Pang Xi was a brave old man. In his youth, he was known as the fastest runner in the village. Nothing could catch him, not the angry baker who mysteriously lost his buns; not the beauties who bizarrely lost their underwear, and definitely not his father’s fists.

So when he and his friends, who were sent up the hill to investigate the white beams of light, heard a blood-curdling laughter, naturally Pang Xi was the first to speed off. In the end, because he moved too fast, Pang Xi had unwittingly traveled deeper into the dark forest.

As he stumbled around trying to find his way back, Pang Xi suddenly saw two blue orbs in the dark.

A spirit beast!

Granted that the old man had never travelled far outside his village, and most of the information he knew came from stories told by passing merchants, Pang Xi remembered that the only beings that have brightly coloured eyes were either cultivators or spirit beasts. As much as he hoped it was the former, even he found it hard to believe a lone cultivator would wander around a remote place like here.

Thus, the old man did what anyone with a reasonable state of mind would do when faced with a monster that was overwhelmingly faster and stronger than them. He froze.

Ye Li curiously observed the elderly standing stock-still. He seemed pretty fit for his age, with a greying beard and big, big eyes. So big it almost seemed as if it was being widened due to shock.

“Hello~? Uncle, are you okay?” Ye Li waved her hand in front of his face to get his attention.

Ye Li had gotten close enough for Pang Xi to realise she was not a beast but a human. After that realisation, Pang Xi relaxed. If she was not a spirit beast then she could only be a cultivator or a descendant of one, both of which he could not afford to offend.

“Ah? Ah! Yes, yes. What does Honoured Immortal need?” At this moment a thought flashed through Pang Xi’s head. “Wait, may I invite Honoured Immortal to my home for some tea first?”

Although Ye Li had the appearance of a young adult but that was one of the effects the youth potion had on her. Mentally, Ye Li was an old lady who would rather not be reminded of her real age. What more, those decades she lived through was not ordinary. She had travelled almost her whole life with the most powerful cultivator in centuries, so she was no stranger to the harsh nature of life.

She would not so stupid as to accept the invitation of a stranger she met in the middle of nowhere!

“Okay, lead the way.” Ye Li accepted the offer.

As expected of a matured senior, she did not take the offer out of stupidity. She took it because she was feeling tired from lugging a sword and a bag full of treasure around. The gap between mortal and immortal was insurmountable, therefore Ye Li did not bother exercising during her free time and as such, the only reason she got this far was due to the other effects of the youth potion of which were an enhanced physique and night vision.

After travelling a while, the two of them heard the loud voices full of cheer nearby. They travelled to the source of the noise and found the village Pang Xi lived in. It seemed that the villagers were all in a celebratory mood until both of them entered.

“I’m back!” Pang Xi yelled in a triumphant manner.

“What the— I thought Mu Lang said that troublemaker was gone for good!” Statements similar to this spread throughout the crowd like wildfire.

The people talking clearly did not intend to soften their complaints about the arrival of Pang Xi. This hurt the old man’s tender feelings and he could barely keep his tears from falling. “What did this old man do to earn this vicious treatment! I have never wronged this place even once in my life yet this is how you treat me? I should not have brought back this honourable Immortal to protect us then!”

At that moment, the villagers took a good look at the young woman beside him. The woman beside him had messy black hair, big blue eyes and delicate features. Her slender frame was carrying a large sack and a plain-looking sword that radiated an aura of anything but plainness.

“Stop fooling around Pang Xi, quickly return her to the noble family you brought her from, or we’ll have more to worry about than some bandits!”

There is no way a cultivator would come out this far for them, so it was obvious that this scoundrel tricked her into coming.

“I’m not joking, would an ordinary woman wander around the woods with just a sword and her valuables?” Pang Xi continued to defend himself and as the quarrels started getting fiercer, the lady beside him opened her mouth.

“Enough! This man is speaking the truth!” Ye Li amped her acting skills to a hundred before continuing. “Don’t believe me? Then you can come up here and see if your face is harder than my fist!”

To accentuate her point, she stabbed her sword into the ground and rolled up her sleeves. However, instead of coolly standing pierced to the ground, her sword sank through the earth like mud, only stopping when it reached the sword’s hilt.

Ground: “...”

The crowd was shocked at her sudden challenge but no one dared to prove her wrong, lest they end up like the dirt beneath her.

“Xi Pang, bring me to the best house in the village! No one is to disturb me, or else!” Ye Li commanded Pang Xi while pulling her sword back up.

