.

Everyone would have violent thoughts, but most people wouldn't act on them. It was hard for someone to repeatedly encounter life and death situations in a modern society. Even if someone did repeatedly encounter such threats, the structure of society would serve as a safety net and allow those individuals to at least somewhat maintain their restraint.

Unfortunately, Han De did not have that safety net. This was a kill or be killed kind of world. A world where his mother actively kept encouraging him to let go of his 'useless' morals.

Han De had also long realized that he had a tendency to give kill orders during distressing situations. It didn't take a genius to realize that this was the corrupting effect of power. If he wanted something to go away, it was just one order away.

'I only wanted to free the slaves and do something good and productive for a change...'

Han De facepalmed and sighed.

"How many participated or helped?"

Old Peng answered without blinking an eye.

"Nearly all of the Li family elders have their own cultivation vessels, but it was the Li family head's vessels that produced the twins."

'Damn, this really is some tleilaxu shit…"

Han De looked at the still furious soul that was being suppressed by the Transcendent expert.

"Gather up the elders and those that directly participated. Burn their souls. Burn their scriptures."

Even if he ignored the cultivation vessels, the Li family head already had enmity with him. Although the Ming Empire had fallen, and the Li family alone wouldn't be able to do anything, Han De wasn't about to leave this to chance.

"Those that followed their orders voluntarily without coercion but did not harm the victims directly will be crippled by their meridians and spiritual roots. They can live the rest of their natural lives as mortal eunuchs."

Cultivators would think that this was a worse than death situation, but Han De disagreed. He wasn't comfortable with killing or letting them go. The best situation would be to imprison them, but that was a risk in and of itself. Crippling was the best of both worlds. They wouldn't die, but they would become so weak that they were essentially removed from society.

"Anyone that was forced to do their bidding can leave without harm."

"Help the victims recover, use high-grade medicine when needed. Find their families and give them double the standard anomaly recovery package. Coordinate with the Transcendent experts, leave some people behind to carry out the remaining work. They can regroup with us later. Handle everything else by using these orders as the guidelines."

Han De alternated his gaze between Old Peng and Han Bai. The latter narrowed his eyes at this sight, but Han De didn't mind him.

"All of these orders came from the Han family. The one carrying it out is my cousin Han Bai. My name will never be mentioned. I was never here."

Han Bai rolled his eyes, then smirked. Han De had never given an order by using the identity of the Han family before.

"Cousin, so you have decided to take over the family first? Auntie Xui will be pleased!"

Han De raised his eyebrow.

"If you keep calling her auntie in private, one day you will slip up, and that'll be the last mistake you'll ever make."

"But, she is my aunt. Why shouldn't I call her auntie?"

The innocent-sounding question sent an uncomfortable feeling down Han De's spine. There was something wrong with his cousin's phrasing, but he didn't know what it was. If the cultivation idiot was here, he would've called it a cultivator's intuition. Unfortunately, Han Bai interrupted his thoughts.

"What about the twins?"

"What about them?"

Han Bai was taken aback for a second due to Han De's nonchalant response.

"They said they were abominations…"

As far as Han De was concerned, this was a fantasy land with talking mushrooms and flying islands and intelligent lightning. A mixture of 4 species wasn't even close to being groundbreaking, not even by Xianxia standards. The System didn't say anything about the boy being an abomination either.

'Granted, I didn't see the boy's true form, and only saw his human form, but that doesn't matter.'

Han De waved his hand dismissively.

"They are the victims and they are still alive. All life is sacred and life should be cherished. The twins will receive the Han family's full help and that is final."

Han Bai could only faintly nod at his cousins' decisiveness. He kept his complaints to himself.

Jin Shu, like the other two disciples, was silently listening to her master's orders. She fell in deep thought after hearing her master's comment about life.

Most of her life was spent in her family home, being groomed by her family elders after her parent's death. She had value because of her beauty and her bloodline. If one was missing, she would've been worthless and worthless things would be discarded.

Removal of the parasitic bloodline was the first time someone went above and beyond her worth. She understood the difficulty of removing a bloodline that was nearly done with consuming her body. Even the talent that suddenly appeared in her after the removal still wasn't enough to compensate for any of it. While her master recovered, she thought for a long time, and decided to agree to anything that was demanded of her.

Only, no one demanded anything. She cultivated, learned, interacted with other disciples. She kept waiting and watching, but her master really seemed to be only interested in teaching. She couldn't detect a single lustful gaze from him.

The last couple of days she witnessed him gathering poor and unfortunate kids to the sect. She saw him caring deeply about his subordinates and even promising to restore their cultivations. He even spared the lives of the abominations, even though he condemned the culprits into a fate worse than death.

'Life should be cherished...' She repeated those words in her mind. Her experience taught her that life, was a balance sheet. One had to be patient and calculate all the variables in order to stay alive. 'All life is sacred...' This way of thinking was foreign and weird, but it still somehow made sense.

Jin Shu was wise enough to recognize that her experience so far was an insignificant part of an eternal journey. There was no need to be inflexible.

Meanwhile, Han De was completely oblivious to the change in his disciple. The words he spoke were mainly meant for Ning Bi. Among his disciples, her fate was the one that concerned him the most.

Han De was hoping he did the right thing, but he wasn't sure. The thing that concerned him the most wasn't the lives of the elders, but the effects that his decision would cause on his psyche. The difference was subtle, and recognizing it increased his anxiety.

Han De tried not to think about the Li family anymore. What was done was done, and there was no turning back.

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[Fame: Cloudy Mountains: (-1) 506 - 505]

'... I didn't expect it to decay this fast, but I'll take it.'

Old Peng coordinated with the Transcendent experts. The soul of the Li family patriarch, the mayor of the White Forest city, was taken elsewhere. The soul was suppressed and couldn't even make a peep, but it had heard everything. It tried to escape with one last attempt, but the cultivation difference was huge. It was like an ant to the Transcendent expert, its attempts at escaping could only be described as cute.

Han De could've tried to hide the entire affair from Ning Bi, but this girl was smart and could read between the lines. As long as she had to follow him, trying to hide an event of this size was futile, and perhaps a dangerous effort. Taking a clear stance against cultivation vessels was important. She would be able to learn what they are from Yao Qing anyway, and at that point if he didn't clearly convey his intent, dangerous misunderstandings could occur.

Han De didn't know due to inheriting the cultivation idiot's memories and being used to his mother's usual tendencies, but burning someone's soul was very rare among cultivators. It was the sort of thing that was reserved for when all other options had failed. Even Ning Bi was aware of this.

The disciples looked at each other. Among them, only Yao Qing truly knew what was happening behind the scenes, but even she was stumped. As disgusting as they were, cultivation vessels were fairly common. Even some righteous sects would start using them in their time of need. Their master was truly and utterly ruthless when it came to demonic methods.

Han De gave orders to accelerate the plan. He also instructed Old Peng to buy all horticulture and alchemy supplies within the city. Then he pointed at a Transcendent guard to transfer them directly to the spiritual boat. He wanted to get away from the city as fast he could before some other issues started popping up like mushrooms.

Han Bai nodded at his cousin as they disappeared with the power of space. The corner of his lips started twitching, but he restrained himself. 'Might as well help him…' He gave additional instructions to the Han family experts. Han Bai thought he should be nice to his cousin while his cousin was still in the dark.

The Transcendent experts that were still in the White Forest city released all of their auras, and carried the Li family elders, including the soul of the Li family patriarch high up in the sky. The setting sun illuminated the elders, even mortal slaves were able to see them clearly.

Han De arrived at his chambers, along with his disciples. At a time like this, he would've far preferred being alone, but that wasn't an option right now.

[Time Remaining: 24.9 days.]

{Exalted one! I will immediately send the steamed buns you desired!}

Thankfully, Han De had just sat down, so vertigo's effects couldn't be seen from the outside. He wasn't sure if she talked due to him coming back, or if she sensed his desire for steamed buns as he returned.

"Young master!"

Dozens of Transcendent experts appearing out of thin air nearly caused Han De to curse out loud. Before he could lecture them on proper manners, the one in the front presented him with a small jade box.

Han De narrowed his eyes. He suddenly had a bad feeling, was this some sort of messed up thing they got from the Li family?

'If it's a severed body part I will let these guys have it…'

He opened the box, only to see a very familiar set of prayer beads inside it. His eyes didn't leave the prayer beads.

"Was he found?"

"No, young master."

Han De stayed silent for a while, then nodded. The Transcendent experts left as they came, but this time Han De didn't even notice they were gone.

'Of course, this guy killed the cultivation idiot in the middle of the sect. Of course he wouldn't get caught. Of course he would be able to run away…'

He took out the prayer beads from the box and did a status check.

[Eternal Hope]

--

[Completely purifies the Qi used during cultivation.]

[Increases cycle speed by 1681.67%.]

[Purifies 0.0017% of the soul during a cycle.]

[Increases soul cultivation cycle speed by 719.19%.]

[Increases soul healing speed by 741.94%.]

[Strengthens the endurance of the soul by 1957.77%.]

[Merging with the soul will increase external soul cultivation cycle speed by 4179.15%]

[Notes: Array created by sculpting and arranging pure crystals of tenacity. 12 different configurations are possible by rearranging the order of the beads. Current efficiency is at 75.41% for the Spirit Origin realm template. Missing 9 beads out of 108.]

'F#$%!! This is broken as F#$%!!'

It took Han De quite a while to recover from his shock. He knew the effects of the bead from the cultivation idiot's memories. In fact, this was one of the few memories that he experienced first hand after he took the Seven Luminaries Reminiscence pill. The miraculous effects of this thing were hard to forget, but he never could've guessed that the cultivation idiot had only scratched the surface.

Han De took a few deep breaths and ignored the curious looks from his disciples.

[Fame: Cloudy Mountains: (-1) 505 - 504]

'What the...'

Han De had seen his fame increase after every major public event, but before today he never saw it decrease. While it was beneficial for his plans, he couldn't help but wonder what was going on. He thought of something, but then shook his head. It was better not to think of such things.

He took out the previous bead he won at the Brass Stallion auction, then carefully took out a single bead from the prayer beads to compare.

'Very similar, but different. The one I bought contains the will to survive, this one contains will to dominate. They look exactly the same though…'

All of the beads were cloudy white with no discernable features on them. Even Han De's cultivator eyes couldn't see any difference in color or size. It was as if they were factory-made.

[Fame: Cloudy Mountains: (-5) 504 - 499]

'...I'm so glad that I didn't go with her…'

There wasn't any evidence that his mother was responsible for the sudden decrease in fame, but that was the only thing Han De could think of.

'Once this conference thing blows over, I need to take a good look at my options to increase my fighting sense. My family is mostly convinced that I am me. As long as the one that killed the cultivation idiot doesn't say anything stupid the risk of exposure is minimal. I guess it is both a blessing and a curse that those 30 Transcendent experts let him slip away.'

Han De shook his head and wanted to do some rough calculations, but he realized he didn't count his cycles in the last few sessions. He had stopped because it was too demoralizing to see so little increase after many hours of cultivation. Counting was the cultivation idiot's thing, originally anyway. But in the interest of making a good comparison, Han De wanted to create a benchmark without the prayer beads first.

'Right, let's get down to it.'

1 cycle.

2 cycles.

3 cycles.

4 cycles.

5 cycles.

6 cycles.

7 cycles.

8 cycles.

9 cycles.

10 cycles.

[Cultivation: Core Formation - Mid-Stage ((486)11800/500000)]

'I'm pretty sure when I last upgraded my comprehension it was 48 points per cycle, and 10 cycles took 80 minutes. What's with the increase in xp and cycle time?'

It was normal for people to get better at cultivation over time, but the thought of that happening to himself had never occurred to him. He shrugged and took out the prayer beads from the box.

1 cycle.

2 cycles.

3 cycles.

4 cycles.

5 cycles.

6 cycles.

7 cycles.

8 cycles.

9 cycles.

10 cycles.

[Cultivation: Core Formation - Mid-Stage ((484)12282/500000)]

'Not even 5 minutes for 10 cycles?!'

Han De quickly calculated the time it would take to reach the late-stage Core Formation realm.

'I can reach late-stage after 80 hours?'

"Ha...Haha...Hahahaha!"

"HAHAHAHAHA..."

The sudden outburst of Han De left his disciples speechless. Han De didn't notice their expressions. In his current state, he couldn't maintain his Hidden Expert act at all. How could he? After slogging through for so long, he finally received a bona fide cheat worthy of a transmigrator. Not the bullshit comprehension system, not the bullshit Profound Points, but an actual cheat item that increased his cultivation speed directly!

Once he was reminded of Profound Points, his increasingly sinister laughter stopped. Although Profound Points didn't help him directly, they were pretty OK all things considered.

'What would happen if I give this item to my disciples? How many points would they be able to farm?!'

Han De turned around and focused on his disciples with an incredibly serious expression. Each of these girls had the potential to become Profound Point printers with this cheat item. He cleared his throat.

"You have all cultivated the improved scriptures I gave you. I have mostly refrained from giving direct advice, and have let you explore the possibilities yourselves. Now, I will evaluate your progress!"

The disciples' unsure expressions changed into determination and excitement. Aside from some casual tips, their master never actually evaluated or offered advice on their progression.

"Ning Bi, sit here, and when I give the signal, cultivate for 10 cycles. 10 cycles only! Understand? Good… Start!"

While she was cultivating, Han De took a look at her status.

[Name: Ning Bi]

[Cultivation: Qi Condensation (9/13) (57.28%)]

[Cultivation Methods]

--

[Blazing Sun Scripture (Earth)]

Power: Very Weak

Mastery: Advanced (17/72)

Stage: Qi Condensation (9/13)

'Wow, she is already half-way there? Well, she's been cultivating non-stop ever since she got stuck with me. What about others?'

[Name: Yao Qing]

[Cultivation: Qi Condensation (6/13) (51.41%)]

[Cultivation Methods]

--

[Celestial Storm Scripture (Mortal)]

[Power: Very Weak]

[Mastery: Advanced (53/68)]

[Stage: Qi Condensation (6/13)]

[Name: Jin Shu]

[Cultivation: Qi Condensation (9/13) (99.87%)]

[Cultivation Methods]

--

[Yellow Grove Scripture (Mortal)]

[Power: Extremely Weak]

[Mastery: Master]

[Stage: Qi Condensation (9/13)]

'Big brain advantage is showing itself. I didn't expect Jin Shu to master the scripture this quickly. Yao Qing is abusing her regressor advantage too I suppose. Her comprehension surpassed Ning Bi's.'

Han De used his spiritual sense to follow Ning Bi's cultivation. Her method was mostly fine, but some of the mistakes made Han De feel guilty. While some of her missteps were subtle, most of them were incredibly easy to spot. He decided to regularly follow their progress from now on.

After her session was done, Han De immediately started guiding her through a cycle. How to convert the attributeless spiritual energy into Fire Qi, best way to circulate it, the flow speed, when to speed up, when to speed down. Once he was sure she understood it all, he let her cultivate another 10 cycles and started doing the same thing for Yao Qing.

Jin Shu's turn came, this girl was already at master level, Han De had nothing to say to her after her 10 cycles were done. Seeing her so close to breaking through, Han De had an idea.

"Well done, you have grasped the essence of Yellow Grove Scripture well. You are very close, use these beads to reach the next stage, then I will give you guidance!"

Jin Shu's mouth opened but words failed to come out after seeing her master's confidence. In truth, she was at a bottleneck, and her cultivation had failed to increase for the last few days. How could she just breakthrough on command? She had doubts, but she decided to listen to him anyway.

[Congratulations]

[Host's disciple Jin Shu successfully reached Qi Condensation Level 10]

[Issuing 95 Profound Points as a reward.]

'Yes! I'm a frickin' genius!'

[Yellow Grove Scripture requires 98 Profound Points to advance to the Grand Master level]

[Profound Points: 39 - 36 ]

Han De fully understood that this was somewhat of a waste, Jin Shu with her MC stats would probably encounter a better scripture down the line. However, this was a matter of pride. His pride as a fake Profound Expert demanded it.

Jin Shu opened her eyes and looked at the unassuming prayer beads in shock. Ning Bi and Yao Qing congratulated her, but she could only faintly smile and nod. Her gaze switched to Han De after the initial shock was over.

Since Jin Shu's comprehension was already at a master level, his guidance naturally had to be at a much deeper level than Yao Qing's or Ning Bi's. So far, an upgrade to the Grand Master level always resulted in a qualitative change. Yellow Grove Scripture was no different.

Han De started explaining some of the concepts he just learned. When he first came to this world, just talking like a regular Xianxia character was hard and exhausting. But his hard work paid off. His demeanor while explaining the scripture was impeccable. A true Profound Master!

The only problem was…

'F#$%! I'm not even explaining physics, why did it appear?!'

While he was talking, one of those creepy black chrysanthemums appeared in front of him. At first, he thought about faintly smiling and stopping his guidance, but he got distracted.

'This somewhat looks like a Five-Fold Grey Chrysanthemum, but is that with a mix of Yin Sanctum Rose? Looks like it should have some strange Qi in it. Maybe it is possible to…'

Han De crouched and looked at the black chrysanthemum flower closely. He had already forgotten the creepiness of the flower. The flower itself stopped in mid-bloom and froze. While Han De was wondering if there was a way to actually grab the flower and cultivate it, the illusion disappeared, much to his disappointment.

He stood up and saw the concerned look on Yao Qing's face. It was probably too late, but he gave a faint smile anyway.

"As you might have guessed, this prayer beads have miraculous effects on one's cultivation. We will take turns and use it in our cultivations. While the effects are miraculous, don't forget that there is no shortcut to hard work. You will suffer in the long run if you depend too much on these external factors."

Han De couldn't care less about getting dependent on an item as long as it helped his cultivation! This was a case of do as I say, not as I do.

"Master, is this the same prayer beads that…"

Ning Bi couldn't continue the sentence, but everyone in the room understood. Han De didn't know his mother talked about the prayer beads to his disciples, as far as he knew, only Ning Bi had heard bits and pieces. He decided to give a nonchalant answer. He couldn't let his disciples worry about an Ancient Realm maniac that had already killed him once.

Therefore, Han De smirked before answering, to let them be at ease.

"Yes and no. This one is much improved, a bit disappointing there are still some beads missing though…"

No one dared to say it to the cultivation idiot, and no one would dare to say it to Han De either. Unfortunately, Han De had a severe case of sinister smile syndrome. His natural smile would always, somehow, turn sinister. This was great for the Arrogant Young Master template, but it was devastating for a Profound Expert template.

Han De had spent many long hours on creating a catalog of smiles that were mysterious and distant, but also sincere and benevolent at the same time. His Profound Expert act was a success thanks to those efforts, but his Hidden Expert act was still lacking due to lack of time. Sometimes he would inadvertently slip back into his natural, more sinister smile.

The disciples became confused after seeing an expected reaction from their master. Before today, their impression of his character was that of a hermit. A great person that focused on cultivation rather than worldly affairs. But the events of the battle at the Ming capital, and the White Forest city made them doubt their initial assessment.

Han De interrupted their thoughts.

"Enough talk. You will focus on your cultivations during this trip. I might also teach you some basics of alchemy and herbalism as well to break up the monotony."

Han De smiled, and happily sat down to cultivate with the prayer beads.

[Fame: Cloudy Mountains: (-17) 499 - 482]

Han De forced a smile, and tried to concentrate on his cultivation.

[Time Remaining: 24 days.]

[Cultivation: Core Formation - Mid-Stage ((32344)44626/500000)]

Apart from the amazing steamed buns, Han De kept cultivating most of the day. As usual, he alternated between body cultivation and normal cultivation. Unfortunately, the prayer beads didn't work on body cultivation at all. Perhaps there was a configuration that helped it specifically but he obviously had no idea. He needed to figure out how it worked first.

[Congratulations]

[Host's disciple Yao Qing successfully reached Qi Condensation Level 7]

[Issuing 65 Profound Points as a reward.]

[Congratulations]

[Host's disciple Ning Bi successfully reached Qi Condensation Level 10]

[Issuing 95 Profound Points as a reward.]

[Time Remaining: 23 days.]

[Cultivation: Core Formation - Mid-Stage ((32709)77336/500000)]

Most of the Transcendent guards had returned, along with his lackeys and his cousin Han Bai. The city had taken it quite well after the public execution of the Li family elders, not to mention the display of power from the Transcendent masters. His mother seemed to approve of it as well, which caused Han De to raise an eyebrow.

He had spent two days utterly immersed in cultivation, prayer beads or not, he needed some sort of distraction. His disciples were making good progress though, so he decided to spend some time on spiritual herbs first.

[Time Remaining: 22 days.]

[Cultivation: Core Formation - Mid-Stage ((30522)107858/500000)]

[Your body has reached the 9th Stage of Qi Condensation]

'Not that I'm unhappy with the current situation, but why is everything so quiet?'

Although Han De was cultivating and tending to his small but absolutely perfect spiritual herb garden, he was on high alert. Sometimes nothing happening was even more dangerous than an attack. He ordered his lackeys to give him a report on battle capabilities of this spiritual boat based on the knowledge from the flagship.

The result was unsatisfactory, to say the least. The formations in this boat were from his own personal storage, and obviously inferior to the ones on the flagship. However, one saving grace was the size of the boat. Since it was smaller, if another high-level fight started, this boat would have a better time surviving their shockwaves, according to lackeys at least.

[Fame: Cloudy Mountains: (-11) 482 - 471]

[Time Remaining: 21 days.]

[Cultivation: Core Formation - Mid-Stage ((30522)140381/500000)]

Han De stopped his cultivation after 5 hours with the prayer beads. He justified it by saying regular cultivation didn't even matter since regular cultivation was 16 times slower!

He was still deeply concerned about the lack of anything happening. The days were too peaceful.

'You know, maybe it won't be so bad? Maybe this time I'll get lucky.'

[Time Remaining: 11 days.]

[Cultivation: Core Formation - Mid-Stage ((305223)455604/500000)]

[Your body has reached the 11th Stage of Qi Condensation]

[Congratulations]

[Host's disciple Jin Shu successfully reached Qi Condensation Level 11]

[Issuing 105 Profound Points as a reward.]

[Congratulations]

[Host's disciple Ning Bi successfully reached Qi Condensation Level 11]

[Issuing 105 Profound Points as a reward.]

[Congratulations]

[Host's disciple Yao Qing successfully reached Qi Condensation Level 8]

[Issuing 75 Profound Points as a reward.]

[Congratulations]

[Host's disciple Ning Bi successfully reached Qi Condensation Level 12]

[Issuing 115 Profound Points as a reward.]

[Fame: Cloudy Mountains: (-92) 471 - 379]

"Young Master, we have reached the endless shores. The family head sent a message, she will be here in a few hours."

Han De nodded at Old Peng.

As the days became more and more peaceful, Han De's stress levels kept rising and rising. He sent his lackeys to buy supplies anonymously from the cities they passed by. A few of the Transcendent experts knew about formations, but unfortunately they weren't masters. Still, it was better than nothing! Han De commissioned new defensive and offensive formations. Some to reinforce the current spiritual boat, some as backups.

Han De had done most of his orders through voice transmission, but that was only out of convenience, not to hide anything from his disciples.

Yao Qing, who kept an eye on what the guards did, no longer thought the contingency plans were crazy. She had deep respect towards Old Peng and his subordinates. These people had eerie insight! Unfortunately, that didn't put her at ease when she saw the level of preparations that went on throughout the journey. She became more concerned instead.

"M-Master, the lights… They started to move…"

Han De's face darkened.

'I knew it!'

He looked at Ning Bi, who was sitting at arm's length next to him.

{Hahaha, so there you were...}

Han De suddenly heard thousands of different voices in this head, this was many times stronger than what he experienced with his immortal chef.

{Hmm? Is this something new? Oh… There is some sort of pressure in his brain, quite interesting...}

Even though he was sitting, Han De started tilting to the side, Jin Shu hurriedly ran over and supported him. Ning Bi opened her eyes and saw her master bleeding from his nose, eyes, and ears.

{What is happening to this brat now?! Is he faking it again? No he can't be, there really is a strange pressure right there...}

Right now, what Han De wanted more than anything in the world was to get those crazy voices to shut up.

{...}

{...}

{You can hear me?!}

Han De lost all sense of balance. If it wasn't for Jin Shu holding him, he would've collapsed already. Yao Qing stayed at Ning Bi's side instead, her intuition was telling her not to leave this girl unattended. Ning Bi had already sent a voice transmission to their contact and kept watching her master.

