She g him, then slowly lowered her eyes. "Because of this."

  Qin Yiyao took out a purple-gold pendant from beh her colr. The moment Gu Heng saw it, he felt that it was definitely worth a fortune.

  He reached out to take a closer look, but was met with Qin Yiyao's wary gaze.

  Gu Heng paused, then shook his head with a smile. "This thing... is very precious, isn't it?"

  "Yes."

  "I inally lived in an alley on the southern edge of the city, but that area was taken over by the Bck Forest Gang, and they drove me out. I hid this jade under a brick, and tonight I sneaked back to get it, but they found me..."

  She sighed.

  Gu Heng nodded slightly, p for a moment. "Is this a relic left by your family?"

  "...Yes."

  She thought about it. This item was something she had pced in her coffin before her death, so it was indeed a relid a very important o that.

  Ohe territory of the Great Qin Empire spanned half of the Mysterious Heaven Realm, with imperial treasuries everywhere, guarded by plex and powerful forbidden formations. This Purple Gold Spirit Pendant was the key to open each treasury!

  Qin Yiyao had sidered that after her resurre, the Great Qin Empire might have fallen, and she would have to start from scratch, even anticipating that she would lose all her cultivation. But she never expected that all the precious pills and treasures she left behind would bee useless because of the formations she herself had set.

  So, the Purple Gold Spirit Pendant in Qin Yiyao's hand was actually of no use now, but she couldn't give it up.

  "Sigh..."

  This girl's situation might be even more tragic than Gu Heng imagined.

  Judging by her demeanor, she seemed to e from a once-wealthy family, but some unknown misfortune had left her destitute. That purple-gold pendant was surely valuable, but she couldn't bear to pawn it.

  How could one so easily part with a relic left by family?

  He raised his hand, gently patting her head to fort her. "Do you have anywhere else to go?"

  Qin Yiyao shook her head.

  "Then stay with me."

  She looked up in surprise, only to see Gu Heng already standing, tidying up the bowls and chopsticks.

  "But, it's not for free. You have to be my apprentice."

  He added.

  "Apprentice?"

  "I'm a healer who makes medie to save people. I just arrived in Cloud Spirit City and bought this shop. I'm starting from scratd need an assistant. Since I saved you tonight, it seems we are fated."

  "Anyway, you learn all my medie-making skills. What do you think, are you willing?"

  "...Alright."

  Qin Yiyao didn't take long to agree.

  She truly didn't know where to go. She was all alone in this world, with possibly no one she knew left.

  "Then you call me Master from now on."

  Gu Heng shrugged, thinking it was ued for him, a mere mortal, to take on an apprentice.

  "But you... aren't you afraid the Bck Forest Gang will e looking for trouble because of me?"

  Qin Yiyao's wasn't unfounded. After all, the Bck Forest Gang was quite a strong force outside Cloud Spirit City, with four or five Core Formation cultivators. Although they didn't dare cause trouble in the east, west, or north of the city, this was the south, and she feared Gu Heng might get into unnecessary trouble because of her.

  "Not afraid."

  Gu Heng said nontly, "The Bck Forest Gang isn't worth fearing."

  If ordinary thugs came, he could take them down in a few moves. If a Foundatioablishment or Core Formation cultivator came, well... his poison had no antidote.

  He still remembered the first time he used poison to kill a Core Formation cultivator in Greenwood City.

  It was then that Gu Heng realized the gap between weak cultivators and mortals wasn't that big.

  So, there was nothing to fear.

  "...Hmm."

  Qin Yiyao quietly watched him, feeling that her guess might be correct. He didn't seem like an ordinary mortal.

  "Go get some sleep. You must be tired. I've prepared a bed upstairs."

  "Also, take this book and practice well."

  Gu Heng, like perf a magic trick—though he actually just took it out from the System Backpack—handed a book to Qin Yiyao.

  She took it, looking at the rge characters on the cover—

  "Body."

  As she ope, Qin Yiyao's eyebrows shot up.

  A golden characters, this was the Great Void Immortal Script!

  Qin Yiyao suddenly remembered what this book was.

  She had once searched for this immortal book that had pletely vanished during the Great Void Era.

  Legend had it that during the prehistoric era, the boundaries of the Mysterious Heaven Realm were blurred, eg it with other realms. The A Realm, Immortal Realm, her Realm, Demon Realm, and Mysterious Heaven Realm, the "Mortal Realm," were all interected, creating pathways. It was then that above the Holy Sage stage, the Mysterious Heaven Realm saw the emergence of the "Asding to Immortality" stage!

  After reag the tenth level of Asding to Immortality, one would step into the realm of "Immortality"!

  Below the Immortal realm was collectively called the "Mortal realm."

  Trahe mortal, and one could ehe immortal.

