Simultaneous Transmigration: From Japanese Anime to American Comics

Chapter 166: A New Chu Yang! A New World!

The ferry plan was eloquently explained by Chu Yang.

Everyone listened in a daze.

"Making a boat fly in the sky—can that really be done?"

Xiahou Jinxuan lost his usual refined demeanor and became as excited as a monkey.

"Young Master, don't get so worked up. If the Sect Master says it's possible, then it's definitely possible. You'd better start preparing your silver."

Xie Cangxing also looked somewhat expectant. However, as an official disciple, he would learn sword-flying techniques even without the ferry, so he was much calmer than the others.

"As expected of Shu Mountain—their grand vision is truly humbling," Mo Yi said admiringly.

Jiang Cheng mused, "With this, we can also travel to the Divine Continent and find a way to help Brother Long obtain the Shennong Cauldron."

Xia clapped her hands joyfully. "Exactly! Like the saying goes, three cobblers are better than—uh, something…"

Xiahou Jinxuan sighed. "It's Zhuge Liang, Xia girl. How do you not even know who Master Kongming is?"

Xia's face flushed red. She placed her hands on her hips and angrily retorted, "So what if you know famous people? You're still weak and frail. I could knock you out with one punch!"

Seeing her get so worked up, Xiahou Jinxuan genuinely feared she might punch him, and quickly waved his hands to plead for mercy. "Alright, alright, I know your fists are powerful. It was my mistake, okay?"

Xia raised her head proudly and laughed smugly. "At least you know when to admit defeat."

Long Ming smiled and said, "Then I shall await good news from all of you. The communication technique has reached its limit."

After that, Long Ming's voice no longer sounded.

"For now, Elder Mo Yi will safeguard the Water Spirit Pearl. With matters here concluded, I shall take my leave."

Chu Yang turned around and was about to leave when he saw Mu Changlan anxiously blocking his path.

"Sect Master Chu, could you come with me to Misty Village?"

Only then did Chu Yang remember that Mu Changlan's matter had yet to be resolved—the entire Misty Village's dozens of residents depended on ghostly energy to survive and could never step outside.

"You've somewhat redeemed yourself. Very well, I'll accompany you."

Upon hearing this, Mu Changlan burst into tears. She had waited more than ten years for this moment.

"Sister Mu, I want to go too!"

"Miss Mu, I'm also curious about the place where you grew up."

"I'll come along as well."

Everyone chimed in enthusiastically, and it was finally decided that they would all visit Misty Village together.

The fact that the villagers never aged was enough to stir immense curiosity.

Xiahou Jinxuan hesitated for a moment but then said he wanted to go too.

"Young Master, you're already home. Why not just enjoy a comfortable life here instead of rushing off again?" Xie Cangxing couldn't understand Xiahou Jinxuan's thinking. During their journey to Shu Mountain, he had complained endlessly about the difficult mountain roads, eager to return home—so why was he suddenly interested in another long trip?

"Miss Mu is also my friend. Since it's something important, of course I want to help."

While speaking, Xiahou Jinxuan stole a glance at Xia.

Mu Changlan understood immediately and covered her mouth to hide a laugh. "If Young Master is willing to accompany us, all the better. Plus, we'll have someone to cover the travel expenses."

Xie Cangxing's eyes lit up, and he nodded repeatedly. "Indeed, we truly can't do without the Young Master."

Xiahou Jinxuan shook his head and laughed. "More like you can't do without my money pouch."

Jiang Cheng remained silent, seemingly deep in thought.

Seeing this, Xiahou Jinxuan said, "Brother Jiang, I know you want to come clean with Uncle Ouyang, but there's no need to rush. Once we're done with Misty Village, we'll accompany you to Broken Sword Manor."

Jiang Cheng shook his head. "After Miss Mu's matter is settled, I'll go back alone."

Xia huffed angrily. "Brother Jiang, you're really stubborn sometimes! What's wrong with letting friends help? It's not like only you are allowed to help others!"

