After being reborn, the villain comes with a spoiler tag.

However, someone had already gotten there first.

This man was dressed in a blue robe, like a scholar. He had an ordinary appearance, but his brows revealed a scholarly air, as if he were truly just an ordinary scholar.

He was slowly pacing around the stone tablet, sometimes bowing his head in thought, sometimes looking up and gazing at it, muttering to himself as if studying the contents of the tablet.

He stopped and turned to look at Huo Yu and Long Yucheng as they approached. His face showed no surprise; instead, he greeted them with exceptional friendliness.

"You two are unfamiliar faces. May I ask your honorable names?"

The man spoke in a humble and polite tone, and his attitude was friendly, as if he and the two were old friends who had not seen each other for many years.

Seeing that Huo Yu did not respond, Long Yucheng also shut his mouth and stood silently beside Huo Yu, keeping a watchful eye on him.

Although he couldn't see through the other person's cultivation level, judging from the temperament revealed in his words and actions, this person was obviously not one of those arrogant Nascent Soul stage cultivators, and regarded himself as a Nascent Soul stage cultivator like his senior brother, which is why he showed such a friendly attitude.

Seeing the two men fall silent, the scholar in the blue robe showed no embarrassment whatsoever. Instead, he suddenly smiled, patted his forehead, and spoke with a hint of realization:

"How could I forget to introduce myself before asking your names? How rude of me. I am Dongxuzi. May I ask your honorable surnames?"

Huo Yu stared at him for a long time before finally speaking:

"Huh."

Seeing this, Long Yucheng also replied:

"My surname is Long."

Despite Huo Yu's obvious reluctance to speak, Dongxuzi showed no embarrassment. He simply laughed and naturally changed the subject:

"Fellow Daoist Long's surname is quite rare. As for the surname Huo, I have indeed heard of a person with that surname. The Demon Lord, who has risen to prominence in the demonic path in the last hundred years, is surnamed Huo. Unfortunately, I have never had the honor of meeting him. I wonder if Fellow Daoist Huo knows him?"

Huo Yu's expression remained unchanged, and he said calmly:

"do not know."

Dongxuzi seemed to have anticipated this answer; he waved his hand, his tone relaxed:

"That makes sense. How could we possibly meet someone as influential as the Demon Lord so easily? However, it is quite a coincidence that Fellow Daoist Huo shares the same surname as the Demon Lord."

Long Yucheng, standing to the side, felt that the words "Demon Lord" sounded familiar. His brain raced and he finally remembered where he had heard it before—when he and his senior brother were in Tianhe City, they had encountered a storyteller who told the story of the Demon Lord.

Even more coincidentally, the Demon Lord shared the same name as his senior brother, who even spent ten spirit stones without hesitation to buy a copy of "The Legend of Demon Lord Huo Yu".

Now, hearing Dongxuzi mention the Demon Lord's name again, it seemed that this person was still a very famous figure in the cultivation world, known to everyone, but few had ever seen his true face. Long Yucheng's feelings were even more complicated:

How could there be such a coincidence in the world?

He stole a glance at Huo Yu, only to see that his senior brother's expression remained calm and composed, seemingly unconcerned about Dong Xuzi's words. A bold guess began to form in his mind:

Could it be that my senior brother is a fan of that Demon Lord? That's why he changed his name to the exact same two characters "Huo Yu" and even spent ten spirit stones to buy a copy of "The Legend of Demon Lord Huo Yu".

He had known his senior brother for ten years, and he had never seen his senior brother pay so much attention to another person!

The more Long Yucheng thought about it, the more reasonable it seemed. His curiosity about this so-called Demon Lord reached its peak. If his senior brother hadn't been there, he would have definitely dragged Dong Xuzi along to ask who this Demon Lord was and what his deeds were that made his senior brother so concerned.

However, Huo Yu, who was standing next to him, had a completely different thought from Long Yucheng.

Huo Yu had already noticed Dong Xuzi before he entered the gates of the Ancient Immortal Realm.

