“What! The quality is too poor!? Take another look!” Li Qingshan clutched a handful of Yellow Bronze bookmarks and said to the Spirit Reverend of Ocean Returnance, refusing to accept this. He had gone to such great lengths only for so little. This was vastly different from what he had been imagining.

  The Spirit Reverend of Ocean Returnance glanced through the jade slip again and actually took a Black Wood bookmark back from Li Qingshan’s hand.

  Li Qingshan was furious. All of these bookmarks combined don’t even amount to a single Green Jade bookmark! You damned turtle, they’re still novels! You’re just ripping me off here!

  The Spirit Reverend of Ocean Returnance suddenly asked, “Where did you obtain these books?”
Li Qingshan rolled his eyes. Lying in front of this damned turtle was pointless, so he downright refused to answer him.

  The Spirit Reverend of Ocean Returnance said earnestly, “Don’t be discontent. The books you’ve brought this time are much worse in quality compared to last time. I never misjudge the value of books.”
“Alright, I’m wrong.”
Li Qingshan thought about it and was forced to admit that. The books he had brought last time were all classics that remained after thousands of years of elimination, while this time was merely the creations of a group of people after money in just a few years. It had gone through a selection process, but the quality obviously could not be compared to last time.

  Sure enough, this shortcut was not that easy to take!

  So be it then. He had to find a different path now!

  Right when he was about to bid farewell and leave, never to return again, the Spirit Reverend of Ocean Returnance passed another Green Jade bookmark to Li Qingshan.

  What was this supposed to be? The carrot after the stick?

  Li Qingshan asked in surprise, “Is this for consolation?”
The Spirit Reverend of Ocean Returnance said, “This is a down payment.”
Li Qingshan said, “Didn’t you say the books are bad?”
The Spirit Reverend of Ocean Returnance said with a slight smile, “It’s bad this time doesn’t mean it’ll be bad next time. I’ve left some feedback in the jade slip. You can take it back and study it. I’m sure it’ll be better in the future.”
Li Qingshan shivered inside. It was not like these books were written by him, so what was there to study?

  Suddenly, he discovered that this matter possessed a great flaw right from the beginning. Novels were fictional, but they were based on reality.

  The Spirit Reverend of Ocean Returnance could calculate the existence of a lot of information from a few simple words. From how he smiled slightly, it was as if he had found everything. These novels might have exposed many things unintentionally.

  So-called shortcuts were mostly treacherous routes, where the slightest carelessness could make people plunge into valleys, smashing their bodies to pieces.

  What a miscalculation! Li Qingshan resolutely returned the Green Jade bookmark to the Spirit Reverend of Ocean Returnance. “Sorry, I don’t have any left.”
However, the Spirit Reverend of Ocean Returnance had already turned around and left. “What’s been done has been done. If you don’t bring more books that are even better, that’ll be deceiving your superiors. You will be severely punished!”
Li Qingshan felt pained. The Spirit Reverend of Ocean Returnance basically meant, It’s already too late for regret. You’re already waist-deep in this now. If you can’t leave me satisfied, don’t even think you can get out of this unscathed.

  The Spirit Reverend of Ocean Returnance suddenly stopped. “Want to know the secrets to longevity?”
“Hmm? Yeah.”
“Mind your own business.”
Li Qingshan emerged from the Pavilion of Heavenly Tomes with furrowed brows. Sucking in the cold air, his eyebrows eased up. He no longer cared about regret, as he had no other choice. From the moment he refused to leave the Myriad sect, he had begun taking on a risk. He was forced to go down this treacherous route.

  Letting the Spirit Reverend of Ocean Returnance learn a little more about his situation was not necessarily bad. It would reduce some of his suspicion at the very least. People were always a little more inviting to the things they understood and could control. He could see that very clearly from the Spirit Reverend of Ocean Returnance’s attitude towards him today.

  He truly did not possess any ill intentions towards the Myriad sect either. He had come here to cultivate. Everything he did was to the benefit of the Myriad sect’s developments. He believed that it was exactly because the Spirit Reverend of Ocean Returnance had taken this all into account that he minded his own business.

  Even in the worst-case scenario, where his battle against Si Long was exposed in the future, that would only be a matter from before he joined the Myriad sect. It could not be regarded as conflict between fellow disciples. He did not kill Si Long in the very end either. It was simply a feud between them due to competing interests.

  He was certain that when that day truly arrived, he would already be a direct disciple, and the Myriad sect would not bother to deal with a current direct disciple for one that had fallen into the Demon domain.

  In short, he was still quite lucky.

  And just as the Spirit Reverend of Ocean Returnance had said, “It’s bad this time doesn’t mean it’ll be bad next time.”
Cloudwisp city had only been built. Everyone was still in its early stages. Since even an “experienced reader” like the Spirit Reverend of Ocean Returnance was willing to believe it would be better next time, he had no reason to doubt that. He could continue down this shortcut.

