When more than one person entered the Law Breaker at the same time, two melodies would sound inside at the same time. Despite this, the sounds were “separate,” one near and one far, not disturbing each other. 

Moreover, only Xi Ping himself could hear this music. 

Bai Ling’s song was of very similar style to his paperman, but from beginning to end, it was mixed with indiscernible interference, probably the demonic part of him. 

Though in terms of cultivation, Zhou Ying was only a half-immortal, he brought in even more interference than Bai Ling. Xi Ping couldn’t hear the greater part of his song, which had no tune—a paramount spiritual sense was extremely rare; there were no words to correspond to what Zhou Ying saw and heard. It couldn’t be described, and others couldn’t use their imaginations to understand it—there was only a small clear segment in the middle. It had a tune. For some reason, this tune sounded particularly familiar to Xi Ping, so he imitated it with a whistle. 

When he had only whistled a couple of phrases, his back was hit with the discipline rod. 

“Shut up.” Zhou Ying was examining the space inside the Law Breaker with his head lifted. As he did so, he scolded, “It’s been over a decade, and you haven’t made a bit of progress.” 

In the Law Breaker, the Snake King’s Immortal Palace that Xi Ping had created was completely convincing, but in Zhou Ying’s eyes, it was obviously an illusion: outside, all things and creatures were all covered in a thin layer of radiance, the meager spiritual energy scattered throughout the world, but that didn’t exist inside the Law Breaker…apart from the “performance fee” Xi Ping had piled up in a corner—the spiritual stones. 

The area of the Snake King’s Immortal Palace was limited. Standing in a high place, you could see the boundary of the Law Breaker Bracelet. This bracelet’s boundary seemed to be connected to something. With Zhou Ying’s vision, not only could he not see it clearly, staring at it too long even made him dizzy. 

After Xi Ping, speaking in torrents, had described the whole course of the Law Breaker Bracelet pulling him out from the bottom of the Impassable Sea, he waited for his san-ge’s gasps of admiration, but instead he saw Zhou Ying staring at the boundary of the Law Breaker, his brow furrowed. “San-ge?” 

Why wasn’t he praising him? 

Zhou Ying slowly shook his head. “Hui Xiangjun’s three great relics are the Law Breaker, the Riverward, and the Gold Imitation Technique. The Law Breaker and the Riverward both involve breaking away from the spiritual mountains. I suspect that the Gold Imitation Technique is even more of a rebellion against orthodoxy. Not the extant version of it—the true Gold Imitation Technique was likely never passed down… Oh, what’s that?” 

Xi Ping looked in the direction he was looking and saw a piece of “paper” floating in midair. He smacked himself on the forehead. “Oh, right, I forgot about that.” 

This was the spiritual image stamp he had snatched from the paperman. Stamped on a person, this thing was charred black, but floating untethered in the air now, it was the color of blazing fire, quite dazzling when looked at even from afar. 

“This is also a new thing.” Xi Ping beckoned, summoning the spiritual image stamp by force. He was just about to grab hold of it when Zhou Ying knocked his hand aside with the discipline rod. 

When Zhou Ying got a clear look at the picture on the stamp, his pupils abruptly contracted. “A spiritual image stamp?” 

“You mean the brand that the southern mines used to stamp on the spiritual images of their subordinates?” Bai Ling was also startled. “Viscount, where did this come from?” 

“It doesn’t matter where it comes from,” Xi Ping vaguely put him off, then raised the stamp across empty space. Showing off, he said, “This one I’ve got here is higher grade than the ones Liang Chen and the others were stamped with. It’s called a Dragon and Phoenix Symbolizing Good Fortune, and this is the ‘phoenix stamp’ of the pair, used for engagements. After you get it stamped, you belong to a person in life and death. The spiritual energy you use to scour your spiritual bones, even the essence you refine after establishing a foundation, half of everything goes to that person. Haha, pretty heinous, huh?” 

Bai Ling didn’t know what he was so pleased about. He only had a premonition out of nowhere: the Viscount was perhaps about to get another beating. 

The stamp was strongly repelled by Xi Ping, constantly trying to escape from his hands; evidently no one wanted to take him to wife by force. 

Xi Ping shamelessly used brute strength to trap the stamp and said excitedly, “San-ge, I have an idea. If I can even steal this spiritual image stamp in its entirety, maybe I can also remove one from a spiritual image. Think about it, there are so many rogue cultivators with seals on them in Western Chu, if they knew…” 

Zhou Ying interrupted him irritably: “If they knew about this, each and every one of them would want to kill you, do you believe that?” 

