Chapter 1015: If You Live, Then I Shall Live!

From the Tribulation Transcendence Stage to his current Mahayana Stage Sixth Layer, Xu Que could clearly feel his strength had multiplied several times over!

This was the final hurdle before the Half-Immortal Realm, focusing on settling one's foundation, yet it already marked a step toward another new realm; before this, they all called that state an Immortal!

Although the Holy Maiden of the Jade Pond Palace, Bai Cailing, had once informed Xu Que that the title "Immortal" was incorrect, and that no realm such as Half Immortal, Human Immortal, or Earth Immortal could truly be considered an Immortal—since a true Immortal should possess eternal life, undying and indestructible—no one in the Lin Xian Realm could yet achieve this.

Nevertheless, it was undeniable that the power above the Half-Immortal Realm represented a qualitative change compared to the so-called Body Integration Stage, Tribulation Transcendence Stage, or even the Mahayana Stage, with a gap that was vastly obvious.

The reason Xu Que could easily slay a Half Immortal while only at the Fifth Layer of the Tribulation Transcendence Stage was entirely due to the Wind Fire Wheels and that Broken Sword, which compensated for his disadvantage in cultivation level through equipment.

However, once facing a large number of Half Immortals, Xu Que would still have to turn and flee.

Even now, having reached the Sixth Layer of the Mahayana Stage, Xu Que knew he had become much stronger, yet without relying on the Wind Fire Wheels and the Broken Sword, depending solely on his own Dharma Spells, he felt he could at most contend with a single Half Immortal expert; if facing two or three Half Immortals, he feared he would not be their match!

Obviously, as his cultivation level climbed higher, it was becoming increasingly difficult for him to easily defeat enemies across stages as he had in the past.

However... having equipment changed everything!

Treading on the Wind Fire Wheels and wielding the Broken Sword empowered by the Sword Spirit, who below the Human Immortal Realm would dare to fight him?

"Hmph, once I finish dealing with you, this crazy woman, I'll go out and pull off a huge act of showing off!"

At this moment, Xu Que had silently crept outside the palace, narrowing his eyes slightly as he gazed at the Ice Coffin inside the hall!

Over the past year, although his True Body had been immersed in cultivation, his Little Golden Body had been constantly monitoring that woman's divine sense.

Initially, he had been half-believing and half-doubting regarding the Sword Spirit's words, not thinking that woman would truly do anything ruthless.

But after a year had passed, Xu Que unexpectedly discovered that his Life Span had been literally reduced by Five Hundred Years!

The crucial point was that this lost Life Span was hard to detect, causing no changes to his appearance whatsoever, acting like a chronic Poison that slowly eroded him!

Fortunately, he had used the Ancient Life and Death Plate back then to increase his Life Span to over two thousand years; otherwise, given his initial mere two hundred-plus years of life, he would have long since died inexplicably and turned into white bones!

"Truly ruthless as hell; her words and actions gave no hint of such cruelty, yet she turned out to be a scheming bitch; if I don't take revenge today, my surname isn't Xu!"

Xu Que cursed silently in his heart.

Even though he was currently not a match for that woman, he was not panicked in the slightest; since the Void Boundary Point had already been established, he could directly use a Sky-Breaking Talisman to flee at the first sign of danger.

Therefore, with no worries holding him back, if Xu Que did not seek revenge, he truly would not be Xu Que!

"How do you plan to take revenge?" the Sword Spirit asked via Sound Transmission.

From its perspective, it completely disagreed with Xu Que seeking revenge.

First, the gap in strength was too vast, making it very difficult for Xu Que to inflict any serious injury on that woman.

Second, revenge should not be rushed at this moment; he ought to leave first, cultivate peacefully until he became powerful, and there would surely be opportunities for revenge in the future.

"How else to take revenge? Even if I can't kill her, I'll disgust her to death and anger her to death!" Xu Que said with a Cold Smile.

