Chapter 23 Part 1

The sect elders’ major lectures were truly worthwhile!

After sorting things out, Shen He’s mind nearly collapsed. He immediately recalled at high speed how he had introduced himself to Zhang Sizhe before.

He had said he was a loose cultivator.

Oh heavens, being a loose cultivator was perfect!

Loose cultivator Shen He—hmm, he remembered this lesson. From now on, he would use a fake name: Loose cultivator Shen Sanxian!! And he would make Senior Brother Pang take responsibility for him.

Shen He grew even more cautious in concealing his background. Using the excuse of tending to his master’s temperamental demon beast, he began carefully probing Zhang Sizhe’s origins and heritage.

…

On the other side, after venting his inner joy, Xie Linlang calmed down and sat cross-legged.

He had stabilized his cultivation just at Qi Refining Layer 8 before stopping.

Although it was rebirth cultivation, his body had only just been born and needed time and power to temper it continuously. Haste made waste.

Xie Linlang surveyed his surroundings. All he saw was pitch blackness, with faint outlines of walls and a cave ceiling. This seemed to be deep inside a mountain cave.

Winding around the walls were some withered wooden branches covered in fine, scale-like textures. They were overall deep purple, with demon power occasionally flashing past like flowing water, resembling phosphorescent stones glowing in dark mines.

Xie Linlang carefully probed around and found no immediate danger for the time being. Thus, he did not leave right away. Instead, he took out the storage bag that had been hanging from the Hollow Sword.

Since the Hollow Sword and Yellow Jade Gourd had brought him here for rebirth, and he had successfully come back to life, this place should be safe. It was better to prepare first before venturing deeper.

Xie Linlang first pulled out a set of black long-sleeved shirt and pants that Shen He had placed inside. After changing into them, he wrapped his leggings, fastened a palm-wide black waistband embroidered with dark patterns, and found a black outer robe.

Xie Linlang was somewhat surprised. Based on his understanding of Shen He, Shen He would not wear such an inconvenient robe for action.

But it fit him perfectly.

He donned the outer robe, fastening the wide, open-front robe with jade belt hooks. The black tassels rolling down the edges of the robe’s lapels swayed gently, like Shen He’s unruly ponytail.

Xie Linlang noticed the decorative edges on the lapels and unconsciously let out a soft chuckle.

After changing clothes, Xie Linlang raised his hand to smooth his long black hair.

Perhaps because his rebirth was based on the crane demon and demonic qi, compared to the past, Xie Linlang’s hair was longer and blacker, resembling the crane demon’s broad, magnificent black plume feathers, shimmering with captivating multicolored light.

Xie Linlang frowned slightly. He rummaged in the storage bag and found the Nine-Branched Banyan that he had previously asked Shen He to redeem.

The Nine-Branched Banyan was a heavenly variant. Each torn banyan branch could sprout independently or reconnect with the main root, making it ideal for refining twin-type magic artifacts.

Thinking of twin artifacts, Xie Linlang inevitably recalled Pei Ji’s pair of Dongling Swords. He sighed inwardly, his expression dimming slightly.

After Pei Ji’s death, the Dongxuan of the Dongling twin swords had gone missing.

Although the Xuanpo Sword remained in Xie Linlang’s hands—and he had even used it as a rack to store heavenly demons and display Pei Ji’s visage—the sword had been shattered into fragments by heavenly demons during Xie Linlang’s heavenly tribulation crossing.

Xie Linlang had, after all, been a pill dao grandmaster known as the Pill King in the sect. He possessed many fine treasures.

Before crossing the tribulation, feeling this pass would be difficult, he had simply distributed most of his items to sect senior brothers and sisters as well as various friends.

But a portion remained in his personal Mustard Seed Realm.

His Mustard Seed Realm was connected to the hilt of the Xuanpo Sword. Now that the Xuanpo Sword was shattered and missing, he wondered what had become of his Mustard Seed Realm.

As Xie Linlang dazedly pondered the Mustard Seed Realm, unbeknownst to him, the Nine-Branched Banyan in his hand had already reverted to its most primal form under the refinement of demonic qi: a banyan branch subdivided into nine strands.

Xie Linlang stared fixedly at the branches and leaves of the Nine-Branched Banyan. After a moment, his fingers moved slightly, weaving them bit by bit into the shape of a ruyi knot.

“Cultivators must always have things as they wish. Otherwise, why do we cultivate?”

In a daze, Xie Linlang seemed to hear Pei Ji’s hearty laughter by his ear again.

Indeed, now that he had been reborn, things had to go as he wished.

Soon, an ink-green Ruyi Rope appeared in Xie Linlang’s hand. He used the Ruyi Rope to braid the hair at his temples into a long plait, then tied it behind his head.

Now his long hair draped over his shoulders, with a few black strands falling over his forehead, but the hair at his temples would no longer fall and interfere with pill refining or combat.

After tidying himself, Xie Linlang pointed with his hand, and black-purple spiritual power transformed into a mirror, reflecting the youthful face within.

Xie Linlang was stunned.

The face in the mirror retained the outlines and features of Xie Linlang’s past self. The five features and bone structure showed no change, but compared to his former ethereal, aloof immortal aura, it now carried an indescribable demonic allure.

His brows were finer and more elegant, his eyes black as polished lacquer, his nose bridge straight, his lips like cinnabar, his complexion white as a crane in snow—especially the vermilion dot at his brow, vivid as crane-top cinnabar.

Xie Linlang pondered briefly and understood the reason.

In the past, as an orthodox cultivator, his temperament had naturally been immortal-like under the immersion of spiritual power.