Chapter 1 When the First Ray of Sunlight Shines into the Living Room

When the first ray of sunlight shone into the living room that morning, Zhao Xi woke up on the unfamiliar sofa. She shook her head vigorously, feeling like she'd had a very long nightmare. It took her a while to piece together her scattered memories, and a full minute passed before she completely remembered what had happened.

Hao Ren was already sitting on the opposite sofa, waiting. Seeing the female demon hunter wake up, he greeted her with a smile, "Yo, you're awake?"

"Yeah... thanks." Zhao Xi said sincerely, sitting up and straightening her clothes. She had slept in her clothes last night, so she only needed to tidy them up a little. She looked around and saw that Liu Sheng had woken up even earlier and was sitting in the corner of the living room playing chess with Izhaks.

"I never thought... I'd be in a place like this one day," Zhao Xi said, rubbing her temples. She had been a little disoriented after coming out of the medical equipment yesterday, and her thoughts had been sluggish, so she had quickly rested. But now she had recovered, and she couldn't help but feel a million emotions about her experience. "Our first meeting wasn't very pleasant."

"Let bygones be bygones. Anyway, the top dog and the number two of you demon hunters are both in my house now, so logically, we're on the same side," Hao Ren said magnanimously, waving his hand. "How do you feel now?"

Zhao Xi checked her physical condition and nodded. "Fully recovered, and it doesn't look like there are any after-effects."

At this time, the others in the house also knew that Zhao Xi was awake and came over to join the fun. Liu Sheng also stopped his chess game to check on his subordinate's condition. After confirming that Zhao Xi had really fully recovered, Liu Sheng seemed a little excited. "That's good, that's good... we really can't afford to lose any more people..."

Zhao Xi had probably rarely seen her mentor-like superior show such excitement, and she couldn't help but smile awkwardly. "I'm fine..."

Liu Sheng suddenly seemed a little dazed, as if something was wrong. After thinking for a long time, he finally realized, "Um, Zhao Xi, your facial paralysis is cured?"

The smile on Zhao Xi's face immediately froze, and Lily next to her immediately joined in the fun. "Hey! Landlord, look, her facial paralysis is really cured! Did she just smile? Come on, give this lady another smile, I'm your late emperor..."

Before she could finish speaking, Vivian grabbed her tail and dragged her behind her, scolding her as she dragged her, "Can't you be quiet for a bit in the morning! Why do you have to stick your nose in everything?"

Hao Ren looked at the stiff expression on Zhao Xi's face and explained very seriously, "Maybe the medical equipment cured your facial paralysis yesterday."

Zhao Xi: "..."

Vivian rolled her eyes from afar, and Hao Ren immediately coughed twice to correct the topic. "Ahem, that issue is not important, we are focusing on the wrong point. Actually, I have something I want to ask you two: Do you know if there are any similar cases to Zhao Xi's in the demon hunters?"

"Similar to Zhao Xi's situation?" Liu Sheng's expression suddenly became serious. "You mean..."

"You probably don't know about the 'Goddess'," Vivian sat down next to Hao Ren. She looked at Liu Sheng's eyes and nodded slightly. "So I can only give you a rough explanation: The Corpus space where the demon hunters live is actually the ruins left by a powerful god. This god is not one of those alien false gods from ancient times on Earth, but a real god who can change the rules of the universe – you've seen a real god, so you must know what I mean. Now it seems that the true god did not completely dissipate after falling. Part of her will still occupies Corpus, and these wills can easily affect the minds of mortals. Zhao Xi should have been 'parasitized' by this power. Now we are worried that Zhao Xi is not an isolated case."

Vivian's concerns were not a whim but something she suddenly thought of while discussing the problem with Hao Ren yesterday. The Goddess's remaining thoughts in Zhao Xi's soul were just a simple sentence. Although this sentence was of great significance, it was still just an insignificant "fragment," and the entire huge Corpus space probably harbored more than just this bit of the Goddess's power. If the Creator Goddess had more obsessions left behind, then the demon hunters' crisis was far from over.