Meanwhile, Han De was giving his all just so he could stay conscious.

{Brat!! You really can hear me!! HAHAHAHAHAHAHA}

{HAHAHAHAHAHA}

{HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA-}

{Be quiet! You dare to disobey the will of the exalted one?!}

The crowd of insane laughter was interrupted by a familiar voice. Han De thanked the immortal chef's timing from the bottom of his heart.

{Haaaa… Look what the cat dragged in… The sleeping beauty woke up in a seedling. Again. How nostalgic!}

Han De kept bleeding and bleeding from his eyes, ears, and nose. The throbbing pain he felt nearly overwhelmed him. Even just perceiving the world became impossible. He couldn't see or hear anything, his body couldn't keep up with whatever was happening.

{Yes, yes, yes. I know you, you know me, you don't remember, but I do. This is only the 9811th time.}

{Disobeying His will is heresy!!}

{HAHAHAHAHA, brat, why would you even seduce her? Are you insane?! HAHAHAHAHAHA...}

"Senior Bai!"

Everyone on the spiritual boat could feel the low vibration coming from the boat itself. Those that had higher cultivations realized the vibrations weren't coming from the ship, but from the space itself.

Han Bai appeared out of nowhere and immediately focused on his cousin, Han De. A few seconds later a deep frown appeared on his face. Jin Shu took the frown as her cue.

"We've been sending the bloodline's progress to Lady Long Xiu, but..."

Han Bai's face became weird, he looked at Han De once again.

"Are you sure he has a bloodlin-"

A ripple in space interrupted his thoughts. The previous vibrations stopped at the same time.

{Hey hey, what will you do when your manifestation destroys your precious master?}

{...}

Han De felt he could finally breathe as the voices and vibrations stopped. This relief only lasted a little more than half a minute, unfortunately. It seemed as if the immortal chef deliberated the question thoroughly during that time.

{If the exalted one's flesh is destroyed, this being will naturally merge with the exalted one's soul.}

For a moment, Han De forgot about his pain. He couldn't believe what he had heard. At the moment where he was questioning his sanity, the vibrations started again and quickly became stronger. Han De wanted to 'will' them to stop, but he couldn't concentrate properly. The phrasing of the immortal chef caused him to shudder. He was fond of his flesh, he didn't want it destroyed! He didn't want his soul to be absorbed!

The vibrations stopped, and after a moment of pause, Han De heard the melodious female voice once again.

{This being is also fond of exalted one's flesh.}

Han De's bleeding finally stopped, Jin Shu started to clean the red and gray smudges from Han De's face after getting a nod from Han Bai. Everyone in the room was puzzled as to why Han De's expression became stiff all of a sudden.

The bleeding had stopped, but Han De still didn't possess his full faculties. He didn't have vision, hearing, or even a sense of touch. He could vaguely feel his body was in an upright position, but he couldn't tell anything beyond that.

His mind was preoccupied with disaster scenarios involving the immortal chef. Those insane voices themselves called him insane for 'seducing' her. That was the massive flag #1. Next, she openly declared merging Han De's soul into herself. After that massive flag #2, Han De couldn't interpret her words in a positive light. He couldn't control his body properly, so he started muttering.

"No, no, no, no, no, no..."

Han De's desperate murmurs caused everyone to flinch. Han Bai's face dropped, he recognized this scene. It was a crisis scenario, designed by his cousin Han De himself.

During the voyage, Han De's subordinates had started preparing against increasingly questionable scenarios under his orders. At first, the Han family Transcendent experts and Han Bai thought it was just a matter of subordinates being excessively diligent, but it was later revealed that these plans came from Han De himself.

{Hmmm? What is this? Why is she giving such a weird feeling? Oh, they all do!}

When the chorus of maddening voices returned, the familiar pressure and pain also came back. But Han De realized the pain had lessened greatly, and the pressure wasn't as high as before. He didn't bleed this time either. It was evident that his body was getting used to the pressure, somehow.

{Divine Phoenix? HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!}

{Bold. Reckless. Foolish.}

{I like it. No wonder that idiot is so restless. HAHAHAHAHA...}

{...HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA-}

{Oh, what kind of bloodline is that? Curious, very curious, yes. Quite compatible with that strange martial art of yours.}

{And this one... So creepy...}

[Exposure Threshold Reached]

[Bloodline refinement requirements met]

[Notes: Results of bloodline refinement on Primordial Void Bloodline cannot be reversed or altered]

If Han De was in his right mind, he would've been very concerned about refining the bloodline, but he wasn't. The pain was still there, and he was just starting to realize he didn't have access to any of his senses. Getting completely cut away from the world naturally caused him to panic.

[Redeeming Bloodline Purifying Token for 500 Profound Points]

[Bloodline Purifying Process Invoked]

[Gathering statistics]

[Checking refinement requirements]

[1. Stimulation of the bloodline complete]

[2. Incompatible body constitution found]

[Notes: Supplementing with the permanently damaged portions of the brain is possible]

[3. Soul erosion within tolerance levels]

[4. Elementary level effect already unlocked]

[5. Cultivation requirements met]

[Warning: Privilege level 2 does not allow customization of the refining process]

[Initiating Bloodline Refinement]

[Congratulations!]

[Your Primordial Void Dragon bloodline concentration increased by: 0.01%]

[Notes: Complications due to supplementation cannot be displayed at host's current privilege level]

{What an ingenious process. Altering that disgusting body constitution to make it compatible with that invisible bloodline...}

Han De could finally form a coherent thought. The pain was completely gone, and he could feel his senses were gradually returning as he got healed by his constitution.

'F#$%!!! I knew that immortal chef was bad news the moment I saw her! F#$%!! Why the F#$% am I ignoring my common sense! Who am I even compromising for?! What the hell am I gonna do with a Cronenberg chef...'

Although the Cronenberg chef's current body was incredibly attractive to the point of silliness, Han De was worried about what the chorus of those insane voices had said. It was entirely possible that this woman was some sort of clone, or avatar. He did not want to see or hear about what her main body could be like. He certainly did not want to be merged with it.

Han De's face became stoic. The disciples normally would've felt relieved, but all three had dark faces. Jin Shu continued cleaning up the bloodstains from her master's face.

Slowly, but surely, his senses started to return. Han De opened his eyes, only to see a delicate-looking hand block his blurry vision. Instinctively he tried to stand up.

"Master, please stay still. You have been severely injured and need to rest before taking a recovery pill."

Han De looked around the room. His disciples were all near him, looking at him with dark faces. Old Peng and a few lackeys were waiting on the back, all of them had threatening looks. On the other side was his cousin Han Bai with an incredibly expressionless face, and 4 Transcendent experts with mixed expressions of fear, anger, and enthusiasm.

'What the hell happened...'

{HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA, you reap what you sow, brat!}

Hearing those crazy voices nearly caused Han De to flinch with the expectation of pain, but nothing happened. He breathed a sigh of relief.

'Wait, I can hear this thing but how can I talk to it? I can't just speak out loud, or send a voice transmission. Where is it in the first place?'

Han De tried to look all around the room, but he was interrupted by Ning Bi. He was still weak, and even this Qi Condensation disciple was able to force him down.

'Damn, she is using her strength, what the hell?'

He spotted a small pile of cloth with red and gray stains behind Jin Shu. Realizing that at least the red ones were bloodstains, Han De immediately looked away.

"It's fine. I'm alright now."

{Tsk tsk tsk. Should you really be wasting time right now? There are many demons converging you know...}

'That's right, Ning Bi said the lights were moving!'

Han De immediately focused on the 13-year-old that was gently holding him down with a determined face. Every time she mentioned those lights, Han De would feel a sense of dread. So far he kept ignoring that. Many things kept giving him a sense of dread. Over time, ignoring those feelings became a habit. Therefore, Han De was oblivious, but if the cultivation idiot was here, he would know that this was a cultivator's intuition, and one should never ignore it.

"Ning Bi, what is the current status of those lights?"

"Master, please rest, you were badly injured. Help is already on the way, and I'm already used to not closing my eyes anymore."

Han De felt he had gathered enough strength to operate his body constitution to further accelerate the healing process. He could not afford to mind the bioluminescent glowy effect right now. At the same time, he slightly smiled at Ning Bi and gently patted her head.

"Silly girl, if I say I'm fine, that means I'm fine. Now, close your eyes, and take a look at those lights for me."

Han De turned his head to look at the Transcendent experts and Han Bai. He also glanced at his lackeys before speaking.

"Not a word of what you've heard or about to hear will go out. Betraying my disciples is the same as betraying me!"

Han De looked at Ning Bi once again. The latter looked at her sisters, and reluctantly closed her eyes. Han De patiently waited for her to speak.

"They seem to be much closer. I can perceive some bigger ones far away too. They are coming from all directions. Even from below..."

'Well, shit… Shit, shit, shit...'

Perhaps it was due to being in pain moments ago, a familiar sense of panic was coming back to Han De. With a frown, he shakily stood up with the support of Ning Bi and Jin Shu. Before he could enter his usual pacing aimlessly mode amidst the concerned gazes of his disciples, Han De noticed something.

"What about up, is there anything coming from above?"

Ning Bi opened her mouth to admonish her master, but she swallowed her words after seeing his determined expression. She answered after taking a quick look.

"I can't perceive anything from above us…"

A natural smile crept up to Han De's face. This wasn't one of his perfectly crafted smiles, but a true genuine smile.

Although Han Bai was used to his cousin's sinister-looking smiles, a shadow of doubt appeared in his mind after seeing this one. He could not wait any longer.

"Cousin, do you practice divination?"

Han De's smile froze, but he recovered quickly. He had already made several contingency plans in case his expertise in divination was exposed. Han Bai asking out of nowhere was actually a good opportunity to clear the waters.

"How is that even possible? The only divination scripture I saw was destroyed by mother. I didn't even get to open its case."

Han De spoke to Old Peng and the Transcendent experts next.

"Start climbing with the spiritual boat. Activate all of the formations and do not stop until I say so."

Han Bai raised his hand, Transcendent experts reluctantly stopped, but Old Peng started sending voice transmissions to carry out Han De's orders anyway.

'Why are those Transcendent freaks so deferential to Han Bai all of a sudden?' Han De was puzzled, and somewhat annoyed.

"You didn't answer my question, my dear cousin. Do you practice divination?"

Han De narrowed his eyes and answered with a slight smile from his Hidden Expert package.

"Is there even a need to answer it? I didn't even know grandfather had destroyed the standard divination scripture until the day of the Ming capital battle."

Han Bai was still expressionless, and his gaze was steady. This was the best confirmation Han De would be able to get. His cousin definitely wasn't simple.

"Cousin, did you create a divination art?"

Han De facepalmed. He looked frustrated from the outside. Presence of Transcendent experts complicated things, Han Bai's behavior was also suspected. Therefore Han De didn't want to directly lie, just in case someone could detect something. Thankfully, the System's ability to comprehend a method instantly without even reading it was the perfect cover for an indirect answer.

"I'll clear this up for you. I never read a divination scripture, ever. I did not study divination, no one explained anything divination related to me. I certainly did not create a divination art, or anything close to it. I didn't even know about the taboo before the battle, let alone practice or perform divination before. Is that specific enough for you? Good. Since I've answered your doubts, I hope you'll explain to me why you are asking me such a ridiculous question."

Han Bai didn't look fazed after his cousin's roundabout denial.

"So you did not have the help of divination when you ordered those formations?"

Being the ever pessimist, Han De made a lot of contingency plans during this journey. One of them in particular, was about the Han family losing the siege and the war, leaving Han De and his disciples vagrants.

In a Xianxia world, killing 9 generations of a family was a common practice. His mother was powerful, in fact Han De didn't even know her true cultivation level. But obviously, that didn't mean she could take everyone on her own. For some reason his father and grandfather stayed at the northern continent, so she was alone as well. The situation was quite unstable in Han De's eyes.

Han De's standard bunker design already had a variety of defensive measures. In the case of a poison attack, there was a formation that sealed the air. In the case of heat or cold based attacks, there was a formation to regulate the temperature of the bunker. The main bulk of Han De's additional orders were strengthening the existing formations, and adding a pressure shield, along with a magnetic shield.

To Han De's surprise, the Transcendent experts recognized the magnetic shield as a component of the so-called celestial ships. Han De wasn't about to miss this chance, so he ordered Transcendent experts to install celestial ship formations just in case.

In Han De's mind, if something terrible were to happen, he could safely say 'F#$% it', and hide behind the moon for the next decade.

Of course, he couldn't tell he was preparing for the eventuality of his family's total destruction. So he waved his hands with dismissal while answering.

"Making contingency plans is a new hobby of mine. I came up with thousands of them in the last few months..."

Yao Qing was used to controlling her emotions. If this was her old body, she would've stayed absolutely expressionless, but her body was only 16 years old so she couldn't prevent her mouth from subconsciously dropping.

She had assumed these 'crisis' plans were the products of her master's subordinates. So far these plans have proved themselves to be eerily accurate. Yao Qing couldn't help but suspect that her master was leading them somewhere. She was sure she wasn't the only one that came to this conclusion.

Han De met his cousin's gaze with calm, but on the inside he was on edge. Finally, Han Bai broke his gaze and looked at the Transcendent experts behind him.

{HAHAHAHA... You really are such a deceitful creature. Wonderful! 'All those hours practicing in front of that mirror are paying off' Is that what you are thinking?}

'Shit, I forgot about this thing… Wait, what?'

{I've been watching you for a long time, brat. At first I was going to open you up and take a look, but doing things this way is much more fun! HAHAHAHAHAHA}

'...'

{You've been practicing those characters of yours, but will all that acting save your disciple, I wonder...}

Han De's expression turned odd. This change didn't go unnoticed since everyone was already watching Han De with great worry. Although he looked fine now, just a few moments ago his skull was fractured to pieces and he bled his brains out.

{Mortal parents, unremarkable birthplace, unremarkable upbringing, yet she has such a heaven-defying talent!}

'Disembodied voice, creepy stalker tendencies, talking only to me, a transmigrator...F#$%!! This guy is a grandpa?!'

{Too bad you can't see her soul, it's really quite fascinating, the way her soul was marked...}

'He even gives exposition like a grandp-… Hold up, marked?!'

{HAHAHAHAHA… Yes. Why do you think her fate is so strong? Why do you think she developed that particular ability? Why do you think she can go through enlightenment this easily?}

Han De gave his utmost effort to stay expressionless. While the thing was talking he tried to gauge how much it knew.

'Shit, was it there from the beginning?! It even knows about her enlightenment?!'

{Watching you was a good enough past time for a while. How about you and I make a deal?}

Han De looked absolutely expressionless from the outside. His heart didn't even skip a beat.

'Nope, nope, nope, nope, nope...'

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The matriarch of the fox tribe Mao Tao, was listening to the tribe elders' council.

"Absolutely not! We cannot yield to that… that devil!"

10 days ago, they received an offer from the Han family about a trade. Han De, heir of the Han family was willing to trade the Crimson Terror in exchange for the method of restoring one's cultivation. It was a straightforward deal at first, but as the news came in, the tribe became restless.

"Elder Bojing, what would you have us do then? Reject him? What is your end goal for our tribe? Times are changing, and not because of the Han family's or Long Xiu's actions."

Mao Chun, the princess of the fox tribe, was known to be as cunning as her mother. The power of her voice was lessened by his imprisonment in the hands of the Starfall Mountain, but it still held significant weight.

Elder Bojing was one of the delegates that 'negotiated' the release of the fox tribe prince. He experienced the unsettling aura of Han De first hand.

"Princess Chun, our tribe stayed above the worldly affairs for countless generations. We have endured worse storms. We can endure this too!"

Many nodded at elder Bojing's words. Many of them were alive during the last great war, tens of thousands of years ago. The fox tribe had stayed out of that one as well. War among cultivators couldn't faze them. Even if someone declared war on the fox tribe, it wouldn't mean anything. Their enemies couldn't wage war if they couldn't find them!

Mao Tao imperceptibly frowned. This divide within the tribe was certainly a deliberate move from the Han family. Their attempts at negotiations at the Starfall Mountain failed, and they only received a thinly veiled threat to make them submit. What eluded her was the reason. The events didn't seem connected at all, and that made Mao Tao even warier.

The key piece of intelligence was the existence of the higher netherworld being and its intervention on the Ming capital battle. As the matriarch, Mao Tao withheld it from the others with a previously unthinkable decision. If she hadn't done that, there wouldn't be a need for this council.

None of the elders would admit it, but the fact that they were all here discussing their opinions meant that they felt fear. That fear had to be handled delicately. Too much, and everything would collapse. Too little, and no one would come together.

Mao Chun answered to elder Bojing with elegance while her mother was still in deep thought.

"Cloudy Mountains have become a wasteland. Weak points are getting strengthened. Han De is making an unbelievable move on demonic cultivators and mortals. No news came from the Northern Continent for some time. So far we've discovered 14 worlds overrun by netherdemons. Their kindlings were most likely taken."

The elders of the tribe uncomfortably shifted in their seats. Elder Bojing wanted to speak, but his thoughts and instincts were in a clash. This was true for many other elders as well. Their animal instincts and cultivator intuitions were warning them about something, but no one knew what it was.

"I see, so it was the fox tribe…"

The sudden appearance of a grey-robed man, caused elders to look at their matriarch. Mao Tao raised her hand at the elders and calmly gazed at the middle-aged man, who threw 8 golden coins at the ground.

Mao Tao was at the Transcendent realm, anyone that could appear out of nowhere without alerting her would have to be above the limits of this world. After eliminating most of the ancient sects, she made a guess at the identity of this man.

"Senior Silent Silhouette. How may this tribe help you?"

A few elders slightly flinched at the name. They were the ones that captured the elders of the Silent Silhouette sect as a gift to the Starfall Mountain. It was natural for them to worry, but Mao Tao knew better and calmly waited for an answer.

The disposition of the Silent Silhouette as a sect master was unique. He couldn't care less about the elders or the disciples. He didn't view anyone as friends or enemies, and he didn't care about his or his sect's face. It was for this reason alone, Mao Tao and the fox tribe could afford to capture those elders. It was impossible to offend this man.

"Hmmm, you have met this Han De, did you not? What do you think of him?"

Mao Tao met the Silent Silhouette's gaze as she answered.

"Unsettling."

Silent Silhouette nodded and looked around at the fox tribe elders before asking another question.

"Is that the opinion of the matriarch, or the opinion of the fox?"

Mao Tao closed her eyes to gather her thoughts.

"It is the instinct of all spiritual animals. Is the senior aware of the events that happened in the White Forest city?"

Silent Silhouette shook his head and allowed Mao Tao to continue. As she explained, he kept throwing the coins to make divinations.

"Before the Han family burned the souls of the Li family elders, a frightening presence visited the slave district. The descriptions that people gave fit the Han family young master Han De perfectly. We also learned he not only saved, but also gave full support to the abominations created by the Li family."

Coins hit the ground and stopped once again. Silent Silhouette nodded.

"Makes sense for one abomination to save another."

He looked at Mao Tao and elders.

"Since you have given me good information, I will respond in kind as part of our equivalent exchange."

"Han De's mother is part of the Long family. The reason she chose Han Wei was to produce an offspring from the extreme ends. Perhaps the Long family succeeded, or failed, I do not know. Han De is surrounded by an impenetrable fog, I can only deduce by the process of elimination."

"My disciple nearly extinguished Han De's soul, but he survived. The appearance of the netherworld higher being suggests some sort of interference, but it is hard to tell. Spiritual animals are different from human cultivators. If Han De has a netherworld bloodline as a catalyst, or became an abomination to host opposing spiritual roots, that unsettling presence would be the natural result."

Silent Silhouette narrowed his eyes.

"Tsk, if that is the case, my disciple's suspicions were right. He was played by the Han family..."

He sighed and shook his head.

"This should be enough for you to make a decision. Whether you follow the Han family or oppose them, is all on you."

The man disappeared into thin air, leaving Mao Tao and the elders to silently digest the news.

Han De stayed expressionless as he considered the origin of the insane voices.

'Is it inside me? No, the System would've told me if that was the case. Besides, didn't it say 'there you were' when I first heard it? That means it left and returned...'

{Fine, I'll throw you a bone and 'demonstrate' my goodwill... HAHAHAHA...}

Disciples, lackeys, Han family experts and Han Bai, all noticed the peculiarity in Han De. They kept watching with vigilance.

{As you know, the world you are on is rather peculiar. The Fates of many other worlds were forcefully grafted on it by your ancestors. You can't leave, not for long anyway.}

Han De's face nearly twitched.

'This thing really likes its expositions… I really don't need a 3rd cheat. I already have the System and the beads. I can use my disciples to shield the beads from other MCs, but a higher being grandpa is just too much…'

{You are not the only one that benefits from those 'Anomalies' as you call them. There are many that covet suitable vessels like them. Your disciple was reserved long ago. He even sent his son to check up on her. You should remember him, the reincarnated one that you killed?}

Surprise got the better of Han De, and he lightly muttered.

"The cockroach?..."

{HAHAHAHAHAHAHA… I wonder what kind of face the false ruler would make if he heard that one… HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA...}

Han De facepalmed after the voices mentioned the false ruler. He didn't even remember the cockroach's name, but he remembered his fate. Ruler of the 13 worlds. As the voices kept laughing, Han De's face got gloomier and gloomier.

{HAHAHAHAHA… Haaaaa… Since he is coming to check up on his future container, he most likely saw you and your 'disciple' from his son's shattered soul shard. I didn't expect you to keep taunting him by giving her the Divine Phoenix bloodline though. HAHAHAHAHA… What a magnificent mess...}

Han De froze at first, then he secretly checked Ning Bi's status.

'Her status is completely normal. The System really likes to pamper Ning Bi, if there was a mark on her, it definitely would show up in a status check…'

Ning Bi furrowed her brows as she watched her master do that horizontal eye movement again.

{You won't be able to protect her from false ruler's interference for long. Shielding her with your bloodline was a good effort though. But sooner or later she will revert to her previous state. She was born to be his container, everything that is exceptional about her comes from him...}

"Contact mother and grandfather. Tell them to bring all of the sect and family reserves."

{HAHAHAHAHA, he is a higher being, your puny family couldn't even touch him. Well, they might be able to help against his watchers though...}

'F#$%... The cockroach's father was a F#$%#$ higher being?! Why the hell does he need a container then?!'

"They are already on the way. But cousin, would you like to explain why you need them?"

Han De furrowed his brows and waved his hand at his nosey cousin. His panic levels hadn't reached critical levels just yet, but it was getting close.

{Your great-grandmother can hold him, but she won't make a move unless she is sure of your value.}

'... My what now?'

{HAHAHAHA, that false ruler even brought back a soul from the rivers of time, just to make sure of his chances of success. And you even accepted that soul as your disciple! HAHAHAHAHAHA...}

{...HAHAHAHAHAHAHA... I'm not even sure if you are doing it on purpose, but brat, you really offended the wrong guy, over and over and over again! HAHAHAHAHA...}

Han De subconsciously looked at Yao Qing. Although this girl did come back from the future, he never really gave a thought about how, or why.

'Wait, this is too neatly tied. Even if I'm a calamity attractor, isn't this too much…'

Yao Qing met her master's empty gaze. Her intuition never stopped warning her ever since Ning Bi said the lights were moving, but now it became something else.

{Haaaaa… Brat, I offer you a deal. I like you. Just do something for me when the time comes and I can make all your current problems go away. That false ruler can destroy this world with just a thought, but next to me, he is a nobody. Just my true presence alone can burn his soul...}

'F#$%, first it was the tentacle-chan, then the Cronenberg chef, now a creepy old grandpa hive mind trying to possess me?!'

Han De straightened his back and closed his eyes. He had no idea how to deal with higher entities. Judging from the attitude of this guy, his bloodline either did not have an effect, or there was some sort of culture clash between them. His only option was to do his best to avoid pissing any of them off.

"I'll take a rain check on that one."

Han De opened his eyes and stared at his cousin. This Han Bai was trusted by his mother. Even when there was an overwhelming suspicion of his involvement in the death of the cultivation idiot, his mother didn't even interrogate him.

'Plus his current calmness and his command over the Transcendent guards..."

"My dear cousin Bai, did you contact the Long family?"

Han Bai wasn't surprised at all, he just shook his head while still staring at Han De.

"Contact them, and tell them a higher being is on the move. If they want to see their family members back, they need to put more effort into it."

Han De nonchalantly went to the window with his disciples on his side and started divining his options.

""Young master!!""

