Chapter 166: Apprentice 165, I

After all, it's from one universe to another, so Master Qin Xiang naturally can't meet his disciple quickly.

At least an hour or two; such a distance will cost a lot of fuel.

"I called Master; he said he's on the way."

After finishing the shaking, Wang Wu spoke to Yin Shenli, who was controlling his body.

"Alright, for now, let's keep moving with them; it's best not to linger here."

"You follow me; when my master arrives, we'll leave together," Wang Wu, who was manipulating his head, turned and said to the five cultivators behind him.

"Okay." The five cultivators nodded one after another and obediently fell in behind Wang Wu.

Even though these people are centuries‑old monsters, if you use the terminology from my previous life's hometown.

In reality, unlike the fantasy novels of my former home, these individuals actually have very youthful mindsets.

Especially Qing Xuanzi; Wang Wu doesn't know her actual age, but she feels as if her mental age has just turned eighteen.

The only relatively older person in the group is the cultivator who has entered the Law Realm, but even he only has a larger mental age, appearing a bit more mature while his outward appearance is that of a young man just over twenty.

That is perfectly normal here; after all, in a fantasy world, a few hundred years doesn't really count as old for humans.

Not to mention the oldest among them is only three hundred and seventy years old, and for experts of their caliber, a thousand‑year lifespan is still just a few years.

In other words, a twenty‑year‑old youth and a two‑hundred‑year‑old True Dao cultivator whose realm is True Realm or higher have no real difference in mindset.

Most cultivators lack extensive social experience and certainly can't match ordinary people who have spent their whole lives navigating human affairs.

After all, most of their lives are spent inside the "ivory tower."

Sects in this world can be seen as small nations, but also as large universities.

Compared with the petty struggles of mortal society and the scheming in the court, sects also have their share, but there are many powerful cultivators within the Great Sect, though positions are few.

Even sect missions are merely gathering resources, scouting talent, and exorcising demons to protect the Dao; that's basically what righteous sects do.

They don't involve tasks that require studying human affairs.

As for some evil sects and evil cultivators, they are not Demon Cultivators; Demon Cultivators belong to the righteous path.

Here, evil sects and evil cultivators refer to those fringe practices, but in a strong nation like Great Zhou they are like rats in the street, and opportunities to deal with them are rare.

Since sects are tacitly allowed by the court to exist as quasi‑nation‑states, their duty is to help the court maintain order in their locales.

Exorcising demons and protecting the Dao; there's no longer a need to slay monsters.

Um, that demon is definitely fully demonic, not a Demon Cultivator.

Cultivators like Qing Xuanzi, who have already reached the Break Delusion realm or higher at such a young age, rarely take on sect missions.

Only high‑level tasks require them, such as venturing into the Demon Realm to search for the previous dynasty's lost technological relics.

But such missions are few, so most of the time they just cultivate, cultivate, cultivate, and take part in sect tournaments.

Fantasy worlds always have this; after all, training without combat is useless—it just makes you a decorative pillow.

Following Wang Wu for a long while, no one knew where he intended to take them.

Thus, Qing Xuanzi, the first person Wang Wu rescued, either feeling a closer bond with him or simply because she was the only one with a name, took the initiative to ask:

"Wang, Commissioner Wang, if we keep walking like this, is there really no problem?"

"No problem." Wang Wu turned his head, glanced at her, then twisted his head back.

At present, Wang Wu's condition is extremely odd; when he turned his head to answer Qing Xuanzi, his head rotated a full 180 degrees while his body remained still.

Yet no one found it strange or eerie.

Even under Wang Wu's protection, they still lost their sense of time's passage, so they had no idea how long had actually elapsed.

The male cultivator who has entered the Law Realm is actually in good spirits now; after learning of Wang Wu's Heavenly Court inheritor status and the Extreme Heaven Divine Palace, he even feels a bit excited.

After all, he chose a sealed retreat because he had reached the end of the True Dao power system.

But now, during the retreat, he hasn't grasped anything, and even his own sect mates dragged him into this bizarre True Realm.

And yet, the long‑gone Heavenly Court actually sent someone to rescue him?

