Who Brought Him into the Cultivation World?

Inside the Glazed Bottle, which was about a foot high, Han Yu flailed around like a moth caught in a trap, stumbling and colliding within.

And the Glazed Bottle shook as it flew upward, aiming to smash down upon Zhī Sǒu’s head.

Zhī Sǒu’s expression changed as he hurriedly raised his hand to support it, a barrier appeared, sparking a tremendous collision in mid-air.

The sounds around grew increasingly bizarre; the one person and one bottle seemed to have a mutual understanding, unwilling to destroy the Soul Realm, as a result, their battle ascended higher and higher, finally reaching even above the Nine Heavens.

Han Yu remained trapped inside the bottle, horrified as he watched the clash between both sides.

Zhī Sǒu’s movements showed no apparent trace of power, yet every gesture and motion was filled with various coping strategies.

With a wave of his hand came an endless vast force, which when struck outside the bottle, produced incessant roars.

The Glazed Bottle’s response was equally straightforward to the extreme, from Han Yu’s perspective, it was summed up in one word, smash!

Such a simple method, yet it forcibly drove Zhī Sǒu to continuously retreat.

Bang!

A loud boom, the sound waves shook the entire void, and in the next moment, the barrier shattered.

Bang!

A rumble, Zhī Sǒu’s force was crushed to smithereens by the bottle.

Bang!

A muffled thud, Zhī Sǒu was sent flying out of sight.

Han Yu was horrified, unable to comprehend the immense force of that bottle’s strike.

In a moment, when Zhī Sǒu returned in a sorry state, the bottle was about to smash again, but Zhī Sǒu, lacking that stern murderous aura now, waved his hands helplessly.

”I wasn’t really going to kill him!”

Yet the bottle seemed unwilling to listen to his explanation and continued its fierce attack.

Zhī Sǒu suffered a series of blows, and the bottle seemed intent on tormenting him, repeatedly flickering before and after, treating him like a punching bag, hitting him back and forth.

It’s hard to imagine that Zhī Sǒu’s long-standing image as a master would now be reduced to such a sorry state.

During this process, Zhī Sǒu kept explaining.

”Can’t you be reasonable, how could I really want to kill him.”

”I’m explaining this to help you.”

”Do you understand human language at all, oh! You’re not human... Ouch!”

”If you keep this up, I’m going to lose face.”

It seems that Zhī Sǒu’s last line worked, and the Glazed Bottle finally stopped its actions and slowly descended.

Zhī Sǒu came down as well, looking disheveled, then awkwardly transformed and restored himself to his original appearance, though his eyes occasionally glanced over with resentment.

”Aren’t you leaving, why are you staying around?”

He urged, and after a slight tremor from the bottle, it appeared to be delivering a threat, causing Zhī Sǒu to shake his head.

”I said it, I just wanted to force you out, I didn’t really want to kill him.”

As if reassured by Zhī Sǒu’s repeated promises, the bottle in front of Han Yu suddenly disappeared without a trace, as silent as a dream realm, leaving just as mysteriously.

The scene was momentarily awkward, with Han Yu fixing a suspicious gaze on the other party.

”Don’t look at me, I did go for the kill just now, but I just wanted you to see that it wouldn’t possibly want you dead.”

Zhī Sǒu shot Han Yu a glare and, pretending to support his waist, with a weary look, sat down on the curb, stretching lazily, continuing to explain.

”As I said, you are the most outstanding work of the Heavenly Dao, we wouldn’t harm you, not even the bottle within you. You saw it just now, if you had died, it would have gone mad!”

Han Yu found it hard to believe, fearing it was all an act.

How many times had he faced crises, and every time, it was the bottle that saved the day.

Just now, he also saw that although the bottle only used the simple method of smashing, it nearly smashed Zhī Sǒu into nonexistence.

He has no doubt that the power within could probably smash Di Liuxin and the others to death.

If it truly intended to intervene, why had it never stepped in before?

If it was really afraid of his death, wouldn’t it have just come out sooner?

Zhī Sǒu seemed to guess what Han Yu was thinking and sighed helplessly.

