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

Huo Yu listened quietly, his gaze occasionally falling on the elation in the eyes and brows of the person beside him. He would nod slightly from time to time, his drooping eyelashes casting a shadow on his indifferent face, while a hint of indulgent smile played on his lips.

"Before I came here, I thought that sword cultivators were either elegant and unrestrained, or upright and composed like Brother Jian."

After recounting his experiences, Long Yucheng concluded with a final remark.

"I didn't expect the disciples of the Xuantian Sword Sect to be so enthusiastic. They seemed indifferent on the surface, but once they started talking, they were very talkative, which was completely different from the icy atmosphere of this northern land."

Huo Yu chuckled upon hearing this, raising an eyebrow slightly:

"Did they try to spar with you?"

Long Yucheng blinked, then suddenly revealed a sly smile.

"It was almost there—"

He drew out the sound, putting on a look of deep regret.

"If it weren't for your arrival, senior brother, I would have had to reluctantly take my leave."

After saying that, he sighed seriously, but the smile in his eyes was as bright as the stars in the night sky, impossible to hide.

Just then, a soft cough came from above the stone steps, breaking the somewhat ambiguous atmosphere around the two.

The two looked up at the same time, following the sound, and saw Dao Yi, who had just fought a great battle with Huo Yu in the sky, standing at the end of the stone steps.

Dao Yi's appearance was exactly the same as when he left the Ancient Immortal Realm; he still had that weathered, unshaven face.

With the antique sword case on his back, the moment he stands there, he exudes the carefree and detached "sword immortal" demeanor from folk tales.

The only thing that seemed out of place was the wine gourd that he always hung at his waist. Its once smooth, mirror-like surface was now charred black, as if it had been scorched by a raging fire.

Long Yucheng's gaze involuntarily fell on the charred area. Dao Yi noticed his gaze but appeared quite calm:

"See this? This is the 'masterpiece' left by your senior brother. What a waste of my excellent Drunken Immortal Wine."

As he spoke, he gently patted the gourd with a pained expression, and black ash immediately fell from the charred part.

Huo Yu, whose name was called, remained unfazed, his clothes not even twitching. In the next instant, he had already teleported with Long Yucheng to the top of the steps. Long Yucheng only felt a blur before his eyes, and when he regained his senses, he was already facing Dao Yi head-on.

When Dao Yi looked at Huo Yu, the fighting spirit in his eyes had not diminished in the slightest. After a long while, he suddenly looked up at the sky and laughed loudly:

"Although I lost this match, it was truly exhilarating! A hundred times more enjoyable than in the restrictive Ancient Immortal Realm! — But the Demon Lord's personal visit to my Xuantian Sword Sect today wasn't solely to fulfill the agreement from the Ancient Immortal Realm, was it?"

As he spoke, Dao Yi's gaze slowly fell on Long Yucheng beside Huo Yu, a hint of undisguised admiration flashing in his eyes.

"It's only been twenty years since we parted in the Ancient Immortal Realm, and you've already comprehended sword intent. With such talent, it's a real waste to follow the Demon Lord. Why not join my Xuan Tian Sword Sect instead?"

Before Dao Yi's words had even finished, Huo Yu's eyes suddenly darkened, becoming as unfathomable as an ink-stained, cold pool. His aura instantly turned icy cold, and the surrounding temperature seemed to drop abruptly due to this chill.

Almost simultaneously, Long Yucheng subtly took half a step back, cupped his hands in greeting to Dao Yiyi, his movements flowing naturally, neither impolite nor lacking in formality, yet carrying a perfectly appropriate air of aloofness.

"You flatter me, senior. I have no intention of switching schools at the moment."

Long Yucheng's face showed respect for Dao Yi, but his tone was neither humble nor arrogant. After speaking, he gave a slight bow and then naturally put his hands behind his back.

"I have come here today because I had a prior agreement with Brother Jian, and I have come to seek your guidance."

