The vilge was still recovering from the most recent building colpse when Yue grabbed Lin Xuan's sleeve with the desperation of someone who had seen her lifespan shorten by several centuries in a single afternoon.

  "Master, please," she whispered pleadingly. "Let us leave quietly before anything else falls apart. Or catches fire."

  "That st one wasn't my fault," Lin Xuan replied calmly. "The crops chose enlightenment."

  "That's worse, Master!"

  Still, Lin Xuan allowed her to drag him away from the vilge square. The moment his foot crossed the boundary stone, faint cheers erupted behind them.

  "We survived!"

  "He's leaving!"

  "Hide the wells!"

  Such moving relief.

  Humans truly were emotional creatures.

  Yue kept sending anxious gnces his way, as if expecting him to accidentally summon a catastrophe with every breath. "So… where will we go next, Master? You said you want excitement."

  "Correct."

  "What kind of excitement?"

  Lin Xuan frowned. That was the dilemma, wasn't it?

  "In the Divine Realm, everything was already known. Already perfected," he said. "I fought celestial beasts. Dueled ancient immortals. Mastered every realm of cultivation. There was nothing left."

  "Except boredom," Yue muttered darkly.

  "Yes. That was undefeated."

  The dirt path ahead was peaceful, birds chirping, leaves rustling. Tranquil.

  The peace sted a total of seven seconds.

  A scream pierced through the air. A child's scream.

  Yue tensed. "Master!"

  Lin Xuan moved instantly.

  Up ahead, a mortal boy stumbled backward while a massive tusked boar its aura twisted and unnatural charged straight toward him.

  "A demonic beast," Yue said

  Lin Xuan casually stepped between them.

  The boar smmed into him.

  Bonk.

  It instantly fell unconscious.

  The child stared up at Lin Xuan, eyes wide with awe. "W?wow… mister… you're strong!"

  Lin Xuan crouched with dignity. "Thank you."

  "That wasn't a compliment!" Yue hissed behind him. "You knocked it out by standing there!"

  Vilgers burst from the forest moments ter.

  "Is the boy safe?!"

  "Where's the beast?!"

  Lin Xuan calmly raised a hand. "I handled it."

  Their faces instantly drained of color.

  "Oh heavens, he handled it…"

  "Someone check if the mountain is still intact!"

  "The forest didn't explode? A miracle!"

  Lin Xuan sighed. "I merely stood here."

  "That's the problem!" Yue cried.

  The vilgers bowed repeatedly. "Thank you, honored immortal! Please, allow us to repay you!"

  "I want nothing except—"

  "For him," Yue interjected desperately, "to not break anything else."

  But the vilgers ignored her and began whispering urgently.

  "Maybe he could help remove the forest blockade?"

  "Or deal with that strange cave incident?"

  Lin Xuan's brow rose. "Cave?"

  A young hunter nodded frantically. "A strange aura leaks from it! Even beasts avoid that area!"

  Yue immediately shook her head. "Master. No. Absolutely not. Forbidden. Denied. Declined."

  Lin Xuan ignored her resistance entirely. "Where is it?"

  Yue clutched his arm in horror. "Excitement does not mean running toward suspicious death caves!"

  "Suspicious," Lin Xuan repeated thoughtfully. "Perfect. That is precisely the level of excitement I seek."

  "NO IT ISN'T!"

  But the vilgers only heard hope, not reason.

  "He'll help us!"

  "He's going to investigate the cave!"

  "We're saved!"

  Yue looked like her soul had abandoned her body.

  Lin Xuan adjusted his robes with dignified calm. "Lead the way."

  "MASTER STOP VOLUNTEERING FOR DISASTERS!"

  ***

  They were escorted deep into the forest as the air grew frigid and heavy. Even the trees seemed unwilling to stand too close to their destination.

  At st, they arrived.

  They reached a rge, dark cave opening. A foul aura seeped out heavy, corrupted, ancient.

  Yue shivered. "Master… this pce is not normal. Even I can feel something powerful inside."

  Lin Xuan stepped forward.

  "Good."

  "MASTER!"

  Before she could stop him, a powerful wind surged outward from the darkness.

  A voice followed… rumbling like a nightmare awakened.

  "Who… dares disturb my slumber…?"

  The vilgers shrieked and hid. Yue simply buried her face in her palms.

  Lin Xuan smiled.

  Finally.

  Something interesting.

  He took another step forward.

  "Master, WAIT!" Yue grabbed him tightly. "If you fight something here, the entire forest no, the entire region could colpse!"

  "That sounds mildly exciting."

  "NO IT DOES NOT!"

  But it was already too te.

  Something colossal stirred deeper inside the cavern.

  A pair of glowing red eyes snapped open burning with ancient hunger, staring directly at Lin Xuan.

  The vilgers trembled violently.

  Lin Xuan… felt something he hadn't felt in a million years.

  A spark.

  A flicker.

  Excitement.

  His smile widened as a divine aura rippled faintly around him.

  "Come," he whispered into the abyss.

  "Show me what you've got."