Outside the Di Family Villa, Luo Xiu stepped onto the forest path. Facing the rising sun, he wiped away his tears. Before long, he arrived at the Sun Family Courtyard. Before he'd left, Di Xuanji had told him that Sun Li had also moved to the Capital City.

The early morning grass was covered in dew, glistening like a field of stars under the dawn light. Clad in a form-fitting yoga outfit with her long hair tied in a ponytail, Sun Li was cultivating amidst the sparkling dewdrops. She looked the same as she had forty years ago, seemingly untouched by time. The only difference was her cultivation, which had now reached the peak of the Mahayana Realm - Perfect Completion, just one step shy of becoming an Earth Immortal. Furthermore, much like Ai Hongye before her, Sun Li now held the title of dean at an academy.

Suddenly, a spatial portal materialized in The Void before her.

Her gaze trembled with disbelief as she looked at the portal.

Could it be...

With a heart full of trepidation, she carefully stepped inside.

「Land of Lawlessness」

Sun Li stared blankly at the familiar scene, and tears suddenly welled in her eyes.

"It really is the Land of Lawlessness!"

"Xiu, is that you?"

"Where are you?!" she shouted, desperate for a response.

"Vixen Sun Li, long time no see."

Just then, Luo Xiu emerged from the spatial portal, appearing behind her.

Sun Li's body stiffened, and she slowly turned around. But when she saw the unfamiliar face, she was bewildered.

"You are..."

Luo Xiu spread his hands. "What? Can't recognize me now that I'm more handsome? I seem to recall a certain scumbag girl telling me she'd recognize me even if I were turned to ash."

Hearing this, Sun Li's eyes widened and began to redden. She clasped a hand over her mouth.

"Is it... really you?"

Her tears could no longer be contained. Like a bursting dam, they streamed down her face as she ran and threw herself into Luo Xiu's arms, pounding on his chest with her little fists.

After a long while, Luo Xiu took Sun Li to Thundering Mountain.

"Why did you bring me here?" Sun Li asked, wiping her damp eyelashes as she looked at Luo Xiu with a hint of resentment.

Luo Xiu smiled. "I originally just came to see you, but I noticed you've reached Mahayana Realm - Perfect Completion and are at a bottleneck. So, I thought I'd bring you here."

He then pointed at a tree. "Go break through under that Thunderstrike Wood. I'll have Yan'er act as your protector."

"Yan'er?"

Luo Xiu slowly raised his hand, and a flower vine sprouted from the flesh of his wrist. In a flash of light, the vine transformed into the alluring and sultry figure of Hua Muyan. She was the very picture of exquisite beauty, and her intoxicating fragrance filled the air.

Sun Li stared blankly at Hua Muyan, a pang of envy striking her. How could such a stunning creature exist in this world?

"You focus on your breakthrough," Luo Xiu said. "I'm going to look around. It's been forty years for me, too, since I was last in the Land of Lawlessness."

「A short while later」

Luo Xiu arrived at his Green Lotus Palace. The Land of Lawlessness was now completely deserted. This was because during the Great Land-Slaughter Calamity, everyone—human and demon alike—had left to join the war. The Green Lotus Palace, built from Fire Dragon Bone, remained perfectly intact, showing no signs of decay, looking just as it did when it was first built.

After wandering around, Luo Xiu went to his Hundred Herbs Garden to check on the Primordial Divine Vine.

Forty years later, the Primordial Divine Vine was even more lush. However, it was not suffused with vitality but with a dense Aura of the Dead. This was because when it was first transplanted here, the vine used the Aura of the Dead as nourishment.

To his surprise, Luo Xiu then discovered that two Dao Lemons had sprouted from the divine vine!

He squatted down, gazing contentedly at the two Dao Lemons, his thoughts turning to Lin Tong and Tuof.

"I hope you two will have returned by the time these Dao Lemons are ripe."

Luo Xiu raised his hand and released a strand of Fortune-Forming Power toward the divine vine.

A long time passed. Luo Xiu, who had been leisurely napping in the Green Lotus Palace, was suddenly jolted awake by the ear-splitting clap of thunder. The sound came from the direction of Thundering Mountain; it seemed Sun Li had begun her breakthrough. Unworried, he couldn't be bothered to go and watch.

More time passed until a strong sense of suffocation woke Luo Xiu from his dream.

"You little sleepyhead," Sun Li cooed, playfully pinching his nose. "You've been hiding away and sleeping for forty years. Haven't you had enough rest yet?"

Luo Xiu sat up and stretched luxuriously. "You finished your breakthrough?"

"Mhm!" Sun Li proudly lifted her chin and puffed out her chest. "This dean is an Earth Immortal now, so you'd better watch your tone when you speak to me from now on."

She brandished her small fists with a threatening look. "Or I'll beat you to death!"

Luo Xiu looked at her with gentle eyes and suddenly laughed.

Returning after forty years, he found a world where the scenery remained but the people had changed. The only thing Luo Xiu could feel was a profound, endless loneliness. But Sun Li, whose personality hadn't changed one bit, made him feel as if he had returned to the past, as if he had never left at all.

Sun Li suddenly shifted onto Luo Xiu's lap. Her eyes darted about slyly as she whispered, "So... it's been forty years. Aren't you feeling... pent-up?"

Luo Xiu gave her a strange look. "What do you mean, *I'm* pent-up? Sounds to me like you're the one with ideas."

Sun Li's expression turned fierce. "Less talk! Let's see how I deal with you!"

「Three hours later」

Sun Li lay sprawled on the bed as if paralyzed.

Luo Xiu rolled out of bed, stretched his limbs, and looked down at her with disdain.

"Still so weak, even for an Earth Immortal."

At his words, Sun Li gritted her teeth, unconvinced. She wanted to argue, but the memory of Luo Xiu's terrifying power made her hold her tongue.

"Do you want to come visit the Upper Realm with me?" Luo Xiu asked suddenly.

Sun Li was silent for a moment, then gently shook her head.

"I'll pass. Hua Country needs me right now. A lot has happened in the forty years you were gone. Almost all of Hua Country's Martial Artists are dead."

Luo Xiu nodded, saying no more.

Sun Li smiled. "Besides, I'm an Earth Immortal now. I have thousands of years of life, and my looks won't fade. You can come back to the Lower Realm to see me whenever you like."

Luo Xiu shrugged. "Alright. I'll come down when I miss you."

Sun Li's expression gradually dimmed as a thought occurred to her. "By the way, you must have seen Her Majesty since you returned, right?"

"Mhm."

Sun Li sighed. "She fell ill not long ago... and now she's near the end."

Luo Xiu nodded slightly. "I know. I wanted to save her, but she refused."

"You don't understand," Sun Li said. "If it were me, I would also want to leave. Sometimes, being able to experience birth, old age, sickness, and death is a kind of happiness."

Luo Xiu smiled. "That's true. For her to live a full life and pass away peacefully... that can be considered a good end."

"And she gave her life to A Hua..." Sun Li added. "In the end, you two were never meant to be."

Luo Xiu suddenly remembered something and changed the subject. "By the way... did Xi Yue get married?"

Sun Li gave him a peculiar look. "What, does that make you uncomfortable, you big philanderer?"

"I was just asking," Luo Xiu replied.

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