"Another fruitless search."
Coming out of the Hua family's martial hall, looking at the desolate street outside, Lixue couldn't help but sigh.
Although she'd anticipated this before coming, she still felt quite disappointed after getting the result.
However, after thinking it over, she still took a photo of the martial hall and sent it to the dormitory chat group.
[Lixue: This is Chongqing. Still haven't found any trace of immortals, but the hotpot here is quite good. Come try it if you get a chance]
After casually adding her comment, Lixue left the martial hall. She planned to check out a nearby location where supernatural events had supposedly occurred.
But at this moment, she noticed a communication request from Shigure Kira on her device.
Lixue didn't think much and instinctively accepted the call. Shigure Kira appeared on the screen.
But she noticed Shigure Kira's face seemed somewhat conflicted, so Lixue asked: "Kira, what's up?"
"Lixue, are you chasing after those strange incidents again?"
"Of course." Lixue answered very straightforwardly.
"...I've been thinking for a long time and feel there are some things I should tell you."
"Oh?"
"I suddenly realized that most abnormal incidents in this world are related to Honkai."
"With your personality of running around everywhere chasing these things, it wouldn't be strange if you encountered Zombies or Honkai Beasts someday."
Shigure Kira's face showed considerable distress.
"If you died for such a reason, I'd definitely mock you mercilessly."
"Zombies? Honkai Beasts?"
Lixue picked up on the abnormal vocabulary in Shigure Kira's words. She had a premonition this might be the answer she'd been seeking all these years.
"Kira, do you know something?"
"I only found out recently myself." Shigure Kira's face showed some distress, seeming to struggle with how to explain.
"Although I don't want you getting involved in these things either, I feel that if I don't tell you, you'll discover it yourself sooner or later anyway."
"This world really isn't as simple as what you see, but there also really aren't any immortals or things like that you're looking for."
Soon, under Shigure Kira's explanation, Lixue learned about the supernatural disaster called Honkai.
"I see... so that's how it is..."
After learning the truth about the world, Lixue's face showed extreme excitement.
"Listen to me, good sister. For ordinary people, Honkai is something where even the slightest contamination makes life worse than death."
"So don't rush toward places where Honkai incidents have occurred. Who knows if there are Zombies or Honkai Beasts Fire Moth didn't clean up properly."
"If that happens, I'd probably have to attend your funeral back home."
Speaking of this, Shigure Kira sighed lightly, but then her expression lightened, even showing faint anticipation.
"If you want to know more, you can come to my place. It's quite spacious here..."
Hearing this, Lixue rolled her eyes at her.
"We've been roommates for so long—your little schemes can't fool me. I don't have thoughts of ending my life right now, so I'll pass on listening to your singing."
"Anyway, thanks for telling me this information, Kira. I'll treat you to hotpot sometime. That's it, bye."
"Wait..."
Without waiting for Shigure Kira to object, Lixue hung up.
However, after learning the world's truth, the excitement on Lixue's face quickly faded, replaced by a certain melancholy.
Because she quickly realized that if all anomalies in this world were brought by the supernatural disaster called Honkai.
Didn't that mean there were no so-called immortals in this world at all?
Although she'd already discovered the truth hidden in the world's depths and knew supernatural powers truly existed, Lixue still felt her worldview being crushed.
However, she wasn't someone completely obsessed with cultivation settings. Her previous persistence was only due to being misled by limited information.
"Worldview... if it's shattered, so be it. Sigh..."
Lixue sighed with some frustration, accepting the setting that immortals didn't exist in the world.
Then she thought about turning back, deciding not to investigate the anomalous location anymore.
Since she knew how terrifying Honkai was, even if curious, she couldn't recklessly put herself in danger.
However, when Lixue turned back, she encountered a familiar figure.
This was a secluded park. The dead leaves piled on the path showed few people came here.
But on the leaf-strewn path, a clearing had been made, and a girl was currently sitting on the ground in a meditative posture.
A dead leaf swayed and floated down, landing on the girl's head.
But she paid it no mind, as if she'd become one with this environment.
But what surprised Lixue even more was that she recognized this girl's appearance—it was the daughter of that martial hall master from earlier.
She remembered the other's name seemed to be... Hua?
Hua had naturally also noticed Lixue's arrival.
She'd originally thought the place she chose was secluded enough that no one would disturb her cultivation of Taixu Sword Qi.
