Chapter 26: Strange Movements

“Master, stop! Why are you doing this?”

Su Xuan snapped out of it to find himself in an unfamiliar palace. A White-clothed Fairy was kneeling before him, begging piteously.

In his hand was an immortal sword dripping with fresh blood. Endless rage and killing intent flooded his mind.

‘Everyone deserves to die! People of the Sword Palace… all of them deserve to die…’

Su Xuan tried to move his hands, but he found himself acting as a mere observer, forced to follow the movements of the body’s owner.

After the owner of the body spoke, he swung his sword violently. The White-clothed Fairy fell to the ground, her blood strangely drained by the sword until she became a withered corpse.

“Kill… Kill them all. The Sword Palace must be destroyed!”

The owner of the body seemed to have fallen into a frenzy. Filled with extreme rage, he slaughtered everyone inside and outside the massive palace, sparing no one.

The immortal sword in his hand was dyed a complete, crimson red.

“I deserve to die too, hahaha!”

Finally, laughing uncontrollably, he thrust the immortal sword into his own chest.

Residing within him, Su Xuan felt the constant waves of anger, desolation, and regret. For some reason, he felt like weeping.

The owner’s aura grew weaker and weaker as his blood was gradually drained by the sword.

“Hmm? Who are you!?”

In his final moments, the owner of the body seemed to sense Su Xuan’s presence. Startled, he used his Divine Sense to lock onto him.

Su Xuan felt a mountain-like pressure crash down upon him. His mind felt as if it would collapse at any second.

Suddenly, a forceful shove sent him tumbling out of the body.

“Pfft!”

Su Xuan spat out a mouthful of blood and jolted awake. He realized he was still sitting under the banyan tree in the Marketplace.

‘Who exactly was that man? And where is the Sword Palace?’

Su Xuan looked at the Broken Sword on the ground, which was emitting a red glow. He felt a bit dazed and full of questions.

Even though only the time it took for an incense stick to burn had passed, he could still clearly feel that bone-chilling killing intent. It felt as though it could actually influence his personality.

‘Could it be… the reason Lin Zhiwei was so tyrannical in the game was because she was influenced by him?’

He looked at the blood-red Broken Sword on the ground. It was identical to the one in the vision. He considered the possibility.

After a moment of thought, he carefully dug the Broken Sword out of the soil and took it in his hand.

The blood he had spilled on it had been drained. The once sharp, red-glowing sword now appeared dull, looking no different from a piece of scrap metal.

Regardless, the item was in his hands now. He could never let it fall into Lin Zhiwei’s hands again.

Su Xuan carefully wrapped the Broken Sword and tucked it against his chest.

He was about to head back when he suddenly felt the ground tremble!

To the west of the Marketplace, a pillar of blood-red light shot into the sky. It illuminated half the heavens as bright as day, looking like the end of the world.

That was the direction of the Ancient Battlefield, the very place the Marketplace had conscripted them to explore.

Su Xuan watched the disturbance, his mouth hanging open slightly.

In the game, the Ancient Battlefield was an extremely dangerous dungeon. Although he had been killed instantly upon entering, the place had always been stable and well-managed.

In all his playthroughs, he had never seen a scene like this!

“Just how much have I changed things?”

Su Xuan frowned, feeling that events were spiraling further away from his knowledge.

Shortly after the red light pierced the sky, several figures flew out from the Marketplace.

Each one possessed a powerful aura, and they all flew toward the west in unison.

“Who are you!?”

Vague words echoed from within the red light, as if searching for someone.

It was that man from before!

It seemed this disturbance was triggered by his own actions!

Su Xuan recognized the voice instantly. He quickly concealed his presence and rushed back home.

He had a premonition that he absolutely could not stay there any longer.

Sure enough, not long after he left, the red light in the west dimmed. Several figures returned from that direction and gathered near the banyan tree.

“It should have been right here. How did it disappear?”

“It seems a fellow cultivator has taken the opportunity ahead of us.”

“Heh, we’ll find out once we enter the secret realm. If he doesn’t have the strength, he won’t be able to keep it anyway.”

The figures discussed the matter for a few moments before dispersing.

***

Su Xuan returned to his room. He watched as the Marketplace fell back into darkness, but a faint commotion persisted. Undercurrents were surging.

Several figures had flown toward his previous location and then scattered.

He found a piece of cloth and wrapped the Broken Sword tightly, not daring to let even a fraction of it show.

Once he sold the Elixirs, he absolutely had to buy a storage bag. It was too unsafe to carry it around like this.

However, he currently only had two Spiritual Stones in his pocket. Forget a storage bag; he couldn’t even afford a few wooden chests.

He was still too poor…

Su Xuan sighed. He decided to sell the Elixirs tomorrow and hurry to earn some Spiritual Stones.

After some thought, he tucked the Broken Sword under his bed. Both in appearance and aura, it looked exactly like an ordinary stone used to level a bedframe.

Only then did he feel slightly relieved. He lay down on the bed and drifted off to sleep.

—

“Senior Sister, you’ll never guess how I broke through!”

In the kitchen, Lu Zhiyi puffed out her modest chest with a proud expression.

“Didn’t you skip your cultivation? How did you do it?”

Lin Zhiwei was eating a bowl of cold rice in small bites, looking somewhat stunned.

“Hehe, actually, I don’t know either. But I bet it has something to do with the food Master gave me!”

As Lu Zhiyi spoke, she untied her belt, revealing her slender waist and shapely legs as she changed into her nightgown.

“Oh… Aren’t you going to eat something? I made your favorite chicken wings.”

Lin Zhiwei lowered her eyes. She looked at the plate of untouched chicken wings, her emotions unreadable.

“I can’t, I can’t. Master took me out to eat all afternoon!”

Lu Zhiyi said while rubbing her stomach. She had been eating all afternoon and truly couldn’t take another bite.

“Oh.”

Lin Zhiwei continued to eat in small, dejected bites.

“Senior Sister, let me tell you, Master and I went to a tea house this afternoon. We ran into some sissy pervert who tried to buy me on the spot!”

Lu Zhiyi continued to share her experiences, not noticing the change in her sister’s mood.

“What? Did anything happen?”

Lin Zhiwei looked up at her with concern.

“I’m fine! With Master there, what’s there to worry about? He looked ready to flip the table right then and there. He just grabbed me and walked out!”

“Then that person apologized. He seemed quite sincere…”

“Senior Sister, I’ve noticed that Master seems to be getting more and more handsome, teehee…”

***

Lu Zhiyi lay contentedly under the covers. Her eyes squinted as she rambled about the day’s events. Her voice grew smaller and smaller until she fell asleep.

Lin Zhiwei silently set down her chopsticks, losing all interest in her food.

The table was covered in Lu Zhiyi’s favorite dishes. She had made them specifically for her, yet they remained untouched.

She looked at Lu Zhiyi, who was sleeping with a satisfied expression. In just a few days, a sense of distance and strangeness had developed between them.

She had never seen the happiness and reliance currently radiating from Lu Zhiyi’s face in all their years together.

Having been a wanderer for so long, she actually saw things very clearly.

When Su Xuan faced her, he was always guarded and cautious. But toward Lu Zhiyi, he showed a heartfelt doting.

‘Am I… envious of my junior sister?’

She sat in the room, her eyes full of confusion.

She didn’t believe a person could change so quickly. How could a scumbag become a kind master in just three days? But… what if it was true?

If that were the case, then she had become an outsider in the lives of her master and junior sister.