Shi Jian: This Must Be the Electrostatic Field You Mentioned, Right?

Meanwhile, in the grand hall of the God Xiao Sect dedicated to Heavenly Lord Zhao. "Have you heard? Senior Shi Jian has incinerated a full three hundred million demon soldiers in the Demon Realm! Word has it he's pushed all the way to the Seven-Star Demon King's lair!" "Why stop there? Why not claim Senior Shi has already slain that Seven-Star Demon King and carried off the Demon Queen while he was at it?" The speaker was still that same senior martial sister, still brooding over having taken an instant liking to someone. The moment the words left her mouth, she noticed her junior brothers, senior brothers, and even her martial uncles all frowning at her. She lowered her head and let out an awkward chuckle. "I was just joking. I'd never slander Senior Shi! By the way, what do you all make of what Martial Grand-Uncle Zhiheng did?" She hastily changed the subject. If she didn't redirect the conversation now, this crowd of Shi Jian's ardent admirers would undoubtedly start airing out her embarrassing past. "Well..." At the mention of it, everyone's expressions turned strange and complicated. Though the incident had only occurred the previous night, certain matters simply could not be kept quiet in the cultivation world—especially anything involving Shi Jian, whose prestige was burning brighter than ever. Consequently, everyone already knew that Daoist Zhiheng had called down the Taiyi Sky-Trembling Thunder yesterday, breaking Four-Eyed Daoist's deity-invoking ritual and nearly wiping out Four-Eyed Daoist's entire group. "Could it be a misunderstanding? Martial Uncle Zhiheng seems like a fine person to me. He's always smiling, and whenever I ask him about thunder arts, he explains things so warmly..." spoke up a member of the martial-uncle generation who was mingled among the younger disciples. The moment he finished, another martial uncle immediately retorted, "A fine person? Have you forgotten that twenty years ago, Martial Uncle Zhiheng constantly went out slaying demons alongside Heavenly Bright True Person? Back then, the two of them were close enough to chop off a chicken's head, burn yellow paper, and swear brotherhood! How could Martial Uncle Zhiheng possibly be—" This martial uncle did not finish his sentence, but his voice dripped with intense personal grievance. Heavy though his resentment was, the brows of the surrounding martial uncles furrowed the instant they recalled Heavenly Bright True Person's character. There was no helping it—a man's name cast a long shadow! Remembering how Heavenly Bright True Person had once disguised himself as a disciple to sack and beat his own martial nephews, along with his countless other misdeeds, everyone felt this martial uncle's words were not without merit. After all, one took on the color of one's company! Of the people who ran with Heavenly Bright True Person, how many were truly clean? Weren't they all pitch-black, just like the current sect leader of Longhu Mountain? "Still... I just can't believe someone from our God Xiao Sect would do such a thing!" said the senior sister, her delicate brows knitting slightly. "I didn't want to believe it either, but... Martial Uncle Zhiheng struck at far too coincidental a moment. And of all the lightning he could have used to craft thunder-struck wood, why did he have to summon the Taiyi Sky-Trembling Thunder—the very lightning meant specifically to counter deity-invoking arts? Who would believe that's just a coincidence?" "Indeed. The Taiyi Sky-Trembling Thunder practically exists to disrupt deity-invoking techniques. What's more, Martial Grand-Uncle struck right when Fellow Daoist Four-Eyed was on the verge of finishing off that jiangshi!" "Exactly! If Senior Shi's new disciple hadn't endured being bitten by that imperial-clan jiangshi just to drag it into the sky, Fellow Daoist Four-Eyed and the others probably would have been completely wiped out!" "Do you think... could it be that Martial Uncle Zhiheng was jealous of Maoshan developing a new thunder art, so he intentionally intervened, hoping to destroy Senior Shi's Dao heart by killing his disciple and martial brothers...?" At that point, the gathering fell silent. Even those who had initially given Daoist Zhiheng the benefit of the doubt began to question his motives. The silence, however, was soon broken by a