Chapter 26 Part 2

“Impossible,” Lian Yunzhi said calmly. “I only cultivated for one night.”

Mu Cheng pursed his lips. “It’s been seven years. I’m sixteen now.”

Lian Yunzhi fell silent.

He looked up at Mu Cheng and saw he had reached Foundation Establishment Peak.

He looked down at his own robes—still pristine white, but now worn.

He turned to their surroundings. It was still the scripture chamber, but every book inside showed signs of years of reading, changed from before.

Even Little Gold in the Cricket Cage had doubled in size.

……So he really had secluded himself for seven years?

No, that couldn’t be.

After cultivating the Divine Soul Technique, Lian Yunzhi’s divine soul had grown much stronger. He couldn’t possibly confuse one night with seven years—unless he’d lost his mind.

Words he’d read and heard echoed in his ears.

[The current Xiaoze State and even the outer world it extends to are merely a Reincarnation Illusion imprisoning him…]

[I wish I could grow up right away.]

[I want to open my eyes tomorrow and be an adult already.]

Lian Yunzhi: “…”

Mu Cheng had actually turned into an adult the moment he opened his eyes… except it was Lian Yunzhi’s eyes that had opened.

Lian Yunzhi looked at Mu Cheng with complicated emotions.

Mu Cheng: “What’s wrong?”

What’s wrong? What couldn’t be wrong?!

The world collapsed when you wanted it to, time warped at your whim, people grew up on command… What was even real anymore?

Without a word, Lian Yunzhi suddenly attacked Mu Cheng!

Lian Yunzhi was at Mid Golden Core, Mu Cheng at Foundation Establishment Peak. Even without a weapon, Lian Yunzhi quickly subdued him.

Lian Yunzhi pinned Mu Cheng against the wall, his elbow against his neck. “Is my Mid Golden Core cultivation real?”

Mu Cheng blinked in confusion. “Very impressive?”

Lian Yunzhi paused, then suddenly sighed and released him. “Forget it.”

Forget it.

Real or fake, illusory or not—he didn’t care.

He only knew his cultivation was real, and that was enough.

Damn it.

If his Dao Heart hadn’t been so firm, Mu Cheng would have given him heart demons.

.

Now at Mid Golden Core, Lian Yunzhi decided to venture into the wider outer world to better assault Nascent Soul.

As for the issue of spiritual power destabilizing outside, Lian Yunzhi believed he could overcome it. Even if not, he at least needed to understand why it happened.

Of course, before leaving, he planned to sweep through Xiaoze State’s secret realms, claiming every treasure he’d obtained or missed in the previous cycle.

His first stop was the Xiao Yun Mountain Secret Realm.

After all, the Extreme Pleasure Hall’s floor tiles there could pass for spirit stones, and that Ten Thousand Year Cold Jade Bed was valuable too. In the previous cycle, Lian Yunzhi hadn’t used it because it was dirty, but he’d chopped it into over ten pieces and sold them in batches, each fetching a sky-high price.

That was one reason he’d lived prosperously for a decade after breaking ties with the Lian Family in the last cycle.

But what Lian Yunzhi loved most was the Spirit Marrow Condensing Pearl. He really couldn’t live without his hot spring spirit pool.

“You seem awfully familiar with this place.”

Watching Lian Yunzhi gleefully loot the Extreme Pleasure Hall, Mu Cheng suddenly spoke up.

Lian Yunzhi glanced at him. He wasn’t worried about Mu Cheng recalling the previous cycle—according to the Cyan-Clothed Person, Mu Cheng had already reincarnated ten thousand years in the Reincarnation Illusion. If his memories were that easy to recover, they would have resurfaced long ago. So he didn’t bother with an excuse and skipped the topic entirely. “There’s a Spirit Marrow Condensing Pearl in that Spirit Spring Pool. Go fish it out for me.”

Mu Cheng soon retrieved the Spirit Marrow Condensing Pearl and handed it to Lian Yunzhi. Staring at his profile, he asked softly, “How did we become Dao Companions in our previous life?”

Lian Yunzhi brushed it off casually. “Forgot.”

Mu Cheng frowned. “But…”

“If you forgot, why can’t I?” Lian Yunzhi interrupted impatiently. “Go harvest the spirit herbs. Be careful—keep the Thousand-Year Spiritual Herbs and Ten Thousand Year Spirit Herb separate.”

Mu Cheng pursed his lips, took the Storage Bag Lian Yunzhi handed him, and went to harvest the herbs.

After the looting, Lian Yunzhi led Mu Cheng out through the pool bottom to the Xiao Yun Mountain exit.

The moment they emerged, Mu Cheng grabbed Lian Yunzhi again. “I… Why did I place a Spiritual Power Restriction on you back then? Was I bad to you in our previous life?”

Lian Yunzhi was about to brush it off again, but upon looking up at Mu Cheng’s tall figure, he paused.

Wait… Hadn’t Mu Cheng grown up?

Lian Yunzhi’s eyes turned. He cleared his throat lightly and said, “Yes, in your last life, you treated me terribly. You used me as a slave and Human Cauldron, so in this life, you have to make it up to me. Got it?”

With that, Lian Yunzhi pulled out a Furnace Cauldron Refining Method and a Divine Soul Cultivation Art and shoved them at Mu Cheng. “Study these two books carefully, especially the sections on Inscription Engraving and Divine Soul Dual Cultivation. Learn them well!”

Mu Cheng halted, clutching the books tightly. His ears reddened, and he stood speechless.

Lian Yunzhi walked ahead briskly, but after two steps, he froze.

Several dozen feet away… stood a group of people.

They wore varied styles of clothing, with cultivations ranging from Foundation Establishment to Golden Core. One golden-robed cultivator’s Daoist robe bore an Absolute Kill Array inscription. A gray-black-robed cultivator’s fingertips twirled thin chains. At their head was a cold-faced Golden Core cultivator holding a Compass, slowly turning.

—It was Peak Golden Core Feng Xi, along with six other “Lin Xian Sect disciples”!

How had they gotten here?! Wait—how were they not dead from the previous cycle? And they’d brought the magic artifacts they’d shown off in the red mist!

“…Senior.”

Feng Yuan stepped out from behind Feng Xi, staring fixedly at Lian Yunzhi. A slender black Wooden Box levitated toward him on divine sense—

“Have you been holding off because you forgot this?”