For so many years, this had always been his style of action; if he had a grudge, he would settle it on the spot, and only if he truly couldn't settle it immediately would he then make plans, but in any case, he had to try first!

There was a saying that went very well: If you don't try, how would you know what despair feels like?

Yet Xu Que was exactly the kind of person who would not give up trying to take revenge until he reached the point of despair; when this lad got ruthless, truly no one could compare to him!

"Whoosh!"

Finally, Xu Que made his move!

Both the palace and the Ice Coffin were currently silent, peaceful, and without any movement.

Xu Que transformed into a shadowy figure, silently gliding across the Bridge, sneaking like an assassin to the side of the palace's Main Gate, where he furtively pulled out a Storage Ring and stuck it to the Wall using glue!

Subsequently, he circled around the Wall, moved forward several dozen meters, and stuck another Ring there!

Repeating this cycle, Xu Que quickly covered the Walls surrounding the palace with a row of Storage Rings.

"Hehe, step one accomplished!" Xu Que curled the corners of his mouth into a smile, then returned to the palace's Main Gate and peered inside furtively!

Seeing that there was still no movement inside the Ice Coffin, he waved his hand, took out several Array Disks, and carefully placed them one by one at the palace entrance, arranging them step by step as he moved deeper into the hall.

"Hiss!"

It was not until Xu Que reached the Center of the palace that the Ice Coffin suddenly burst forth with Spiritual Light, surging with a mighty pressure of the Divine Soul.

"Eh, Master, you're awake?" Xu Que immediately straightened his body and asked with a beaming smile.

At the same time, he summoned the System Interface; a percentage progress bar appeared before his eyes, currently in a slow loading state, while a mighty surge of True Essence erupted from his body!

At this moment, the Spiritual Energy around the four sides of the Ice Coffin instantly condensed, forming a hazy, illusory figure whose gaze locked directly onto Xu Que.

"Did I not tell you to cultivate properly? What are you doing here?" the woman asked lightly, her tone quite cold.

Xu Que's gaze remained fixed on the System Interface, where the progress bar had already reached 12%.

He smiled and replied, "Master, I feared that if I continued cultivating, my Life Span would soon be completely drained by you; isn't it better to come find you now and demand some Life Span back since I feel death is imminent?"

Upon hearing this, the woman was instantly stunned, seemingly not expecting that Xu Que would actually discover this.

But very quickly, a trace of coldness flashed in her eyes, and she said in a cold voice, "You are cultivating in such a precious land; what harm is there in your Master borrowing a bit of your Life Span? In any case, just cultivate peacefully; your Master will not drain all of your Life Span!"

"Oh ho, I thought you would pretend to be ignorant and stubborn for a while, yet you admitted it so straightforwardly!"

Xu Que immediately shook his head and said gravely, "However... what I hate most is people taking without asking; you took away over five thousand years of my Life Span for no reason, and this debt must be settled clearly!"

Over five thousand years of Life Span?

The woman's eyes instantly widened; she had only secretly absorbed Five Hundred Years of Life Span, yet this lad boldly exaggerated it by ten times; was he not being too shameless?

Moreover, with your level of cultivation and strength, how could you possibly have five thousand years of Life Span?

Thinking this, the woman immediately narrowed her gaze and said gravely, "Stop this nonsense and go back to cultivate immediately; your cultivation progress this year has been excellent, far exceeding your Master's expectations, but your Master hopes you will accelerate further, reaching the Mahayana Stage Peak within half a year and stepping into the Half-Immortal Realm within a year!"

"Step into the Half-Immortal Realm in a year? Hehe, do you take me for a god? If I don't reach the Half-Immortal Realm, are you going to bite me?" Xu Que laughed fearlessly.

Stepping into the Half-Immortal Realm in a year was naturally something he knew was no problem!

However, he had already stayed here for one year, while ten years had passed in the outside world; he was very worried about the situation of the others, after all, when he was captured and brought in, other deadly lands still contained Half Immortal experts.

If he stayed here for another year, it would equal twenty years passing in the outside world; he could not possibly endure staying.

