Chapter 490: The Original Aspiration of Cultivation

But the demonic path? It's all about each man for himself when disaster strikes.

No one knew if the Xiang Jianzong would ever come again to mete out justice, so the Wanxiang Holy Sect gradually disintegrated after that.

After that, he used the resources he took from the Wanxiang Holy Sect, and while hiding and fleeing, he sensed a glimmer of an opportunity to merge with the Dao.

So he found a secluded place and remained in seclusion until now.

After successfully advancing to the Merge with the Dao realm, he spent more time stabilizing his realm, and only emerged when his resources were nearly exhausted.

But upon emerging, he found the entire Central Continent had become strangely different.

The first time he saw Shenlan City, with its bizarre buildings and magical artifacts, he thought some Xian Sect had relocated here!

He was terrified!

As a demonic cultivator who had survived the brutal era and successfully advanced, he upheld his一贯 caution.

Even after sensing that the highest cultivation level within Shenlan City was only Soul Transformation peak, he dared not enter rashly.

He observed from outside for several days, confirmed there were no anomalies, and only then slipped in under cover of night…

And the moment he tried to extract memories from a passerby on the street, he ran into the Xiang Jianzong…

His luck had finally run out after advancing to the Merge with the Dao realm.

Huanxiao the Demon Lord inwardly groaned in despair.

"Ancestor, please be enlightened—this soul I probed was a most heinous villain."

Given this situation, if he wanted to avoid being crushed, he had to explain himself.

"I admit I am no good person, and I've committed many evil deeds, but I've never tortured others for mere amusement without cause."

Even among demonic cultivators, most are merely at the level of 'using any means to achieve their goals.'

To torment others purely out of pleasure, with no conflict of interest whatsoever—that's outright变态, and even among demonic cultivators, it's extremely rare.

"Moreover, this man's actions have already caused three deaths."

All this was meant to convey just one thing—

The one I killed was not a good person.

"…"

The Celestial Demonic Cultivators are infamous for their extreme cruelty and psychological perversions.

Now he's lecturing others…

Xu Xing shook his head slightly: "I said—I'll spare you once, out of consideration for how hard it was to reach Merge with the Dao. Cease now."

Hearing this, Huanxiao the Demon Lord felt as if granted a reprieve from death.

"Disciple thanks the Ancestor's mercy!"

"From now on, do not commit further evil or harm the innocent."

"Yes! Yes! Disciple humbly obeys the Ancestor's teaching! I will cleanse my heart and start anew!"

"Enough. Go."

"Disciple takes his leave!"

Immediately, Huanxiao the Demon Lord's figure shot skyward, rushing desperately toward the city's edge and vanishing.

Only after he was gone did Xu Xing turn to the boy slumped before the wire fence, trembling, gasping for breath.

He had already freed him the moment Xu Xing arrived.

"Can you stand on your own?"

This was a pitiful little fellow.

Abandoned at birth, raised by a righteous alliance welfare institution, he entered school at the appropriate age to receive basic cultivation education.

Elementary school was fine—he was surrounded by others much like himself.

But middle school was different.

He never trained hard nor slacked off, and now he was only at Foundation Establishment Level Four; combined with his lowly origins, this made him perpetually insecure around others.

His timidity became the spark for his bullying.

Yet constant retreat only worsened his situation, bringing even harsher persecution.

It eventually escalated to this.

After a long while, he finally gripped the wire fence and forced himself to his feet.

"Th-thank you, Elder…"

He hadn't heard a word of what Huanxiao the Demon Lord and Xu Xing had said, so now he simply thought Xu Xing was a kind passerby.

"It's nothing—just a small favor," Xu Xing said, looking at him. "But what will you do if someone asks you about this later?"

The boy looked up, bewildered.

"He's dead."

The casual words struck like thunder in his mind, turning his already pale face even whiter.

"I—I…"

His mind was a blur; he couldn't think of what to say.

In this era, for a teenager on the Central Continent, "death" had always been a distant concept.

Yet now it had happened right before his eyes—this reaction was hardly surprising.

After all, youths like Xiao Fan, who bravely severed his own future to save his brother, or Zhang Yunlu, who endured hundreds of real deaths without breaking—these were rare.

"If anyone asks, tell the truth: you were being bullied when a Merge with the Dao cultivator emerged from seclusion."

With that, Xu Xing vanished.

Only the boy remained alone in the alley.

When he finally realized what had happened, he stared fearfully around him—so terrified he didn't notice the crimson sword-shaped mark flicker and vanish on the back of his right hand.

