The system notification alert sounded:

　　Ding! “The Host possesses a Taoist body. Before you merge with your Taoist Body, your lifespan remains a total of 250 years. The system is therefore unable to deduct 500 years off his life!”

　　Xu Que was stunned! What did this mean? As a mighty Void Training Stage powerhouse, having just 250 years of life is ridiculous, even if he split the lifespan between his current body and his Taoist body!

　　“Screw you, system! Quit playing me, scum! I’m in the Void Training Stage, so I should have at least a few thousand years of life! How could it have shrunk by that much?” Xu Que demanded angrily.

　　The system replied in a flat tone, “As per cultivation progression, a normal cultivator is granted 1,000 years of life when they reach the Void Training Stage. However, you are a being who crossed over with just your soul. You don’t belong to this world, so your lifespan didn’t increase accordingly.”

　　What the hell! So it’s because I’m not a local?

　　“Wait up, so what if I’m not a local? I cultivated with my ability, so who are you guys to deny the prolongment of my lifespan? What you’re doing is blatant discrimination against foreigners! Discrimination against people who crossed over!” Xu Que said indignantly.

　　What lifespan others had from cultivation, he only had half as much. It was too unfair!

　　Ding! “The Host possesses a Taoist Body. So far, your Taoist body has absorbed most of your lifespan. When you merge with it in the future, you will be able to complete yourself. Your lifespan will then return to normal, and it’ll even surpass other cultivators!” The system answered smoothly.

　　Upon hearing its words, Xu Que heaved a sigh of relief. It turned out that his life years were all transferred to his Taoist Body. According to the system, he is still flawed and will only be perfect when he merges with his Taoist Body in the future.

　　“I’m so glad!” Xu Que sighed, while expressing his relief. He then tried to exit the System interface. Suddenly, the system’s voice rang in his ears: Ding! “Why does the Host sigh while saying that he’s happy?”

　　Eh? Xu Que jumped in shock! What’s the situation? Has the system learned to show concern?

　　That can’t be it, why would it care about such words? Why is it acting so strangely today? Has it become more humane?

　　However, he realized what was happening the next moment. Such a situation had happened before. With each system upgrade, it would become more and more humanlike. Currently, it’s only Version 5.0. It could already show care toward the Host from time to time. If it managed to upgrade to Version 10.0 in the future, would it come out and chat him up idly even when nothing was happening?

　　Xu Que couldn’t help but smile; he’s already looking forward to how the system would be like when it upgraded.

　　“I’m sighing because I’m relieved. I felt glad, from the bottom of my heart!” Xu Que answered.

　　“Why?” pressed the system, its voice still cold like a machine.

　　Xu Que immediately glanced toward the sky in a 45-degree angle and sighed heavily, “Because no human is perfect! You will have flaws, as long as you’re human!”

　　“What’s that got to do with being happy?”

　　“Of course it does! Before this, I have always been perfect and godlike. I’m so perfect to the point that I’m lonely! However, I didn’t want to be a perfect man. It’s too tiring to be a god. I want to be a normal man, and now you’re finally telling me that I have flaws, which means that I am a human! How can I not be happy about that?” Xu Que replied agitatedly.

　　The system fell silent and finally ceased all response.

　　“…”

　　After a while, Xu Que punched his chest a few times. Blood flowed out of his mouth, and he turned pale. Then, he emerged from the waters with great difficulty. He didn’t use the ancient Wheel of Life and Death, only because he was worried about it getting too out of hand. It’d be a little horrifying if he suddenly turned old, then turned young the next instant! So, a change of battle plans. He would use the hero tactic, where he would play a hero who survived with all his might despite suffering grave injuries!

　　Swoosh!

　　The waters of the lake sloshed and splashed, and Xu Que’s body emerged from it!

　　“Joker!” Zixia Fairy cried out in joy. Xu Que’s appearance surprised her so much. She was already taken aback when he broke the spell! However, she also thought that the courageous and kind young man would never survive it. She can’t believe that even after the spell’s broken, he has managed to come out alive.

