Before Shangguan Wuji grasped the azure Sword Light, Zhou Ming faintly 'heard' some rustling sounds.
"Someone's here..."
"Haven't seen anyone in a long time..."
"Hey, why did that person bring trash in? Do they think this is a dump?"
"That's not trash, that's a person, a person!"
"A person? Such weak Sword Dao cultivation..."
...
"How about it, according to the agreement, one of us goes out?"
"No rush, let's mess with him!"
"I'll go! I'll go!"
"Yes, you! Hehe, there's a good show to watch."
"When I get back, I'll tell you all about those two idiots' reactions, haha..."
...The moment Shangguan Wuji grasped the azure Sword Light, the sounds Zhou Ming 'heard' vanished without a trace.
He instinctively felt something was wrong and was about to remind Shangguan Wuji, but suddenly felt an irresistible repulsive force descend, pushing him out of the Sword World in an instant.
The world before him once again turned into a hazy Chaos, as if time and space had completely dissolved.
Fortunately, this feeling didn't last long, and a bright light appeared before Zhou Ming's eyes.
With a "whoosh," Zhou Ming sat up, but immediately clutched his head and cried out in pain.
He was horrified to discover that his Soul foundation had been reduced to only two hundred seventy Souls, almost half of the Soul he had painstakingly cultivated during this period was wasted.
"Exploring the dream world isn't that easy in this world. Huh?"
The unusual sensation from below made Zhou Ming suddenly realize that the sluggishness caused by the severe damage to his Soul foundation was slowly disappearing, and Zhou Ming's thoughts and consciousness gradually recovered.
Thus, Zhou Ming discovered that the giant tree, originally over ten meters tall and appearing like a pillar supporting the heavens in this underground cavern, had now shrunk to only one meter tall, delicate and exquisite, like a bronze decoration.
And Zhou Ming himself had already fallen to the ground. Also fallen to the ground was Shangguan Wuji on the other side; he was slowly opening his eyes and looking at Zhou Ming.
"Not bad, you're finally awake, our hard work wasn't in vain," Zhou Ming nodded to him and said.
"Yes, our hard work wasn't in vain," Shangguan Wuji raised his right hand, brandished the bronze longsword in his hand, and smiled.
"You really brought it out?" Zhou Ming's eyes widened.
The Sword World was opened by them consuming the dream power of the bronze dream tree. Zhou Ming had thought that everything inside the Sword World was illusory, and the azure light brought out was some powerful Sword Intent. He didn't expect it to be a real object.
"I did bring it out, it's just..." Shangguan Wuji's expression was strange, as if he had encountered something very complicated and difficult to explain in a few words.
Zhou Ming struggled to stand up, shook his still dizzy head, and walked towards Shangguan Wuji.
"Can you stand up?" He supported Shangguan Wuji, trying to help him stand.
Shangguan Wuji shook his head: "Don't bother. Where's my son? I want to see him."
During their communication in the dream, Zhou Ming and Shangguan Wuji had talked a lot, so Shangguan Wuji knew quite a bit about what had happened in the twenty years since he fell asleep. Naturally, he also knew that his son had traveled mountains and rivers, enduring countless hardships to find him.
Zhou Ming's gaze swept over the crowd, and his sluggish consciousness finally noticed the clues from everyone's expressions.
"Are you... infighting?" Zhou Ming felt a surge of absurdity. How long had he been asleep before his partners fell into infighting?
"Zhou Ming, what did you just do?"
Feng Yuanzheng slowly lowered his hands, his voice heavy. It wasn't a question, but Zhou Ming was very certain that if he didn't give a satisfactory answer, Feng Yuanzheng would immediately attack him again.
"You suspect me of destroying the Dragon Vein?" Zhou Ming immediately guessed the cause of the matter.
"Heh, it seems the commotion just now was quite big."
Turning back to look at the one-meter-tall bronze sapling, Zhou Ming said: "Don't worry, the Dragon Vein is safe. I just borrowed some dream power. Who knew it would cause such a huge loss to the bronze dream tree? It seems my previous estimate of the bronze dream tree was still too high... Even if I take it back, it won't become an Immortal Gu..."
Zhou Ming's last two sentences were spoken to himself, his voice so low it was almost a murmur. Feng Yuanzheng couldn't hear clearly and frowned: "What did you say?"
"Nothing," Zhou Ming said with a smile, "This matter is quite complicated to explain, so I suggest we sit down and talk slowly, how about it?"
...This muddled infighting ended with Zhou Ming's awakening.
Soon, Zhou Ming explained the whole story to everyone. With Shangguan Wuji's corroboration, and no further abnormal phenomena of ground shaking and rumbling, the three members of the Yuanzheng Team chose to believe Zhou Ming's words.
However, Zhou Ming could clearly feel that the three of them still held strong reservations about this incident.
It was very likely that when Zhou Ming proposed to utilize the bronze dream tree again, he would immediately face their strong opposition.
As for Zhou Ming's intention to take the entire bronze dream tree, roots and all, there was no need to even think about it. If Zhou Ming made a move, the three of them would dare to fight.