But just as she tried to enter meditation, she was awakened by the sound of shoes crushing dead leaves.
Now looking at Lixue not far away, she wasn't angry, but rather somewhat embarrassed.
After all, although she'd temporarily accepted the setting of being the Crimson Immortal's reincarnation, her worldview still remained in the previous version. She felt like she was currently doing something strange.
Lixue was first to break the silence between them, asking: "What... are you doing?"
"I'm cultivating techniques." As an honest child, Hua answered extremely honestly.
Hearing Hua's words, Lixue looked up. She suddenly felt the world was a boomerang.
She'd just emerged from cultivation settings on the brain, only to immediately encounter another person with cultivation on the brain.
Hearing this completely serious reply, she felt the shame of facing her own past dark history.
So, driven by the impulse to extinguish her past dark history, Lixue said extremely seriously to Hua: "Martial arts don't exist in the world. We should believe in science."
But hearing her words, Hua gently shook her head and said seriously: "No, martial arts actually do exist."
"..."
There it was—this feeling of uncovering past dark history!
"...Whatever makes you happy."
Lixue hurriedly turned around and walked out of the park along the original path, forcibly suppressing the shame welling up inside by distracting herself.
But soon, Lixue discovered she didn't need to worry about embarrassment anymore.
Only at this moment did she realize that after turning back from that park, she'd walked forward some distance.
And this place seemed to be that location where supernatural events had supposedly occurred.
Lixue looked around the alley and found what appeared to be an abandoned factory site that had been deserted for a long time.
A gust of wind blew, rolling up something ribbon-like from the distant clearing.
Lixue looked over. It seemed to be a police line, except unlike what she normally saw, it appeared to have a moth-like symbol printed on it.
"This symbol..."
Lixue had just started thinking when she realized she'd just received similar information from Shigure Kira.
It seemed to be called... Fire Moth?
Just as this term surfaced in her mind.
An extreme sense of danger suddenly welled up, as if a blade was pressed against her forehead, making her hair stand on end.
She looked into the distance and discovered a figure had actually leaped down from atop that abandoned factory.
"Thud!"
Falling from such a height, an ordinary person would definitely have broken bones. In serious cases, they might even be lying dead.
Of course, this figure just flailed on the ground for a moment, then suddenly rose and rushed toward Lixue.
"This thing is... the zombies Kira mentioned?"
Honestly, after seeing what was before her, Lixue felt her eyes had been polluted.
This thing was like a zombie from movies, with bloodthirsty madness in its eyes.
If it were just that, it would be fine—to her it was just viewing it as a somewhat powerful beast.
But in the current era, without having some pink-haired person add a moe mod, these Zombies' appearances weren't like those scythe-wielding young ladies of later ages.
Their current appearance couldn't be called attractive—could only be said to challenge the limits of human aesthetics.
Large patches of skin had fallen off, exposing purple-black flesh mixed with white-purple chitin.
Just one glance could deal a critical hit to a normal person's sanity.
But facing the Zombie rushing at her, Lixue didn't care what these monsters looked like. She had to start struggling to survive.
"Don't be afraid, my body... I command you to move!"
In an instant, muscle memory trained through fighting tigers and leopards in mountain ranges activated.
Lixue dodged to the side, evading the pouncing Zombie.
Then she stabilized her lower body, exerted force from her waist, transmitting all her body's strength to her upper arms.
Using the Zombie's pouncing momentum, she slammed an elbow strike into the Zombie's chest.
The Zombie was sent flying, heavily crashing to the ground.
Her wrist felt numb, but Lixue's confidence actually increased.
"I can fight this!"
Just as confidence arose, she discovered the Zombie she'd elbowed away had actually mutated after flailing on the ground a few times.
The chitin embedded in its flesh began proliferating, quickly covering most of its body.
And at its arms, two blade-like black bones had actually grown.
Fifty thousand years later, after having a moe mod applied, it would be named—Ninja Zombie.
"This thing... evolved?!"
An unprecedented sense of crisis descended.
Lixue had just wanted to retreat when she saw the Zombie that had evolved dual blades leave an afterimage as it slashed toward her.
Looking at the blade light slashing toward her, Lixue knew she probably couldn't dodge.
This was already numerical crushing—something martial arts couldn't bridge.
Sensing death's approach, Lixue suddenly felt absurd.
Battlefield breakthrough—wasn't that script exclusive to protagonists? Why did a Zombie get it?
