Old Master, Times Have Changed - Chapter 708 (Patreon)

Chapter 708: Nothing More Than This

Very soon, two days passed.

Meizu left the Sword Sect.

On the other side, Ning Wanzhu and Mingyu were also preparing to go back and take a look.

For Ning Wanzhu, she had already been back for two days—if she didn’t go see her master, it would be hard to justify.

As for Mingyu, it was because her grandfather, the “Listening to the Rain Dao Lord”—the founder of Listening to the Rain Pavilion—was about to rotate off duty and return from the Starfront Battlefield.

You had to understand: this time, she went to the Chaos Sea to build an Ascension Web connection node, and she hadn’t told her family the real reason at all.

She’d used “going out to clear her head” as an excuse to brush them off…

“So who are you planning to go with?”

Inside the residence the Sword Sect had arranged for Yuan, Ning Wanzhu stood by the window, looking at the spirit plant bonsai on the sill, asking as if it were totally casual.

Mingyu didn’t speak. She was holding her phone, apparently replying to messages.

The two of them looked relaxed, like they didn’t care about his choice at all…

But if you believed that, you were being naive!

Yuan kept a straight face, but his whole body felt numb.

These two days had been so “harmonious” that he’d thought he’d escaped this round. In the end, he still couldn’t dodge it…

He flicked his gaze toward Yin Ling.

And found she was playing on her phone with immense enjoyment.

Yesterday, when he came back with Mingyu and Wanzhu, he’d been about to take her out to buy a phone, only to realize she already had one.

When he asked, he learned it was bought by their fellow townsman’s junior nephew—Jiu Yu.

Even though she was an artifact-born spirit of extremely high status, she was still inexperienced in the world, and it was ridiculously easy for that junior nephew to get a grip on her.

Emm…

But it wasn’t a bad thing, either.

Yuan’s mind wandered until Mingyu finished replying and looked at him.

“Made up your mind?”

“….” Yuan pondered briefly. “I think I’ll stay in the Sword Sect.”

Hm?

Before they could ask again, he continued, his tone solemn.

“You both know I can only maintain a soul state right now. And the foundation of my Soul Transformation realm body has been continuously worn down by Taiyi Realm’s ‘ritual of seizing chaos, refining the origin, and seeking truth,’ so the loss is severe.”

Taiyi Realm’s backstab had left both his body and soul damaged, and the damage to the “soul” was even worse than the “body.”

It was thanks to their fellow townsman taking action and cutting away his negative “dormancy” state; otherwise, whether he could even wake up would have been a question.

So after he regained consciousness, he had his “soul” separate from his “body.”

The main reason was that his current “soul” simply couldn’t control a Soul Transformation realm “body.” If he stayed inside it, it would actually slow the recovery of his “soul.”

“Next, I’m going to try returning to the ‘body’ and see if I can recover further.”

After these two days of recuperation, his “soul” had already recovered a great deal.

That was all thanks to the heavenly treasures their fellow townsman had given him.

There were vanishingly few heavenly treasures that could affect a Soul Transformation realm cultivator, but their fellow townsman—being the number one figure in the Tai Xuan Realm—naturally had some.

By his estimate, the damage levels of his “soul” and “body” had now reached roughly the same point.

They wouldn’t drag each other down anymore. Instead, reuniting body and soul would speed up his recovery even more.

“Isn’t that a bit too rushed?” Ning Wanzhu frowned slightly.

To be honest, a “Dao injury” that forced even a Soul Transformation realm cultivator to separate body and soul was not something that could be healed in a short time.

If he pushed too hard…

Wouldn’t it backfire?

“It won’t.” Yuan shook his head. “There are still a lot of things waiting for me to do. And I can’t let down Sword Ancestor’s expectations.”

Their fellow townsman had told him not to call him “senior.”

But when mentioning him to others, it was better to address him that way.

Besides, after everything their fellow townsman had been through, even just the “change” in his age was probably older than Yuan…

Ahem!

Anyway, calling him “senior” was perfectly normal.

Hearing this, Mingyu looked like she wanted to say something, but in the end she still offered a warning.

“Some things probably can’t be handled in just a short time…”

Although only a little over fifty years had passed, the Alliance of Righteousness was no longer what it had been when Yuan left.

Inside, all the factions checked and balanced each other, tangled and interwoven.

The Seven Immortal Sects at least still had True Immortal founders above them. Even if they wanted to fight internally, it was hard for them to truly tear into each other.

But the Alliance of Righteousness, formed by a coalition of many powers…

Setting aside that it lacked True Immortal-level existence, in sheer scale it even surpassed a single Immortal Sect.

An Alliance of Righteousness like that—how could it possibly be truly of one heart?