Xi Ping froze, the hot blood that had risen to his head knocked down by his san-ge’s sentence. 

Though Zhou Ying wasn’t his real older brother, he had been the nearest thing to it since they were little. Seeing him was like coming home. When a person came home, they would never be as astute as they were out in the world. Moreover, unlike his mortal parents, who needed care and protection, Zhou Ying was now a cultivator himself, and a fierce personage who had single-handedly stirred up all kinds of chaos. Things were already going pretty well if he wasn’t going out to destroy the world; there was no need for others to worry about him. In front of him, Xi Ping was always excessively relaxed, so much so that his intelligence degenerated somewhat. If he got hold of any new thing or learned any new skill, he would be impatient to put it on display. And because he was accustomed to reporting the good and not the bad, he would always inadvertently gloss over bad things. 

True, Xi Ping thought, coming back to himself, I lost my head there. 

If he dared to make a public announcement on the black market, saying that he could remove spiritual image brands, it would amount to putting up a brick wall in front of all the common cultivators who relied on “selling themselves” to join prestigious clans. 

After all, the number of those who were forced into it like Zhao Qindan was small. The vast majority of people were willing when they took on spiritual image stamps. Even if some among them regretted it, they still absolutely wouldn’t dare to show it. Otherwise, there were plenty of sycophants who would be only too eager to light up all the “traitors” to prove that they themselves were in the right acting as people’s dogs. 

Even if those established foundation masters whose Ways of the Heart were about to crumble wanted to remove their own brands, they still wouldn’t want the institution of brands to disappear—these people had been bound up with certain big clans for centuries, most of them even changing their surname to their master’s; they had long ago become a part of the family. They had a brand stamped on them, and at their command they also had several toadies stamped with brands that recognized them as master, each level pressing down on the next. If the institution of brands collapsed, wouldn’t everything these people had suffered for centuries be wasted? 

A technique for removing spiritual image brands was hotter to the touch than the noon sun while the brand was being stamped. 

As soon as it got out, Wild Fox Country would become the target of public censure. 

A chill went up Xi Ping’s spine. At once, he separately sent word to both Wei Chengxiang and Xu Rucheng, asking them about the follow-up. 

Xu Rucheng answered quickly, saying that everything had gone smoothly. The Zhao family was currently arranging a feast, seeming intent on playing music through the night. Xu Rucheng had witnessed the stamping ceremony up close, and it had made a significant impact on him. He babbled on, repeatedly wanting guarantees that the “young mistress” was in fact made of paper, not a real person. 

But there was no word from Wei Chengxiang—she seemed to be doing something it would be inconvenient to have interrupted; she had blocked off the reincarnation wood amulet in her mustard seed. 

Zhou Ying saw him calm down, and, knowing that he didn’t lack for shrewdness, said nothing further. He only sized up the Law Breaker Bracelet and asked, “Are there limits to the consciousnesses you can bring in?” 

“The ones I can contact…oh, anyone whose blood has touched reincarnation wood will do, whether they’ve spoken to me or not.” 

It had worked with Zhao Qindan. 

“Whether it makes a difference where their physical body is, I don’t know yet,” Xi Ping went on after considering. “But this place definitely isn’t impacted by national boundaries, and it’s outside the surveillance of the Sanyue Spiritual Mountains. People whose cultivation is higher than mine can also come in, but I suppose I couldn’t pull them in by force. They have to be willing.” 

Shifu had come in, but shifu was different from others; after all, he had a sliver of his consciousness in the shard of Zhaoting. After deliberating for a while, Xi Ping had snatched up Lin Chi to try bringing him in. 

“Oh, right,” Xi Ping said, recalling what he had done since getting the Law Breaker Bracelet, “I can bring things in, but others can’t, unless while I’m bringing their consciousness inside I ‘permit’ what they’re carrying to come in with them—excepting talismans, arrays, and inscriptions stamped on the consciousness.” 

Zhou Ying waited patiently for him to finish speaking. “What else?” 

“If you give me enough materials, I can duplicate immortal tools that I’ve brought in…though the grade of the immortal tool can’t surpass my cultivation level.” 

He could also duplicate living people whose cultivation was lower than his—that, he didn’t dare to say; he was afraid san-ge would beat him. 

Xi Ping said, “That’s about it…ow!” 

