Luo Changqing looked at the portrait on the scroll and said in surprise, "There is some resemblance."

"Some resemblance?" Xuan Zheng barked angrily. "It's exactly the same!"

"Grand Elder of Transmission, you were the one who brought Luo Changqing back to the sect. You'll be the one to put an end to this scourge!"

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"For the sake of all the Nü'erhong and Jiannanchun he's brewed, give him a quick death!"

Before Lu Anshan could speak, Luo Changqing hurriedly said, "Sect Master, this must be a misunderstanding. I am definitely not the person the Saintess wants killed."

"I just happen to look like that man."

"My hometown is China, while the Piaomiao Immortal Sect is in the Southern Sea Dao Domain. Since leaving home, I've never once gone to the Southern Sea Dao Domain. How could I possibly be the person the Saintess wants to kill?"

Luo Changqing felt like his heart was seizing up...

He was almost about to drop dead on the spot...

Of all the rotten luck in the world, this had to happen to him!

"You're about to die and you still dare to argue!" Xuan Zheng cut him off with a furious shout. "Fine, let's say what you're saying is true. Let's say it's just a coincidence that you look like the man in the portrait. Then tell me this, why do you even have the same name?"

"Are you going to say the name is a coincidence too?"

"You must die today!"

At the brink of life and death, Luo Changqing's whole body shook uncontrollably. As his sleeve trembled, a crisp clink sounded out, and the ancient token engraved with the two characters "Tantai" slipped from his cuff and fell to the ground.

"This..." Xuan Zheng stared fixedly at the token on the floor. In his cloudy eyes was a shock that seemed to come from the depths of his soul. He cried out, "Th-this token... where did you get it?"

At that moment, something happened that left Luo Changqing utterly baffled.

It wasn't just Xuan Zheng. Lu Anshan and the dozens of elders all looked at the token with horror on their faces, their expressions full of disbelief.

Staring at Luo Changqing, Lu Anshan urged, "Brat, hurry up and tell us—how did this token end up on you?"

"What's going on? Could that woman in red have an extraordinary identity?"

After that thought flashed through his mind, Luo Changqing deliberately put on a mysterious air and said, "Sect Master, Elder Lu, this token was left to me by an old acquaintance."

"An... old acquaintance..." Xuan Zheng's aged body trembled. Filled with fear and reverence, he bowed deeply to Luo Changqing and hurriedly said,

"Changqing! I was rash just now. Please, be magnanimous and don't hold it against me!"

"I take back everything I just said!"

"With that person backing you, then even if the Saintess and her envoy arrive in three days, they may not dare do anything to you!"

At that moment—

The way Lu Anshan and the dozens of elders looked at Luo Changqing completely changed.

It turned into fear.

They all bowed to him in unison.

Every one of them fell silent as cicadas in winter.

"So the woman in red holds an even higher status than the Saintess of the Piaomiao Immortal Sect... otherwise these old fogies wouldn't be so afraid of me."

Luo Changqing thought this to himself. He badly wanted to ask what exactly this token meant and what it symbolized.

But he didn't dare.

He had already claimed that the owner of the token was an old acquaintance. If they were old acquaintances, then he should definitely know that person's identity. If he asked now, his lie would be exposed instantly.

"Enough. Transmission Elder stays. Everyone else, disperse."

With a wave of Xuan Zheng's hand, the dozens of elders rose into the air and vanished into the night sky.

"Changqing, I never expected you to have such a formidable background."

After patting Luo Changqing on the shoulder, Xuan Zheng said gravely, "Changqing, even though you have someone behind you, this is still the Xuanqing Heavenly Sect, and the Southern Sea Dao Domain is unimaginably far away."

"If the Saintess and her envoy personally come to the Xuanqing Heavenly Sect in three days, and they discover you and decide to kill you, my Xuanqing Heavenly Sect won't be able to protect you."

"According to sect rules, since you cannot achieve Lingdong or open up your Hidden Sea to become a cultivator, you should be expelled from the sect."

Luo Changqing's heart tightened. "Sect Master..."

"No need to say more." Xuan Zheng waved a hand and cut him off. "I'll give you three final days. If you still cannot become a cultivator, then leave."

"I'm doing this for your sake, and for the sake of the entire Xuanqing Heavenly Sect."

"As for the old acquaintance behind you—even if I had ten thousand times the courage, I wouldn't dare offend that person. But by the same token, even if I had a hundred times the courage, I still couldn't afford to offend the Saintess."

