Chapter 40: Li Xuan’s Arrow Part 1

Zhao Lixuan smoothly returned to the Unstained Immortal Realm.

The immortal realm’s sky was just right, with clear skies washed to a brilliant blue. He didn’t even need to deliberately circulate his energy—the turbid qi staining his body from the Demon Bright Realm’s demonic rain was swept clean in an instant.

His spiritual platform cleared, and he felt refreshed in body and mind.

Only one thing bothered him.

He truly didn’t want to think back on those crazy moments in the rainy night with Jiang Chen!

He had clearly lost control because of the demonic rain’s nightmare influence, so why couldn’t it fade away like an ordinary nightmare upon waking?

Why were every single detail etched into his mind as clearly as a brand? Ah—!!!

He had thought such absurd events wouldn’t happen again in his lifetime.

What the hell was that demonic rain?

What the hell did I babble to Jiang Immortal Lord? I really don’t have any lingering feelings— that rain was too potent. I actually cried? This is mortifying, the most unbearable scene of my life. Save me!

Fortunately…

Only Jiang Chen had been there at the time, with no other witnesses.

And Jiang Immortal Lord was always taciturn; he wouldn’t gossip to others.

Another silver lining: Jiang Chen wasn’t in the allied army’s ranks right now, sparing them the daily awkwardness of facing each other.

Otherwise, Zhao Lixuan truly wouldn’t know what expression to wear around that man!!!

There was a reason Jiang Chen was absent.

That day, they had relied entirely on Drunk Moon City’s teleportation array for him to return to the Unstained Immortal Realm and inform his comrades of the shocking conspiracy: the Yao Clan secretly allying with the Demon Realm to develop the Colossal Corrupting Demon Legion.

In the two or three days they had been gone, the Immortal Realm’s allied army camp hadn’t known peace either, suffering repeated assaults from the Demon Clan.

Fortunately, Xia Yunjie held the central command, directing operations with steady resolve.

The Immortal Clan had long dispatched numerous elite scouts to infiltrate Crimson Meteor Pass, under Demon Clan control. During this time, the allies not only repelled several night raids but also sent a surprise force around to the enemy’s rear, burning several key Demon Clan supply depots, cutting off reinforcements of demonic soldiers, and even setting up a counter-ambush that badly wounded a few vanguard demon generals.

For a moment, the situation looked excellent. The entire allied army believed recapturing Crimson Meteor Pass was imminent—they just needed to drive the Demon Clan back to their lair completely.

Then came the sudden revelation of a massive plot from behind the scenes, like a bolt from the blue.

The Demon Bright Realm had colluded with them and wielded this unprecedented Colossal Corrupting Demon… It seemed the trouble was far from over. The mood in the tent grew heavy.

Fortunately, while Zhao Lixuan brought bad news, he also brought good news—

More precisely, he brought back a person.

Shopkeeper Di Chun, missing for nearly a year, had been found.

…

Di Chun had encountered Jiang Chen and Zhao Lixuan on the shores of the Floating Life Sea between the Three Realms.

As before, traveling between realms ultimately required a “road.”

A “teleportation array” might be called teleportation, but at its core, it was still a path cutting through the nine layers of cloud seas between the Three Realms, against the flow of the heavenly river, through Moon Haze Hollow, and other perilous obstacles.

It was merely a secret, little-known trail undiscovered by the Three Realms’ powers.

And since it was a trail, the places it passed through were naturally quite tricky.

In any case, when they passed through the Floating Life Sea, Di Chun had already been stuck there for quite some time.

He hadn’t seen other travelers for ages and was leisurely grilling fish and picking shells on the beach as usual.

Spotting a Demon Immortal carrying someone, he immediately called out, “Fellow Daoist, please hold!”

He wore a pair of crystal spectacles on his nose, his eyes curving into smiles as he scrutinized the other man. “Judging by your aura, you’re from the Demon Bright Realm, right?”

“This is perfect.” He clapped lightly with a smile. “Then the direction you came from must be the Demon Bright Realm.”

“And the path behind me leads to the Human Realm.”

“So the way back to the Unstained Immortal Realm must be one of the remaining two.”

He toyed with a ring on his finger, casually pointing to one of the three forks ahead. “I’ll pick you!”

