Cultivators should maintain a heart of humility and reverence.

Most cultivators, upon first stepping into the Immortal Dao, are solemnly reminded by their mentors of this principle, cautioning them not to become complacent due to their extraordinary abilities.

In fact, the closer a cultivator’s cultivation gets to the peak, the more their heart is filled with awe for the vast world, standing high yet feeling the coldness, facing an endless and uncertain path, unable to grasp the myriad ways of the great Dao.

Therefore, many great figures in the Immortal Dao habitually open their speeches at important occasions with a modest disclaimer: "I am merely a humble student in the Immortal Cultivation Realm," before explaining the four subjects of immortal cultivation.

Li Fengyun, as the foremost sword cultivator on the continent today, holds a mastery of the Sword God Body, ranking among the top three in the world. However, before the Celestial Divine Sword, he felt no different from a novice just entering the Immortal Dao. Receiving a nod of acknowledgment from the young man in white caused his heart to stir with excitement, uttering words of thanks haltingly, like a young girl meeting her lover.

Wang Jiu, too, showed concern for talented descendants of humanity. Especially given Li Fengyun’s acute sense of the Chaos Battlefield, managing to find that peculiar thread within less than half a day’s time in the Illusion Realm, which was truly beyond expectations.

Even compared to his ancestor Li Jiulong, he was in no way inferior. Considering the differences in their growth environments, with Li Jiulong born in the Jiuzhou Era, naturally having an advantage over the later generation Li Fengyun, perhaps Li Fengyun’s actual talent is even higher!

With such talent, practicing the Sword God Body seems a waste. Wang Jiu deliberated for a while, pondering whether to try and impart the Unity Sword from the Celestial Divine Sword to him.

This sword possesses the supreme power to sweep away chaos and re-establish order, capable of creating a pure land for human civilization within endless chaos, akin to the Creator opening the heavens, transcending the Immortal Cultivation Theory system of the Jiuzhou Era.

Wang Jiu could only fully master this sword after transforming into the Celestial Divine Sword, barely able to harness even three to four tenths of its power as a human. The later Jiu Immortal Venerables found it challenging to even touch the surface of this sword. Lu Jintong, the greatest talent in immortal cultivation, once approached minor mastery, reaching the heights of Wang Jiu in those days, but ultimately failed. Even with his Yin Yang Pupils, he couldn’t truly see through chaos. Before he could learn from his failure and regroup, humanity in Jiuzhou faced the final battle, with nearly the entire Jiu Immortal Venerables perishing under the Demon Emperor.

Now, ten thousand years later, the talent shown by the later generation Li Fengyun surpasses his predecessors, surprising and delighting everyone. Wang Jiu pondered for a moment and asked, "Tell me in detail about your discoveries."

Li Fengyun, like an encouraged student, nodded and earnestly replied, "In fact, my discovery of the anomaly was somewhat coincidental and not entirely due to keen observation."

Wang Jiu said, "Being able to seize that opportunity is your strength. Go on."

"Alright." Li Fengyun continued, "I initially noticed the anomaly when I entered the main hall and saw my father-in-law himself."

Wang Jiu nodded, "Precisely, that is the center of the Heart Demon Illusion Realm and the most obvious point of anomaly. Discovering it there means your perception is in the right direction."

Li Fengyun, once again encouraged, was brimming with vigor and said, "The biggest issue was with the bookshelf behind Shen Ruoshi."

"...Hmm?" Wang Jiu was momentarily taken aback.

Li Fengyun, however, in an excited state, didn’t notice these subtle details and continued, "Although I only glanced briefly, I noticed that the novels on my father-in-law’s bookshelf were extraordinarily high in proportion, with only a few books related to cultivation, all placed in the corners, and their pages looked brand new. This is clearly unreasonable. It’s well known that Shen Ruoshi was a natural cultivation fanatic, so engrossed in his younger years that he forgot to eat and sleep, with nothing else in life apart from the Immortal Dao. And his cultivation wasn’t done in isolation but rather by learning from various schools. At 20 years old, he claimed to have read through the cultivation classics of Southeast Xiangzhou, an astounding amount of reading. The so-called Sand Gathering Divine Skill, a name of the Shen Family’s inherited cultivation technique, also represents his extensive learning and perfection of the technique, like gathering sand to build a tower. This cultivation habit should have become ingrained in his bones, not easily shaken even in the Heart Demon Illusion Realm. Hence, I cannot understand the bookshelf behind him, thinking over it repeatedly, and feeling there are only two explanations: either my father-in-law, in old age, has lost his youthful ambition, or... the owner of that room is someone else, with a true hidden adversary lurking within the Heart Demon Illusion Realm!"

Speaking of this, Li Fengyun’s eyes shone brightly: "I once heard my sister-in-law Wenjun say that in worldly plots, there is always another antagonist behind the antagonist. So I wonder if there might be an even larger vortex hidden behind this incident! What is your view, respected Sword Spirit senior?"

"..."

After a moment of silence, Wang Jiu said, "I think with your level of observational ability, your casualty expectation in the Immortal Demon War wouldn’t exceed 90%."

Li Fengyun, greatly encouraged, said, "Thank you, respected Sword Spirit senior, for the acknowledgment!"

