Chapter 353

Chapter 353: Xixi

Sea of All Realms.

Ye Xu’s Second Primordial Spirit Avatar was cultivating. Tai Sui floated upon the sea waves; in a short time, its strength had grown even more formidable, reaching the late stage of the True Immortal Realm.

Its cultivation speed differed vastly from the Poison Emperor, truly as distant as heaven and abyss.

Ye Xu sat cross-legged atop Tai Sui’s head, refining the fortunes of the Star Realm.

The Immortal Golden Body technique manifested. Wisps of fortune flowed into his flesh, weaving complex patterns across every inch of his skin while emanating an immortal aura.

His eyes shone with the radiance of divine gold, seemingly capable of piercing the human heart.

After an indeterminate period, Ye Xu withdrew his aura, manifesting a sudden breakthrough – from the peak of True Immortal Realm, he ascended into the Undying Dao Realm, becoming an Immortal King.

"With the cultivation of an Immortal King, roaming this lower realm grants a measure of security," Ye Xu murmured.

The human ancestor and the Mad Daoist had jointly erected the Xuantian Great Luo Dao Array, severing heaven and earth. Unless the mightiest elites of the upper realm unite, no one could descend.

The mortal world might soon know a fleeting peace.

Ye Xu’s gaze flickered. "The next time I seize fortune, I cannot repeat those actions."

Releasing the True Spirit of the Chaotic Demon God had ravaged the Star Realm. For cultivating virtue, this was a grave transgression.

A man’s deeds are witnessed by heaven.

His actions too would be recorded by the Dao of heaven.

Though Ye Xu harbored no thoughts of transcending via Virtue and Fortune, they held power—redeemable for heavenly secrets points. To lose virtue through unintended folly would be a hollow victory.

"Let us set forth as chivalrous wanderers!"

A youth strode forth, clad in a pristine green robe.

Who in this world hadn’t cherished the dream of martial valor?

Tai Sui submerged into the Sea of All Realms, sailing toward the next world.

Days later, Ye Xu arrived at the Cloud Realm.

Cloud Realm was a small world, akin to the Qingyang Realm, bordering the vast Qiankun World. And this Qiankun World was the domain of the Zhong Clan, lineage of the Human Emperor.

With the descent of the scars of the heavens, multitudes of immortals had come below. They vied fiercely for fortune.

Zhong Ling refused to lag behind. Leading former comrades of the Human Emperor, she carved territories and seized destinies.

Those from the Immortal Realm each sought to replicate the Heavenly Emperor’s glory—to gather fortunes from all heavens and reign supreme above all realms.

Ye Xu descended upon the Cloud Realm, unleashing his Divine Sense to probe the heavens and earth.

"This world trembles with pathetic weakness," Ye Xu lamented. Sparse spiritual energy enveloped Cloud Realm, where its mightiest cultivators barely attained the Great Emperor realm.

And only one at that.

This sole sovereign had risen from obscurity, ruling diligently to unify the Cloud Realm as its master. Yet its frailty proved its undoing. The Zhong Clan dispatched merely two Great Emperors who, within a half-moon’s span, crushed the Great Cloud Divine Empire and subdued the Cloud Emperor.

Ye Xu descended upon the imperial capital, finding trade languished and streets sparse, all former grandeur vanished.

"Zhong Ling’s reign seems to have won no hearts," Ye Xu reflected within.

He transformed into a streak of light, darting into the imperial city.

Two Great Emperors, one male and one female, clearly a couple, were strangely cultivating to heal their injuries.

Ye Xu slightly furrowed his brow; the combat power of these two among the top in the Cloud Realm—who could have hurt them?

"Who are you?"

As soon as Ye Xu barged in, the two immediately noticed him, their expressions panicked.

"Halt!"

Ye Xu gave a soft shout, pointed his finger, and the two were instantly immobilized by a spell. His Divine Sense rushed into the male’s Purple Palace, acquiring all the information he sought.

After seeing this, Ye Xu’s gaze became quite peculiar.

The pair of companions before him had actually, during their cultivation, gone into a deviation and developed inner demons, leading them to fight each other and inflict injuries.

Ye Xu’s expression was subtle.

"That’s not right." Suddenly, Ye Xu’s Divine Sense stirred; he detected a strand of black qi, hair-like in appearance, deeply entwined on the male’s soul.

That strand of black qi was filled with an aura of decay, senescence, sorrow, and disaster.

Ye Xu then mobilized his Divine Sense and rushed into the female’s Purple Palace.

On the female’s soul, there was also a strand of black qi.

The two strands of black qi originated from the same source.

