Chapter 157 Whom Shall I Marry When I Grow Up?

"Throw him out."

The simple command made He Chang'an's heart leap in panic.

Everyone else exchanged glances in confusion. Wasn't it agreed that we would use sound transmission to teach this non-Daoist 'junior' a lesson? Why say it out loud so directly? Besides, isn't there an old white-haired ape and a little Daoist girl right here beside us?

He Chang'an felt a sudden jolt of alarm, but then thought that this must be that 'grand-uncle' trying to scare him...

Before he could even let out a sigh of relief, his entire body was sent flying.

"What the..."

Before he could finish the sentence, an inexplicable force violently hurled him off the top of the city wall. And worse, straight outside Sword Gate Pass!

Damn it! You bunch of old bastards, is there any reason left? Is there any shred of humanity?

Whatever. The old scholar had mocked more than once that those so-called transcendent masters cultivation-wise grew more and more devoid of humanity and warmth the further along they progressed. Therefore, expecting humanity from this bunch was completely pointless.

Thinking along these lines, He Chang'an felt somewhat better and immediately began searching for a way to save himself.

When he had first climbed the wall, one of the old bastards had told him personally that outside Sword Gate Pass lay the so-called lawless zone, where spiritual energy was not only scarce and chaotic, but also mixed with massive amounts of [harmful gases].

He Chang'an hadn't asked in detail at the time, guessing vaguely that it must be yin malignant Qi... probably?

While his mind was racing, He Chang'an had already plummeted several hundred zhang.

With growing frustration, he realized that on this nearly thousand-zhang-high city wall, there wasn't even a single crooked-necked tree, nor any protruding platform—absolutely nothing to grab onto or push off from!

Furthermore, because this side faced the foreign realms, the runes on the city wall were much denser and far more overbearing. As he fell, they actively 'pushed' outward against him, completely denying him any chance to leverage his momentum.

Thus, while loudly cursing all the old bastards under heaven, he exerted every ounce of his strength, circulating his spiritual energy at top speed to avoid being killed for no reason by that bunch of old scoundrels on the wall.

A wall over a thousand zhang high with nothing to catch onto was a veritable nightmare.

"Old bastards! If I don't come back and cure you old shameless pricks to death, my surname isn't He!"

"Damn it! Whoever designed this wall, how come there isn't even a single crooked-necked tree..."

...

On the ramparts of Sword Gate Pass, the old white ape turned around in astonishment, stared at the Daoist 'grand-uncle', and roared, "Ge Lanlin, what the hell do you mean by this? Didn't you know He Chang'an is my friend?"

A-Ran was equally dumbfounded.

These Daoist folks at Sword Gate Pass played wild—throw a living person outside the wall just over a single misspoken word?

The young girl stamped her foot, her cheeks puffed out like two little buns, and her slanted, heroic eyes were filled with doubt. "Senior, did He Chang'an offend you? Do you know what's out there? That's the lawless zone!"

The grand-uncle named Ge Lanlin was chewing on roe-deer meat, grinning lazily and carelessly. "I know. Isn't it just a bunch of monsters out there? Beasts and demons running rampant, miasma filling the air, and fiendish entities that devour people alive..."

"His cultivation realm is so low, you... you shameless old thing!" A-Ran fumed.

"Since he dared to come to Sword Gate Pass, naturally he has a few tricks up his sleeve. What, is he weak?" Ge Lanlin chuckled. "There's a stench of that lunatic Lü about him, and this poor Daoist doesn't like it."

"Besides, isn't everyone who comes to Sword Gate Pass here to slay demons and seek opportunities for a breakthrough?"

The old white ape glanced down outside Sword Gate Pass and, without a word, leaped straight off.

A-Ran looked left and right, noticing that the Daoist 'seniors' around her all wore gloating smiles. She flew into a rage and said coldly, "Everyone here today, you'd better remember my name!"

"My name is A-Ran! Once my cultivation is complete, I'm going to beat the living shit out of every single one of you!"

With that, she leaped forward and jumped outside Sword Gate Pass as well.

A slovenly Daoist's expression shifted slightly, and just as he was about to jump down to pull the young girl back, Grand-uncle Ge Lanlin said coldly, "Leave her be. A mere disciple of True Martial Mountain daring to speak such wild words? Let her go and throw her life away together."

Having said that, Ge Lanlin closed his eyes to rest, seemingly indifferent to such a trivial matter.

*Beat the living shit out of... cough, utterly ignorant of the immensity of heaven and earth!*

...

The moment He Chang'an hit the bottom, his heart clenched tight enough to squeeze out water.

Falling from such a height, one misstep would smash him into a puddle of mush, making him perhaps history's shortest-lived peak-ninth-layer Qi Refining 'great master'.

