Chapter One: The Supreme Immortal

  That was beyond the speed of thought transformation, Yan Daozi didn't even have time to change his expression before being beheaded by a sword. The Jiuyang Symbol Sword was still held in his hand, and his tall and sturdy body was still standing, but he was indeed dead, dying cleanly and neatly, to the point of absurdity.

  Yu Ci's eyes didn't blink as she stared at the scene unfolding before her, until the other party's head fell to the ground.

  "It's as if my soul is vibrating! How wonderful!"

  It's actually not accurate to call the Seven Stars Sword a "sword". Even if it can condense the primordial energy of heaven and earth, use refined blood as its framework, and transform into a real object, at the end of the day, it is still a talisman. Since it is a talisman, there must be spiritual resonance to trigger it, just like earlier when my divine soul was stirred, the void opened up, and the spiritual resonance burst forth, an unprecedented feeling that was truly exhilarating.

  Yu Ci eats marrow and knows the flavor, wants to send another Fu to try...

  However, at this moment, his mood suddenly relaxed, and a strong sense of fatigue suddenly came over him, and a feeling of weakness had already swept through his whole body. Yu Ci hurriedly bit the tip of his tongue, the wound left from when he spat blood on the Seven Star Sword earlier was still there, the scorching pain made him shiver, and his drowsiness dissipated somewhat.

  This place is not safe. Yu Ji reminded himself, he struggled to get up, swaying and staggering towards the remains of Yan Dao ten meters away.

  At some point, a fine rain began to fall in the mountains and forests, suppressing the raging wildfire and sending up waves of green smoke. The coolness seeped into my skin, dispelling my drowsiness even further.

  Just two steps away, Yan Daoshi's headless corpse crashed down and smashed into the damp mud.

  Before arriving at the scene of the crime, Yu Ji still felt a bit dazed. A legendary Tongshen cultivator had actually been slaughtered by him just like that?

  Of course, judging purely on facts, Yu Ji didn't think it was luck. From start to finish, he and Yan Daozi's grasp of life and death were only fifty-fifty, but he was more familiar with this gambling-like choice, while Yan Daozi didn't have this skill, and deserved to be killed by him here.

  He just felt that Yan Daoshi was a bit weaker than he had imagined.

  In the heat of battle, what posed the greatest threat to him was naturally Yan Daoshi's final sword technique that transcended space. It indeed possessed the power of a legendary cultivator, whereas others, such as having sharper instincts, more exquisite swordsmanship, or deeper cultivation... didn't have any fundamental differences.

  With this doubt, Yu Ji lowered his head to examine the Jiu Yang Fu sword that had caused him endless trouble. It lay horizontally in the muddy water, its red glow having dimmed to almost extinction. However, as he drew closer, he could still feel a heat emanating from it that was distinct from the surrounding air.

  "Is this the sword?" Yu Ji picked up the symbol sword and played with it in his hand. It was somewhat beyond his expectation that the body of this sharp and unmatched Jiu Yang Symbol Sword was actually made of wood, only one foot long, no wonder it looked like a short stick from a distance. The surface of the sword was engraved with countless dark red patterns using a material similar to cinnabar, almost covering up the original color of the sword's material.

  With a casual swing, the air emitted a humming sound, without any sharp blade piercing the air. Only when true energy was infused did it trigger the scorching red glow seen last night. The sword's edge swept through the air, although there was the sound of a golden blade cleaving the wind, but in terms of feeling, it still didn't compare to being as sharp as when Yan Daozi wielded it.

  Is this a difference in realm? Yu Ci didn't mind, and began to search for Yan Dao's corpse, to see if there were any other treasures on his body.

  The result was very strange.

  "Nothing... nothing at all?"

  After searching for half a day, he was left with nothing. Not only were there no treasures, but even the things that should have been on him when walking outside were not found at all. It seemed that this villain, apart from a symbol sword and a set of clothes to cover his body, was a complete and utter pauper, which was clearly impossible!