panting voice. The newly initiated youth had arrived, carrying a large burlap sack over his shoulder. "I... I'm back..." "Back already? That was fast! Did you get that English dictionary?" "Yes, yes! Where's the English dictionary I asked you to pick up for me?" "Uh, what's that on your shoulder? Why is it moving? I told you to buy a dictionary! Why did you buy something alive?" Seeing the sack shifting on his shoulder, everyone gave him puzzled looks. Then, the newly initiated junior brother stepped forward, opened the sack on the ground with a grin, and revealed a bound, terror-stricken foreign devil. "An English dictionary is just a dead object! Would any of you even be able to understand it? How could it beat a living one? When I went down into town, I caught this foreign devil using some kind of blood magic to harm people, so I nabbed him on the spot. I was going to kill him, but then I remembered we were supposed to learn English. Wouldn't it be much better to have him teach us directly? Once he's taught us, we can send him on his way!" "..." You really are a clever little rascal, aren't you?! Everyone stared at their newest junior brother with strange, conflicted expressions, then glanced at the foreign devil, who was practically soaked in bloody malice and clearly practiced wicked sorcery. Exchanging peculiar looks, they strangely felt that the junior brother's logic wasn't flawed at all. "Don't worry, I bought the dictionary too!" "..." Well, would you look at that—you really thought of everything! The disciples looked at one another in silence before finally turning their gaze toward the highest-ranking martial uncle present. The martial uncle glanced around, unwilling to take the blame himself, and turned toward the statue of Heavenly Lord Zhao. "Ahem. Let us cast a hexagram and consult the Patriarch!" "..." As the words fell, within the eyes of Heavenly Lord Zhao's statue upon the altar, a pair of divine eyes materialized—invisible even to those of profound cultivation attainment. Those eyes gazed with a hint of bewilderment at the foreign devil in the sack, then shifted toward the grand-disciple trying to make the divine spirit take the blame. Heavenly Lord Zhao's divine eyes then turned to the black cat still munching on offerings in the corner. Numbly, the deity closed his eyes, opened them again, scrutinized the bloody aura clinging to the foreign devil, and vanished. Don't ask why he didn't keep watching. The simple answer: he was tired of this nonsense! "The Patriarch approved! Quick, untie this foreign devil and make him teach us English! I want to see just how hard this English really is!" "Wait, what if this foreign devil intentionally teaches us the wrong things? We don't understand English either!" "No problem. Once we've learned a bit, we'll send Little Junior Brother down to town to catch another wicked foreign devil to cross-check!" "Right, right! If he dares teach us falsehoods, we'll send him straight down below—er, rather, up above to meet that brother of his!" "Rest easy, don't you worry! He can go down just fine! Back in our hometown, we worship the Holy God Kongming—he's Jesus's big brother, after all..." *Devils! These people are devils!* The foreign devil, who could understand Chinese, stared in horror with wide eyes as the Daoists chattered away, debating how he should die and at what auspicious hour so that he wouldn't turn into a ghost or a reanimated corpse. "Don' shoot... I got dalla..." Trembling, the foreign devil raised his hands in a posture that practically certified his nationality. The crowd raised their eyebrows, and one asked, "Dalla? Is that your friend? Where is he?" "Uh, I mean cash... money..." "..." Honestly, this foreign wicked cultivator's accent was truly grating on the ears! With darkened expressions, the Daoists exchanged looks and began their interrogation. After confirming the foreigner had no companions, their English lessons commenced. *** A hundred meters from Four-Eyed Daoist's wooden hut, near the tents. "My house... my chickens and ducks... the little spotted pig I raised with such care... the house I built with my own hands, chopping down dozens of trees to raise it..." With tears welling in his eyes, Four-Eyed Daoist listened to Daoist Zhaixing nearby explaining how to use a formation to send his and Master Yixiu's cottages straight down to the underworld, all