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

While absorbing the remaining half of the seven-leaf hibiscus, Huo Yu did not see any more illusions. He did not understand why, but simply followed the path in his memory and arrived at the dilapidated temple on that rainy night.

The dilapidated temple has been renovated and expanded considerably. It has been renamed Longquan Temple and has even attracted worshippers.

The tomb that Huo Yu erected for the old man is now also within the grounds of Longquan Temple.

At the main gate of the temple, a young novice monk was sweeping fallen leaves. When he saw a pilgrim coming, he put down his broom, put his hands together, and bowed his head in greeting.

"Meet the donor."

But the tall, handsome young benefactor seemed not to hear him. He lifted his leg and walked inside, not to the main hall, but to a side hall that was rarely visited by anyone.

The young novice was about to remind the other person that worshippers were not allowed inside, but he saw that the benefactor had already gone in.

The young novice scratched his head and decided to go tell his master first.

However, when the young novice monk returned with an old monk, they found the side hall empty.

In fact, Huo Yu was still in the side hall, but he had simply cast a simple invisibility spell.

If the master and disciple were cultivators, they would see that the floor tiles in the northeast corner of the side hall had been lifted, revealing a large pit underneath, in the center of which lay a skeleton.

This skeleton was buried here by Huo Yu himself three hundred years ago.

No trace of a soul remained on the skeleton. If the owner of the skeleton had not embarked on the path of cultivation again, he should have already spent at least three lifetimes in the cycle of reincarnation.

Beside the skeleton was a storage bag covered in mud.

Huo Yu raised his hand, and the storage bag was snatched into his hand.

When the young Huo Yu buried the old man, he did not check the contents of the storage bag, and therefore did not discover that there was something left for him.

Huo Yu stared at the jade slip in his hand, his expression inscrutable.

It was a will that was three hundred years overdue.

……

"To my disciple,"

Life is impermanent, fate is merciless, and all the actions of sentient beings are illusory.

The path of Tao is inherently defying the heavens; life and death are but a thought away.

I began cultivating Taoism at the age of five, entered a master's sect at the age of ten, established my foundation at the age of twenty, formed my core at the age of seventy, and am now only one step away from the Nascent Soul stage, but this one step is the difference between life and death.

Those who cultivate the Tao live only a day and die in a day. Since I entered the Tao, I have claimed to have taken a detached view of life and death.

However, when faced with a life-or-death decision, I realized that the so-called "taking things lightly" is just empty talk from the living, and I too became obsessed with it.

If you see this book, it means I am already dead.

I had something I wanted from you, and I don't want to make excuses.

However, you are my first disciple, yet also my last. Holding my token, you return to my master's school, where someone will surely look after you.

The true path is impartial; avoid straying from it.

Placed alongside this jade slip was a fiery red jade token, its jade blank warm to the touch.

The front of the token bears the old man's name, Wang Yi, while the back is inscribed with the words "Zhuque Kingdom, Zoroastrianism".

Huo Yu stood with his head bowed, holding the token. This letter, which arrived three hundred years late, left Huo Yu with mixed feelings.

If he hadn't buried the storage bag along with the old man's body, his life trajectory would be completely different.

But Huo Yu, who saw the myriad worlds through the Gate of Heaven, told him that no matter which path he took, the ending would only lead to the same thing:

[No hope of ascension]

Leaving only the jade slip and waist token, Huo Yu buried the old man's remains and storage bag again, restoring everything to its original state, before leaving Longquan Temple.

The young novice monk, who had resumed gently sweeping the fallen leaves in the temple, remained completely unaware of what was happening.

After leaving Xuanwu Kingdom, Huo Yu pondered for a moment and finally decided to go to Zhuque Kingdom to find out what was going on.

The Vermilion Bird Kingdom is located in the south, not far from the Izumo Kingdom, where the Yellow Spring Sect is located.

However, not long after Huo Yugang left Xuanwu Kingdom, he was stopped on his way by an uninvited guest.

"Brother Huo, how have you been? I haven't yet congratulated you on achieving Core Formation."

The newcomer gently waved a folding fan, dressed in white, with a smile in his eyes. Who else could it be but Changsun Ning?

In fact, this person seemed to have been guarding the vicinity of Huangquan Sect all along. Huo Yu had just left Huangquan Sect when he noticed his whereabouts, so he sped up his escape speed to shake him off. However, on his way back, he still ran into him again.

Since Long Yucheng couldn't answer on his behalf, Huo Yu had to speak up himself:

"What's the point?"

Changsun Ning seemed completely oblivious to Huo Yu's cold attitude, and continued to smile as she spoke:

"Since our parting in Tianhe City, I have always longed to meet Brother Huo, but I regret that I have never had the chance. I wonder if Brother Huo has the time to visit my humble abode and share a few cups of tea with me?"

"No space."

Huo Yu didn't know what this person's purpose was, nor was he interested in knowing, so he refused and prepared to leave.

Upon seeing this, Changsun Ning closed his folding fan, his smile remaining unchanged but now tinged with sincerity:

"Brother Huo, why are you in such a hurry to refuse? All I ask for is a gentleman's friendship. Do you think I'm setting a trap for you?"

Huo Yu paused slightly, scanning his surroundings with his divine sense. After confirming there was nothing amiss, he coldly replied:

"Brother Changsun, you flatter me. I do have important matters to attend to and cannot stay any longer."

Changsun Ning seemed to have anticipated this, and was not discouraged. Instead, he took out an exquisite jade slip from his sleeve and handed it to Huo Yu:

“In that case, I will not insist. This jade slip contains a clue to a secret realm, which will be opened in six months. If Brother Huo is interested, you may wish to take a look. Of course, whether you go or not is entirely up to you.”

Huo Yu took the jade slip but did not examine it immediately.

"Thanks for letting me know."

Seeing this, Changsun Ning said no more, and cupped his hands in greeting:

"I look forward to meeting Brother Huo in the secret realm. I will not disturb you any longer. Until we meet again."

With that, he lightly waved his folding fan, and his figure transformed into a streak of white light, instantly disappearing from the spot.

Huo Yu stared in the direction where Changsun Ning had disappeared. He had just used his Nascent Soul stage divine sense to explore the surroundings and saw the prism on the man's head. The annotations next to it had not changed, but several imperceptible cracks had appeared inside the prism.

I wonder what extraordinary encounters this person has had in the past two years that could have caused such changes to the prism.

Huo Yu had only seen one instance of a prism cracking, which was the case of the foreigner whose prism shattered into pieces at the auction.

Huo Yu glanced at the jade slip in his hand, put it into his storage bag, and set off again.

However, before even setting foot on the territory of the Vermilion Bird Kingdom, a voice resounded in Huo Yu's consciousness:

"Master, I've broken through!"

Huo Yu paused, then took out the soul banner he had personally crafted from his storage bag.

Almost simultaneously, a beam of black light shot out from the soul banner and landed steadily in front of Huo Yu, transforming into a young man in black.

The young man had a face as fair as jade, sideburns as sharp as if cut by a knife, eyebrows like distant mountains shrouded in mist, and eyes as clear as autumn water. He had the appearance of a passionate man, but the slightly upturned corners of his eyes added a touch of sharpness to his face.

Huo Yu was all too familiar with this face, for it was none other than his own.