Moreover, not only to save him, but most importantly, this great deity from the Extreme Heaven Divine Palace even brought a new pinnacle of the True Dao system to their Heavenly Origin Realm?

What is this? A sage? No, this is—this is a true Immortal!!

Although the Yin‑Shang people encountered a completely decayed, fully demonic Heavenly Court, people of the Heavenly Origin Realm still know some of its past.

During the Shang dynasty, some Starfolk arrived at the civilization of the Heavenly Origin people, both to teach them the Dao at the Yin's request and to bring advanced technology; as veteran Heavenly Court affiliates, they naturally knew more about the Heavenly Court.

Unlike the Yin, the Starfolk actually lived during the Heavenly Court's heyday, though even then the Heavenly Court was already a waning force, a candle flickering in the wind.

But for those then‑weak Starfolk, the Heavenly Court was already sufficiently powerful.

After that, even as the Heavenly Court fell, the Starfolk never gave up serving it, even willingly corrupting alongside it, becoming equally bizarre, twisted Demon Stars.

The Heavenly Court's heyday was long, long ago; to this day, millions of years have passed.

Even the Starfolk only managed to cling to the last moment when the Heavenly Court still retained consciousness.

But merely a span of just over one hundred thousand years.

After that, the Heavenly Court collapsed, the Star River sank, and the entire Star River turned completely into a Demon Realm.

The Starfolk's civilization had long perished, leaving only corpses drifting and wandering through the universe.

It is a dead Star River, within which lies the corpse of a failed civilization.

No wonder the Heavenly Origin people chose another path; after all, the Demon Path was a brand‑new power system derived from the original during the Heavenly Court's final era to combat demonic corruption.

And the oldest, most primal Heavenly Court power system has a name Wang Wu knows well:

Immortal.

Wang Wu wasn't surprised by this title; he was merely curious—since the Heavenly Court's former power system was the Immortal Path.

So where does this True Dao power system come from?

Experts on Master Qin Xiang's side have already studied it; this power system is entirely different from the Demon Path, which was derived from the Heavenly Court's inheritance and reshaped by cultivation.

According to Master Qin Xiang's experts, given the conditions of the galaxy Wang Wu inhabits, this power system should have no possibility of existing.

So they concluded… ah no, after Wang Wu considered everything, he also reached a conclusion, which is:

This power system should actually be the one truly originating from other star systems beyond the galaxy he resides in.

And that true immortal should also have come from another great galaxy.

"Damn it, demonic monsters are one thing, but why is the neighboring neighbor's power system also so weird?"

Wang Wu, now should be called Yin Shenli, she led a few people through this fog‑dense region, muttering curses as she went.

"Specialist, what do you mean…?"

Qing Xuanzi heard this and asked again.

"I'm not talking to you, don't speak up randomly." Yin Shenli snapped her head around, her face twisted and then changed back to her own face, "Now I'm controlling my disciple's body; I'm not that kind of good‑natured fool."

"You have no right to speak to me; the fact that I can say so much to you is already a great favor."

"Yes, yes…" Qing Xuanzi hurriedly nodded.

Then Yin Shenli sized up Qing Xuanzi for a moment, a smirk curled at her mouth, then she reverted to Wang Wu's face, stepped forward and hooked Qing Xuanzi's chin.

"Quite handsome; since my disciple saved you, how about you give yourself to me?"

Instantly, Qing Xuanzi's face flushed red.

"I… I'm already married, I'm afraid, Specialist…"

"No problem." Yin Shenli said with a smile, "As long as you're willing to give your body, that's enough; he won't actually marry you."

"If, if the Specialist is interested…" Qing Xuanzi lowered her head, "Then, I would gladly…"

"Ha ha." Hearing Qing Xuanzi's reply, Yin Shenli laughed heartily, then turned back to continue forward.

In a place where men and women are completely equal, and social customs are in some aspects even more open than Wang Wu's hometown, such matters are naturally very commonplace.

Even the Zhou dynasty of Wang Wu's hometown was more open than later societies.