Over fifty years, the Alliance of Righteousness was practically a muddy swamp. Even if Yuan returned to the alliance, it would be hard for him to change much in a short time.

“I know.” Yuan smiled. “But this is the trend of the times. No one can resist it.”

Their fellow townsman had only mentioned it briefly.

But that was enough for Yuan to see the road ahead.

This was a supernatural world. True Immortals of Tai Xuan even transcended time—who could possibly block their shared will?

Just like before: when that strand of Yuan’s soul appeared at the Alliance of Righteousness, it only borrowed a trace of their fellow townsman’s immortal energy to reveal True Immortal-level power, and it stabilized the entire situation.

Now that he understood the True Immortals’ objective, there was enormous room to maneuver.

For him, it really wasn’t hard to steady the Alliance of Righteousness.

And when necessary, he could always borrow their fellow townsman’s “face”…

“…” Mingyu paused. “As long as you’ve decided, that’s fine.”

From humble beginnings to where he stood now, Yuan had created far too many miracles in his life.

Since he said it like this, Mingyu believed he could do it.

Only…

“Let’s be honest. You’re just afraid that after you choose, the one who wasn’t chosen will get mad.” Mingyu said.

All that rambling—wasn’t it just this?

“If you’d said it directly, we wouldn’t resent you over something this small.” Ning Wanzhu added.

Yuan shook his head.

“That’s really not it. Sword Ancestor said that once I recover and return to the Alliance of Righteousness, and after I handle the alliance’s various affairs, he’ll send over the Ascension Platform hub.”

If I believed that, I’d be a complete idiot.

It wasn’t like similar things hadn’t happened before.

And he wasn’t lying—his fellow townsman really did say it like that!

“A new era is about to arrive, and the Alliance of Righteousness can’t fall too far behind.”

Yuan stood up and walked to the window, looking outside.

“And didn’t you take on the work of building Ascension Web connection nodes? You can’t just drop the job because you found me, right?”

“Of course not.” Mingyu said decisively.

“Since we accepted the mission, we’ll complete it.” Ning Wanzhu also said seriously.

“So.” Yuan turned back to look at them.

“If I recover faster, I can help you sooner.”

“I don’t want to finally come back to the Tai Xuan Realm, only to end up separated from you again.”

The two fell silent.

Even though they knew some of Yuan’s words were meant to coax them, they still felt a little happy.

Off to the side, Yin Ling looked clueless. She raised her head in confusion for a glance, then lowered it again and kept playing on her phone.

…

Noon.

The outer sect of the Sword Sect.

The “Free Trade Zone” in front of Pill Cauldron Pavilion.

Two figures moved through the crowd, quickly stopping at a stall.

Yuan reached out and picked up a broken, ragged chunk of wood from the stall.

The wood was riddled with wormholes. If you shook it, you could even pour out wood dust and shriveled insect eggs.

No matter how you looked at it, it was just an ordinary piece of rotten wood.

After some bargaining, Yuan successfully bought it for three thousand spirit coins.

“Finding a bargain”—one of the must-do experiences for every transmigrator.

Yuan personally loved this kind of “small bet for big return.”

Unfortunately, his eye for it was pretty average.

So back when his cultivation wasn’t high, he not only never scored a bargain—he got scammed a few times instead.

But not anymore.

As a Soul Transformation realm cultivator who saw through to the root of truth, very few things could hide from him.

The wood itself wasn’t low grade, but due to worm corrosion, its spiritual essence had leaked away badly, and it had basically lost its value.

But that didn’t mean Yuan was taking a loss.

If something could gnaw through spiritwood of this grade, the worms themselves wouldn’t be simple.

So the real treasure was the “insect poison” clinging to the corrosion marks.

Given the size of this spiritwood, if he refined the whole piece, he could extract about a tiny drop of “insect poison.”

But even a single drop—paired with special methods—could be toxic enough to kill an Integration realm cultivator!

It was extremely precious.

Across the entire Tai Xuan Realm, only Qingxu—formed after the “Tai” of that year fell—could give birth to bizarre poisonous worms of this level.

“Back then, I always wondered why Qingxu had so many inconceivable things.” Yuan weighed the wood in his hand. “Now I finally have an answer.”

A venomous worm that an ordinary person could crush underfoot—its poison could actually kill a Soul Transformation realm cultivator, someone standing at the pinnacle of all cultivators who had seen through true reality!

It was absurd.

“‘Tai,’ as the source of ‘Law’ and ‘Order,’ turning into a perilous land after death would naturally mean inverted order and chaotic rules.”

“True Immortals…” Yuan’s eyes flickered with yearning as he sighed.

