Chapter 566: Caught as Soon as I Entered?

Bie Xuening lowered her gaze to a corner of the training ground, her eyes piercing through layers of obstruction to land on Zhang Yunlu, who was walking toward the Ascension Hall.

In a certain sense, what Xiang Yuanjun had just said wasn't wrong…

Over all these years, she had taken only two disciples.

Her senior disciple was still rather mischievous, with an unusually convoluted way of thinking, so all she needed to do was tidy her up and keep her from being too reckless.

But this junior disciple…

For now, she was still relatively normal, so sometimes Bie Xuening worried she hadn't fulfilled her duty as a master.

In Bie Xuening's mind,

a true teacher ought to be like her master or her junior brother.

Of course, Jiu Yu was an exception—that rebellious disciple would climb onto the roof and tear off the tiles if not beaten every three days.

Just as Bie Xuening was watching her junior disciple,

she heard Xiang Yuanjun suddenly ask Xu Xing:

"By the way, Master, I recall you mentioned before that Huo's disciple also seems to be among this second batch of Ascension Envoys?"

"Mm."

Xu Xing withdrew his gaze from before the Ascension Hall.

"I met him briefly not long ago. His disciple will accompany the second batch of Ascension Envoys, traveling through the Xiang Jianzong's Ascension Platform Core to the mission world."

Xiang Yuanjun paused: "Then he…"

"Will definitely sneak in too."

Xu Xing finished the sentence Xiang Yuanjun was about to say.

He was certain of this.

He then repeated the same words he had told his senior sister earlier.

"But Huo values his disciple greatly—he won't act recklessly."

"Is that so."

Xiang Yuanjun smiled and did not press further on the topic.

Huo and his disciple—she merely remembered Xu Xing had some past connection when he emerged from seclusion, so she had asked casually.

Now that she thought about it, Master had only just emerged from seclusion a few years ago.

Yet in this short span of years, so many events had occurred one after another…

Xu Xing was unaware of the reflections stirring in Xiang Yuanjun's heart.

He had turned his gaze once more toward the outer realm, observing the boundless, infinite Chaos Sea.

In his perception,

the vast, endless Chaos Sea now appeared as countless delicate threads of the Tai Xuan Immortal Net, drifting like wind-tossed filaments.

Quietly, those slender threads formed from Immortal Net energy descended.

Though seemingly frail and powerless, the threads pierced through the world's crystal barrier—capable of blocking Chaos energy—with effortless ease the moment they made contact.

And in the instant they entered the world's interior, they immediately analyzed its most fundamental rules, deconstructed its operational logic, and unraveled all existing entities within.

Thus, worlds constantly rising and sinking were linked by threads of the Immortal Net, establishing stable deployment channels.

Simultaneously, filtered world information ascended along the Immortal Net threads back to the Net's core, then was fed back through the same threads to the Ascension Envoys carrying out missions in the respective worlds.

Compared to the first batch of Ascension Envoys, the mission difficulty for the second batch was considerably lower.

For instance, the issue of "language."

The second batch of Ascension Envoys received language transmission directly via the Immortal Net, eliminating the need to learn it themselves.

Speaking of which, the Jin Dan division champion of this Cixian Sect Grand Competition was Liu Ming of the Tai Shang Dao Sect.

Lacking the powerful learning capacity of a Fan Xu cultivator, he spent considerable time merely mastering the utterly alien language of the mission world.

Furthermore, the environment of the mission worlds.

The mission worlds visited by the first batch of Ascension Envoys mostly faced "world-level" disasters.

Such as Lin Xingyue's alien world invasion, Qi Ling's failed world ascension and collapse, and Xiao Yu's world consciousness being corrupted…

Or at the very least, like Zhou Kongming and Gao Wuwang, who had to "hand-craft" their own mission objectives.

Hmm…

To be fair, judging by the first batch of Ascension Envoys' performance, the initial mission difficulty had indeed been too high.

Moreover, the overall quality of the second batch of Ascension Envoys was inferior to that of the first…

Naturally, mission difficulty had to be adjusted appropriately!

Of course, this meant the value of Ascension Points also needed adjustment.

…

…

Not long after, outside the Xiang Jianzong's outer gate.

One after another, sword lights sliced through the night, landing near the Ascension Hall.

One sword light was especially brilliant, radiating an aura stronger than any previous sword cultivator's, drawing glances from all present, its refined sword intent vibrating intensely.

The sword light dissipated swiftly upon landing.

What came into view:

A three-chi-three-cun longsword, its clear blade like a pool of autumn water, circled the newcomer before sinking into his forehead and vanishing.

A fine sword!

All sword cultivators inwardly marveled.

Feeling the surging, vibrant aura that swept across all directions, they were suddenly shaken.

