Why Go Back?

Three days later...

The Nether Tortoise finally salvaged that jade seal from the Nether River. It was a seal that was deep blue throughout, carved with spiritual diagrams.

Ancient demon script was engraved beneath the seal.

Xu Xian recognized it.

The old tortoise recognized it too.

[Heaven is the origin, Earth the beginning; all spirits are silent]

Eight large characters.

To be honest, Xu Xian felt it wasn't as catchy as 【Commissioned by Heaven, long life and eternal prosperity】.

Inside the Watery Grotto-Heaven.

Xu Xian sat leisurely on the stone stele, examining the deep blue jade seal in his hand. He glanced at the old tortoise and praised, "Good job."

The old tortoise didn't speak, only forcing a strained smile.

Four days of salvaging.

Not a moment of rest.

It was exhausted to the bone.

However, this object was indeed a treasure. It was a companion artifact of a province's Heavenly Dao, hence its name: a Great Dao Divine Weapon.

It had seen many similar divine weapons. Within a single world, they possessed the power to sweep through everything and suppress all. The only drawback was that once they left that world and went elsewhere, they became ordinary scrap iron.

They were the type of magical artifacts that were typically only tyrants in their own backyards.

Of course.

The Cangming Dao weapons were exceptions. According to records, there were three Dao weapons in the Cangming Realm that were invincible throughout the entire Star Sea.

Unfortunately...

It had only heard of them and never seen them. Or rather, no one had ever seen them.

People only knew they existed, but whether they were held by someone or lost somewhere remained unknown.

Xu Xian put away the Spirit-Sealing Seal, thinking he would study it further once the little book spirit woke up. He then jumped off the stone stele and patted it.

The old tortoise sat on the ground, not yet realizing the gravity of the situation.

Xu Xian muttered to the stone stele, "It is time for you to go home."

In the next second.

With a shift of his divine sense, a purple glow flickered in his eyes.

The stone stele was suddenly stored inside the Divine Sword Pool.

Before the old tortoise could react, it felt its entire body being dragged by a force, tearing through space.

Then, everything went black as a chaotic current tore at its physical body and soul.

In an instant, the pain was suffocating.

"Argh!"

It let out a low growl in the void before its head slumped, having been knocked unconscious by the sheer agony.

When it woke up in a daze, it saw the long-lost sun.

The light was exceptionally blinding.

'Who am I?'

'Where am I?'

'What am I doing?'

Three existential questions flashed through its mind. It shook its head vigorously, and its thoughts gradually settled. The scene before it became clear.

The sun, the sky, the sword pool, and the stone stele.

Countless chains were wrapped around its body.

The other ends of the chains were connected to divine swords.

This was a scene it had never witnessed before, yet it quickly guessed where it was and sorted out its thoughts with extreme speed.

In that moment, it felt as if the sky had fallen.

Its newly calmed thoughts began to boil again.

Twelve minus three equals nine...

It understood. It understood everything.

This place was where the divine swords of the former White Jade Capital were sealed. Now, there was an additional old tortoise.

The physical pain became trivial compared to the stinging in its heart. It had just stood up when it collapsed back onto the ground.

Then it looked up, silently staring at the sun above the sea of clouds.

There was no sound.

It didn't curse or shout. It just sat there, its desire to live completely gone.

It turned out that extreme despair was silent.

It turned out that extreme anger was wordless.

...

After sending the old tortoise and the stone stele into the Divine Sword Pool, Xu Xian did not leave immediately. Instead, he stayed in the Watery Grotto-Heaven, waiting for the little book spirit to wake up.

He was being incredibly cautious.

The little book spirit woke up as expected. Xu Xian was somewhat surprised and said in amazement, "Hmm, why was it so fast this time?"

Shuer tilted its head and asked, "How long was it?"

Xu Xian silently recalculated the time in his head and confirmed, "Less than five days."

Shuer seemed a bit disappointed, its small face sagging as it said, "It is alright, I guess, but it is still a bit long."

Xu Xian didn't press further. He thought this was probably like an ultimate ability in a game; as the level increased, the cooldown time decreased.

For him, this was good news.

Increased power.

Decreased cooldown.

It was very user-friendly. Originally, he had expected the time to be longer.

"Where is that old tortoise? It didn't cause any trouble, did it?" The little book spirit noticed the tortoise and the stele were gone and asked suddenly.

Xu Xian said indifferently, "That tortoise is alright."

The little book spirit was confused.

That was rare.

The old tortoise had cursed so filthily, yet its master was actually saying something nice about it.

Tilting its head, it asked, "It seems you two got along quite well. Did some heartwarming story happen?"

Xu Xian gave a mysterious smile and, under the little book spirit's expectant gaze, pulled out the seal.

The little book spirit froze for a moment before becoming startled and then joyful. "Hiss, it is the Fanzhou Dao weapon, the Spirit-Sealing Seal! How did you find it?"

"The old tortoise salvaged it," Xu Xian said truthfully.

The little book spirit suddenly realized, "No wonder!"

Xu Xian said triumphantly, "Not bad, right?"

"Mhm, mhm." The little book spirit nodded like a chick pecking at grain. "Then let's go. We can go home."

This trip had two objectives.

One.

Obtain a million shadow soul stones to build the third floor of the Sword Tower.

One.

Find the Spirit-Sealing Seal to resolve the side effects plaguing Yao Xiaoxiao.

Now, the mission was perfectly fulfilled.

Not only that, but the harvest was also bountiful.

A sealing stone stele, an Era of Primal Chaos Emperor Weapon, and as a bonus, he had picked up an Immortal King old tortoise.

Those were the visible gains.

The invisible gains included flexing his power in the Demon Abyss and capturing the hearts of a few young girls.

The trip was well worth it, and he could return slowly.

Xu Xian put away the Spirit-Sealing Seal and waved his hand in refusal. "Wait, no rush. I need to go back to the Nether Hall first to settle things before leaving."

The little book spirit was stunned. "Go back?"

It thought it had misheard. Given its master's personality, he shouldn't be going back. After all, he had already drained the Ten Great Demon God Palaces and the two priests.

Why go back?

There was no benefit.

Would you, Xu Xian, do something that had no benefit?

"Why are you looking at me like that?"

The little book spirit's eyes were wide with confusion. "Why go back? Do you really want to take those two sisters for yourself?"

Pausing, the little book spirit pointed at Xu Xian with a mischievous, knowing grin. "Oh... I knew it. Master, you were just pretending all along, hehe."

Xu Xian looked bewildered.

What was it talking about?

"Are you sick?"

"Still pretending? There is no shame in being attracted to beauty," the little book spirit said in a worldly tone, crossing its arms.

Xu Xian was speechless. He was truly defeated. Was he really that kind of person?

Well...

He couldn't say he absolutely wasn't.

He did indeed tend to have a favorable impression of beautiful women.

However.

He flicked the little book spirit's head and rolled his eyes. "What kind of filthy things are in that little head of yours every day? How vulgar. You think I want to go back? But what else can I do if I don't? Do we still want to build the Sword Tower?"

As a spirit, the little book spirit felt no pain, yet it still rubbed its head symbolically and pressed, "What does that have to do with building the tower?"

"It has everything to do with it."

The little book spirit remained confused.

Xu Xian asked patiently, "The Fourth Floor requires so many materials. Tell me, what is the fastest way to get them?"