  During the prehistoric era, a few Asding to Immortality experts emerged in the Mysterious Heaven Realm. They wrote extremely precious tomes to pass down their cultivation insights to future geions. Among them were "The Grand Medie pendium," "Supreme Boundary Breaking Art," and others.

  The "Body" book was one of them.

  It was written by a prehistoric expert who reached the tenth level of Asding to Immortality. He pursued the path of body cultivation to the utmost, and acc to the methods in this book, one could temper the body, transf the physical form. Even a mortal with no foundation could, after reag a certain level of physical tempering, grow a Dao root!

  Even if one followed the book's methods step by step, they could steadily ehe ranks of the strong. Although further progress would depend on personal uanding of the Dao, this book at least allowed oo avoid many difficult paths!

  However, at the end of the prehistoric era, a great war among the five realms caused the boundaries to bee unstable, and the pathways between the realms colpsed, leading to a world-ending catastrophe.

  After the camity, tless beings perished or were devastated.

  Sihen, the so-called "Asding to Immortality" became an elusive myth.

  Qin Yiyao had once sought the "Path to Asding to Immortality." For this, she expanded her territory, bringing the Great Qin Empire to its peak, but had no success in finding the path to immortality, and thus retreated in dismay.

  It was a mentable affair.

  She looked at the heavy, a, yellowed book, her eyes flickering, her heart stirred.

  This "Body" book was in his hands!?

  Could it be that he practiced the "Body" book?

  Qin Yiyao suddenly realized that her new master had mas, and at her current state, she couldn't possibly see through them.

  Including his cultivation.

  Could it be that he had already reached the Asding to Immortality stage?

  Highly possible!

  Although Qin Yiyao currently had no cultivation, her sense of any cultivator's strength was something she would never fet. Even if a Holy Sage stood before her, she could still sense certain clues.

  Except for him!

  Perhaps sensing her puzzled gaze, Gu Heng turned around. "Your body is weak, and the methods in this book suit you well. Train your body, and maybe iure, you practice swordsmanship."

  This book was, of course, a reward from the system after he maxed out his "Body Refi" skill proficy.

  It was also the most straightforward book the system had given, as it only had one word on it, clearly telling you that if you followed this book, your body would definitely bee robust.

  Uhe "Grand Medie pendium," which was all mysterious and cryptic.

  Of course, Gu Heng didn't practice it because his body refi was already at the maximum level, and he had seen the book's tent, which was a bit... too simple. When he was training his body, the system guided him step by step.

  The tent of this book, in his view, was only suitable for someoh no foundation to practice.

  And Qin Yiyao was just such a person.

  "Thank you, Master, for the book. I will practice diligently."

  Qin Yiyao smiled and nodded.

  Looking at him now, she felt he was transdent, hiding his sharpness, with a brilliance like a gaxy, as if he was just oep away from reag the ultimate peak.

  Could the final step oh to Asding to Immortality be to ehe mortal world, to hide one's sharpness, to refihe immortal heart?

  Is that why he was here, wanting to be a mortal, to experiehe st bit of insight the mortal world could offer him?

  Uedly, in her previous life, in pursuit of the elusive path to Asding to Immortality, she gained nothing. Yet after her rebirth, in an alley of this ter dynasty, as a fallen mortal, she entered someone who had truly embarked oh to Asding to Immortality.

  And now, she had bee his apprentice.

  Truly, it was fate.

  Qin Yiyao felt she might have found the "opportunity" she had sought for years but never found.

  ...

  Outside Cloud Spirit City, at the edge of the Cloud Spirit Forest, atop Bck Forest Mountain.

  The Bck Forest Gang had been rooted here for decades.

  "Bang!"

  A loud noise came from the stone fortress at the mountain's peak, followed by the sound of flesh and blood spttering.

  A tall, sturdy man, covered in blood, crawled out from the ground. He staggered forward two or three meters, theo his knees, gasping heavily, as if he had used all his strength just to catch his breath.

  "Please, please, spare me, Chief!"

  "I really didn't lie!"

  He k on the ground, desperately kowtowing.

  Beside him, a middle-aged man with a grim expression sat in the mai, his face dark enough to drip water.

  The Bck Forest Gang's leader, Huang Su, listeo his subordinate's pleas, silently p what had gone wrong tonight.

  Right in front of him, and uhe eyes of this rge group of gang members, Hong Ba's corpse y there, still warm, eyes wide open as if he died with grievances.

  All his meridians shattered.

  He died a very painful death.

  As for what happened... after listening to this guy's tearful, terrified at, Huang Su felt more and more that something was amiss.

  They had goo the south of Cloud Spirit City to reap the bes from those mortals, taking over their houses to rent them out at high prices. Then a brat, after being driven out, sneaked ba the middle of the night to steal something, and they caught him...

  Then, when they caught that brat, someoervened and taught them a lesson...

  With one move, they turned Hong Ba into this sorry state!

  kant2025