It was Mid-Spirit Transformation!

Only then did the sword cultivators finally turn to look at the newcomer, and saw the person approaching…

Never mind, appearance and attire don't matter.

As long as we know who the newcomer is.

In fact, when they sensed the Mid-Spirit Transformation realm, they had already guessed the newcomer might be Lin Changsheng!

Lin Changsheng paid no heed to the strange glances from the crowd, his gaze fixed intently on the Ascension Platform not far away.

Not long after returning from the Huanhe Sect's training, he had fully adjusted his state.

He sold the "Locking Space Sword Art," which could suppress the Great Teleportation Talisman, to the Transmission Hall in exchange for contribution points, and after confirming his magic power could no longer increase, he began preparing for his breakthrough.

The result was unquestionable: with sufficient accumulation, he succeeded in reaching Mid-Spirit Transformation on his first attempt.

Moreover, he had used his family's resource pool for free, spending not a single coin of his own.

Even more delightfully, the old bastard's son had failed his breakthrough—right in the cultivation chamber next to his own…

Tsk tsk!

Nothing could be more pleasing than this!

"Senior Brother Lin? I recall rumors on the Spirit Net saying Senior Brother Lin was 'emotionally scammed'?"

"Yeah, I heard about it. They say he went to Huanhe Sect for training because he got tricked."

"Surely not? Senior Brother Lin doesn't look like the type to be easily deceived."

"Who can say for sure about such things."

The murmurs beside him froze Lin Changsheng's triumphant expression; his heart once again flashed with that clear, luminous figure…

A faint ripple stirred in his mind-lake, but quickly subsided.

One day, he would return—see for himself whether the events at the Xian Sect's Grand Competition were real or not…

Yes!

After the "Anti-Emotional-Scam" training, he was no longer the man he once was.

These rumors meant nothing to him now—he could ignore them!

But soon, a hushed voice reached his ears again.

"There are still photos online of Senior Brother Lin leaving the Emotional Scam Center with Huanhe Sect's Wu Zhongfeng."

"Gah~! Could it be that Senior Brother Lin…?"

"Actually, I quite like Tianren…" another voice suddenly said.

Huh?!

The surrounding sword cultivators immediately scattered, staring in horror at the cultivator who had said he "liked Tianren."

Lin Changsheng couldn't help himself—he glared furiously at the group!

…

…

In the blink of an eye, it was time for the second batch of Ascension Envoys to depart.

A city adjacent to the Xiang Jianzong's main base.

Suburb, a villa complex.

In one villa, a sealed meditation room on the first floor.

The scent of Ning Shen incense filled every corner; Xiao Fan sat calmly on the central cushion, gazing steadily ahead. 【Tai Xuan Xian Net (Beta Version)】

【Name: Xiao Fan】

【Age: 21】

【Realm: Qi Condensation Level Nine (Nascent Soul Early Stage)】

【Profession: Magic Cultivator, Body Cultivator】

【Affiliation: Dark Dao】

【Foundation Technique: "Illusory Source Unfixed Law" (Supreme)】

【Spiritual Abilities, Spells: Chaotic Mind·Beginner (Supreme), Mysterious Ford·Beginner (Supreme), Unfixed·Not Yet Entered (Supreme), Contradictory Reason·Not Yet Entered (Supreme)…】

【Permission: Ascension Envoy·Type II (00:00:34)】

【Auxiliary Module: None】

【Ascension Points: 0】

Only thirty-four seconds remained before the Ascension mission began.

Through the semi-transparent pale blue personal interface, he saw a dark shadow opposite him, like a convergence of infinite doubts and confusion within the human heart.

"Disciple, this mission is not easy—you must be careful."

Huo's voice seemed to arise spontaneously in his mind.

"Understood." Xiao Fan replied calmly, then asked, "For this world, Master, have you assigned me any task to carry out?"

As in the previous Three Realms training, Master had instructed him to eliminate the "Zi Qing Guan," which turned people into pills, if the chance arose.

Of course, before he could act, Zi Qing Guan had already been wiped out by the training disciples of Longxiang Qingtianzong.

"This world… your Master cannot reveal details."

All Masters keep their disciples' missions confidential; he would not break this rule.

"Do as your heart guides you."

Huo trusted that his disciple, after this period of careful instruction, had already understood right and wrong in the world.

Do as your "heart" guides you…

Gazing at the personal interface, at the "Spells, Spiritual Abilities" entry marked "Unfixed," Xiao Fan's calm eyes flickered with a faint ripple—then quickly settled.

"This disciple understands."

When the mind is unmoved and the body has no fixed form, one may grasp the true essence of doubt.

Hopefully... this time he could successfully begin cultivating this supreme divine ability.

"Alright, your master has nothing more to instruct you on. Just wait peacefully for the mission to begin."

