Chapter 2

Xu Ji slowly woke up, opened his eyes, and mumbled groggily: "Is this a dream?"

Then, he smiled: "It must be a dream!"

If it weren't a dream, how could the things in front of him be so bizarre and exaggerated?

Gems as large as ostrich eggs were embedded in bases made of unknown materials in front of him.

These bases seemed to be arranged around him according to some kind of pattern.

The gems embedded in them were naturally round, like the legendary night pearls, emitting a captivating glow.

Not only that, but there was a faint mist flowing out of the gems, permeating the surroundings.

Thus, the air around him was filled with a colorful mist.

It made him feel as if he were in a fairyland.

What made him even more incredulous were the various colorful treasures, emitting auspicious light, faintly visible in the mist.

It must be a dream!

Only in a dream could such absurd things exist.

"Or..." Xu Ji shook his head: "Should I drink a bit more?"

The voice in the dream was clear, calm, and magnetic, incredibly pleasant to the ear, even the best broadcasters couldn't match it!

This voice wasn't just pleasant.

It seemed to contain boundless wisdom and profound mysteries.

Listening to it, one felt as if drinking fine wine, swaying and wanting to immerse in it forever.

"This..." Xu Ji muttered: "Is too exaggerated!"

The voice was really pleasant!

"If I had such a pleasant voice in reality..."

"Probably, girls would have already come after me..." Xu Ji couldn't help but think.

Unfortunately, it was just a dream.

Then...

He looked down and saw the clothes he was wearing and the cushion he was sitting on.

The clothes seemed to be a Daoist robe?

He blinked and remembered the TV series he had watched many times.

The robe Feiyun Zhenjun usually wore seemed to be of this style?

But...

He reached out and touched the Daoist robe.

The robe was as thin as a cicada's wing, yet it felt thick when touched.

More importantly...

There seemed to be a subtle light flowing on the robe.

This wasn't just a Daoist robe.

It must be a celestial robe!

And the cushion he was sitting on.

When he touched it, it felt soft and very comfortable, with seven-colored light interweaving within it.

Sitting on it felt like sitting on a cloud, soft and very comfortable.

Xu Ji swallowed, feeling that things weren't as simple as he thought!

This didn't seem like a dream!

How could a dream have the concepts of touch and comfort?

This wasn't a spring dream!

Suddenly...

Xu Ji felt a surge of excitement.

His left hand fingers subconsciously moved in a certain pattern.

Like the fortune-tellers in TV shows.

Thus, he knew something.

A guest would arrive!

And the guest would come from the sky!

Xu Ji was stunned!

Then, he suddenly realized!

"I..."

"Have I..."

"Traveled through time?!"

"And become an old monster in some immortal world?!"

He was instantly panicked!

...

...

...

Huh...

Something was lightly rustling by his ear.

A cool breeze blew on his body.

But the heat remained.

Wait!

Cool? Heat?

How could he have such feelings?

Before the calamity of the Witches, he had already attained the Dao, becoming a sage, pure and dustless, coexisting with heaven and the Dao.

He could endure countless calamities without being worn down, and remain unscathed by cause and effect.

As a sage, the yin and yang, the five elements, were all within his control.

Let alone cold and heat.

Sages endure countless calamities without being worn down, unaffected by all phenomena, and have already reached the realm of doing whatever they please, with no limits.

So...

How could he feel coolness?

And why did he feel heat?

With this thought, the Grandmaster of the Thorough Heaven Sect opened his eyes.

The sight before him made his eyes widen in shock.

His Daoist heart had already been tempered countless times, unshakable.

Even in the Ten Thousand Immortals Formation, when he was betrayed by Chang'er Dinguang Immortal, he remained unperturbed.

But the sight before him made him show a look of surprise.

He found himself sitting in a small, cramped human dwelling.

Above his head, a lamp made of unknown material was shining brightly.

But there was no trace of any spiritual energy.

Outside the door, the heat was like a furnace.

In front of him, a strange device was moving without wind.

Leaves-like things were being driven by some force, rotating at high speed, continuously blowing cool air.

And he wasn't sitting on a cushion.

Under his buttocks was a somewhat hard, old chair, made of unknown material.

In front of him was a transparent square cabinet made of crystal.

Inside the cabinet were many items with exquisite packaging.

On both sides of the cabinet, there were many things he couldn't understand.

Further ahead were two rectangular crystal cabinets, about eight feet tall.

Inside these cabinets seemed to be many things.

They looked like bottles.

These crystal cabinets, without any magical power, were automatically emitting cold air in such a hot season.

The small dwelling was crammed full of these things, making it very crowded.

The Grandmaster of the Thorough Heaven Sect looked down and saw the clothes he was wearing.