"Changqing, I hope you can understand. I've wronged you."

With that, Xuan Zheng bowed deeply to Luo Changqing.

Lu Anshan let out a long sigh and said nothing. He knew that making Luo Changqing leave would be best for both him and the sect.

"Since you've put it that plainly, Sect Master, I agree. If I still can't open up my Hidden Sea and become a cultivator within three days, I'll leave."

Luo Changqing looked around the place he had lived in for three years, his eyes full of reluctance.

He felt desolate.

Alone.

But still, clutching at the last shred of hope, he asked, "Sect Master, what if I can successfully open up my Hidden Sea within three days?"

Xuan Zheng only shook his head and said nothing. Then he rose into the air and disappeared into the night.

Over the past three years, Xuan Zheng had often heard about Luo Changqing from Lu Anshan.

He knew Lu Anshan had already given Luo Changqing over a hundred Lingdong Pills. Even a dog might have achieved Lingdong after swallowing that many, yet Luo Changqing's talent and comprehension were so abysmal they were nearly unheard of in all eternity.

He had taken over a hundred of them.

And it hadn't done a damn thing.

Forget giving Luo Changqing three days—even thirty years wouldn't be enough for him to achieve Lingdong, much less open up his Hidden Sea and become a cultivator.

In Xuan Zheng's mind, as long as Luo Changqing left before the Saintess arrived at the Xuanqing Heavenly Sect in three days, then both his own crisis and the sect's crisis would be resolved.

"Boy Luo, these past three years, this old man has helped you in every way he could."

Lu Anshan could not hide his disappointment. "But this time, I truly can't do anything for you."

"I know everything you've done for me, Elder." Luo Changqing felt a slight sting in his nose. "If you hadn't taken me in three years ago, I'd probably have already ended up in some demon beast's belly."

"Sigh. You're such a sharp kid—how did you end up as a piece of trash?" Lu Anshan beat his chest in regret. As he turned to leave, Luo Changqing said, "Please wait a moment, Elder. I have something good for you."

Luo Changqing turned and entered the thatched hut. He quickly came back out, now carrying a jar of wine, which he handed to Lu Anshan.

"Here—this is a wine I brewed especially for you over the past month."

"It tastes even better than Jiannanchun."

Lu Anshan took the wine jar, his heart filled with mixed emotions. He gave Luo Changqing's shoulder a heavy pat. "Good child. It's this old man who is useless—I can't protect you."

His voice choked slightly, and his eyes reddened faintly.

"The wind's gotten in my eyes, boy Luo. This old man is leaving."

Lu Anshan turned away, his back hunched as he walked off into the distance. Without looking back, he asked, "And what kind of wine is this one?"

"Wuliangye!"

Luo Changqing watched his departing figure, his bright eyes stinging. "Could it be that I truly don't have even the slightest hope of becoming a cultivator?"

After a brief silence in the night, Lu Anshan's sighing voice drifted back.

"Thirty thousand years ago, the Founding Patriarch of my Xuanqing Heavenly Sect was just like you—unable to achieve Lingdong."

"But he forged a new path of his own and created the Grand Desolate Lingdong Art. He successfully achieved Lingdong, opened up his Hidden Sea, became a cultivator, and in the end founded the Xuanqing Heavenly Sect."

"It's just a pity that the Grand Desolate Lingdong Art has already been lost for twenty thousand years."

"Unless the Founding Patriarch himself were still alive, there is no other way."

Hearing this, Luo Changqing—who had been utterly dispirited a moment before—shuddered all over. He murmured to himself, "Thirty thousand years ago... thirty thousand years ago..."

No one knew what he had thought of, but suddenly he was wild with joy. He rushed back into the thatched hut and sat cross-legged on the bed.

Just as he reached to pull open his collar and enter the "Punishment" birthmark, the scene before his eyes changed, and he arrived inside the Demon Realm, where demonic energy billowed to the heavens.

He stood between the sacred golden tower and the jet-black Demonic Tower, staring up at the line of writing on the time-space gate in the sky, shaped like a bagua diagram:

"Reverse time and space, disorder yin and yang, return to thirty thousand years ago."

His heart was full of anxiety and nerves, yet also excitement and anticipation.

Luo Changqing thought of the years of wandering and hardship he had endured since crossing over to the Heavenly Punishment Continent. Then he thought of this world, overrun with demon beasts and peril lurking everywhere.

He knew that if he were driven out of the Xuanqing Heavenly Sect again, there was simply no way he would survive.

