“How did you survive?” Qingyin stuttered as she queried.

　　Shen Lian ingested the spiritual fruit and smiled, “Who says I’m still alive?”

　　Only then did Qingyin realize that despite his usual appearance, Shen Lian was emitting gentle starlight all over, and his body seemed to be slightly transparent. If one were to stare hard enough, one would be able to see the river behind him.

　　Shen Lian was hollow, and she failed to notice that earlier because the starlight blurred him out.

　　Huanzhen took a seat opposite of Shen Lian while Qingyin sat in seiza by the side. She brought out a pot of wine and filled both of their cups.

　　Huanzhen looked at Shen Lian and smiled. He spoke, “In the past, I have run through countless possibilities, but I did not think that one day both of us could sit in peace and have a drink.”

　　Shen Lian sat calmly and stared ahead with his gentle gaze. His gaze seemed to be able to erase all sort of restlessness. His heart was still and his spirit grounded, he had no distracting thoughts – even the gentle ripples of Ruo Shui were eased by him. This was not a feat attainable by sheer force. There was a unique form of Dao rhythm radiating from him, which had combined a type of eternal and unchanged rules within the world. This was the reason why he was able to do that with his gaze.

　　He spoke to Huanzhen, “I did not expect that you would come to my aid tonight.”

　　“Though, I was not of much help,” Huanzhen replied slowly.

　　“It is the thought that counts. Let’s drink up and let bygones be bygones.” As Shen Lian raised his glass, the starlight fell from his sleeves. It was gentle like the water in Ruo Shui and had filled the raft. The surrounding seemed almost magical.

　　Huanzhen was surprised. He raised his glass and drank.

　　He fell into silence, and Shen Lian too did not say anything. Finally, he seemed to have made up his mind and said, “After you lost your physical body, your self-divine aura could not adhere itself to anything, which is why the light is flowing out from you. After attaining longevity, one would not have to worry about the exhaustion of one’s lifespan. However, the moment that you cease emitting starlight, it will be the day your Primordial Spirit is worn out and your self-divine aura is extinguished. If there is anything that I can do to help, I will.”

　　Qingyin finally understood why Shen Lian said that he was not alive. On a certain level, he had died. It was just that he did not perish completely. The starlight that he was emitting was his self-divine aura and the source of his Primordial Spirit.

　　When he stopped emitting these, he was akin to an oil lamp that ran out of fuel.

　　Despite that Chen Beidou did not win, but if Shen Lian could not find a solution, it was a definite defeat for him.

　　Shen Lian did not seem bothered by his current state. He spoke gently, “I am well aware of the current state I am in. In fact, I have expected for this to happen. This is actually better than the worst case scenario that I had in mind. You do not have to do anything for me, there is no need for it.”

　　Huanzhen replied, “However, I have a favor to ask.”

　　“I know what you are going to ask. Though, I cannot let Yanxu live. Whether it is for Qing Xuan, or for our previous Chief, Zhang Ruoxu, or even for my Honored master, Zhenren Biyun whom I have never met. I will do it, and I guess I am capable of doing it now.” Shen Lian’s exquisite face had a smile on it, he looked like the brilliant Milky Way that was somewhere far away in the dark sky.

　　At that moment, he was thinking if luck were not on all of the Qing Xuan Chiefs side for the past few hundred years. Zhang Ruoxu was suffering from unrecoverable injuries. After dragging on for a few hundred years and worrying for the fate of Qing Xuan, he finally died. Right now, Shen Lian’s current predicament was no better. For each and every moment passed, he was constantly losing bits of his self-divine aura and Primordial Spirit. If things got to the point of no return, he might not even be able to be reincarnated and would go up in smokes directly.

　　This was the price that he had to pay for becoming one with Dao by force. Even though he merely merged with a portion of the Dao severed by Lingbao Tianzun, but even then this was something that he was incapable of bearing.

　　However, he was definitely at his strongest right now. In this world, he was unrivaled. After all, the best in the world, Lu Jiuyuan had gone into the depths of Milky Way and his return was unscheduled.

　　Even at the other continent – Tianhua Continent, where skilled individuals were in abundance, there might not even be a single person who could hold his own against Shen Lian.

　　If he was someone who chased after power, there was definitely no regrets for him now. However, even if life was but a great dream, he would gladly live in this marvelous dream and not wake up.

　　“Regardless, I still have to thank you,” Huanzhen said.

　　“There is no need for it. Though, I am curious as to how you managed to keep your spiritual intelligence under Yanxu’s Sky Demon method,” Shen Lian queried.

　　“Because of this.” Huanzhen took out an Imperial Seal. The chaotic air flowing out from it even expelled the starlight emitted by Shen Lian. Despite that one of its corner was missing and was patched up with Xuanhuang Merits. Still, it was obvious that it was a rare treasure that was hard to come by in this world.

　　“I have heard about the king’s jade of Kun Mountain, but I have never thought that I would see an Imperial Seal made from a piece of king’s jade that was about to shapeshift. This is indeed the nemesis of Sky Demon method. However, you must have taken plenty of other measures in order to conceal this from Yanxu. Based on that, I must admit that fellow Daoist Huanzhen, you are the most remarkable individual in this world.” Shen Lian only took a glance to recognize the origins of the Imperial Seal. Indirectly, he complimented Daoist Huanzhen on his wisdom. After all, it was not easy to hide something as such from Yanxu.

　　“Despite having retained my spiritual intelligence, I still could not escape from his control. To be honest, with his current supernatural powers and with Lu Jiuyuan of Xuantian Sect departure, no one in the four main Daoist sects would be able to fight against him. His previous move on Luoism was an early warning. The day that he decided to make his debut, he would take the world by storm and it will be a demonic trial for the world,” Huanzhen sighed.

　　“If he did that, he might be a demon in our eyes, but in the eyes of the world it was the proper and righteous thing to do. So long as he makes use of the good timing, he would be aided by the strength of the world and complete his Sky Demon method,” Shen Lian replied casually. Even though Yanxu was his enemy, he could not help but to admit that he had not faced with a greater rival than Yanxu in his life.

　　His intellect, decisiveness, adaptability in tactics, and knowledge were all on par with him.

　　Hence, Shen Lian did not plan to use any tactics when it came to dealing with Yanxu. He decided to tackle him head-on as that would be the best move.

　　Unfortunately, even though he had been making good progress all these years, Yanxu had not been slacking off either.

　　Free Form Incarnation was a clear contrast from Dream Heart Sutra, representing Yin and Yang respectively. Shen Lian studied about Dream Heart Sutra and only then did he realize that how difficult it was to deal with someone who was cultivating Free Form Incarnation. In fact, it was almost impossible to kill them.

　　“Before being controlled by him, I have never realized how scary the Sky Demon was. I have encountered heart demons every now and then, but there was no reason to fear them. When I set eyes on him, he put all the heart demons that I have previously encountered to shame. In fact, they should not even be acknowledged as ‘demons’,” Huanzhen spoke with emotions.

　　If it was not for his heartfelt emotion, he would not be able to speak of it like that.

　　“It is hard to deal with him, which is why I am here to see you now. I need to find out something about him through you.”