“Insolence!”

Behind the Penglai Island's array, the Thousand Sword Daoist was bellowing in rage and charged toward Jiang He murderously. However, he was unable fly out of the array, the Penglai Sect Island's array sparkling with dazzling radiance as it blocked him.

The Hermit of Forgotten Love then emerged behind him, smiling. “Thousand Swords, since the brat Jiang He himself has come before the gates of the Penglai Sect to issue a challenge, it is only natural that we be the ones who handle him. You have not been here for more than a thousand years, I believe? Just you wait—we'll slaughter that rogue, let's have a stroll around my sect.”

Taking on stride forward, the Hermit of Forgotten Love stepped out of the Penglai Sect array. If Jiang He did not carry an immortal item, it did not matter who killed him.

But now that he was holding one in his hand, it had to be the Penglai Sect!

In that instant, he was actually feeling a little thrilled.

An immortal item!

And an immortal sword at that!

After all, every faction in the world, from the secluded immortal sects, demonic sects, to the ancient daemon cultivators, did not possess any immortal item. Even the Penglai Sect's greatest treasure, the Clear Sky Mirror, was just a demi-immortal item.

The other cultivators of the Penglai Sect were thrilled as well, with their pint-sized chieftain sobbing endlessly, overwhelmed with emotion as he muttered, “Founder, protect us. If we secure that immortal sect, our Penglai Sect shall soon restore our former glory, even moving one step ahead of other factions in claiming providence amidst all Chaos!”

At that very moment, he found Jiang He not so repulsive and instead quite likeable.

He truly was the Penglai Sect's lucky star!

They might even spare his rotten life if he surrendered the immortal sword.

At the same time, the Thousand Sword Daoist pulled back. There was a grim look on his face in the first place, and there was no change on it even now.

However, the truth was that he had sneakily contacted the leaders of the Ten Thousand Swords Sect.

He could only hope that Jiang He actually had some extent of competence and trump cards since he had dared to attack the Penglai Sect, and would not be instantly done in by the Hermit of Forgotten Love. If he could just last a few minutes and the Ten Thousand Swords Sect's elites arrived, it was not certain who would obtain that immortal sword in the end!

“Furthermore, my Ten Thousand Swords Sect is a sect of sword cultivators, and our strength would definitely rise to the next level if we can get that immortal sword…”

The Thousand Sword Daoist's eyes narrowed then.

Up in the skies, the Hermit of Forgotten Love moved.

His seventh-retribution Sufferance-tier aura burst forth without holding back and he was not pulling his punches even though Jiang He was merely a full-fledged Yuan Spirit.

Then, he growled, “Give up the immortal sword, Jiang He, and I'll spare your life!”

“Spare me?”

Jiang He looked at the Hermit of Forgotten Love as if he was an idiot.

Is this dude an imbecile?

Does he see nothing?

Your Penglai Sect is surrounded by me and you're still l.u.s.ting after my Mosquito Cutter, even threatening my life?

On the other hand, the Hermit of Forgotten Love was rather irritated by the look Jiang He gave him, and he promptly reached out and made a grabbing motion. With a loud rumble, a palm several Mu in length materialized out of thin air and extended towards Jiang He.

“So powerful!”

Jiang He's eyes narrowed.

The seventh-retribution Sufferance-tier cultivator was truly frightening, and Jiang He thought that the hand could have easily crushed him.

However, the condition for that was for the hand to reach him.

In the instant that the Hermit of Forgotten Love attacked, the Nine Heavens Thunderflame Array erupted!

All at once, heavenly thunder and fire shot towards the Hermit of Forgotten Love, vaporizing the hand conjured out of mystic energy. Shocked, the hermit charged his mystic treasure and used his full strength, but was still knocked around and left cutting a sorry figure.

Below, the faces of the crowd hovering above Penglai Island twitched, with Cloudy Sky Fairy Child exclaiming in shock, “Impossible! I've seen Jiang He's array and Convergence-tiers could roughly stay immune from its effect. His array shouldn't be that powerful!”

At the same time, Jiang He was sighting softly.

The sheer power unleashed by the Nine Heavens Thunderflame Array was a little underwhelming.

It couldn't even take down a seven-retribution elite and would hardly be a threat if it was up against a Mahayantier elite… of course, the Nine Heavens Thunderflame Array was only one of four arrays. If it triggered the other arrays, one out of the arrays purposed for sealing, death, illusory, and guarding just might get them.

“Jiang He!”

The Hermit of Forgotten Love was left charred amidst the thunderbolts and flames, his white hair having curled into an afro. His eyes were fully red as he gritted his teeth and bellowed furiously, bracing against a thunderbolt as he bounded towards Jiang He again.

Jiang he retreated again in response.

Then, the Ten Thousand Phenomenon Array erupted.

Compared to the sight of lightning and fire shooting across every direction when the Nine Heavens Thunderflame Array activated, the Ten Thousand Phenomenon Array was invisible.

And when the Hermit of Forgotten Love entered the array, his whole body shuddered in the very next second as he pulled back from attacking as hard as he could. Disbelief appeared over his face charred by thunderbolts and fire then, and he exclaimed in shock, “Xiu'er?”

“Is that you? Xiu'er?”

“Xiu'er, did you know how much I've missed you over the years?”

On the other hand, Jiang He scowled.

He was aware that the Hermit of Forgotten Love was caught in a mirage as the Ten Thousand Phenomenon Array drew upon his deepest memories and desires… But why the h.e.l.l are you calling me 'Xiu'er?”

Still, come to think of it…

Could this 'Xiu'er' have been that hermit's former flame?

It was only to be expected.