Good, Xu Xing still sent him a small gift as usual.

But compared to those he had given before, this small gift was somewhat different.

Whether it takes effect depends entirely on his future choices.

If he stirs up courage, the sword seal will aid him in his cultivation.

But if he remains as he always has, the sword seal will at most help repair some injuries, allowing him to live his life free of illness and harm.

…………

For Xu Xing, encountering a cultivator emerging from seclusion to merge with the Dao was merely a minor detour.

Leaving the sword seal was just a casual act.

emm……

The reason he cared more than usual might be because the boy himself was a beneficiary of the Zhengdao Alliance's social welfare system established by Yuan.

Not long after.

Xu Xing, having left Shenlan City, entered the territory under the Hehuan Sect's control.

Within the crimson sword light streaking across the night sky, Xu Xing was reviewing the message Master Mei Zu had just sent.

Master Mei Zu: "According to your words, it's indeed possible that the 'Dao Wang' itself has changed."

Master Mei Zu: "But the specifics must be confirmed—I must examine it personally."

Master Mei Zu: "/white coat yellow duck"

These were all previous messages.

Several hours later.

Master Mei Zu: "Where are you now? / bored"

Master Mei Zu: "/spinning in circles"

When she sent these two messages, Xu Xing had not yet departed from the Xiang Jianzong.

He replied, saying he planned to slowly ride his sword over.

Master Mei Zu: "Huh?"

Master Mei Zu: "/yellow duck leaps to its feet"

Master Mei Zu: "Why go through all that trouble? Just come directly."

Then, after another pause—just as he had seen Huan Xiao the Demon Lord.

Master Mei Zu: "Fine, fine, I'll come pick you up on my way."

Fleeing Hehuan Laozu: "Aren't you the one who didn't want to leave?"

He replied.

But for some reason, she never responded.

He waited a while longer, but still received no reply, so he put his phone away.

But just over a minute later.

Xu Xing suddenly stopped; the crimson sword light swirling around him gradually faded into the evening breeze as he gazed at the figure waving at him ahead.

Really…

She actually came?

……

……

"Well? I came out myself to pick you up—aren't you surprised, Dao Brother?"

Master Mei Zu smiled brightly.

Tonight, she was no longer in her usual style, but wore a long dress with a deep indigo hue, cinched at the waist by a white silk sash, slender as if one hand could encircle it.

A golden band bound her hair; loose strands brushed her porcelain cheeks in the night wind, glowing brilliantly under the moonlight.

Her brows arched like distant mountains veiled in ink, making the floral forehead ornament appear even more vivid as if dripping with blood; her vermilion lips, unopened, already carried a hint of spring's charm.

Undoubtedly, she had put great effort into this.

"But why did Dao Brother choose to slowly ride his sword over?"

She walked beside Xu Xing, walking shoulder to shoulder toward

"Why ride the sword… as a swordsman, I wanted to rediscover the original intention I had when I first began cultivation."

"Hm?" Master Mei Zu blinked. "Was your original intention in cultivation riding the sword?"

She truly hadn't known this.

"Riding the sword through the wind, entering and exiting the azure void… it sounded so cool and elegant. When I first began cultivation, besides surviving, that was my greatest goal."

Back then, he was no more than a speck in the ocean; his cultivation goal was simply that.

But who, at the start, hasn't dreamed of becoming a 'White-Robed Sword Immortal'?

Even Yuan, who was fundamentally a law cultivator, had secretly tried riding a sword.

This was what Huo said.

"But Dao Brother is already incredibly elegant and handsome!" Master Mei Zu laughed.

"Cough!" Her words made Xu Xing's face flush. "Enough, stop joking."

Come to think of it, though he was a transmigrator, he'd once gone through a very cringey phase after beginning cultivation…

Black history. Black history.

Fortunately, few people knew.

"I'm not joking!" Master Mei Zu said seriously.

She truly felt that way!

"Let's not talk about that anymore."

Xu Xing quickly cut her off—he was now a steady, mature Xiang Jianzong.

"Didn't you want to stay in the grotto-heaven all along? Why are you thinking of coming out now?"

"Oh my! Dao Brother rarely flew his sword all the way here, this humble one naturally has to come out and welcome you—otherwise how could this humble one show Dao Brother how much she likes you?"

"……" Xu Xing gave a slight shake of his head. "Ji Yin Xue's side—should be preparing to come back for a visit?"

"Mm, Ji Yin Xue had originally planned to return for a visit before Xiao Qian Ning went into closed-door cultivation, but something unexpected happened, so it was delayed."