After investigating everything, Ye Xu instantly understood the reason for their demonic deviation.

That strand of black qi was the culprit.

"You’re truly unlucky to have been entangled by the source of disaster." Ye Xu shook his head and sighed, then collected the two strands of essence of calamity. He searched through their memories extensively and finally found a slight trace.

A young girl.

Before meeting that young girl, the two had been fine, but after encountering her, they suffered continuous bad fortune—clearly, there was a problem with the girl.

The two had also sensed the strangeness, so they sent people everywhere to search for the girl’s whereabouts.

To this day, not only was there no news of the girl, even the people sent out had vanished without a trace.

Ye Xu was intrigued.

Legend had it that a celestial calamity star existed: its owner’s fate was incredibly tough, but those connected to it were plagued by bad fortune for life. If one became too involved, it was almost certain death.

Unexpectedly, such a peculiar thing existed in the Cloud Realm.

Ye Xu flew out of the dynasty. An hour later, the immobilization spell’s power dissipated, and the couple gradually regained their senses. The husband and wife looked at each other, deep in thought.

"Heavenly Vision and Earthly Hearing!"

Ye Xu activated his divine ability; his eyes shone brilliantly, as if seeing through heaven and earth, flipping the entire Cloud Realm upside down to search for the girl’s whereabouts.

Half an hour later, Ye Xu had thoroughly searched the complete Cloud Realm and finally found a trace.

He flew to a solitary city.

This city was called Yanyang City, standing in the desert—the only settlement for tens of thousands of miles around. Merchants and travelers passed through it continuously.

But after the girl’s arrival, the desert underwent a sudden change, whipping up a black dragon storm; countless people met tragic deaths.

Moreover, in Yanyang City, water and food supplies were cut off.

Ye Xu gazed toward the desolate desert’s depths. The sky darkened, the firmament seeming on the verge of collapse. Windless stillness gripped the land, unmistakably brewing a more terrifying catastrophe.

For cultivators of low cultivation realms and mere mortals, such a disaster spelled absolute doom for Yanyang City, leaving them dead without even burial grounds.

The source of all this was the girl.

Ye Xu’s lips twitched involuntarily.

The Body of Disaster truly was the most sinister type of physique. Where it passed, not a blade of grass would grow.

“If one could care for her well and bring her stability, it would probably be an immense deed of merit,” Ye Xu remarked.

Ye Xu entered Yanyang City. On both sides of the main street, people lay haphazardly, racked by thirst and hunger, their agonized wails rising and falling.

“Young master, spare some food!”

“Young master, just a sip of water!”

Seeing Ye Xu’s resplendent robes, a crowd surged toward him, desperation lending them strength.

Ye Xu flicked his wide sleeve. He activated the Great Dao of creation, conjuring sacks of grain and over a hundred vats of water in mid-air. He then channeled his power to hold the people at bay, preventing a deadly crush.

His gaze shifted, landing on a child curled up at the corner of a wall. The child’s hair was matted, face dirty enough to obscure everything but a pair of eyes.

A first glance made it impossible to tell if it was a boy or a girl.

"That’s her," thought Ye Xu.

He approached the girl slowly, a warm smile on her face. "Aren’t you hungry?"

"Hungry."

The faint, mosquito-like whisper came. The girl licked her cracked lips, watching with longing eyes as the crowd wolfed down the food.

"Then why don’t you go and eat?"

"They all curse me as a jinx. They won’t let me near," the girl murmured, eyes misting over, her voice heavy with grievance.

“…”

Ye Xu cursed inwardly. Those people weren’t exactly wrong.

Yet, this girl was too young, untrained in cultivation. Clearly, she remained oblivious that her Body of Disaster could unleash such horrifying destructive power.

After all, back in the imperial capital, two Great Emperors had merely glimpsed her face before going berserk during their cultivation.

How could this crowd of ordinary mortals possibly withstand such bad fortune?

"Do you have a name?" Ye Xu asked.

"I do."

The girl nodded. "My grandfather gave me one. Xixi."

At the mention of her grandfather, a flicker of light appeared in Xixi’s eyes, instantly dimming again.

Her grandfather was already dead.

That was why she drifted without shelter, wandering everywhere.

"Come with me," Ye Xu offered with a smile. "I’ll give you food. No more hunger."

Xixi looked at Ye Xu warily.

Though small, she understood that kindness from strangers never came without reason.

Having roamed the world so long, she’d witnessed too much of its filth.

"You saw it yourself. I’m a cultivator. I can soar through the skies and dive under the earth. I can even conjure food," Ye Xu said lightly. "Don’t you want to cultivate?"