This vengeful spirit's nightmare curse is completely entwined with the soul, and cannot be resisted by external bodily stimuli.

  After a brief moment of clarity following a bout of madness, Chen thought to himself that in this situation he would either sink into becoming a madman or save himself.

  "Those thoughts come from the soul, and it's impossible to drive them away, they can only be suppressed and sealed. Chen Jing couldn't do that, so he could only take a step back and think again."

  Thoughts, all sorts of thoughts, flooded and submerged the original scenery of consciousness. Thoughts, ideas...

  Chen Jing woke up again from the chaos, frowning and deep in thought. He felt that he had heard about this kind of mentality before, but couldn't remember it for a moment. As he thought, all sorts of chaotic thoughts rushed up again, and he fell into all kinds of madness once more, not knowing what he was doing, who he was, or where he was.

  A long, long time ago, it seemed that there was a person standing at the top of the mountain, looking down at the vast expanse of life, gazing up at the endless stars, and casually sighing.

  "What is it? Is..."

  Chen Jingru suddenly couldn't think of it, and as soon as he thought about it, he felt annoyed and uncomfortable. Following that was a desire to kill someone, to destroy everything. "Who is it, who is it, who exactly said something, said something, you say...say!"

  Nor did I know how long it had been, nor how far I had traveled in the darkness, and whether this underworld had years or months, if so, they must be lunar years, lunar months.

  "Whether it is an ordinary person or a cultivator, the greatest enemy is not others, but oneself, one's own heart. When a person can control their thoughts and make use of them, they can reach a very high state. This is true for ordinary people, and even more so for cultivators."

  Chen Jing finally remembered this sentence after an extremely painful experience, which was said by the old swordsman. At that time, he stood one step behind the old swordsman, still young and naive, unable to understand, but he kept it in his heart.

  Chen Jing remembered that Lao Jianke had said this before. At the time, he replied: "If a person's thoughts can all be controlled by himself, then he is no longer human."

  The old swordsman just smiled lightly and didn't know if he was laughing at his own ignorance or the people in his memories.

  "Some people don't even consider themselves human, in their hearts they are gods, and gods are to be worshipped by ordinary people."

  "Immortals? Are they wrong?"

  "In this world, what is right and wrong? All things are changing, calamity and fortune come from oneself. If one day you find yourself trapped in various distracting thoughts and can't extricate yourself, there's a way to get rid of them."

  At that time, Chen Jing didn't think he would be in such a situation. He thought to himself that it was no big deal if he couldn't get rid of his distracting thoughts. He just habitually asked: "What's the solution?"

  "All distracting thoughts arise from the mind, no matter how powerful the thought is, it arises from the mind. If you negate or forget everything about yourself, then any thought is just a rootless tree." The words of Lao Jianke seemed to come through time and space.

  "Deny? Forget? How can one deny forgetting oneself." Chen Jing muttered to himself, denying himself meant: "I am not me, then who am I..."

  Just as he thought of this, Chen Jing suddenly looked up at the sky, and a long-forgotten feeling surged into his heart.

  "Is this world real? A thought and it's born, perhaps I'm a butterfly, a butterfly flying among the flowers... All of this is just my dream, it's time to wake up..."

  His palms opened in front of him, and a cluster of sword silhouettes floated above his palm, with shattered sword fragments suspended within. Chen Jing's mind sank into it, communicating with the fragmented sword fragments, his consciousness fully immersed in them. The chaotic thoughts merged with one of the sword fragments, and his heart suddenly felt lighter. Those chaotic evil thoughts that had risen up suddenly disappeared, but Chen Jing himself fell into another kind of illusion. He thought he was an insect, a caterpillar striving to transform into a butterfly.

  But the place where he was located was in a black cocoon, without any freedom. Fortunately, he could continuously absorb spiritual energy from outside the black cocoon. He himself also knew that if this continued, one day he might really not wake up and would truly think of himself as an insect. But there was no other way, otherwise the curse would attach itself to his soul, devouring any emotions produced in his heart and strengthening itself.

  The caterpillar transforms into a butterfly, gradually absorbing the yin energy of heaven and earth.

  In the darkness, Chen Jing sat there with a handful of sword fragments, the fragments stuck together to form a damaged sword, and the sword body was completely submerged in the darkness. Far and near, there seemed to be ghostly shadows and eerie whispers, but none dared to approach within ten feet of Chen Jing, as if he had something on him that could inspire fear in them.

  One year here is just one day outside in heaven and earth.

  At the time when Chen Jing was haunted by the vengeful spirits, a major event occurred in the outside world.

  The extermination of the Qian Luo Mountain that year was just a small matter of blooming and falling for the entire world, but the rumors that followed were like the spring breeze blowing away winter, spreading to all famous mountains, great swamps, immortal sects, and Taoist schools in a short period of time.

  "Qianluomen's master had discovered the secret of why cultivators hadn't become immortals in heaven and earth for a thousand years... This secret not only led to infighting within the sect, but also brought about external calamity. One night, the sect was destroyed, and out of three thousand disciples, only two survived. These two included Jiang Liuyun, because Chen Jing wasn't well-known to many people."