Transcendent experts, of course, immediately noticed the aura of divination. Han De dismissively waved his hand again and continued to look at the sky. His cultivation technique required stars as the medium, but his cultivator eyes could see the stars even at midday.

"Cousin, didn't you say you never practiced divination?"

Han De ignored his cousin and kept divining. At first, he deliberately made many mistakes. In each subsequent divination he 'corrected' those mistakes. After a minute, he stopped making mistakes altogether.

"Since everyone is so concerned about it, I thought I'd just learn it to see what all the fuss is about."

Han De furiously started divining in full force. The more he divined, the more his face dropped.

'Shit, seriously?! Not even the moon is safe!?'

{HAHAHAHA. Brat. If you keep doing that, they will knock you out. Your fate is sealed. You should've known this from the start. You were never going to have a good ending. Even if you can escape the clutches of this world, your fate will never change!}

He didn't look at the experts watching him, but Han De could feel their gaze. What he did was extremely risky, but he had no choice. His cultivation was too low to make a difference, but maybe he could do something with his divinations.

"Keep ascending. There are nearly a hundred netherworld demons on the threshold of becoming higher beings. I can't tell their cultivations, but they have many Transcendent minions. If you don't contact the Long family now, no one will be able to survive."

After a pause, Han De added as if it was an afterthought.

"Oh, if someone knocks me out and we somehow survive this, all of you are going to wish you could get 'interrogated' by my mother instead."

The Transcendent experts went stiff and Han Bai's fake smile was frozen. They were all under the Han family right now, and everyone viewed Han De as the Han family heir. The frightening amount of preparations Han De had made was very reminiscent of Han Wei and Han Shan. As he ordered the Transcendent experts, the thoroughness and the preciseness of it all further solidified that idea.

However, all of them were very used to this kind of offhand threat of violence as well. This recklessness that came from sheer talent could only be matched by their lady, Long Xiu. They were suddenly reminded of the Han De's orders to burn the souls of the demonic cultivators. The instructions were quite thorough, but the intent behind them was every bit as cruel as her. No, perhaps this was even worse.

The fact that Han De learned divination on the spot caused massive amounts of pain to the Transcendent experts' livers. It was both a highly impressive and heavily distressing situation. The Transcendent experts in the room looked at each other, then looked at Han Bai. Seeing that he didn't say anything to the contrary, everyone silently dropped the idea of putting Han De to sleep. The damage was already done, there was no need to get punished twice. There was no time to dwell on any of it either.

"All Transcendent experts, get into formation. The veil will be ripped apart soon. We can only gain a distance now because they can't detect this side very well. That will naturally change after they burst in. Like I instructed, attack at the same time and don't be an idiot. Don't try to preserve resources. It is all or nothing. Go."

Han Bai didn't leave, his real cultivation wasn't even near the Transcendent level. He couldn't help but ask his cousin.

"What are you going to do then?"

"I'm just going to sit here and relax with my disciples. Drink tea, eat steamed buns, and maybe tend to my little spiritual garden…"

Han De didn't stop divining while he talked.

'What the F#$% do you want me to do?! I am at the Core Formation realm! I can't even run away!'

All of his divinations kept telling him that his death was certain. Running away with his disciples was futile. Making Transcendent experts teleport them away was also impossible since these creatures could sense the disruptions in the fabric of space. They might as well present themselves on a platter…

Han De didn't even want to think about the possibility of it, but he sighed and divined anyway.

'Hmmm? Wait, all of the disciples survive if I leave them? I get Ning Bi's survival since she is crucial, but why does Jin Shu survive? Isn't she completely unrelated?'

One after the another, he divined the survival rates of everyone around him. Ning Bi, Yao Qing, Jin Shu, Han Bai, even Old Peng and Treebeard would survive if he hopped on his sword right now and ran away. Except for him, everyone would survive.

At first, Han De was speechless. If this was a revenge thing due to cockroach's death, usual cultivator behavior would extend to his family and disciples as well. A cultivator that would only exact his revenge on a single person? Leaving 9 generations of his family intact? There was no such thing.

'Besides, cockroach's father would definitely want to torture me, so these demons would have to keep me alive. Killing me and sparing everyone else doesn't make any sense…'

Han De tried to divine the Ning Bi's connection to the so-called false ruler. The divinations failed to produce a result. Usually this would mean he lacked the necessary elements of the divination, but Ning Bi was right beside him. There was no better medium than her.

'This has to be interference. It is surprisingly basic interference, just blocks the divination without hiding itself. Still, I can't circumvent that with my current cultivation. This means any divination regarding Ning Bi's future is dubious at best.'

It was obvious that the creepy voyeurist grandpa was lying, Han De just didn't know the extent of it. The gears in his mind clicked into place and produced a frighteningly plausible idea.

'These things are on the verge of becoming higher beings, but they are still very far away from it at the same time. They must be searching for a way to break through even when they are under orders.'

'...What kind of effect will my bloodline have on them?...'

{HAHAHAHAHAHA. That's right. Your bloodline will cause leviathans to go berserk. Took you long enough to figure that out. Tsk tsk tsk...}

{Tick tock tick tock tick tock. Time is running out...}

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Han De's mind stopped for a while. He couldn't divine the cultivation of the netherworld demons that are about to emerge, he could only derive through a process of elimination that they were close to becoming higher beings. He couldn't determine their exact numbers too, just that the ones closing in were close to a hundred.

'Not even my grandfather is close to being a higher being. At least, as far as I know. Even if netherworld demon and human cultivation systems are different, the power level of those things should be above my family.'

'I can summon heavenly tribulation, but Yao Qing will have to stay with me in that case. The power level of the tribulation is suspect too. Something summoned with middle-school knowledge might not be able to hurt those things. The token is too risky as well.'

In some Xianxia s, tribulation lightning would do extra damage to netherworld demons. Even low-level versions of the tribulation may damage a higher realm demon. Unless Long family cavalry arrives in time, this was Han De's only option.

M-Master!"

Han De's train of thought was interrupted by Ning Bi's exclamation, followed by a piece of cloth jammed on to his nose. After a second of confusion, Han De forced a smile and gently removed Ning Bi's hand.

"Didn't I say I feel fine? My constitution is already hea-"

The dark red spot of that piece of cloth startled Han De. His constitution was working unrestrained and he felt completely fine. He didn't feel pain, and the almost unbearable pressure was completely gone. While thinking that, he felt something drip on his lips. Sure enough, it was blood.

In a panic, Han De immediately took out 5 precious restoration pills from his storage ring. Each of these pills had to be stored in a separate jade container to protect their efficacy. Their effects were nothing short of miraculous, strong enough to regenerate multiple limbs, but also gentle enough that even a Qi Condensation disciple could use them.

Refining such a pill was extraordinarily difficult, even for a master alchemist. Slight variations could cause the pill to be unusable for anyone below Unity Realm, or even completely ruin the efficacy of the pill. When properly concocted, they were known as high-grade healing pills, but Han De classified them as filthy-rich grade in his mind.

Han De didn't give himself the time to think, he swallowed those 5 pills at the same time.

Disciples looked at each other, then looked at Han Bai, who was holding an ornate jade communicator. Han Bai met the disciples' gazes and infused another message into the communicator.

Meanwhile, Han De was focused on absorbing the medicine to guide the healing process. When he first regained control of his body, he didn't have a chance to check his own condition. There was no pressing need for it. The System had refined his bloodline and his constitution was good at healing. Even the creepy grandpa had commented on the process and called it ingenious. On top of all that, he didn't feel any discomfort.

Now that he was finally using his spiritual sense to check his condition, Han De was covered with cold sweat. He didn't have any medical expertise, but he was sure that his brain shouldn't be looking like mush. His skull shouldn't have this many cracks either. His skin was holding everything together like duct-tape. If he didn't practice body cultivation, perhaps he would've died already.

Han De tried to switch his focus to somewhere else while trying to absorb the healing effects of the pills. Panicking during the process wouldn't do him any favors. Running out of pills wasn't a concern, there were hundreds more in his storage ring. What concerned him was the urgency of his condition.

'Calm people live, tense people die. Calm people live, tense people die...'

The spiritual boat started vibrating with irregular intensity. The battle was starting while Han De was trying to absorb the healing pills. 10 minutes, 20 minutes, the vibrations slowly but steadily increased in intensity.

Han De normally would've started to panic, normally he would've tried to observe the situation and give some orders just to gain some semblance of being in control. Unfortunately, right now, he was completely frozen with terror.

As he kept attempting to absorb the pills, he realized his body wasn't reacting to them at all. Not only that, not even his body constitution was doing anything. The problem areas he was trying to treat were still slowly deteriorating. He felt completely fine, there was no pain at all, but his body was clearly failing.

"Try this. It is a Long family secret pill, created and refined by grandmother herself. It's called Heaven and Earth Serene Renewal."

Upon hearing his cousin's voice, Han De opened his eyes and saw a small jade box. A cloud of spiritual energy gushed out when Han Bai opened the lid.

[Yin-Yang Restoration Pill]

[Elementary grade body restoration pill.]

[Efficacy reduced by 97.8723% due to inadequate concocting methods.]

This was the first time the System ever identified something as a 'pill'. Even the Seven Luminaries Reminiscence was identified as an 'herb arrangement' by the System. Han De didn't stand the ceremony, he directly swallowed the pill.

Cousin, I know your will is strong, but contrary to what the name suggests, this pill is extremely violent. You have to stay conscious through the process...

Han De was in no condition to mind the pain. His top priority was to prevent the catastrophic failure of his body, whatever it takes. The pill stirred and started to release its energy layer by layer. The expected pain didn't appear, but Han De stayed vigilant. He continued to absorb the pill with a stoic face.

'Didn't he say this pill was extremely violent? Are you kidding me? F#$%#$ I am dying here and you are messing with me?!'

The pain was just a side effect of violent pills. The cause was the harsh energy damaging the meridians as the energy of the pill passes through. This was also the reason why higher realm healing pills couldn't be taken by lower realms. Unless it was a specialized filthy-rich grade formula, no alchemist would bother to smooth out the energy release profile of a pill. It was a ridiculous waste of time.

Han De knew he had somehow lost the ability to feel pain, but he was still expecting his meridians to get damaged. The so-called extremely violent pill actually nurtured his meridians by a small degree instead. It didn't do anything else.

'The pill works. The problem is… Am I really that far gone?'

The sky outside the window was already dark, and even mortals could see the stars with their naked eye. They were long past the highest point Han De reached on his first high altitude flight.

Unlike the previous Starfall Mountain flagship, the current spiritual boat was fairly small. The required surface area to defend was much lower. Coupled with the nearly two weeks of formation reinforcements requested by Han De, it was already much sturdier than the unlucky sect flagship.

The jury-rigged celestial boat stopped shaking. Han De didn't know whether this was a good or bad sign. He needed to get his disciples and lackeys out of here before it was too late.

{My dear red-eyed girl... Don't you miss your parents? You wanted to visit them, but you decided to stay with your master later. But… Aren't they just mortals? What would happen if those terrible demons started roaming? Can your parents survive where even your master can only wait for his death?}

As the creepy grandpa finished his whispers, an overwhelming pressure appeared. Han De was already sitting in the lotus position, but this aura, this pressure, demanded him to kneel, to submit.

Han De instinctively recognized that this pressure could only come from a higher order of life. When ordinary mortals encounter Immortal Realm cultivators that didn't restrict their aura, they too would be compelled to submit.

In the room, Han Bai's face was ashen, but he still didn't budge. Jin Shu and Yao Qing just frowned but stayed steady. Han De looked at his left, and saw Ning Bi staring into nothingness with wide eyes.

'I should've sent them away when I had the chance, instead I focused on healing my wounds…'

Han De felt something drip to his lips. He used the back of his hand to get it off and noticed the liquid was more viscous and brownish this time. The aura of the demons was still nagging him to kneel and submit as well. Without Han De noticing, his face started twitching with annoyance.

{You've been watching your little cousin for so long. Don't you feel tired? You've been forced to look after a brat… You can never rise and you can never leave...}

The pressure that came from the demons' aura was incomplete, but what they lacked in quality, was compensated by the quantity. As the creepy grandpa talked, the pressure kept getting stronger.

Han De felt something in him stir, but he couldn't concentrate on what that was. The overwhelming annoyance he felt, turned into anger. Everything started to anger him. He started furiously cursing at whatever came to his mind. He cursed at the guy that killed the cultivation idiot, his sect and his family that failed to stop it. He cursed at the guy that drugged him. He cursed at the people that made the conference in the northern continent, the sects that killed and crippled his lackeys, those knock off tleilaxu people, he kept cursing and shouting at all of them in his mind.

'After surviving all of that, I am going to die just because of a creep that talked too much?!?! My disciples are going to die because of some oversized sea worms?!?!'

Han De's warped face slowly turned red as he raged in his mind. He was still just a mid-stage Core Formation expert, and there was nothing he could do. This powerlessness further intensified his anger. Unfortunately, this was just a silent, frothing rage that didn't have the brute strength to back it up.

Han De had no way of knowing what was happening. He only had grand mastered 11 scriptures, and 6 of them were standard herbalism volumes. He didn't enjoy cultivation at all, so Starfall and Yellow Grove scriptures weren't especially compatible with him. Body cultivation and divination were quite but useful things. Perhaps he would have noticed their effects if he started writing his diary much earlier, but his obsession and overreliance on them were completely lost on him.

Heaven Defying Tyrannical Sword was created by the cultivation idiot. Since it was his primary intimidation method, Han De practiced with it quite often. Especially after sinking in 1200 Profound Points and 2 Martial Arts Method Upgrade Token, he became even more attached to it. Later, the scripture also proved its value when Han De escaped the fox and the oversized snake.

It was for this reason, instead of panicking and making escape plans, Han De was silently fantasizing about torturing the creepy grandpa, the leviathans, and the false ruler. Originally, Han De himself couldn't care less about kneeling or submitting to someone. Survival was his number one concern.

The essence of the Heaven Defying Tyrannical Scripture though, found the concept of kneeling or submitting highly insulting.

The Leviathan Lords were dropped to this world many years ago by an irresistible force. When they became aware of their surroundings, an imprint forced them to submit and wait.

They were all at the edge of elevating their existence. They were all pure netherworld demons as well. They could not assume human form and increase their cultivation speed like spiritual animals. The only option was bitter cultivation. They have all survived and cultivated for countless years. Therefore, all of them knew, whatever being brought them here, was not one to be trifled with. None of them had any thoughts of resisting.

For years they waited and observed. This was a frontier world that once hosted the Primordial Sun Temple. Those glory days were long gone now, and the remnant survivors were slowly dwindling, as usual.

One day, a horrifying presence entered the world through some unknown means. Any netherworld demon that touched it lost their minds and became its willing servant. A small part of the being crossed over to the material realm for a moment and quickly left. The Leviathans realized they were protected by the same imprint that forced them to submit. A faint aura similar to their imprint was in close proximity of the passage as well.

Years passed once again, and finally, they were given permission to move. This time, the imprint filled their mind with information. There was a higher netherworld bloodline in this world! Possessed by a mere Core Formation hybrid! All they had to do was to ensure the death of that fledgling!

All of the leviathan lords snickered in their heads. Their dignity was in shambles, but of them could afford to pass up this chance. This setup also reminded them of the rumors about void beings. Just the possibility of them being involved was enough to make them shiver in fear. It wasn't good to think about the void beings for long.

They followed the imprint's instructions. Tens of thousands of low-level demons appeared near them just as the imprint instructed. When they received the coordinates, those low-level demons were the first to enter, just as the imprint instructed. When the time came, they went in one by one just as the imprint instructed. Both the demons and humans fell to their knees. The leviathans got ready to fight and kill each other with full power, just as the imprint instructed.

99 giant armored serpents eyed each other as they menacingly flew above the wasteland. They couldn't stop even if they wanted, the imprint's rule was absolute. In all likelihood, they wouldn't mind killing each other for a chance to advance anyway.

Before anyone could make the first strike, they felt the imprint on them stir. They instinctively looked up with their giant maws. The target, the prize, was on that tiny spiritual boat. They also felt something else was there too, something that resonated with their imprint. A few moments later, the imprint disappeared completely along with the resonating energy. It was as if it never existed in the first place.

After a moment of silence, the leviathans seemed to have perceived something with their intuition. They retracted their aura in a hurry, but above the spiritual boat, strange tribulation clouds were already forming.

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On the border between the normal space and the frontier, Long Juan stood alone. She was part of the Long family reinforcements called by her grandson, Shao Bai. Bringing the frontier affair to a close was a top priority for the Long family. Even if the information sent by Shao Bai was false, they had to make sure the safety of her daughter Long Xiu, and her son Han De.

The people that went to the central world of this frontier was her other daughter, Long Daiyu, and her servants. She was here, waiting for a certain someone to appear. The message received from Shao Bai mentioned a higher being. Emperor of the Flowing Realms, Shen Guo have been rampaging for some time, and was last seen heading for this region.

Long Juan didn't believe in coincidences. She was also very curious if this prediction by her controversial grandson Han De would come to pass.

Sensing the mass of spiritual energy mixed with killing intent, Long Juan smiled.

'Interesting, so he was right. I wonder where the netherworld demons came from though...'

Long Juan slowly walked towards the mass of killing intent. She covered the colossal distance between them with just 10 graceful steps. Blocking the famous butcher's path like this, would be a death sentence for anyone else, but things were different for the Long family.

Fellow Daoist Shen Guo. There is a Long family matter. I ask you to give us some face and leave this region...

The Shen family wasn't very well known across the realms. Their numbers were few, but they were fiercely loyal to each other. Due to unknown reasons, they seldom used their family names out in the open. Every generation would get a different fake family name. By using the name Shen, and mentioning the Long family in the same breath, Long Juan wanted to both sober him up, and check the validity of the rumors.

Shen Guo narrowed his eyes. Ever since his son's soul shard shattered to pieces, he traveled to many different worlds. Reincarnation was an impossible to predict process. Not even his son would know which world he would end up in when he released his soul. The resonance created by the shattered soul shard was his only clue, along with the image of his son's murderer imprinted on the remains of the shard.

As they stared at each other in silence, Long Juan got the confirmation she wanted.

'Shen Xing really died. As suspected, he wasn't dispersing his cultivation, but using a forbidden technique to reincarnate...'

Long Juan and Shen Guo kept staring at each other. A silent conversation ensued. Long Juan didn't budge at the news of Shen Guo's son's demise. Shen Guo claimed the Long family's interference was highly suspect. Long Juan denied any involvement, then mentioned that there were Long family members about to leave the frontier. With just a look, they understood each other. Shen Guo furrowed his brows.

1 day.

Shen Guo closed his eyes and started meditating. His answer meant that he was only giving face because of Long family members. However, if they weren't gone by the mentioned time, Flowing Realms wouldn't hesitate to wage total war against the Long family over this matter. Once the time was up, he was going to destroy these worlds, one way or another.

Long Juan followed his example and started meditating as well. She decided to secretly watch Shen Guo from far away as he searched for the murderer. It was bound to be an interesting distraction.

A few minutes before the tribulation clouds started to condense.

The aura coming from the leviathans forced human and netherworld demon Transcendent experts to submit. The difference that came from a higher order of life was difficult, if not impossible to overcome.

High above the atmosphere, inside the ghetto celestial ship, lackeys were already on their knees. Despite the huge cultivation difference, Han Bai was holding on. Complex emotions were eating him from the inside. Previously unthinkable thoughts kept emerging in his mind.

The disciples were staying close to their master due to his condition. They could feel the aura coming from the nearly-higher-beings, but it didn't have any effect on them.

Han De was still in the middle absorbing the Heaven and Earth Serene Renewal pill. Only half of its layers were released so far, but Han De had already stopped paying attention to the process. The pill wasn't healing him at all and he still wasn't aware why everything was pissing him off. Now that he wasn't interfering with the spiritual energy released by the pill, his meridians were silently getting nurtured and reinforced with great speed.

Thick killing intent appeared out of nowhere. Although the aura was still influencing Han De's thoughts through the Heaven Defying Tyrannical Scripture, the killing intent pulled him out of his torture fantasy spiral. His face kept twitching with anger as he realized the situation.

'F#$%! They are going berserk. Tentacle-chan.. Weren't you going to deal with the false ruler? Aren't these leviathans sent by that guy?! Couldn't you have destroyed them first?!?!'

{Brat, your time is up. Your fate was sealed the moment you were born. HAHAHAHAHAHA...}

Han De lost control of his aura. Creepy grandpa's words were the straw that broke the camel's back. The aura of his self-made scripture expanded on its own. Inside the spiritual boat turned pitch black. Moments later, the aura retracted and started condensing itself into a seed.

Han De entered a strange state. Normally, it was supposed to be a state of peace and tranquility, but Han De was on the verge of a nervous breakdown. It was impossible for him to achieve inner peace with everything that was going on. He had no idea what was going on, much less perceive the secrets of the universe.

Even under normal circumstances, Han De's state of mind was too jumbled. Often he had no idea what he wanted. The state of pseudo-tranquility induced by his aura didn't last longer than a few breaths, but that was enough for Han De to truly convey his will for the first time through his bloodline.

Black void reappeared. It was involuntarily pulsating. One second it was trying to goad his target, and the next as if by instinct, it ended up removing itself from that plane.

{...}

Black void found the experience vexing.

{...}

It forcibly calmed itself down. The pulsations slowly became regular once again.

{...}

{Very well. You've got yourself a deal.}

{...}

Tribulation clouds started to form above the knock-off celestial ship. As the recipient, Han De immediately understood by instinct that this tribulation was aimed at himself. His rollercoaster emotions were forcibly calmed down by the threat of imminent death.

'Shit, shit, shit, shi- wait, this isn't actually a bad thing...'

A smile appeared in Han De's flushed face.

"Yao Qing, do you think you can manipulate this tribulation?"

After a few seconds of silence, Han De looked at Yao Qing to see why she wasn't answering, only to see her staring at him like he was some sort of alien.

"M-Master, i-isn't this your Dao Seed tribulation?"

"Nevermind that, can you do it?"

Yao Qing stayed silent for a few more seconds, then gave a sharp nod.

'Good, she is confident. Should I summon one more? I can still recite the fundamental forces definitions. The token would be too risky, but-'

Han De suddenly felt his soul stir. It resonated with the tribulation clouds. This feeling somehow felt extremely familiar. As he was pondering its origin, he was reminded of the cultivation idiot's tribulations. When someone was about to break through, their soul would resonate with heaven and earth. During that stage, it was vital that they wouldn't come near someone else's tribulation, as there was a risk of involuntarily summoning their own just by being nearby.

As a mid-stage Core Formation cultivator, Han De didn't need to worry about something like that. His tribulation was a long way away. As Han De was thinking that, the tribulation clouds started to change. At the moment, he felt the remains of the Heaven and Earth Serene Renewal disappear.

"M-Master, you cannot! How can you force a Nascent Soul tribulation like this?!"

Han De felt indignant. He wasn't doing anything and had no idea what was going on. There was no time to explain.

"Can you still manipulate it?"

Yao Qing looked bitter, but once again, she gave a sharp nod.

Han De mumbled "Good." and led the disciples to the open deck. Ning Bi was still staring into emptiness, he had to resort to a princess carry. The gravity formation of the spiritual boat was already active. Han De ordered Peng to tilt the boat sideways to get a better view.

Just an hour ago the area under them was filled with emerald green forests meeting a deep blue ocean. Now, there was a gargantuan island that was only uniform black. Even with the great altitude, shockwaves from a prolonged battle of this many Transcendent experts was enough to destroy an area that was larger than Earth.

"You see those giant floating worms with big teeth? Manipulate the heavenly tribulation lightning to attack them instead. Don't even let it touc-"

"This is your Dao tribulation! Master! You cannot give up this chance, you need to absorb some of it to perceive and temper your own Dao! This is crucial for reaching the Dao Seed Realm!!"

Yao Qing normally would've used voice transmission, but her master's words first surprised, then angered her greatly.

Han De facepalmed, he wanted to say 'Just an hour ago I was most likely bleeding my brains out. Even with double cheats, I would still need a few hundred years to reach the Dao Seed realm. At my current state, I probably won't make a few hundred minutes.' Seeing Yao Qing's stupidly determined and slightly angry expression, he decided not to break his facade.

'Should I give them random body constitutions while I can? I really should've used the spiritual root cleansing tokens when I had the chance… Shit...'

Han De waved his hand dismissively.

"This isn't my Dao, and I don't need nor want a heavenly tribulation even if were. The current situation is much more urgent. You will divert everything towards them."