to prevent the sinister qi from harming the living. "Wealth is merely a worldly possession..." Master Yixiu walked over to Four-Eyed Daoist's side, grinning as he twisted the knife. Four-Eyed Daoist glared furiously at the monk upon hearing this. "Don't you forget that the sinister qi in your house is even heavier than in mine! I only lost a house, but your ritual implements and all those Buddhist scriptures you spent decades collecting are completely gone!" "..." "Hahaha! Laugh! Go on, laugh! Why aren't you laughing now? Hahahahaha! Hahahahaha..." Four-Eyed Daoist roared with laughter, though by the end he was weeping as he ran off to a corner, his eyes red as he stared at his ruined house. "Uh, Master, please don't take it to heart. My master is just like that..." Jiale comforted Master Yixiu with an awkward smile. "Indeed. Out with the old, in with the new. Why dwell on it, Master?" Daoist Qianhe chimed in with an unnatural smile. "..." *Out with the old, in with the new? How could anything replace them?! Those were Buddhist scriptures I gathered over twenty to thirty years! Some were hand-copied editions by eminent monks!* Master Yixiu forced down his grief, cast an annoyed glare at Daoist Qianhe for his unhelpful remarks, and led Qingqing away. "???" *Did I just offend such a good-tempered monk?* The smile vanished from Daoist Qianhe's face once more. This time, however, he didn't doubt whether he possessed an annoying Dao constitution. He had already accepted that he truly had one. Thinking of this, he glanced instinctively at his four disciples. Dong, Nan, Xi, and Bei were looking at him with bizarre expressions. Qianhe sighed inwardly, convinced that even if he didn't have an annoying Dao constitution, he possessed some similar cursed physique. With that in mind, Daoist Qianhe resolved to make a trip back to the Main Altar to ask their master to resolve this constitution once and for all. Then, he walked off to the side on his own. "What's wrong with Master?" "No idea!" "Could the corpse poison have reached his brain?" "Uh, surely not under such a bright sun?" Dong, Nan, Xi, and Bei whispered among themselves before quickly hurrying after Daoist Qianhe. Nearby, Shi Shaojian watched them with a strange expression before pulling his gaze back. "Hm?" Shi Shaojian caught sight of a fleeting yin qi and a graceful silhouette inside the tent where Liu Xiu was staying. Through the curtain stirred by the breeze, he also spotted several bottles of vital-energy replenishing elixir pills sitting on the table. "That replenishing, huh..." Shi Shaojian raised an eyebrow and strode over to Liu Xiu, who was listening to Daoist Zhaixing explain formations. Lowering his voice, Shi Shaojian warned, "Junior Brother, go? Go? Go? Go!" "???" *Wait, what on earth are you saying?* Even with Liu Xiu's grasp of translation, he failed to decode the phrase for a moment, while Daoist Zhaixing looked utterly bewildered. "Miss Su..." Seeing that Liu Xiu hadn't understood, Shi Shaojian winked and dropped Miss Su's name, then repeated to Liu Xiu with grave seriousness, "Go? Go? Go? Go!" "Zero!" *Understood!* Shi Shaojian was telling him to think thrice before acting—to look before he leaped! The corners of Liu Xiu's mouth twitched twice. Internally marveling that Shi Shaojian was truly a devilish genius of language, he nodded firmly to show he understood. Shi Shaojian smiled in satisfaction and added, "Rest easy. I shit!" "...Sank you!" *It's truly a waste of your talents that you aren't an English teacher!* Liu Xiu watched as Shi Shaojian strutted off with an expression that said, *No need to thank me—what else is a senior brother for?* He then looked at the thoroughly stunned Daoist Zhaixing, thought for a moment, and said, "Well, my senior brother has a rather devilish gift for English." "Ah, yes. I could understand it!" "..." Honestly, did you really understand any of that? Liu Xiu didn't bother puncturing the prideful Daoist Zhaixing's bluff, merely continuing, "Must we wait until nightfall to set up the array?" "Yes. We must wait until the nine stars appear tonight before we can arrange the Nine Luminaries Mysterious Pivot Opening the Nether and Suppressing Yin Array. This array opens a path to the netherworld below for transmigration and arrays the astral stellar net above to lock down yin. It holds the power to repel ten thousand ghosts and