“Phantom Spirit Spring and Soul-Returning Pills.”

Long Wuxian spoke calmly.

The moment those two things came out of his mouth, everyone from the Imperial Immortal Mansion went pale again. Any last shred of wishful thinking shattered completely. These two items—not to mention seeing them, this was the first time they’d even heard of them. They almost didn’t need to think about it to know these were peerless treasures. Forget the Shura Realm—these would be insanely rare even in the Upper Immortal Realm.

“The Phantom Spirit Spring can restore the integrity of Yuan Ying’s soul and wake her up. That’s the key. That’s something we absolutely can’t do without. As for the Soul-Returning Pill, that’ll help rebuild her meridians and internal organs. You need both, you can’t skip either. And to refine the Soul-Returning Pill, you need two main ingredients: Reforging Sacred Water and the Fruit of Longevity. But… the Phantom Spirit Spring and the Fruit of Longevity are both unimaginably rare. Getting even one of them is already insanely difficult.”

Long Wuxian went on. He had to lay out everything about Yuan Ying’s condition to the people of the Imperial Immortal Mansion. Only then would Yuan Yiyun truly go all out to save her.

“Phantom Spirit Spring… Fruit of Longevity… Sacred Water… Where are we supposed to find any of that? Even if our Imperial Immortal Mansion burned every last resource, we’d still never get our hands on them.”

Yuan Tianzun slumped, utterly dejected. Forget gathering all these legendary treasures—even just one of them was far beyond what his mansion could produce.

Yuan Ying might still have a chance to live, but what difference did that make if that hope was basically the same as despair?

“So you’re saying… my Ying’er… can only lie here for a year… and then die.”

Yuan Yiyun’s voice was already hoarse, the words scraping out of his throat as he fought to hold himself together.

His daughter had suffered all her life. She’d finally seen the light again, only to be dragged into a true calamity. And as her father, he couldn’t do anything. All he could do was stand here and burn with helpless anxiety.

“Uncle, don’t worry. I’ll figure out a way to wake Ying’er up. Forget those three peerless treasures—if I have to, I’ll even pull the moon down from the sky for her. Tianxing City is way too small. Once things are settled here, I’ll cross Thousand Peaks Mountain and head to the Eastern Wilds. The Eastern Wilds are vast and overflowing with resources. Legendary treasures are far more common there. In one year, I’ll definitely find something that can save Ying’er.”

Long Wuxian’s voice was firm, steeped in confidence and certainty. This was something he had to do. The Phantom Spirit Spring and Fruit of Longevity were priceless, sure—but Long Wuxian knew that somewhere within the Six Realms, they did exist.

Now that he’d cultivated the Nine Jade Dragon Formula, he could absorb Chi from the world at any time. That Chi could be refined into the purest Phantom Sacred Water.

His cultivation was still too weak, so for now he could only condense a little. But as his strength grew, he could condense as much Sacred Water as he wanted. Given a whole year, Sacred Water wouldn’t be a problem at all.

“Alright, Wuxian, I’ll believe you. Ying’er’s life… I’ll entrust it to you.”

Yuan Yiyun’s expression shook. Long Wuxian’s words finally gave his heart something solid to hold on to. He knew this would be extremely hard to accomplish, but he believed in Long Wuxian.

“I believe you’ll keep your promise. You won’t let me down.”

Right now, all he could do was pin all his hopes on Long Wuxian. He had no other options and nothing else he could do.

“Ying’er suffered this calamity to save me. Even if the King of Hell wants her life, he’ll have to ask me first. For now, I’ve got something more important to handle. Before I leave… I have to get justice for Miss Ying’er.”

A surge of violent fury erupted from deep within Long Wuxian’s body. His eyes turned ice-cold.

That rage had been suppressed inside him for two full days. Now, he could finally let it out.

“Anyone who showed me kindness, and anyone who tried to frame me—I’ll pay them back double.”

The miserable end these people gave her had struck Long Wuxian’s reverse scale. A berserk dragon had already been completely provoked by Jiuduantian.

Everyone present flinched. Under the impact of Long Wuxian’s terrifying anger, each of them felt a tremor that seemed to come from the depths of their souls. His soul force’s influence on people was simply too strong.

They all understood one thing: the man in front of them—was truly enraged.

This was someone you absolutely could not afford to anger. The consequences would be dire.

“I set off for the Upper Immortal Realm right away back then. But that’s not a place ordinary people can stay for long…”

“I still remember the first time I got there. I got lucky and didn’t run into anyone from the Holy Dragon Hall, but another power that dominates the Upper Immortal Realm set their sights on me…”

Long Wuxian’s expression suddenly grew heavy.

The sudden shift made Yuanhui tense up, his heart practically jumping into his throat.

“Teacher, did the people from the School of Chi try to hunt you down?”

