Cohabitation with Sword Spirit

Chapter 394 - 129: Awakening from the Dream

The Heart Demon Illusion Realm of Shen Ruoshi is essentially a Heaven and Earth Opening Skill. By leveraging the unique geographic advantage of the Chaos Battlefield, the cultivator disperses their Primordial Spirit throughout the space, using chaos as raw material and the Primordial Spirit as the core to transform the void into reality, creating a small closed world. Within this space, Dao Laws can be manipulated at will, manifesting either as beautiful dreams or despair-inducing nightmares.

The dream Shen Ruoshi initially crafted was a beautiful one, filling twenty years of regret. In it, he and his estranged daughter lived harmoniously, enjoying a tender father-daughter relationship. Following this trajectory, Shen Ruoshi would soon become addicted, unable to extricate himself, and eventually, under the endless happiness, his Primordial Spirit would gradually dissipate, merging into nothingness with the illusion.

Of course, for Shen Ruoshi, this outcome was also long anticipated.

If he could conquer the Heart Demon and escape the dream, that would be ideal; if not, dying like this was acceptable. As a muddle-headed old man who lived to be 100, Shen Ruoshi understood well that living any longer would only cause trouble for others.

However, when Li Fengyun, accompanied by Wang Jiu, recklessly intruded into the dream and left behind a string of creepy dialogues, Shen Ruoshi could no longer construct the same beautiful dream as before.

Whenever his Primordial Spirit dispersed, transforming the void into reality, the most crucial woman always failed to appear in the correct form.

Every time he extracted memory fragments in an attempt to build the ideal daughter, the result was always Shen Yue’e, who was exactly as she was in real history—the daughter forever cold as ice towards him. And each time, it would replay the moment when they parted with resolute words outside Shen City: "Father, this is the last time I address you as father. From now on, we are worlds apart, unrelated, and will never meet again."

Whenever he heard these words, Shen Ruoshi felt as if his heart was bleeding, his battle-hardened Immortal Heart shattered under his daughter’s words. Then, painfully, he would erase the vision of his daughter and start anew.

After countless failures, there were occasionally different results.

However, no matter how much Shen Ruoshi wanted to deceive himself, he couldn’t take that naked, flushed, love-seeking nymph as his daughter.

"Daddy~ come on~ I want you~"

"Monster, die!"

"Ugh..."

It was either heart-wrenching resoluteness or hair-raising love-seeking. After Li Fengyun and Wang Jiu left, Shen Ruoshi restarted the dream over a hundred times but never achieved the correct result. Eventually, even this remarkably persistent old man couldn’t bear the emotional toll and finally had to abandon the dream plan.

When Shen Ruoshi finally decided to give up, the entire Chaos Battlefield had been turned upside down and into disrepair by him. This Chaos Battlefield, which was sealed off from Endless Chaos a thousand years ago, had become a solitary dead zone. After enduring the ravages of endless time, it had long entered a period of decline, barely capable of sustaining the modifications of a Sea Overturning Realm Great Cultivator. However, with the Great Cultivator repeatedly overthrowing and recreating, the Chaos Battlefield could no longer withstand the onslaught and shattered apart.

As he gazed at the scattered fragments, Shen Ruoshi trembled all over, feeling an unprecedented despair and anger fill his heart.

For an ordinary person, experiencing such changes continuously, unable to even die slowly, they would have long been heartbroken and their will collapsed. But who was Shen Ruoshi, the City Lord of the City of Hundred Battles, Shen City? Even in the face of despair, he never lost his fighting spirit. After much thought, he finally understood the root of the problem and made a painful decision to step out and engage Li Fengyun in a life-and-death battle.

As he walked out of the Ghost-faced Sect, he was filled with grief and anger, like the male protagonist of a green hat tale who lost his country, family, and wife and suffered castration.

"You beast, twenty years ago, you abducted my daughter. Now, you destroy my nostalgic dream, making it impossible for me to seek death! If I don’t kill you today, my heart will never find peace!"

While Shen Ruoshi roared in fury, he launched a series of punches. The old man’s actions seemed ordinary, but every movement stirred Heaven and Earth Spirit Wind, distorting Dao Laws. If observed with Spiritual Vision, a massive storm could be seen sweeping in.

Li Fengyun dared not act recklessly and immediately transformed into the Sword God Body, prepared for an all-out battle—indeed, his combat abilities slightly exceeded that of Shen Ruoshi at this time, but the margin was minimal, and a single misstep could lead to annihilation.

However, just as Li Fengyun completed his transformation, he felt the roaring waves before him abruptly halt, and the sweeping storm solidified, then quickly dissipated.

The fiercely unmatched Shen Ruoshi, true to his name, collapsed like a stone on the ground, motionless.

Li Fengyun, filled with suspicion and uncertainty, turned and asked, "What kind of demon technique is this?"

Shen Ruoshi’s right-hand aid, Deputy City Lord Shen Yueying, was also startled and unsure: "I don’t know, Invisible Killing Technique?"

Hearing this, Li Fengyun was even more astonished. Invisible Killing Technique? What kind of divine skill is this?

Seeing Shen Ruoshi lying motionless, in the quietude seemingly filled with hidden threats, Li Fengyun felt cold sweat almost pouring out.