  Yu Cizhen thought that his family was not wealthy, but living outside, he had to carry some commonly used items on him. Over the years, it had accumulated into a small collection. His waist bag was always stuffed full. Putting himself in others' shoes, those who traveled the world should be about the same. But Yan Daoshi was unusually clean and simple. Wasn't he really not worldly? Would he walk around naked after taking off his clothes, without any worries or attachments?

  It's impossible. Yan Daoshi used the excuse of picking shrimp whisker grass to sneak into the medicinal herb gathering crowd, didn't he even prepare a stone box?

  Seizing this unreasonable point, Yu Ci had no setback in her heart, but her eyes were like a square, scanning Yan Daoshi's body again and again.

  Suddenly, his gaze froze, locked onto Yan Daoshi's left little finger.

  There was a circle of black lines, like a ring, on the root of the finger. For some reason, when Yu Ci's eyes touched the ring for an instant, there seemed to be a "dull" sound in her mind, as if two forces were colliding, although weak, but also clear.

  What is it?

  With this in mind, Yu Ji bent down and pulled out the ring, holding it up for examination.

  The feeling of touching the ring with her fingers was quite ordinary, but upon closer inspection, the material and craftsmanship were also unremarkable. Yet, Yu Ci had a strange feeling that this ring was just an outer shell, as if there was something else wrapped inside.

  "Or perhaps, peel it?"

  Along with this absurd idea, Yu Ji clenched it in the palm of his hand. Of course, he didn't exert any force, but the sensation in his palm was real and vivid, to the point where the size and shape of the ring were clearly imprinted on his mind.

  Then something wonderful happened.

  A small hammer appeared out of nowhere, and with a loud bang, it was as if the shell of an egg had been cracked open. The image of the ring in Yu Ci's mind suddenly shattered, and then her mind was filled with many things, packed to the brim, as if an entire room had been stuffed inside.

  He suddenly snapped his fingers, and the overflowing feeling also shifted from his mind to his palm. In that instant, his palm seemed to swell up, and what he held inside was no longer a small ring, but a room filled with all sorts of miscellaneous objects.

  Yu Cidi took a deep breath and suddenly came to a thorough understanding:

  "Storage Ring!"

  Reality finally pieced together with the fragmented memories of the past. It was indeed the legendary, wondrous personal space that those monks possessed, capable of containing Mount Sumeru in a mustard seed. In his youth, he had also seen it on the Double Immortals, an almost inseparable emblem of their status as monks.

  "Good things..." The thought had just risen when Yu Ji suddenly froze, because an extremely unauthentic idea burst out, like a storm rising on the calm sea surface, and the emotions in her heart were like a raging tide, surging and crashing against her chest.

  His emotions and the storage ring itself were diverging, he still held the ring, that swelling sense of fullness was clearly discernible, the objects layered in the inner space, as if they could overflow. But these things were thoroughly ignored by him.

  At the peak of the emotional tidal wave, his last bit of rationality was howling:

  Are you there? Are you still there?

  He didn't care about the Ring, at least not compared to that thing. He just wanted to know if that "little hammer", the one that had suddenly appeared out of thin air and smashed the storage ring's shell, was still around? Where was it?

  With a "ding" sound, the storage ring slipped from his palm and hit a protruding rock, bouncing far away.

  This was Yu Ji's deliberate action. He didn't immediately pick up the ring, but stood still for a while, during which he forced himself to forget the memories of those feelings and make his mind a blank slate before taking step by step forward, bending down, and picking up the ring again.

  Yes, he wants to try again.

  He was having some difficulty breathing, and his hand holding the ring was even trembling.

  Take a deep breath, Yu Ci thought of exerting force, if possible, he even wanted to crush this precious storage ring. But there was no need for further trouble, as soon as the thought arose in his mind, the ring in his palm shook slightly with an almost imperceptible amplitude, and then a real sense of fullness surpassed the physical limits, directly feeding back into his brain.

  Everything is going as wished!