permanently sever yin from yang. When the time comes, we can use the array to send both wooden huts straight down to the underworld..." "Such a hassle?" Liu Xiu remarked with a slight frown, thinking it might be simpler to use his thunder arts to generate static electricity and draw out the sinister qi directly. Daoist Zhaixing's eyes went wide. "You call that a hassle? This is already the simplest method for dealing with celestial star sinister qi!" "Is that so?" A voice laced with clear displeasure rang out from a water screen that suddenly materialized beside them. Liu Xiu and Zhaixing turned around to see Shi Jian, still garbed in his black-and-white Taiji Daoist robe, stepping slowly through the water screen. "Eldest Senior Brother!" "Greetings, Eldest Senior Brother!" "Master!" "Greetings, Daoist Shi!"... The crowd rushed over to greet Shi Jian. Shi Jian offered a faint grunt of acknowledgment. Watching the water screen fade away, Daoist Zhaixing said with profound admiration, "To think Eldest Senior Brother has already cultivated the Mystic Chapter of Riding Emptiness and Commanding Space to the Great Accomplishment realm, allowing you to stride across empty space!" "Oh? What, have you not even crossed the threshold yet?" "..." Eldest Senior Brother was sounding more and more like Eldest Senior Brother by the day! Daoist Zhaixing said nothing, merely lowering his head in embarrassment. But just as he lowered his head, he snapped it back up in shock. Daoist Zhaixing stared at Shi Jian with wide eyes. Nor was he the only one—Daoist Qianhe and the others were staring with equal disbelief. Shi Jian's figure appeared distorted, as though viewed through water, leaning left one moment and slanting right the next. Though he clearly stood firmly in place, he seemed to be swaying left and right. Even when he adopted a relaxed stance, every gesture and movement dragged a succession of twisted afterimages in its wake. *What kind of divine ability is this now?!* Everyone was shaken. Even the Seventy-First Prince, who had trailed closely behind Dong, Nan, Xi, and Bei, widened his eyes. Shi Jian offered no explanation. This was merely the phenomenon brought about by cultivating the fourth layer of the Three-Light Primordial Magnetism Body-Refining Art, Imperial Defense, to perfection. He simply raised his hand, formed a sword finger, and tapped the space between the brows of Liu Xiu and Shi Shaojian from a distance, imparting the updated 2.0 version of the Three-Light Primordial Magnetism Body-Refining Art into their minds. Recognizing that he was transmitting a method, Daoist Zhaixing and the other two looked on with envy; even Master Yixiu's eyes held a trace of longing. Shi Jian reined in the primordial magnetism distortion born of his fourth-layer perfection and cast a look of mild disgust at Daoist Zhaixing. Then, with a sweep of his broad sleeve toward the two wooden huts a hundred meters away, fine, scorching-white arcs of lightning—barely perceptible to the naked eye—flashed into existence. Daoist Zhaixing hastily opened his Dharma Eye to look, only for his eyes to bulge as he watched the sinister qi inside the two wooden huts vanish cleanly in an instant—completely wiped away without a trace. "Eldest Senior Brother, this is..." "A new thunder art," Shi Jian answered flatly, then turned his gaze toward Liu Xiu. Without his lips moving, his voice resonated clearly beside Liu Xiu's ear. "Though the celestial meteor iron sinister qi within your Crimson Firmament Sword is anomalous, it still belongs to the qi of the five metals. It is only because it partakes of the pure yang and exceedingly fierce nature that it harms oneself, others, and the harmony of Heaven..." "However, through the Three-Light Primordial Magnetism Body-Refining Art, your master has deduced a technique that can resolve this sinister qi from harming people..." "This sinister qi is attached to baleful energy, and its substance belongs to yang. Yang is buoyant by nature, drifting unsettled, and volatile, clinging tenaciously to all things..." "You need only channel the Three-Light Primordial Magnetism Body-Refining Art to draw upon the magnetic resonance of the three lights of the sun, moon, and stars, condensing a cluster of pure yin magnetic resonance in your palm. This resonance is formless and substanceless, like mist or dew. When scattered into the air, every wisp