”Have you considered that it may not be able to manifest in the world and can only bully an old widow in the Soul Realm?”

Zhī Sǒu? An old widow?

Han Yu found it hard to conceive how these two words fit together for this fellow.

However, the other’s words had a fatal flaw which he caught.

”Nonsense, when this thing first appeared, it almost smashed me to death, not to mention I carried it for several days before it hid inside.”

Zhī Sǒu smirked, answering indirectly, ”And what about your West River Slash! Could anyone see it at first?”

Han Yu was taken aback; what did any of this have to do with the West River Slash?

”Of course, it’s related. Your West River Slash, before being stimulated by the rules of the Celestial Dao Sect’s third, was in a dormant state and couldn’t be considered manifest in the world, and something unmanifest in the world cannot speak of power.”

Zhī Sǒu spoke with deep meaning, seemingly explaining the West River Slash, yet also hinting about the bottle.

The bottle’s situation on the Central Continent had some similarities to that of the West River Slash; it existed but couldn’t manifest.

Just like the initial West River Slash, the power it could wield was pathetically small.

Han Yu paused in thought for a moment, then his expression became extremely strange.

If only the West River Slash was mentioned, he might not have connected any further, but mentioning the bottle as well.

A thought suddenly flashed in his mind, bringing to mind two other things.

The Millstone, and the Celestial River!

The Millstone wanted to enter the Central Continent, so the Yama Hall nourished it with souls.

The Celestial River wanted to enter the Central Continent, so the Celestial Dao Sect nourished it with vitality.

So, the bottle that always needed Qi Fortune to nourish it...

”Could this thing be something of the Heavenly Dao too?”

Even as Han Yu asked, he already had the answer in his heart.

Although Zhī Sǒu didn’t answer, his expression had already given it away.

Damn it, others still relied on an entire force to nourish one item.

The bastard of the Heavenly Dao actually wanted to rely on me alone for nurturing.

Han Yu suddenly grew angry for no reason, especially with the thought of his proxy status for the Heavenly Dao, which at this moment was truly confirmed, as nothing more than having no bottom line but to clean up the Heavenly Dao’s messes.

To do all sorts of dirty and tiring work for the Heavenly Dao.

Zhī Sǒu’s mouth curved into a smile, which caught Han Yu’s attention, instantly becoming an outlet for his anger.

”So, you damn old ghost were clearly setting me up back then?”

Zhī Sǒu shook his head, correcting in tone, ”You were wrong; when it struck you and didn’t kill you, you were already the proxy Heavenly Dao.”

”Whether or not I’ve had everyone beg you, the things you must do can’t be avoided. This blame, I refuse to carry. If you have the chance, argue with the Heavenly Dao later.”

Han Yu was left speechless; the Heavenly Dao had vanished, who could he reason with?

Back to the main topic.

The wise elder shifted his expression to a serious one, ”So remember, we won’t truly kill you, nor will it. If you don’t die over there, the things on you definitely can’t be hidden.”

The logic was sound.

But Han Yu still had a sullen look, sneering continually, ”If they can’t investigate, can’t they just incinerate me with a fire?”

If it were him, who would dare to cause trouble like this, he would just use Divine Fire to incinerate them without another word!

”It’s different. It knows that Qi Fortune is useful to you, and it’s hidden half of it already, naturally it wants you to provide value.”

Now, Han Yu cringed at the phrase ”provide value”; thinking about this involuntarily reminded him of being called a troublemaker.

The damn First Hall, that’s how they described him.

The wise elder gazed into the distance and mused, ”It’s probably still waiting for you to stir up some trouble for your enemies!”

Han Yu remembered the transaction with the First Hall was to disrupt the Celestial Dao Sect.

As the wise elder was also present, he recounted everything in detail.

”Without life force and souls, how could they send the two Heavenly Dao objects to the Central Continent?”

This was the biggest mystery in his heart.

”Simple, sacrifice their small worlds, it’s always doable.”

The wise elder astonishingly said.