  Standing on the platform and gazing out, Myriad city shimmered in the gleaming snow. There were lanterns and streamers everywhere. It was in a festive mood.

  The faint smell of alcohol permeated the chilly wind, feeding his appetite. He followed the fragrance and found a restaurant. He tried their various offerings first before choosing the best one and using all the bookmarks he had gained from offering books this time to fill up the metal gourd. He took a few great sips and warmth flowed through his belly. He immediately cheered up.

  He recalled the Myriad rankings that the female cultivator had mentioned, so he set out for it out of curiosity.

  People bustled around on the square. The sounds of conversations and hawking rose and fell. It was quite the commotion.

  Within the flowing tide of people, Li Qingshan stood in front of the Myriad rankings without budging. He ignored the noise and stared straight at the very top of the Myriad rankings. The warmth in his belly gradually cooled off as a sense of danger rose through him.

  Ranked first was Lin Xuan!

  Or in other words, Chu Tian.

  As it turned out, he was the first senior brother of the Myriad sect!

  At that moment, the matters of the past whistled past his eyes. Many doubts he had before were now answered.

  Chu Tian was the reincarnation of the first senior brother of the Myriad sect, Lin Xuan. This was where his unparalleled talent came from. After all, he had once been a Human Sovereign in his past life. He was not truly a Reincarnated Celestial, but even from the Deva realm, there were not a lot of celestials or deva that could match him.

  The Heaven Climbing Vine in Qian Rongzhi’s possession must have been from him too. Back then, he was still the foolish Chu Tian. It was probably because she had pretended to be Lin Xuan that she could earn so much trust from Si Long and succeed in her counterattack in the end.

  Only when he arrived in the Myriad sect did he learn just how precious a heavenly tome was. That was a supreme cultivation method that could be practised until Human Immortal. Lin Xuan could actually give the Heavenly Tome of Cloud Furnace to Ru Xin casually to thank her. Just how astonishingly wealthy was he?

  However, that led to even more questions. Why had Lin Xuan reincarnated?

  First of all, it definitely was not for the sake of cooperating with Si Long’s plan, as he found Si Long’s name on the Myriad rankings as well. He happened to be ranked last among the direct disciples. Why would the strongest cooperate with the weakest, much less make such a great sacrifice?

  The measly nine provinces’ worth was nowhere near Lin Xuan giving up everything, let alone the fact that Si Long was determined to claim the nine provinces for himself. It was impossible for Lin Xuan to get a piece of it.

  And to the Myriad sect, exchanging a direct disciple for a blessed land of cultivation was a horrible deal too, let alone their first senior brother.

  As a result, there was only one explanation. Lin Xuan had reached the end of his life and was forced to enter rebirth.

  If Le Tian could gamble against Ox-headed A’pang, then with Lin Xuan’s identity and cultivation, he was obviously capable of pulling some strings too. As a result, he was successfully reborn in the World of the Nine Provinces, and he had even brought a Heavenly Climbing Vine with him. Even if he were reborn as a dog, he could quickly turn into a daemon.

  As for why he had not chosen to be reborn in the Human realm, there were several reasons for that. The Human realm was far too vast, so it was difficult to find him. Even if he could be found easily, it was not like the Myriad sect did not have any enemies. At the same time, low-level cultivators in the Human realm were simply too weak. There was basically no guarantee over their safety.

  The World of the Nine Provinces was different. With Chu Tian’s talent and the Heaven Climbing Vine’s assistance, he would stand out very quickly. He had the basic ability to protect himself, and the system of the Academy of the Hundred Schools was basically made for him.

  Lin Xuan and Si Long were closely connected. Si Long must have received quite a lot of help from this “first senior brother” to be able to become a Human Sovereign so quickly. Lin Xuan must have begun preparing from that moment onwards too. Through this relationship, Si Long could serve as his guide, assisting him in recovering his memories and cultivation as quickly as possible so that he could return to the Myriad sect.

  Unfortunately, fate had other plans in mind. Before his memories and cultivation had even recovered, the venomous snake, Qian Rongzhi, had bitten him viciously, almost costing him his life.

  Although it was a blessing in disguise, allowing him to recover some memories, he knew just from what the Great Banyan Tree King had gone through that the memories definitely were incomplete. It was impossible for the soul of a heavily-wounded Foundation Establishment cultivator to contain all the memories of a Human Sovereign.

  Every single heavenly tome possessed a colossal amount of cultivation. For the sake of reincarnating and cultivating again from scratch, he had probably prepared more than a single heavenly tome. Coupled with the vast amount of experience regarding cultivation, the space left for other memories was even more limited.

  Under these unexpected circumstances, even if he changed his name back, Lin Xuan was no longer Lin Xuan. Even that bearing of his was all fake. He was still that Chu Tian inside, and he had failed this trial of life or death in the end.

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