"In one year, if you cannot step into the Half-Immortal Realm, you will have lost your meaning to your Master, and at that time..." Suddenly, the woman's voice turned icy cold, her gaze locking directly onto Xu Que as she continued, "At that time, you can only die!"

"Die?"

Xu Que paused mid-sentence, his gaze falling upon the System Interface, where the progress bar had already reached 98.2% and was still slowly loading!

98.5%……

98.9%……

99.3%……

99.8%……

100%!

"Ding, congratulations to the Host, you have successfully obtained a Top Grade Immortal Artifact 【Time Shuttle】!"

As the system's notification rang out, a brilliant smile spread across Xu Que's face: "Dying isn't in the cards, but as for you, Master, I'm afraid you really can only wait for death here!"

The moment his words fell, Xu Que suddenly slapped his palm forward!

Boom!

A violent force whipped up a hurricane, blasting straight toward the woman, while Xu Que himself retreated at extreme speed, stepping on the Wind Fire Wheels, and withdrew from the Palace in an instant!

Almost the instant he retreated, every Array Disk laid out in the Palace was activated one after another!

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Layer upon layer of Formation Barriers blazed brilliantly, sealing off the Palace's exits, packed densely together!

The entire process took no more than a single breath, leaving no time to react.

But by now the woman had already sensed the change in this Cave—her Time Shuttle was gone!

"You… what did you do?" the woman shrieked in disbelief, her entire figure piercing straight through those Formation Barriers like a phantom!

Although she was powerful enough to ignore the Formations, they still affected her speed in the end, nowhere near fast enough to catch Xu Que.

Xu Que had planned all of this long ago. At this moment he was riding the Wind Fire Wheels, reaching the Void Boundary Point in an instant, and in a flash of lightning snatched out the Sky-Breaking Talisman, ordering the system to activate it!

"You actually stole the Time Shuttle out too? How did you do it?" At this moment, the Sword Spirit trembled within the Broken Sword, asking in utter Shock.

"Hehe, is there anything this Xu Que can't do?" Xu Que said with a beaming smile.

"So that was why you laid out that pile of Storage Rings outside the Palace? This Seat still can't figure it out!" the Sword Spirit said, perplexed.

"No, those are two different things! Stealing her Time Shuttle is to infuriate her to death. As for laying out those Storage Rings, besides infuriating her to death, they can also disgust her to death!" Xu Que's lips curled up, and he suddenly snapped his fingers!

"Snap!"

Boom—!

In an instant, a deafening explosion suddenly erupted from the direction of the Palace. Over a hundred Storage Rings outside the Wall detonated simultaneously, clumps of blackish-yellow sticky matter flying everywhere, scattering all around in an overwhelming wave, releasing a stench that made one's scalp crawl!

"Storage Rings mixed with shit, to infuriate her into madness—in memory of me, Er Gouzi!"

Xu Que smiled with breezy nonchalance and slowly turned around.

Under the Sword Spirit's dumbfounded gaze, he stepped on the Wind Fire Wheels, gripped the Broken Sword, and plunged into the already open Void gap!

Boom!

The instant Xu Que and the Sword Spirit's figures and auras vanished, that Void gap closed as well.

At the same moment, the woman's figure arrived in a rush. Staring at the empty spot, a terrifying Killing Intent that could shake heaven and earth erupted from her body!

"Xu Que!"

She coldly shouted, her Killing Intent surging. With a flick of her slender hand, she summoned a dazzling, crystalline Stele.

"You want the Inheritance of the Imperial Physician Heavenly Book? Good, very good. As your Master, I'll grant your wish! From today onward, if I live, you live; if I die, you cannot live alone either!"

Boom!

The instant the woman's words fell, a powerful Heavenly Might and Dao resonance rippled out from the Stele, transforming into a ring of ripples that swept outward.

Finally, two golden names appeared on the Stele—"Xuan Yuan Wanrong," "Xu Que"!

……

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【First Update!】