Huaxia.
Dozens of li outside Linchuan City, deep in a stretch of rolling mountains, the sky had been clear a moment ago, washed blue, the sun hanging high and hard.
Then a thunderclap ripped across the heavens without warning.
Right after that, a strange light burst out, as if some giant hand had torn open the sky. It spread in silence, gorgeous beyond words, like a band of silk laid straight across the firmament.
Then the clouds blazed.
All at once, the whole sky was dyed in drifting radiance, bright and unreal, like some immortal realm dropped into the mortal world.
And within that sea of radiance, a figure appeared.
He wore a sky-blue long robe. His hair was bound and pinned. His frame was tall and lean. His skin was pale and smooth, almost like an infant’s. His face was fine and warm as jade, the sort of face that looked as if it had stepped out of an old painting—a young nobleman, elegant to the bone.
But the instant he appeared, his body seemed to take a crushing blow from nowhere. He dropped straight down.
Then, just as fast, he steadied himself.
And stopped in midair.
If anyone had seen it, their jaw would have hit the ground.
A man standing in empty air?
Who wouldn’t shout, Is that a man—or an immortal?
Yet the man himself had no mind for awe. His brows were locked tight as he stared around him, suspicion filling his eyes.
“What is this? Don’t tell me... this isn’t the Immortal Realm?”
“But that makes no sense. When I ascended, I clearly saw the immortal gate open wide. So why, after ascension, did I not receive the immortal qi infusion spoken of in the ancient records? Why was my body and primordial spirit not cleansed and tempered? Why was no immortal body and immortal soul forged?”
“Instead, I felt some nameless shackle come down on me. It suppressed both my primordial spirit and spiritual power. My primordial spirit can no longer leave my body at all. Even my divine sense has been completely crushed down. I can’t release it in the slightest.”
“And all the spiritual power I can use... only amounts to the peak of the Golden Core stage.”
Dorian Fairfax stood there thinking hard, turning it over again and again, but nothing came clear.
He sensed the world around him once more, more carefully this time.
The spiritual qi in this land was so thin it was almost nothing.
His frown deepened.
The doubt in his heart grew heavier by the breath. Was this place truly the legendary Immortal Realm?
“Forget it. First I need to look around and find out what kind of place this is.”
“With my divine sense sealed, I can only rely on my eyes.”
“And my cultivation is bound for no reason. I can only call on power equal to peak Golden Core. I’ll have to move carefully.”
With that, Dorian Fairfax formed a spell seal at once.
His figure blurred and vanished from sight, hidden away. At the same time, the technique would shield him from the divine-sense probing of other cultivators.
Then he lifted a hand.
A flying sword rich with immortal grace appeared beneath his feet.
This was his natal magic treasure, the top-grade spirit weapon, Wangshu Sword.
He had forged it with his own hands. When he named it, he simply used his own name.
He could fly through the air without a sword if he wished, but speed was another matter. Sword flight was faster. Much faster.
The moment his feet settled on the blade, Dorian Fairfax turned into a streak of light and shot toward the horizon.
...
Not long after, a vast city came into view ahead.
The instant Dorian Fairfax saw it—saw the towering buildings packed together inside it—his whole body shook. His pupils widened sharply, disbelief flooding his face.
“Th-this is... Earth??”
“No. Wait. That building... that’s Jinjiang Tower!”
His breath caught.
“That’s right. That is Jinjiang Tower in Linchuan City!”
In that instant, Dorian Fairfax became wildly excited.
His eyes locked hard onto the tallest building in the city ahead. Even from this distance, he stared at the faint characters on it as if afraid they would vanish the next second.
Jinjiang Tower.
Though his divine sense could not spread outward, his eyesight was still far beyond any ordinary person’s. Even from so far away, he could still see the words clearly.
But very soon, that excitement twisted into shock.
And then into utter disbelief.
“How is this possible...?”
“I... I came back to Earth?”
“I didn’t ascend to the legendary Immortal Realm. I came back to Earth, back to my hometown, Linchuan City???”
His voice came out rough and strained. His breathing sped up without him noticing. His mind was packed with questions, one piled atop another, until it felt ready to split.
Inside him, waves crashed sky-high.
He could not understand it.
Could not make sense of it.
Could not explain it.
It was just like back then, when he had suddenly crossed over into Cangyuan Realm with no warning and no reason.
That was right.