Extra Chapter — Those Days After (Part One)
The collapse of the lower realm came suddenly, catching everyone off guard. The survivors only felt that in a single instant, the ground began to shake violently, and vast amounts of gray gas surged in from all directions, sweeping away everything within sight. They were terrified, they were afraid, they desperately dodged the gray gas around them—until everything suddenly froze.
Moments later, the gray gas receded like a tide, the tremors calmed, and clarity returned before their eyes. Everyone looked up—the sun still hung in the sky, a gentle breeze brushed their faces. If not for the devastation before them, they would have thought what had just happened was an illusion.
Compared to the sudden collapse of the lower realm, its sudden stabilization was even more unexpected. Within Yun Tian Sect, the many Nascent Soul experts, still shaken, hastily gathered together and fiercely argued whether the current calm was merely the prelude to an even greater eruption. The argument continued until Xiao Lingyu and the others returned.
What exactly had happened that day—aside from those who experienced it personally like Xiao Lingyu—only a small number of people knew. Most were simply told that the crisis of the lower realm had been resolved. Because at the critical moment, the Lingxi Pig had separated space, forming a new world. The lower realm had finally stabilized, and there was no longer any need to worry about its collapse.
The amount of information in that message was enormous. The Nascent Soul experts were first stunned by the news that the crisis had been resolved. Only after they recovered did they realize another key phrase:
A new world.
A new world—immeasurable heavenly treasures, extremely dense spiritual energy, vast and boundless territory. Everything about it attracted the Nascent Soul experts. It meant no more shackles of the Nascent Soul stage. It meant they no longer had to carefully seal their power. It meant they could become gods.
All of this caused those once eccentric and peculiar experts to fall silent. One after another, they chose seclusion, hoping to sense the presence of the other world as soon as possible.
Soon, as space stabilized further, more and more Nascent Soul experts felt the call of the other world. The entire cultivation world erupted into excitement.
Chu Mingwei took a deep breath. He was becoming increasingly unable to resist the pull of that world. Perhaps because he had once witnessed its formation, he felt an inexplicable closeness to it. Even across the lower realm, he could sense its vibrant life force.
He circulated his spiritual energy with difficulty—vast and overwhelming. Whether he wanted it or not, “ascension” would arrive soon.
But what about his junior brother?
Although Chu Mingwei knew Xiao Lingyu’s talent was unmatched, and ascension was only a matter of time, when he thought of Xiao Lingyu’s current age and cultivation level, he felt deeply depressed. As for himself—his path had been smooth, with many fortuitous encounters, and he only reached Nascent Soul Great Perfection at forty. That was already a once-in-a-thousand-years achievement. No matter how talented Xiao Lingyu was, no matter how heaven-defying his luck, he could not reach that level in a short time.
The thought of separating from Xiao Lingyu, of not seeing him for a long time, made Chu Mingwei’s mood sink.
Without him there—what if someone bullied Lingyu? What if Lingyu encountered a bottleneck in cultivation? Or worse… what if someone took advantage of the situation?
Burdened with worries, Chu Mingwei didn’t want Xiao Lingyu to worry as well. So he acted as if nothing was wrong every day, while secretly exhausting himself thinking of ways to help Xiao Lingyu improve quickly. After several days, even with his cultivation, dark circles appeared under his eyes.
And those dark circles meant different things to different people.
One day, Ling Xiaozi kept Chu Mingwei behind for a talk. He believed Chu Mingwei’s exhaustion was due to too much pressure from himself, and felt deeply pained.
After a long speech, Ling Xiaozi said gently, “Mingwei, you are my most outstanding disciple. Whether you are the first to ascend is not important.”
Chu Mingwei, though puzzled, still stated seriously that he did not care about such things.
Ling Xiaozi didn’t believe him but nodded anyway. “Right, right, just empty fame.”
Chu Mingwei then brought up Xiao Lingyu, asking Ling Xiaozi to take care of him after he left—protect him, guide his cultivation, and help him ascend sooner.
The more Chu Mingwei spoke, the more something felt off to Ling Xiaozi.
“…Mingwei, have you been thinking about this for days?”
Chu Mingwei nodded and explained everything—including that his exhaustion was because he didn’t want to separate from Xiao Lingyu.
Ling Xiaozi nearly spat blood.
“So you’ve been worrying about Lingyu… not ascension?”
“Ascension should follow naturally,” Chu Mingwei said. “Lingyu is what I worry about most.”
Ling Xiaozi: “……”
So it was all his own wishful thinking.
Deeply struck, Ling Xiaozi immediately sent Chu Mingwei away and went to find his other obedient disciples to soothe his wounded heart.
Elsewhere, Meng Fan watched Chu Mingwei leave in a hurry and grinned lewdly.
Bai Qian glanced at him. “What are you thinking now?”
Meng Fan just smiled.
Luo Shaohan suddenly said, “Senior Brother has looked very tired lately.”
Bai Qian froze, then suddenly understood—and grinned just like Meng Fan.
Wen Shaohua rolled his eyes in disgust and moved closer to Zhao Feng.
Zhao Feng was confused.
Luo Shaohan frowned. “Come to think of it, we haven’t seen Junior Brother much lately. What is he doing every day on Yilan Peak?”
Meng Fan and Bai Qian exchanged a look—and both burst into knowing laughter.
Meanwhile, Xiao Lingyu, who was being talked about, stood bitterly in front of Wu Yunzi, staring at a densely packed cultivation schedule—nothing but training and seclusion, no rest at all.
Wu Yunzi had made up his mind.
After explaining everything, Xiao Lingyu was touched—but also guilty.
“Master… I can go to the other world directly through the void. There’s no cultivation restriction.”
“What?” Wu Yunzi was shocked. “Really?”
Xiao Lingyu nodded quickly.
“You’ve been hiding this from Mingwei?”
“…Yes.”
Wu Yunzi smiled. “Good. Keep hiding it.”
Xiao Lingyu: “……”
In the end, Xiao Lingyu couldn’t keep it hidden.
When he saw the even more intense training plan Chu Mingwei made for him, he decisively confessed everything.
Chu Mingwei said nothing—just gave him a meaningful smile.
That night, Xiao Lingyu deeply understood the meaning of that smile—
—and what it meant to “bring trouble upon oneself.”