Chapter 21

Su Zhen did not know what kind of madness had taken hold of him, so she gave up on trying to understand for the time being. "You hadn't finished what you were saying earlier, Senior."

"Right."

Xiao Yu pulled himself together. Deciding not to be coy anymore, he said bluntly, "The Translocation Secret Spell is a life-saving technique. I suspect you might already know similar arts, but the advantage of this one is that it can be cast extremely quickly."

"It does not require your primordial spirit to remain intact, and the spiritual energy consumption is relatively low."

He raised his hand and slowly, clearly demonstrated a few hand seals. "You mark a location of your choosing. If your physical body is destroyed and your primordial spirit is damaged elsewhere..."

Su Zhen’s eyes flickered. "If I activate this spell, my primordial spirit will be directly transported to the marked location?"

Xiao Yu nodded.

Su Zhen blinked, suppressing her excitement. "What are the distance limitations? Can it cross realms?"

In theory, the primordial spirit of a Spirit Transformation stage cultivator, while better than that of a Nascent Soul stage one, could not withstand too much abuse. However, she had her own methods to ensure her primordial spirit would not shatter, so hearing of such a secret technique, she felt no apprehension—only an itching impatience. Moreover, Xiao Yu was right; she did indeed know similar techniques, and more than one or two at that. For cultivators in the Upper Seven Realms—especially demonic cultivators who spent years navigating the perilous Demon Realm—mastering escape techniques was a necessity, regardless of their other specialties. However, those spells required too much spiritual energy, making them difficult for her to execute in her current state.

"Crossing planes would require a 2.0 upgraded version of this spell. That is a version I improved, but it has many issues and is currently not as stable as my master’s basic version," Xiao Yu started saying baffling things again. "Or perhaps you could help me analyze it? We could work on a 3.0 version..."

Su Zhen looked at him with a headache. Yet, it was strange; even though his words sounded like the ramblings of a madman, she actually grasped some of his meaning.

Su Zhen thought for a moment, her own interest piqued. "Would I even be capable of that?"

"Apologies, I spoke—ah, you understood, didn't you?" Xiao Yu’s face immediately brightened, his blue eyes shimmering. "It’s not a big problem. Everyone struggles at the beginning. Besides, starting from scratch, why don't you try the one my master taught me first and see how it compares to the similar spells you're familiar with?"

Su Zhen readily agreed.

Xiao Yu began to explain in earnest. He taught with clear structure but was also concise, without a single wasted word. After summarizing the casting process, he began to add his own insights, gradually drifting into free-form discussion. If this were someone just beginning to learn primordial spirit arts, they might be utterly bewildered by the lack of foundational explanation. But thanks to her past experiences, Su Zhen understood perfectly.

She was happy with this approach. Opportunities to be taught by a Saint-level Immortal Venerable were rare; if he had treated her like a novice, he would have had to add tedious, elementary explanations. If a typical Elder of the Upper Seven Realms had taught her with the same standard curriculum, it would have been quite dull. Yet, he had no intention of doing so.

After sharing his insights, he began to deconstruct the hand seals, summarizing how to most efficiently circulate spiritual energy in a state where the physical body was destroyed and the primordial spirit was left without a shell. Su Zhen listened with great interest, occasionally interjecting with questions. She even managed to coax several tips out of him regarding driving spiritual energy with one's primordial spirit. Since she was already familiar with these, she grasped them instantly. Although she had her own habits, knowledge of this kind was always better to have in abundance.

"This technique is much more troublesome than the previous one, so... I am telling you exactly what my master told me, though the latter part is what I added myself." Xiao Yu glanced at her. "Any issues?"

"No, you explained it very well, Senior," Su Zhen said sincerely.

"Good. You can try it when you go back." Xiao Yu seemed reluctant to stop, appearing to enjoy the back-and-forth exchange. "However, practicing in private is certainly different from casting it in the heat of battle when you are mortally wounded..."

Su Zhen agreed. "I could also use some methods to intentionally damage my primordial spirit before casting it, so I won't be rusty if I truly encounter such a situation." She could think of a dozen secret techniques that would damage her spirit just by attempting to cast them.

Xiao Yu fell silent. For a moment, Su Zhen thought he might disapprove. Perhaps it was just a subconscious thought, or perhaps it was because her master was always like that. If Immortal Venerable Yuchen had heard her just now, he would surely have scolded her. Although he rarely spoke with harsh words, he always wore that cold, indifferent expression of helplessness when reprimanding her; she could tell he deeply disapproved of such cultivation methods.

Su Zhen, of course, did as she pleased. If her master disapproved, she simply wouldn't tell him—a simple enough logic.

"That is not impossible," Xiao Yu mused. "I initially thought I could help you, but I feel that I might... be less effective than if you did it yourself."

Su Zhen was stunned; she vaguely understood what he meant.

Xiao Yu grew conflicted again. "Of course, if you need it, your wishes come first, even if I have to hypnotize myself to get it done for you."

Just as Su Zhen was about to speak, he clutched his forehead in distress. "But I really am not sure. There are some things I am instinctively unwilling to do; perhaps even hypnosis wouldn't work."

Su Zhen: "..."

Su Zhen: "Alright, Senior, I was just speaking off the cuff. There is no rush."

"Oh." Xiao Yu snapped back to reality. As if remembering something, his expression turned serious. "Teacher Su, it is your turn to lecture."

Su Zhen sighed, not wasting any time. "I assume you are already proficient in the usual methods of entering, exiting, and summoning dreams, Senior?"

Xiao Yu nodded again.

Su Zhen went straight to the crux of the *Huo Xu* method. "The way the primordial spirit draws upon spiritual energy is very similar to the spells we just discussed, and more than half of the incantations and hand seals are derived from it."