Get the highest cultivation remaining to use the power of space on my signal. Take my disciples towards Cloudy Mountains, mother should be very close.

Old Peng paused for a second, but still did his signature respectful bow to Han De.

Tribulation clouds were nearly done forming. The aura of the leviathans disappeared. A huge weight was instantly lifted from Han De's shoulders. Yao Qing didn't even notice the aura's disappearance. She was intently looking at Han De.

'This isn't enough, not at all. Better prepare for the worst. Yes, now that I think about it, the bloodlines probably weren't random anyway. The System will most likely choose something useful for them.'

[Activating Random Constitution Token on disciple Ning Bi]

[Activating Random Constitution Token on disciple Yao Qing]

[Activating Random Constitution Token on disciple Jin Shu]

Han De didn't even look at the descriptions. He eyed the Potential Point Upgrade Token as he checked his inventory.

'Very powerful tribulation… No. There is no way she can control that. The target of the token will be the recipient, so they can't even run away from the tribulation by teleporting.'

Looking at the leviathans eying them, Han De thought he needed more. The more damaged they are, the less likely they'll follow his disciples and lackeys when they escape.

"Can you handle one more?"

Yao Qing, along with Jin Shu, and Ning Bi, was distracted by something. Han De was able to sense his body constitution right away. Unfortunately, he didn't have time to explain their effects, they would have to discover them on their own. Once he got a tiny nod from Yao Qing, Han De started talking with his Profound Teacher persona.

"There are four fundamental forces in the universe. Gravity, weak force, strong force, and electromagnetism. Gravity is the weakest, but it brings all things that have mass or…"

Just like when he was in the sect, hundreds of black chrysanthemum flowers appeared. The deck looked like a flower field that extended far beyond the spiritual boat. By the time Han De finished his short description of electromagnetism, the clouds made out of spiritual energy were looking dangerously calm.

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Han De looked at the silent tribulation clouds. Technically, they were in space, there was no sound. The calm look of these clouds though, really gave a sense of stillness. If it wasn't for the pressure of three different tribulations weighing down on his soul, or the fact that his body was falling apart, Han De would've enjoyed this sight very much.

'What's going on, why is it not starting? Am I supposed to do something here?'

The cultivation idiot went through two tribulations. He did not do anything special to call or start the tribulation. Everything went in their proper order without any mishaps. Both encounters were very by the book!

Silence continued. Han De looked at Yao Qing with suspicion. Just a moment ago she nearly refused to attack the netherworld demons.

'She should know I am in no state to tank a frickin' lightning, right? Forget triple tribulation, a regular lightning is enough to kill me 10 times over...'

[Direct Control]

[All lightning will bend to the Tyrant's will.]

'She's been practicing with her bloodline all this time. She'll do fine! There is nothing to worry...'

Under Han De suspicious eyes, Yao Qing waited. Finally, after a full minute, the first strike appeared! The spiritual boat violently shook and just for a moment everything went white. Han De didn't need to shield his eyes from light, and saw the lightning coil around the spiritual boat before striking at the closest leviathan.

Heavenly Tribulation didn't pause for Han De's sigh of relief. Three seconds later, another one appeared. A second later another one. The intervals between the strikes nearly disappeared after the 6th and Han De lost count.

The spiritual boat was heavily, heavily reinforced with formations. Even though the lightning strikes weren't even touching anything, just the radiating heavenly intent was enough to crush them. Primary shielding formation failed, and the inscriptions that defined it burned away. Secondary and tertiary formations started shaking, outer parts of the secondary started to crack.

Half a minute after the first strike, the tribulation paused. One look at the clouds told Han De that it wasn't finished. This was only the first wave.

'This is it.'

Han De tied the prayer beads into Ning Bi's wrist and slipped all of his reserve storage rings into her pocket.

Your family isn't in any danger. They were being protected by the Han family ever since you've become my disciple. Never let go of those prayer beads.

Han De didn't see how Ning Bi's eyes shook, he just patted her head. On the side, Yao Qing was panting heavily. In the end, she was only a Qi Condensation disciple right now. Being able to do this was already a miracle. As expected of an MC. Before Han De gave the order to Peng, he saw Jin Shu looking at him. He smiled and nodded at her.

Peng. It is time. Go.

Old Peng didn't know what his young master was planning. From his perspective, there were many Transcendent masters remaining on the field, and reinforcements were on the way. He signaled the remaining Immortal Realm experts under Han De. Space rippled, and Han De was left alone on the deck.

[Current Distance: Unknown]

[Vigil Quest Failed]

[Time Remaining: 10.9]

[Disciple Ning Bi's state is unknown]

[Notes: You have failed to keep your disciple Ning Bi within the designated distance of your main body. The seed of doubt within her heart will eventually become her inner demon. Disciple status of Ning Bi is suspended until the seed of doubt is completely removed. Ning Bi will irrevocably lose her disciple status if she fully forms an inner demon.]

Han De read the quest summary with reluctance and regret. This inner demon was probably a euphemism from the System. It was most likely the method that the so-called false ruler would take over Ning Bi's body.

'If we remove Profound Points, Yao Qing would be a better teacher anyway. Along with Jin Shu, forming an inner demon should be quite hard for Ning Bi. Besides, she is just 13. She'll be able to get over it. With the prayer beads as a cheat, she could increase her cultivation rapidly as well.'

Han De was surprised by how concerned he was with his disciples. While trying to figure out when he got so chummy with them, he gazed over the leviathans. All of their mouths were open towards the spiritual boat. Of course, Han De didn't hear anything, but the leviathans were actually roaring.

'Tentacle-chan, Long family, if you want to save the day, this is your last chance...'

These ancient netherworld demons were all on the verge of elevating their existence. If they could leap over their bottleneck, they could go through their tribulation and become a higher being. As pure-blooded netherworld demons, their cultivation was arduous, and their bottlenecks were tough to overcome. Therefore when they saw the strange tribulation clouds, of them felt the need to distance themselves.

Mutated tribulation had elements of Dao, soul, and forbidden knowledge. Due to Han De's strange state, that soul part wasn't a Nascent Soul tribulation. The physical changes in Han De's body was a precursor to elevating his existence before reaching the Immortal Realm. Due to using the prayer beads to cultivate, and using the Seven Luminaries Reminiscence pill before, Han De's soul was able to keep up with his body as well. The leviathans didn't know this.

Dealing with, or even thinking about void beings was a taboo, even for the leviathans. None of them dared to take a wrong step, most of them were still thinking about engaging in a battle royale just in case this was some sort of a test.

The heavenly tribulation changing its course and hitting them shocked all leviathans to their core. They were even more baffled when the one that was hit groaned with pain. Soon though, they all got hit by multiple lightning strikes and understood the reason.

The unique mix of elements within the tribulation, coupled with how the tribulation inexplicably kept changing targets, forcibly stirred their bottleneck. With 99 of them being in close proximity and all of them already being a target of the ongoing tribulation, removal of their bottleneck was the last thing they would've wanted.

Han De was confused about why the leviathans kept their mouths open. He was creeped out after a while and looked at the tribulation clouds instead.

'If I leave now, the tribulation will just follow me. If the clouds are forcibly dispersed, these demons will return to their berserk state. Even If I can run away, my body is continuing to deteriorate. Even if Long family saves the day in the nick of time, what are the chances of them carrying a legendary heaven-defying pill...'

'Well, I guess the one silver lining is, I can't actually feel any pain right now. That is actually quite useful in my situ-...'

'...'

'Why are these clouds getting thicker?'

Elevating one's existence wasn't an everyday event. At the level of these netherworld demons, tribulation from such an ordeal could easily destroy a small world. 99 of them 'summoning' their tribulation at the same time was even worse. Han De's world being the center of a frontier, couldn't handle this level of power. Naturally, the heavenly tribulation would react to that by ejecting everyone involved to the closest suitable location.

The gears in Han De's mind started turning, but he couldn't come up with a reasonable explanation from his perspective. He didn't know the leviathans were forcibly getting dragged into their own tribulations. Judging from the strange state of the leviathans and the tribulation clouds though, making a run for it didn't seem such a bad idea.

Han De jumped on the speed-focused Nascent Soul sword. Sustaining a flight with it was impossible, but he thought a sudden burst of speed was his best starting option. He infused half of his spiritual energy with the sword and operated his Heaven Defying Tyrannical Scripture. Without ever looking back, he changed into his speed-focused Core Formation sword after a few seconds.

'You know, running away from the tribulation and not playing by its rules should also count as defying the heavens…'

Han De was trying to cheer himself up while adamantly not looking back. His only valid direction was to the south, so he kept looking south. 10 seconds later, he felt two delicate arms hugging him from behind. Han De reflexively tried to gasp, but they were still in space, there was no air around. His whole body went stiff when he saw a few strands of floating white hair.

The cronenberg chef tightened her hug and put her chin on Han De's left shoulder. She didn't say anything. She wasn't trembling either.

They flew silently for nearly half a minute. Han De couldn't move a muscle the entire time, but he was able to sense some erratic spiritual energy in front of them. 10 very uncomfortable seconds later, he spotted the remains of a battlefield. The chef tightened her hug once again.

Little De! You are safe!

Shouting voice transmission startled Han De. Even with his elf eyes, he could only see dots due to the distance, but that voice definitely belonged to his mother. The dot started to get bigger and bigger. The tattered clothes, the pale face, and the red-ish brown stains all over her caused Han De to frown in confusion.

'Is she… missing an arm?'

Han De felt something in him became restless. There was a sense of wrongness coming from somewhere. He reflexively looked at his chest and used his spiritual sense to check the cause. The cause, was the illusory Dao Seed. At least, that was what Han De was guessing from Yao Qing's comments.

If he could, Han De would've dispersed this Dao Seed without a second thought. He didn't even know if that was possible, the cultivation idiot certainly never heard something like that. Han De might be the only person to ever consider it.

Even the essence of the seed was enough to give him headaches. A Dao Seed with Heaven Defying Tyrannical qualities was one of the worst things he could condense. If he could choose, he definitely would choose herbalism as his Dao Seed. Herbalism was nice, it was so peaceful and happy!

Han De surroundings started to radiate heavenly intent. It was only then he realized he was about to be transported to somewhere else. Someone else couldn't shield him or disperse the clouds. He looked at his mother, she had also realized what was going on.

Darkness enveloped Han De's vision.

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Endless dunes.

Clear blue skies, light breeze, and endless dunes across all directions. That's what Han De was looking at while waiting. He looked towards the east with anticipation. Just a little more patience, just a little more!

He tried to fix up his clothing once more, everything had to be perfect for this moment!

'That's odd, why do I suddenly feel naked? Everything is in order, I'm not missing anything, right?'

Han De shook his head. There was no need to second guess himself. He assumed his dignified pose once again. A few moments later, he realized what was missing.

'Where are my life-saving items?! Why am I not wearing any?!'

In a panic, he looked at his storage ring. He was about to scold himself for forgetting something so essential, but his mind went blank.

'W-Where are my life-saving items? My escape items?! F#$%!! Where is my stuff?!!'

Han De retraced his steps. Without his stuff, he could easily die to any random Nascent Soul expert. He had a knack of attracting those types too.

'I was… dragged into a tribulation?'

He looked at his surroundings in confusion. When did he get here? A movement disrupted his train of thought. A woman wearing white clothes appeared behind a dune. A white umbrella was blocking her face. Han De's heart started throbbing. This was the moment he was waiting for.

She stopped, and put down her umbrella, revealing her delicate features.

"Chu Chen?"

Han De gulped after seeing the woman's sweet smile. This was the crush of the cultivation idiot. The walking talking uncanny valley.

'Is this… the legendary inner demon tribulation?'

Chu Chen started walking towards Han De. Her affectionate expression didn't change as she closed the distance between them with her graceful steps.

'Isn't this the cultivation idiot's inner demon? This feels like an invasion of privacy...'

Han De turned back started walking in the opposite direction. There was no need to play a romantic scene with that flat-colored freak. As he walked, he admired the desert scene. The heat, the breeze, the feeling of his feet getting slightly buried in the sand. Everything gave a perfect deserty feeling. Truly, the tribulation seemed to have spared no expense.

"Dear husband, where are you going?"

The sweet voice stopped Han De in his tracks. Just a minute ago she was so far away, but now she was only a few meters behind. Han De reminded himself that she wasn't real. There was no need to be unsettled by something like this. He tried to enjoy the desert while ignoring her.

"De~ar…"

Han De felt two delicate arms hugging him from behind. He could feel Chu Chen's breath on his neck. First, his body went stiff, then, he used all of his power to elbow her. Han De didn't let her recover and decisively cut her down with his sword.

Chu Chen's body faded away almost instantly. Han De breathed heavily as he warily checked his surroundings. His violent reaction surprised even himself.

After calming down, he continued walking while occasionally checking his surroundings. 10 minutes later, he got bored and jumped on his sword. Half an hour of high-speed flight later, Han De frowned.

'Ok, this is a desert, I get the idea. Now what? There is nothing here. Wait, is this one of those things where the MC has to spend a lifetime inside just to emphasize their unbreakable will?'

Han De came to an abrupt stop and fell into deep thought. The condition of his body was… not… good. If the reason he was dragged by the heavenly tribulation was because of those leviathans' own tribulation, he was bound to die anyway. No one could quit a tribulation just because as far as he knew. Only low-level tribulations could be dispersed by someone that was 3 realms higher.

'Spending a lifetime here wouldn't be that bad, depending on the fantasy setup of this world of course.'

Han De felt regret at accidentally killing Chu Chen's illusion. She looked freaky for sure, but at least she showed affection for him and called him husband. That was a billion times better than hearing the 'confession' of the cronenberg chef. Han De involuntarily shuddered at the memory.

'Alright, if Chu Chen's illusion appears again, I won't ignore or destroy it. Now that I think about it, I won't need to hide anything while I'm here. What happens in inner demon tribulation, stays in inner demon tribulation…'

Han De dashed forward again at full speed. This time, he was actively searching for signs of life. If this was really some sort of tribulation that was trying to seduce Han De, he might as well let it happen. A freaky flat colored skin meant nothing in front of true happiness!

Thunder SFX*

More Thunder SFX*

Thunder sounds were coming all around him, but the sky was completely clear. Han De tentatively reduced his speed. A faint flash of light appeared in front of him. Then another, and another. Thunder sounds started to get louder as well. Han De immediately stopped.

'Shit, did I get to the edge of the level?! Isn't this a bit too shabby?! How can an inner demon tribulation have an edge?!'

Han De decisively turned back at full speed. How could he give up a lifetime of happiness just like that?

Unfortunately, even though he kept flying at his top speed, lightning strikes kept appearing one after the other. Soon, he started hearing roars. Their volume increased. The sky got darker.

'No, no, no, no. I didn't even get to-'

As he woke up, Han De heard endless roars. His vision and his hearing returned slowly. Aside from the blinding flashes of light, there was nothing to illuminate his surroundings. But not even the heavenly tribulation lightning was enough to illuminate the endless emptiness surrounding him.

It took him a few minutes to get used to seeing things. As the lightning flashed, Han De saw large shadows on the clouds. Looking at the shadows' shape, it was obvious that the leviathans were in the middle of their tribulation.

Han De closed his eyes. He didn't want to check his own condition. Thankfully, he wasn't feeling any pain. Even without using his spiritual sense, or his vision, he could tell there was something very wrong with his body. Some of his limbs were definitely bent in a way they weren't supposed to. The slimy feeling around his left might actually be his internal organs. At this stage, it was better to close his eyes and wait.

As minutes passed, Han De started freaking out more and more. Was his leg split in two? He didn't want to think about it. He shut his eyes even more. Something was brushing on his left arm. Even though he didn't want to, he couldn't help but wonder.

Han De opened his eyes. He didn't peel pain, but he felt that it was difficult to parse what he was seeing. Warily, he looked to his left and saw a few strands of white hair, fluttering with the wind.

Han De closed his eyes once more.

'Of course, she was hugging me, wasn't she. Was she forcibly dragged into the tribulation? Well, it doesn't matter now. I don't think I can even lift my fingers...'

He wanted to forget, he just wanted to rest, but something kept bothering Han De. Her cooking was delicious, but she was unreliable in Han De's eyes. Was she waiting for him to die just to absorb his soul?

With great effort, Han De tried to move his body. Everything in his being was screaming at him to stop, but Han De couldn't. He had to know. It was better not to know, but he had to know!

Han De moved his arms in an attempt to turn himself. The snaps and sloshing sounds he was hearing made him thankful for his inability to feel pain. He balanced his body with his three right arms. The white hair was definitely there, it was just laying on the floor, but he still couldn't get a clear look.

One of his right arms crushed under his weight and snapped, causing him to lose the sight of the white hair. Han De sighed and looked to his right.

'Wait, what the hell is that… thing…'

The thing could only be described as a convulsing mound of flesh. There were torn and burnt pieces of cloth all over it. Some of them were yellow, some of them were grey. Han De tried to move away, he didn't care if he had to break his other two right arms. He flailed his arms, and the creature flailed his arms. Almost as if they were in sync.

Han De's hearts dropped. In the background, the leviathans were continuously roaring.

'No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no…'

Han De closed all of his eyes in denial.

'This is not happening. This is not happening. This is not happening…'

In desperation, he tried to open up his status screen. Surely the System would prevent something like this, right?

[Status check is unavailable due to an ongoing inner demon tribulation]

'...'

'W-What?!'

Han De tried to open it once again, the same error came up once more. After a few more confirmations, relief overwhelmed Han De. Some things were far worse than death.

As he waited, Han De kept trying to bring up the status screen, just to confirm and reconfirm that this was just a bad dream.

'Oh wow, this is so juicy and tasty… This chef really knows her stuff...'

Han De was eating his steak with intense satisfaction. It was most likely the most delicious thing he had ever eaten. He had to actively restrain himself while eating. If he gave in, he would start devouring everything. Even with a table chock-full of dishes, he wanted this experience to last for as long it could.

'This is so good… I'm seriously gonna cry just from the taste…'

Alas, all good things must come to an end. Han De finished his steak. He was all alone in the dining room, so he naturally didn't pay any heed to his dignity and started licking the plate. Only once it was squeaky clean, Han De looked the fried roll looking things in front of him. The steak was a special order, now he wanted to taste a Xianxia dish, and to his eyes, those rolls looked sufficiently Chinese.

Out of habit, Han De did a status check of the food. By now, he trusted his immortal chef, but he thought it was a good habit to do a status check anyway. Someone else might've poisoned the food during transit, he could never be too careful. It was free anyway, so why not spam-check everything?

[Status check is unavailable due to an ongoing inner demon tribulation]

Han De did a double-take on the pop-up window.

'That's right, I was about to get pulled into the tribulation... Then is this the legendary inner demon tribulation?…'

After considering his options, Han De decided that ignorance was bliss. He nonchalantly bit into the fried roll.

Crunch*

'Mmmm, definitely not oily. Is that ground pork? No, it must be some sort of spiritual ground pork I guess. Mmm. Garlic is balanced perfectly as well.'

Han De kept eating the rolls without a worry. The plate had more than 20 stacked on top of each other. Perhaps it was better to change his strategy, sample everything first, then come up with a proper eating order. He bit into his third.

Thunder SFX*

Han De stopped chewing momentarily. That thunder sound gave him an ominous feeling.

Thunder SFX*

More Thunder SFX*

Han De stood up and hurriedly started eating a little bit of everything. A few seconds later, roaring sounds appeared.

'Just a little more, please. Please, please, please...'

At this point, Han De jamming food inside his mouth. Due to this Core Formation cultivation, and his body cultivation, he was very confident in his jaw strength.

Cough*

Cough* *Cough* *Cough* *Cough*

Han De was sweeping the floor with a broom. His job was nearly done. Just a few more sections and he could climb down this stupid tower and get some food.

"I didn't expect to see you here again."

The voice from behind startled Han De. He was on top of a tower, high above the clouds. Although the view was amazing, it was windy and cold. After the first time, you'd have to stupid to come up here. He turned back to look at the owner of the voice.

A young woman in a blue dress was staring at him. Han De rubbed his eyes and looked at her again. The woman chuckled, but Han De was still baffled. Aside from the eyes and eyebrows, everything else in her face was… hidden. He couldn't see any of her facial features below her eyes.

'Is this some sort of new spell? Is it more trendy to use this veil spell instead of a physical veil?'

The woman chuckled, but Han De realized her voice was neither male nor female. Apparently, the woman didn't mind Han De's confusion and walked towards him. She exaggeratedly sized him up and down.

"That Dao Seed doesn't really suit you. I'm surprised you would even attempt to condense it... Are you really going to condense it?"

The term Dao Seed jolted Han De's mind. A second later, he realized he was in the inner demon tribulation.

'Wait, why am I so sure this is an inner demon tribulation? What happened to the cronenberg chef?'

The woman raised her eyebrow at changes in Han De's state of mind.

'Wait, didn't I see her before? During that pill thing? Why is her face censored like this? Is it because it's a faint memory? Then why was she selected as my inner demon? The production value of this tribulation is surprisingly low…'

Han De looked around to take in the view. This really was the same place as the last time. Just as he remembered, everything looked rather fantasy-like. Behind him there were some floating islands, some strange bird looking things were flying. Picturesque mountain peaks were piercing through the carpet of fluffy clouds. Everything was spread around with unnatural symmetry. Almost as if everything was engineered.

'Wait, why did she ask if I was going to condense the Dao Seed?'

Han De narrowed his eyes. This woman could be an inner demon, but there was also a possibility of her being an NPC. Some inner demon tribulation would last a lifetime, the MCs would raise their family and grow old. It was natural to assume some of the 'people' were unrelated characters.

The woman furrowed her brows for some reason.

Han De nodded. Since she was an unrelated character, there was no need for pretenses.

"What do you think I should do? Is there even a way to disperse the seed? I'm rather worried about the tribulation."

The woman blinked a few times. It seemed like she didn't expect to hear such a question.

"Of course… You can disperse it..."

Han De wanted to facepalm, but he resisted the urge.

"Yep, she really is an NPC. So unreliable…"

The corner of the woman's eyes started twitching. She fixed her posture and continued in a calm manner.

"Just act in a way that is the opposite of the seed's essence. Yours is actually a double essence seed. You have to disperse them at the same time. If only one is dispersed, the other will immediately condense and create a flawed seed. You'll never be able to advance with that."

Han De considered her answer. It seemed too simple and unreliable.

"Well, I suppose I have nothing to lose. That is, assuming that I'll be able to escape this place. Actually, apart from the cold, the view here is pretty nice."

After a big sigh, Han De went to the edge to get a better look.

"Yes, staying here would be the best option. There is also that Nascent Soul tribulation. That could be dispersed before, but there is no one to disperse it now…"

Han De was freely muttering his inner thoughts. If this was an inner demon tribulation, why would he need to watch what he was saying? Could the NPCs tattle tale to his mother like his lackeys?

"Are you condensing a dao seed during Nascent Soul tribulation?"

"Hmm? Ah, no. It's the other way around. Didn't expect a meta-question from an NPC, but you did mention Dao Seed first…"

Han De couldn't see the facial features of the woman, but her eyes and eyebrows were enough to convey her expressions. She was clearly questioning his intelligence. Han De rolled his eyes, he had enough problems as it is.

"If you are worried about cultivation tribulation, why don't you scatter your core? That should be enough to forcibly cancel a tribulation. Then, you can disperse your seed."

Han De was about to roll his eyes once again. How could stopping a tribulation be that easy? But, the idea strangely made sense. He turned towards the woman. Could it be that she wasn't an NPC, but a real inner demon instead? Was she trying to tempt him?

"Then, what should I do about the knowledge tribulation?"

"..."

After a minute of silence, the woman chuckled while shaking her head.

"Just ignore it."

"Just ignore it?"

"Yes, just ignore it. In your case, that should work once or twice if you don't abuse it."

Thunder SFX*

Han De was instantly unsettled when he heard the thunder. He instinctively knew that this was a sign of the illusion breaking up.

"What should I do to get back to my world then? Will the tribulation kindly send me back?"

Thunder SFX*

"Of course! Why wouldn't it? It is a tribulation after all."

"I'm amazed, miss inner demon. You've practically increased the survival rates of all cultivators by two orders of magnitude just with those simple, easy to follow cultivation hacks!"

More Thunder SFX*

Han De's annoyed expression surprised the woman. After he disappeared, she stood still for a time.

"Did he spend all of his transcend tribulation tokens already? Doesn't the welcome gift box give out at least five?"