Jiang Cheng hesitated.

Chu Yang explained for him, "He's probably worried that if his demonic lineage is exposed, it will drag you all down with him. If he goes alone, even if Ouyang Ying can't accept him, it will only affect him. He doesn't want to implicate the rest of you."

"Ah..." Xia looked at Jiang Cheng with a complicated expression and fell silent.

"Miss Xia and Brother Xie are fine—they have Sect Master Chu's protection and don't need to worry about gossip. But if Young Master Xiahou and Miss Mu are associated with me, they might face great difficulties in the future. Even if I accept myself, the world may not."

After much internal struggle, Jiang Cheng voiced his concern. He wasn't afraid of being exposed—he only worried that his friends would suffer for it.

"Brother Jiang, I'm not a child. I know what I'm doing and will take responsibility for my own choices." Xiahou Jinxuan said seriously, "Even if you don't want us to, I will still go with you to Broken Sword Manor."

Mu Changlan and Xia both nodded.

Xie Cangxing chuckled. "Even our Sect Master is friends with Demonic Lord Chonglou. He doesn't fear the world's judgment—what do we little shrimp have to fear? As they say, if the upper beam is crooked, the lower beams are bound to be askew..."

Before he could finish, Chu Yang kicked him hard on the backside. "Nothing good ever comes out of your mouth! Since you love playing with words so much, when we return, copy all the books on the first floor of the Scripture Pavilion ten times."

Xie Cangxing's lips trembled, and his face visibly turned pale.

Glaring at him, Chu Yang turned to the others and said, "If you've decided, then let's go. However, I have important matters to attend to and cannot accompany you personally. I will send a clone to travel with you."

As he spoke, there was a loud bang, and smoke billowed out. Another "Chu Yang" appeared before everyone's eyes.

A chorus of gasps rang out.

"There are two Sect Masters!"

Xia pointed at the newly appeared clone and shouted.

Xiahou Jinxuan marveled, "What a marvelous spell—lifelike and indistinguishable from the real thing."

Rubbing his chin thoughtfully, Xie Cangxing considered: if he could learn this spell, he could have someone else help him copy books. He resolved to ask his Sect Master about it later.

After leaving the clone behind, Chu Yang suddenly vanished from their sight.

"We need to hurry! If my father finds out at daybreak, I might not be able to leave."

Xiahou Jinxuan urged everyone forward.

Before departing, he couldn't help but turn to look at "Xiahou Tao."

"Don't worry. I'll explain everything to your father."

"Xiahou Tao" smiled kindly, looking just like he always had.

Xiahou Jinxuan was momentarily dazed, then bowed deeply without saying a word.

This bow was not only for the deceased but also for the decade of upbringing and care he had received.

Meanwhile—

Inside the Soul Palace—

The divine tree, which had only recently appeared, suddenly burst into a soft, glowing radiance, illuminating the silent palace.

A snow-white, translucent fruit formed on one of the branches. It was no bigger than a fingertip and clearly not yet mature, but it was already incredibly exciting.

"Why did it suddenly grow fruit?"

Pirate Chu Yang was puzzled.

"Look! It's like there are images flickering inside the fruit!"

Through the fruit, everyone could see fleeting glimpses of an immortal world, with the final image freezing at the moment Xiahou Jinxuan bade farewell to "Xiahou Tao."

"Was it because we changed the plot? Or something else?"

"We don't know yet, but that's a possibility. There's too little intel—we'll have to keep observing."

"What exactly is this fruit for?"

"Maybe eating it gives chakra again?"

"If that's all, then how's it any different from the divine tree in the Naruto world?"

"Patience—something that appears in the Soul Palace can't be that simple."

As they discussed animatedly, most were filled with eager anticipation for the fruit's eventual ripening.

Magic Chu Yang watched for a while, then returned to the lab and brought out the Demon-Refining Tower that Xianxia Chu Yang had given him days earlier. They had been working overtime trying to understand why the water demon beast had turned into a Water Demon Pearl upon refining.

