Piercing through the layer of violent winds, Meng Qi and Jiang Zhiwei clearly gazed down upon the entire fragment of Zhenguang, simultaneously uttering soft exclamations. This place appeared exactly the same as when they flew over the Real World—identical landscapes of the Extreme North, grasslands, Western Regions, Southern Wilderness, the Eastern Sea, and Central Plains, with nearly identical outlines and layouts.
As they descended lower, the rivers and mountains they saw further deepened their sense of déjà vu, as if they had returned to the Real World.
“If it weren’t for the fact that we were just pulled here from the Real World, I might have thought I was lost in illusions and darkness, circling back to where I started,” Meng Qi mused.
Jiang Zhiwei gazed into the distance, her voice tinged with excitement: “Earlier, I thought this might be a small fragment like the back mountains of Shaolin, but it’s unexpectedly magnificent and splendid, just like a reflection of the Real World.”
“I wonder how martial arts have developed here and what sects and clans exist…”
Being in a place identical to their main world, Meng Qi felt a sense of disorientation, as though he were in a dream, so he smiled and said, “Let’s start by meeting your reborn ‘other self.'”
His eyes still shimmered faintly with the radiance of the Dao Yi Glazed Lamp, its interplay of black and white light ethereal and illusory, amplifying and tracing the subtle connection transmitted by Jiang Zhiwei.
“There…” Meng Qi murmured. Two beams of light tore across the sky, heading toward a location slightly northwest of the center.
As the light dimmed, the two appeared before a mountain peak as straight as a sword.
“Xijian Pavilion…” Jiang Zhiwei effortlessly recognized the familiar scenery.
This was where her sect resided, the very place they had just left!
“Is there also an Xijian Pavilion here? It makes sense that your ‘other self’ in the Zhenguang fragment would appear at Xijian…” Meng Qi half-doubtfully, half-rationally speculated.
Jiang Zhiwei chuckled softly: “The myriad worlds are boundless and wondrous, filled with all sorts of marvels. However, this might not truly be Xijian. Perhaps another sword sect in this Zhenguang fragment values the environment here and established their sect first.”
Meng Qi glanced at the disciples guarding the mountain gate and their attire and swords, then suggested with interest: “Why don’t you try showing your Xijian Pavilion elder token?”
Jiang Zhiwei, equally intrigued, agreed. After all, it was harmless, and with their attainments and powers, any sect or clan would treat them respectfully, unlikely to provoke hostility.
She took out a silver sword-shaped token the size of her palm and calmly approached the two disciples guarding the mountain. Smiling faintly, she handed the token to them.
Radiating beauty and joy after breaking free from the Six Paths’ shackles, she seemed to glow, captivating the two disciples, who instinctively lowered their heads, unable to meet her gaze directly.
After examining the token with a secret method, one disciple returned it to Jiang Zhiwei with a bow and murmured, “Elder Jiang, please proceed.”
It worked! It really was Xijian Pavilion! Jiang Zhiwei’s eyes sparkled with surprise and curiosity.
“Interesting…” Meng Qi nodded slightly. This Zhenguang fragment was proving more intriguing than he had imagined.
After Jiang Zhiwei and Meng Qi disappeared from sight while ascending the mountain path, the two disciples finally regained their senses, excitedly exclaiming: “Our sect actually has such an ethereal elder!”
“Wait, I don’t recall ever seeing her…” One disciple nodded initially, then suddenly looked alarmed.
Oh no, could they have been deceived by enemies trying to infiltrate the sect?
Understanding his concern, the other disciple smiled reassuringly: “Don’t worry. The token is linked to the soul lamp, so it can’t be forged. She must be a genuine elder of our sect.”
“It’s not unheard of for Elders at the Outer Scenery level to travel for over a decade. Since we’ve only been here for less than ten years, it’s normal that we don’t recognize such a figure.”
“Right,” the first disciple calmed down.
The other disciple chuckled: “I wonder what the elder’s full name is?”
“I, I didn’t notice…” The token-checking disciple replied blankly.
As Meng Qi and Jiang Zhiwei ascended the steps, flowers blooming around them with fragrant scents, they overheard the distant conversation of the gate disciples.
“Actually, tokens can be forged, but not the token itself—it’s the gate disciples who are manipulated, their senses directly influenced and distorted to fake the soul lamp’s response,” Meng Qi smiled, as if they were merely taking a leisurely stroll. “So, what a major sect can truly rely on are its protective arrays and the divine weapons suppressing them.”
Jiang Zhiwei chuckled lightly: “But this time, we didn’t forge anything. The soul lamp’s reaction was genuine.”
As for the reason, it needed no explanation—Jiang Zhiwei’s “other self” shared a subtle connection with her “original self!”
As she spoke, she turned left, her expression serene and peaceful: “I can truly sense her now, at the ‘Sword Testing Ground.'”
