The stunning young woman let out a gentle sigh and shook her head at David Bolton. Her melodious voice rang out: “The Yin-Yang old monster Robert Foster, a powerhouse at the top of the food chain in the Sky Net Empire, is rumored to have already broken through the innate realm. His actions are both righteous and evil, and he has long resided on the South Sea Jade^Island. If he wished, in just half a quarter of an hour, he could wipe out the entire Zhang clan; if he wished, in a single day, he could destroy the whole of Hanshan City.”

“What?!” Upon hearing this, David Bolton's expression changed dramatically, her body trembling violently. It was as if thunder rumbled in her heart, and a deep sense of regret surged like a tide, flooding her chest.

She knew the background and character of the stunning young woman, so she had no reason to doubt her words. To dare speak disrespectfully to such a terrifying existence—was it not already a stroke of great luck that he hadn’t killed her?

The raging flames burned ever fiercer.

Inside the side courtyard house, Henry Clark sat cross-legged in a stone tub, enduring excruciating pain. His mind followed the circulation path of the “Marrow Cleansing Poison Sutra,” guiding a thread of true qi to slowly flow through his meridians.

At this moment—

Within his body, whether muscle or tendon, bone or internal organs, all were shrouded in a gray-black substance, which was highly poisonous. This toxin was constantly corroding his body, damaging his physiological functions.

Every pore on Henry Clark's body was fully open, and the viscous, dark green Hundred Poisons Liquid, brimming with potent toxicity, seeped in through his open pores—strand by strand, thread by thread—like a woven net, spreading layer upon layer, covering him completely.

The agony gradually lessened.

The toxins in the Hundred Poisons Liquid seemed to have a cleansing effect. As time passed, the gray-black substance faded and diminished, and Henry Clark's bodily functions slowly began to repair themselves.

Intense heat.

It surged in from all directions, making the room feel like a steamer. Sparks began to spread like wildfire, and even buckets of icy well water thrown over the flames could only slow their advance. The purple coffin hanging from the rafters fell as the ropes burned through, landing squarely on Henry Clark's head in the stone tub.

A trickle of fresh blood.

It slid down Henry Clark's face, dripping into the medicinal liquid. In just a few breaths, the blood merged into the purple coffin at the bottom of the tub, causing it to suddenly burst forth with dazzling black and white light. The black and white intertwined, like two ferocious beasts locked in a primal struggle.

“Pfft…”

Struck on the head by the falling purple coffin, Henry Clark instantly felt his soul sway. In his sea of consciousness, the ball of radiance he had suppressed for ten years seemed to be summoned, expanding at an incredible rate.

“Crack…”

It sounded like an eggshell breaking, yet thundered in Henry Clark's mind like an explosion.

As the radiance burst forth, images flowed like water—strange characters and symbols converged into a river, then a sea, finally pouring into his sea of consciousness, intertwining and merging with his memories…

Time passed.

The Precious Medicine Shop was reduced to ruins in the raging inferno, the stifling smell of burning filling the hot air. A hunchbacked old man, disheveled and battered, stared into the side room where the flames had been extinguished, at the youth sitting cross-legged in the stone tub.

After a long while—

The hunchbacked old man slowly turned his head, his gaze falling on the stunning young woman. A flash of gratitude appeared in his cloudy eyes as he nodded and said, “Thank you for your help. May I ask your name, young lady?”

“John Foster.”

Though the stunning young woman looked a bit bedraggled, her face blackened by smoke, her smile was as warm as spring. Her eyes, bright as stars, gazed at Henry Clark in the side room as she asked, “Is his body all right?”

“He’s fine.”

The hunchbacked old man neither denied nor confirmed it.

John Foster could tell the hunchbacked old man didn’t want to discuss the matter further, nor did she wish to press him. She glanced toward the distant courtyard gate, where she saw Thomas Bolton and David Bolton standing idly, not helping to put out the fire. Suppressing a trace of disappointment, she changed the subject: “May I trouble you to enlighten me—why did the Yin-Yang old monster Robert Foster suddenly appear, only to set a fire and then leave?”

The hunchbacked old man asked, “You mean, why didn’t he just kill us outright, but only set a fire and left? Heh… He was afraid!”

“Afraid of what?”

“Afraid of my master…”

……

Time.

It seemed to pass in the blink of an eye, yet also as if countless eons had flowed by.

This… was the most unreal sensation Henry Clark had ever experienced.

The images in his mind finally froze on a certain day in his memory—a day deep within a mountain range stretching for thousands of miles, with towering peaks, roaring tigers, chattering apes, coiling dragons, and a rift in the azure sky slowly closing.

His eyelashes fluttered.

He slowly opened his eyes, and on his pale, handsome face appeared an expression that was both joyful and sorrowful, making him look especially strange. A language unlike any in this world drifted from his slightly parted lips:

“I am…”

“Edward Clark…”

“Diviner in Hemp Robes…”

“Shatterer of the Void…”

“In that case, I’ll be Henry Clark for now!”

The merging of memories was led by Edward Clark, yet for some reason, the youthful heart of Henry Clark remained intact.

This was a new world, a world of cultivation a thousand times more wondrous than Earth. Thus, he needed to be reborn as Henry Clark and step into this world.

A long time passed.