Though they hadn't fully solved the mystery, the other demon beasts brought by Chonglou had also been turned into colorful pearls, now quietly lying in Magic Chu Yang's hands—looking almost like marbles to the untrained eye.

Each beast corresponded to a Demon Pearl, linked to one of the five elements. But unlike the gentle energy of Spirit Pearls, the power within the Demon Pearls was fierce and aggressive, requiring great strength to control.

"If a creature with high cultivation can be refined into a magic treasure, then is the cause the array... or something else?"

"Could it be an accidental mutation from the Devourer Gu's properties?"

"It's not impossible…"

Carrying the five Demon Pearls and the Demon-Refining Tower, Magic Chu Yang left the lab. Since they had no solid leads, he decided to return the items to Xianxia Chu Yang for now.

When he reached the grand hall, Xianxia Chu Yang had just stepped out of the nebula. Magic Chu Yang handed the items over.

"Any clues?"

Magic Chu Yang shook his head. "We'll have to run controlled experiments using the Devourer Gu. My gut feeling says it's a mutation—bloodline experiments often show such anomalies."

"So you're saying that monsters over ten thousand years old will likely be refined into magic treasures, and it's just luck?"

"Exactly."

Xianxia Chu Yang frowned. "Magic treasures aren't very useful to us. We don't fight with them, and we're not used to using them either. Only utility-type treasures might be worthwhile."

"That just means that the thousand years of cultivation are wasted…"

Magic Chu Yang laughed. "It's not like ancient monsters are easy to find. Without Chonglou's help, where would you even get five Demon Pearls? You might never encounter another one for the rest of your life."

"You comfort people just like Xie Cangxing," Xianxia Chu Yang said helplessly. "But you're right—finding them won't be easy."

The two chatted and laughed. Meanwhile, the divine tree's fruit steadily grew, becoming plump and crimson, swaying heavily on its branch.

"Come quickly—the fruit's about to fall!"

Demon Slayer Chu Yang shouted, gathering everyone.

Under the crowd's eager gaze, Xianxia Chu Yang caught the ripe fruit.

The fruit gave off a rich, alluring fragrance—one that stirred deep, indescribable longings within the soul.

"You should eat it! It's your fruit, after all."

"Exactly. If you eat it, it's like we all eat it. Don't hesitate."

After some persuasion, Xianxia Chu Yang bit into the fruit—and it immediately turned into a beam of light that merged into him.

And then—

A marvelous new technique appeared in his mind:

Treasure Refining Art!

It allowed him to merge magic treasures into his body, strengthening it and gaining the abilities of the fused treasure!

"What a coincidence! Just what I needed…"

Only moments earlier he had been worrying about wasting ancient monsters' cultivation, and now the Treasure Refining Art appeared, solving the problem perfectly.

After synchronizing the technique's information with the others, Xianxia Chu Yang asked for suggestions on which body parts would be best for fusing the five Demon Pearls.

After some discussion, they decided on the five internal organs.

The organs naturally corresponded to the five elements: kidneys (water), liver (wood), heart (fire), spleen (earth), lungs (metal). Though the five Demon Pearls included lightning and wind instead of metal and wood, it didn't matter—the five-element forces would cycle and balance naturally.

After studying the Treasure Refining Art for a while, Xianxia Chu Yang began refining the five Demon Pearls in the hall, with the others standing guard in case anything went wrong.

Xianxia Chu Yang chanted under his breath, and the Five Demon Pearls radiated a strange light, slowly floating around him.

The Fire Demon Pearl, Earth Demon Pearl, and Water Demon Pearl were the first to enter Chu Yang's body, manifesting red, yellow, and blue hues that constantly shifted within him.

The power of the three spirits constructed a Three Talents Formation, which could further stabilize his spiritual energy.

The Wind Demon Pearl, being somewhat gentler in nature, entered Chu Yang's body next. The power of the three spirits immediately locked it down and began to slowly refine it.