Meng Qi did not interrupt Jiang Zhiwei’s complex emotions but followed silently beside her, rounding a hillside to see an open area for sword practice.
Many disciples of Xijian Pavilion were sitting cross-legged, listening to an Outer Scenery expert explaining their doubts.
This Outer Scenery expert was a middle-aged man, his face gaunt, expression indifferent, and eyes sharp, with a long sword across his knees, embedded with sparkling gems.
“Senior Master Hong!” Jiang Zhiwei’s voice trembled slightly. Within the Zhenguang fragment, not only did Xijian Pavilion exist, but also a familiar senior from her sect!
This was Hong Qian, the “Star-Shattering Sword,” Su Wuming’s senior brother, once the overseer of Xijian Pavilion’s Jiangdong branch, and someone Meng Qi had encountered during the Xingyun Banquet.
At this moment, seeing a familiar figure in a familiar posture doing familiar things within the Zhenguang fragment, Meng Qi himself felt a sense of surrealism, as if caught in an illusion. How could Jiang Zhiwei not be shaken and astonished?
“Zhenguang fragments are alternate futures split from the Real World, causing many people to unknowingly gain another self—an ‘other self.’ Therefore, seeing Senior Master Hong is understandable, as long as this Zhenguang fragment hasn’t separated and evolved for too long to have undergone drastic changes,” Meng Qi explained solemnly.
“Hong Senior Master looks younger… Is this a Zhenguang fragment from many years ago?” Jiang Zhiwei noticed subtle differences.
The Hong Qian explaining sword techniques appeared at least ten years younger than the Hong Qian guarding Jiangdong!
As she spoke, Jiang Zhiwei’s spiritual presence quietly extended, scanning the listening disciples. Finally, her eyes brightened as she spotted a figure in a corner.
Following her gaze, Meng Qi saw a delicate little girl, about six or seven years old, wearing a warm yellow dress and holding a long sword taller than herself. Her eyes brimmed with tears, yet were filled with stubbornness, as if unwilling to let go.
“This is my younger self…” Jiang Zhiwei’s voice softened.
Meng Qi had seen this scene in Jiang Zhiwei’s memories and smiled at the sight of the young “Jiang Zhiwei”: “Perhaps her name is the same as yours.”
At this moment, Hong Qian finished his explanation, instructed the disciples to contemplate and practice on their own, and then glanced at Meng Qi and Jiang Zhiwei who were openly observing. Assuming they were honored guests from the sect, he nodded slightly in greeting before flying back to his cave dwelling.
With guests present, he wouldn’t teach further—not only to prevent secrets from being overheard but also out of respect for the guests.
As Hong Qian departed, the disciples immediately began whispering amongst themselves, discussing their gains from the lesson and exchanging gossip and trivial matters.
“Did you see that little girl? She’s the disciple Master Xu brought back, said to be very talented.”
“I saw her. Her name is Jiang Zhiwei. Recently, when she joined the sect, she triggered a miraculous reaction from the ‘Slaying the Self Sword,’ which caught the Sect Master’s attention. She was taken in as a direct disciple. She’s so young and already has her soul lamp lit. You didn’t know that?”
Jiang Zhiwei listened, slightly furrowing his brows: “I was adopted by my master, wasn’t I… When did my master become the sect leader…”
“And this Xijian Pavilion here also has a ‘Slaying the Self Sword.'” Meng Qi looked up toward the peak, sensing a faint but sharp sword aura.
This was the sword aura belonging to the divine weapon suppressing the array.
There was also a divine weapon, the ‘Slaying the Self Sword,’ here!
When the Zhenguang fragment split, did the divine weapon also split into two?
They exchanged glances, both showing surprise.
Putting aside her reflections, Jiang Zhiwei stepped forward, approached a disciple, and smiled as she asked, “May I inquire whether Senior Su Wuming of your sect is currently present?”
The disciple was first captivated by her beauty, then shook his head in confusion: “Our Xijian Pavilion doesn’t have anyone named Su Wuming… Miss, could it be that you know him by an alias?”
“Then, who currently holds the highest rank on the Earth List within your sect?” Jiang Zhiwei couldn’t help but ask.
There was a Xijian Pavilion, a ‘Slaying the Self Sword,’ and even her younger self, but where was her master, Su Wuming?
The disciple looked puzzled: “Who in the world doesn’t know that it’s ‘Flying Dragon of the Star Sea,’ Zhou Taichong, the current leader of Xijian Pavilion, ranked twenty-third on the Earth List.”
This girl looked like a celestial being descended from heaven, and she acted like one too, knowing nothing of such basic facts.
Zhou Taichong, the master of Xijian Pavilion—Jiang Zhiwei knew him well, but why was her master, Su Wuming, missing?