In his desperation, he tried several postures until a flash of insight gave him a possibility: since he was now a Qi cultivator, could he also fly on a sword?

After all, A-Ran was only at the seventh layer of Qi Refining, and she could already fly on a sword with what seemed like decent sword skills.

Suspended in mid-air, inspired by sudden clarity, a small black sword slightly larger than a willow leaf suddenly materialized beneath his feet.

He Chang'an lacked experience, but not combat experience. Silently recalling A-Ran's posture while sword-flying, he poured a strand of divine sense into the small black sword, striving for a state of complete harmony between man and blade.

It worked!

A profound, mystical sensation filled him with joy.

Though he couldn't yet achieve true airborne treading on a sword, he finally had a point of leverage. His falling speed stabilized and gradually began to slow down...

At last, after thirty-odd breaths, he landed.

Because he had just barely grasped the rudiments of sword control, he couldn't glide through the void like A-Ran, but he had successfully reduced his speed to a controllable range, avoiding turning into a puddle of mush.

Leveraging his momentum, he rolled along the ground, battered and bruised, tumbling seventy or eighty zhang in one breath before finally steadying himself.

His clothes were already in tatters, and his skin was scraped in dozens of places by the rough stones, stained with blood.

*Lucky, lucky...*

He Chang'an stumbled to his feet, shook his head vigorously, and spat onto the ground, the saliva mixed with traces of blood.

He looked up at the towering clouds of Sword Gate Pass's city wall, cursed "old bastards," and only then recalled the heart-stopping descent, breaking out in a cold sweat.

He hadn't figured out the identities of those Daoist figures and hadn't sensed any deep malice, so he had been completely unprepared for that bunch of old silver-haired freaks to pull such a stunt.

Had he not broken through unexpectedly to become a rough-and-tumble martial artist cum Qi cultivator, that fall genuinely would have been fatal.

*No wonder the old scholar disliked the Daoist sect; they really are a bunch of cold-blooded old monsters.*

He Chang'an didn't dwell on the matter too much. After all, he couldn't beat them yet, and his most immediate trouble was likely the environment he currently found himself in...

The moment he landed, he had actually surveyed his surroundings and found that this place wasn't as terrifying as he had imagined; instead... it was somewhat picturesque?

Not entirely.

This 'lawless zone' resembled the demon clan's small town somewhat: the trees were exceptionally tall, the misty view stretched only a short distance, and the air carried a faint fragrance that felt exceptionally refreshing to breathe.

Even more surprising to He Chang'an was that in this space, spiritual energy, demonic energy, and yin malignant energy coexisted harmoniously!

For Daoist Qi cultivators, the pursuit was naturally pure spiritual energy, while demonic and ghost cultivators sought pure demonic or yin malignant energy.

Three kinds of energies mixed together would be poison to anyone else.

But to He Chang'an...

This was practically a blessed paradise!

He Chang'an cautiously explored forward for several hundred zhang. Alongside lush, thriving vegetation, he spotted bizarrely shaped animals: rabbits with six legs, wolves as robust as giant rats, and elks with two tails...

These beasts didn't seem particularly wary of one another, each busy with its own affairs. However, upon seeing He Chang'an suddenly blunder in, anthropomorphic expressions of panic appeared on their faces.

Of course, it was merely panic.

They didn't scatter in a mad frenzy.

He Chang'an felt somewhat relieved and fell into deep thought...

"You didn't fall to your death?" asked the old white ape suddenly in a deep, rumbling voice.

Despite its massive bulk, the creature made not a single sound when walking, giving He Chang'an a severe fright. "Ah, Senior Ape, why did you come down too?"

The moment the words left his mouth, He Chang'an's face flushed red.

Wasn't it obvious? The creature had clearly wanted to save him...

"He Chang'an, you really didn't get smashed to death?" The old white ape stared with its strange eyes, looking He Chang'an up and down while clicking its tongue in wonder.

"..." He Chang'an was speechless.

"Good, good. Saves me the trouble of digging a pit to bury someone," the old white ape chuckled, clearly quite satisfied with He Chang'an. "If you'd been squashed to death, it wouldn't have been fun at all, and I'd have had to snuff out a few old Daoists to avenge you."

Listening to the old white ape ramble on, He Chang'an suddenly felt a strong urge to beat someone up.

Still, he decided against it.

"Is this the lawless zone?" He Chang'an asked.

"Not necessarily," the old white ape said with rare solemnity. "My old master once said that the so-called laws are actually more like shackles. Some shackles turn out to be a form of liberation for certain people."