Just at this moment, Shangguan Nianci, who had been knocked unconscious by Kaka, slowly woke up.
Father and son met, and the emotions accumulated over twenty years instantly erupted, yet the two of them just looked at each other in silence.
Then, in the next moment, the five newcomers all disappeared.
Helping Shangguan Nianci find Shangguan Wuji and allowing them to reunite as father and son, the newcomers' mission was over.
The sudden change startled the veteran Reincarnators, but they quickly calmed down, doing what they needed to do without showing any abnormality.
This was because the story characters, who also witnessed the newcomers disappear, showed no reaction, as if this group of newcomers had never existed from the start.
Zhou Ming signaled Feng Yuanzheng with his eyes, quietly asking how the Main God usually handled situations where Reincarnators suddenly left mid-mission.
Feng Yuanzheng's answer was very simple, so simple that Zhou Ming was somewhat disbelieving.
Direct consciousness modification, making the story characters believe that the departing Reincarnators had already left for various reasonable reasons.
Under the influence of the Main God's powerful story correction ability, the story characters would not discover any doubts or logical loopholes from beginning to end, or rather, all doubts and logical loopholes would be ignored by the story characters.
"This is too simple and crude!" Zhou Ming exclaimed.
"What did you think it would be like?" Feng Yuanzheng sneered, "What do you think the Main God is, a nanny to clean up after Reincarnators?"
"The Main God is like a giant octopus with countless tentacles, constantly extending its tentacles across the infinite multiverse, covering one dimension after another, conquering one world after another."
"The Main God's power is indeed magnificent and boundless, but it is not omniscient and omnipotent. Its power is spread too widely. For such insignificant places, why would the Main God waste more power?"
"That's true," Zhou Ming nodded, and then suddenly heard a cry of surprise from beside him.
Zhou Ming quickly turned his head and saw Shangguan Wuji's palms pressed against Shangguan Nianci's, a stream of pure True Qi continuously being infused into Shangguan Nianci's body.
Shangguan Nianci's eyes were tearful, his face filled with struggle, yet his body was beyond his control, passively receiving Shangguan Wuji's power transfer.
"Cier, concentrate, don't overthink it anymore."
Shangguan Wuji said gently: "I have been asleep for twenty years, my True Qi has grown, but this body has regressed. Now it cannot bear this True Qi accumulated over twenty years; it is useless to keep it, better to discard it and then establish anew."
"I am now using my own True Qi to open your Ren and Du meridians, helping you enter the Innate realm, and then I will transfer all remaining True Qi to you. When your martial arts improve further, you will be among the top experts in the Jianghu."
"Cier, consider this a small compensation from your father for the twenty years of neglected duty..."
...Shangguan Wuji's actions, though sudden, were within Zhou Ming's expectations. He had already guessed this scene would happen when he communicated with Shangguan Wuji in his dream.
What Zhou Ming cared about, however, was another, more important matter.
According to Shangguan Wuji, he had already sensed the approach of the Hegemon Blade, indicating that the Hegemon Blade was constantly on his way here.
And the crowd, unwilling to let the Dragon Vein here be destroyed by the Eastern Islanders, ultimately chose to defend against the invading enemy here.
So, the topic finally fell on discussing how to deal with Yagyu Killing God.
And the sword brought back from the Sword World was finally placed before everyone.
"This sword is called the Nine Yin Profound Heaven Sword, and it is key to us dealing with the Hegemon Blade."
Having transferred all his cultivation to his son, Shangguan Wuji, whose body was now almost no different from an ordinary person, gently stroked the ancient-looking bronze longsword, his expression quite strange.
"The Nine Yin Profound Heaven Sword originates from the Sword World and possesses powerful strength that does not belong to this world. However, its usage conditions are also very strict; it must be driven by powerful Pure Yin Qi. In other words, only women can unleash its power."
This sentence made everyone stunned.
A sword that only women can use?
In Zhou Ming's mind, the faint voices he had heard in the Sword World suddenly echoed.
"...According to the agreement, one of us goes out?"
"No rush, let's mess with him!"
"When I get back, I'll tell you all about those two idiots' reactions, haha..."
Could it be that the divine sword truly had a spirit? Were they then fooled by a group of sword spirits?
Two men, after countless hardships and fortuitous Opportunities, entered the Sword World, only to bring out a sword that only women could use... Zhou Ming's gaze towards the sword also became strange.
Qin Wumeng curiously picked up the sword and performed a sword flourish, but did not feel any magical power appear.
"That's not how you use it," Shangguan Wuji said, "It also needs to be combined with the Nine Yin Profound Heaven Sword Art to unleash the sword's power."
"Moreover, this sword can also combine the power of multiple people. The more people, the stronger the Pure Yin Qi, and the greater the power that can be unleashed."
Saying this, Shangguan Wuji's gaze swept over the only remaining two women, Qin Wumeng and Qiu Shuang, and regretfully said: "Unfortunately, we don't have enough time to find more people. Yagyu Killing God has already arrived..."