If you die, I will be able to inherit your cultivation.

"Yes, it's good that Father has gained something. All the suffering you endured was worth it."

"Father, now that you've returned, I'll return this Book of Life and Death to you."

Bai Ling'er raised her hand and took out the Book of Life and Death, preparing to erase the divine soul imprint she had left on the magic weapon.

In her opinion, such a powerful magical artifact must have come at a great cost for her father to obtain it.

Now that Father has returned after going through reincarnation, this item should be returned to him.

Zhou Ming reached out and pressed Bai Ling'er's wrist, stopping her movement, and gently patted the top of her head.

"Silly child, this was given to you by your father, there's no reason to take it back."

He looked calmly at his daughter in front of him.

"Focus on your cultivation and take good care of the Underworld. Your father has other matters to attend to and doesn't have the extra energy to manage the trivial affairs of the Underworld."

Bai Ling'er looked up at Zhou Ming, her gaze solemn, and nodded heavily.

"Father, rest assured, Ling'er will definitely take good care of the underworld for you."

"Well, just don't neglect your own cultivation. You should go back now. Father should also go see his old friends."

Bai Ling'er nodded in response and did not ask any further questions.

Although she secretly wondered who her father's old friend was, since he was an old acquaintance, he must have his own arrangements.

She didn't linger; with a flash, she left.

After Bai Ling'er left, Zhou Ming separated a wisp of his consciousness and sent it into Chu Yuan's body.

With a flicker of its body, it instantly returned to the cave.

Although this was merely a wisp of his consciousness that had been separated out, and not a complete soul, it was still connected to Zhou Ming's main body.

Zhou Ming could clearly perceive everything that happened to Chu Yuan, and could control all the actions of this body in an instant without having to be present in person.

As dawn broke, morning mist enveloped Xiangguo Temple. The monks inside rose early to sweep the courtyard and chant sutras.

As always, Monk Ikkyu straightened his robes and slowly walked toward Chu Yuan's room.

For the past five years, he has come here every morning to sit in front of Chu Yuan and recite scriptures without interruption.

The monk Ikkyu raised his hand to push open the wooden door, looked at the bed, but suddenly stopped in his tracks.

In the past, Chu Yuan was not so dull-looking as to lack spirit in his eyes.

But today, Chu Yuan sat upright on the bed, his back straight and his eyes bright.

When the monk Ikkyu saw this, his eyelids twitched involuntarily.

Without stopping, he slowly walked to the wooden table in the room, pulled out a chair and sat down. His gaze was fixed on Chu Yuan's face, and he asked in a calm tone.

"Esteemed benefactor, have you regained your memories?"

Zhou Ming remained silent, only nodding slightly in response to the other party's question.

The monk Ikkyu looked at him quietly, his face revealing neither joy nor anger. After a moment of silence, he directly ordered him to leave.

"Now that your memory has been restored, please leave Xiangguo Temple as soon as possible. This place is a Buddhist sanctuary and is not suitable for you to stay for long."

Zhou Ming looked up at the monk Ikkyu and asked the question that had been on his mind.

"Master, I observe that your true spirit has already been fully restored, so why do you continue to reincarnate?"

When the monk Ikkyu heard the question, his expression changed slightly, and he gave a simple answer.

"This matter is related to the cultivation method I practice, and is not caused by any deficiency in my true spirit."

Zhou Ming stared at the monk Ikkyu and continued speaking.

"I see. It seems that your situation is different from mine. Your true spirit has not been tampered with by anyone else."

As soon as Zhou Ming finished speaking, the calm and composed expression on the monk Ikkyu's face suddenly changed.

His relaxed expression immediately turned serious. He leaned forward slightly, his gaze fixed intently on Zhou Ming.

His gaze darted back and forth between Zhou Ming's eyebrows and eyes, trying to glean more clues from the other man's face.

"Benefactor, has your true spirit been tampered with?" Monk Ikkyu asked, enunciating each word clearly.

Zhou Ming appeared calm and unpretentious, and slowly began to recount his past "experiences".

