In this world, there's only one Zhong Yin—the unparalleled Divine Sword who's swept across a thousand years without ever tasting defeat.
From the moment he descended the mountain 1,200 years ago, he wielded the divine sword Voidslayer and challenged every notable cultivator across the world, never once suffering a loss.
He cleaved through the Soul-Hooking Trio of the Vermilion Hook Sect, shattered the Seven Nether Star Formation of the Underworld Monarch Sect, challenged the Four Demon Blades of the Heavenly Sword Sect, dueled the infamous demonic grandmaster Ghost Master, and even barged into one of the Six Forbidden Lands—the Galaxy Abyss. For thousands of years, no one in the Tongxuan Realm has been able to outshine his legend.
Most notably, he's the only one who ever defeated the Three Wanderers Saints of the Tongxuan Realm. And the most legendary of these feats is when, a thousand years ago, he charged solo into the No Realm Land and forced Jade Wanderer himself to flee for his life.
All these tales together built the towering myth of Zhong Yin.
Without question, he's the undisputed idol of every single disciple in the Mingxin Sword Sect. Even Li Xun himself couldn't help being swept up by the awe.
That said, Li Xun really didn't want to see him right now.
According to legend, Zhong Yin could've ascended to the heavens in broad daylight centuries ago. But for some unknown reason, he stayed behind—forcing the world to keep him with some insane, heaven-defying technique.
Even so, he already had powers practically on par with a transcendent being. Maybe he couldn't see five hundred years into the past and future like the legends claimed, but his ability to see through people—that part everyone believed.
One glance. That's all it took for Zhong Yin to strip you bare—mentally, spiritually. No secret could hide under his gaze. And Li Xun? He was the last person who wanted to be looked at like that. His heart was practically a vault of shady secrets—stuff you definitely wouldn't want someone like Zhong Yin peeking into.
Even if the rumors were overblown, Zhong Yin's cultivation was near-heavenly. Could he really not see through Li Xun's layers of hidden power?
Blood Nightmare, Yin fire, NetherYin Qi—any of those being exposed would be a straight-up death sentence.
He'd already felt cornered months ago when he met the sect leader, Daoist Qingming. Now he was supposed to meet someone even stronger? How the hell was he supposed to survive this?
The more he thought about it, the more his heart pounded. For a wild moment, he even considered leaping off the cloud and fleeing on his sword. Just run—run and never look back!
The idea flashed through his mind—then fizzled. And that's when he realized something else—something bad.
The Blood Nightmare backlash! It's almost time!
Once that kicked in, how was he supposed to use the "Hawk-Feeding Technique" to suppress it? And if he didn't suppress it, once the backlash hit, how could he possibly hide the chaos brewing inside his body?
As soon as the thought hit him, his heart thudded—hard.
He was screwed.
Eyes shut in pure dread, Li Xun braced for the worst… but what happened next wasn't what he expected.
His heart pounded twice, the Blood Nightmare energy started roiling—and then… something changed.
That faint chill drifting from the "Jade Bixie" he wore started working its magic again. Just like the first time he had put it on, the Blood Nightmare and Yin Fire retracted suddenly—then slowly settled down.
And that dreaded backlash? It never came.
The daily, unstoppable torment he'd come to expect... was gone. Suppressed.
He had no idea if this would come with side effects later, but at the moment, he couldn't care less. The sheer relief of escaping death left him frozen, dumbly clutching the jade at his chest.
"Stunned with joy at getting to meet him?"
Qingyin's teasing voice floated into his ears, effortlessly snapping him out of his trance.
Li Xun jolted, panic rising. He opened his mouth to say something, anything—but his thoughts were a jumbled mess.
Luckily, Qingyin didn't press. She just looked curiously at his hand, still gripping the jade pendant. "Your chest hurting or something?"
"N-No!" Li Xun shook his head too fast, too stiff—definitely suspicious. He rushed to explain: "It just… skipped a beat or two just now, the jade…"
But how the hell was he supposed to explain it? What if the jade's reaction only happened because of the demonic stuff in his body? That would basically be confessing everything. So he stopped mid-sentence, frozen again.
"…Suddenly turned cold, didn't it?"
Maybe it was because they were sitting on clouds, but Qingyin's smile seemed just like the misty fluff beneath her—hazy, ever-shifting, impossible to pin down.
Li Xun hesitated a moment, then nodded.
Qingyin's face didn't show the slightest change. "That jade helps calm the mind," she simply said. "You just got a bit too worked up earlier. Cultivators are supposed to stay unmoved by external distractions—basic stuff, really—but actually achieving that? It's harder than reaching the heavens."