bears the nature of extreme yin. When the extreme yin magnetic resonance meets the yang balefulness, yin and yang summon each other like dew settling upon dust, neutralizing its nature naturally..." "Furthermore, once the attached balefulness is summoned by the yin resonance, its yang nature collapses instantly, and its buoyancy is entirely stripped away. Like dust dropping into water, it settles toward the ground, no longer rising. This step is called 'Releasing the Resonance'—the principle of harmonizing yang with yin and subduing motion with stillness..." "Although the yang balefulness has settled, it remains scattered across the ground. If not gathered and eliminated, it may resurface in the future. You must channel your own primordial magnetism into the earth's surface, secretly laying down a force of baleful attraction..." "...Like iron meeting a magnet, the particles will drift toward the array's core. The closer they draw to the center, the stronger the pull and the denser the convergence. Within the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, the scattered yang balefulness will gather entirely atop a single bluestone at the center of the array, stacking layer upon layer into a thin black ash adhering to the stone, utterly motionless. This step is called 'Constriction'—the principle of drawing balefulness with magnetism to gather and annihilate it..." Shi Jian's mental transmission was delivered swiftly. He paused briefly upon reaching the words "the principle of," before continuing his inquiry via transmission: "This must be the electrostatic field you mentioned, right?" "...Yes!" *Master, please stop cultivating immortality!* *Let's just ascend through technology instead!* Liu Xiu remarked dryly in his thoughts, astonished by Shi Jian's terrifying talent. He had only just considered using an electrostatic field to handle radiation particles, but unfortunately, his current cultivation realm was insufficient to pull it off. He had never imagined that Shi Jian, relying solely on a few casual remarks he had made about static electricity, could deduce a Daoist version of an electrostatic field. To be fair, his master truly was incredible! Listening to the Three-Light Primordial Magnetism Baleful-Cleansing and Evil-Gathering Method ringing in his ears, Liu Xiu gave a thumbs-up of genuine admiration. Shi Jian smiled faintly and tilted his head upward for a fleeting moment. Then, Shi Jian's brow furrowed as his gaze shifted to Daoist Qianhe and Four-Eyed Daoist—along with Daoist Zhaixing, who had only arrived today. "???" *Wait, Eldest Senior Brother, why are you looking at me? I've always been reliable!* *Besides, Eldest Senior Brother, I only got here today!* Daoist Zhaixing lowered his head in alarm. Shi Jian said nothing, simply taking the lead and striding toward the wooden hut. He had no other intention than to ask two of his three junior brothers what they thought about this corpse-driving escort. He also wanted to ask where their decades of cultivation had actually gone, and perhaps inquire whether they needed a thunder-liberation reincarnation. "*Sigh...*" ×3 Daoist Qianhe and the other two exchanged bitter glances, trudging behind Shi Jian with miserable faces—the spitting image of delinquent students being summoned to the headmaster's office. At that moment, Liu Xiu stepped forward. "Master, there is something I need to tell you!" "Hm?" Shi Jian paused. Just as Daoist Qianhe and the other two thought Liu Xiu was stepping in to rescue them, they saw Liu Xiu whisper something into Shi Jian's ear. Shi Jian's expression instantly darkened to an extreme degree as he cast a chilling glare at the three of them. "I see. You handled this well!" A fleeting, strained smile appeared on Shi Jian's face. As the saying went, a single word could awaken a dreamer. With Liu Xiu laying it bare and directly naming the Three Calamities and Nine Hardships scapegoat plot, Shi Jian understood everything in a flash. From his initial encounter with the female demon, to her rescue, to Qianhe's joint corpse escort, to Qianhe and the others serving as his substitutes to endure the Nine Hardships—someone had orchestrated the entire affair from the shadows. Though he found it strange how Liu Xiu had deduced all of this, down to the exact name of the method used to avert the Nine Hardships, he did not press for answers. After all, everyone in this world had their secrets. Besides, he felt Liu Xiu had already done exceptionally well—far better than he himself had in his younger days. Thinking this, Shi Jian instinctively glanced at Shi Shaojian nearby, then quickly looked away, prioritizing out of sight, out of mind. *What did I do this time?