Liu Sheng and Zhao Xi really didn't know about the "Goddess." Demon hunters of their level could only be considered mid- to high-level soldiers. If Hao Ren's family didn't happen to live in their garrison area, they wouldn't even have the right to know the true identities of Vivian and Lily. Therefore, they naturally didn't know the "truth of another universe." But after experiencing the Corpus internal strife, they had also roughly heard about the ancient power hidden in the demon hunter's sanctuary. So Vivian's words were not difficult for them to understand. Liu Sheng sat upright. "I haven't heard of anyone with the same situation as Zhao Xi – because I spent a long time recovering from my injuries, and Zhao Xi's situation was like that, so the two of us left Corpus very late. When we left, all the demon hunters suffering from 'Soul Separation Syndrome' except for Zhao Xi had already recovered. So there should be no other 'carriers'. But your concern makes a lot of sense: It cannot be ruled out that Corpus still retains that power. It may be hidden in any corner, and... the demon hunters have no power to fight against it."

Hao Ren and Vivian looked at each other, and then he turned to Liu Sheng and nodded slightly. "Okay, we know what to do."

"Then we won't bother you any longer." Liu Sheng pulled Zhao Xi up to say goodbye. He knew that the help that demon hunters of his level could provide to Hao Ren was limited to this. The rest was probably something that the Ancients had to consider. So he clasped his hands and said in a rather ancient style, "Great kindness is beyond words. We two can't repay your help to Zhao Xi this time. In the future, as long as there is anything we can help with, just ask. The two of us will go through fire and water, we will not hesitate!"

Obviously, as professional demon warriors, Liu Sheng and Zhao Xi were both straightforward people at heart. Faced with the great help Hao Ren provided to them, the two did not thank him profusely but directly made this promise.

According to normal circumstances, in this atmosphere and environment, Hao Ren, as the host, should have suddenly stood up, clasped his hands, and said a series of things like "The green hills will not change, the green waters will always flow," "A little effort is not worth mentioning," "Farewell today, we will meet again in the martial world..." But Hao Ren never developed according to common sense – before Liu Sheng finished his heroic words, he directly went up and grabbed him. "Hey, don't be so polite, don't be so polite. Eat before you leave. The salted duck eggs Vivian pickled a while ago can be eaten today. You have to try them..."

So Liu Sheng and Zhao Xi ate a bellyful of salted duck eggs and went back after finishing their heroic words...

After the two demon hunters left, Lily immediately scurried to Hao Ren's side. "Landlord, landlord! I heard from Roll that you were messing with the sword last night? Why didn't you call me for such a fun thing!"

"Why do you have to join in on everything?" Hao Ren tried to push away the husky spirit who was almost licking his face. "We were doing serious business last night, why is it fun?"

Lily wagged her tail vigorously. "It's about the same thing, it's about the same thing – by the way, you actually talked to the 'sword spirit' of the Godslayer Sword? What is it like?"

"Talk to it yourself."

As Hao Ren spoke, he took out the Godslayer Sword. After the mind connection was established, the Godslayer Sword immediately entered the thinking mode and began to greet everyone in the living room. "Hello everyone, I am the Godslayer Sword, also known as Echo Wall, nicknamed Little Sword, you can call me Tongren Layman..."

Hao Ren originally only wanted to let this sword come out and say hello to everyone, but he never expected that this guy would suddenly spout these strange names as soon as he opened his mouth. He was immediately stunned. "Hey, wait a minute! Who taught you to say these things?"

The Godslayer Sword continued to answer in that honest tone. "Patian Terminal." (Patian is pinyin transliteration, no meaning provided)

Hao Ren: "... Brick! Come out and explain!"

The data terminal drilled out from some corner. "Um, partner, calm down – this machine just tested whether the mind connection between this machine's AI and the Godslayer Sword would activate its intellectual activity. After all, this machine also has a mind..."

Hao Ren gritted his teeth. "What was the test result?"

"This machine feels pretty successful – look how fast it learns!"

Hao Ren grabbed the data terminal and threw it into Dou Dou's fish tank. "Flip it!"

At this time, all of Lily's attention was on the Godslayer Sword. The husky spirit was very surprised by the Godslayer Sword's personality. "You are the Godslayer Sword? Why do you sound so honest... I thought you were very bad."

Hao Ren waved his hand. "The mistake lies in the person, not the weapon. It's just a sword, how bad can it be?"

Vivian nodded lightly. "That's right, that's the principle."

"In short, you have all met this sword. Next, let's talk about another matter," Hao Ren said, putting the Godslayer Sword away. "I'm going to visit the demon hunter headquarters again."