[The full-force strike of a Void Refinement cultivator was something the old man, with only Deity Transformation cultivation, could not possibly withstand. He died on the spot beneath Gu Xinyue's Sword Aura.]
["You are courting death!"]
[At that moment, you heard a furious roar from behind. The aura that burst forth was actually somewhat stronger than Gu Xinyue's.]
[When Gu Xinyue heard it, her expression turned somewhat grave. She suddenly stopped and looked at you.]
["Little Junior Brother, you go first. I will hold off this City Lord."]
[From the eruption of Spiritual Energy just now, you knew that the City Lord's cultivation was at least Mid Void Refinement. You could not help starting to worry about Gu Xinyue.]
[Gu Xinyue seemed to see through your concern. She smiled at you and comforted you.]
["Do not worry, Little Junior Brother. Your Senior Sister is not that weak. Do not forget—there has never been a weakling in our Sword Pavilion."]
[Those words immediately made you come to your senses. The Sword Pavilion's requirements for taking in members were extremely high. Anyone who was not a top genius of the Sword Dao simply could not join.]
["Senior Sister, I will leave marks for you along the way. Follow the marks and you will be able to find me."]
[With those words, you stopped hesitating and took Wei Qing straight out of Qingshan City.]
[You knew that staying here would only drag Gu Xinyue down.]
[Just after leaving the range of Qingshan City, you sensed a fierce battle erupting within the city.]
[You turned to Wei Qing beside you and asked where the most suitable place for you to go next would be.]
[As for the situation in the Southern Region, Wei Qing was obviously far more familiar with it than you, an outsider.]
["There is definitely no going back to Qingshan City now, and the nearby cities all have dealings with Qingshan City."]
[After lowering his head and thinking for a long time, Wei Qing looked up and pointed in one direction.]
["Our best option is to go to the capital. Fighting is forbidden there, which makes it very suitable for people like us."]
["The capital?"]
[You did not know what kind of place the capital he spoke of was, so you told him that you had come from Youzhou and were still unfamiliar with the Southern Region.]
[Wei Qing was shocked that you had actually come from Youzhou. In his impression, it was basically impossible for regions outside Zhongzhou to produce Void Refinement experts.]
[After that, he explained that the area you were currently in belonged to the Great Zhou Dynasty of the Southern Region.]
[Qingshan City was merely one of the Great Zhou Dynasty's remote little cities.]
[As for the capital, it was the very center of the entire Great Zhou Dynasty, and experts there were too numerous to count.]
["Good! Then we are going to the capital!"]
[And so, with Wei Qing leading the way, you set out on the road to the capital of the Great Zhou Dynasty.]
[Altogether, it took you almost a full year to arrive at the capital.]
[After entering the capital, you discovered that even the city's guard troops had a minimum cultivation of Nascent Soul.]
[With that level of cultivation, one could at least be an Outer Sect Elder in the Qingyun Sect, but here it only qualified one to be a city guard.]
[A year later, you and Wei Qing had completely settled down in the capital. In a corner of the city, you bought a neglected little courtyard and moved in.]
[However, what worried you was that even after more than a year, Gu Xinyue still had not come to find you.]
[When you left Qingshan City, you had left behind Sword Aura marks for her, telling her that you would be heading to the capital.]
[Yet even now, Gu Xinyue had not arrived there. You had no idea whether your Senior Sister had successfully escaped from Qingshan City.]
["Su Ming, I am back. This is the Spirit Stones we earned this month. Take a look."]
[Just as you were worrying about Gu Xinyue, Wei Qing pushed open the door to the little courtyard.]
[Ever since the two of you had stabilized yourselves in the capital, you had not joined any faction. Instead, you relied on your status as a Fourth-Grade Alchemist to earn Spirit Stones.]
[You briefly checked the amount of Spirit Stones, took a portion for yourself, and left the rest to Wei Qing for buying materials and for his own cultivation.]
[Tenth Year: This was the fifth year since you came to Zhongzhou, and your cultivation finally broke through to Late Nascent Soul.]
[At the same time, your Alchemy realm also broke through to Fifth-Grade Alchemist.]
[During these past few years, your reputation in Alchemy had rapidly accumulated throughout the capital. Thanks to your lower prices and excellent quality, you won the favor of a great many customers.]
[However, after all these years had passed, Gu Xinyue still had not come to find you, and you gradually began to forget about the matter.]
[You had originally been tricked into coming here by Gu Xinyue so that you could search for opportunities in the ruins of Zhongzhou.]
[But now, simply waiting for Gu Xinyue had already consumed five full years.]
[Fifteenth Year: It had already been ten years since you came to the Great Zhou Dynasty, yet you still had not waited for Gu Xinyue.]
[By this time, many people in the capital were already calling you Pill King Su.]
[Gradually, you began to enjoy this kind of life. You seemed to be sinking into the beautiful life of the Great Zhou Dynasty, forgetting that all these people were actually Bizarre Insects.]
[At the end of that year, a rumor began spreading through the capital. After returning to the little courtyard, Wei Qing immediately told you about it.]
["Su Ming, did you know? One of the princesses of the Great Zhou Dynasty has been demoted to a commoner."]
[You had no interest in that kind of gossip, so you did not ask any further.]
[The next day, as usual, you went to the capital's street for independent cultivator trade. To put it plainly, this was the capital's black market.]
[After selling the pills you had refined the previous day, you prepared to return to the little courtyard.]
[When you returned to the little courtyard, you discovered that at some point a young girl had begun following behind you. You used the Eye of Truth to inspect her identity.]
[Zhou Lingxi: Human]
[Talent: Innate Immortal Eyes]
[Cultivation: Third Layer of Qi Refining]
[Spiritual Root: None]
[When you saw that she was someone born with Immortal Eyes, you froze slightly in place.]
[She had no Spiritual Root, yet she had still cultivated to the Third Layer of Qi Refining. You felt that these Immortal Eyes were simply far too terrifying.]
["Miss, I am home now. How long are you planning to keep following me?"]
[Zhou Lingxi looked at you with her clear, wide eyes.]
["I am going to keep following you."]
["Ahem... no, no, no. I do not take anyone in."]
[As you spoke, you prepared to close the front gate, but Zhou Lingxi's next sentence made your hand stop.]
["You are not a monster, so I want to follow you."]
[You naturally understood what she meant by those words, but what astonished you was how someone at only the Third Layer of Qi Refining had managed to detect the existence of the Bizarre Insects.]
["Your Immortal Eyes can see through the Bizarre Insects?"]
[After hearing your words, Zhou Lingxi's whole body trembled slightly, and she stared at you with widened eyes.]
["Y-you... how do you know I have Immortal Eyes..."]
["Come in first. It is not safe outside."]
[You did not answer her question directly. Instead, you let her come inside first.]
[After the two of you entered the little courtyard, Wei Qing saw that you had brought a young girl back and immediately looked at you strangely.]
["Su Ming, where did you kidnap this one from?"]
[You did not respond to Wei Qing's words. Instead, you glanced at him and said gravely,]
["She is an Awakener!"]