”Originally, it was the essence of the Central Continent, it’s not wrong to call it the Heavenly Dao’s favorite place; reviving the two Heavenly Dao objects is indeed sufficient, only the cost is greater.”

”Maybe those two places will be poorer than the Central Continent then.”

Han Yu had no interest in the fate of the two small worlds; more urgently, he wondered what would happen if those two things entered the Central Continent?

”Since they can suppress the Heavenly Dao, what do you think will happen?”

The wise elder responded with a question instead of an answer.

Han Yu understood now, it was probably targeting the Heavenly Dao.

But wasn’t the Heavenly Dao missing?

Could it be that in the end, the Heavenly Dao would act like a turtle hiding in its shell, afraid to appear?

Then what about the Central Continent, for heaven’s sake?

”The Central Continent is relying on you.”

The wise elder suddenly sighed, placing a hand on Han Yu’s shoulder, and with a sudden push.

Another dizzy spell...

...

In the Western Territory camp.

The souls of the departed and Shi Xiu clustered together once more.

In recent days, the entire Western Territory was eerily quiet, as if a storm was brewing.

Jiu You and Wujiu hadn’t stepped out of the Dao Palace for days, and now they were in charge outside again.

Not really in charge; before Wujiu entered the Dao Palace, he had already ordered not to step out of the Western Territory.

”What should we do?”

Shi Xiu was anxious, the oppressive atmosphere always felt like something was about to go wrong.

Especially being labeled as cannon fodder, they would be the first to die if something went wrong.

The soul of the departed rolled his eyes and puckered his lips, ”What can we do! Just wait!”

Nothing had happened yet and they were already creating trouble for themselves, he wasn’t that type.

Shi Xiu glanced around evasively and suddenly spoke softly, ”I heard that a young elder from the Celestial Dao Sect defected, should we...?”

This was the first time Shi Xiu had felt rebellious, for no other reason than being used as cannon fodder repeatedly, as the Hall Master of the fifth hall, she truly felt no sense of security.

”Ha! Women, when they lack a sense of security, only think of running.”

The soul of the departed laughed mockingly.

Shi Xiu was slightly angry, ”Don’t you want to run?”

Of course, he wanted to escape, but there was nowhere to run.

He had heard about Mu Zili too, both sides were equally unreliable.

Therefore, he dared not think of fleeing to the Celestial Dao Sect.

Could he go to the Central Continent?

The possibility seemed slim; the Central Continent was a mortal enemy!

Though he wasn’t the one who acted, his birth in the Yama Hall irretrievably linked him to it!

Especially being the lowest rank, he handled all the dirty work; truth be told, all orders to target the Central Continent were relayed through him.

If debts were to be settled, he would be the first to die.

Even if no debts were settled, the Central Continent now seemed like a pit of fire, jumping in could mean dying faster.

”The Celestial Dao Sect is not an option, and the Central Continent is a pit of fire!”

He couldn’t help but sigh.

”No, even if you want to jump, you can’t.”

Shi Xiu pointedly reminded him.

Even if the Central Continent was weakened like this, they were not essential, at least Han Yu was a hurdle they couldn’t cross.

”Maybe... maybe you’ll ask next time?”

Shi Xiu tentatively suggested, with a guilty look like a thief, afraid to be overheard by the two in the Dao Palace.

”When next time? That guy is so elusive, who knows when he can...”

The soul of the departed rolled his eyes and spoke irritably, but halfway through, he suddenly looked up.

A phantasmal disk briefly flashed by, seemingly tossing something out, and the hand throwing it seemed to bear some emotion, slamming it into the ground with force, then vanished.

The head of the First Hall?

The two looked terrified, they hadn’t even had time to kneel before the figure disappeared.

”That seemed to be a person tossed out?”

Shi Xiu’s eyes flickered with astonishment, and she couldn’t help but speak.

Then came another wave of surprise because the face seemed familiar.

”That looked like Han Yu?”

Indeed, it was Han Yu; currently, he was falling silently, and it seemed that the First Hall deliberately faced him downward when throwing.

Thus, in just a few fleeting moments, a thud resounded as Han Yu plunged face-first into the ground...