Could it be I'm not the protagonist, just some unknown cannon fodder character?
And ultimately, everything faded away. Only one thought remained in Lixue's mind.
"My life ends here—"
"Swoosh!"
A searing firelight swept past Lixue's face.
Lixue saw with her own eyes that the pouncing Zombie was erased in midair, not even leaving a speck of residue.
At the same time, she saw that at the end of that firelight, a crimson-haired, red-eyed girl was making sword gestures with her hand.
Although hair color and eye color were both different, and temperament worlds apart, Lixue still recognized at a glance—the other person was Hua, whom she'd just met.
But what Lixue didn't know was that Hua at this moment was equally shocked.
She'd never imagined her frail body could produce such an attack.
And Lucius's voice also rang out in her mind at just the right time.
"Hua, remember—this is how you use Taixu Sword Qi."
However, Hua didn't pay much attention to Lucius's obviously showing-off statement. At this moment she had more important matters.
"Past life, too much time was wasted today. I might not finish my homework. We need to hurry back."
"In that case, let's end for today. Hua, you should have already digested the memories of sword flight. You try this time!"
"Remember not to rush too fast, or you'll easily overshoot."
"Homework, my homework..." Following the memories in her mind, Hua made sword gestures and flew toward home riding the sword light.
Leaving only Lixue standing dazed in place, once again feeling her worldview shatter.
Looking at that sword light soaring into the sky, Lixue was dumbstruck.
"A sword... sword immortal?!!!"
After standing dazed for a long time, Lixue hurriedly pulled out her communicator and called Shigure Kira.
"Kira, you actually lied to me—there clearly are immortals in this world!"
"...Lixue, are you lucid?"
...
Evening, in front of the martial hall.
Father Hua was holding a broom sweeping the ground.
At this moment he heard footsteps. Looking up, he discovered it was that young lady who'd come today, currently rushing over anxiously.
Seeing Lixue arrive, Father Hua felt rather strange.
"Young lady, haven't left yet?"
But his words had barely left his mouth when he saw this young lady suddenly rush over and kneel on the ground, performing a great bow to him.
"Master, please accept this disciple's bow!"
Seeing this, Father Hua was greatly alarmed and hurriedly dodged her bow.
"Child, why perform such a great salute? Get up quickly, get up."
But Lixue didn't get up. Instead, she swiveled in a circle. Seeing this, Father Hua could only continue dodging.
"Master, I want to become your disciple!"
Hearing Lixue's request, Father Hua's face showed bitterness as he said: "Young lady, I'll be honest—you're almost better at fighting than me. What master do you need?"
"Master, I know you must possess divine arts. You were just testing me earlier, right?"
After seeing Hua riding sword light soaring into the sky, Lixue had thought of this martial hall's legend of martial arts passed down from immortals.
Although Father Hua himself admitted this was just a rumor deliberately spread to attract customers.
But now, Lixue thought of more.
"Worthy of a hidden master—I completely failed to notice your profundity earlier, even thought I could truly exchange a few moves with you."
"Thinking about it now, I probably made you laugh."
Father Hua sighed again. After dodging her bow, he grabbed her wrist from the side and pulled her up.
He'd originally thought this young lady, although having cultivation settings on the brain, still behaved fairly normally. But looking now, she'd probably long since fallen into her own world.
Thinking this young lady's life was ruined at such a young age, he couldn't help feeling regret.
But as someone experienced, he still seriously advised: "Young lady, martial arts don't exist in this world. Don't immerse yourself in your fantasies!"
But just as Father Hua was admonishing her thus, Lixue's eyes suddenly went wide.
Because she saw that in the sky behind Father Hua, Hua riding sword light was wobbling down into the house.
"So as I was saying, young lady, martial arts don't exist, and immortals are purely fictitious..."
But Father Hua discovered that as he counseled, this young lady's eyes before him grew increasingly fervent.
"Thud!" Lixue knelt straight down again.
"Master, I sincerely wish to become your disciple. Please, let me enter the school!"
"I also want to become a sword immortal—I dream of it!"
Looking at the fervor in Lixue's eyes, Father Hua only felt he really was old, completely unable to keep up with young people's thinking nowadays.
"Why are you so stubborn, young lady?"
"From your speech and manner, you should also be an educated person who's studied."
"Feudal superstition won't do!"
"Martial arts don't exist in this world, and there are no immortals. We must believe in science!"
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