---

After sending Li Fengyun away, Wang Jiu felt somewhat disappointed.

Perhaps I overestimated the cultivators of this era. Li Fengyun’s talent is already considered remarkable, but in the Heart Demon Illusion Realm, his sight still could not see through the falsehoods.

What truly caught Wang Jiu’s attention was the high degree of order exhibited by this Chaos Battlefield.

Generally speaking, a Sea Overturning Realm Cultivator’s Primordial Spirit is insufficient to use the Chaos Battlefield as material to create such a stable illusion.

The inherent chaotic nature of the Chaos Battlefield greatly diminishes the orderliness of the illusion, causing everything within it to tend toward disorder, sometimes even deliberately going against the will of the illusion’s owner.

Similar examples occurred during the Jiuzhou Era, where too many chaotic elements mixed into the Heart Demon Illusion Realm turned what should have been a beautiful dream into a genuine nightmare.

A certain Great Cultivator deeply cherished his wife, but she was killed by the Demon Race. To make up for the emotional void, he willingly fell into an illusion, pursuing virtual happiness. Yet, with his cultivation at that time, he was unable to independently sustain a large illusion, so he reluctantly sought aid from the fragmented Jiuzhou Continent’s omnipresent chaotic areas, exploiting the relatively weak boundary between reality and illusion to complete a large illusion.

However, when Wang Jiu led old friends to the illusion, they found it was in a highly unstable state. Only within the dozens of feet around the illusion’s owner was the space relatively stable. Beyond that range, anything was possible, and often it manifested possibilities contrary to the owner’s will.

In the illusion, that cultivator and his wife were a perfectly matched loving couple, exemplary of a harmonious family. Yet, as soon as he left the house, the entire family would fall into chaos. The graceful and elegant wife would suddenly transform into an unparalleled infatuated woman, eagerly seeking affairs ranging from the delivery boy to the delivery flying sword, all within her hunting grounds. No neighbor within hundreds of houses escaped her clutches, regardless of gender. If the cultivator stayed away from home for too long, his wife would host grand parties at their home, with their well-behaved daughter joining in the festivities.

Just witnessing that scene once gave the innocent elder Zhu Junsen among the Jiu Immortal Venerables a severe psychological shadow, implanting a fear of marriage that lasted until his death. Ultimately, it was Wang Jiu who shattered the entire illusion and sent the ax-wielding cultivator to the frontlines, ending this tragedy.

In contrast, Shen Ruoshi’s illusion appeared too perfect.

His cultivation was on par with that of the ax-wielding cultivator from those days, possibly even slightly inferior in mastering his Primordial Spirit, yet the former’s illusion was even smaller than Shen Ruoshi’s.

Despite the ax-wielding cultivator’s inability to control his illusion, Shen Ruoshi could maintain overall stability, which truly seemed unbelievable. It was like Shen Qingming suddenly completing a six-digit square root mental calculation in three seconds, causing Wang Jiu to doubt whether her mind had faltered.

Based on Wang Jiu’s current speculation, the issue likely didn’t lie with Shen Ruoshi, but rather with the concept of chaos, which had already begun to weaken.

The weakening of chaos was different from the weakening of the sealed battlefield itself. The two are a matter of quality and quantity. No matter how diluted, chaos is still chaos. Beyond the order surrounding the Jiuzhou Continent, it is boundless, filled with every unimaginable mystery. So-called chaos is merely a term used by humans for the unknown.

And now, the mysterious aspect of this unknown seems to be weakening.

To the average person, this might seem like an insignificant detail or even a desirable outcome. For years, Xiangzhou has been expanding its boundaries, always seizing opportunities from chaos. Now, the weakening of chaos would only benefit human cultivators in rebuilding civilization.

But Wang Jiu felt that this matter was far from simple. The ebb and flow between chaos and order is a significant issue concerning the foundational existence of the entire world. When the Demon Race invaded Jiuzhou Continent, they capitalized on a chaos recession event, breaking through Jiuzhou’s civilization boundaries in one fell swoop. Now, the weakening of chaos appears beneficial, but it also suggests that this newly revitalized world might soon be exposed to unknown oversight.

Regrettably, such matters can only remain in the realm of conjecture at present. With the current divine techniques of the Celestial Divine Sword, the essence of the Great Dao remains beyond reach. The resurrection of the Sword World is a lengthy process, requiring decades, if not centuries.

At this moment, Wang Jiu especially missed those old friends who could help. If they were here, things would certainly be much easier.

And thinking of old friends, Wang Jiu couldn’t help but think of Zhao Yuming.

A few days have passed since last seeing her. He’s unsure how her recovery is going. Based on her displayed strength at the time, she should have entered the initial recovery stage, beginning a stable recovery process.

Therefore, it’s best to avoid disturbing her rashly during this period. Otherwise, given Zhao Yuming’s past experiences, she would most likely ignore her injuries and forcefully act lively in conversations with Wang Jiu, only to silently cough up blood afterward. If this process repeats several times, she could easily exhaust herself to death.

Wang Jiu certainly didn’t want an old friend, reunited after millennia, to die like this, so he could only suppress his emotions and wait for her to initiate contact after her condition improves.