　　To her, this is an ending that has far surpassed the best-case scenario. However, soon, the smile on Zixia Fairy’s face froze, and it was as if something squeezed her heart. The teen who had been handsome and elegant, who always had a sunny smile, had now become drained and pale, with blood trailing down the corners of his mouth. He agonizingly dragged his body over with trembling legs and with all his strength as he tried to hold up his faltering body.

　　He had suffered injuries so severe that no one would ever be able to imagine them! However, that was not enough to defeat him. He still held his chest up, strong-willed and courageous, and on that pale face, he tried to squeeze out a sunshiny smile.

　　“Joker!” Zixia Fairy called out softly, all joy and surprise giving way to complicated and stirring feelings of worry and tenderness.

　　“M…Miss Azi, I…I’m back!” Xu Que struggled to smile. He continued to walk, step by step; he never stopped; every step taken was so heavy that it was as if he would fall any instant, never to rise again. Every sound made when his feet touched the ground seemed to tug at her heart for some reason.

　　What a strong boy!

　　What a courageous boy!

　　Although he’s only at the Golden Core Stage, you wouldn’t find a man like him even if you combed the whole world. He would throw his life away without hesitation to save an ugly girl he had met by chance. He didn’t give up in the face of danger; he plunged into the sea, destroyed a horrifying spell, and came back alive, courageous, and heroic. At this moment, he is not a person who has suffered grave injuries, but a man with the air of a King returning victoriously from war!

　　Countless conflicting emotions tore into Zixia Fairy’s heart. In her life, she has never met someone this excellent, someone who would give his life for her. She even felt that, if she were still young, maybe she would fall for such an outstanding young man.

　　Such a pity….

　　“Sigh!” Zixia Fairy sighed crestfallenly to herself.

　　You were not born when I was born. When you came into the world, I was already old. I am to you, as far as the edge of the skies; you are to me, as distant as the corners of the ocean. Joker, in the end, we still belong to two different worlds.

　　…

　　“Miss Azi, I…puu!” With great effort, Xu Que had managed to walk back. However, right when he was about to speak, blood gushed out of his mouth!

　　“Joker!” Zixia Fairy had collected herself, but her expression changed right away once she saw Xu Que vomiting blood. She came forward, and, in an instant, a green pill appeared between her fingers. She pushed the pill into Xu Que’s lips and said hurriedly, “Hurry up, take the pill!”

　　“Okay. Thank you, Miss Azi, you’re such a kind person!” Xu Que took the pill and smiled politely. At the same time, he silently wiped the cold sweat in his heart. He had punched himself too hard just now and now he had honestly hurt himself! That mouthful of blood was real, as real as it could get.

　　He was the ultimate king of acting! Xu Que gave himself an imaginary pat on the shoulder and felt that he was awesome. However, upon swallowing the pill, the wounds in his body entered a state of recovery even before he could use the system’s automatic recovery function. Xu Que was shocked. With a blank expression, he turned to Zixia Fairy, “Miss Azi, what kind of magical pill did you feed me? My injuries are healing so fast!”

　　“Nothing, just a normal healing pill!” said Zixia Fairy casually.

　　Though she said that, Xu Que was confident that the pill she gave was not as simple as it looked. At the very least, it must have been a precious pill of Eight-Star quality. Otherwise, it was impossible for it to have such strong healing powers.

　　“Joker, how did you manage to break that spell?” asked Zixia Fairy curiously.

　　Xu Que laughed, a weight off his shoulder, “I’m just lucky! Other than the way of spells, I’ve also known a little about Chinese chess. Just now, I used myself as a chess piece and entered the chessboard to fight against it. I didn’t realize that this game of chess would be so dangerous, that many a time, I almost lost my life! At the point, I even thought that I was battling it out with Heaven itself.”

　　“But you still won in the end!” Zixia Fairy commended Xu Que from her heart, with stunning eyes fixed on him. Even without suppressing her strength, it would not be possible for her to destroy this vast, horrifying spell.

　　Xu Que sighed softly at her words instead and looked up toward the sky. He murmured under his breath, “I had simply…won the Heavens by half a move!”