She rolled up her sleeve slightly, revealing a wrist as white as snow. Her five fingers bloomed like a flower as she formed a series of complex seals, pale green light patterns flickering in her palm. "...Although it looks troublesome, since you are already familiar with those other methods, you will likely understand it at a glance. The sequence is just a bit different. If you can't remember, I can draw it out for you simply."

"Mhm." Xiao Yu looked down, his long eyelashes fluttering slightly. "Not bad. The order of these hand seals is not without reason; they are interrelated. I can remember them."

Su Zhen nodded and was about to continue when a voice suddenly echoed in her mind.

*"Come up and see me."*

The cold, melodic male voice carried a hint of displeasure, as if suppressing anger.

Su Zhen paused, sneered, and acted as if nothing had happened, continuing, "If you want to fake a bad omen, you mainly need to pay attention to..."

"Su Zhen." The voice in her head called again. "Come to the mountaintop immediately. Do not delay any longer."

Su Zhen sighed deeply, formed a few hand seals, and channeled her spiritual energy to cast a binding spell on her primordial spirit, attempting to sever all contact with the outside world.

"Hmm..." Xiao Yu looked at her with a complicated expression. "Although it is none of my business, are you cursing yourself?"

"You heard it too, didn't you? He is very annoying."

"I only knew he was sending you a voice transmission; I didn't listen to what he said." Xiao Yu said cautiously. "I won't stop you if you really want to use that, but could we think of another solution?"

Su Zhen lowered her hand. "Later, you can destroy my physical body, and I will just reshape another one."

Though she was being a bit spiteful, this was truly no big deal to her. Before becoming a demonic cultivator, she had gone through this many times. After that, injuries were common; she’d be decapitated one day and blown to bits the next, needing to reshape her body every few days. Sometimes, she even reshaped it multiple times in a single day. It was just that with her current cultivation, the speed of reshaping would be much slower.

Xiao Yu clearly saw that she was speaking out of anger. "...That will still hurt, and he is not worth it."

"Then what else?" Su Zhen retorted. "Are you going to go kill him?"

Xiao Yu did not try to dissuade her this time. "Mhm? That is also a method."

Su Zhen: "?"

Su Zhen: "...You really do find him an eyesore, don't you."

"I do indeed find him an eyesore," Xiao Yu replied nonchalantly. "But that is not the point. The point is that I care about you. If killing him could solve the problem, why not? Who does he think he is? I don't even know him."

"Is this a matter of knowing him or not? You met him much earlier than I did..."

"Meeting someone does not mean knowing them. Look at all the people on this street; I have seen them all, but how many do I know?"

Su Zhen wanted to laugh and was about to argue a few points with him. Suddenly, she felt something was off. "Hm? Why has my master gone quiet?"

Based on her understanding of Immortal Venerable Yuchen, if he discovered she was casting a spell on Liu Yunyao and wanted to lecture her for it, he would not have let it go so easily. Su Zhen looked around, focusing her spiritual energy into her eyes, and finally spotted a nearly transparent barrier.

That barrier surrounded the two of them, filled with spiritual energy distributed so evenly that it was incredibly difficult to detect. It did not even block out the surrounding breeze or the faint whispers; Su Zhen could still hear the conversations of cultivators passing by nearby. Yet, her mind was perfectly quiet; her master’s voice was gone.

Su Zhen looked at Xiao Yu. The latter was watching her with some nervousness. "If you think I acted without permission—"

Su Zhen reached out and gave him a thumbs-up. Everything was understood without words.

Xiao Yu laughed. "That is good."

Su Zhen actually knew this trick too, but for those with a higher cultivation level than her, such barriers were generally ineffective, which was why she had wanted to curse herself to get some peace. Su Zhen thanked him. Xiao Yu waved his hand. "As long as you don't mind. I was worried that if you were unhappy, I would have to take it down."

Su Zhen was stunned. "Why would I be unhappy?"

The two looked at each other. Su Zhen finally reacted. "Senior, were you asking if I felt you were acting on your own authority?"

"I was afraid you wouldn't like me interfering in your affairs," Xiao Yu said nervously. "After all... although I have only known you for a few dozen days, I can see that you are a person with a very strong sense of autonomy."

"Where did you get that idea, Senior?" Su Zhen looked at him helplessly. "This is not interference. I never wanted to listen to his nagging in the first place. You were helping me; it’s not like you forced me to ignore him."

She found it somewhat amusing. "What you said earlier, especially about how it’s human nature that some things can't be cut off—you seemed like a very insightful person. Why are you now..."

...Being a fool. She didn't want to say those words directly, especially since he had just helped her. Even though the concern was truly foolish. Su Zhen struggled with it for a moment, then found it funny and couldn't help but laugh.

Xiao Yu was slightly stunned. Throughout the night, he had seen her smile several times, all because of her delight in learning mysterious arts. Those deep, bright, emerald eyes, which seemed to hold the vibrancy of spring and summer, would glow with a scorching light, like two small, dazzling stars. Yet, at this moment, her joy was clearly not from satisfied curiosity. It was a purer, simpler delight—she just found something amusing. And precisely because of that, it gave off a different, dazzling radiance.

The young girl in thin emerald robes tilted her head slightly, her smiling eyes curved, her cheeks flushed like fresh lychees, her face as clear as a moonlit sky after clouds parted, all while looking up at him.

"Senior..."

Su Zhen had just begun to speak.

Xiao Yu gasped sharply.

Su Zhen looked at him, bewildered, and tilted her head again. The tall, burly man suddenly leaned backward, raised a hand to his lips, froze for a moment, and then silently turned toward the wall, covering his face.

"I am... dead," he said.

Su Zhen: "???"