She chucked after remembering how he called her his inner demon.

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Han De woke up among deafening roars and thunders. He pinched his hand. Sure enough, there was no pain. Memories of his inner tribulations came back. Immediately he looked around for the cronenberg chef.

Flashes from the tribulations revealed that this place was very similar to the desert he visited. Endless dunes in every direction. Above him were dark clouds getting illuminated from lightning strikes. Occasionally, large snake-like shadows were appearing. There was no sign of the cronenberg chef.

'I'm not sure if I should be relieved or be even more vigilant…'

She was a wild card, and he wouldn't be surprised if she got dragged into the tribulation. Han De forced himself to calm down, and assess his situation.

'No lightning strikes are coming to me so far, but that's just so far. There are bigger and easier targets from the perspective of the tribulation clou-'

An earthquake caused Han De to lose his balance. Sands started rolling down the hills. Han De immediately pulled out his balanced sword and hopped up. A giant wall rose up far away on his left.

'That's… Sand?'

It was already very far away, the irregular lighting from the tribulation made it even worse. However, that giant wall seemed to be slowly coming down, and it looked somewhat transparent.

'Coupled with the spiritual fluctuations coming from that side… Did a leviathan fall just now?'

Han De noticed the difference in the leviathan's aura, but there was no way of knowing their current numbers trough that alone. The shadows that they cast at the clouds were only a few and very irregular, counting was also impossible.

'Calm people live, tense people die. Calm people live, tense people die...'

Han De clenched his fists to stop them from shaking. The strange state of mind he was in during the inner demon tribulations apparently didn't carry over to the real world.

'My body didn't heal at all, but there is no point in worrying about that if I can't get out of here.'

'Disperse my core, somehow disperse the seed, then hope for the best. I guess that is better than nothing...'

Han De jumped down and immediately made five attempts at dispersing his core, but each time he stopped at the last second. The cultivation idiot had worked his whole life to form this core. He even had to resort to a cheat item that eventually caused his death. It was a perfect golden core. Not something weird and MC like, but a good, normal, and safe core.

'Ning Bi has the cheat item, I should be able to form another core with that pretty quickly, right? Right?...'

A deep breath and several agonizing moments later, Han De used his spiritual power to crush his golden core. He didn't stop this time, but still, nothing happened to the golden core.

'It's actually sturdier than I thought.'

Another attempt, and another, more and more attempts. Han De was deeply grateful that he couldn't feel pain right now. He probably would've passed out if that wasn't the case.

'I don't want to prolong it, but this damn thing is just too tough. F#$%'

A few more tries later, finally, a crack formed on the surface of the core. Han De sighed complex emotions, but he made one final push. His core completely shattered. If this was back in his world, this would've caused heavenly phenomena. Naturally, nothing happened during this tribulation.

Watching the pieces of his core disperse, Han De's feelings become jumbled. The only silver lining was, just like the miss inner demon said, some of the heavenly pressure on him had disappeared. He didn't have the ability, nor the heart to gauge the extent of it.

'What would go against Heaven Defying and Tyrannical essences… Submission I guess? How do I submit, should I just kowtow and say I'm sorry?'

Han De's anger instantly flared up at the thought of submission. He ended up having to destroy his own hard-earned core, why should he submit? Wasn't it better to die with dignity?!

'...'

'What am I thinking? When did I become this stupid?'

Han De ignored his anger and decisively began his attempt. Just like the Xianxia s, he slammed his head to the ground while kowtowing.

"I SUBMIT!"

"..."

Sound of thunder didn't stop. Han De couldn't sense any difference in the heavenly pressure either. He stood there in the kowtow position and waited. What did he do wrong? Should he stay like that? Kowtow again? The master-disciple ceremony required multiple kowtows, how many kowtows are required to disperse a seed?

The uncertainty caused his anger to grow even more, but Han De successfully ignored it. By now, he was fully aware that this anger came from either the seed or something related to the seed. Either way, it was useless. If he hadn't kept dwelling on his anger, perhaps he might have successfully ran away without getting involved in tribulations.

The illusory Dao Seed within Han De started shaking, a moment later it disappeared. No fireworks, it just disappeared, along with a large portion of the heavenly pressure.

"Aaaah, I'm tired. I should've spent more time eating… Those rolls were pretty good…"

Han De sat on the ground. Unfortunately, he didn't store any food in his main storage ring, and he gave the reserve ones to Ning Bi. Thunders kept rolling in the background. Han De looked at the sky. There were no stars, he couldn't divine anything.

"I guess my divinations were correct. If they stayed with me, the tribulation might've pulled them too. Maybe the cronenberg chef already died…"

Crack*

Crack*

Crack*

Series of powerful lightning strikes were stopped in mid-air.

Crack* *Crack* *Crack* *Crack*

Something broke down, but the lightning kept striking. It was a little closer this time. A few seconds later, another huge breaking sound. Several seconds later, another one. There was a minor earthquake each time it happened.

'Those leviathans created a formation? Wait, this seems like multiple formations, actually.'

Under normal circumstances, he would've congratulated leviathans for being able to pull off this many layers of formations, but each broken formation was causing Han De to tense up.

Crack* *Crack* *Crack* *Crack*

Crack* *Crack* *Crack* *Crack*

Crack* *Crack* *Crack* *Crack*

Crack* *Crack* *Crack* *Crack*

With the breaking of this formation, Han De felt a sense of finality. This was it. He closed his eyes and waited.

"Ugh…"

"..."

"..."

Han De opened his eyes. He was buried around a pile of snow. He shook his head and shakily stood up. A valley filled with trees and snow was in front of him.

"..."

"... I feel like I walked right into that Imperial ambush…"

The place he was 'resting' looked like a small crater.

'I somehow crash-landed into this mountain? Is this my previous world?'

[Sync point confirmed and verified]

[Fame: Cloudy Mountains: (3) 379- 382]

[Congratulations]

[Host's disciple Jin Shu successfully reached Qi Condensation Level 12]

[Issuing 115 Profound Points as a reward.]

[Congratulations]

[Host's disciple Yao Qing successfully reached Qi Condensation Level 9]

[Issuing 85 Profound Points as a reward.]

[Congratulations]

[Host's disciple Yao Qing successfully reached Qi Condensation Level 10]

[Issuing 95 Profound Points as a reward.]

[Congratulations]

[Host's disciple Yao Qing successfully reached Qi Condensation Level 11]

[Issuing 105 Profound Points as a reward.]

[Congratulations]

[Host's disciple Jin Shu successfully reached Qi Condensation Level 13]

[Issuing 125 Profound Points as a reward.]

[Congratulations]

[Host's disciple Yao Qing successfully reached Qi Condensation Level 12]

[Issuing 115 Profound Points as a reward.]

[Congratulations]

[Host's disciple Yao Qing successfully reached Qi Condensation Level 13]

[Issuing 125 Profound Points as a reward.]

[Profound Points: (765) 96- 861 ]

'... Wait, how long was I gone?'

Both Jin Shu and Yao Qing suspiciously stopped at the 13th level. Han De's immediate thoughts were that he might've spent years on that tribulation instead of the minutes from his perspective.

There were many unknowns in the system. There might be some required rituals to continue farming Profound Points after a disciple increases their realm. There must also be some cut-off point after spending so much time away from their master.

Although Han De was worried about losing his disciples due to an arbitrary time expiration rule that he invented inside his head, the thought of them taking on new masters didn't even occur to him.

He immediately checked the disciples panel.

[Core Disciples: 0/1]

[Requirements: 32 Points Minimum]

--

-

[Inner Disciples: 2/2]

[Requirements: 30 Points Minimum]

--

[Yao Qing (30)]

[Jin Shu (30)]

[Outer Disciples: 0/4]

[Requirements: 28 Points Minimum]

--

-

[Suspended]

--

[Ning Bi (35)]

Han De sighed in relief. The disciples panel was largely useless, but at least it showed that his disciples were still his disciples. Next was his own status.

[Name: Han De]

[Race: Human (100%)]

[Gender: Male]

[Age: 27]

[Roots: Light (Damaged - 4%)]

[Cultivation: Foundation Establishment - Early Stage (0/100000)]

[Body Cultivation: Qi Condensation - 11st Stage (5125/12000)]

[Constitutions]

--

[Luminescent Body (Mutated)]

[Progress: Suspended]

[Power: Average]

[Bloodlines]

--

[Primordial Void Dragon (Unawakened)]

[Concentration: 0.03%]

[Power: Extremely High]

[Fame: Cloudy Mountains: 382]

[Sect: Starfall Mountain Sect (Pending)]

[Martial Arts Methods]

[Expand to view more...]

[Utility Methods]

[Expand to view more...]

[Spells]

[Expand to view more...]

[Skills]

None

[Fate]

[Calamity Attractor]

[Privilege Level: 2]

[Profound Points: 861]

[Inventory]

[Martial Arts Method Upgrade Token] [x200]

[Derive Cultivation Method Token] [x5]

[Spiritual Roots Cleansing Token] [x4]

[Spiritual Roots Seed Token] [x5]

[Random Constitution Token] [x1]

[Random Bloodline Token] [x1]

[Potential Point Upgrade Token] [x1]

[Bloodline Removal Token] [x4]

Han De's mouth dropped. He knew destroying his core would damage his cultivation, but he didn't expect his roots to be nearly destroyed.

'I guess this is the reason why no one destroys their core if they are about to die from tribulation. It would cripple everyone else if my perfect roots were almost destroyed.'

From Han De's perspective, there wasn't any need to worry. He could use a repair token, then a cleansing token to get back his 100% perfect roots. As long as he had those prayer beads, he would be able to get back to the Core Formation realm in no time. Staying alive was more important!

'The state of my body is far more worrisome...'

Due to falling a full realm, and because of his damaged roots, Han De's spiritual sense was transported back into the stone age. His level was barely any better than a 13th stage Qi Condensation disciple. Which meant that he couldn't check his condition.

Han De tried to get his sword from his storage ring, but he realized his balance, and speed based swords were missing. He almost scolded himself for not getting any Foundation Establishment flying swords, but he realized in horror that only Core Formation experts could use flying swords.

'F#$%...'

'Wait, now's not the time for panicking. The first priority is to inform the family and the sect.'

Han De removed an ornate communication jade from his storage ring. Thankfully, his spiritual sense was enough to imprint a message on it. He imbued it and sent the message.

'Second priority is to find a shelter, and gobble up all the healing pills whether they work or not.'

Most of Han De's stuff was given to Ning Bi, but Han De always kept an adequate amount of resources in his main ring. His 8 reserve rings were about storing the sheer numbers, and the 9th one was a bait that looked like it had valuables, but in reality, it was useless.

Han De had lost the ability to use a flying sword, but he still had many escape items. The crash site was the most dangerous place. If this was his old world, the Starfall Mountain sect and the Han family had many enemies. Han De himself had many enemies as well. It was better to get away quickly and misdirect his assumed pursuers.

He used many different escape items in quick succession. First he teleported away, then came back by using a limited flying item. Then he used another item to phase into the rock to carve an ad hoc immortal cave. He placed a small hill of spiritual stones inside just to attract attention. He did this process 2 more times, then left without looking back.

Once he was far away, he switched to a glider that didn't use any spiritual power and chose his direction with divination. An hour later, he landed on the plains. A few more divinations later, he chose to open up an immortal cave below the river by using another phasing item.

Making an immortal cave under a riverbed was a stupid idea, but Han De had more than a dozen mini-bunker formation kits that he could rely on. He could hide the cave's presence, protect it from collapsing, provide breathable air, and heating inside.

Setting up everything took an hour, but Han De was satisfied. He nodded to himself and put out all of his healing pills. He didn't even count them, he mindlessly started eating them. The only other thing he paid attention to was his jade communicator. It wouldn't be long before he received a message.

"I feel like I'm missing something. Something is weird..."

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'How did I escape the tribulation?'

The last thing Han De remembered was a blinding flash of light. Then, he just woke up inside a small crater. There was a suspect blank period between the flash of light and him waking up. Before taking the Seven Luminaries Reminiscence pill, he frequently tried to identify any gaps in his memory. His attempts were mostly failures, but he was able to gain some intuition regarding memory gaps. The current feeling was very similar to those times.

'Why didn't I realize this when I woke up. It seems strange, logically speaking I should try to figure out what happened to me, instead of immediately running around leaving fake trails...'

Han De frowned and looked around.

'Am I still in the inner demon tribulation? I checked the System though, it didn't say anything about that, I even got profound points…'

Thinking back, it was rather peculiar how he was quickly convinced by that inner demon to destroy his core.

'Sure it was a desperate time, but still, I didn't even think about it. What was that stuff with the dao seed as well?'

The memory of him submitting to the tribulation flared up Han De's anger in an instant. Perhaps due to being mentally tired, the anger didn't last long. A few moments later he regained his calm and started going through the events.

'Is this a leftover from the cultivation idiot? Something I haven't noticed before because of my position as the sect heir? The dao seed was created by the aura from the Heaven Defying Tyrannical Scripture too...'

'I did upgrade that idiot's art heavily during the battlegrounds, and I did grand-master it during the Ming capital battle. But that shouldn't be it, I grand-mastered herbalism and divination methods too.'

Han De's mind went back to his small spiritual herb garden, he couldn't help but sigh.

'My little garden is gone… No way that boat survived everything. I guess I can start anew once I get back to the sect. In fact, I should redo every single garden while I'm at it. I can't trust those brutes with this type of work.'

Tending to herbs was Han De's oasis during those troubled times. If it wasn't for Jin Shu's attempts to randomly mutate his herbs, Han De would've expanded it to the entire lower deck of the spiritual boat. To prevent the catastrophic failure of his garden, he had to keep things small scale.

Han De found himself pacing around the small cavern. At some point, apparently he got up and started to randomly walk around.

'Wait, where was I? I was thinking about the dao seed? Yes, this might be a leftover from the cultivation idiot. After all, I always loved gardening, even back on Earth…'

Han De didn't own a single pot of plant back on Earth. He never saw the point of decorating a house with plants. Even when he transmigrated, he never really cared for the spiritual herbs. If it wasn't a filthy-rich grade pill, he wasn't interested.

"F#$%..."

The contrast between his habits from Earth and the current way of thinking was impossible to gloss over. Han De could've sworn he always loved fiddling with spiritual herbs. It was only after gaining the knowledge from those standard herbalism volumes he was able to spot errors all around him. Doing something in the right way, the proper way, was a pleasure on its own. Perhaps that is why he didn't do it before!

Han De immediately tried to reassure himself by going over his time in this world. After his transmigration, the first thing he recognized was the Weathered Iron-Bark trees in his favorite courtyard. Each of them was precious enough to be a legacy treasure of a small sect. He had 15 of them!

'Which idiot thought of planting them so close together? Those trees shouldn't be planted in a garden to begin with! They need harsh mountain winds and harsh temperature fluctuations to grow well. It's in the name, they need to weather the elements…'

It was the cultivation idiot that ordered his servants to plant them in the same courtyard. Han De liked them purely for their absurd price tag. Just looking at them made him feel rich. He couldn't care less about anything else, it was the servants' job to take care of them.

'Shit...'

'Alright, herbalism might be an outlier. Whatever, I need to heal my body. Maybe I should try to divine what sort of pill I need to recover…'

As a divination expert, Han De calculated the needed variables to get the most accurate result. He was disappointed to discover that he could only get a partial result. It was better not to trust such a result under his circumstances.

'I grand-mastered divination too, and I've been constantly annoyed during the voyage because I couldn't divine anything…'

Han De shook his head and sat down in lotus position. His plan was to take as many healing pills as he could stomach, then relax with a body cultivation session using a medicinal bath. Not being able to properly cultivate his body was frustrating, to say the least. If it wasn't for the quest, he would've reached late-stage Foundation Establishment long ago.

'Right… I grand-mastered a body cultivation method too…'

Han De sighed and laid down on the stone floor.

'I grand-mastered Starfall and Yellow Grove scriptures as well. They didn't have any effect…'

'Wait, how did I escape the tribulation?'

Han De jolted up, but his mind started wandering again. Why were those leviathans there? Was the false ruler a netherworld being? Han De facepalmed when he realized what was happening. He quickly took out his diary and wrote down with big letters.

'How did I escape the tribulation?'

Han De didn't have an iron will. He didn't have an optimistic outlook in life either. Even back on Earth, he would see the glass as half-empty. His mind was fragile, and he knew that it was fragile. If he woke up on an insane asylum someday and the doctors kept insisting that his life was a hallucination, he would believe them. Why wouldn't he? He was just a mediocre paper salesman, not some sort of obsessed main character.

Therefore, after coming to this Xianxia world, Han De was wary of anything that had to do with his state of mind. He didn't drink alcohol, he preferred water or tea. Except for that one exception he didn't take any drugs. He was wary of the cultivation idiot's body affecting his mind, so he started writing a diary to spot any problematic behavior.

'My mind keeps wandering away whenever I think of the tribulation. Did that creepy grandpa do something? He whispered some stuff to Ning Bi and Han Bai. Can he influence minds?'

Han De decided to have a talk with that creep.

"I know you are there. Come out, let's talk. I'm not an unreasonable guy, let's hear about your deal."

There was no response. Han De waited, talked, and waited again. No one answered him.

'Either he isn't here, or he is just watching.'

'He must've done something. In fact, this probably isn't the first time either.'

Han De sat down and started writing down the events that started from the day before their arrival to the endless shores. He had a cultivator's memory, as long as he made the effort, he could remember everything. Most of the time he was too lazy for the effort, and Peng would always inform him before he even tried anyway.

'I'm never leaving the house without divination, that's for sure. This entire thing could've been avoided. The divination is ambiguous? Just stay the F#$% home. Easy. Problem solved.'

His apparent readiness to sacrifice himself for his disciples was an unsettling realization as well. He liked his disciples, he wouldn't want them to get hurt, for sure. But the situation wasn't so desperate that it was either him or them. He could've easily ordered the Transcendent experts to take one disciple each and scatter around with teleportation. There were so many Transcendent experts, if they tried to escape in different directions, surely they would've been able to fool the Transcendent demons at least. This was one of his emergency plans too. Even his lackeys could've participated in it.

'Maybe this is just hindsight, and maybe the perverted grandpa put more pressure on me then I realized...'

The number of maybes was already past his comfort levels.

'I really don't understand how I didn't notice the non-randomness of the random tokens though. The same goes for the million point quest. That seems like a giant F#$%#$ flag...'

Han De had 13 entries since he started the diary. In those 13 entries, neither the quest nor the bloodline of his disciples was ever directly mentioned. The only related entry about a bloodline was Han De ordering his lackeys to get spiritual herbs from the surroundings. He remembered it was to stop Jin Shu from wrecking his small spiritual herb garden, but that reason wasn't written in the diary.

'That pervert did mention my bloodline being invisible, he also talked about my constitution. It didn't seem like he could see the System. If he couldn't see the System, the only one that could manipulate me regarding that quest was… naturally… the System...'

'...'

"Hahaha, no way… HAHAHA, no, no, no… No way…"

Han De tried to brush it away. He didn't want to think about it, but his mind couldn't stop. The more he thought about it, the more it made sense. He hurriedly wrote down in his diary.

'The System manipulated my thoughts?'

The System was the only thing that was with him since he came to this world. Han De had near absolute certainty that it couldn't be detected. Its obtuse nature suggested that it was more of an advanced program than an intelligence. Almost everything it had done was beneficial to him in the end.

Han De's whinings and bickering at the System were always good-natured, born mostly out of the need to talk to someone, rather than genuine hate. Even with the initial death threat quest, Han De couldn't really bring himself to hate the System. It was there for his benefit, what good would it do to hate it? Even the Primordial Void Dragon bloodline he liked to complain about still saved his life in hindsight.

Therefore, Han De's trust in the System was nearly absolute. It was an unshakable mountain that he could depend on. It would always be there.

Han De sighed.

'System, I know what you did. Still not going to talk to me?'

'Hey, System? Still going to feign ignorance?'

For a while, Han De tried to talk to the System. Naturally, there was no response.

Han De's current feelings were hard to describe. It felt as if he caught his wife with someone else. The unshakable bond he had was shattered. The feeling of uncertainty and dread kept increasing as time passed. The System was his lifeline, he literally depended on it with his life.

Han De took a shaky breath and forced himself to analyze the situation.

'Maybe it is an automatic thing that happens? Something to encourage the user?...'

Although he tried to justify it, even he could see that it was just a flimsy excuse. The tapestry was getting unraveled by the second.

'If the System can manipulate my thoughts, make me aware or unaware of something, then… What about grand-mastering? Is it not interest generated by sudden knowledge? Is it really slowly rewriting my personality?'

'Am I going to forget everything and assume none of this happened?!'

Han De hurriedly started writing in his diary. He didn't even know what he was doing, he just wrote whatever came to his mind. Him that didn't know and him that did know were different people. Perhaps this happened before, and the him that did know was just a side character, ready to be thrown away at the mercy of the System. He wanted to leave something behind, some proof of his existence.

Han De wrote all his speculations. He didn't even know if this was an inner demon tribulation. The previous encounters were mostly solved by luck and the System. Perhaps this one was the real deal, the one that MCs spend a lifetime to break. In each encounter, the inner demon seemed to have evolved and even mentioned his illusory dao seed. Could it be that the System was now the part of the tribulation? Was his access cut off by the tribulation? Maybe he didn't have access to begin with, and it was just the inner demon messing with him?!

"haha..hahahaha..."

Han De began giggling to himself. He couldn't decide which was worse, getting trapped in an illusory reality, or his mind getting rewritten piece by piece.

"Hahaha… Now that I think about it, I started caring about those girls after getting the privilege upgrade… Did the bloodline affect me too? How could it not! Why didn't I refuse that cronenberg chef? I could've just given any excuse to place her outside my estate. I didn't even get to open those schools either, I kept forgetting about them! What a joke! You know what, F#$% you, System. Let's see how you'll deal wit-"

"I'll need to be careful about which scriptures I'm going to learn and master. What would've happened if I grand-mastered a demonic scripture? Yeah, let's keep away from weird, bloody, and perverted shit."

Han De gave himself a pat on the back. He never did something as stupid as 'researching' demonic methods.

'This is quite dangerous. Grand-master the wrong scripture, and I might become a 'blood for the blood god' lunatic.'

'I'll need to be careful about the quests as well. I should review the diary frequently.'

Han De decided to limit his usage of the System. Grand-mastering scriptures and methods weren't to be taken lightly. In the event he really needed to grand-master something, he needed to meticulously write down his experiences regarding the subject.

'Right, I need to place some ground rules so that even if I keep forgetting about it, on a review, I'll be able to spot any discrepancies. Rule number one should be writing all my interactions with the System. It is quite dangerous to leave this alone.'

Han De spent nearly an hour coming up with different rules. He wrote everything in his diary as well.

'My main interaction with the System is learning and mastering the scriptures. Then there is bloodline and body constitution stuff. Finally, there are the quests. I doubt status check would do anything, but better limit that one too. Bare essentials only.'

'Right, I really need to heal my body, I kept forgetting it. Quite dangerous to leave it alone like that.'

Han De reentered the lotus position. He decided to continue his plan of healing and body cultivation cycle. His body cultivation scripture was quite gentle. His constitution was modified by his bloodline too, he was curious about the effects. He had a feeling that the medicinal bath was going to surprise him.

While Han De was trying to calm his mind before swallowing the healing pill, he felt some sort of aura brushing against him. It was a very subtle effect, something he never felt before.

The aura was weak at first, but it rapidly became stronger. A few moments later Han De felt the aura with his body and soul. It was obvious that it was coming from an overwhelming existence. At that moment, Han De realized something.

'If I came out of the tribulation near this locatio-'

This worthless servant greets your excellency!

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This worthless servant greets your excellency!

The voice that reverberated inside Han De's head sounded... highly respectful.

'S#$%… S#$%, S#$%, S#$%...'

Han De -who was still in lotus position-, looked around the dim cave. The communication jade was still silent. The excruciatingly painful headache that had suddenly appeared a few minutes ago, was the least of his worries now.

This worthless servant apologizes for his incompetence. This worthless servant's body is too large. It cannot enter the immortal cave that your excellency has carved.

This way of communication reminded Han De of the Cronenberg chef and the void grandpa. Similar, but also remarkably simpler. Nuance and intensity were completely lacking.

At the same time, a mass of spiritual energy and pressure appeared far above. There was no way to mistake this energy for something else. The memory of the netherdemons called leviathans was fresh in Han De's mind.