Laughter danced in his eyes, his pupils shimmering like flecks of gold in the sunlight. “Two choices, one must lead home. I’m not that unlucky to stumble into the Demon Realm and get skinned alive, right?”

…

“And then,” Di Chun recounted vividly amid the crowd’s attention, “when he approached, I finally saw that the one in his arms was actually A’Jian. Shocked me half to death!”

Zhao Lixuan: “…”

“You were out cold at the time, and I didn’t know what was going on. Seeing this unfamiliar Demon Immortal, I snuck an attack to snatch you back!”

Zhao Lixuan: “……………”

“Who knew he’d react so fast, countering instantly—and with such ruthless eyes, like we had a blood feud!”

“So I yelled for him to stop and asked who he was and what his relationship was with you, A’Jian.”

“He got even darker at that, countering why I called you ‘A’Jian’ and ordering me never to use that name again. Speaking of which, this Jiang Immortal Lord is truly unreasonable—I’ve been calling you that for years.”

“Then I explained who I was: Shopkeeper Di Chun of the Zhao Clan Three Realms Trade Consortium, the friend to whom A’Jian entrusted his entire fortune and his utmost trust.”

“But upon hearing my name, his killing intent surged even more. Without a word, he drew his sword and chased me down.”

“Sigh, that stance—it really felt like we had some deep-seated grudge…”

“A’Jian,” he leaned close to Zhao Lixuan’s ear and whispered, “what on earth did you say about me to this Jiang Immortal Lord?”

“How’d I make him so jealous, like he’d soaked in a whole vat of vinegar and wanted to eliminate me on the spot?”

…

Di Chun called Zhao Lixuan “A’Jian” because Li Xuan sounded like “arrow” (jian). No helping it—he loved these kinds of word games. And every time Zhao Lixuan returned to the Unstained Immortal Realm, the crowd always got roped in and started calling him that too.

Fortunately, Di Chun spent most of his time traveling outside and rarely came back.

Thus, the reason for Di Chun’s sudden disappearance for a year was finally revealed.

As Yu Rumu had guessed, it happened earlier that year while Di Chun was doing business in the Western Liang desert region of the Human Realm. He heard that a local Western Liang King Tomb, sunken into a lake, had been blasted open by tomb raiders—yet several groups of them had vanished inside.

His skills itched for action. After finishing his deals, he couldn’t suppress his curiosity and went to investigate.

Who knew the tomb was actually a newly manifested Divine Miracle of a burial lake—and no one knew it at the time.

Just like that, he got pulled into the miracle.

According to Di Chun, there were no killing traps in that burial lake, yet for some reason, it flung him into Moon Haze Hollow at the nexus of the Three Realms.

True to its name, Moon Haze Hollow was shrouded in layer upon layer of fog, teeming with illusions. Countless immortals and demons were trapped inside, doomed to never escape.

Luckily, Di Chun’s luck was extraordinary. Amid the haze’s fog, he picked up an ancient qin left behind by some primordial powerhouse. At midnight, the lingering divine sense within the qin manifested—not speaking, but guiding him with its tones.

Following the ancient qin, Di Chun escaped the fog and reached the Floating Life Sea.

But the sea wasn’t the end. The qin’s true guidance led him to the legendary Bright Heart Island in its depths.

Ancient texts recorded this island’s wonder: those who landed on it could behold the truth behind what they cared about most in their hearts.

Yet this opportunity came only once per lifetime.

And for nearly a thousand years, no one had found a trace of it—most believed it had collapsed, vanished, and sunk into the vast Floating Life Sea.

But Bright Heart Island had always been there.

When Di Chun arrived, the Demon Clan’s invasion of the Unstained Immortal Realm hadn’t yet begun. Thus, the truth he sought was about his family’s secrets and his own origins.

And he did glimpse many long-sought answers from the island’s phantoms.

…

Later, on the Floating Life Sea shore, Di Chun’s silver tongue finally smoothed over the misunderstanding with Jiang Chen.

“You and him… you’re really just… business partners?”

Di Chun smiled. “Friends, and the shopkeeper managing his ventures. Nothing more.”

“Then why…” Jiang Chen trailed off.

“Why what?”

Jiang Chen just pursed his lips and fell silent.

In the end, though reluctant, Jiang Chen entrusted the still-unconscious Zhao Lixuan to Di Chun’s care.