He Chang'an listened intently and failed to understand a single word, prompting him with a self-deprecating smile: "I didn't understand a word Senior said."

"What's so hard to understand? You're such a fool!" Suddenly, A-Ran flew over on her sword, a hint of lingering anger still hanging on her plump, baby-faced features. "Those old bastards! Once I cultivate into an unmatchable sword immortal, I'm going to beat the living shit out of them! Humph!"

"..." The old white ape.

"..." He Chang'an.

So this girl's ultimate wish was to beat all the world's top masters until they shat themselves?

"What, you don't believe me?" A-Ran leaped off her flying sword, grabbed He Chang'an's arm, squeezed it hard a few times, and broke into a bright smile. "Not bad, not bad. I said so—how could A-Ran's friend die so easily?"

"Right, He Chang'an, how come you didn't fall to your death?"

"I... have a hard life." He Chang'an smiled awkwardly.

Everything about this girl was great, except for her blunt, direct way of speaking without ever beating around the bush.

Of course, that was also what He Chang'an liked most about her.

In this world, he didn't have many girlfriends: one was A-Jiu, one was A-Ran, and half a little Buddhist nun...

He Chang'an suddenly sighed and muttered to himself: *A-Jiu dresses as a man, A-Ran is full of heroic vigor, and the half-nun... is actually a little princess in disguise.*

If A-Ran could guess what He Chang'an was thinking right now, she would probably throw hands on the spot...

"He Chang'an, the spiritual energy here is a complete mess, and I've heard there are tons of fiends, demons, and ghosts. Better let this old monkey carry you back up the wall," A-Ran said with a frown, gazing into the distance with evident wariness.

"Spiritual energy... whatever. Do you know what kind of monsters are here?" He Chang'an also looked into the distance, a restless urge stirring in his heart.

The 'spiritual energy' of this place might be harmful to others, but to He Chang'an himself, it was practically a once-in-a-lifetime treasure trove—provided he could protect himself.

"I don't know the specifics, but the old white monkey should know." A-Ran showed no respect whatsoever to the old white ape, calling it an old white monkey to its face, yet the old white ape didn't get angry at all, just grinning foolishly while squatting to the side.

Seeing this dynamic, He Chang'an couldn't help feeling a bit envious. Truly, looking good really made everything easier.

Especially if you were a pretty little girl.

"The beast-demons on the outer perimeter aren't very strong, probably around the sixth tier of martial arts," the old white ape said. "However, it gets dangerous further in. My master and I once reached a vast marshland where the monsters inside were too much for even my master to beat."

He Chang'an furrowed his brow in thought and asked, "What kind of place is this anyway? Why does it feel a bit like an independent spatial realm?"

"It's not an independent space," A-Ran mused for a moment before replying. "According to some Daoist texts, this is a spatial rift leading to another world.

"And those so-called monsters aren't actually external creatures... how should I put it? Because of inter-realm forces, for outside creatures to enter our world, there are massive restrictions. They need to send in low-level creatures to scout the path first, slowly eroding away the barriers..."

A-Ran wasn't entirely certain, clearly offering a hypothesis, but He Chang'an grasped the core idea.

"Spatial rift, cannon fodder, scouting, erosion..." He Chang'an roughly formed a judgment, though he suspected it wasn't quite that simple.

At least, the space connected here wasn't merely a single world.

Because he had carefully sensed it: the 'chaotic spiritual energy' of this space encompassed at least four types—spiritual energy, demonic energy, ghostly malignant energy, and demonic-beast Qi—uniquely lacking only righteous awe-inspiring Qi.

On this point, He Chang'an understood.

Because the old scholar had once offhandedly remarked that among all cultivation systems, Confucianism's awe-inspiring Qi was humanity's true orthodox path.

Everything else was foreign goods.

For instance, spiritual energy—also called immortal spiritual energy—belonged to the Immortal Spirit Realm; demonic energy, also called true demonic energy, belonged to the True Demon Realm; ghost-malignant Qi belonged to the Netherworld; and beast Qi belonged to the Demon Realm.

At the time, He Chang'an hadn't cared much about such claims. After all, high-sounding 'scientific knowledge' like that was way beyond what an illiterate person like him could comprehend—it sounded purely like feudal superstition.

The problem was, this space actually contained all four: immortal spiritual energy, true demonic energy, nether-malignant Qi, and beast Qi...

And they were able to fuse together so perfectly, which clearly implied...

"He Chang'an, you aren't... a monster, are you?" A-Ran asked suddenly, scrutinizing him once more. "Sect texts record that someone once tried fusing several cultivation techniques together and ended up mutating into a monster with three heads and six arms...

"If you turn into a monster, who am I going to marry when I grow up?"