Return

On the second day of the first lunar month, in Yicheng, Jiangning Prefecture, Yangzhou, inside the small courtyard of Teng Village’s Gu and Teng Qinghu household.

Gu Sheng and Chu Xin sat in the courtyard. The table was covered with books, beast-hide scrolls, and similar items. The Jade Azure Serpent slithered back and forth across the tabletop, occasionally winding around Gu Sheng’s wrist, while the Black Wind Leopard lay on the floor, lazily yawning.

As for the several Blood Shadow Wolves, Li Jun, who possessed the gift of beast speech, had already lured them over to her side. Every day, she proudly rode a Blood Shadow Wolf and followed the Hunter Squad led by Teng Qingshan as they patrolled Mount Dayan.

"Tap~ tap~ tap~"

Light footsteps came from outside the door. The cry of Tiger Mom let Gu Sheng know that Teng Qingshan had arrived.

"Cousin! These are the latest Four Rankings!"

Teng Qingshan, dressed in a single layer of clothing, looked completely out of place in the dead of winter. However, the three people in the courtyard were all much the same. Once one’s martial cultivation reached the First-Class Realm, using Inner Force to ward off the cold consumed very little stamina.

"Let me see!"

Chu Xin had always been lively. She took the four books from Teng Qingshan and began flipping through them.

"Huh! Big Tiger, you became first on both the Earth Ranking and the Hidden Dragon Ranking."

Chu Xin laughed delightedly. Although she was not the one who had reached the top of the rankings, she was even happier than if she had made the list herself. After reading a little longer, she wrinkled her delicate nose and complained, "What kind of writing is this Huo Yan doing?

"What are these awful nicknames? Human Butcher Blade, Yicheng Overlord Tiger! What kind of things are those? Anyone hearing them would think he was a bad person. How could they give people nicknames so carelessly!"

"Enough! Instead of wasting your time on that, why don’t you help me properly organize these Inner Force manuals sent by Liu San, Li Yanshan, and the others?"

Gu Sheng pointed at the pile of scattered books on the table. Nearly half of them had already been sorted into their respective categories.

"The best among these are only Human-Grade Manuals. Most are just mediocre manuals. Being able to cultivate Inner Force from them is already fortunate enough. Why bother caring about them?"

Chu Xin had seen plenty of good things, and her standards had risen accordingly, but her temper was still—

"Human-Grade Manuals aren’t good enough anymore? Don’t forget, Liu San even sent over the Cold Moon Saber Art. That’s a top-tier Human-Grade technique, and it even contains a method for breaking through to the Innate Realm. You can cultivate all the way to the Innate Realm with it!"

Gu Sheng chuckled and lightly tapped Chu Xin on the back of the head with a book. These items were all spoils taken by Liu San, Li Yanshan, and the others after they conquered the strongholds, though some were also their personal collections.

Gu Sheng planned to organize these things into cultivation resources that could be exchanged for within the militia camp and place Teng Qingshan in charge of them.

"The Cold Moon Saber Art was only sent over because Liu San wanted to curry favor with you, his new master!"

Chu Xin shook her head without turning around. After organizing things for a while, she had already found it unbearably tiresome and had no desire to sink back into a sea of books. "There are barely any Human-Grade Manuals left among the rest. They’re all things they don’t need. I’m not going to waste my time on them!"

"You…"

Gu Sheng smiled and patted Chu Xin’s delicate head. Shaking his head, he stopped bothering with the lazy Chu Xin. Teng Qingshan came over to lend a hand, while Chu Xin continued looking through the Four Rankings. After quite some time, until darkness had fallen outside, Gu Sheng finally rose, rubbing his sore eyes and stretching his limbs.

"Finally finished!"

Gu Sheng stretched lazily. It was already growing dark outside, and waves of cooking aromas drifted in from beyond the courtyard. It seemed to be time for dinner.

Gu Sheng turned around and glanced at Chu Xin, who was sleeping soundly with her head on the table. A trace of warmth flashed through his eyes. Then he smiled at Teng Qingshan, who had just stood up, and said, "Qingshan, you understand everything I asked you to do, right? While I’m away, sorry for the trouble, but please look after my mother."

"Cousin! I’ll take good care of Auntie. Don’t worry!"

Teng Qingshan fell silent for a moment before agreeing. Then he continued, "Cousin, are you really leaving? Why so soon?"

Although Teng Qingshan had long harbored some suspicions, he was still deeply shocked when Gu Sheng truly told him that he and Chu Xin might be leaving for a long time, perhaps even several years.

The main issue was that this had happened far too suddenly. Just two days ago, Gu Sheng had led him across Yicheng, sweeping away every bandit in the region. Although the overall situation was now nearly settled, much follow-up work had yet to be properly arranged. And now he suddenly said he was leaving. This was simply too—

"There are some things we can’t decide."

Gu Sheng said this meaningfully, patted Teng Qingshan on the shoulder, picked up the sleepy Chu Xin, and started walking. "Don’t think too much about it. My departure is already decided. Make sure you keep an eye on the important matters here!

"Tonight, we’ll drink until neither of us can stand!"

"Good~ We won’t stop until we’re drunk!"

Watching Gu Sheng’s retreating back, Teng Qingshan secretly made a decision. Then he followed Gu Sheng out of the room.

---

Reincarnator 111, congratulations on returning alive. Settlement will now begin.

Complete the Main Quest, "Exploration." Overall evaluation: S. Obtained 5,000 points and 5 Golden Medals;

Complete the side quest...

Complete the hidden quest, Slaughterer. Personally killed 15,349 people. Obtained 5,000 points, one Silver Medal, four Bronze Medals, and three Black Iron Medals;

Complete the hidden quest...

Overall evaluation: AA. Additional reward: one Silver Medal.

This time, you obtained a total of 15,437 points, five Golden Medals, two Silver Medals, four Bronze Medals, and three Black Iron Medals. Your current remaining personal points are 15,437, along with five Golden Medals, two Silver Medals, four Bronze Medals, and three Black Iron Medals.

Detected uncertified cultivation. Certify?

Lord God notification: You are carrying an unauthorized pet into the realm. Certification requires three Golden Medals and 3,000 points. Certify? If you do not certify it, the Lord God will treat this as illegal smuggling, and the carried item will be humanely destroyed!

"What?"

The Lord God’s final sentence left Gu Sheng completely dumbfounded. He had smuggled something back with him? Come on, he had only brought back the original Cold Moon Saber Art! He had even abandoned the accompanying Cold Moon Blade because it required certification, and now it was calling this smuggling?

"Hiss!"

Just then, a faint hiss came from Gu Sheng’s sleeve. A little green head poked out, its golden slit pupils narrowing slightly at Gu Sheng, as though saying, Good morning, Master!

"Azure Spirit!"

Gu Sheng was utterly stunned. It seemed that when he had gone to sleep yesterday, he had forgotten to change his clothes, and his little pet had simply remained on him.

But Chu Xin had never mentioned that living creatures could be brought back after crossing over! If that was possible, then if he brought Teng Qingshan, the protagonist, along, wouldn’t that mean…

"Notification: Please make your choice. Will you pay the fine? If you do not make a decision within the ten-second countdown, the system will treat it as consent to humane destruction. Ten, nine…"

The notification sound interrupted Gu Sheng’s reverie. A light screen appeared before him, its blood-red countdown numbers painfully conspicuous.

"Certify! Certify everything!"

When Gu Sheng saw that the countdown had already reached three, he hurriedly shouted. Azure Spirit was his trump card. If it were humanely destroyed like this, his heart would ache to death.