"Who are you?”

It was only then that Juxi noticed the girl who saved him had short silver-white hair.

"I can't tell you my name, but you can call me Hunter of the Strong Crossbow."

The girl in front of him was probably only eleven or twelve, but there was an inherent pride in her demeanor that made Juxi slightly uncomfortable. Physically, she was also quite—adorable!

"Anyway, you're quite foolish! If you don’t have innate talent to handle danger, don’t recklessly come to such perilous places after being teased and toyed around by that Green-Armed Monkey!”

As the girl teased (mocked) Juxi's clumsiness, she patiently wiped her delicate crossbow.

"…!"

Seeing the rose-red patterns carved on the crossbow, Juxi realized it was not something an average blacksmith could forge.

"Wow, what a beautiful weapon. Are you an artificer?"

The girl's praise made her even more proud: "Of course! It's a heirloom in our family... Uh!"

She nervously covered her mouth, the first time during their encounter she showed some girlish restraint, revealing the cute side of this silver-haired tomboy to Arry.

Clearly trying to backtrack on her previous words, she was searching for an excuse deep within.

"That girl is trying to deceive you! Hehe!" Long Ling, who had been quiet for a while, reminded Juxi in his head with her slightly flirtatious voice.

"That is the Eight Sect's heritage sacred artifact, the Crossbow of Zhuge! It took three years and eight months for many skilled craftsmen under the guidance of the first generation's Zhuge Tuiyang, a top master of the Boundless Realm, to forge this third-ranked hidden weapon in the world from purple-gold divine stone!"

Upon closer observation, it was an art piece with a dark border and red crystal stripes engraved on the gun body, exuding an ancient charm.

Anyone who had made a name for themselves on the continent knew about the Zhuge family's Crossbow of Zhuge, as the replica and original were indistinguishable.

"A sacred artifact!? Shouldn't we...”

"Don’t be hasty! Although the Crossbow of Zhuge is a sacred artifact, it is no different from an ordinary disciple in the hands of mere mortals," Long Ling carefully examined the Zhuge's crossbow in the girl's hands, trying to find any flaws, then continued: "For the sake of misleading outsiders, there are countless reproductions of the Crossbow of Zhuge."

"The Zhuge Family has thirty thousand disciples, each with one or more!"

Thirty thousand? Even more? After hearing Long Ling's words, Juxi almost spat blood in front of the girl.

"Hey, are you okay? You've been muttering to yourself for a while now!" the girl asked with a worried expression, “Any person who rashly ventures into the Snow Spirit Mountains without Qi perception must have either a problem with their brain or a split personality, right?"

With one hand on his pride as a man, Juxi confidently continued deeper into the mountains as the silver-haired girl sighed and called out, "Wait for me! My name is Ren!"

This little one still wants to hide the fact that she is from the Zhuge family, if the Crossbow of Zhuge falls into their hands, it will be wasted!

Casually, Juxi made his way through the forest to the side of the snow-capped mountain.

The recent sense of crisis had increased his aura of slaughter a bit. After all this time, mastering the first spirit technique of the Dragon Emperor—Killing Disaster. The beginner state technique created by the Holy Dragon Emperor unleashed a brutal combat style known as 'Dragon's Claw' at a range equivalent to a long spear, leaving enemies defenseless!

"Sounds pretty cool."

A hint of pain appeared on Juxi's lips, but the next second, his eyes burst with a dazzling blood-red light mixed with a mad laughter, unleashing a terrifying combat power.

A mundane tree fork in his hand had been adorned as a lethal weapon by the crimson aura.

Juxi exerted all his strength to push off, swiftly darting out of place and disappearing into the thicket in no time, leaving blood splattered across the grass where even the highly trained ninjas failed to notice the time delay of the blood splatter.

Outside the forest overgrown with weeds, Long Ling and the ninja stared blankly as Arui, a living blood man, emerged carrying eight early-stage Phoenix-tailed chickens, his handsome face showing a simple, hearty smile that did not match his true identity.

"Ha, that smile is quite creepy!" The ninja teased Juxi, sticking out her tongue and turning her face away. Taking advantage of the ninja's distraction, Long Ling stealthily ran her cold finger down her spine, causing her face to turn deathly pale.

"Well, unfortunately, I haven’t cultivated the spiritual skills of martial artists, so even if I have some knowledge of killing and tactics, I can't even provide you with the slightest guidance," Long Ling said deliberately, leaving Juxi somewhat uneasy.

Fake? Long Ling sighed and let out a long breath, thinking, "Two hundred thousand years ago? Hmph! By now, even that old ghost from back then must be long gone. As for immortals, has anyone truly encountered a real immortal?"

If it indeed revived, then... it would probably unleash darkness upon every corner of the continent, turning places of light into darkness and worsening already dark regions into true hell!

Long Ling, who spent his childhood in a closed family education, deeply understood this. As the sixth-generation Dragon Emperor, Long Ling had read in his childhood memoirs about the first generation Dragon Emperor, whose legend had vanished along with the tales of the Black and White Dragon Emperors two hundred thousand years ago when the ancient continent was first established.