'OK, relax. I expected this. Relax. Be cool. Be cool. I've made plans for just these occasions…'

Indeed, Han De had many contingency plans for a variety of situations. Some of them were rather farfetched, but as he witnessed during the final moments aboard the jury-rigged celestial ship, his plans weren't farfetched enough. Clearly, it was Xianxia: 2, Han De: 0. An unacceptable result. But now wasn't the time to reconsider the past events.

Right now, he was fresh out of tribulation. He had fled and carved this single-room cave hundreds of meters underneath a riverbed. His body was failing. His memory was fading. His medicine wasn't working. His messages to his family weren't getting through. He was alone.

Not all was lost, but it was getting dangerously close. Now that there was an opportunity, Han De chose desperate measures and tried to squeeze out his last bit of courage. To speak, with a mildly displeased tone.

"A worm that can't shrink its body? Am I hearing that right?"

Silence ensued. Han De was confident in his "Close Encounter with the Nether Kind: Higher Being Edition" series of plans. The first step was to gauge the effect of his bloodline. He tried his best to ignore the suspicious headache and stared at the status screen.

[Aura of the Progenitor]

[Higher beings touched by the aura cannot be disrespectful.]

[Notes: Cannot be detected by lower beings.]

[Scent of the Progenitor]

[Beings evolved from spiritual animals will pay their respects when they detect the scent. Beings evolved from the netherworld will accept your rule when they detect the scent.]

[Notes: Effects will be extremely limited on lower beings.]

Highly respectful and deferential tone? Without ever seeing him? Must be the aura. Must be a higher being. And a netherworld being on top of that? Han De would be a fool not to use, no, -abuse-, his advantage.

The uncomfortable silence remained. Beads of sweat forming in Han De's forehead were completely unrelated to the situation. He wasn't nervous at all. Not one bit. It was probably the headache that was causing it. Probably.

'…'

Above, far above, the mass of spiritual energy fluctuated.

'F#$%… Don't Final Flash me, please…'

Han De was too preoccupied to notice a crucial point. How could a normal Core Formation detect spiritual energy fluctuations of this nature? Detecting the spiritual waves of a higher major realm should've been impossible.

Not only he was sensing the energy, but he could also somewhat understand its spatial relation.

Whatever was happening, it was happening somewhere extremely far away. Yet Han De could sense that the mass of energy was violently compressing itself at a frightening pace.

Of course, he wasn't even a Core Formation expert anymore. But he didn't notice that either.

What felt like an eternity later, the mass of spiritual energy disappeared and reappeared, right in front of Han De.

This worthless servant greets your excellency.

It was as if a sun had appeared right in front of him. Han De couldn't help but reflexively look away. In truth, there wasn't any light in the cave, it only felt like there was to his spiritual sense. He had no idea why his body interpreted spiritual energy as intense light, and unfortunately, it wasn't the time to ponder on such things.

Han De fixed his facial expressions and equipped the Profound Expert A persona. He slowly opened his eyes and looked at the now miniature-sized leviathan.

The so-called leviathan had changed since the last time Han De saw them. Before they were like flying sandworms straight out of Arrakis, now it was a strange mixture of a stone snake and tattered whale flippers. The dirty grey scales that covered it from head to tail lacked any luster, making it look like a flying statue, rather than a living being. The leviathan's appearance satisfied the definition of the word ancient. Only a few meters long at most, but still ancient!

"Quite the bold greeting…"

The open-ended statement was only for Han De to get his bearings. Easily misinterpretable statements were the bread and butter of the Profound Expert series.

The leviathan lowered its head until its tiny chin touched the ground.

'F#$%… is it… vibrating? Don't… Don't do that…'

Han De would've missed it if he didn't have the eyes of a cultivator.

And why would a leviathan vibrate ever so slightly? A solitary monster that bathed in the miasma of the netherworld for millions of years. A freak species even among the nether-kind, known for their relentless hunger, now uncontrollably shaking?

Unfortunately, not even the leviathan itself knew what was happening. Its bloodline was screaming for it to run! Nothing else mattered!

Even more unfortunately, it was incapable of doing so. Though leviathans had a different cultivation path, they still possessed enough intuition to judge the events without knowing the full picture. It was through that level of intuition, the leviathan was able to tell that its existence was standing on a thin line.

Not that the concept of death would bother a leviathan, nor would they be worried about being outside the cycle of reincarnation. However, both were far more preferable to non-existence.

"Hmph. I suppose you'll do…"

Uncontrollable joy swept away the terror. The joy of being acknowledged by a being linked to its creation was simply unimaginable!

At the same time, the leviathan was inwardly shocked. Was this being, really linked to its creation? When did that happen? Soon that did not matter. Numerous ancient bloodlines that it possessed seemed to have come to a consensus. Or maybe they felt threatened by that single drop of blood essence it received inside the tribulation realm.

Meanwhile, Han De became 90% sure that this leviathan wouldn't do anything to hurt him. Maybe. He was at least 80% sure. Probably.

He was at least confident enough to ask a few questions…

He sighed wearily with a 'could've been worse…' expression all over his face. This was the most basic technique of doublespeak that Han De had developed to talk with higher cultivation experts. All those emotions were genuine, the only difference was the reason.

'Yeah, this could work. Interacting with the netherworld creatures should be taboo, but F#$% that! My life is more important.'

As Han De's confidence increased, so did the leviathan's. However, there was something else that also increased. What started as a minor headache had officially turned into teeth clenching pain. If it wasn't for his constant image training, Han De would've started howling by now.

"This body, and its senses are… limited. What is its current condition? Be concise."

This worthless servant dares no to presume, your excellenc-

"Be. Concise."

Thi-

Han De narrowed his eyes. The leviathan dared not to delay and quickly spoke.

… The body is in the critical stage of metamorphosis...

"… I'm in what now?"

Han De wasn't sure if he heard it right. Surely this flying statue of a snake didn't actually say metamorphosis. Suddenly, Han De's mind was jolted awake. He had forgotten about healing his body, over and over again.

Despite the fact that he was treating the leviathan's words with suspicion, Han De still believed it. At an intellectual level, he knew not to trust a random expert, let alone a netherworld higher being. Bloodline or not, this was Xianxia 101 after all. Unfortunately, the reality wasn't so black and white.

Though Han De himself wasn't aware of this, deep inside he knew that this insignificant worm in front of him wouldn't dare to speak lies in his presence.

"Continue…"

Your majesty's body is in a state of metamorphosis brought by the… strange condition of the body and soul. The meridians are in the Nascent Soul realm, but...

Human cultivation was a mystery for the leviathan. It only knew about the terms. Connecting the dots and correctly deducing the condition took a few seconds.

...The soul is half in the Spirit Origin realm, and yet the connection between the body and the soul is reminiscent of the Unity Realm. The pathways opened up by the constitution looks to be nearing the Immortal Realm stage.

Han De felt his thoughts starting to become foggy. Even listening to the leviathan required tremendous effort. A dull panic set in after realizing he had felt like this once before.

...annot interfere with the process, but if your majesty wishes to switch over to another body, there ar-

'No. I'm not going to switch to another body…

…

Unless it is the last option...'

The leviathan couldn't hear Han De's thoughts, but his deep rejection was as clear as day. At the same time, it recognized the signs of the deep meditative state.

The last thing Han De remembered was replying 'yes' to the system's prompt.

Now that the consciousness of the being had entered a deep slumber, the leviathan could think a lot more clearly.

Though it was unsure why this unimaginable being had possessed the body of this unlucky human, and how much power can be safely driven through that broken human body, the leviathan didn't care. Usually, extraordinary beings had the tendency to overpower anything and everything on their path. Temporary weakness was meaningless because it was temporary to begin with.

Hence, the leviathan stayed. It wasn't prudence that stopped it from fleeing. The thought of staying and serving while the being was weak to reap the benefits later didn't even occur to the leviathan. It simply couldn't leave because it had already swallowed the single drop of blood essence during the tribulation.

In reality, that tribulation wasn't a tribulation at all. No heavenly lightning had struck, no heavenly pressure had come down. Quite peculiar, but not an unexcepted turn of events in hindsight.

[Host has entered the optimum conditions for evolution. Do you wish to proceed?]

[Host has entered the optimum conditions for evolution. Do you wish to proceed?]

[Host has entered the optimum conditions for evolution. Do you wish to proceed?]

[Host has entered the optimum conditions for evolution. Do you wish to proceed?]

'…yes…'

[Evolution Process Invoked]

Han De's consciousness immediately became crystal clear. At the same time, he realized he didn't have access to any of his senses. The only thing he could detect was the System's prompts.

[Gathering statistics]

[Checking usable resources for evolution]

[1. Cultivation requirements not met]

[2. Body cultivation requirements not met]

[3. Soul cultivation requirements not met]

[4. Body constitution cannot be modified further]

[5. Soul erosion within tolerance levels]

[6. Bloodline incompatibilities exceed tolerance levels]

[7. Evolution will result in conflicting spiritual roots.]

[Warning: Privilege level 2 does not allow customization of the evolution process.]

[Warning: Body constitution will break down during the process.]

[Warning: Bloodline incompatibilities are over tolerance levels.]

'...'

Han De watched the messages scroll away with resignation. He had an extremely bad feeling after reading all those warnings.

[Initiating Automatic Evolution]

[Calculating optimum evolution path...]

[Considering options...]

[Suitable option found]

[Preparations are complete]

[To prevent permanent soul damage, the host will be put in sleep mode]

[Error: Evolution process does not support sleep mode]

[...]

[...]

[To prevent permanent soul damage, the host will be put in standby mode]

[...]

[Log only mode enabled]

[...]

[Evolution In Progress]

[Cultivation base dispersion complete]

[Primordial Void Dragon bloodline concentration increased by 0.01%]

[Suspending Primordial Void Dragon bloodline]

[...]

[Mutated Luminescent Body dismantled]

[Body cultivation insufficient and incompatible, removing spiritual energy from cells]

[Soul erosion complete, total damage is within tolerance levels]

[Life energy removal complete]

[Body reconstruction started]

[...]

[...]

[Meridian reconstruction complete]

[...]

[...]

[Soul removal complete]

[Soul reconstruction started]

[...]

[. ..]

.[ .].

]. .[ .

.[ ..]

[...]

[Partial soul reconstruction complete!]

[Body reconstruction complete!]

[Calculating rejection possibility]

[Possibility of rejection is at 0.005%]

[Soul injection starting]

[1%...5%...55%...99%...100%]

[Soul injection complete]

[Time Elapsed: 97:13:20]

[Integrating stored #_?=?;-=?-_!:!??

[Secondary refinement started]

[Warning: Spiritual root damage exceeds tolerance levels, cannot maintain balance]

[Considering Options...]

[Considering Options...]

[Redeeming (5) Spiritual Roots Seed Tokens and (4) Spiritual Roots Cleansing Tokens]

[Warning: Insufficient energy]

[Warning: Soul erosion levels not suitable for spiritual root construction]

[Priority Override: Spiritual root construction started]

[Converting existing roots]

[Converting existing tokens]

[...]

[Error: Cannot maintain elemental cohesion due to high soul erosion levels]

[Attempting to compensate]

[Error: Unknown Error]

[Analyzing...]

[Error: Success]

[...]

[Spiritual root construction complete!]

[Roots: Primordial Light (42%)]

[Time Elapsed: 166:39:59]

[Warning: Remains of the body constitution incompatible with the current roots.]

[Substituting 3 Bloodline Removal Tokens into 1 Constitution Removal Token]

[Redeeming Constitution Removal Token...]

[Removal of Luminescent Body complete!]

[Time Elapsed: 174:23:20]

[Primordial Void Dragon bloodline containment failure in 5.12E-35 standard cycles]

[Considering Options...]

[Considering Options...]

[Considering Options...]

[Considering Options...]

[Error: Host is in standby mode]

[Priority override accepted]

[Redeeming Bloodline Awakening Token]

[Forcefully awakening Primordial Void Dragon bloodline]

[...]

[...]

[Awakening successful]

[Warning: Primordial Void Dragon bloodline gained Parasitic trait]

[Warning: Bloodline containment critical]

[Redeeming (4) Bloodline Removal Tokens]

[Warning: Insufficient energy]

[Advanced bloodline removal process activated]

[Targeting upper layers of the Primordial Void Dragon bloodline]

[...]

[Partial layer removal process complete]

[Bloodline grafting process started]

[Processing...]

[Processing...]

[Grafting process failed]

[...]

[Bloodline removal failed]

[Warning: Grafting failure resulted in bloodline attribute mutation]

[Warning: Primordial Chaos Dragon concentration is at 1.04%]

[Bloodline incompatibilities within tolerance levels]

[Time Elapsed: 197:13:20]

[Warning: Body constitution incompatible with the bloodline. Further cultivation will result in negative effects]

[...]

[Redeeming Random Constitution Token]

[Remnant constitution information detected]

[Absorption complete]

[Utilization successful]

[Purging cultivation base]

[Compatible cultivation method not found]

[Warning: Modifications successful]

[Error: Modifications in progress]

[Calibration started]

[Time Elapsed: 197:13:21]

[Disabling standby mode]

[Evolution _Complete]

Han De was in a strange state during the process. He was wide awake, but the passage of time was inconsistent with what the System displayed. From his perspective, the entire ordeal took a few minutes at most. Excruciatingly stressful few minutes, especially during the horrifying soul reconstruction process, but it was only a few minutes nonetheless.

The feeling of having a body returned to Han De at once. Apart from a minor cramp -presumably from sitting in the lotus position for too long- nothing seemed amiss.

He was alive, once again. Yet, he felt incomparably weak.

Compared to his peak state at the Core Formation realm, the current Han De was nothing more than an ant. His spiritual energy was non-existent, his muscles had decayed. The cave was far too dark to see anything. The faint scent of soil was no longer there. He couldn't hear or feel the vibration from the river above. All his senses were dulled to the point that he might as well call himself crippled.

For Han De, who rarely used his cultivator powers in daily life, this was quite shocking. Thanks to both cultivation idiot's memories, and the System's comprehension mechanic, he rarely felt powerful. Only in the context of his memories as an Earthling, he was able to grasp the power difference between a Core Formation expert, and a normal human being.

Losing his cultivation base gave a whole new perspective over the real power of a cultivator. Before he was aware, now he understood.

The most shocking was the spiritual sense. Han De realized how much he depended on it, more so than his physical senses! Unexpectedly, some of his spiritual sense remained, but it atrophied so much that it wasn't useful for anything but detecting spiritual energy within his body. He couldn't even check his body's condition.

One exception was the leviathan. Though Han De couldn't sense anything beyond his own body, he could still sense the leviathan's presence. After a brief consideration, Han De decided that this was a considerate gesture from the leviathan, rather than anything else.

This also brought the leviathan back to Han De's attention. Sitting in the darkness, patiently waiting for god knows how many days…

'I should be grateful, but it is rather… creepy…'

Due to the existence of a concept called Dharma Protector, Han De sighed his uncomfortable feelings away.

'Yes, this is normal. In a Xianxia universe, this is normal.'

And thus, Han De decided to ignore the worm for a little while longer. Until he had a good grasp of the situation at least.

The nameless leviathan waited for 8 days without moving an inch. Normally, considering its age, 8 days or 80 years wouldn't have really mattered. For any cultivator, time would become meaningless after a certain point.

Of course, for the leviathan that only just became a higher being, the situation was anything but normal.

Its master had entered a deep slumber. What could a worthless being such as itself could do? It never had a master before!

After a few seconds, the leviathan understood.

It seemed the body its master was currently inhabiting was quite important. Why else would its master go through such an effort to completely reconstruct it? Because the body was weak, it needed the leviathan's protection!

Thus, anything that could remotely be a disturbance was promptly erased.

The definition of anything, included scouting cultivators, sleeping spiritual beasts, and even foraging animals. The flowing water from the river introduced vibrations, so naturally, the river also had to go. The instability of the ancient world array also produced unstable spiritual waves, which was quite concerning!

In the end, the leviathan decided to split off the surrounding space.

Everything within 1/10th of its length came under the authority of the leviathan. All in an effort to provide a completely still, and fertile environment for its new master's metamorphosis. No wind, no temperature fluctuations, no movement of any kind.

All of this was done in the first few minutes. For the remaining duration, the leviathan observed its master. From a respectable distance of course. And without any involvement of spiritual sense, naturally.

The metamorphosis was over far too quickly. Which… should be expected from a being of this caliber! Of course!

The leviathan was just a frog at the bottom of a well. Truly…

True experts, could morph their own souls, consume their own bloodlines, destroy and rebuild their spiritual roots, all without invoking heavenly tribulation.

Yes, the leviathan was convinced. This was the way of true beings.

Completing everything in 8 days, including heaven-defying spiritual roots… Should be expected! Of course! For an unfathomable being, these were nothing but child's play…

If the leviathan wasn't afraid of disturbing its master's concentration, it would've furiously nodded at its own thoughts.

After trillions of years, all of a sudden, there was a whole new universe in front of it. No wonder the heavenly tribulation didn't dare strike during its ascension.

[Cultivation: Qi Condensation - 1st Stage (0/1)]

'I see. So it has finally come to this. As expected, I lost all of my cultivation base.'

After thinking things over for half an hour, this was the conclusion that Han De arrived.

'I knew this day would come.'

There were many varieties of crippling one's cultivation, and Han De had made plans for every single one of them. Damaged spiritual roots, cracked golden core, ruptured dantian, broken meridians, cut tendons, pulverized bones, spiritual energy sucking curses, energy disrupting treasures being embedded into his bones, and more. Much, much more…

For completeness' sake, he had also made plans for losing his cultivation base, without becoming a cripple. He was truly thankful that he had worked hard on covering his bases back in the sect.

'Alright, all I need is to contact my family, hog the prayer bead cheat item and swallow copious amounts of filthy rich grade pills for a while…

Good, that's good. Waaay better than dying. Yep. No problem at all. No problem… at all…'

While Han De didn't have any grand ambitions, he too recognized that a certain amount of power was required in a Xianxia universe for a leisurely life. Not too much, not too little, just enough. He needed just enough amount of power.

'Oh S#$%, wait. Did my spiritual roots change?...'

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On the celestial ship heading for the Long family world.

Ning Bi woke up in her chambers early in the morning.

First, she silently prayed for the safety of her master. While she was aware that this was a mortal habit and was looked down upon by cultivators, she couldn't help it.

Every morning she prayed for her master's safe return. Every night she prayed that whoever dared to go against her master to die the most painful death. Often, she would find herself praying for everything to go his way so that he could return more quickly.

Then, she headed to her private training grounds without delay. As per her usual routine, she reviewed her Cosmic Destruction Scripture, wrote her thoughts on a scroll, then practiced without using her Breach skill. At this stage, only an hour of training was enough to cover her with sweat.

'This isn't working, I won't be able to overcome the bottleneck with just this…'

She left the training grounds in deep thought.

'If only master were here…'

Even a casual conversation with her master was more beneficial than going to public lectures every day for a month. As she thought back, Ning Bi realized how her master guided her with only simple offhand remarks. His random words were enough to let her go through enlightenment!

"Esteemed Master! Madam is getting ready for breakfast and asks for you to join in an hour."

Ning Bi's thoughts were interrupted by the servants. They were assigned to her, and to her parents, by the Long family. Ning Bi looked at the reverent bows of these girls without expression.

"Prepare the bath."

"Yes! Esteemed Master!"

Servant girls left in a hurry. Ning Bi was raised in a remote village all her life. Ordering servants would've been an alien concept just a few months ago. Living as an 'Esteemed Master' became a regular part of life after spending 16 days on the Han family's celestial ship.

'Master had many servants too.'

Ning Bi shook her head. Her master did have many servants, but it was rare for him to order them around. The servants would usually tend to the estate on their own and try not to disturb their master. Senior Peng and his subordinates were under her master's orders, but they weren't mere servants.

In the absence of her master, Ning Bi subconsciously wanted to emulate her master's way of life, so she could better understand his teachings.

'... Maybe I didn't notice master giving them orders before. Surely he must've used servants frequently.'

Her master was a peerless genius. His stature was so great, even Transcendent masters didn't dare anger him. Would such a personage deign to handle mundane affairs of daily life? It was unthinkable!

'...That day, master had cooked and even cleaned the dishes by himself…'

Ning Bi stopped in her tracks. During the voyage inside the small spiritual boat, her master didn't live extravagantly. He cultivated, tended to his spiritual herbs, meditated, wrote scriptures, answered their questions. Even the immortal chef, sister Meng Xue, was forced on him by his mother, Long Xiu.

Of course, Ning Bi had no idea. Han De was bored out of his mind during the voyage. Cultivation was boring. Tending to his spiritual 'garden' was his only hobby. His 'meditations' were actually him getting reports about the defensive measures, and giving orders to strengthen them through voice transmissions. Writing down thousands of plants, formations, and pill recipes was almost painful. His only solace was eating good meals 3 times a day. He would've slept away half the voyage if he could have his way, but that was impossible due to the Vigil quest.

In Ning Bi's mind though, her master never did something without a reason. She continued to walk with a frown until she finally reached the baths.

Reviewing her master's teachings, actions, or even habits, became a regular part of her private morning routine some time ago.

Ning Bi herself didn't notice, but every time she remembered her master's last moments, it was as if the weight on her soul would ever so slightly increase.

"E-Esteemed Master, the bath is read-"

"Leave."

Servants flinched after hearing a hint of anger within her voice. They deeply bowed and left in a hurry.

Just like the estate of her master, baths here were quite an experience for someone raised as a mortal. The illusions produced by the arrays were similar, but their content was different.

Ning Bi used her spiritual sense to switch it to a random one. Usually, it was the servants' job to select a suitable illusion for the mood, but they gave up after the first week. Besides, using her spiritual sense like this gave no small amount of relief to Ning Bi. She was a cultivator! She had spiritual sense! Just like the stories!

The scene changed. The baths were now on top of a mountain. Clouds down below were covering everything with white. In the distance, there were series of floating islands that formed symmetry with the mountain peaks.

Ning Bi found the unnatural symmetry quite eerie, but the thought of switching to another illusion never crossed her mind. This alien landscape completely mesmerized her. Individually, everything looked normal, but on the whole… Ning Bi realized she didn't have the vocabulary to convey her true feelings.

She noted the sequence of the illusion formation and finally entered the pool. Her eyes wandered around the illusion before getting fixated on the tall and thin tower, far, far away.

Servants sent away by Ning Bi were a group of 13 girls. Each and every one of them had pale faces even after running back to the servant building.

"Haaaa, I thought we were done for! What is wrong with that girl?!"

"Hush! If you know what's good for you don't ever speak ill of her!"

The elder sister of the group, Gao Niu closed her eyes while warning her junior. She was only a year older than her junior, but that single year of experience wasn't something they could scoff at.

While one group had come back, another was about to be dispatched to take their place. Coincidentally, the two groups met.

"You are early, why didn't you send for a new group before coming back?"

"Esteemed Master dismissed us early. Sister Yu Daiyu, your group should head for the baths, Esteemed Master was invited to Madam's breakfast. Getti-"

"Why are you talking respectfully when that brat isn't even here? I didn't expect the 3rd princess of the Gao family would turn into the dog of a backwater farm girl!"

Silence fell after sister Yu Daiyu's words. A few of the girls nodded in approval, some of them visibly swallowed their sighs. Sister Yu Daiyu was the elder sister of the 2nd group, just like the Gao Niu, she had a year-long experience already. Her family was one of the most influential among the servants as well.

Gao Niu didn't look perturbed by Yu Daiyu's words. She talked to her with a calm demeanor while desperately trying to prevent herself from rolling her eyes.

"Although our families do not get along very well, as a fellow servan-"

"Gao Niu, don't take it too far. Everyone starts as a servant, but not everyone stays as a servant. I advise you not to say something that you will regret later!"

Gao Niu faintly smiled upon hearing the icy tone of Yu Daiyu. She continued talking to her with patience.

"Sister Yu Daiyu, we are serving a disciple that is on the top deck of this celestial ship. You of all people should understand the intentions of the Long family through this action. This ship has hundreds of decks, yet she was given a palace at the top."

Yu Daiyu's frown transformed into a crooked smile.

"It seems your information is out of date, Gao Niu. Perhaps your elders do not feel the need to inform their princess anymore after they saw you become a loyal dog so easily."

Yu Daiyu continued with fervor.

"She has a special constitution, that is her only value. Status gained quickly will fall just as quickly. She will be married off to some branch family and we'll never hear from her again. Still at Qi Condensation stage at the age of 13? Don't make me laugh! Even her master is missing!"