  The dizziness of happiness is spreading, and Yu Ci has to use all her strength to keep the last bit of sanity and issue the final command.

  "With a clattering sound, countless objects poured out of Yu Ci's half-open palm. More real than spiritual fulfillment was the tangible object in front of her eyes, and the pile of miscellaneous items that had changed out of thin air accumulated into a small mountain, placed right in front of Yu Ci."

  Valuable or worthless, useful or useless... whatever they were, they all existed. More importantly, they were taken out of that mysterious storage ring by Yu Cai's own strength.

  Yu Jian no longer needs to find that "small hammer", because the hammer is himself. That wonderful power comes from within his soul, merged with his life, born with thought, gone with thought, just like breathing instinctively.

  He recalled a long time ago, the only time that the Red Yin Female Immortal had described her cultivation realm:

  "Distinguish and transform thoughts, rotate and turn spiritual intentions, this is what is meant by 'penetrating the spirit'."

  Yes, only when the divine soul is strong and the divine will is accomplished; only when the divine will is divided, transformed, and reborn into divine consciousness and thought; can the storage ring be opened.

  What does it represent?

  That represents truly transcending the "Three Mundane Barriers", truly possessing magical powers, and truly entering the realm of "Communicating with Spirits".

  Yu Ci felt all the blood in his body rushing to his face, until his lips were numb. He struggled to control himself, letting that bit of rationality in his mind hold on. Then, he stretched out his hand, without activating the divine mirror, but simply using his own fingers, one stroke at a time, tracing out those extremely familiar trajectories in mid-air.

  As his fingertips moved, his heartbeat suddenly calmed down. At the same time, the wonderful pulse of the soul reappeared, and Yu Ci seemed to have another "self", but with the adjustment of the heartbeat, the two pulses of the soul and heart were rapidly merging in resonance, finally becoming one.

  Perhaps a ray of light gathered on her fingertips, or perhaps not, but in Yu Ci's eyes and heart, it unfolded a familiar world.

  In the midst of chaos and emptiness, a vast and obscure expanse. Yet, Yu Cai's fingers seemed to possess magical powers, each movement illuminating a star, and from that star, a bright beam of light was drawn out, slow and urgent, as hundreds of stars lit up, becoming brilliant nodes in the void canvas.

  The spirits responded. Just in this misty and rainy weather, a huge blue electric arc suddenly lit up in a certain corner of the vast mountains and forests, piercing into the sky and merging with the upper layer of dark clouds, like an inverted lightning bolt, strange and beautiful, followed by a loud thunder.

  A single rotation of the Five Thunder Seal had drained all of Yu Jin's strength. His knees were trembling uncontrollably, his body half-bowed, and he was panting heavily, but this panting looked like a hoarse, manic laughter no matter how you looked at it.

  Tong Shen is an invisible and insurmountable high wall, the starting point for a mortal to truly step onto the path of longevity.

  At this moment, the high wall collapsed in front of Yu Ci, turning into dust and smoke!

  "Ah!"

  In the midst of the roar, Yu Ji kicked out with one foot, and the small mountain of debris in front of her came crashing down, sending shattered fragments flying in all directions.

  This outburst of emotions seemed to come from nowhere, but had actually been building up in Yu Xi's heart.

  When the long journey of life has only one clear goal, and after many years of hard work, it is still elusive, anxiety is inevitable, hesitation is inevitable, despair is inevitable. It's just that all of this is suppressed by strong willpower, and supported by a lonely and desperate courage, like a lone wolf walking on this seemingly endless road.

  The pressure has never dissipated, it's just been buried deeper. Over the years, accumulating day by day, finally bursting out completely in today's joyful harvest, amidst this almost frantic roar.

  Tong Shen, Xiū Shì, has become Yu Ci's latest identity. The world he faces is now completely different!

  The pressure has never been reduced, it's just buried deeper. I hope that one day I can be like Fish Brother and let go of my emotions freely. Before that, only the collections and red tickets from all book friends are the best way to relieve stress.