“I thought the Soul Transformation realm was hard enough, but compared to ‘True Immortal’…”

“Haah~”

Xu Xing: “…”

You reached Soul Transformation realm in a little over a thousand years—what more do you want?!

What more do you want?!

So many people your age are still stuck at Void Return!

Yuan sighed for a moment, then put the wood away.

“By the way, since ‘Tai’ is the source of Law and Order, is the Chaos Sea’s disorder connected to Tai’s death?”

After learning about matters related to the four ancestors of the Cang race, he’d been thinking a lot lately.

The four ancestors of the Cang race were manifestations of certain innate sources, and their state could even affect the entire Chaos Sea.

If Tai, the source of Law and Order, had not fallen—would the Chaos Sea have become orderly, no longer chaotic?

“These things are too early for you.” Xu Xing didn’t answer his question.

“It’s better not to dig into it.”

Although Tai had completely fallen, its influence still remained.

For example, the Four Great Star Territories of the Tai Xuan Realm, Qingxu, and Taiyi Realm.

Taiyi Heaven’s Will had clearly developed the concept of a “self,” yet it never even considered breaking free from Taiyi Realm’s Heavenly Dao restrictions.

You had to know: Taiyi Heaven’s Will was at an Integration realm energy level, and as a world will of a great world on the verge of transformation, its scale was not inferior to an ordinary Soul Transformation realm cultivator.

Yet even it had been silently influenced.

“For you right now, understanding these things is still far too dangerous.”

Below the Dao-attaining level, it was best not to touch.

“…” Yuan fell silent for a while, then suddenly complained, “Honestly, the Tai Xuan Realm’s so-called ‘True Immortals’ are way too overpowered.”

Snatching stars and seizing moons was already insane, yet any random Soul Transformation cultivator could do it.

In some worlds with weaker energy levels and less strict rules, even Nascent Soul cultivators could snatch stars and seize moons.

“When I first arrived in the Tai Xuan Realm, I was wondering if so-called immortals would be like the legends—traveling from the Northern Sea at dawn to Cangwu by dusk, wielding grand divine powers like snatching stars and seizing moons…”

Yuan rubbed his brow.

He’d always thought that was already astonishing, but the first person he met right after leaving the newbie stage could do it.

Even today, he still couldn’t forget that moonlit night.

That night, he felt frustrated. Drunk, he lamented that if he had the supreme divine power to “snatch stars and seize moons,” maybe he could change everything.

But Wanzhu heard him.

With a single “How could that be difficult,” she performed it on the spot.

“Compared to this, I actually think those so-called ‘Void Return heavenly immortals’ in other worlds match what I expected.”

“Then wouldn’t your Soul Transformation realm have to be called Immortal Emperor?” Xu Xing teased. “Immortal Emperor Yuan?”

“…” Yuan paused. “Let’s not.”

He’d already accepted the Tai Xuan Realm’s definition of “immortal.”

If he went around calling himself “Immortal Emperor” now, he’d only be so embarrassed his toes would dig through the floor.

It was even more cringe than “Sage Emperor”!

“Speaking of it, why did you name the realm above Soul Transformation realm ‘immortal’ in the first place?” He paused, then cautiously added, “I can know this, right?”

“…”

Xu Xing went silent for a moment.

“It’s nothing. Just an obsession.”

An obsession?

Yuan didn’t understand, but he had no intention of pressing the topic.

He thought Xu Xing wouldn’t continue either.

But…

“When I first came to the Tai Xuan Realm, my situation wasn’t that good.”

“Back then, the Tai Xuan Realm wasn’t called the Tai Xuan Realm. It was called ‘Tai Xuan Heaven.’”

“Under Tai Xuan Heaven, the ten thousand races fought for supremacy, and only the Cang race stood high above all.”

“At the time, I thought I’d transmigrated into some fantasy world. And maybe because of old ideas, I fantasized that even if the human clan weren’t the overlord, it should at least have a few ‘immortals’ or something, right?”

But that wasn’t the case. The human clan was just one very insignificant small race among the ten thousand races of Tai Xuan Heaven.

Not an overlord, and no so-called “immortals.”

The second person he ever met in the Tai Xuan Realm—his master—was only at the “Condensation Unity realm,” merely equivalent to Golden Core, and yet he was already one of the strongest in the human clan at the time.

A cultivation level like that, in Tai Xuan Heaven back then, could practically be said to be everywhere.

“Unfortunately, there was nothing.”

After his master died, it became his obsession.

“…” Yuan was silent for a moment. “I’m suddenly curious about the past of you True Immortals.”

“There’s nothing special.”

All supreme heights begin from humble dust, and all greatness is born from the ordinary.

Nothing more than that.

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