Other girls looked at each other with surprise. At the end of the day, they were only servants. Contact with their families was extremely limited, rumors were their only source of news. Their sister Yu Daiyu's words both confirmed the rumors and provided new information at the same time.

Gao Niu looked around and sighed. She had a guess as to what was going on. Just in case, she decided to lend a helping hand to the Yu family.

"Sister Yu Daiyu, do you know who her master is?"

Gao Niu continued without waiting for an answer.

"He is the son of Long Xiu. Yes, that Long Xiu. If you had asked your elders about the situation properly, you wouldn't be talking like this right now.

Listen well. I will only say this once. If you still want to spread baseless rumors after that, don't say I didn't warn you."

Long Xiu's status was too high for these servant girls to know. However, seeing how their elder sister Yu went silent, they realized she wasn't someone that they could afford to offend.

"Long Xiu's son is called Han De. One of Shao Bai's guards is an elder uncle of the Gao family. Due to some events that my elder uncle couldn't explain, he came to serve Han De under orders from Long Xiu."

Shao Bai was a well-known name among the families that served the Long family. Servant girls were no exception. Their eyes started shining after hearing his name. The girl that originally grumbled about Ning Bi started talking without reservation.

"Elder sister Gao Niu! Your elder uncle is serving under Shao Bai?! Why didn't you tell us?! I heard he was on this ship! Is he?! Is he really here?!! Can we see him?! Your uncle still works as his guard, right?! Right?!?! Hey stop tryin-mmMMmM!!!"

The girl was forcefully silenced by her sisters, but her questions had impacted everyone present. They were all giving their undivided attention to hear every syllable of elder sister Gao's response!

Their intentions of the girls weren't lost on Gao Niu. At the same time, she didn't want to tease or disturb Yu Daiyu too much. She could get implicated by proxy if Yu Daiyu's behavior became too erratic. Which was a highly likely possibility!

"The affairs of Shao Bai cannot be known by the Gao family. Elder uncle only mentioned this event as a warning. I'm sure other families will learn of this soon, and many others are probably already aware. As such, there is no harm in letting you girls know early.

According to my elder uncle, Han De is a true genius, able to create a heaven-defying sword technique on a whim. He is completely ruthless, able to give the order to burn the souls of millions, and cripple and castrate even more without blinking an eye. He is young, but makes plans as if he is an old monster. Even events that were unforeseeable by Celestial Realm masters were predicted by him."

"T-Those are just rumors. Gao Niu! I expected better from you!"

It was against her intuition, but Yu Daiyu spat out a denial anyway. These girls were chosen specifically for Ning Bi, because they were closer to her age. Despite being young, the lowest cultivation among them was at the early stage of the Foundation Establishment realm. Their cultivations were superior to Ning Bi, but their world experience was every bit as lacking.

This wasn't an accident. Neither was Yu Daiyu's antagonism. She was only following orders, and hearing such information from Gao Niu went against her better judgment.

Yu Daiyu's denial turned the air heavy. While Gao Niu was explaining, there were some doubts in the hearts of the servants. Now that Yu Daiyu came out and confirmed that she had heard of this as well, the situation became different.

Gao Niu lightly shook her head.

"Do you know the price of spreading false rumors about the Long family? It seems the Yu family obtained this information through other channels, which further strengthens the authenticity of it, wouldn't you say?

Elder uncle also mentioned one final thing. It seems he is especially protective of his disciples and his servants. He didn't let them out of his sight until the final moments of their voyage."

Gao Niu looked at the servant girls around her.

"If you offend her and her master doesn't come back, you will not gain anything. But if he does come back, you will lose everything. Be mindful of the way you act and what you say. We are just servants, and no one pays any attention to us. Everyone should work hard to keep it that way!"

Yu Daiyu wanted to deny it due to her contrarian nature, but she held her tongue. Still, she felt the need to one-up the Gao princess, so she "hmphed"" and headed for the main estate without saying another word. The second shift of the day quickly followed their elder sister under the pitying gaze of the first shift.

Unfortunately for Yu Daiyu, she couldn't go against the orders of her family, even if that meant offending someone she shouldn't offend.

"Little Bi! We've been waiting forever! Come come, lady Meng Xue made these things called… Crepes? They look amazing!"

"Dear, don't just run around! Bi, say something to your mother!"

Ning Bi's mother dragged her to a seat nearby. Mother Ning tried, but in the end, she couldn't ignore her husband and spat out her thoughts.

"Shut up! I'm the one who's pregnant! I've been through it once already! Little Bi, don't mind your him. Let's eat!"

Father Ning could only awkwardly smile at his wife. As they sat in their seats, mother Ning spoke in a loving tone.

"Oh my, I forgot that sweet sauce in the kitchen, dear, could you-"

"Of course! Anything for my Bu- ehm, I'll get it right away!"

When father Ning was finally out of sight, mother Ning gave a huge sigh.

"Ugh, he is getting worse and worse! He doesn't even want me to take a stroll in the garden! Can you believe it?!"

Mother and daughter Ning weren't alone after father Ning left. Yao Qing and Jin Shu were also present. As she was complaining, mother Ning was suddenly reminded of this fact.

"Ehm, I'm sorry, words just came out on their own, I didn't mean to bother you two as well…"

Jin Shu elegantly put the teacup down before responding.

"Madam Ning, please. Ning Bi is our sister, that means you are our family too. Don't treat us as outsiders."

Jin Shu and mother Ning smiled at each other.

Yao Qing and Jin Shu had witnessed the father Ning's excessive doting firsthand while waiting for Ning Bi. He even used her pet name a few times, which was the final straw that got mother Ning angry. Yao Qing asked out of curiosity.

"Madam Ning, your husband adores you very much. I'm sure he will do his best if you tell him not to fuss over this much…"

Madam Bing sighed with exasperation.

"I know, but whenever I do that, he looks at me with that cute face and I forget what I was talking about..."

Mother Ning hugged Ning Bi.

"Little Bi! You must help me! He won't dare to do show that stupid cute face while you are present!"

"O-Of course! D-don't worry mom!"

Ning Bi accepted without thinking after seeing her mother's desperate face. She regretted it before she even finished her sentence, but it was already too late.

"My little Bi is so amazing! As expected of my daughter! *Haaa, he wasn't like that during your pregnancy, you know."

Mother Ning hid her triumphant smile and decided to switch subjects while she was ahead.

"Oh, I was wondering. Lady Meng Xue is amazing, but is it really alright for your master's concubine to cook for us?"

The air turned odd. Mother Ning looked at the weird expressions of the three disciples. The first one to break the silence was Jin Shu.

"Meng Xue isn't master's concubine. She is only his personal immortal chef. Nothing else. May I ask why madam thought she was a concubine?"

"…I think it was the Queen that mentioned it. She seemed conf-"

Heavy panting noises interrupted their conversation. Father Ning had returned with the jar of jam and immediately resumed doting on his wife. The servants watched from far away and didn't dare make a peep. The Ning family plus the disciples ate and enjoyed their breakfast of crepes.

After breakfast, the disciples of Han De decided to take a stroll inside the palace reserved for Ning Bi. Their personal attendants followed them from a respectful distance.

"Ning Bi, what are you going to do about those mortal relatives of yours?"

"Elder sister Shu, what do you mean?"

Ning Bi was in the middle of Jin Shu and Yao Qing while they were walking. Yao Qing took Ning Bi's arm while answering the question in Jin Shu's stead.

"We are about to summon our tribulations; you need to set your house in order. They are mortals, not idiots. Royalty is the same whether they are cultivators or mortals. They will attempt to do something to regain some semblance of being in control."

Jin Shu took the other arm and continued where Yao Qing left off.

"That's right. Blood relation is just an excuse for the likes of them. They are already working on your parents. You've noticed it yourself already."

Ning Bi nodded.

"I did notice mom and dad are getting anxious every time they meet their relatives, but isn't that normal? My dad ran away with mom, and they didn't have any contact with their family before."

Jin Shu answered in a calm manner. She had experience with these matters.

"Yes, it is normal. Which is exactly why it isn't normal. Ning Bi, this is a celestial ship. Your palace on the top deck can make large sects envious, you have thousands of servants that are selected specifically for you to fulfill your every whim, and as if that wasn't enough, you are a cultivator. Meanwhile, your relatives witnessed the destruction of their world, they stay at the bottom decks purely out of your grace. They lost everything. Every time they visit here, they witness the difference in status."

Ning Bi's understanding look made Jin Shu smile.

"Your parents are mortals as well. They have no spiritual roots, they cannot cultivate. They also have difficulty holding on, but they stay silent because they fear it will make you worry. How could your parents not be aware of what is happening?"

Ning Bi clenched her fists. She didn't notice how Jin Shu's reminiscent expression turned into a bitter smile. That bitter smile turned cold as she continued.

"The queen talking about Meng Xue being master's concubine is their attempt to gain control. They do not have any power, so they approach your parents with false pretenses. This is them getting a feeling of the overall situation."

Yao Qing saw Jin Shu looking at her and understood that this was her cue.

"Sects and families pay great attention to a person's merit. Right now, we are in the honeymoon period. Not many people dig around for dirt after all that happened. Once the dust settles people will pay more attention to other matters.

Wars in higher realms never wage for too long at full power. Some of them never really end, but their destructive power would be greatly reduced.

We need to prepare for a variety of different scenarios and do our best for our master. Before entering seclusion, I already gave the order to leak some of the details master's exploits. Even the servants should be talking about his achievements right now.

The Long family is different from other families, sects, or empires. Only females can inherit the family name. Male offspring are used for political ties."

Both Jin Shu and Ning Bi were strangers to the workings of the ancient hidden families. Obviously, Yao Qing was different. She had spent tens of thousands of years as a loose cultivator. Knowing about the important families, sects, and empires was essential for her survival. She was clueless about the political structure of her homeworld, but now, she had the home-field advantage. There was a strange spark in Yao Qing's eyes as she continued talking.

"There should be a few marriage candidates for the master already. The Han family and the Starfall Mountain Sect survived because of the Long family. We cannot allow others to disrupt this process for their own gain."

Yao Qing didn't go into further detail to keep the discussions about their master at a minimum.

Truthfully, the disciples' actions didn't matter in the grand scheme of things. However, being familiar with the Whispering Realm's history, Yao Qing knew some of the important figures that could have an impact, especially on their master.

Among the fiancé candidates, there was one particular person that Yao Qing was hoping for, and that was the lost heir of the Li family. Yao Qing only found out about her while studying the past of the Shen family. Her disappearance was the beginning of a secret blood feud between the Li and the Shen families.

Li Ling was a once-in-a-million-year genius that was betrothed to some unidentified person. For reasons unknown, she had an intense dislike for her fiancé. According to the recorded rumors, she wanted her husband to be as talented as her, as beautiful as her, and as pure as her.

Of course, those were only rumors that were circulating tens of thousands of years ago from Yao Qing's past timeline. Still, the timing fit perfectly, and she was confident that her master could meet Li Ling's requirements.

Li Ling was talented enough to leave a mark in history, and her family was influential enough to prevent the Grand Path Library from taking action. Without a doubt, the Long family would try to marry off their master to Li Ling.

Unfortunately, Yao Qing didn't know too much about the Long family. In the previous timeline, they had already left the Whispering Realms by the time she joined the Grand Path Library. According to historical records, the Long family tended to keep to themselves aside from arranging marriages for their offspring. Yet they were powerful enough that of the primordial families or sects dared to offend them.

Two families and the two offspring were similar enough to be called fated.

Of course, Yao Qing wasn't under any illusion that their actions as disciples could have any impact. The thoughts and plans of Ning Bi's mortal relatives were meaningless. What was important was their behavior as disciples.

Everything arranged by the Long family was a test. The attitude of their servants, the resources they've been given, the attention they've received. Would they try to defend their master? Would they use brute force to silence dissenters? Would they simply stay silent and cultivate?

The best response that both Yao Qing and Jin Shu agreed, was to leak information about their constitutions. If their value as disciples increased, so would their master's. Though Long Xiu's influence seemed high, no ancient family would have a shortage of greedy elders.

Jin Shu saw Yao Qing fall into deep thought and took over the conversation.

"Once, I thought blood relation was enough to ensure the safety of my parents. I didn't realize it was the opposite until it was too late.

The elders of the Long family are testing us for their own purpose, but that doesn't mean we can't benefit from their hubris.

Ning Bi, why do you think master ordered this many of your relatives to be brought over?"

Ning Bi knew about the circumstances of Jin Shu's family. Her expression turned grim.

"Thank you, elder sisters. I will absolutely handle this matter."

Yao Qing was finally relieved at Ning Bi's answer. Still, she hurriedly averted her gaze from Ning Bi's red eyes. After a few seconds, she cleared her throat. Originally, they were supposed to discuss their tribulations today.

Transcending triple tribulations will also serve to help master. Even in higher realms, transcending multiple tribulations is exceedingly rare. Those that survive them are even rarer.

There was no fear in Ning Bi's eyes when Yao Qing mentioned tribulation. She trusted her elder sisters and herself. Even then, there was a touch of reluctance in her gaze.

Elder sister… Shouldn't we wait for the master?

Talking about their master's disappearance, or his return had… unsettling effects on Ning Bi. Whenever they talked about their master, Yao Qing and Jin Shu would eventually have to steer the conversation away.

Yao Qing shook her head.

Master awakened our body constitutions for a reason. He won't interfere with our tribulations. This matter is ours to resolve.

Yao Qing remembered her master's warning. It seemed long ago, but only 2 months have passed since then. Now, she had gained a better understanding of her circumstances. She was on a different path, and no longer had to worry about changing the future.

What she worried about was the alternate past. Did "Han De" really die in the previous timeline? It didn't make any sense for someone like him to die out of nowhere. In the past few weeks, Yao Qing thought about this often, but she couldn't come up with an explanation.

However, now wasn't the time to think about such things. She lightly shook her and changed the subject to their cultivations.

Our bloodlines alone were enough for variant foundations, with the inclusion of our constitutions, building a regular foundation became impossible for us.

Normally, a Qi Condensation disciple of the 13th stage would possess a calm spiritual sea. They would then condense this sea into a mountain. That mountain becomes the Foundation. During Core Formation tribulation, that mountain would be refined into a Core. The quality of the Core is very important since it will be fully absorbed during the Immortal Realm tribulation.

We have already diverged from the norm. All of our spiritual seas are variants. My spiritual sea is a maelstrom. Jin Shu's is a swamp, and yours is a yellow sun. When you condense your mountain, be sure of how stable it is. Let your instincts handle the rest.

Our triple tribulation will be at least 27 times powerful than a normal tribulation. Our foundations will need that amount of energy to form without hidden problems. I will be handling the tribulation lightning, but we still need to keep up appearances.

The three disciples started talking about the tribulation and the formations they 'needed'. In the end, they decided to go through 5 days later.

After she sent off her sisters, Ning Bi didn't go back to her room. She continued to roam around the gardens.

Living on this celestial ship gave her confusing feelings. She was happy to see her family living well, but was furious with the Long family for not doing enough to bring her master back.

The Long family's apparent lack of action was only from her perspective, and in some sense, she was also aware of this. But she couldn't help but feel vexed every day as she witnessed her own extravagant living conditions.

Then, she remembered her sisters' warnings and her blood ran cold. The sooner she dealt with the problem, the better.

Whether they were her relatives or not, she wasn't going to allow them to turn her parents into their pawns! Rather than letting the wound fester, it was better to cut it off completely!

Ning Bi looked around and spotted some servants.

"I want to see my relatives. Lead the way."

The servant in the front answered with impeccable dignity.

"We will bring them to you, which ones would you like to see first?"

Ning Bi wasn't expecting this response from the servant, who was a year younger than herself. Long Xiu had told her that they were specifically selected to be closer to her age to prevent others from influencing her. This servant was a year younger, but her cultivation was at the mid-stage Foundation Establishment realm.

"Servant Yu Daiyu apologizes to Lady Bi. A person living on the 1st deck should not visit the lower decks."

The servant's attitude was impeccable. She was respectful and thoughtful. However, Ning Bi was also able to identify the pride hidden within those words. Using the phrase "Lady Bi" was the dead giveaway. While referring to herself the servant used her family name, but when she referred to Ning Bi, she used the first name only. This distinction was something she learned from her elder sister Jin Shu.

What the servant really meant was, she was doing this for "Lady Bi's" own good, and "Lady Bi" should be happy about it, even though "Lady Bi" doesn't deserve this level of treatment. She was "Lady Bi" because the Ning family didn't amount to anything.

This touched a sore spot that Ning Bi didn't even know she had. Something snapped inside her head. She lost control of her aura and the Cosmic Destruction Scripture started circulating on its own.

Old Peng ran to the 4041st deck as soon after he heard about the movement from disciple Ning Bi. The 4041st deck was reserved for the relatives of the anomalies. Merry and Pippin had outdone themselves and collected everyone related to the known anomalies before the destruction of the previous Han family homeworld. Since the order was technically from the young master of the Han family, the Long family elders 'reluctantly' agreed to reserve the last two decks specifically for this purpose.

Since then Old Peng had carried out the task to keep track and observe any and all anomalies. Though the disciples weren't considered for the anomaly program, their status was obvious. They were still disciples though, so Han De's lackeys only recorded their abnormal movements, and did not disturb their normal lives.

Before coming here Old Peng saw the unrecognizable body of one unlucky servant girl. The aftermath of that event was also recorded and sealed. Hence why, Old Peng was not surprised to see the bloodbath on the 4041st deck.

After half an hour of investigation, Old Peng finally confirmed that all of the mortal royals were personally killed by disciple Ning Bi. Severed limbs and burnt bodies took some time to identify and catalog. During that time, he also received multiple voice transmissions about disciple Ning Bi's request to fake the relocation of her distant relatives.

The request was for the benefit of her parents. Although the dead were all distant branch relatives, mortals like disciple Ning Bi's parents could still be affected by the truth. Instead, they were going to fake a goodbye by using illusions to give her family a sense of closure.

Old Peng was touched. This girl really took care of her family in a decisive manner! She really could've transferred them to another world, but instead took action to solve the root cause once and for all! If he were to grade her performance, he could only take points away because she did not extinguish their souls.

Mortals or not, they were the distant, very distant relatives of an anomaly still. Taking half-measures would only increase the future headaches according to their young master's teachings!

Luckily for the royal family's souls, Old Peng and other lackeys were not allowed to interfere with affairs of the anomalies without proof of extenuating circumstances. Depending on their souls' original condition, they could still enter the cycle of reincarnation in peace.

Old Peng's only regret was that she didn't ask for help earlier. The disciples seemed adamant about solving problems on their own. Surely, this was young master Han De's design, but Old Peng couldn't help but worry due to the interference of the Long family elders. Unless the disciples asked, they couldn't do anything!

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[Roots: Primordial Light (42%)]

[Cultivation: Qi Condensation - 1st Stage (0/100)]

[Body Cultivation: Qi Condensation - 1st Stage (0/100)]

[Soul Cultivation: - ]

[Constitutions]

--

[Otherworldly Light Body (Unawakened)]

[Progress: 8.05%]

[Power: Extremely High]

[Bloodlines]

--

[Primordial Chaos Dragon (Dormant)]

[Concentration: 1.04%]

[Power: Extremely High]

Just like the System said, his cultivation was dispersed. Even his body cultivation was at the 1st stage of the Qi Condensation realm. Thankfully, the XP bar didn't display any scary numbers. Only 100 XP! Such a far cry from half a million XP!

However, that wasn't what he was worried about. The problem was his spiritual roots.

'Well, there's the word Light right there. Primordial or not, it should be a Light element, right? Surely...'

With great caution, Han De immediately attempted to cultivate the Starfall Scripture. The origins of this scripture were a mystery. Not because it was a mysterious scripture, but because the cultivation idiot never bothered asking about it. Han De naturally followed the cultivation idiot's footsteps and did not make any inquiries. Ignorance was bliss.

He aborted his first cultivation attempt halfway into the cycle. Circulation of the spiritual energy caused an unprecedented resistance in his body. According to the cultivation idiot's memory, this was a telltale sign of the method being incompatible. Han De's grandmaster level experience concurred with the cultivation idiot's assessment.

The Starfall Scripture wasn't the only Light element cultivation method that Han De had. He also tried a few of the random Light element methods he learned from the archives. Neither the Luminous Clouds nor the Light Through a Single Thought could be cultivated. He did not try others because the risk of Qi deviation had successfully spooked Han De the Grandmaster.

After the initial surprise, Han De started to realize the consequences of the situation. Without a Primordial Light Qi compatible scripture, his cultivation was sitting ducks. This problem wasn't something that could be solved in the short term. Creating a cultivation method was harder than creating a martial arts method, after all.

'Let's ignore that for the time being. I can use non-elemental cultivation methods in the short term. They'll be much weaker than my older methods, but that doesn't matter. Some power is better than no power at all.'

Treebeard's cultivation scripture was non-elemental, but Han De rejected it instantly. Poor guy couldn't even put a single sentence together for weeks. Cultivating such a stupid method was a no-go from the start.

'Thankfully I prepared a few non-elemental scriptures for the disciple starter packs. Maybe I should use a Derive Cultivation Token on them. I still should have some Profound Poin-'

[Calibration Complete]

'…Let me guess, [no changes detected] right? Whatever…'

[Congratulations]

[Host's disciple Jin Shu successfully reached Foundation Establishment Realm!]

[Issuing 1000 Profound Points as a reward.]

[Congratulations]

[Host's disciple Yao Qing successfully reached Foundation Establishment Realm!]

[Issuing 1000 Profound Points as a reward.]

[Congratulations]

[All disciples have successfully reached Foundation Establishment Realm!]

[Issuing 250 Profound Points as a reward.]

'...Wow, they work hard huh. Nice, points came just at the right time.'

[Checking primary requirements for privilege upgrade]

[1. Direct disciple scripture mastery requirement met]

[2. Direct disciple skill creation requirement met]

[3. Direct disciple scripture creation requirement met]

[4. Direct disciple Dao requirement met]

[5. Direct disciple enlightenment requirement met]

As the System kept enumerating, Han De narrowed his eyes. Some of the requirements were clearly stretched. He certainly didn't remember guiding anyone about Dao, at least. Was it counting his bulls#$% Xianxia quotes?

[Checking secondary requirements for privilege upgrade]

[1. Life order requirement met]

[2. Direct disciples' minor realm difference requirement met]

'...'

[Checking tertiary requirements for privilege upgrade]

[1. Grandmaster level comprehension requirements met (Current: 5 Required: 1)]

[2. Master level comprehension requirements met (Current: 103 Required: 5)]

'Grandmaster requirement is just 1? 1?! Only 5 master level comprehension required? No matter how I look at it this is just sloppy design. In what world 1, ONE, Grandmaster level comprehension is difficult to achieve?! Just grab any random scrip-…

Oh…'

Almost everything Han De found so far was labeled as 'Extremely Weak' by the System. He had a grand total of 2 [Very Weak] scriptures. The only 'Weak' method he encountered was Ning Bi's self-created Cosmic Destruction Scripture, which required an absurd amount of Profound Points just to learn an incomplete version of it.

Han De's gamer intuition guessed that the Profound Point curve of the more powerful scriptures was most likely exponential. Grandmastering a legendary '[Power: Average]' scripture was probably impossible, even if he had saved every single Profound Point he earned so far.

In Han De's imagination, this was yet another example of the System randomly flexing.

[Checking quaternary requirements for privilege upgrade]

[1. Bloodline requirements met]

[2. Constitution requirements met]

[3. Divination scripture requirements met]

[4. Interference limit requirements met]

[Upgrading host's Privilege Level]

'This is getti-'

[To prevent permanent soul damage, the host will be put in sleep mode]

[Time Remaining: 347:13:19]

[...]

[...]

[Time Remaining: 00:00:00]

[Level 3 integration in progress]

[Error: Modifications in progress]

[Awakening Host]

'-ng tiresome…'

[Notes: Further upgrades to the Privilege Level will require offline maintenance.]

[Privilege Level: 3]

[Profound Point Shop Level 3 is now active (Suspended)]

[Unlocked Intermediate Level Disciples Panel (Suspended)]

[Unlocked Beginner Level Sect Panel (Suspended)]

[Unlocked Leaderboards]

[Unlocked Dao level comprehension]

[Unlocked Level 1 Knowledge Impartation feature (Suspended)]

[Unlocked Profound Point conversion feature (Suspended)]

[Scripture Creation feature unlocking requirements not met]

[Scripture Modification feature unlocking requirements not met]

[Level 2 Status Check function pending secondary upgrade]

[Level 2 Disciple Evaluation function pending secondary upgrade]

[Evaluating Host's performance]

[...]