The moment those words fell, Xiao Fan discovered that the dark, gloomy shadow opposite him—which resembled an aggregate of doubts and perplexities—had suddenly vanished.

Even the meditation chamber felt considerably more spacious.

Xiao Fan quietly watched the countdown on his personal interface, watching it flow second by second.

Five, four, three, two, one!

Hmm~!

A buzzing hum rang in his ears; before his eyes, a ring of seven-colored light seemed to spread outward, and his personal interface began to change at flying speed.

【Connecting to Dao Marker... Connection successful!】

【Mission Item · Ascension Platform has been placed in your personal storage space. Please deploy it after the total completion progress of the three ascension missions reaches 70%.】

【Current Mission World: Unnamed World No. 81 (Nascent Soul)】

【Current Mission World Type: Standard】

Standard type...

In other words, a world of the "round heaven and square earth" type.

【Immortal Net power injected, coordinate calculation complete. Activating Cross-Chaos Sea · World-Seeking Program!】

【Please note! The duration of this mission is 90 days in the Central Continent of the Grand Xuan Realm, which converts to 3 years in the mission world's time (no spacetime auxiliary modules used). Upon expiration, mission progress will be calculated directly!】

Because the difficulty of the missions to be carried out by the second batch of Ascension Emissaries had been greatly reduced, the time flow rate had also been adjusted.

【3, 2, 1, crossing worlds begins!】

His vision blurred.

With Xiao Fan's realm, he had not detected any anomaly at all—he only felt the light before his eyes suddenly brighten.

He saw that he had already appeared within a dense forest.

The sunlight was bright and beautiful, filtering down through the gaps in the leaves.

Not far away was a small stream.

By the stream, several petite fox-eared girls were frolicking and play-fighting. The splashed stream water soaked through their thin gauze, spring scenery faintly visible.

Xiao Fan's expression was blank, utterly unmoved.

【World common language analysis complete, loading...】

After the words "Loading complete" appeared on his personal interface, he felt the information flowing through his mind.

He looked again at those fox-eared girls, a glint of spiritual light flashing in his eyes.

Hmm?!

Yet the result observed by his divine ability made him freeze.

He actually couldn't tell whether they were human or yao!

Judging from the essence of their bloodlines, the human proportion was not small.

But deep within the bloodlines of these fox-eared girls lurked a wisp of a special aura—faint as light smoke, ethereal and illusory.

"..."

After a brief hesitation, he took out a mask with no eye holes and covered his entire face with it, then stepped forward.

Better go up and ask first.

If they were human, he would apologize and compensate properly, then inquire about relevant information on this world.

If they were yao, then he'd kill them and extract their souls to take a look.

At the same time, elsewhere in Mission World No. 81.

A point of hazy gray light "drilled" out from the void, landing on a steep cliff, transforming into a figure of ordinary appearance and gentle temperament.

Standing thus with hands clasped behind his back atop the precipice.

The biting mountain wind whistled past, yet could not shake his figure in the slightest.

He looked calmly toward the direction where Xiao Fan was.

Though clearly separated by an immense distance, he seemed to truly see him, a hint of approval surfacing in his eyes.

"Not bad. You've truly inherited your master's teachings."

Clearly, Xiao Fan's choice greatly satisfied Huo.

Seeing that his own disciple's appearance had caused the many fox-eared girls to cry out in alarm one after another, Huo nodded slightly and shifted his gaze away.

A disciple still needed some space of his own; as his master, he would pay no more attention.

It was rare to go out—might as well take some time to have a good look around this world.

He also had to try to act as little as possible, lest it affect his disciple's trial...

Thinking this, Huo turned around and headed directly down the mountain.

The mountain path was extremely rugged, yet Huo walked it as if it were flat ground.

Along the way, he also casually swatted dead a man-eating tiger yao and a plague ghost on this mountain peak, as well as a mountain god who was in closed-door cultivation within a mountain cave abode.

Having ascended to godhood by receiving human incense, yet allowing such man-eating yao beasts to run amok—his death was not to be regretted.

What?

The yao creatures of the mountain also worship gods and offer incense?

Then he deserves to die even more!

What use is there in keeping a god of such an aberrant kind?

Smashing those demons, ghosts, and aberrant gods to death didn't cost a moment of delay, and soon Huo had come down the mountain, arriving at its foot.

After walking another stretch along the road, he came near a small temple, and his steps involuntarily paused.

The temple doors stood wide open, and one could see that the enshrined divine statue within had already been shattered.

Of course, what Huo cared about was not these.

Rather, it was that upright figure standing before the small temple, bearing a crimson longsword on his back.

Huo: "……"

No way!

He had just come in and already been caught by Dao-brother?! (End of this chapter)