* Shi Shaojian was thoroughly perplexed, unable to fathom which nerve had misfired in his father's head. He hadn't done anything wrong! He had been standing there behaving himself the entire time! "You've worked hard. Leave the rest to your master!" Shi Jian forced a stiff smile toward Liu Xiu. With a wave of his hand, he sent forth a paper crane condensed from lightning. The lightning crane flashed and vanished across the horizon. Liu Xiu guessed that Shi Jian was using a remote paper-crane tracking method to call for reinforcements. He didn't know who was being summoned, but before he could ask, Shi Jian looked at Daoist Qianhe and the other two with a thin smile. "Come!" Seeing that expression, Shi Shaojian quietly retreated a few paces. He had no other motive than knowing that this particular look meant his father was furious. As for how he knew? Simple: his father always smiled first right before giving him a brutal beating. "..." ×3 *It's over...* *We aren't going to be shocked into paralysis again, are we?!* Daoist Qianhe and the other two exchanged bitter looks, keeping their heads low as they followed Shi Jian toward the wooden hut. Only Daoist Zhaixing felt utterly cursed by misfortune—he had literally just arrived! He wasn't the unreliable one! He, Daoist Zhaixing, had always been dependable—far more dependable than his eldest brother, Lin Fengjiao! Liu Xiu did not follow them inside to watch the show. He merely clicked his tongue in wonder as searing-white lightning erupted behind the closing door, accompanied by screams that were abruptly cut short! "Master's thunder art realm has advanced yet again!" Liu Xiu sighed in admiration. Dong, Nan, Xi, and Bei exchanged glances, then looked at the lightning flashing within the hut, deciding it was best to pretend they hadn't seen a thing. After all, this was business among the elders. Jiale was different; his mind was racing with all sorts of worries. For instance, would his master accidentally be electrocuted to death by Eldest Martial Uncle? Furthermore, he hadn't saved up enough money to buy a bronze-cornered golden coffin yet. "*Tsk*, it's still better to be an unaffiliated cultivator..." Master Yixiu remarked with a click of his tongue, though a faint trace of envy lingered in his eyes. Qingqing rolled her eyes, not bothering to expose her master's bluff. As the lecture inside the hut continued alongside the flashing lightning, Liu Xiu suddenly remembered he hadn't paid for the rain prayer yet. He waved to Jiale. "Senior Brother!" "Coming, coming..." Jiale trotted over eagerly. Liu Xiu produced ten silver dollars from his storage thumb ring and secretly slipped them into Jiale's hand. "Rest easy, Junior Brother hasn't forgotten!" "Uh, I can't take this..." Jiale quickly refused, putting his hands behind his back and retreating. Liu Xiu had saved his master's life; how could he possibly accept this money? He had originally planned to take the money because he thought Liu Xiu wanted to play a prank on Manager Wu with the rain. Now that he knew the rain had been called to deal with the imperial-clan jiangshi, he naturally couldn't take money for that effort! "Aren't you going to buy your master a coffin?" Liu Xiu said with a smile, cutting through Jiale's refusal in a single stroke. Jiale hesitated in embarrassment, then took the silver dollars. "Then... consider this a loan from you!" In his heart, he thought of using this money as capital to save up and buy his master a bronze-cornered golden coffin identical to the one the imperial-clan jiangshi had used. "Don't just watch—you get some too!" Liu Xiu said to Qingqing nearby. Qingqing walked over and, upon seeing Liu Xiu offering her rain-praying money, refused just as Jiale had. But soon enough, Liu Xiu countered with, "Don't you want to buy something for your master?" leaving her unable to decline. "I'll pay you back..." Qingqing said, echoing Jiale's words. Liu Xiu nodded with a smile. "By the way, I roughly divined where your family is. Think it over and decide if you want to know." "Alright..." Qingqing