"Unexpected?"

"The other shore of the starry sky organized another large-scale assault, so Ji Yin Xue couldn't get away."

Hearing this, Xu Xing couldn't help but frown: "The harassment from the other shore of the starry sky is getting more and more frequent."

"It should be to cover up the true situation on the other shore of the starry sky, thereby providing cover for attempting the 'Dao Broad' method."

"Possibly, but perhaps it's not just for that reason……"

Just like that.

The two chatted as they headed toward the Joyful Union Sect.

They finally arrived at the Joyful Union Sect as the twilight faded and dawn broke.

……

……

Once again arriving at the Joyful Union Sect.

The morning mist drifted thin; the bluish-grey at the horizon faded bit by bit.

Among the maple groves of the valley, one after another Charm Cultivators in sheer gauze garments, their fair skin touched by cold dew, had already begun a new day of 'cultivation.'

The Joyful Union Sect was as hardworking as ever.

Xu Xing swept a glance, and couldn't help feeling a sense of emotion in his heart.

"Does Dao Brother want to see? Once we're in the room, this humble one can wear it for you to see, you know!" Master Mei Zu tempted.

"We'll see." Xu Xing was utterly calm.

"emm……" Seeing this, Master Mei Zu deliberated for two seconds, and her peripheral vision just happened to catch that streak of golden-red at the horizon. "We just happen to catch the sunrise—let's go watch it together."

"This humble one rarely comes out—Dao Brother can't possibly refuse even this small request, right?"

Having said that much, Xu Xing naturally couldn't refuse.

So the two of them came to a viewing platform with relatively few people.

Likewise, quite a few Charm Cultivators were livestreaming the sunrise scene here.

That was just how the Joyful Union Sect was—any place with a slightly nice view was bound to have Charm Cultivators livestreaming!

Fortunately, both of them were True Immortals, so no one noticed their arrival; if they didn't wish it, even those filming devices couldn't capture the slightest image of them.

However, the filming device Master Mei Zu carried on her person had no such problem.

"Come! Dao Brother, look at the camera quickly, take a photo as a memento, and we can annoy the Sword Sovereign while we're at it!"

Xu Xing: "……"

Is it really okay to just blurt out your purpose like that?

Although over the years she had always stayed cooped up in the Ancestral Master's grotto-heaven, and aside from one trip to the Beast God Realm had gone nowhere else, she had not become dull because of it.

After taking a few simple photos, she put away her phone. The 'annoy the Sword Sovereign' she'd mentioned earlier was really just talk—as a master of temperature control, she knew exactly what to do.

At the very least, she couldn't post it now!

After putting away her phone, she, like Xu Xing, quietly gazed into the distance.

Yet the people around them raised their filming devices one after another, ready to record this scene.

One could see that streak of golden-red at the horizon growing ever more dazzling.

Silently, as if reaching some critical point, a wisp of morning light pierced through the clouds, pouring down as if to cast the entire Maple Valley into a scalding furnace.

Within the Maple Valley, the curled leaf tips drank their fill of the dawn glow, unfurling into leaping flames in the biting morning wind.

The lingering dew in the leaf veins refracted into seven-colored halos, rolling down along the creases.

The entire mountainside trembled with a rustling sound; orange-red and deep-purple light poured down the steep slope, gorgeously unusual.

A strange brilliance rose in Master Mei Zu's eyes.

Having not left the grotto-heaven for many years, seeing the sunrise scene once more now held a different kind of charm.

"The decision to relocate the sect here was indeed the right one."

The morning wind, carrying a bitter woody fragrance, lingered at the tip of her nose.

She suddenly thought of the days when she traveled the world with Ji Yin Xue, master and disciple.

If it had been in the past, for a self who had always been searching for her own meaning, she probably wouldn't have imagined that she would one day stay in one place for so long, right?

Searching for her own meaning—that too was her original intention……

As emotion stirred faintly in her heart, Xu Xing's voice reached her ear: "After staying in the grotto-heaven so long, and now that you no longer need to be confined to one place, why not come out and walk around more?"

After her last emergence from closed-door cultivation, she could seal Hun Tian Yi even without staying to hold down the sect.

"Does Dao Brother mean you want this humble one to visit you at the Xiang Jianzong more often?" Master Mei Zu quipped as usual.

"If you're willing to go, I'm naturally welcome." Xu Xing said instead.

Then am I among the choices you don't want to make?

The words reached her lips, but in the end Master Mei Zu still couldn't say them.

After a slight hesitation: "Dao Brother……do you still remember when we first met?" (End of this chapter)