In any novels, any True Habitant, hermit, immortal, or even demon king whose t.i.tle includes stuff like 'forgotten love' must have had a relations.h.i.+p that was carved into their very bones.

Shaking his head to get rid of all the random thoughts in his head then, Jiang He sighed. “It's time to ascend!”

“System improve cultivation, and cultivate Three Thousand Calamities up to the fifth fold!”

[Ding!]

[-10 million Farm Points.]

[Congratulations, Host. You have cultivated the sword sage cultivation 'Three Thousand Calamites' to fifth fold.]

Meanwhile, the crowd at the Penglai Sect were looking fully stunned.

Everything happening now was changing their mood repeatedly as if they were riding a rollercoaster, going up one instant and descending the next, making it an utter thrill.

They had a.s.sumed that a mighty seventh-retribution elite like the Hermit of Forgotten Love would be able to make short work of Jiang He. They just did not expect that the array he laid out could erupt with terrible thunderflame, and even the Hermit of Forgotten Love was actually having a hard time.

That gave pause to the many cultivators who had wanted to go and help.

If a seventh-retribution Hermit of Forgotten Love could only go so far, would they not be just going to die, since their cultivation was beneath the Hermit of Forgotten Love's?

Still, they could not help feeling earnest delight when they saw the Hermit of Forgotten Love bracing the thunderbolts to unleash his killing stroke. There were even those who clenched their fists and quietly cheered the Hermit of Forgotten Love on.

Only Cloudy Sky Fairy Child cried out in surprised and quickly yelled, “Don't…'

Even so…

It was already too late.

In the next instant, the Hermit of Forgotten Love, halfway through releasing his killing stroke, paused in the air. He started to sob, laugh and shriek as if possessed, yelling, “Xiu'er, Xiu'er,” again and again.

The crowd was left stunned, whereas Cloudy Sky Fairy Child's expression turned grim as she exclaimed, “It's an illusory array!”

“His array technique is incredibly frightening. The array which includes sealing, illusory, guarding, and death could not be cracked even by the Taixu Sect chieftain, not to mention that this one has a greatly boosted death array, and its illusory array affects even seven-retribution elites.”

Cloudy Sky Fairy Child looked up to the Hermit of Forgotten Love then and exclaimed, “Chieftain, activate the Clear Sky Mirror now and see if we could find a flaw in his array to crack his array. Otherwise, only the White Brows Ancestral Master could crack it!”

The chieftain turned the Clear Sky Mirror toward the horizon then. The l.u.s.ter from the mirror illuminated every direction then, and Cloudy Sky looked along the radiance, only to be stunned once again…

The array that Jiang He had laid out was filled with flaws.

The array…

Was actually no array.

And yet, she felt like she did not know where she should start.

“Eh?”

“No…”

Suddenly, the look on the Penglai Sect chieftain's eyes changed. Controlling the Clear Sky Mirror, he could clearly feel the changing aura in Jiang He's body through its radiance, and exclaimed in astonishment, “Jiang He has ascended!”

“He has reached Convergence!”

“What?”

“Jiang He is Convergence-tier?”

At those words, the many Penglai Sect cultivators were all left dumfounded, with Cloud Sky crying out, “Impossible, impossible! He was merely Yuan Spirit-intermediate when I saw him a few days ago, and how long has it been since? Not even an immortal reincarnated could cultivate from Yuan Spirit-intermediate to Convergence in such a short time!”

And yet, the Penglai Sect chieftain completely ignored Cloudy Sky.

His sense of what was real as a Daoist was rendered meaningless right then.

He felt his common sense being turned upside down, even as he mumbled hoa.r.s.ely, “He is Convergence-intermediate now, and his cultivation is still rising… he's Convergence-advanced… wait, he's a full-fledged Convergence-tier now!”

“No, wait!”

“He is still ascending…”

Kaboom!

Thunder cracked out of the blue.

Even from behind the Penglai Sect's array and the fourfold array that Jiang He had put up, the crowd could see thunderclouds rolling up in the skies, gathering to form a single colossal thundercloud that stretched over five hundred kilometers.

The Penglai Sect chieftain dropped to the ground limply then and said hoa.r.s.ely, “What devilry has our Penglai Sect provoked… he is Sufferance-tier now!”

The many other elites of the Penglai Sect were silent.

It was already unbelievable that he could cultivate from Yuan Spirit-intermediate to full-fledged Yuan Spirit…

But was he still full-fledged Yuan Spirit now?

He had directly finished his Convergence-tier cultivation and reached Sufferance!

Not even eating and drinking was that easy, was it?

Gasp!

Suddenly, someone inhaled sharply and cried out in surprise, “Heavens, a five-hundred-kilometer cloud of retribution… and it is still enlarging. But is that all there is to the Ninefold Heavenly Retribution?”

At the same time, the Penglai Sect chieftain who was still feeling Jiang He's changing aura through the Clear Sky Mirror was almost losing his mind and falling apart. Gritting his teeth, he seethed, “No, this is impossible. Why is his aura still strengthening… third retribution? Fifth retribution? Eight retribution? Ninth retribution…”

“Is he going to suffer through all nine retributions in one go and ascend as a Sufferance of all nine retributions?”

“Oh no!”

The Penglai Sect chieftain suddenly leapt up from the ground then and cried out in surprise, “Hurry! Awaken the Hermit of Forgotten Love. He is still within the range of the heavenly retribution and would draw the thunderbolts to himself…”

And yet, it was too late.

There was a resounding cracking boom.

A purple thunder descended from up high.

No!

There were actually two. One struck Jiang He… while the other struck the Hermit of Forgotten Love, who was still mumbling “Xiu'er!”