He had hardly finished speaking before the discipline rod fell. 

Zhou Ying was extremely perceptive, and Xi Ping had borrowed a paperman from him before, then had done the unthinkable and stolen a spiritual image inscription. Having heard that much, he had already guessed most of it. From noticing that something had happened to the water dragon pearl and learning that this joker’s physical body had for no reason at all ended up in Western Chu, he had traveled nonstop to cross the Xia River. Crossing the river and leaving the country, adding it all together, had taken less than a full day and night. To have been able in such a short time to do such impressive tinkering with the Law Breaker Bracelet, it was clear this rotten brat hadn’t delayed for a moment. Ever since appearing in the world, he hadn’t stopped looking for trouble. 

Good grief, he’d been busy!

When Zhou Ying had been a mortal, he hadn’t quite dared to take up arms unless he lost his temper. His heart and lungs couldn’t keep up with his anger; he couldn’t run through the streets brandishing a stick to drive away the dog like the Marquis. All he could do was constantly bring complaints and secretly keep accounts. 

Now, with new grievances piled atop the old, he could finally even the score. 

This was perhaps the only benefit cultivation had given him. 

Xi Ping scrambled around, letting his san-ge beat him all the way out of the Law Breaker Bracelet, from his consciousness to his physical body. 

As soon as Bai Ling came out, he skillfully hung himself on the wall and looked on indifferently, thinking: Well, what did I say? 

Finally there was a bang; the discipline rod, unable to bear the torment of the toughness of a body half a step from an ascended spirit, died a natural death. 

Zhou Ying tossed the discipline rod aside. His arms ached. “Go pour me some tea.” 

Xi Ping flexed his neck and shoulders and glided out, feeling that this beating had been quite relaxing for the muscles and stimulating for the circulation. Afraid of angering san-ge, he still had to put on a pretense of being in a lot of pain, so he limped as he poured the tea. 

Zhou Ying asked, “Apart from Xuanyin’s General Zhi and Peak Master Lin, have you seen anyone else since your true body came to Tao County?” 

“Not yet… Oh, I saw a cookware repairman, though it was only in passing,” Xi Ping said. “Don’t worry, san-ge, I understand how things stand. Right now, the Law Breaker Bracelet is like a hidden realm. I’m the only one who can open it, and it’s safe. When the Luwu want to communicate something it’s inconvenient for others to know about, they’ll be able to come here to meet up.” 

Zhou Ying treated this like a mouse’s squeaking, ignoring his boasting. He turned his head and ordered Bai Ling, “Make him a Luwu fake identity.” 

Bai Ling—the painted immortal—changed from a painting back into a human. “It is already done.” 

Saying so, he took out a file and handed it over. Xi Ping briefly flipped through it and saw that Bai Ling had made up the story of a righteous man who had been captured by evil cultivators in his youth, had been forced to enter the Way due to his unsurpassed natural talents, and later had left the darkness for the light and become a Kaiming Cultivator. 

The plot was full of ups and downs, fascinating reading—a standard romance. 

“Pick a name for yourself so you won’t forget to answer when people call it. You’ll be able to act in Tao County under this identity, and you’ll be able to use this as a foundation to make other disguises for yourself.” Zhou Ying paused, then said, “The Law Breaker Bracelet can indeed act as the Luwu’s hidden realm, but there’s no need to speak of it openly. The Luwu are also people who can’t see the light of day, anyway. It’s enough for it to be a mysterious place that they can take their guesses about. You must remember to change the furnishings here. You can’t easily leave Tao County now. Since you’re at the Snake King’s Immortal Palace, it’s best not to use the Snake King’s Immortal Palace, to keep anyone observant from guessing the location of the hidden realm—you can even use Guangyun Palace as your blueprint. Remember not to reveal anything connected to you. And if you let people in later, don’t let anyone see you.” 

Xi Ping could be careful when he put his mind to it, though that was only when he was forced into it. Most of the time, he was somewhat blindly optimistic—“Try now, think later” was his usual bad habit, no matter how many times he took a tumble, remembering the good and not the bad. 

The Law Breaker Bracelet had taken him out of the Impassable Sea, and he had lost no time developing a bunch of new ways to amuse himself. He had even played himself into a disaster once in the process. Now, his head was full of how to use the Law Breaker Bracelet to gather a hundred thousand white spirits before the fifteenth day of the eighth month; he really hadn’t had time to make plans for anything else yet. 

