On the wide and flat wilderness, there were no mountains but only some small ponds with bumps and holes.

Luo Jianqing held a sword in his right hand, furrowing his brow as he carefully surveyed his surroundings. Sharp beastly howls echoed from all directions, as if ghostly creatures were chasing after him. Purple shadows formed a mist and moved at incredible speeds, too fast for Luo Jianqing to see their appearance clearly, but he could guess that it was the sixth-ranked demon, the Fox Shadow.

The fox tribe was known for their intelligence, and it was common for them to speak human language at the fifth or sixth rank.

“Young man, why don’t you give me a smile?” the Fox Shadow taunted.

“You humans are still carrying swords, making me uneasy,” she continued.

“Why don’t you just follow me, and I’ll spare your life.”

The tinkling laughter echoed throughout the world, like a weapon that fiercely pierced Luo Jianqing’s  ears.

“Green Lotus Sword Heart Technique!”

Luo Jianqing constantly changed his hand gestures, and his Shuang Fu Sword slowly flew up, turning into four sharp swords that protected him. Four identical swords kept shaking in the air, forming a green barrier that the Fox Shadow’s mental attacks continuously collided against.

The green light screen kept shaking, and the first attack had already been difficult to resist. By the second attack, it was already wobbling as if it was about to collapse. Luo Jianqing’s  eyes sharpened, and he took out a Gathering Spirit Pill and ate ten of them at once. Instantly, his spiritual power increased dramatically, and the light screen became stronger again.

At the same time, Luo Jianqing vigilantly observed his surroundings, trying to find the Fox Shadow’s traces.

“Young man, if you don’t follow me, I’ll be heartbroken,” the purple figure slowly condensed and transformed in front of Luo Jianqing.

It was a one-meter-tall purple fox, its large purple tail constantly swaying behind it. Although it had not fully transformed, its foxy charm was already overflowing from its eyes. Its eyes stared at Luo Jianqing’s face, with a blatant gaze scanning his body, as if it wanted to tear his clothes off.

“You humans are so stubborn, so be it…” every word was a powerful mental attack. Luo Jianqing was horrified to find that even if the other party revealed its true form, he could not attack but only defend passively. The fox covered its big mouth and laughed, “In that case, why don’t you just peel off your skin and give it to me!”

As soon as the words fell, the fox suddenly turned into a purple light and rushed towards Luo Jianqing.

Luo Jianqing raised his phoenix eyes and a smile appeared on his lips. Four swords turned into one Shuang Fu Sword, appearing in his right hand.

“Sword Summoning Thunder!”

Silver lightning thundered down from the sky, and the thousand-year-old thunder crystal contained in the Shuang Fu Sword attracted all the thunder and lightning power in the world. Luo Jianqing swiped his right hand, and the thunderbolt rushed towards the fox’s body.

The fox was also stunned and hastily blocked, suffering some injuries.

“You brat, if you don’t accept my offer, you’ll have to suffer the consequences!”

A gleam of light flashed in the fox’s eyes. Its purple tail suddenly enlarged, and in an instant, it stabbed towards Luo Jianqing.

The silver sword and the purple tail constantly clashed and fought in the air. Luo Jianqing struggled to face the tail’s attacks, which formed a dense and overwhelming barrage that left him no room to respond.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

The demon fox didn’t seem to be good at spiritual attacks, even though it had reached the Nascent soul stage, its actual strength was about the same as Luo Jianqing’s. The two fought for half an hour, and Luo Jianqing had almost finished a whole bottle of Gathering Spirit Pills. Just as he was about to swallow the last one, he saw the demon fox’s tail suddenly whip towards him, the tip of the tail aimed straight at him!

In a flash of lightning, a golden sword light shone from behind Luo Jianqing.

The demon fox’s tail was immediately cut in half, it wailed miserably and before it could react, a golden light flashed and the demon fox was completely cut in two. A round white inner core rolled out of its body.