After all, the Book of Songs contains many poems on this, such as "Zheng Feng – Wild Vines," which depicts passionate outdoor battles during lovers' heat.

Moreover, this is a demodified version of the Great Zhou, a technologically ultra‑advanced Great Zhou.

People there are even more open about such things.

Of course, in this place, conservatism and openness coexist.

Cultivators, as the "scholar class" of this world, obviously belong to the open side.

"Ha ha, I directly found you a girl; how about it, aren't you grateful?"

Continuing onward, Yin Shenli proudly asked Wang Wu in her mind.

"Um…" Facing his master's self‑praise, Wang Wu didn't know what to say and could only remain silent.

The party kept walking through the misty place; Wang Wu occasionally checked the time in his mind, and so far, less than half an hour had passed since the master set out.

"Master, why does this place look like a graveyard to me?"

Although most of the surroundings were shrouded in fog, Wang Wu could still sense something off about the environment.

Though he couldn't see clearly, under the wavering mist some objects stood silently there.

"Yes." Hearing his disciple's words, Yin Shenli glanced that way and then nodded.

Even with his reinforced body, his fire‑eye vision was still limited here.

So Yin Shenli used her own "spiritual eye" to look, not relying on Wang Wu's chassis.

This chassis is still trash, even though it was forcibly upgraded to this level; it's no wonder it's rubbish.

At this moment the party had arrived at a place no longer the previous city; they had long left the city's bounds.

Though little time had passed, the distance they had traveled kept increasing.

There's no need to worry that Master Qin Xiang and others will lose their disciples after arriving, because the positioning is real‑time.

"So where exactly is this place, Master? It feels so strange."

Following Yin Shenli's shifting gaze around, the strange feeling grew heavier in his heart.

Not only him, but the few cultivators she protected also began to experience some problems.

After all, there's nothing he can do; even he finds this state hard to endure.

Though the surrounding environment can't affect him, the fact that it makes him feel uncomfortable is already a terrifying situation.

He glanced at the five behind him and saw they had entered an extremely odd state.

But Wang Wu couldn't intervene; after strengthening their protection a bit more, he stopped in place.

"We can't keep moving forward." The Wang Wu controlled by Yin Shenli wore a somewhat solemn expression.

While saying this, she began to circulate the Geng Metal Qi within Wang Wu's body, drawing a Diamond Vajra Demon‑Subduing Array around the group.

She doesn't specialize in metal‑type cultivation, but because she can directly read Wang Wu's memories, the effect she produced was far better than Wang Wu's own metal‑based practice.

The Diamond Vajra Demon‑Subduing Array, even at third grade, remains a very useful skill.

Speaking of which, Wang Wu hadn't used this move in a long time.

After all, he's no longer a minor demon in a true realm, and even ordinary true realms are far beyond him.

Moreover, residing in the Demon City makes the big array of little use to him.

Of course, Wang Wu still remembered this old comrade well.

"Um, why didn't we stay in that city earlier?"

After drawing the big array, looking at the five whose expressions had improved but were still in some state, Yin Shenli forced Wang Wu to sit down hard on the ground. At this moment, Wang Wu asked her somewhat puzzled.

"If they stayed there they'd die faster." Yin Shenli rolled her eyes, "You don't really think that place is safe, do you?"

"Ah?"

Wang Wu was stunned, about to say something, but the next moment a figure appeared outside the array.

"Is that a person?"

Wang Wu looked at the humanoid standing just a stone's throw away, and felt a bit twisted.

His ears are mouths, his nose is ears, his eyes are ears, his mouth is eyes.

Hands are feet, feet are hands, the body twists, the five limbs invert.

Yet it still stood in a perfectly normal posture in front of Wang Wu.

Pilot Yin Shenli already raised his hand and instantly smashed this thing.

Immediately, a massive aura erupted, surging in all directions; the annihilation force within Wang Wu's body dispersed outward, beginning to indiscriminately attack everything before his eyes.

"Disciple, don't be afraid, I'm about to arrive; let your master Yin Shenli hold on for a while, I'm still on the way!"

At this moment, master Qin Xiang also sent a voice message.

(End of chapter)