By the time the Thunder Demon Pearl finally entered, Chu Yang's five viscera had already become exceptionally stable, remaining unmoved no matter how violently his spiritual energy surged.

Moments later, the spiritual energy abruptly turned docile, and the circulation of the Five Elemental Forces was established among Chu Yang's five viscera.

His internal body was strengthened to an unprecedented degree.

Heart, liver, spleen, lungs, kidneys—every organ's enhancement exponentially boosted Chu Yang's overall physical attributes!

In addition to his body, Chu Yang simultaneously gained the ability to control the five elemental forces of thunder, wind, water, fire, and earth.

"Brothers, I've successfully switched from a warrior to a mage!"

Overjoyed, Chu Yang eagerly shared his current state.

"There was actually a cultivation technique inside the fruit!"

"Could it be that each fruit contains a cultivation technique?"

"Maybe it's not just techniques. What if it's something else next time?"

"I feel the same. There could be more."

"Luckily, what we got this time suits us perfectly."

"I want to test the power of the Five Elemental Forces!"

"Count me in!"

Before long, the Soul Palace was filled with flashes of lightning and deafening thunder, fires soaring skyward, sudden gusts of rainstorms, and even meteor showers.

If the palace grounds hadn't been large enough, the entire building would've likely been torn down.

...…

The world of the Ming Dynasty.

Qixia Town.

On a dark and stormy night, Chu Yang and a lively, beautiful girl were tied to a stone mill. The girl was angrily muttering under her breath.

"Junior Sister, I told you long ago that we need to keep a low profile when traveling the jianghu. Look where that got us—we're tied to a stone mill now. We're not even donkeys."

"You're one to talk! If you hadn't dragged me down, how could I have lost to that stupid waiter?!"

"They're already calling us the Malevolent Duo, and you still don't realize this is a misunderstanding?"

"Misunderstanding my ass! We're the Twin Heroes! If you hadn't blown our cover, how could we have been ambushed? You're so dumb! I should never have brought you out on the road!"

"Twin Heroes? You've been nothing but trouble this whole trip! I went to buy some buns, and in that short time, you managed to interrupt a wedding and nearly cripple the groom!"

"He was obviously abducting that girl! You didn't see how heartbroken she was! If I hadn't rescued her, her life would've been ruined!"

"Bullshit! That Miss Zhao wasn't kidnapped—she had been rejected multiple times because of her looks, and this was the first man who didn't care about her appearance. She was crying tears of joy at her wedding! You completely ruined it!"

"You're full of nonsense!"

"Nonsense? After you beat up the groom and ran off, I stayed to apologize. I even delivered silver to Miss Zhao in the middle of the night, only to be surrounded and nearly beaten to death by the groom's people!"

"And what about when I saved that little beggar at the Eighteen-Mile Inn? That old bastard was about to burn him alive with fire cupping!"

"Don't even get me started! We had just booked two rooms at the inn, and when I turned around, I saw you beating up a doctor! That old man was treating the beggar with fire cupping—a rare act of kindness these days!"

"I don't care! You're just jealous that my martial arts are better than yours! You can't stand me being heroic without you!"

Chu Yang sighed heavily, feeling like crying but having no tears. Every time Guo Furong caused trouble, she was always a step ahead of him, and afterward, she never listened to reason—always repeating the same excuse.

He should have stayed comfortably in the capital. He didn't know whether his brain had short-circuited or what, but somehow he had been dragged along to wander the jianghu with her.

"I'm such an idiot…"

After much reflection, Chu Yang could only sum up his actions with that single phrase.

Finally reaching the town, it was already late. Without gathering any information, Chu Yang casually picked an inn to stay at—only to end up at the Tongfu Inn.

A place full of 'talent.'

While arranging accommodations, Guo Furong carelessly let slip that they were the Malevolent Duo, and that night, Bai Zhantang secretly struck their acupuncture points and tied them up behind the inn at the stone mill.