“No. The people from the School of Chi… took an interest in me. And since I needed that southern overlord’s intel to gather medicine ingredients, I…”

From the look on Long Wuxian’s face, he clearly didn’t have any bad impression of the School of Chi. It was just that their recruitment standards were pretty weird, the academy itself was immaculately clean and elegant, and they even encouraged disciples to chase fashion…

“So yeah, the academy’s basically full of female disciples. Disciple, you know, back then I nearly did your master’s wife dirty while I was at that academy…”

“Pff~!”

Yuanhui burst out laughing on the spot, pointing at Wuxian as he laughed.

“Hahahahaha! Teacher, you always act like some righteous gentleman, but turns out you’re not actually a gentleman at all!”

“Did I ever say I was? Brat. Integrity is just a core we should stick to, it’s not a tool for polishing your reputation. So don’t think being all heroic and chivalrous is some amazing thing. When it matters, you keep yourself alive first.”

“Teacher…”

“What now?”

“I don’t mean to call you out, but… didn’t you forget all that when you saved Master’s wife?”

“…Kid, do you not want to hear my story about the School of Chi?”

Wuxian’s tone suddenly softened.

“Nope. I wanna hear what happened between you and Master’s wife. The School of Chi just sounds like one of those upright orthodox sects. They must be boring as hell most of the time, right?”

“Boring? Says who? You been there or something?”

“Uh… well, no.”

“Exactly… Besides, you’re definitely going to the School of Chi sooner or later. You can’t just sit back and fail your Tong’er, can you?”

“…”

At the foot of the mountain, beside a stone stairway, there was a stone stele. Three characters were carved neatly on it: School of Chi.

Once you passed that stele, you were officially on School of Chi territory. Long Wuxian didn’t hesitate and strode up the mountain.

Right then, outside the mountain gate of the School of Chi, a few female disciples at the Immortal Saint Realm were chatting away, faces animated.

“You should’ve seen the Outer Gate Battle a few days ago. It was insane. That Long Wuxian showed up like some dark horse and was absolutely terrifying. Even that arrogant guy Yu Fengchen died at his hands.”

“That’s not all. That reckless brat even made a six-month battle pact with Yu Tianlong. That kind of nerve and boldness? Not something normal people have. What’s even more shocking is, Long Wuxian’s cultivation is only just stepping into the Immortal Emperor level. I’d say…”

“Shut it! You’re the one who doesn’t know how high the heavens are, brat. You’re supposed to call him Senior Brother Long. He’s already joined our School of Chi, and he’s an idol that some of the outer courtyard disciples haven’t even seen once. Show some respect.”

“Yeah, yeah, of course. A young genius like Senior Brother Long is definitely someone we should worship. If I ever get the chance, I’ll prove your words right.”

“It’s just a shame Senior Brother Long didn’t join the Outer Gate Battle this time. If he had, Senior Brother Feiyue might not have gotten first place. Don’t forget, Senior Brother Long is the one who killed Yu Fengchen.”

They were buzzing with excitement, every one of them filled with boundless curiosity about Long Wuxian, a man they’d never even met.

Long Wuxian heard every word as he came up from the foot of the mountain and couldn’t help feeling a bit mixed. He hadn’t even officially reported in yet, and he was already famous inside the School of Chi.

“You really are famous, kid. But in a sect like the School of Chi, internal competition is brutal. Showing up with this much attention on you right away is gonna draw a lot of jealousy. You’re in for trouble.”

Yunxiang reminded Long Wuxian carefully.

Long Wuxian just smiled, completely unconcerned.

Like he hadn’t dealt with more than enough trouble already? A little School of Chi wasn’t even worth worrying about. Who there would he bother fearing? Even Senior Sister Hanyu treated him with that much generosity. If anyone deserved to be envied, it should be her. Honestly, if jealousy was getting handed out, he’d be at the back of the line. Hanyu should be first.

Just getting here had been hard enough. Because he’d burned through most of his soul power earlier, he could only fly close to the ground now. That meant he’d picked up a fair layer of dust on himself.

Whatever. He’d just enter the School of Chi like this. After all the waves he’d stirred up, keeping a low profile for once might actually be…

“Hey, you. Stop right there.”

One of the female disciples shouted the moment she saw someone approaching.

“This is restricted ground of the School of Chi. No unrelated people or visiting relatives are allowed near the gate. If you know what’s good for you, get lost.”

The girl, just a peak Immortal Saint, lifted her chin and spoke with arrogance.

“It’s fine. I’m here to report in.”

Long Wuxian shrugged.

“Report in? Hahahahaha, this idiot must still be half-asleep. Report in for what? It’s not recruitment season.”

“Exactly. Recruitment ended yesterday. Why are you only showing up now? Hmph, according to the School of Chi’s rules, if you’re late, it means you forfeited your qualification. So go back to wherever you crawled out from.”

The two girls snapped at him impatiently.

Long Wuxian almost blacked out on the spot. From the way these little girls had been hyping him up just now, you’d think they were his biggest fans… and it turned out not a single one of them had been there that day.