Luo Jianqing stiffened all over, unable to believe what had just happened.

A calm voice sounded from behind him: “Jianqing.”

After a moment, Luo Jianqing slowly turned around and finally saw the person.

Dressed in white, with a clear and cold gaze, the person had eight petal-shaped golden lotus sword marks between their eyebrows. Even in such a desolate place, his aura was untainted by dust. He stood there looking at Luo Jianqing, then slowly reached out his hand towards him, his tone tinged with urgency: “Jianqing, Master almost arrived too late.”

Luo Jianqing couldn’t help but reach out and cover the hand.

The icy temperature was no different from the memory.

Luo Jianqing murmured: “Master…”

Xuan Lingzi looked calmly at his disciple and after a moment, he smiled faintly, revealing a very light smile: “It’s good that you’re okay. That demon fox was in the Nascent soul stage, you’re too far behind it. If I had arrived a little later, you would probably not have survived.”

As soon as the words fell, Xuan Lingzi pulled Luo Jianqing into his arms with force.

The cold and aloof aura, like a lotus flower, filled Luo Jianqing’s nose. He felt the embrace, and heard the other person whispering softly in his ear, “Jianqing, if you have any trouble, how can your master be at ease?”

Luo Jianqing’s fingers trembled slightly, and he hugged the other person involuntarily. He greedily sucked in the familiar scent in this embrace, and heard the other person whispering softly, “This ruin is very unusual. Today, your master will take you out first. When the people from Taihua Mountain come to inspect it carefully, we will know what went wrong with this ruin. Jianqing, I don’t allow you to do such dangerous things anymore. You should stay on Taihua Mountain to concentrate on your cultivation in the future, so that… mm…”

The Shuang Fu Sword pierced through Xuan Lingzi’s chest, and the cold sword tip didn’t have a drop of blood on it.

In an instant, the world changed. The former Xuan Lingzi suddenly turned into a fox. The purple fox sprayed blood, and its paw was already placed on Luo Jianqing’s back, only three inches away from taking out his heart!

The fox couldn’t believe it and asked, “Why… my illusions have always been targeted at the things humans desire most in their hearts. Your cultivation is lower than mine, and you couldn’t have found out… why…”

There was no expression on Luo Jianqing’s handsome and indifferent face. He mercilessly pulled out his sword, and his left hand passed through the fox’s dantian, taking out the purple core.

“Why did I realize that it was an illusion just now?” Luo Jianqing’s left hand still pierced through the fox’s body. He lowered his head calmly and said, “Because that person will never say such words to me. Even if I die, he will still stand on the top of his Yuxiao Peak, and will not be moved by me even a bit.”

As soon as he finished speaking, Luo Jianqing took out the purple core. The fox trembled with resentment and spewed out a purple fox mist in its final breath, but Luo Jianqing raised his sword to block it. The Shuang Fu Sword, full of thunder, directly blocked the fox mist outside Luo Jianqing’s body.

“My little junior sister fell for your trick, but I won’t fall for it again. Since you have delivered yourself to me, then use your life to make up for the mistake you made to my little junior sister in your past life.”

With reluctance and regret, the fox demon gradually fell down.

The body of a sixth-rank illusionary fox demon was also a treasure. Its fur could be made into magic weapons. Luo Jianqing waved his sleeve and collected the fox demon’s body into his storage ring. He carefully observed the purple demon pill, which emitted a faintly malicious and vicious aura. Luo Jianqing felt that it was somewhat strange, but he still collected the demon pill into his storage ring.

“If you hadn’t been so eager to win, and had fought with me for another quarter of an hour, I probably wouldn’t have been able to resist.”

Looking at the puddle of blood on the ground, Luo Jianqing didn’t feel any attachment, raised his head, drew his sword, and left. Although he had just experienced a life-and-death struggle and had not yet fully recovered his strength, he was still more than capable of dealing with a Qi refining stage two cultivator.