This person was the one who had saved the Golden Core stage man on the platform earlier, but what Huo Yu cared about even more was that the Heavenly Dao annotation above Dong Xuzi's head contained only four simple words: [No hope of ascension].

Moreover, when he first met Dongxuzi, the annotation above Dongxuzi's head was "Scarce Hope," and it wasn't until he rescued the Golden Core stage man that the annotation changed to "No Hope of Ascension."

The man saved by Dongxuzi was also one of Huo Yu's targets, not only because he looked like a Leiling wearing a human skin, but also because there was only one word above his head.

--【die】.

Although Huo Yu lost the precious sample with the character for "death" above his head after entering the Ancient Immortal Realm, Dong Xuzi, who was standing in front of Huo Yu at this moment, was obviously no ordinary person either.

Even while talking to Huo Yu, the Heavenly Dao value above Dong Xuzi's head continued to change. In just a few words, the annotation above Dong Xuzi's head changed from "No hope of ascension" to "Scarce hope".

Seeing that neither of them seemed to have any intention of continuing the conversation, Dongxuzi felt no awkwardness. He shook his folding fan and calmly changed the subject back to the stone tablet behind him:

"You two fellow Daoists have come here, presumably for this stone tablet. A wisp of immortal essence remains on this tablet, though it is difficult to extract. However, those with the right fate can touch the tablet and witness illusions. Since the collapse of the ancient immortal realm, many cultivators have gained enlightenment through this tablet, either breaking through bottlenecks or comprehending immortal techniques and creating their own cultivation methods. It is said that a Nascent Soul stage cultivator once sat in meditation before the tablet for three days and finally created a divine ability that made him famous for a time. Unfortunately, none of his descendants have been able to cultivate this technique."

At this point, Dongxuzi shook his head with regret and sighed:

"Unfortunately, I am not one of those destined to be here. I can only discern the immortal essence remaining in this stele, but I have no chance to comprehend it. I wonder if you two fellow Daoists can gain anything from it."

Huo Yu merely glanced at him indifferently, remaining silent.

Dongxuzi, however, didn't seem to care at all. He laughed and casually tossed out a jade slip. As he spoke, the Heavenly Dao value above his head continued to change.

"Then I won't disturb you two any longer."

Dongxuzi cupped his hands in greeting, his tone relaxed and carefree, completely unaware of his annotations that kept oscillating between "no hope of ascension" and "hope for ascension."

"After you two have seen this stele, if you are interested, you may come here for a chat."

Having said that, Dongxuzi turned and left with the words "Ascension is in sight" above his head. He transformed into a streak of light and disappeared into the horizon without looking back.

Huo Yu slowly withdrew his gaze. From the moment he stepped into this fragment of the ancient immortal realm until now, everything he had experienced was exactly the same as in his previous life. Except for the slight difference caused by the presence of Long Yucheng beside him, everything else was exactly the same.

Dongxuzi did not know him, but he did know this person.

This person is a rogue cultivator, in the late stage of the Nascent Soul stage. He is neither righteous nor evil, and acts as he pleases, entirely based on his whims, without any rules or methods to follow.

For this reason, both righteous cultivators and demonic cultivators kept their distance from him and had no affection for him.

The jade slip that Dongxuzi gave him only contained a coordinate, and the jade slip itself contained a teleportation spell that could directly teleport him to the location of that coordinate.

In his previous life, Huo Yu did not keep his promise to go.

Huo Yu looked down at the jade slip in his hand, pondered for a moment, and finally put it away.

Then, he raised his head and his gaze fell on the stone tablet in front of him.

The stone tablet is ancient and weathered, its surface covered with the marks of time. Apart from the three clearly discernible characters "Dao Xu Jie" (Dao Ruins Realm), some faint runes can also be seen on it.

The moment Huo Yu's gaze fell upon those runes, the yin-yang symbol in his mind inexplicably reversed on its own. In Huo Yu's eyes, the stone tablet in front of him seemed to rewind time, quickly changing from an ancient appearance weathered by time back to a brand new one.