Xi Ping said, “…I see.” 

Zhou Ying knew that he was always winging things. He continued, “Originally, to make it more convenient for you to operate in Western Chu, some of the Luwu here received reincarnation wood to contact you with. Don’t be impulsive and bring them in. It’s the same thing—you can’t let others realize that this hidden realm is connected to Tao County. Among the Luwu, no matter who tries to talk to you, ignore them all. Only let those carrying my token in here. Otherwise, there will be chaos.

“Also, Shiyong, remember,” Zhou Ying said, becoming serious, “no matter what the situation, you can’t appear under the identity of ‘Tai Sui’ in front of your motley friends or the mortals of Tao County. If you want to make friends with someone, change your identity. ‘Tai Sui’ used to be an empty figure, so let it remain empty forever.” 

Xi Ping blinked. Just then, he heard Zhi Xiu’s voice in his ear: “Listen to your brother.” 

When Xi Ping had stolen the spiritual image stamp and exhausted his essence, he hadn’t only disturbed the water dragon pearl; he had also disturbed Zhaoting. 

Zhi Xiu wasn’t a chatterbox, and he wasn’t in the habit of talking about people behind their backs. But at the bottom of the Impassable Sea, he had seen everything Zhou Ying had done—to this day no one knew what Zhaoting would have done had Xi Ping been unable to stop his san-ge. 

Seeing Zhou Ying appear, Zhi Xiu hadn’t made a sound. 

Xi Ping said, “Shifu?” 

Zhi Xiu softly said, “Remember what I taught you with my sword aura in the East Sea? Shiyong, many have been universally censured without being despondent. Since time immemorial, nearly all men of virtue and integrity have achieved this. But those who have been universally praised without being persuaded are few. When everything conspires to push you to be the hero who saves the world, anyone’s blood would boil… Do not be that hero, and certainly do not be a god.” 

Xi Ping froze, feeling that there was something hidden in his words. 

But Zhou Ying seemed to sense something. Seemingly gentle, he lowered his eyelids and said with a false smile, “That’s General Zhi?” 

“Pass along my respects to His Third Highness,” Zhi Xiu said very mildly. “No matter what cause he had for establishing the Kaiming Department, at any rate he has given the wretched of the nation a place to shelter. That is a virtuous deed.” 

Xi Ping: “…” 

For some reason, he felt a little awkward. 

Xi Ping gave a dry cough, then said, “Oh, yes, well… Shifu told me to give you his regards. He says you’ve done a great job with the Kaiming Department, san-ge, unprecedented before and unrivaled since, an unending virtuous achievement. You are already friends in spirit from afar, and if he gets the opportunity, he must invite you for a drink.” 

Zhi Xiu: “…” 

Am I deaf? Or dead? 

Zhou Ying knew what Xi Ping was like. He laughed and didn’t take any of this to heart. Posturing, he said, “This fiend is a walking calamity. I appreciate General Zhi looking after him.” 

Zhi Xiu said, “As I ought to.” 

The immortal of the snow-capped mountain and the demon of the deep sea collided across space. Then Zhou Ying stood and beckoned to Bai Ling. 

“With General Zhi here, I have no further instructions to give,” Zhou Ying said. “I’ll have Bai Ling send you a token in a little while. This place is within Western Chu’s borders. I cannot stay long… If you get over this one day, notify me in advance. I’ll arrange to have someone take you beyond the Beijue Mountains. Xuanyin Mountain may not be able to follow you there. Why do you insist on looking after this nuisance in Chu?” 

Having said this, he tossed down a bag of spiritual stones. As when he had come, he dissolved into mist and left. 

Zhi Xiu inside Zhaoting seemed to have used up his energy. After saying these few sentences, he went to meditate as before. 

Xi Ping didn’t have anyone to speak to right now. All he could do in his loneliness was pick up the Luwu mask and start molding his face. He sent another message to Wei Chengxiang. 

Unexpectedly, A-Xiang still hadn’t taken out the reincarnation wood amulet. 

Strange. A-Xiang was no young mistress who used osmanthus oil all over her hair and took half a day to bathe. What was she doing? 

She must be in Yu Family Bend now. Whether she was in the Zhao family hidden realm or had infiltrated the Yu family, something might go wrong at any time. Why would she block off the reincarnation wood for so long? 

With a thought, Xi Ping located Wei Chengxiang, picked a reincarnation wood tree not far from her, and made the tree move on its own—what had happened?