  As time passed among the red flowers and green leaves, another rumor appeared in the world: "Jiang Liu Yun obtained the Xiantian Lingbao of the ancient great power, which contains the secrets of the unsuccessful cultivation of the immortal Tao for thousands of years..."

  It seems that everything revolves around Qian Luomen, and the center of everything is on Jiang Liuyun's body. However, this year, the most dazzling person in the world is a woman who has always followed behind Jiang Liuyun - Ye Qingxue.

  In the early years, everyone's impression of Ye Qingxue was just a flash of lightning and a white dress. However, after Chen Jing fell into Qin Guangcheng, when discussing the outstanding disciples of various major immortal mountains and Taoist sects, people would inevitably ask: "Compared to Ye Qingxue, how is it?"

  But all this has nothing to do with Chen Jing at this moment, even if it does, he is powerless.

  The Heaven-Defying Sword had already developed cracks when it blocked the black-armored knight for Ye Qingxue, and later shattered into fragments in a battle to ascend to the city head. Fortunately, the sword's will was formed, so even if it was fragmented, it was still shrouded by the sword's will.

  Afterwards, Chen Jing never had the time to truly examine the Misty Heaven Sword, but the sword miraculously reassembled itself, shrouded in black smoke. If it weren't for Chen Jing's own words, no one would have been able to see the dense scars on the sword's body.

  Now this sword is even more so, if someone is there, they can't see the sword held in Chen Jing's hand sitting there. And those with keen senses will feel that it is a life, a life that is inhaling and exhaling yin energy.

  Chen Jing's perception of the outside world did not disappear, but instead became even more acute. However, this perception no longer came from his own spiritual power and divine sense, but rather from that worm. All emotions within him had disappeared, yet he could feel a dangerous aura approaching, as if something was sighing in his ear, and it seemed like something terrifying was sizing him up in front of him. The worm's perception of danger was innate, far more acute and clear than Chen Jing's previous senses.

  It was restless, vigilant, and the Misty Heaven Sword suddenly trembled violently, emitting a faint hum that spread out with each tremor, like someone repeatedly drawing their sword with a burst of murderous intent in the darkness.

  Danger disappears, and after the sound of sword humming, danger will go far away. However, it won't be long before a new sense of danger appears. Chen Jing even heard the sound of iron chains being dragged on the ground, as if someone with iron chains tied to their feet was walking by. Occasionally, there were whispers in the distance, but they couldn't be heard clearly.

  The aura of the yin spirits was extremely strong, and the Misty Heaven Sword was inhaling and exhaling this aura. Chen Jing's physical body was also being enveloped and dyed by this aura. All 3.6 billion pores on his body were breathing in and out this aura, but this could only change his physical body at most. However, it couldn't increase Chen Jing's magical powers because he now belonged to the divine path, and his powers were limited by the Imperial Seal of the Divine Position. Fortunately, after disappearing from the Heavenly Court, gods who left their designated territories would not be punished by heaven, but only rejected by other spaces. This was something that Chen Jing had never fully understood, and he could only guess that it must have something to do with the Imperial Seal. The rejection wasn't of people, but of the Imperial Seal itself.

  Dark and quiet without years, a dream a thought has already been a hundred years.

  He had been sitting for a hundred years, and suddenly he woke up. The dark sky and earth entered his eyes, but his eyes already had a hint of confusion. He looked around for a while, and finally figured out what was going on with himself.

  Lowering his head to look at the sword in his hand, the insects within the sword seemed like living creatures, still slowly absorbing the yin energy. The layer of light surrounding the sword body was gradually taking shape, no longer like smoke and fog, but had become a substantial black glow.

  "Xuanhuang? It's actually going to become Xuanhuang!" Chen Jing was overjoyed in his heart, but just as the thought of surprise arose in his mind, the turbulent and entangling negative emotions in his heart surged down like a tidal wave, drowning him before he could even react.

  Everything came so suddenly, all efforts to resist were in vain. Wave after wave, one after another.

  It's also unknown how long it took, but the negative emotions brought by this resentment seemed to have weakened a bit. The remaining self-awareness in Chen Jing's heart didn't disappear after all. Taking advantage of the opportunity, he merged with the sword and transformed into a butterfly-like insect. This time, unlike the first time, he didn't immediately enter a state of confusion, but was instead subjected to intense interference. If someone were here, they would see that on Chen Jing's face, which was as red as a demon's, his eyes were fiercely trembling, seemingly about to open at any moment and shoot out terrifying glances, killing everything in all directions. The feeling it gave people was like something inside a coffin struggling to get out, but ultimately unable to escape.

  In the world, there are countless living creatures. Within the bounds of the heavens, if there is a chance to obtain a demon, all beasts, birds, fish, and insects can become one. This insect doesn't know its name, at least Chen Jing doesn't know it, nor does he know how long it has been refined into a Gu worm. Although it can swallow and spit out spiritual energy, it still remains in a state of ignorance, its spiritual intelligence not yet opened, or perhaps its gradually opening spiritual intelligence had already been altered and erased, leaving only the insect's innate abilities and talents being manipulated by the person who cultivated the Gu. However, Chen Jing doesn't understand the method of control, nor does the land god Qin Hu, so both Chen Jing and the land god are entranced by the Gu worm's innate abilities, their consciousness trapped within the insect's body. It's just that one is willing, while the other is unable.