Pang Xi nodded like a chicken and did not correct his name. Word had spread fast that Pang Xi had brought a legendary cultivator to protect them so the village elder did not object to Ye Li using his home for the night.

When he saw the village elder gaze darken after she entered the house, the old cheat smiled innocently and prepared to go inside as well when Ye Li locked the door in his face.

Suddenly, Pang Xi felt a heavy hand land on his shoulder. Without even looking he knew it was probably the man whose home he had just expropriated from.

A few more hands grabbed him before dragging him away. At this point, Pang Xi had a clear view of his kidnappers. It was the village elder, Mu Lang.

Pang Xi put on his best smile as he pleaded. “Big Brother, please spare my face.”

Ye Li did not care about what was happening outside and walked into the kitchen to steal the dinner that the original residents of the house made. She planned to leave in the morning so she decided that she would stuff herself before slipping away.

After she finished eating, Ye Li placed the sword inside her sack. The sack was one of the treasures Xiao Wen found in a random cave during their earlier adventures. Back then, Xiao Wen did not have a soul space because he was only a Rank 1 Qi Gatherer so he used the magical sack to hold his stuff.

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The sack had a pocket dimension and with a mere thought, the owner can store items inside it and retrieve it at will. But despite this, there were a lot of disadvantages as well. The size of the storage space was large but could not compare to a interspatial ring. Furthermore, none of the weight would disappear and the shape of the sack never changes, forever keeping its bulky appearance even if nothing was inside it.

Xiao Wen forgot about the sack and chucked it to the back of his soul space after he had gotten stronger. Since it was useless for him, he decided to leave it behind along with many of the treasures he did not need when he ascended.

Ye Li entered the bedroom and drifted off into sleep the moment she landed on the bed.

The next day, a youthful atmosphere full of vitality and energy filled the air on the hill where Xiao Wen had his ascension.

Sha Xiong gripped the handle of his sword. The pupils of the youth facing off against him shranked as his vision focused on the sword.

Sha Xiong’s opponent made the first move as he stamped his right foot down and thrusted his spear forward.

As the tip of the spear got closer, the boy drew back his spear and sent a qi-infused kick to Sha Xiong’s shin. Sha Xiong in a split moment unsheathed his sword and slashed at the leg swinging towards him. When the leg and sword met, the sword shattered on contact.

Sha Xiong quickly backpedalled causing the boy miss his kick. He let his kick carry him forward as he used the momentum to pivot on his heel and slam the none-pointy bit of the spear towards Sha Xiong.

Just as the wooden end was about to reach Sha Xiong’s throat, the boy stopped.

“You win, Sha Xiong.”

The sword fragments that had broken apart just now was now floating around the youth’s neck. The pale grey glow around the fragments signified the use of metal qi. They both lowered their weapons, and shook hands before they walked back to their respective sects.

It was one of many disciple duels between the five major sects present at Xiao Wen’s ascendance site. Of course, duels that ended with the relationship between both sides remaining unchanged, like Sha Xiong’s, were rare. Challenges issued were mainly due to different people after the same treasure left behind by whatever the elders of different sects picked clean.

Due to the different sects collecting a random assortment of treasures, the elders decided to allow each sect to send out five disciples to challenge each other once for a treasure they want. Sha Xiong had a lot friends in the various sects, therefore he asked all of them if they had a specific weapon that he was looking for.

So far, the only one that had a sword resembling what he was after was from the friend of the sect he had just challenged earlier and even then, it was the wrong one.

Normally he would not get worked up about a single artifact, but this time, it was a personal request by his Fourth Elder, and the reward this time was too good to turn down.

At that moment, Sword Ghost Sects’ Fourth Elder walked towards Sha Xiong and pulled him away to a slightly quieter area. “Have you retrieved it yet?”

“I can’t get it, Fourth Elder.” Sha Xiong bluntly answered.

“Oh? Please do explain why you’re so sure you can’t procure it."

“My friends say their sects don’t have it, so they don’t have it. If they lied, it means it’s too important. If they didn’t, either it’s gone or an elder has it. Either way, I can’t find it.”

Sha Xiong watched the Fourth Elder close his eyes and sink into his thoughts. He clenched and unclenched his fists as he restrained his killing intent for the empteenth time today. When the Fourth Elder opened his eyes again, it was pitch black.

