Hou Yi was very willing to do this exchange; after all, back in the spatial tide, Qin Yun had only gathered other-universe corpses in the beginning, resulting in Hou Yi receiving a large number of treasures. The number of Connate Cardinal treasures he had… made him probably number one under the Heavenly Dao realm. He really wasn"t missing out by giving up the spatial s.h.i.+elds. Instead, he yearned more for Soul Heart Fruits.

In a Small World.

There was a boat with black awnings proceeding down a river. Qin Yun and Yi Xiao were dining on it.

"My wife, according to your request, I have visited countless Small Worlds with you," said Qin Yun with an exasperated smile. "But I can"t enter a Small World with my real body; only an embodiment can do so. This embodiment of mine is really weak. It can"t even defeat ordinary Essence Soul realm figures. If we suffer any bullying, I"ll be relying on you, my wife, to help."

"Don"t worry. I will protect you. I"ll protect the number one sword immortal in the Three Realms. That actually feels quite nice." Yi Xiao took a sip of her alcohol, feeling rather happy. She had the strength of a half-step mighty figure. If she had Connate Numinous treasures, she could even fight a mighty figure. She was naturally overpowered in a Small World. Since Qin Yun had gained eternal life from his transcending of the tribulations, he also agreed to accompany his wife on a voyage of the Three Realms.

The most number of places to visit in the Three Realms were definitely the Small Worlds.

Therefore, he accompanied his wife and began visiting the countless Small Worlds. If they took their time, perhaps even ten million years was insufficient to see them all.

"However, you don"t have to worry about this Small World. This Small World"s Heaven and Earth spiritual energies are spa.r.s.e. Cultivating to the Connate False Core is probably the maximum one can go," said Yi Xiao.

"The Heaven and Earth spiritual energies are very spa.r.s.e. If it drops further, it would be impossible to cultivate." Qin Yun nodded.

And at that moment—

Above the river of Qin Yun"s boat was a steep cliff. On this hanging cliff, there was a man speaking in full emotion, "Master, Senior Brother, it was all my fault. I have nothing to say." With that said, he leaped down.

"Third Junior Brother."

"Third Senior Brother."

"Third Senior Brother."

"Yanzhou!"

There was a flurry of exclamations.

His plummet down the cliff sounded as he dropped towards the lingering clouds beneath.

However, his plummet resulted in an fated encounter with immortality.

In the sailing boat beneath the cliff, Qin Yun and Yi Xiao looked up and saw a white-dressed youth falling.

"It"s a mortal," said Yi Xiao as she looked up. "To plummet from such a tall cliff, even if there"s water beneath him, he will still die."

Qin Yun nodded with a smile. "But unfortunately, if we allow the boat to continue sailing forward, he will crash into our boat."

With that said, Qin Yun began inferring with his fingers.

"He really is an unlucky little guy," said Qin Yun with a smile. "But I"m quite impressed with him; at least, he abhors evil."

With a thought, he had learned the details of the plummeting youth"s entire life. He knew why he was committing suicide by jumping off a cliff.

"Whoosh."

With a wave of his hand, a force held up the plummeting white-dressed youth, causing his descent to immediately slow down. After which, he landed on the deck of the boat.

The mighty Sword Immortal Qin did have his embodiment severely suppressed in a Small World, but his realm remained extremely high. He was able to produce strength at the Connate Golden Core, so saving the youth was not a problem.

"Oh?" Gong Yanzhou looked at his surroundings in a daze and then the deck beneath his feet.

"I plummeted from such a high cliff but ended up gently landing on this boat?" Gong Yanzhou saw the immortal-like couple drinking in the boat"s cabin and knew that he had met someone important.

"Seniors, thank you for saving my life," said Gong Yanzhou respectfully. "However, I am too ashamed to face my masters and fellow disciples, much less my wife. I can only exonerate myself with death."

"As an Iron Sword Gate"s disciple, you ended up marrying a disciple of your sect"s archenemy, the Centaurea Gate… You didn"t wish to betray your sect, nor did you want to kill your wife. As such, you chose to commit suicide?" seated in the cabin, Qin Yun said with a smile. "Dying this way sure is a little aggrieved."

Gong Yanzhou was alarmed. "How do you know of this?" This was a secret, a secret that he had only learned in the past few days.

Qin Yun laughed. "There are few things in this world that can hide from me."

This world was filled with so-called martial arts experts. Cultivating to the Connate False Core realm was the limit! This was due to the limits imposed by the Small World"s Heavenly Dao. As for shattering the void to ascend? That was a remote legend. In this world, as long as one reached the Connate False Core realm and was capable of producing Connate Golden Core strength… one could shatter the void and ascend. With the help of the Small World"s Heavenly Dao, they could head to a Great World.

However, reaching the Connate realm was very difficult.

To be able to have strength at the Connate Golden Core realm with a Connate False Core body was already the stuff of legend.

"It appears I"m quite a joke," said Gong Yanzhou in a self-deprecating manner.