“Perhaps Senior Su possesses legendary characteristics, so when the Zhenguang fragment separated, his existence was unique, without generating another ‘other self,'” Meng Qi speculated.
Wondering whether other Law Body experts existed here, Meng Qi suddenly grasped Jiang Zhiwei’s hand, and they instantly vanished, piercing through layers of void to appear at the foot of Shaolin Mountain!
He stood with his hands behind his back, gazing at the yellow walls and black-tiled roof atop the peak, his divine consciousness colliding midair with an emerging intent.
A soft crack echoed.
The old monk with white eyebrows sitting in meditation opened his eyes, his pupils reflecting the scene at the foot of the mountain—revealing a young, handsome Taoist wearing a fan-shaped cloud crown and a blue Taoist robe, and beside him, a radiant woman in a yellow dress, holding a sword.
Her sharp and fierce aura was unmatched by any swordsman in the world. The young man appeared youthful but exuded maturity, with streaks of white in his temples and a deep, unfathomable aura that even the old monk’s divine vision couldn’t penetrate.
A Law Body!
At least a Human Immortal!
A sudden, mysterious Law Body!
When Meng Qi’s gaze met the old monk’s, a long sigh echoed in his heart: “Abbot Kongwen…”
Yes, this old monk with white eyebrows was indeed the Arhat Kǒngwén of the Descending Dragon Sect—not disguised by Han Guang!
Seeing an elder who had already passed away appear before him like this, Meng Qi’s feelings were indescribable.
Even a Law Body could be “replicated”…
Jiang Zhiwei also recognized Kongwen and sighed softly.
As thoughts swirled in Meng Qi’s mind, he once again grasped Jiang Zhiwei’s hand, and they pierced through layers of void and returned.
“Master, what happened?” Xuānbēi, a young monk who had recently joined Shaolin, looked at Abbot Kongwen with confusion.
The old monk’s long white eyebrows slightly twitched as he replied with a puzzled yet solemn expression: “A mysterious Law Body passed by, one whose depth I couldn’t discern.”
A mysterious Law Body! A Law Body whose depth couldn’t be discerned even by the second-ranked expert on the Heaven List! Xuānbēi was quite shocked.
…
After traveling through space, Meng Qi and Jiang Zhiwei returned to their original location at Xijian Pavilion. Surprisingly, the disciple in front of them hadn’t noticed their brief trip to Shaolin.
“Young friend,” Meng Qi said with a smile, “we come from the farthest reaches of the Eastern Sea. We met a Daoist named Su Wuming from Xijian Pavilion, which inspired us to travel through Central Plains. Little did we know he was using an alias. Now, we’re completely clueless about the current state of the world. We’d appreciate it if you could enlighten us.”
The disciple found the two visitors unusually approachable and didn’t doubt for a moment that powerful cultivators who could fly from the Eastern Sea to near the Western Regions might be ignorant of the world situation. He eagerly responded: “You can understand the current state of the world by looking at the Heaven, Earth, and Human Lists.”
Recently, several major events have occurred. Khan Danba Te of the grasslands was assassinated by Tana of the Haoyue Clan, resulting in a complete rift between the two families. Meanwhile, the two great Dharma manifestations of Changshengjiao, Daman and the Living Buddha Hutuke Tu, have maintained an ambiguous stance, not clearly supporting either side.
“No Gürdo…” Jiang Zhiwei whispered to Meng Qi, catching the key point.
Nor any mention of the Divine Execution Axe or Saren Gowa… Meng Qi silently speculated, signaling the Xijian Pavilion disciple to continue.
“Also, Xu He, the direct disciple of the Xuantian Sect’s Master Shoujing, recently encountered a strange lightning tribulation and was reduced to ashes. He was quite a legend—under fifty years old and already a Half-Law Body, with hopes of entering the Heaven List within the next decade. But just after receiving the complete inheritance of the ‘Imperial Jade Records,’ becoming the true successor of the Xuantian Sect, he met with this calamity,” the disciple said enthusiastically. “Oh, his background was also quite legendary—he came from the Mietian Sect and was a remnant of the previous dynasty.”
“Tianmen Annihilator, a remnant of the previous dynasty?” Meng Qi’s heart stirred as he asked, “What was his secular name?”
“Han Guang,” the disciple answered confidently.
Han Guang? The “Demon Sage” Han Guang actually betrayed the Heaven-Destroying Sect and became the successor of the Xuantian Sect? The unfolding of this True Light fragment was simply too bizarre! Both Meng Qi and Jiang Zhiwei were utterly shocked.
…
Gao Lan, holding the Human Emperor Sword, received satisfactory answers to all his questions. He nodded slightly at Han Guang and said, “You’ve done well. Brother is quite optimistic about your future.”
“Brother…” Han Guang watched Gao Lan’s retreating figure with a relaxed smile on his face, while his heart was somewhat stunned.
This madman really thinks I’m his older brother!
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