[...]

[...]

[Submitting score...]

[...]

[...]

[...]

[Error: Cannot establish a connection]

[Loading cached records...]

[...]

[Congratulations!]

[Host has entered top 1000000]

[Rewarding host with 5 Profound Points]

[Congratulations!]

[Host has entered top 100000]

[Rewarding host with 10 Profound Points]

[Congratulations!]

[Host has entered top 10000]

[Rewarding host with 20 Profound Points]

[Congratulations!]

[Host has entered top 1000]

[Rewarding host with 40 Profound Points]

[Congratulations!]

[Host has entered top 100]

[Rewarding host with 80 Profound Points]

[Congratulations!]

[Host has entered top 50]

[Rewarding host with 160 Profound Points]

[Congratulations!]

[Host has entered top 25]

[Rewarding host with 320 Profound Points]

[Congratulations!]

[Host has entered top 10]

[Rewarding host with Tier 7 Exchange Token]

[Host's name will be recorded in the Hall of Fame!]

[Congratulations!]

[Host has entered top 5]

[Rewarding host with Tier 5 Exchange Token]

[Host's name will be recorded in the Hall of Fame!]

[Congratulations!]

[Host is holding 1st place]

[Rewarding host with Tier 3 Exchange Token]

[Host's name will be recorded in the Hall of Fame!]

[Profound Points: (2885) 861 - 3746]

[Unrivaled Master System Level 3 Leaderboards]

--

[1st Place]

[Name: Han De]

[Age: 27]

[Cultivation: Qi Condensation 1st Stage]

[Fate: Calamity Attractor]

[Score: 2]

[2nd Place]

[ - ]

[3rd Place]

[ - ]

[Sync point confirmed and verified]

[Secondary upgrade started. Timeframe unknown.]

[Congratulations]

[Host's disciple Yao Qing successfully reached the Mid-Stage of the Foundation Establishment Realm!]

[Issuing 1500 Profound Points as a reward.]

[Congratulations]

[Host's disciple Jin Shu successfully reached the Mid-Stage of the Foundation Establishment Realm!]

[Issuing 1500 Profound Points as a reward.]

[Congratulations]

[Host's disciple Yao Qing successfully reached the Late-Stage of the Foundation Establishment Realm!]

[Issuing 2000 Profound Points as a reward.]

[Profound Points: (5000) 3746- 8746]

[Fame: Cloudy Mountains: (2413) 382- 2795]

[Calibration restarted...]

The overwhelming amount of information ended up invoking a healthy dose of panic within Han De. The Leaderboards box was flashing on top of everything, therefore Han De opened it by instinct.

[Level 3 Leaderboards]

--

[Divine Alchemist System] - [Entries: 86,843,714]

[Divine Slayer System] - [Entries: 35,131,729]

[Undying Demon System] - [Entries: 18,694,314]

[Supreme Buddha System] - [Entries: 16,852,135]

[Divine Formation System] - [Entries: 16,487,960]

[Scroll to expand]

'86 million Divine Alchemists. Damn… That's a lot of Divine Alchemists…'

[Divine Alchemist System Level 3 Leaderboards]

--

[1st Place]

[Name: Bai Wuying]

[Age: 181]

[Cultivation: Immortal Realm - Early Stage]

[Fate: Heavenly Emperor]

[Score: 2,719,738]

[2nd Place]

[Name: Xiong Xieren]

[Age: 135]

[Cultivation: Immortal Realm - Early Stage]

[Fate: Heavenly Alchemist]

[Score: 2,697,414]

[3rd Place]

[Name: Dong Chen]

[Age: 259]

[Cultivation: Immortal Realm - Middle Stage]

[Fate: Heavenly General]

[Score: 2,679,195]

[Scroll to expand]

'What the heck with the scores man... What's with the fates as well?!'

Han De scrolled down as a reflex. He scrolled and scrolled, but all scores he saw were in the millions.

[3919th Place]

[Name: Gu Shun]

[Age: 347]

[Cultivation: Dao Seed - Late Stage]

[Fate: Hell Temple Sect Master]

[Score: 2,344,837]

[3920th Place]

[Name: Pan Zhi]

[Age: 1219]

[Cultivation: Divinity Formation - Early Stage]

[Fate: Crazy Pill Master]

[Score: 2,344,837]

[3921st Place]

[Name: Cao Yi]

[Age: 680]

[Cultivation: Ancient Realm - Late Stage]

[Fate: Poison Immortal]

[Score: 2,344,837]

The list truly felt endless after a few minutes of scrolling. Han De went back to the leaderboard panel and started scrolling down there. Surprise and curiosity had replaced his panic at some point.

[Level 3 Leaderboards]

--

[Godly Doctor System] - [Entries: 16,157,664]

[Supreme Puppeteer System] - [Entries: 16,157,664]

[Undying Body System] - [Entries: 16,157,662]

[Divine Sealer System] - [Entries: 16,157,661]

[Godly Cooking System] - [Entries: 16,157,660]

[Divine Cooking System] - [Entries: 16,157,660]

[Legendary Pet System] - [Entries: 16,157,660]

[Ultimate Evolution System] - [Entries: 16,157,659]

[Heavenly Beauty System] - [Entries: 16,157,659]

[Demonic Gourmet System] - [Entries: 16,157,657]

[Scroll to expand]

All names followed the adjective plus function rule. Most likely there was some internal ranking between the adjectives, but it was hard to tell. Which one was better, divine, or godly? Was legendary better than both?

'Probably not just ranking but affects the System in some way...?'

Han De kept scrolling without reading anything. Occasionally his eye caught some questionable ones. Ultimate Transactional System, Divine Writer System, Godly Shovel System, Impenetrable Wall System… They all had 10 million plus entries.

He decided to check some of the odd ones later when he was bored.

There were some Systems that broke the 3-word structure as well. The Greatest World Domination System had 11,309,877 entries. The Farmer System had 11,309,524 entries.

[Level 3 Leaderboards]

--

[Handsome Husband Gathering System] - [Entries: 1,074,786]

[Supreme Bragger System] - [Entries: 1,074,782]

[Ultimate Sealer System] - [Entries: 1,074,781]

[Advanced Scholar System] - [Entries: 1,074,521]

[Perfect Copying System] - [Entries: 1,074,520]

[Indomitable Asura System] - [Entries: 1,074,433]

[Ultimate Athlete System] - [Entries: 1,071,958]

[Unrivaled Master System] - [Entries: 1]

Han De's face involuntarily twitched after seeing his own System on the list. It only took him half an hour of solid scrolling to get here. The sharp drop-off gave him mixed feelings. Out of curiosity, he looked at the eye-catching Handsome Husband Gathering System first.

[Handsome Husband Gathering System Level 3 Leaderboards]

--

[1st Place]

[Name: Shao Ru]

[Age: 142]

[Cultivation: Immortal Realm - Early Stage]

[Fate: Elegant Fragrance Sect Founder]

[Score: 3,691,346]

[2nd Place]

[Name: Fu Feng]

[Age: 135]

[Cultivation: Immortal Realm - Early Stage]

[Fate: Empress of the Undying Lands]

[Score: 3,690,244]

[3rd Place]

[Name: Qiao Xuefeng]

[Age: 126]

[Cultivation: Immortal Realm - Early Stage]

[Fate: Empress of the Myriad Realms]

[Score: 3,683,939]

'Wow, these people are really dedicated. The top 3 have higher scores than the Divine Alchemist leaderboards. They are way younger too...'

Han De closed all System windows.

Though he didn't have access to the so-called Hall of Fame, seeing the Leaderboards confirmed some of his 'suspicions'.

Naturally, leaderboards were a form of competition. And competition in a Xianxia universe would always be exceptionally violent. Considering the fact that all of the participants' names were open, the violence was clearly encouraged. Or so Han De thought.

'This leaderboard is a huge repository of MCs. Categorized and logged for convenient tracking.

S#$%… Doesn't this mean if the System actually manages to submit my entry, the others will know my name?'

Disbelief? Suspicion? Doubt? Fear? Those were only momentary emotions. Han De regained his calm quickly. Because this situation was included in his contingency plans!

Han De keenly remembered an important detail from the past. Specifically, the failure condition of his first quest.

' [Failure: Removal of the System. As the System is completely integrated into the host's soul, removal will result in said soul's dissipation] '

'... Meaning, the System could be forcefully removed. If it can be removed, it can be integrated into others. That means it can be used for trading. Meaning, the System actually has monetary value…'

Immediately, Han De's mind produced millions of System scavengers that hunt and extract Systems to sell them to the highest bidder. Then he imagined other System users that hunt and collect other System users to increase their privilege levels.

'I see. So it has finally come to this. I expected something like this could happen.'

Han De made a mental note to expand his 'PvP in a Xianxia Universe, and How to Avoid It'' series of plans. He sighed, then closed his eyes.

Correct prioritization was key to prolonged survival. And right now, he needed to prioritize the present. The System errors, PvP, losing his cultivation base, were all problems reserved for the future Han De.

"What is the condition of this body?"

This worthless servant has never seen a quasi-Nascent Soul body this perfect.

'… Quasi Nascent Soul?'

Han De inadvertently narrowed his eyes. He wanted to ask more. Much, much more, but considering his image, and the shaky relationship he had with the leviathan, he reigned his curiosity.

Of course, that didn't stop his mind from going wild.

'Suspicious. Very suspicious. Almost an MC-like development.

Nope. Nope. I don't like this at all.'

Losing power and regaining it in bulls#$% way later? That was MC 101. It was the bread and butter of all Xianxia. Clearly, something was wrong.

"Where is this place?"

Answering to your excellency's ques-

"Stop with that your excellency and worthless servant stuff. Be. Concise. If you want to be respectful call me young master."

The leviathan bowed respectfully, but unfortunately, Han De couldn't see a thing in the dark cave. Getting used to people calling him 'Young Master' was easy thanks to the cultivation idiot's memories, but getting called 'Your Majesty' was truly giving him the creeps. There should be a limit to sucking up, he thought.

Young Master, this is one of the remaining pieces of the ancient world array that was destroyed a month ago. In relation to the intact array, it is the 314th part to the 94th junction.

Han De knowingly nodded.

'What the hell is an ancient world array?'

This leviathan detected two higher beings' energies. This ancient world array was caught in the crossfire of their battle. The sealing arrays were activated at the right time and saved a small fraction of plates.

Han De nodded once again.

'Sealing arrays? Am I in the same place? Wait, sealing arrays?!

… Ugh… No wonder I couldn't get a response with the communication jade.'

Starfall Mountain Sect and the Han family were getting ready to leave the planet anyway. It wasn't hard for Han De to fill in the blanks.

'I disappeared. In that pandemonium they must've retreated to safety. My soul light should still be lit, they should know that I'm still alive. It is only a matter of sending a message…

Wait, this world was nearly destroyed? Why does this sound so familiar?'

It was yet another almost MC-like development. Not quite there, but it definitely ticked some of the boxes in the tragic back story category.

Lost all cultivation? Check. Destroyed home? Nope, even better! Destroyed homeWORLD!

'S#$%, there was even a grandpa. F#$%...'

Han De decisively prioritized this problem for the future Han De.

"Can you bypass the seal?"

This leviathan can break, but cannot leap through with the seal intact.

"… Stop referring yourself like that..."

As you wish, young master.

In the dark cave, it was impossible to see the leviathan. With the way it talked, combined with the tone of its voice, Han De was reminded of the stereotypical anime butler template. Composed, attentive, patient…

"What is your name?"

Leviathans do not have names, young master.

Han De fought the urge to sigh with frustration.

'I don't have time for an exposition dump, sorry.'

He waved his hand dismissively for effect.

"You are Sebastian from now on."

Sebastian was the most butlery name he could think of. It was also a potential fix for a potential problem. Dealings with the netherworld were one of the taboos of righteous sects. Though he wouldn't fool any high-realm cultivator, at least he could avoid making a blunder by calling it Sebastian the Butler.

While giving the leviathan a name was only a matter of convenience to Han De, but for the leviathan in question, receiving a name wasn't a simple affair. To be named by a higher entity was to receive their favor.

The leviathan- no, Sebastian, was no stranger to the concept of being a frog in the bottom of a well. Above the heavens, there would always be even higher heavens. The fact that the void entity ran away after angering the young master was the ultimate proof for Sebastian.

The name Sebastian, slowly seeped into the very core of the leviathan. It felt as if it could hear the name, even if it was uttered at the very end of time and existence!

Unfortunately, Han De couldn't care less about the intense spiritual experience that Sebastian was going through. Rather, he was thinking about something that had been on his mind for a while. After deliberating the pros and cons of receiving unsolicited exposition, he decided to ask anyway.

"… Why are you even called Leviathans anyway?"

We were named as such by the person that brought us into the netherworld.

Han De had braced himself and was ready to cut off Sebastian at the first sign of trouble. Strangely though, the dreaded exposition dump never came. Sebastian stayed silent.

'Damn, this leviathan learns fast. I'm impressed, that was really concise.'

Sebastian received a mental thumbs up from Han De. Perhaps the Primordial Whatever bloodline was useful after all. He decided to look at the positives instead of focusing on the ever-present feeling of impending doom.

[Phase 1 Complete]

[Issuing First Phase 2 Quest]

[Quest: A Master to Look up To]

[Difficulty Level: Rating Requirements Not Met]

[Status: Issued]

[Summary: Your beloved disciples have surpassed you in their cultivation levels! A joyous moment for any [email protected_!

Hiding your strength can become a weakness in the end! Increase your visible cultivation level by [ph_str_hghst_dscpl_mjr_cltvtn 2] to prevent your disciples from getting complacent. Create and use a new cultivation art while you are at it to further emphasize the immensity between Heaven and Earth![aff_low: ("Put them in their place.")]

[Bonus: Create a [ph_str_hghst _scrptr_mjr_qlty 1] quality cultivation method]

[Time Remaining: 18 days]

[Success: _ Profound Points_ .]

[Failure: Privilege level strike (Current: 0/3)]

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Long Ai liked to cultivate in simple places. She even liked to go into 'seclusion' in simple places. As the matriarch of the Long family, she spent her fair share of time in extravagant cultivation realms. At her level, none of that would help anyway, so there was no need for her to bother with such trivialities.

After one final cycle, she opened her eyes. Before her cultivation session, this place was only an arid grassland, but now there was a thick, dark forest all around her. As a higher being, her awareness picked up hundreds of new spiritual beast species in deep slumber. At her level, simply cultivating at one spot would change the very nature of that place.

The surroundings changed in an instant. The Long family homeworld was only a thought away for Long Ai. A courtyard surrounded with everlasting cherry blossoms replaced the endless dark forest.

Matriarch.

Long Ai sat on the puffy red chair and started sipping her tea. Only for a moment, she enjoyed the scene in front of her. Her daughter, Long Ruolan, waited for the right time before starting her report.

4998 standard years have passed. 3 major wars happened, one still in progress. Long Xiu gave birth to a son. Total births are 15 sons and 18 daughters from secondary families, none match the criteria.

Long Ai nodded. Failure from branch experiments was expected. After hearing about Long Xiu's son, she immediately used her insight to get a sense of the child. She had honed her innate intuition for years and getting an accurate judgment was as easy as breathing itself.

Good. Long Xiu tried so hard for so long... A shame that her son was a failure.

She was ready to move on, but the silence from Long Ruolan surprised her.

Long Ruolan knew why her mother would immediately dismiss Long Xiu's son. She also made the same mistake more than 27 years ago, but wisely kept her opinions to herself at the time.

Long Ai smiled after enduring her daughter's persistent and meaningful stare.

Oh, now that is good news.

Long Ruolan started explaining after seeing her mother's nod.

He exceeds the criteria of the Shi family by a large margin. Currently in the Core Formation realm. Comprehension, intellect, and talent are the key points. His character is on the extreme side, but he is Long Xiu's son.

He has pure light element roots very near perfect equilibrium level, and a pure dark element soul that will start developing after reaching Immortal Realm.

Long Ai's faint smile became bigger as Long Ruolan explained. Long Xiu was her favorite great-granddaughter, and one of the rare true Long's in existence. Hearing good news about her was always pleasant.

Long Xiu confirmed contact with a void being.

Long Ai's smile froze.

Hmm. That...

What's his name?

Han De.

A sigh came out of Long Ai's lips. This unfortunate naming sense most likely originated from the paternal family. Long Xiu had enough self-awareness to avoid such a name.

Details.

Long Xiu attacked a local. The 3rd appeared and protected the boy from Xiu's shockwaves. It left after listening to the boy. Long Xiu couldn't understand the conversation.

Long Ai started tapping on the table. In the Whispering Realms and below, Void beings were numbered to avoid attracting unwanted attention. The 3rd referred to the order of appearance since before the primordial times.

The fact that the 3rd had to protect Han De from Long Xiu's shockwaves meant that Long Xiu wasn't in the right state of mind. With her character and cultivation, someone tampering with her thoughts in such a way wasn't easy. She would be checked externally by her mother the moment she mentioned a "higher" void being as well.

Long Ruolan answered her mother's thoughts by shaking her head. They couldn't find any evidence of tampering.

Among higher void beings, only one preferred to use manipulation, and that wasn't the 3rd. No one in the Long family knew of its existence besides Long Ai. Long Ruolan tacitly understood her mother's meaning and decisively dropped the subject. This conversation wasn't meant for this realm.

Long Ai didn't have to worry about attracting attention. Most void beings would know better than to interfere with her experiment. But her family was different, and not all void beings were sane.

Long Ruolan continued without any change in her expression.

While the Han family were making final preparations to leave, netherdemons attacked the Han family, and the boy. According to the reports, he either knew about the attack, or expected it. The first wave was fought off by Long Xiu's guards. The second wave had 99 of the so-called leviathans on the verge of ascension.

Long Ai kept listening with a frown.

First disciple has a peculiar ability that she doesn't talk about. Han Bai and the guards think there may be a connection. The other 2 disciples are in the dark as well.

Right after the attack warning the boy's body started collapsing. Guards' descriptions suggest an early half-ascension to the 2nd step. The process was temporarily stabilized, tribulation was summoned, and was directed to the netherdemons by the second disciple.

Han De sent away everyone and got pulled into the tribulation himself. His soul light is stable.

Long Juan encountered Shen Guo at the frontier's perimeter. His son, Shen Xing's soul was extinguished and he was there for retribution. A day later, Shen Guo attacked Long Juan and damaged the ancient array. The sealing function was activated during battle and saved 1/5th of the array.

Long Ai frowned. For the time being, she ignored the impudence of Shen Guo.

From the outside, it looked like an ordinary story of a cultivator grasping the opportunities, but there were too many holes. Internally, she decided to handle some of these matters through her clone. It had been some time since she moved around this realm.

She could also sense the essence of her teacher. Considering not one but two void being encounters, 'her' appearance made sense.

While Long Ai was thinking, the connection between her main body and her clone was cut off. But only the main body realized that fact.

You mentioned the boy's comprehension, explain.

Created a sword art that uses Light Qi instead of Sword Qi. His progress was completely hidden until the last few months. He successfully condensed two essences with it. A tribulation was summoned by a Dao Seed born out of it.

Not too bad.

Long Ai's mood improved slightly. Long Ruolan ignored her mother and continued her usual flat tone.

The art is named Heaven Defying Tyrannical Sword. The essences he condensed were Heaven-defiance and tyranny.

The air turned odd. Long Ai glanced at Long Ruolan.

I didn't know you had a sense of humor.

Long Ruolan didn't respond to her mother's quip.

Really?

Long Ruolan still kept her silence. Finally, Long Ai's lips curled upwards.

Who said that guy didn't have a sense of humor...

A Dao Seed was a mark from the heavens. Its purpose was to help the cultivator to achieve their own Dao. It was an acknowledgment from Heavens. A mark that showed the approval of the Heavens. In Han De's case, it was a mark that showed Heavens' approval of Han De defying them.

After thinking about it, Long Ai agreed with Ruolan's silent assumption. The Heaven Defying Dao Seed was obviously a result of a secret technique, forcefully condensed to summon a tribulation. Such a Dao Seed could never be fully formed in the first place. It was a means to an end.

Long Ruolan could guess what was going on in her mother's head and continued.

Memories of the guards were erased. Shao Bai, Long Xiu, and his disciples were ordered to never mention it again. Naturally, the Han family knows as well.

Long Ai took another sip. As long as this Han De could be cultivated, he could bring 'benefits' to the Long family. She was also looking forward to seeing Long Xiu's expression once everything settled. Long Ruolan continued while Long Ai was reminiscing.

The boy also created a divination method in a matter of minutes, with no prior experience or guidance. The potency of the technique could rival the ancient scriptures according to the guards. Memories regarding this event were also wiped.

Long Ai was sure one of her daughters would've tested the child early on. Long Ruolan wouldn't have dragged this on if he was a reincarnation. His soul would've been tested after birth and synchronized with a soul light; possession was out of the question as well. Every important offspring would be synced with a soul light made by Long Ai herself. She was confident that no one could tamper with it.

There had to be a reason Ruolan was going out of her way to explain the events in this order. Long Ai restrained her curiosity.

Finally, he can comprehend and improve scriptures. He improved and simplified hundreds of standard martial art scriptures of the Han family in a matter of days. He also restored and improved an ancient cultivation method. The Blazing Sun Scripture. That Blazing Sun Scripture. It was accidentally found by the Han family a little over 200 years ago. Two of Han De's subordinates are from a hidden realm involved with that scripture as well.

The matter with the Blazing Sun Scripture was peculiar, but Long Ai wanted to know something else first.

Standard scriptures?

A tradition of the Han family's local sect. Elders of the sect must make contributions to the sect's standard scriptures. I've seen some examples, too much noise.

Standard scriptures existed a long time ago as well. It was a curious coincidence to see them appear at this juncture.

Long Ruolan left a jade slip on the table.

Further details of everything related to Han De is available in this.

Long Ai sent her spiritual sense to the jade and learned everything in it instantly. The jade slip didn't just contain a summary of events but also contained every single report about Han De from Long Xiu's subordinates. Long Ai started giggling.

Kekeke. Anomalies huh? Interesting! He even fooled his own family while running around gathering data! He doesn't seem to have any grudges at being kept in the dark either. Not bad!

Long Ruolan kept staring at her mother. Neither her expression nor her tone changed as she spoke.

Han De burned Shen Guo's son with his own hands. Shen Guo was able to get his image from the soul shard and distributed it among his generals. If Han De returns, it is only a matter of time before Shen Guo finds out.

My dear daughter, do you believe that I won't smack you?

Long Ruolan sidetracked and continued without pause.

Although Han De exceeds the Shi family's criteria, there is a better choice. In this cycle, the Wen family has a suitable daughter with Immortal Realm cultivation.

Long Ai immediately narrowed her eyes. She had wanted to have familial ties with the Wen family for ages due to their irregular constitutions. Long Ruolan answered her mother's unspoken question.

The Shi family daughter was originally betrothed to Shao Bai, Han De's cousin. The original arrangement itself was made before the Shi family patriarch was born, it doesn't matter who we provide in the end.

The Wen family daughter, Wen Jiayi, was unofficially betrothed to someone, but that is no longer an issue.

Both Shi and Wen families had loose ties with other realms. If she wanted to, Long Ai could force them to do her bidding. However, giving them, and their ancestors some face had higher overall returns for the Long family.

If Han De didn't have suitable results the Shi family would've been perfect. Since he did have the right amount of balance, and there was an available Wen daughter, their offspring would be the most optimal choice.

Long Ai nodded with satisfaction.

However, Han De was still Long Xiu's son, and therefore Long Ai herself couldn't help but be concerned.

How's her character?

Wen Jiayi, a genius among geniuses. 127 years old. The youngest Immortal Realm cultivator ever to be recorded since the ancient era. Spent most of her life in cultivation inside the Wen family palace.

Long Ruolan shook her head before Long Ai could even ask a question. Wen Jiayi wasn't possessed either.

Fine, carry out as you like…

Hmm. What happened to that unofficial betrothal of the Wen's? Why was it canceled and why was it unofficial?

Wen Jiayi has a peculiar taste in men. She never acknowledged that agreement, nor the candidate in question. And the Wen family didn't or couldn't pressure her. That candidate was Shen Xing, son of Shen Guo, whose soul was burned by Han De.

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