“Hm. The sword is not in this world presently, yet it can be found.” The Fourth Elder eyes returned to its normal bright grey after he blinked again. “It’s your job to tell me it’s whereabouts. I’ll give you.. a year. If I don’t have that sword by then, well, let’s just say your reward will have to live the rest of her life armless.”

This time Sha Xiong could not keep his killing intent under control and unleashed it’s full fury onto the Fourth Elder. Surprisingly, no one noticed the terrifying amount of bloodlust rushing out of Sha Xiong.

“Careful there, we don't want anyone finding out about our transaction, now do we?” The Fourth Elder smiled cheerfully and removed the qi blocking out the killing intent and their talk from the outside world.

Sha Xiong sighed and pushed his rage back down. He thought about the information he knew about the legendary cultivator that once owned that sword.

If I remember correctly, there used to be a mortal by Xiao Wen’s side. She can’t have ascended, so it’s likely she might have taken the sword.

He then recalled how long she had been by that cultivator’s side and couldn't help but smile when he realised something crucial about the woman.

By now she must be around eighty years old, so she can’t have travelled far. I can still catch her if I search the surrounding area.

He ran to one of his friends and asked her for a painting for the old lady by Xiao Wen side. The reason why he knew to ask Su Mei for this is because she absolutely adored that mortal.

It would seem she could blabber on forever about how that old woman was a prime example of true love and loyalty. Su Mei practically worshipped her and so when he came to ask for a painting, she was more than happy to comply.

After rummaging through her bag, Su Mei pulled out a curled scroll and was about to hand it to him before suddenly pulling the scroll back.

“What do you need this for?” Su Mei asked out of curiosity.

“Giving it to someone.” Sha Xiong answered briskly

“Who?” Su Mei pressed on.

“Mind your business.”

“Okay then, I guess this painting will be torn up in the count of ten.. nine...” Su Mei counted down as slowly as possible before pretending to tear the scroll.

Sha Xiong did not feel like wasting his time, so he left to search for other Ye Li enthusiasts. “Wait, wait! Come on, I just wanna know! Is that so hard? I’ll give you the painting if you just answer me.”

“Fine, I’m looking for her.”

Su Mei’s bright emerald eyes flooded with excitement and obediently handed over the curled scroll after getting her answer. Sha Xiong immediately went to his Fourth Elder and applied for a week-long trip to experience the world outside. After getting an approval the very next second, Sha Xiong quickly walked out of the area.

Although Sha Xiong was only a Rank 3 Qi Manipulator, it was enough for him to spread his qi around in a wide radius. He circled the hill several times before finding and confirming a set of footsteps, that held no qi aura, going downhill.

Sha Xiong entered the forest before suddenly breaking into a run. He sealed his aura and hid on top of a tree as he waited for the person stalking him to appear. As he held his breath, he found and recognised the stalker.

“Why are you trailing me?” He scared Su Mei as he hopped down the tree.

“I want to find Ms Ye Li, too!” Su Mei cheerfully replied as if she wasn’t just trying to sneak after him.

Seeing as how he might have to kill Ye Li during his retrieval of the sword, he did not want unnecessary complications in the form of her stopping him, Sha Xiong was about to refuse when he thought of something.

The people who knew Ye Li best have already ascended, and the next group of people who would know Ye Li best was her family but they were all reportedly massacred as revenge by Xiao Wen’s enemies.

That meant that the third group of people who would be familiar with Ye Li would be none other than her fans! Sha Xiong decided to keep Su Mei with him in his search.

“Keep up.”

“Alright! Let’s go!”

Sha Xiong soon followed the track of footprints to a village being accosted by bandits. He did not feel like talking so when a bandit blocked his path, he showed his aura.

“A-an Immortal!” The bandit yelled in fear before running away in fear. The other bandits did not stay long as well, choosing to save their lives rather than earn a few meagre gains.

“How may we thank this Honoured Immortal for saving us?” The village elder personally walked out to thank him for driving away the bandits.

“By helping me find this woman.” Sha Xiong unfurled the scroll and showed a painting of an old woman with white hair, haggard black eyes and pockmarked skin.

Mu Lang had never seen that old woman before and was about to answer when he remembered the young woman who said she had left something behind before running away. His blood still boiled at how that woman cheated them, so he decided to point the cultivators in her direction in hopes she offends them or something.

“I’ve seen her! She went in the direction of Sun Ming city.”

Sha Xiong did not say anything and started running towards Sun Ming city.

“Thanks a lot for the help!” Su Mei graciously thanked the village elder in return before chasing after Sha Xiong.