"That's right, Master. I originally came from Earth, and I was a university student, what the world calls a student."

"In an accident, I was transported to this world. After arriving here, I discovered that I possess a special ability."

"It can absorb the various emotions of the surrounding beings and transform these emotions into resources needed for its own cultivation."

"With this ability, my cultivation level steadily improved, and I soon reached the Mahayana stage."

"It wasn't until a chance incident that I realized my true spirit had been secretly tampered with."

"After discovering this, I relinquished a portion of my true spirit and chose to reincarnate and start anew. By now, I have already experienced millions of years of reincarnation."

"Earth……"

After listening to Zhou Ming's complete account, Monk Ikkyu repeated the two words in a low voice, his gaze blank, as if searching for distant memories deep in his mind, muttering to himself.

The room fell silent; no one spoke again. Only the faint sounds of other monks moving about and sweeping the floor could be heard outside the window.

Zhou Ming sat quietly, without urging him, patiently waiting for the monk to come to his senses.

After a long while, Monk Ikkyu slowly pulled his wandering thoughts back to Zhou Ming and began to recount his own experiences.

"My experience is roughly the same as yours, except that my special abilities are different from yours."

"As long as I spread the Dharma, my own cultivation and strength will increase rapidly."

"When I first reached the Integration Stage, I noticed something was wrong with myself, so I chose to reincarnate and start over."

"I have gone through countless reincarnations over millions of years, and it has been a great struggle to repair my broken true spirit."

"But right after my true spirit was restored, I encountered a demon."

"That demon forced me to reincarnate and start over, and once again tampered with my true spirit."

"I have no other choice but to reincarnate again, and this time it will be another ten thousand years."

"Even after so many reincarnations, the methods that demon used to leave on my true spirit still cannot be removed, like a malignant tumor clinging to my bone."

At this point, the monk Ikkyu's face showed obvious frustration, and his brows furrowed slightly.

Through countless reincarnations and countless lifetimes, he still couldn't escape that shackle. This matter had weighed on his heart for many years, and he still had no solution.

Zhou Ming took in all of Ikkyu's expressions and asked a question he already knew the answer to.

"A demon? Is it a demon from the demon realm?"

As soon as Zhou Ming regained his memory, he knew that the person in front of him was the monk Huiming.

However, when Huiming was reincarnated, he used some kind of secret technique to completely preserve all his past memories.

Furthermore, the scriptures he recited actually helped restore the true spirit.

The monk Ikkyu gently shook his head and spoke again.

"He is not from the Demon Realm. Demon lords from the Demon Realm do not possess such terrifying abilities."

Zhou Ming then showed a surprised expression and let out a soft exclamation.

"what?"

The monk Ikkyu sighed deeply, his expression carrying a hint of admonition, and continued speaking to Zhou Ming.

"Alas, now that you have broken free from control, focus on your cultivation and seek an opportunity to ascend to the upper realm as soon as possible."

"There is unimaginable terror hidden in this human world."

Zhou Ming continued to feign ignorance, asking questions he already knew the answer to.

"Huh? The dangers in the mortal realm are actually more terrifying than those in the upper realm?"

"That's right, far surpassing the upper realm."

"In one of my past lives, I was reborn in the Demon Realm. I cultivated my way up and eventually became the Demon King."

"Even at the level of a demon king, I have never seen or heard of such bizarre and unpredictable methods," Monk Ikkyu replied earnestly.

Zhou Ming put on a sincere expression, cupped his hands to the monk Yixiu, and began to speak.

"Thank you, Master, for revealing these secrets to this junior."

"I intend to finish this life and, after my next reincarnation, I will find a way to leave the human world as soon as possible."

The monk Ikkyu let out another long sigh, looked out the window at the eaves of the temple, and slowly revealed his plan.

"Alas, this old monk is prepared to live out this life peacefully for now."

"If I am able to be reborn in a place with abundant spiritual energy in my next life, I plan to ascend to the Buddhist realm and then slowly seek a way to resolve the hidden dangers of the true spirit."