I long to return home!

"Where is this? Did you get fish poisoning?"

Xue Wu staggered to his feet and looked around. What he saw was no longer a forest, but a chaotic, pitch-black expanse where he couldn't see his own hand in front of his face.

"anyone there?"

"Is anyone there?" Xue Wu slowly walked forward in the chaos. After walking several hundred steps, it was still pitch black all around, with no trace of any buildings.

This chaos seemed endless; no matter which way you went, it felt like you were just going in circles, and your shouts kept echoing.

Suddenly, Xue Wu was startled. A few lights appeared in the darkness ahead. Following the light, he saw two energy balls, one black and one white, colliding and fighting each other. He watched intently. Finally, the two energy balls collided and, to his astonishment, absorbed each other and merged together to form a familiar pattern.

"Tai Chi?!" Xue Wu reached out and touched the Tai Chi symbol.

The moment their fingertips touched, the black and white energies split apart again. As the fingertips merged into Xue Wu's body, white lines appeared on his left hand and black lines appeared on his right hand. With a wave of his hands, the black and white energies manifested on his palms.

He pondered for a moment, and following the same method of fusion, he gradually brought his palms together. The black and white energies merged together again, forming a Tai Chi pattern. He smiled, but after a short while, his brows furrowed slightly. He clearly felt the energy ball in his hands becoming restless.

boom!

The air mass exploded, blasting Xue Wu several meters away. The black and white shockwaves from the explosion swept across the chaotic area.

Where the shockwave passed, countless stars twinkled, illuminating the dark space and slowly brightening the entire area. Xue Wu stood there dumbfounded, his mouth agape, staring at the unbelievable scene before him.

"universe?!"

He looked at the familiar scene before him, and two words slipped out. He took a few steps forward and was astonished to find himself standing in the middle of space...

"You came."

Xue Wu was startled by this inexplicable event and turned around sharply. A tall, graceful young man dressed neatly in a black robe walked away slowly. With each step he took, the void shattered, and he was extremely majestic, giving people the feeling that he was invincible.

Xue Wu looked at the approaching man with a surprised and suspicious gaze, but he didn't feel the slightest bit of fear.

His frost-white hair cascaded down to his waist, fluttering in the wind. He had striking, deep-set eyes with sword-like eyebrows, seemingly able to see through the very essence of all things. His features were exceptionally handsome. A slight smile played at the corners of his lips, a half-smile, yet his gaze remained cold and indifferent, giving him an aura of unshakeable solemnity.

His fair and smooth face exuded a sharp and cold handsomeness. His thick white eyebrows, long white eyelashes, high nose, and exquisite lips all proclaimed his aloofness and sternness.

Her fingers were slender and thinner than some girls' hands, creating a strong contrast between her appearance and clothing.

"Who are you? Do we know each other?" Xue Wu carefully recalled everyone he had ever met and known in his life, but he had no recollection of the person in front of him. Yet, this person gave him a strange sense of familiarity.

"You are me, but I am not you," the handsome white-haired man said calmly as he approached Xue Wu.

"I am you, but you are not me?" What does that mean? What does "I am but not" mean? Xue Wu frowned, pondering the meaning of those words...

"Alright, you should go now." With that, the handsome white-haired man stretched out his palm and gently pushed Xue Wu. Although he didn't touch Xue Wu's chest, the latter was knocked down by an inexplicable pressure and fell vertically from the universe. The vast universe and the figure of the handsome white-haired man gradually moved away from each other, and finally entered a state of chaos again, his consciousness gradually becoming hazy.

"Dream...was it a dream? Why does my face feel sticky?" Xue Wu opened his eyes groggily and saw a pheasant the size of a winter melon, its body gleaming like gold, licking his face.

"Pheasant, stop fooling around."

"I'm not hungry now, I'll eat you when I'm hungry." Xue Wu looked at the dark sky, turned his head and went back to sleep.

"You little brat, you want to eat me? Do you even know who your grandma is?" The golden pheasant stomped on Xue Wu's fair cheek with one claw and scolded him in a delicate female voice.

Xue Wu suddenly opened his eyes, startled. He rubbed his eyes, stared intently at the pheasant on his face, and after a moment of silence, exclaimed in surprise, "The pheasant spoke?!"

"You're the pheasant! No, you're the weakling."

"I am a top-grade spirit beast, the Golden Feathered Phoenix." The Golden Feathered Phoenix's expression relaxed slightly, a smile appearing on her lips, but more than anything, it was filled with pride.

Spirit beasts are products of the spirit world, possessing pure spiritual power and life force. They can form contracts with cultivators to fight together. Once a contract is formed, the life of the spirit beast and the cultivator is bound together. If the cultivator dies, the spirit beast cannot live alone. In this regard, the spirit beast will provide its own spiritual power to the cultivator during battle.

Spirit beasts are categorized into mortal, low-grade, mid-grade, high-grade, supreme-grade, immortal-grade, and the highest-grade, holy-grade. However, in the human realm, there are only a handful of supreme-grade beasts, mid-grade beasts are also few, and supreme-grade and above all live in the spirit realm. For example, the supreme-grade spirit beast, the Golden Feather Phoenix, can speak human language.

"Oh, it's just a chicken." As he spoke, Xue Wu grabbed the golden-feathered phoenix by the ankle and stood up.

"Today, your Grandpa Xue will roast you for a midnight snack." Xue Wu looked at the plump chicken in front of him, drool practically dripping from his mouth.

"Do you know who my master is? If you dare to eat me, he won't let you off." The Golden Feather Phoenix looked slightly flustered. She hadn't actually beaten this mortal before, but there was a rule against attacking mortals, otherwise she would be hunted down by cultivators like a demonic beast.

"Who is your master? Tell me." Xue Wu chuckled twice, his indifferent voice tinged with contempt.

"Lin Mubai!" Jin Yuluanfeng's sweet voice gradually rose, and she couldn't help but recall Lin Mubai's tall and handsome figure.

"Lin Mubai, I'm so scared, what should I do?"

"Grandpa, it's been so long since I've had roasted pheasant." As he spoke, Xue Wu reached out and grabbed the golden feathers of the Golden Phoenix.

The golden phoenix didn't expect the person in front of it to be serious. It let out a cry that echoed throughout the forest, waking up everyone who was sleeping in the bushes.

"What happened? Has that kid made any move?" The freckled man woke up from his deep sleep, his eyes half-open as he looked ahead.

After a moment of silence, seeing that no one spoke, the freckled man turned around and looked behind him with annoyance, saying, "Why are you all... not saying anything?"

Suddenly, a huge black bear stared intently at them, while the silent crowd lay on the ground, covering their mouths, too afraid to utter a sound.

Gradually, all sorts of spirit beasts and native animals began to emerge from all over the forest, staring fiercely at Xue Wu, as if they would attack him as soon as the Golden Feather Phoenix gave the order and subdue him on the spot.

"Scared now? Let me go right now. Then kowtow to me twice."

"Trying to play the gangster game with me? You fat chicken, you've even brought your underlings." With that, Xue Wu grabbed the long neck of the Golden Feather Phoenix without hesitation and shouted at the surrounding spirit beasts, "Don't move! Your boss is in my hands. If you know what's good for you, stay where you are."