Always feels like a bit of a mess.
With a scratch on his head, Lu Ren slowly got up and walked out of the wooden house. This time, he had been immersed in the Inner Realm for almost a week in the world’s time, and he took out his phone and turned it on to take a look.
Entering WeChat, he opened his messages, most of which were meaningless messages from chat groups. However, the group from his college classmates had taken many photos at the last gathering.
Lu Ren’s sliding finger paused slightly as he quietly looked at one of the photos. This was his first love. Now, more than a decade later, her appearance hadn’t changed at all. She still looked so slender, smiling at the camera and making the never-changing peace sign.
Below, there was also a message tagging him.
"Lu Ren, Chen Han is still not married like you!!"
"Must be waiting for you!!"
Below was a bunch of teasing comments, but everyone knew when to stop, and there were no excessive words. Chen Han just sent a ’smile’ emoji, and everyone moved on to other topics.
Mostly about the fun times during their student days, almost devoid of any post-graduation flaunting of cars, houses, or net worth. Some classmates were even in quite difficult situations, and those doing relatively well even generously helped out.
This made Lu Ren feel warm inside, though he regretted that one classmate had already passed away due to illness, sighing at the impermanence of life.
Leaving the group chat, Lu Ren scrolled down and suddenly saw a message from Chen Han sent a month ago.
"Heard you’re still in Shu Capital?"
Seeing the message, Lu Ren’s usually calm heartstrings gently rippled with small waves.
"I was on a business trip recently."
Just two or three seconds later, WeChat’s message notification sounded.
Chen Han: "You’re really a busy person, a message I sent you takes a month for a reply."
Lu Ren: "I haven’t looked at my phone for a long time. How have you been lately?"
"Not too bad, after graduation, I went up the mountain."
Seeing this message, Lu Ren couldn’t help but feel a bit surprised, his fingers moved quickly.
"Up the mountain? Where to, for what?"
"Of course, for cultivation. My master said I have good potential, so I’ve been cultivating until now."
"Which school and sect?"
"Kunlun, Bai Yujing."
Lu Ren was somewhat astonished. Isn’t that the Human Race’s cultivation Sacred Land in the Kunlun Exotic Realm? How did she get in there, and so freely come and go in the real world?
It turns out the Kunlun Exotic Realm used to coexist within the real world, just like the Underworld.
The Kunlun Celestial Realm, Mortal Realm, and Yin World Netherworld were once aligned, but seemingly lost their nexus due to the dispersal of the Heaven and Earth Spiritual Mechanism. Now, with the revival of the Heaven and Earth Spiritual Mechanism, these lost lands have restored, re-linking the Three Domains with the Spiritual Mechanism as some sort of keystone.
That’s why strange demons from the Yin World Netherworld appear on Earth from time to time, but due to the natural barriers of the Three Domains, the Underworld has always been unable to spread Yin Sha widely, at most forming an isolated Yin Qi Land, just like when Lu Ren fell from the Moon and saw the ascending pillars of Yin Qi on Earth.
Putting down the phone, Lu Ren’s expression turned a bit somber. If she accidentally entered the Kunlun Exotic Realm upon graduation, and by chance began cultivating in Bai Yujing. Nᴇw novel chapters are publɪshed on novel[f]ire.net
Would more than ten years of cultivation change her mindset completely? Once achieving a certain realm, evolving, would her concepts be unconsciously influenced, seeing ordinary humans as mere livestock... but the photos sent from the phone show no change, still with a gentle smile, comforting.
Let’s talk about it if there’s a chance to meet. Lu Ren took a deep breath, another long Qi, there was a troublesome matter in front of him.
Lu Ren lightly tapped his foot, with True Essence infused, he floated lightly like a feather towards the deepest part of the island’s dense forest.
From afar, Lu Ren saw a figure squatting on the treetop, waving at him from a distance.
Moving closer, Lu Ren surprisingly saw an almost human-like monkey, looking at him warmly.
"Yo Lu the Kid, have you been in seclusion recently?"
Lu Ren examined the monkey covered in thick brown fur, a tail extending from its back, continuously swaying.
"Yes, it’s me. Who else would it be?" Ji Quanzhen said in a disgruntled tone.
"You’ve even grown a tail?!"
Lu Ren was full of shock, never expecting Ji Quanzhen to actually transform into a monkey.
"What nonsense are you talking about?" Ji Quanzhen said, displeased: "Haven’t I always had this?"
Standing beneath the tree, Lu Ren gestured to Ji Quanzhen: "Taoist, why don’t you come down to talk?"
Ji Quanzhen, with agile movements, straightened his squatting body, unfolded his arms that could hang to his knees, and with a gentle leap, the... no, the monkey landed steadily on the ground.
Lu Ren even looked somewhat speechlessly as Ji Quanzhen pulled out an obviously self-made stick from the side, deftly wielding it. Even now, in Lu Ren’s eyes, it was an extremely advanced staff technique.
The tip of the staff moved, and its trajectory was elusive, like a mountain goat traversing cliffs.
"When did you learn this staff technique?"
Ji Quanzhen planted the long stick into the ground, braced his feet, and balanced on the staff. He said proudly.
"When did I learn it? This staff technique is something I’ve known since memory, rooted in the bloodline memory, naturally achieved, already in the Transformation Realm. A single strike can cause mountains to crumble and the sea dragons to emerge!"
Lu Ren was a bit speechless, but after further confirmation, Ji Quanzhen’s consciousness was not clouded, not even the slightest sign of mental erosion. It was only his self-awareness that had been altered, believing himself to be a monkey. Yet, growing up in the human world, through cultivation, he achieved a human-like appearance.
Besides believing himself to be a monkey, there was no deviation in his mindset, remaining identical to the original Ji Quanzhen.
"Do you think you could transform into a Super Saiyan or something?"
"What nonsense are you spouting? If you ask me such discriminatory questions again, don’t blame this stick for not recognizing you." Ji Quanzhen said, quite displeased: "I am a Taoist Quanzhen focusing on the Seal of the Emperor of Longevity of the South Pole."
"Can you still perform the Seal of the Emperor of Longevity of the South Pole now?"
Ji Quanzhen rolled his eyes: "My whole Taoist practice relies on this."
After chatting with Ji Quanzhen for a long time, Lu Ren felt it might not be a bad thing. Sun Wukong seemed to, for some reason, abandon the idea of taking over Ji Quanzhen’s body. So, missing the chance, Ji Quanzhen’s self-awareness was only altered to think himself a born Spiritual Monkey, everything else remained unchanged.
And under this monkey form, Ji Quanzhen’s strength improved rapidly. In sparring, when Ji Quanzhen combined it with the Seal of the Emperor of Longevity of the South Pole, he wielded a wooden stick infused with True Power, causing Lu Ren to truly feel as if he was fighting the mythical Sun Wukong.