And yet she still had the nerve to blame him for it.

"I wonder if we'll even survive till morning…" Guo Furong sobbed, her face full of grievance. "I miss my dad… If he were here, he could've taken them down in two or three moves."

"With your brainless attitude, you're guaranteed to live a long life. No need to worry at all." Chu Yang sighed and cursed silently, If your father saw everything you've done on this journey, he'd beat you into a vegetable without hesitation.

Unable to vent her anger, Guo Furong began criticizing Chu Yang again. "You entered the sect earlier than me, and you studied my dad's Surging Waves Palm for so many years! How come you're still worse than me?"

Chu Yang was long used to this level of mockery and remained completely unbothered. Calmly, he replied, "Limited talent. Luckily, I'm rich. Even with lousy martial arts, I can still live well."

Remembering Chu Yang's reckless extravagance back in the capital, Guo Furong was utterly speechless. He always bought two of everything—using one and throwing the other away. She had never seen such a wasteful rich kid.

Normally, if any other spoiled brat had spent money like that, her father, the great hero Guo, would have given them a harsh beating. But when it came to Chu Yang, from childhood to now, she had never heard her father criticize him once.

Only endless praise.

During training, even slight laziness from other disciples would earn a beating—but only Chu Yang could rightfully slack off.

Thus, Guo Furong had always been extremely curious about Chu Yang's true identity. She had tried to ask a few times before but was always scolded harshly by her father.

"There's something I've always wanted to ask you, but Dad never lets me."

"Spit it out already!"

"Why does Dad tell us to call you Chu Yang, but secretly he calls you Young Master Zhu? Is your surname Chu or Zhu?"

"None of your business. I'll be whatever I damn well please."

Chu Yang snapped back curtly, as if she had touched upon something deeply unpleasant.

Ever since he transmigrated to this strange world, Chu Yang's days could best be described as walking on thin ice.

In truth, his luck wasn't bad—he had been reborn into the Zhu family.

Zhu, as in Zhu Yuanzhang.

Being born into an imperial family had its perks and its dangers. Riches were endless—if you could survive. The Zhu family's traditions weren't much different from the Li family: fratricide was a common theme.

When he first transmigrated, Chu Yang had harbored naive ideals. He worked hard to impress the late Emperor, hoping to earn recognition.

And in a way, he succeeded.

Chu Yang vividly remembered that during a birthday banquet, the late Emperor looked at him and said, "Ayang is most like me when I was young."

That one sentence instantly silenced the entire, bustling hall.

It took a long time before anyone dared speak again.

That very night, Chu Yang "accidentally" fell into a lake. He barely escaped drowning—or freezing to death.

But compared to the icy lake water, the chill of that palace chilled him even more.

Because the one who pushed him into the lake was his own brother—the current Emperor.

After that, the late Emperor suddenly passed away, and Chu Yang swiftly transformed from a model student into a debauched wastrel, mastering every vice under the sun. No one in the capital dared provoke him.

A very cliché tactic: self-destruction. But it worked flawlessly.

Though he forfeited any chance at the throne, he survived—and lived quite comfortably.

Most importantly, the newly crowned Emperor genuinely believed he had become a useless playboy, no longer seeing him as a threat, and even trusting him greatly.

Thus, this performance had continued for more than a decade.

Recently feeling stifled, Chu Yang decided to escape the capital for a while, wandering the jianghu with Guo Furong. Compared to all the outrageous things he had done, this was nothing.

After leaving the palace, Chu Yang realized the world was nothing like he had imagined.

He had seen a man slice a river in two with a single sword.

He had seen a warrior punch the sky itself, tearing a gaping hole in the heavens.

He had seen men walking through the air beneath the moonlight, like immortals descending from the heavens.

More terrifyingly, he had seen a colossal demon soar into the skies—only to be casually decapitated by a peerless swordsman who then vanished into the night.

In short—

This world was seriously messed up!

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