They weren't the usual Primordial Daoist robe he wore!

But a very exquisite fabric!

No traces of Daoist power, no aura of a blessed land.

But it was light, breathable, and comfortable.

When he touched it, he became even more curious.

"This material is neither silk nor hemp... It doesn't exist in the primordial era, nor in the post-primordial era!"

"Most things in this world are like this!" The Grandmaster of the Thorough Heaven Sect's eyes scanned the items in his line of sight, nodding and sighing: "Truly marvelous!"

Even more marvelous was this world!

The Grandmaster of the Thorough Heaven Sect lightly reached out and grabbed a trace of invisible spiritual energy in the air.

The spiritual energy here was so weak it was almost undetectable, probably not even enough to nurture a post-primordial spiritual treasure!

The Grandmaster of the Thorough Heaven Sect calmed down and sensed his own body.

The Primordial Great Dao Immortal Body, tempered through countless calamities, was nowhere to be found.

The boundless power, capable of creating the world and redefining the elements, was also nowhere to be found.

The myriad treasures of the截教宝库, lost contact.

As if the cause and effect were severed.

Similarly severed were the cause and effect of the many primordial spiritual treasures he had refined.

This made him wary.

"Who is plotting against me?" He frowned, subconsciously trying to calculate.

His fingers moved for a long time, but there was no reaction.

He realized: "This body is just a mortal body!"

"What power is there?"

"Without power, how can I calculate?"

Indeed, the current body was a thoroughly mortal body.

A human mortal body!

And this body was very fragile, far from the humans he remembered.

Humans were created by the Worm Emperor and educated by the Great Master, bringing the light of morality and civilization.

They were the new masters of the world, the most intelligent beings, as decreed by the Purple Dawn Palace.

Thus, although humans varied in strength, their conditions were very balanced.

Although their physical strength couldn't match the Witches, and their magical power was far inferior to the Demons,

Humans could cultivate both physically and spiritually.

They had the strengths of the Witches and Demons without their weaknesses!

Thus, some humans could surpass primordial deities through cultivation.

Among them, outstanding figures like Yang Jian, Lei Zhenzi, and Wen Zhong, surpassed many ancient strong beings through post-primordial cultivation!

But this body...

It had no magical power, which was understandable.

But the fragility of the body was truly unbearable!

The arms were thinner than a woman's, probably unable to lift a hundred-pound weapon.

The legs were weak, probably unable to run for a few miles without cramping.

The bones had no elasticity, probably unable to jump over a one-zhang high wall.

The internal organs had no resilience, and jumping from a three-zhang high wall could result in death.

Such a body could be easily crushed by a large insect from the mountains.

Thus, the Grandmaster of the Thorough Heaven Sect was very puzzled.

"If all the humans in this world are like this, how did they survive?"

At the same time, he was very curious.

What kind of place is this?

The spiritual energy here is so scarce that even the Western Land, occupied by the Western Teachings, would claim to be "endowed with the essence of creation" and "blessed for eternity."

"Could this be the secret world created by the two Western friends?" The Grandmaster of the Thorough Heaven Sect frowned.

After the Sealing of the Gods, the two Western friends each retreated to their own pure lands.

This was to avoid being caught alone and challenged by him.

It was also for a grand plan: to create the Western World.

This was one of their great vows.

The necessary path for the Western Teachings to flourish.

But the Grandmaster of the Thorough Heaven Sect, after a brief thought, knew this couldn't be the Western World.

The two Western friends didn't have such power!

A thousand years ago, they had just fought in the Ten Thousand Immortals Formation.

The Grandmaster of the Thorough Heaven Sect knew their capabilities very well.

Just as he was thinking, a thin man walked in.

He hurried in, his steps weak and his face pale.

His eyes were full of bloodshot, and his hair was thinning.

It was as if he was possessed by some evil entity or drained by some demon.

The man immediately rushed to the Grandmaster of the Thorough Heaven Sect and said: "Boss! Can I borrow a lighter?"

The Grandmaster of the Thorough Heaven Sect looked at him.

Boss?

Me?

What's a lighter?

The man, without any courtesy, directly reached out and picked up something from the corner of the crystal board.

Then he took out a paper box from his pocket, similar to the one in the crystal cabinet, and pulled out a long, thin, dry-leaf-wrapped object, putting it in his mouth.

With a click, a flame appeared.

The man put the object in his mouth to the flame, lit it, and a smell that made the Grandmaster of the Thorough Heaven Sect uncomfortable spread.

The man closed his eyes in comfort, his face gaining a hint of red, as if he had taken some miraculous medicine.

"Finally, I can breathe!" The man deeply inhaled the smoke, blew a smoke ring, and looked like a starving person who finally got some food.

