"Stop!"
Ian Song called out again, but Shelly Song ignored him completely and walked away with determination.
With a flicker, Ian appeared directly in front of Shelly, blocking her and Chloe Snow's path.
"Move aside!"
Shelly stared at him coldly.
Ian didn't say anything. Instead, he pulled Shelly into his arms and kissed her deeply. In the instant Shelly was about to walk away, Ian came to his senses—he couldn't lose her. He also realized how pretentious he'd been; the girl had come this far, yet he was still acting distant, which was just scummy.
"Mmmph!"
Shelly struggled, trying to break free, but Ian gave her no chance, kissing her even more deeply.
Gradually, Shelly stopped struggling, lost in Ian's deep kiss. At the same time, tears of happiness slid from the corners of her eyes.
No one knew how long they kissed before finally separating. Looking at Shelly, her cheeks flushed and her face radiant with happiness, Ian hugged her tightly and said with deep emotion, "Snowy, don't leave your big brother, okay?"
"Mm."
Shelly buried her head in his chest and softly replied, a small, triumphant smile curling her lips. She'd finally succeeded. Although much of her earlier drama was an act, her feelings were real—she'd truly worried Ian wouldn't chase after her. If he'd let her leave, she might never have found the courage to force the issue again.
Chloe watched the two of them hugging tightly, a gentle smile appearing on her lips. In truth, all she wanted was to stay by Ian's side; whether as wife or younger sister didn't matter much to her.
The reason she joined Shelly in this 'palace coup' was simply to help her good friend.
Seeing Shelly succeed, Chloe was genuinely happy for her.
Just then, Ian suddenly reached out and pulled Chloe into his arms as well, kissing her boldly.
After spending several days inside the Divine Temple, Ian was finally kicked out by the women.
That's right—he was kicked out.
Because they planned to go into closed-door cultivation and wouldn't come out until they reached the Golden Immortal realm.
Still, before getting booted, Ian had certainly enjoyed all the tenderness he could ask for.
What should he do next?
Should he stay here and spar with those Profound Immortals, or head into the Eight Immortal Domains, Thirty-Six Cave-Heavens, or Seventy-Two Blessed Lands to stir up trouble?
After a brief thought, Ian decided to go cause trouble in the native Immortal clans' heartlands. But before leaving, he wanted to ambush a few more Profound Immortals.
With a single thought, he activated the Transformation Divine Art, turning himself into a nondescript middle-aged man and suppressing his cultivation to early-stage Earth Immortal.
According to what he knew, the native Immortal clans had sent over three thousand Profound Immortals, in squads of ten, split into more than three hundred teams patrolling between three thousand cities.
After some investigation, Ian found that each patrol squad included at least one late-stage Profound Immortal.
Without using formations, it was almost impossible to take them all down at once.
But if he used formations, they might not fall for it—after all, word had already spread about him using arrays to slaughter dozens of Profound Immortals from the three great clans of the Purple Dragon Domain. These Profound Immortals would definitely be on guard.
After several days of lurking and observing, Ian still couldn't find an opening. He was tempted to just head straight to the native Immortal clans' territory, but couldn't quite let it go.
One day, disguised as a middle-aged Earth Immortal, Ian entered a city, climbed up to a tavern, ordered food and wine, and quietly ate and drank. Nearby, the conversation of other diners drifted to his ears, and to his surprise, most of them were talking about the Ascender Alliance.
"Heh, you all praise the Ascender Alliance so much, but you don't even know—because of the Alliance, over ten thousand ascended Immortals who entered the Immortalization Pool for free in Greenvine City have already had their heads chopped off!"
A sarcastic voice rang out.
It came from a richly-dressed dandy at the table next to Ian. Judging by his aura, he was a native of the Immortal World, late-stage Earth Immortal.
"Is that true?"
An ascended Earth Immortal discussing the Ascender Alliance asked gravely.
"Heh!" The dandy laughed gloatingly. "I just came back from Greenvine City and saw the whole thing with my own eyes three days ago—over ten thousand ascended Immortals beheaded in one go. It was quite a sight! One command, ten thousand heads fell, blood splattered everywhere!"
"Crack, crack, crack!"
All the ascended Immortals in the tavern clenched their fists tightly, faces full of anger. "Why would they do something like that?"
"You already know the answer!"
The dandy sneered, "Those bigshots from the Eight Immortal Domains, Thirty-Six Cave-Heavens, and Seventy-Two Blessed Lands couldn't find any trace of the Ascender Alliance, so of course they took it out on someone else. All those Earth Immortals who went to condense immortal bodies for free became the scapegoats. And those bigshots even announced that if the Ascender Alliance doesn't show up, every seven days they'll kill another ten thousand ascended Immortals who went to condense an immortal body for free!"
"Bang!"
The ascended Earth Immortal slammed his fist heavily on the table and roared, "This is just too much!"
"What's the point of shouting here? If you've got guts, go yell at those bigshots!"
The dandy sneered with contempt.
"...You...!"
The ascended Earth Immortal was left speechless with anger.
"What, you want to fight? I'll gladly oblige!" The dandy taunted, then kept on, "You ascended Immortals are nothing but parasites in the Immortal World, wasting countless cultivation resources. If you ask me, you should all be killed!"
As soon as he said that, every ascended Immortal in the tavern looked furious.
But because the dandy was late-stage Earth Immortal, none of them dared make a move.
He didn't notice that the middle-aged man sitting next to him had a face as dark as thunder.
"Heh! A bunch of gutless losers! Boring. I'm outta here!"
The dandy swept a contemptuous gaze over the ascended Immortals, tossed a few spirit stones onto the table, and headed downstairs.
At that moment, Ian—in the guise of a middle-aged Earth Immortal—also stood up.
Just as he was about to follow the dandy out of the tavern, an old man in tattered clothes, holding a ragged banner that read "Heavenly Secrets Divine Calculation," strode in.
"It's him!"
When Ian saw the old man's face clearly, a hint of surprise flashed in his eyes. He instinctively glanced around, but couldn't spot Murong Hongdou anywhere.
That's right, this old man with the ragged banner was the very same Heavenly Secrets Elder Ian had met back in the Xianxia World.
"Fellow Immortal, I see your cheeks are dark—looks like death is looming over you!"
The old man stared at Ian meaningfully as he spoke.
Ian had the strange feeling that the old man had already seen through his Transformation Divine Art and recognized his true identity.
"I never expected to have the chance to meet Senior again!"
Ian smiled as he spoke.
"We've met before? Or did I read your fortune once?"
The Heavenly Secrets Elder pretended to be confused.
Since the old man was playing dumb, Ian didn't bother to expose him. He simply smiled, "Would Senior care to join me for a few drinks?"
"Sure, I'm actually a bit thirsty!"
The Heavenly Secrets Elder agreed without hesitation, strode into the tavern, found a table, and shouted, "Waiter! Bring out your finest wine—start with ten jugs!"