Though he feared the unknown dangers of going back thirty thousand years, he knew just as clearly that he had no road left to retreat down.

As for the Saintess of the Piaomiao Immortal Sect personally coming to the Xuanqing Heavenly Sect in three days, he wasn't worried.

Because he was certain he was not the person the Saintess wanted killed.

It was just a misunderstanding.

Once the Saintess arrived, he could simply explain it.

At that moment, as Luo Changqing stared at the tightly shut gate of time and space, a mysterious feeling of perfect mutual understanding suddenly entered his heart.

It was as though, with a single thought, he could open the gate.

"Open!"

At Luo Changqing's thought, the towering gate of time and space instantly swung open. What came into view was a surging torrent of spatial and temporal chaos within the gate.

The next instant, a terrifying force poured down from inside like a whale swallowing the river moon. The moment it enveloped Luo Changqing, his body rose helplessly into the air and flew toward the gate...

"Founding Patriarch, I hope that when I go this time, I'll be able to meet you!"

As Luo Changqing flew into the gate of time and space, the forces of time and space roared around him, and the whole world seemed to reverse itself.

Luo Changqing felt the world spin around him...

After only three short breaths—

Darkness flashed, then light.

An ancient world from thirty thousand years ago came into view.

It was none other than the Xuanqing Heavenly Sect of thirty thousand years ago!

At that moment, Luo Changqing floated in midair above the ancient, aura-laden Xuanqing Dao Arena in an ethereal soul form.

And in that Xuanqing Dao Arena, there were fully ten million disciples seated cross-legged.

These disciples were quietly listening to a lecture being delivered by an old man on the Dao Platform, a man with the bearing of an immortal sage.

"So the Xuanqing Heavenly Sect was this prosperous thirty thousand years ago. It had so many disciples—nothing like today, when there are only a few hundred thousand."

Just as Luo Changqing was thinking that, his gaze landed on the white-haired old man giving the lecture.

He was overcome with excitement!

Luo Changqing recognized that old man!

When he had first entered the Xuanqing Heavenly Sect as a menial disciple, he had knelt and worshiped before the portrait of the Founding Patriarch!

That man was the Founding Patriarch himself: Patriarch Xuanqing!

"Who are you, to dare trespass into my Xuanqing Heavenly Sect!"

All at once, Patriarch Xuanqing raised his head and looked at Luo Changqing. Dense killing intent flashed in his cloudy eyes!

"Swish, swish, swish—"

The ten million disciples all raised their heads and looked at Luo Changqing, this uninvited guest, with hostility in their eyes.

"This disciple, Luo Changqing, greets the Founding Patriarch!"

Luo Changqing bowed deeply to Patriarch Xuanqing.

"You are a disciple of my Xuanqing Heavenly Sect?" Patriarch Xuanqing frowned beneath his white brows. "Why have I never seen you before?"

"Reporting to Founding Patriarch," Luo Changqing said, neither servile nor overbearing, "this disciple comes from the Xuanqing Heavenly Sect of thirty thousand years in the future."

"The future, thirty thousand years from now? Utter nonsense!" Patriarch Xuanqing's brows shot up as he shouted angrily, "Insolence! You're nothing but a hairy little child, and you dare toy with me!"

Patriarch Xuanqing flew into a rage, and the ten million disciples in the Dao Arena also glared at Luo Changqing, their expressions as though they wanted to flay him alive.

Luo Changqing hurriedly said, "Every word this disciple says is true!"

Patriarch Xuanqing laughed in extreme fury. "Boy, you're the first person who has ever dared make a fool of me!"

"You say you're a disciple of my sect thirty thousand years from now? Then let me ask you this—who is the third Sect Master of my sect?"

Luo Changqing thought for a moment and said, "It is your twenty-third great-great-grandson, Xuan Chongming."

A torrent of killing intent burst from Patriarch Xuanqing's aged body, causing the very sky above the entire Dao Arena to crack apart.

"I have only twenty-two great-great-grandsons, and you still dare say that you—"

Before he could finish, a white-robed old man hurriedly flew into the Dao Arena.

"Patriarch, wonderful news! Your seventh-generation descendant has brought you another great-great-grandson!"

The vast Dao Arena suddenly fell silent.

Patriarch Xuanqing's expression shifted slightly, and he said solemnly, "Has he been named yet?"

The white-robed elder said joyfully, "Yes, yes! Seventh Young Master has named him Chongming!"