froze for a moment, then walked toward Master Yixiu with a complex expression, clearly intending to ask her master what she should do. Having earned immense gratitude with a modest sum, Liu Xiu grinned and walked toward Shi Shaojian, who had already stolen several glances at him. "Senior Brother, here..." "I'm not short on cash! Besides, why would I take your money...?" Shi Shaojian turned his head away, though his eyes had darted to the twenty silver dollars in Liu Xiu's hand several times already. "Consider it hush money..." Liu Xiu said with a conspiratorial wink. Shi Shaojian paused, a sly smile spreading across his face as he gave a *you rascal* look. He swiftly snatched the silver dollars, patted his chest, and promised, "Rest easy! Your senior brother's lips are sealed. Even if Master beats me to death, I won't say a word about you and Miss Su!" "Right, right!" Liu Xiu finally realized that Shi Shaojian had completely misunderstood the level of intimacy between him and Miss Su. Night hadn't even fallen yet, and he hadn't had the time—Miss Su was still merely an unwed lady staying in her maiden chambers, not in his bed! "Shaojian!" Shi Jian's calm voice suddenly rang out, making Shi Shaojian jump in fright, his eyes widening before he turned dejectedly to Liu Xiu. "I'll go with you, Senior Brother. Don't worry, Junior Brother knows what to say!" Liu Xiu offered with a smile. Shi Shaojian patted Liu Xiu's shoulder with deep emotion. "Good junior brother..." *Wait! That's not right!* *Maybe he really is my biological younger brother!* At this thought, Shi Shaojian touched the twenty silver dollars in his pocket—twice what Jiale had received. His gaze softened once more as he retrieved the shrunken Xuan Dun Sword and offered it to Liu Xiu. "Here, Junior Brother!" "..." *Wait, what is going on inside your head?!* Liu Xiu shook his head and declined with his eyes. First, the Xuan Dun Sword couldn't compare to his Crimson Firmament Sword; second, he was afraid this fool would regret it later. Most importantly, aside from its flight capability, the Xuan Dun Sword was inferior to his Crimson Firmament Sword in every respect. *As expected! He really is my biological brother!* Seeing Liu Xiu decline even a magic treasure, Shi Shaojian pondered the matter and concluded that Liu Xiu must have already deduced his own true identity, which was why he wouldn't take his treasure. *Don't worry. Big Brother will look out for you from now on!* Shi 'Hegemon Body' Shaojian thought to himself as he looked at Liu Xiu beside him. Liu Xiu didn't dare look back at Shi Shaojian, terrified that if he kept looking, he wouldn't be able to hold back his laughter. He simply walked toward the wooden hut. The distance of a hundred-odd meters was neither near nor far, and the two arrived in short order. As the tightly shut wooden door of the living room swung open on its own, Liu Xiu saw Daoist Qianhe and the other two sitting on chairs with explosive afros, as well as Shi Jian seated in the primary seat. Just as Liu Xiu was about to bow, a plump female cultivator dressed in a Taiji Daoist robe bearing the yin-yang fish pattern suddenly appeared in the empty seat of honor beside Shi Jian. The woman appeared to be in her early thirties, with fair skin and exquisite features. At first glance, she was even three parts more beautiful than the female ghost Madam Liu. Seeing this female cultivator appear, Shi Jian's expression turned solemn. He immediately rose and bowed. "Disciple Shi Jian greets Martial Uncle Tianning!" Just as Liu Xiu wondered whether he was about to be dragged into trouble by the lecherous Shi Shaojian beside him, this Martial Grand-Uncle Tianning spoke with a beaming smile: "Are you the Liu Xiu who deduced the Chapter of Shifting Stars and Replacing Forms for the Three Calamities and Nine Disasters?" Her voice was pleasant, carrying a subtle wisp of bewitching charm. Glancing at the frozen Shi Shaojian beside him, Liu Xiu looked at this grand-uncle in surprise. Meeting his eyes was a familiar, impenetrable black. It was identical to the transitional black that the female ghost Madam Liu had used to draw him into those dreamscapes, causing Liu Xiu to wonder in utter astonishment: *Wait? This gorgeous grand-uncle is actually a female ghost?!* *Could there be another injustice here?* Very quickly, Liu Xiu realized that this was no grievance...