Before arriving at Shen City, he prided himself on having slightly superior strength compared to Shen Ruoshi, considering the latter’s hundred-year-old age and declining vitality compared to younger cultivators. But now it seemed he was too naive. Shen Ruoshi had lived to 100 years, and the combat experience and hidden aces accumulated over a century weren’t something a younger generation like him could compare to, and just this one Invisible Killing Technique was seamless and flawless.

Moments later, Li Fengyun gritted his teeth, deciding to strike first, with his Divine Sword poised to attack...

Then Wang Jiu said, "Aren’t you going to save him?"

Li Fengyun was so startled, his sword almost exploded within the Sword Scabbard, and a stream of True Essence misdirected, shattering an unknown number of blood vessels along the way.

"...What did you say?"

Li Fengyun asked as he coughed up blood.

Wang Jiu pointed towards Shen Ruoshi: "If no aid is given, he should die of heart failure soon, 10, 9..."

Li Fengyun frowned: "What?"

"8, 7... countdown to life, 6..."

At this point, Shen Yueying suddenly realized, rushed over with a first aid kit, and after supporting Shen Ruoshi, indeed saw that the old man was as weak as a thread, his Primordial Spirit already on the verge of collapse.

Wang Jiu said: "This is a very typical case of long-term insomnia and excessive depletion. Even a cultivator of the Sea Overturning Realm, overusing the Primordial Spirit can cause catastrophic consequences."

Li Fengyun was stunned, never imagining that Shen Ruoshi, who was invincible all his life, would actually fall on the battlefield due to excessive insomnia and Primordial Spirit depletion! After all, regardless of how opposing their positions were, Li Fengyun didn’t deny that he grew up under Shen Ruoshi’s legendary influence. Seeing such a person fall in front of him was just as shocking as when he once glimpsed into Lu Xin’s dreams and saw in the dream a tall, voluptuous version of Lu Xin, leaving him utterly astonished.

Moments later, Shen Yueying revived Shen Ruoshi with a box full of Miraculous Elixirs. Looking at the elderly man who had fallen asleep, she couldn’t help but laugh and cry.

People often say, ’Old child, old child,’ this old man, usually so serious, just passed his centennial birthday and is now acting so extravagantly, it really leaves one at a loss.

After a moment of silence, Shen Yueying smiled wryly: "I have to take him back; in this state, it’s really hard to leave him alone. On one hand, I’m truly worried that he’ll wake up and stir up a storm across the city, and on the other hand, as a hero throughout his life, it’s hard to watch him end up like this. After all, he’s still my dad..."

Li Fengyun also sighed, feeling some lament and pity in his heart.

So there was no Invisible Killing Technique, and he was somewhat looking forward to it...

As for Shen Yueying’s troubling issues, Li Fengyun didn’t think much about it, considering his social skills, it’s a waste of time to consider these. It’s better to leave professional matters to professionals.

However, at this moment, Wang Jiu suddenly said: "Why not confine him with Gu Yueqin?"

—

When Li Fengyun and Wang Jiu returned to the city, the welcoming banquet hosted by Shen Yueying hadn’t started yet. With some time to spare, Li Fengyun wanted to first see his daughter.

After all, the primary goal of his and Lu Xin’s trip was to find his daughter, not to bond with Shen Ruoshi.

Following the direction pointed out by Shen Yueying, the two returned once again to the City Lord’s Mansion. The mansion had already changed owners and was operating with astonishing efficiency under Shen Yueying’s management. Recently, the main focus of the City Lord’s Mansion’s work was undoubtedly the diplomatic affairs with Cyan Cloud City.

Rebuilding old ties was the main direction, and there were many details to work through. In these past few days, the management team of Shen City and the envoy group from Cyan Cloud City had been working overtime, battling through the night and establishing a deep friendship.

When Li Fengyun stepped inside, he saw a petite figure commanding the personnel in the vast hall with incredible momentum.

"Send the Ministry of Commerce’s trade cooperation plan back for rewriting. Tell the person in charge, if it’s not approved, they’ll be immediately removed and replaced. Speed up revising the Joint Cultivation Plan by the Ministry of Integration; I want to see a draft in an hour. And the statistics department, stop giving me inflated figures..."

Amidst the series of cold and commanding orders, hundreds of people from Shen City were running back and forth, looking flustered yet orderly, which was quite a spectacle.

Li Fengyun couldn’t help but feel amazed, not expecting that Qingming, at such a young age, would already have such exceptional talent in governance! The next moment, he realized he must have seen poorly.

Even though the woman’s back was petite and delicate, there was a naturally imposing aura. Such demeanor could not have been learned by Qingming.

"Xin’Er, why are you the one busy here?"

The next moment, the woman turned around, and her icy expression melted into a gentle smile like a stream: "I sent Qingming to rest. I’m handling this. Matters between the two cities should be handled by us adults, not by letting the children toil."

Saying so, she paused, her smile unfading but her voice turning colder: "Speaking of which, since you’re here, stay. There are many matters that require the presence of you, the Patriarch."

Li Fengyun immediately thought this was bad. In Cyan Cloud City, he would avoid such things whenever possible. Unexpectedly, coming to Shen City, he would still face them.

Before he could figure out a way to dodge it, he saw a staff member of Shen City hurrying over, reporting to Lu Xin with utmost respect: "The Zhao Family is outside, requesting an audience."