Chapter 1 The Parting

Such a conflict of ideas was destined to be fruitless, and Su Zhou, who had ignited the dispute, became an observer.

Staying in place, watching the migrants leave, Su Zhou couldn't help but frown, not only because of those who abandoned this land, but also because of the oath of the Hundred Schools' Righteous Army.

"This group of people are indeed idealists, worthy of my admiration, and even, it can be said, the complete embodiment of my naive ideals… My own imperfect ideas only have a glimmer of a shadow, while they have been practicing according to a complete program for decades."

He murmured in his heart: "But ideals, after a long time, can't overcome reality—immortality, immortality, that's the only thing those migrant martial artists said correctly."

"Among the Hundred Schools' Righteous Army, there are certainly those like Zhou Buyi, who have a deep hatred for the Demonic Dynasty and insist on their ideals. But there are also ambitious figures who want to defeat the Demonic Dynasty only to replace it—such people don't accept the Demonic Dynasty's temptation, probably because they want to be the new Immortal Emperor themselves."

"Even if the Demonic Dynasty is defeated, the true suffering of this world will probably have just begun… unless."

Thinking of this, Su Zhou's expression changed, and a relaxed smile appeared.

"Unless, I completely sever immortality and completely destroy the spirit of the divine tree that is parasitized by the Banyan Immortal Tree!"

--Hey, I thought it was some kind of request, isn't this just the third-to-last step of my 'Divine Wood World Itinerary'?

By the way, the second-to-last step is showing off, and the last step is going home! The fourth and fifth-to-last steps are beheading that national teacher and the dog emperor!

But Su Zhou was also very clear.

Whether it was his own thoughts or the beliefs of the Hundred Schools' Righteous Army, in the final analysis, they needed strength to support them.

Whether it was military strength, financial resources, technological prowess, or other miscellaneous forces, the most important thing to change the world was strength. He had come to this world precisely because he needed strength.

Strength was the only currency in the transcendent world, and it could even buy miracles.

Of course, what made Su Zhou laugh happily just now was not any of these things. What really made him happy was that this high school student, who had just come of age, suddenly realized something: "I didn't expect that my accidental arrival could actually influence the direction of a world… Yala, I feel so amazing now, I feel like I can beat ten Demonic Generals!"

"Whatever makes you happy." The snake spirit, who was趴 (pa) on top of Su Zhou's head, responded with a sigh, "I really didn't expect that you, a guy with justice ingrained in your brain, are unexpectedly quite in tune with this world's style."

The migrants gradually moved away, and Su Zhou and the others began to patrol the surrounding mountain area again.

In theory, the Demonic Army wouldn't let go of the food reserves in their eyes so easily. According to the past decades of experience of the Hundred Schools' Righteous Army, there must be some Demonic soldiers' scouts following behind the migrants. So they simply followed the migrants' departure route and reconnoitered in the opposite direction.

As a result, they really found a few scouts who thought they were well-hidden.

"Ka-cha."

Su Zhou casually twisted and pulled, like opening a bottle cap, burying the body of the fourth Demonic soldier, whose neck had been twisted off and whose spine and immortal root had been extracted, into the snow—facing Su Zhou, who had concealed his aura and then detoured to sneak up on them from behind, these Demonic soldiers didn't even have the chance to issue a warning.

However, even so, his expression was still a bit strange, and he didn't seem very excited about having killed several Demonic soldiers in a row.

Su Zhou asked the trio who were using the Vermilion Bird Box to kill Demonic soldiers beside him with some puzzlement, "Something's not right, there are four scouts in front, but how come I haven't seen even a single proper Demonic soldier squad?"

Su Zhou's spirit vision, infused with spiritual energy, could explore most of the spiritual energy trajectories within a range of nearly two thousand meters. The Demonic Army's black spiritual energy, in the snowy plains with a blue-white background, was as conspicuous as writing on a whiteboard. It was precisely because of this that he could so easily see these Demonic soldiers and get behind them.

But from beginning to end, he had only seen these four scouts, and no other Demonic soldiers at all—in theory, this was impossible. Did they plan to rely on these four Demonic soldiers to attack the migrant caravan?

They weren't just a village of civilians. Among the survivors of the Liaozhou Demonic Disaster, there were many martial artists and crossbowmen, and their combat power was not weak!

"Yeah, it's quite strange."

Whether it was Zhou Buyi, Fang Hui, or Liu Xizhao, they were all as puzzled as Su Zhou. Having fought the Demonic Dynasty for so many years, they had never encountered such a situation… If the number of Demonic soldiers was small, then it would be normal for them to act mysteriously. But this time, the number of Demonic soldiers who had come to the Taibai Mountain area was nearly five hundred. If they moved out collectively and charged in formation, they could scatter the migrant caravan and make it unable to resist!

Unless… their target, from the beginning, wasn't the migrants.

"Awoo—"

Suddenly, a wolf howl sounded from the distant northwest.

At first, only Su Zhou, with his keen hearing, could hear the wolf howl, but soon, all three members of the team heard it. To the west, southeast, northwest, due north, and even in all directions, there were wolf howls rising and falling.

And in Su Zhou's spiritual vision, black spots of light, representing Demonic soldiers, also began to appear from all directions.

While Su Zhou was circling around to eliminate the scouts, they were surrounded.

"It's the Demonic General 'Beastmaster'." Hearing the wolf howl, Zhou Buyi's expression was extremely serious. He murmured, "If I remember correctly, Beastmaster's speed is the second fastest among the Demonic Generals. If we get stuck with him… things will be troublesome."

"They seem to know our location very well."

Su Zhou nodded thoughtfully. He took a deep breath and then said to Liu Xizhao, who also had a serious expression and had already drawn her long straight sword in preparation, "The scent on you is quite fragrant."

At first glance, it sounded like harassment, but whether it was Zhou Buyi or Fang Hui, their expressions froze for a moment, and then they quickly reacted and looked at this taciturn female swordswoman in their team.

Liu Xizhao blinked, and her expression also rapidly became unsightly.

"Impossible… the scent on me is the natural medicinal fragrance from being in contact with too many spiritual plants. In a natural environment, it would actually mask my body odor…" She seemed a bit flustered for a moment, as if she wanted to prove that she wasn't a spy. She even started talking more, but Su Zhou didn't suspect her at all.

"It's not just you who has this scent… Han Xiaoqian also has it."

He narrowed his eyes and looked at the distant mountaintop: "Grandmaster Han."

At this moment.

Han Xiaoqian, Grandmaster Han, a *houtian* (acquired) martial artist with white hair and wrinkles so clear on his face that he looked ancient, was walking towards his camp hut as if he were taking a stroll.

But as he walked, his expression became serious, and his pace couldn't help but slow down.

Then, at the last corner leading to his hut in front of him, a middle-aged white-robed Daoist priest also walked out slowly.

Appearing in front of Han Xiaoqian was none other than Li Daoran, his hand pressed on the hilt of the sword at his waist, his face expressionless.

Seconds later, accompanied by a whoosh of wind, Wei Lie, who appeared from nowhere, also descended from the sky and landed behind Han Xiaoqian.

The three grandmasters gathered together as always.

But there was no longer the harmony of the past.