During the battle for creating planes, the White Dragon Emperor defeated the Black Dragon Emperor, who then begged for forgiveness from his brother, the White Dragon Emperor, in consideration of their familial relationship. That was already after he had been obliterated!

After Black Dragon Emperor’s death, the White Dragon Emperor absorbed his essence and reset the rules of the continent. Unfortunately, he never imagined that the Black Dragon Emperor's essence, transformed into vengeful spirits, remained in the world after his death. If they ever found a host, that day would be the end of the continent!

Long Ling turned to see Juxi, who had been kicked into the lake by the ninja, playing and splashing around with her in the river, exuding an innocent smile.

Smiling to himself quietly, Long Ling thought, "So be it. One's destiny may not be in their hands, but their will is always their own, and no one can change it, not even a god!"

Narrowing his eyes, Long Ling pointed at the midday sun in the sky with a grim expression. "If my guess is correct, your father and ancestors must have initiated a citywide search for you three hours ago, right?”

His reminder hit Juxi hard. He slowly raised his head, peering through the leaves towards the sky where the sun was already high overhead.

Ye Family Manor is a full one hundred and fifty kilometers to the northwest! Even if he exhausted his spiritual energy, it would be challenging to return to the manor in a short time. However, there was still a possibility of making it back within half an hour if he had a bird or a beast to serve as a mount.

After all, if he delayed any longer, his family would probably end up at war with the soldiers of the Wu family in the Imperial City!

"Oh my goodness! What should I do?" Juxi frantically searched for the forest's exit, howling in despair, "This time, I've really messed up. If I don't return to Dinant now, Grandpa will surely declare war on the Imperial City!”

Hmm, the ninja following him anxiously patted his shoulder and comforted, "I have a rough idea. You are from the Ye Family, right?"

"All of that is irrelevant now, the main point is...sigh."

Before Juxi could turn his head, he heard a whistle piercing through the sky, and a dark shadow descended from above, gently flapping its wings to carry the two of them on its back.

"What! It's actually a reversed-level battle mount, the Skyswift Bird. How did this little guy tame it!?"

Long Ling was already familiar with the Skyswift Bird, its strength far surpassing the combined combat power of Juxi and the ninja!

However, Long Ling's admiration did not arouse Juxi's curiosity this time; instead, he simply ignored her.

"Hey, how will you thank me?" The ninja slyly approached Juxi's face, almost pushing him off the bird's back. "I happened to be in a tight spot and couldn't make ends meet, so I decided to crash at your place for some food and shelter before school started!"

"School? Which academy are you attending?"

"Of course, it's the renowned Fengling Pavilion in the West Continent!"

The three words "Fengling Pavilion" weighed on Juxi like a mountain.

"Could it be that you are also...no wonder! I heard that the entrance test for Fengling Pavilion is no child's play. Rumor has it that Fengling Pavilion is the least populated faction among the four, with only a few hundred students in total. Aren't you worried about making ends meet?"

"I don't think so."

Long Ling, being well-informed about the mainland, whispered to Juxi's ear subtly.

"The Lord of Fengling Pavilion is the strongest force in the West Continent. The founding Lord once declared to the mainland that they would rather cultivate five geniuses than support fifty thousand fools without talent."

In fact, Fengling Pavilion only accepts extremely gifted talents.

The reason they accepted Juxi was that he was the first divine child with exceptional talent in the barren mainland for two hundred thousand years.

At first glance, it may seem no different from the red symbolizing the top talent for kingship, but the talent of an immortal person can reach the level of immortality without relying on external forces!

"In simple terms, your golden divine child is the direct heir to the soul of a god!"

If what Long Ling said was true, Juxi thought, then his mother had nurtured a super time bomb!

And such talent had disappeared from the mainland for quite some time.

When Juxi was young, he had learned from history books about the existence of immortal-level beings. They were once a fearsome force that defeated the divine dragon clan, which was on par with them at the time.

It was only due to the emergence of a rebellious force among humans that they were eventually defeated by the dragon clan nine thousand years ago, gradually declining. The once prestigious immortal realm, because they preyed too much on humans, was always one step behind the gods, and eventually perished between heaven and earth.

"The Spirit Nest does not belong to the barren mainland," Long Ling refused to recall that history, but from the perspective as a disciple, it was good to know something to avoid being like a frog at the bottom of a well that only saw the sky while being inside a well.

"When I... led people there, the immortal beings from the human camp had long since perished, leaving only their bodies. Hmph! Humans were so foolishly greedy, wanting to challenge the authority of the Immortal Emperor and ultimately died from their own backlash."

"Tsk tsk," Arey smacked his lips and sighed with a thousand emotions, "what a pity..."

"A pity my foot!" Long Ling ruthlessly extinguished Juxi's tenderness.

"The method to advance to the immortal level had been lost since nine thousand years ago. The ancestors recorded that even the lifespan of immortals is limited, just exceedingly long!"

Immortals...now, Juxi thought, let alone becoming an immortal, even achieving the threefold lifespan of a Nine-Heart Strongman that was beyond ordinary people in his past life was an unattainable realm.