When Luo Jianqing flew back to the basin where they had fought earlier, Li Xiuchen was sitting on a big rock, panting for breath. He seemed to have just killed two demon beasts and had not noticed Luo Jianqing’s arrival.

Without giving him any time to rest, Luo Jianqing didn’t say a word and sent a green sword light directly towards Li Xiuchen’s head!

Li Xiuchen could not perceive the aura of a golden core stage cultivator. He continued to sit on the big rock and rest, without realizing that a low-grade treasure sword was about to stab his head. However, just as the sword was about to pierce Li Xiuchen’s head, he suddenly moved to the side.

“Ah! It hurts so much!”

The Shuang Fu Sword pierced through Li Xiuchen’s left shoulder and almost disabled his arm!

Luo Jianqing’s pupils contracted, and he instantly understood the reason.

“Heaven’s will!”

The angry voice made Li Xiuchen turn his head. When he saw Luo Jianqing, he was suddenly stunned, and then quickly dodged to the side. He didn’t care about the piercing pain in his arm anymore and asked urgently, “What… What do you want to do? Do you want to kill me?!”

Luo Jianqing did not answer.  Shuang Fu Sword turned into a green light and returned to his right hand. His handsome face was as cold as snow, and his emotionless gaze fell on Li Xiuchen, as if he was looking at a lifeless object.

Now, Li Xiuchen suddenly understood: “You want to kill me, and you want to replace me as the protagonist? Luo Jianqing, that’s impossible! I am the protagonist. You immediately put down your sword and come with me. I promise that in the future, you can ascend to immortality with me! I won’t kill you, can’t I not kill you in the future?”

Luo Jianqing ignored him. A sword light quickly stabbed towards Li Xiuchen’s heart.

Li Xiuchen kept running forward, but he couldn’t outrun Shuang Fu Sword, which was as fast as lightning. Seeing the tip of the sword about to pierce Li Xiuchen’s heart, Luo Jianqing did not relax. He closed his fingers together, and three sword qi surged from his fingertips, blocking Li Xiuchen’s other three directions as well.

The tip of Shuang Fu Sword had already pierced Li Xiuchen’s clothes.

Luo Jianqing widened his eyes, waiting for that moment to come.

Until…there was a loud bang in the sky, and white light filled the entire space. When Luo Jianqing opened his eyes again, Li Xiuchen had disappeared in the vast wasteland. Luo Jianqing stared at this scene in a daze. After a while, he clenched his right hand and withdrew Shuang Fu Sword, pointing angrily at the sky.

“Heaven’s will!”

The next moment, white light flickered around Luo Jianqing, and he disappeared from the wasteland.

All around was darkness, and Luo Jianqing’s face was so gloomy that water could almost drip from it. He tightly held Shuang Fu Sword in his hand. He couldn’t see anything around him because he had been teleported to the sixth level – Tianxuan Pass.

In the novel “Seeking Immortality”, it is mentioned that this level is the easiest to pass, and one just needs to stand still for a moment to clear it.

In the endless chaos, Luo Jianqing heard a hoarse and confused voice. The voice was rough and unpleasant, repeating four words over and over again, as if it would never tire.

“Human or demon…”

“Human or demon…”

“Human or demon…”

The voice was singular but carried an ancient breath, echoing endlessly in this space. Luo Jianqing remained calm and did not pay any attention to the voice, until it suddenly stopped near him and whispered, “You are human.”

Luo Jianqing immediately swung his sword, but only struck empty air.

Indeed, Li Xiuchen was human, which is why he was teleported to the seventh level.

“Human or demon, human or demon, human or demon…”

The voice slowly approached Luo Jianqing’s direction. At this moment, any anger he had left had become pointless. Luo Jianqing calmly sheathed his Shuang Fu  Sword and waited to face the challenge of this level. The voice finally arrived by his side, and he could faintly sense something stopping in front of him. He heard the voice whispering, “Human… or demon…”

The voice suddenly stopped, and after a moment, it sharply exclaimed, “You are a demon!”