Out of Dao Yi's sight, Long Yucheng's fingertips gently hooked Huo Yu's sleeve. Seeing that the other party did not resist, he took advantage of the situation and touched it inch by inch upwards, as if to soothe a ferocious beast that was about to explode, and also with a hint of coquetry.

Huo Yu's eyebrows twitched almost imperceptibly, and his previously tense jawline relaxed slightly. He raised his hand and grabbed Long Yucheng's mischievous hand, and the icy look in his eyes melted a little.

Huo Yu's wide sleeves completely concealed their little action, and only Long Yucheng could clearly feel the warmth from the other's palm, as well as the slight, warning squeeze.

Dao Yi wasn't surprised by Long Yucheng's answer. His gaze swept back and forth between the two men before him, and he said, "What a pity," before changing the subject:

"However, you've come at a bad time. Kenshin is currently in seclusion."

Just as Long Yucheng was about to say, "Then I'll go back first and come back in a few days," he heard Dao Yi continue:

"But since you're here, I won't let you leave empty-handed. The Xuantian Sword Sect has recently produced a rising star, perhaps you can have a friendly spar with him."

Long Yucheng blinked, adopting a "we're already here, what's the difference who we fight?" attitude, a hint of eagerness appearing on his lips, and said:

"Then I'll have to trouble you to make an introduction, senior."

Dao Yi laughed loudly:

"Easy to say!"

Before the words were even finished, the blue stone steps beneath the three of them instantly glowed with a ghostly blue light. Around them, countless fine sword energies flowed in the void, like a cascading galaxy.

The surrounding scenery distorted and changed like a reflection in the water; the stone steps, mountain colors, and clouds all shattered into colorful patches in the sword energy.

Once their vision cleared, the three found themselves in a strange stone forest.

Countless stone pillars rise from the ground all around, varying in height and staggered like interlocking swords and halberds. The shorter pillars are only about ten feet long, while the taller ones are over ten feet high, piercing the clouds with a magnificent presence.

In the distance, several towering stone pillars pierce the sky, their surfaces covered with crisscrossing sword marks, bearing the remnants of more than a dozen different sword intents.

Beneath their feet lay a natural sword-wielding platform, a hundred feet in diameter, paved with a dark blue mineral whose surface gleamed with a cold metallic luster under the sunlight.

Huo Yu recognized it as Xuanxing Iron Rock. This substance was neither iron nor stone, and its texture was extremely hard, even surpassing Xuan Iron. Even flying swords could hardly damage it in the slightest. It was a precious material for refining excellent sword embryos.

The Sword Platform is now covered with sword marks of varying depths, the deepest of which is only about an inch deep, demonstrating its hardness.

In the center of the sword platform, a slender figure stood quietly, like a plum blossom blooming in the snow and ice, seemingly having waited there for a long time.

She was a woman dressed in a light blue, narrow-sleeved sword robe, who looked to be about twenty years old. Her waist-length hair was tied up high with a blue ribbon, revealing her smooth, jade-like forehead.

Her eyebrows were like distant mountains, her eyes like cold stars, and her skin was even whiter than the surrounding stone pillars. From a distance, she looked like a sword, perfectly blending into the surrounding stone forest, exuding an inhumanly cold aura.

Long Yucheng's gaze was immediately drawn to the long sword at the woman's waist—the scabbard was pure white like jade, with frost patterns that would never fade on its surface, the hilt was wrapped in ice-blue silk, and a crystal-clear jade pendant hung at the end, moving on its own even without wind.

Even before it was drawn, Long Yucheng could clearly feel the bone-chilling cold emanating from the sword.

As Long Yucheng examined her sword, the woman in the center of the sword platform slowly raised her eyes, her gaze sweeping over Dao Yi, lingering briefly on Huo Yu, and finally landing on Long Yucheng.

She nodded slightly, her voice as clear as ice striking stone:

"Li Hanyi, please enlighten me."