She glanced at the jade he was clutching. "From now on, treat it like a teacher of sorts. A reminder to keep your heart still—unshaken by praise or disgrace. You've got work to do."
Li Xun let out a long, silent sigh of relief. So that crisis had passed. He quickly bowed in acknowledgment.
As they talked, the cloud beneath them drifted a bit farther before starting to slow down.
Qingyin rose with practiced grace, walking to the edge of the cloud. She gazed down. "Come, take a look at that,"she called to him.
Her finger, smooth and white as carved jade, pointed downward, guiding Li Xun's eyes to a bamboo forest far below.
But this wasn't any ordinary forest. From a distance, the whole place shimmered with a soft green glow, like it wasn't quite real—more illusion than substance.
"That's the Green Smoke Barrier," Qingyin said. "A naturally formed spiritual site. That's where Zhong Yin lives."
Li Xun's face twitched—twice. He nearly lost control of it. Thank the heavens Qingyin didn't notice.
She kept speaking. "He rarely leaves that place these days. Spends maybe nine out of ten years there. If you want to meet him, this is where you'll find him."
Meet him my ass! Li Xun's thoughts were spinning as he desperately tried to come up with a way to avoid this disaster—
But then—push!
A force hit him in the back.
It wasn't hard, but it hit at just the right angle to knock him off balance. Before he could react, he was falling off the cloud.
"Ahh—!" he shouted, his true qi surging instinctively. He tried to fly, tried to stabilize—but that mysterious push had a strange follow-through. It wasn't powerful, just subtle, quietly disrupting his qi flows every time he tried to regain control.
In seconds, he was totally powerless—plummeting like a rock.
Qingyin! he thought in panic. What the hell are you doing!?
As he tumbled through the air, he caught one last glimpse of the drifting cloud melting back into the sky—gone, just like that.
And then—the sharp tips of the bamboo forest were right below him.
Am I really gonna die like this?
The thought had barely formed when a sudden rush of gentle, clean spiritual energy rose up from below and caught him.
It was soft, like a hand lifting a feather. He felt his body lighten, his fall slow. The cool scent of bamboo and wood drifted into his nose—clean, faint, and refreshing.
Then a slight tremor ran through him, and he landed. No pain. No injury. Not even a bruise.
…What just happened?
He looked around, finally realizing—he was already inside the bamboo forest.
The bamboo here was at least seven or eight zhang tall, glowing a vibrant, dewy green. Their surface was smooth and rounded, their joints subtly luminous. From a distance, they almost looked like they were carved from jade—untouched by the mortal world.
Yeah… definitely some kind of immortal wonderland.
Given Zhong Yin's status, Li Xun wasn't even surprised he lived somewhere like this.
He reached out and tapped one of the bamboo stalks. It was cool, smooth, and rock-solid to the touch. When he knocked it harder, the sound was clear and ringing—like hitting polished jade.
Wonder what kind of treasure these bamboos are…
He mused as he wandered through the grove, but the moment he started walking, he immediately noticed something was off.
Even outside the forest, Li Xun had already felt the ambient spiritual energy was unbelievably rich. But inside this bamboo grove? It was like wading through water—so dense it almost had weight to it. Every step met with gentle resistance.
The sheer concentration of qi here left him speechless.
Now he finally understood why he hadn't died from that fall. The air here was practically a pool of heaven and earth primordial energy—like an invisible lake suspended in the world. Dropping into it from the sky had been like landing in water. No wonder he'd survived unscathed.
Even though Qingyin clearly hadn't meant him harm, her pushing him off the cloud couldn't have just been a prank. She must've had a purpose.
Li Xun's nerves tightened, but the more anxious he got, the sharper his mind became. He shook off his pointless fear and focused on the real problem: what the hell was he going to say if he really came face to face with Zhong Yin?
He'd only taken a few dozen steps—his "greeting script" still a mess in his head—when the trees suddenly parted, and the view opened up.
A small clearing lay ahead, with a humble bamboo hut sitting right at its center. The whole place was made entirely from the forest's own stalks—modest in size, but exquisitely detailed, every joint and weave crafted with painstaking care.
Outside the hut stood a bamboo table and a few chairs. Even the tea set on the table was carved from the same jade-like bamboo, and a faint wisp of steam curled up from a teacup—someone had clearly just poured a fresh brew.
A little off to the side, maybe just a few paces from where Li Xun now stood, there was a low bamboo desk. A man in white robes stood before it, brush in hand, working on a painting.