"Thanks!" The man put the thing back and walked away.

As he walked, he muttered: "Damn, I have to work until 12 o'clock again today..."

The Grandmaster of the Thorough Heaven Sect watched the man disappear at the door.

He shook his head, not understanding.

"This person's vital energy is weak, his yang energy is insufficient, his soul is dim, and his foundation is damaged!"

"He doesn't know that he is about to die, and continues to consume his own essence! Doesn't he know that if he continues like this, his essence will be completely depleted?"

For the man's condition, the Grandmaster of the Thorough Heaven Sect knew the best solution was to rest and recover, take medicinal herbs to nourish the body, and if possible, go to a blessed land to absorb the essence of heaven and earth, to nourish the body.

Only then would there be a chance of recovery.

But the man did nothing.

Instead, he continued to consume himself.

If this continued, he would surely die soon!

"Moreover, the thing he just smoked is definitely not good!" The Grandmaster of the Thorough Heaven Sect recalled what he saw and opened the crystal cabinet in front of him, taking out a paper box similar to the one the man had.

The paper box felt soft, with a hard surface, and had many simple words and patterns, containing no power, and naturally, no ability to confuse cause and effect or distort perception.

So the Grandmaster of the Thorough Heaven Sect easily recognized it.

In the upper left corner, there was a pattern with the words "Filtered Cigarette" below it.

In the center were the words "Yulan Cigarette."

At the bottom, in bold, it read: "Our company warns: Smoking is harmful to health! Do not smoke in no-smoking areas!"

On the back, it also read in bold: "Quitting smoking early is beneficial to health! Quitting smoking can reduce the harm to health!"

"Strange! Strange!" The Grandmaster of the Thorough Heaven Sect was even more puzzled.

Everything in this world was strange.

The words were simple and easy to understand, the objects were exquisite and convenient.

But there was no power, no magic.

Just like the words on the paper box.

Full of strangeness and contradiction!

The Grandmaster of the Thorough Heaven Sect lightly flicked the paper box, and the transparent film covering it opened. He tore it open, and the contents spilled out onto the crystal board.

Long, standard, dry-leaf-wrapped paper cylinders scattered across the entire crystal board.

He picked one up, examined it closely, and smelled it.

Then, the Grandmaster of the Thorough Heaven Sect imitated the man, picking up a "lighter" from the corner of the crystal board.

He lightly pressed it, and with a click, a flame appeared, lighting the object in his hand, and a light blue smoke rose.

Smelling the smoke, the Grandmaster of the Thorough Heaven Sect frowned.

"This thing is indeed toxic!" He said softly.

Although he was now just a mortal body,

His insight and discernment were not lost.

Over countless ages, from the ancient times to the present, he had seen countless things and events.

Nothing could escape his discerning eyes.

Thus, he knew that this thing was made from a certain plant with stimulating effects, dried and processed.

However, besides its stimulating effects, it was also toxic!

Especially when smoked, it could pollute the lungs and even taint the soul, making the precious innate spiritual light in the soul dusty.

Even cultivators who smoked this thing could damage their foundation.

As for mortals?

If they smoked this thing, their foundation would be damaged, and they would lose the chance to cultivate and seek immortality.

Moreover, smoking this thing was like taking a dirty poison for mortals.

Although it wouldn't immediately kill them, over time, it would harm their lifespan, possibly as much as being harmed by evil magic.

The man earlier was already on the brink of death, yet he continued to smoke.

In the eyes of the Grandmaster of the Thorough Heaven Sect, this was like a person drained by a demon, not thinking of recovering, but instead hooking up with an Asura from the Blood Sea, seeking death.

But...

The thing in his hand slowly burned.

The light smoke entered his nose.

The Grandmaster of the Thorough Heaven Sect's pupils suddenly dilated!

He looked at the burning "cigarette."

His body, too, was stirring, feeling a desire to smoke!

This body, too, was addicted to this poison!

Just like the man he had just criticized!

Anger boiled in the Grandmaster of the Thorough Heaven Sect's heart.

The feeling of being plotted against hit him.

"If I am indeed being plotted against..."

He habitually reached out, but grabbed nothing.

The Green萍Sword was not there!

But he was not disappointed, not discouraged, not dejected.

Instead, it ignited boundless fighting spirit!

"The one plotting against me should be careful!"

He was the Grandmaster of the Thorough Heaven Sect, the leader of the截教!

"If I break free from this trap, I will make you pay!"

He would destroy the heavens and earth, make the blood flow like rivers!

Then, even the Purple Dawn Palace would have nothing to say.

Plotting against a sage?

Be prepared to be destroyed by the sage, to be utterly defeated!

After all, he was now alone, with nothing to lose!