"You really are inferior to your wife," said Qin Yun. "Your wife knew you were from the Iron Sword Gate, but she still married you. She even tried her best to become sect master of Centaurea Gate, so as to alleviate the hatred between the two sects. Yet, you seek death the moment you learned of the truth?"

Gong Yanzhou shook his head and said, "My Iron Sword Gate and Centaurea Gate have a deep-seated hatred for each other. When I was still an orphan, my master and his wife took me in. My master"s wife died to the Centaurea Gate. Generation after generation, our grudge remains. How am I to face my fellow disciples after marrying a Centaurea Gate disciple? How am I to face my master?"

"You silly kid," said Qin Yun. "You can just seek revenge on the person who killed your master"s wife. Your hatred should be directed against the perpetrator, and not the others of the Centaurea Gate. Must the grudge of the past implicate the juniors of the future?

"In this world, nations have fought and killed for centuries. Many grudges have been forgotten. But after the nations were unified, isn"t everyone still living harmoniously as one?" said Qin Yun with a smile. "A grudge can be resolved. There is no need to implicate too many innocent people while seeking revenge.

"It is fated that we ended up meeting today, so I"ll give you a few words."

Qin Yun casually wrote in the air.

Words began glowing in midair as they were filled with the infinite charms of the Sword Dao.

They were four simple words—"Human Effort Achieves Everything."

Gong Yanzhou turned dumbfounded when he saw that. Each stroke contained unfathomable Sword Dao charms. Gong Yanzhou only felt that his Iron Sword Gate"s best manuals could not even be compared to an iota of the four words. He was fully immersed in it and forgot everything. From time to time, he would move his limbs in rejoice, while at times, use his fingers to draw out the sword arts.

He was awoken by his hunger, for two days had pa.s.sed. He had been by a boulder on the bank of the river for two days.

"Seniors." Only then did Gong Yanzhou react, but Qin Yun and Yi Xiao"s boat had been gone for two days.

"Thank you for imparting these sword arts to me, Senior."

Gong Yanzhou was filled with grat.i.tude.

The opportunity he encountered when plummeting down the cliff made Gong Yanzhou figure out a Four Word Sword Art in just two days. His strength increased exponentially to become the strongest in the sect. In the coming days, his touring of the world and studying of the charms in the four words given to him by Qin Yun perfected the Four Word Sword Art even more. This sword art also gained a higher standing in the world. It also became the best of the three arts that could shatter the void. Of course, that was all in the epilogue.

…

Qin Yun"s embodiment accompanied his wife in touring the various Small Worlds, while his real body remained in the Heavenly realm"s Mt. Lightning Roar as he meditated on sword arts.

Before, he had focused on defensive arts due to his tribulations.

But as a sword immortal… how could he be lacking in offensive means? Now that he had succeeded in transcending the tribulations, he naturally focused on offensive means. The four words he gave to Gong Yanzhou—"Human Effort Achieves Everything"—contained many of the sword art charms Qin Yun had when it came to offensive means. Even just a tiny bit of it was amazing.

Tenebrous Fiend Abyss.

"Zhurong, you wish to go back on your word?" Ancestral Fiend"s destruction body wore a cold expression as he glared at Zhurong"s embodiment that had appeared before him.

"I"m not going back on my word. I previously said that if Qin Yun dies from his tribulation, the Daoist-Fiend war can start again! I, Daoist Lu Ya, and a few old friends would jointly attempt to kill Hou Yi," said G.o.d King Zhurong with a shake of his head. "Now that Qin Yun is alive and his defensive means are number one in the Three Realms, plus with his relations.h.i.+p with Hou Yi, not only will we not be capable of killing Hou Yi if they join forces, we might even be sending ourselves to our deaths."

Although Hou Yi was powerful and could burn his Essence Soul to shoot nine successive arrows, he had to acc.u.mulate his strength by slowly shooting the arrows one by one.

It was naturally no problem to kill Hou Yi in the first one or two arrows.

Zhurong and company originally had a plan and he was rather confident. But with the addition of Qin Yun? His allies from before all shrank back.

"Ancestral Fiend, Qin Yun has successfully transcended the tribulations. He"s still alive, so there"s no way I can help you either," Zhurong"s embodiment said before dissipating.

The Ancestral Fiend watched this scene coldly.

"I knew it. All of them are afraid of death. They will only take action if there"s a chance. But once they discover danger, they immediately shrink back." Fiend Ancestor shook his head and said, "The Daoists and Buddhists previously only had Amita as a half-step Heavenly Dao realm in the past. Boxun is enough to hold him back. Now, with the addition of Qin Yun, this will truly add to my troubles.

"Forget it. I had planned on giving up the Great Worlds anyway. Since Zhurong and company have shrank back, I"ll give them up completely.

"There"s no need for any delay.

"Let the Daoist-Fiend war begin." Fiend Ancestor"s eyes were filled with endless frenzy. It was more crazy than the previous time. That"s because the goal of this Daoist-Fiend war was for him to gain a chance of survival.