Chen Yan, who had originally been calm and composed, felt as if struck by lightning the moment he heard that name.

However, Chen Yan quickly snapped out of his daze, and his astonishment did not show on his face in the slightest.

The Chenping Continent was vast, spanning tens of millions of *li* in both length and width.

The Great Yu Dynasty, with its northern and southern courts combined, consisted of seven provinces and one capital, with a population of roughly forty million.

And secular dynasties of Great Yu's scale numbered at least ten thousand across the Chenping Continent.

Therefore, looking across the entire Chenping Continent, it was entirely possible for there to be a youth sharing the exact same name as Su Hongzhen, the continent's number one sword immortal.

But Chen Yan harbored no wishful thinking.

Back when he was in the Qingjin Ravine of Wind Ravine Valley, he had spent nearly all his leisure time reading through ancient texts and learning about the various anecdotes of the Chenping Continent's thirty-one Immortal Ascension Realm cultivators.

The Chenping Continent's thirty-first Immortal Ascension Realm cultivator, and also the last one—

The Falling Star Realman, Su Hongzhen.

While the specific dates of his birth and death were not clearly recorded in the texts, based on the time he participated in the Heavenly Summit Mountain Dao Inquiry, it could be roughly inferred that Su Hongzhen was born approximately eight thousand years ago. 𝘧𝘳𝘦ℯ𝓌𝘦𝒷𝘯𝑜𝑣𝘦𝓁.𝒸𝘰𝓂

Furthermore, based on his relatively close relationship with that legendary Daomen Xingzou of the Mirage Palace, it could also be inferred that Su Hongzhen was likely from the Western Region.

Chen Yan looked at the youth sitting on the ground, grimacing in pain.

He himself was most likely currently in the northwestern part of the Chenping Continent's Southern Region, or the southeastern part of the Western Region...

It really was possible.

"Ow, ow ow ow!"

The youth named Su Hongzhen placed his hands on the ground, trying to stand up.

"Don't move around."

Chen Yan spoke up:

"I haven't yet determined the severity of your broken ribs. If they puncture your internal organs, not even a god could save you."

Hearing this, the youth stopped moving around. He just sat on the ground, raised his hand again to gently poke his rib, then jerked his finger back as if shocked by electricity, hissing through his teeth from the cold pain.

Immediately after, the youth looked up:

"Brother, am I going to die?"

"Not for now."

Chen Yan replied.

"So I will die eventually?"

Little Su continued to ask.

"...Are you afraid of death?"

"Of course I am. Aren't you afraid of death, brother?"

The youth retorted.

"..."

Faced with this question from the youth before him, Chen Yan fell into a brief silence.

Of course he was afraid of death.

Otherwise, back in his first life, he wouldn't have gone through immense hardship to travel to the Fallen Sword Mountain Range when his lifespan was about to end, trying his luck to seek the legacy of the Falling Star Realman.

However, if he could truly die completely, it might not necessarily be a form of release.

He decided to ignore the youth's retort.

"If you're afraid of death, why did you insist on fighting those bandits to the death? Wouldn't running away have been better?"

Chen Yan said.

"I didn't want to run away."

The youth shook his head.

"Why?"

Chen Yan asked.

"..."

The youth didn't speak. He just turned his head to look at this empty village, now devoid of people after being ransacked by bandits, where he currently found himself.

"...I don't know."

Finally, the youth said.

Chen Yan also looked around the village, then said:

"Where's your home? Where can I find some food?"

"I'm not from this village."

Little Su shook his head again.

"You're not from this village?"

Chen Yan asked, puzzled.

"I was just an apprentice under the village carpenter. The day before yesterday, my master sent me to deliver goods to the town. When I came back today, the village had already become like this."

Su Hongzhen said.

"Great Yu is currently in a state of war and chaos, with deserters and bandits everywhere. The borderlands of Liaolong are indeed not peaceful."

Chen Yan said:

"What about the people from this village then?"

"I didn't see anyone."

The youth replied:

"From the moment I returned, I haven't seen a single soul. Maybe they all fled before the bandits arrived, or maybe..."

He didn't voice the other possibility.

But both Chen Yan and Little Su understood it well between them.

Immediately after, Chen Yan squatted down again, reaching his hand towards Little Su's ribs.

"Hisss..."

The youth sucked in another sharp breath of cold air.

He seemed to be very afraid of pain.

Afraid of pain, and afraid of death.

This was indeed human nature. But once Chen Yan associated this kind of behavior with the Falling Star Realman revered by all Immortals in later ages, it felt utterly absurd.

Perhaps it really was just a case of having the same name.

"Not bad, just minor fractures. They won't be life-threatening."

Chen Yan said:

"But you still need to rest and recuperate properly."

Hearing this, the youth nodded.

Chen Yan looked up again, surveying the bandit-plundered village he currently found himself in, and let out a soft sigh.

He probably wouldn't be able to find any food here.

Little Su seemed to have guessed what Chen Yan was currently thinking and spoke up:

"Brother, are you very hungry right now?"

"Yeah."

Chen Yan nodded.

As mentioned before, the appetite of a Body Forging Realm cultivator far exceeded that of ordinary people.

"I know a wonton shop in town. It's really delicious, with thin wrappers and generous fillings. Especially when you add their special pickled vegetables to the wonton soup... Hisss!"

Speaking with excitement, Little Su seemed to forget about his current injury. A slight movement of his upper body brought another wave of intense pain.

"How far is the town?"

Chen Yan asked.

"If you walk fast, it takes about half a day."

The youth replied.

After thinking for a moment, Chen Yan immediately made a decision.

He first found a pushcart in front of the village mill, then moved Little Su onto the cart.

Chen Yan needed Little Su to guide him.

Moreover, leaving this youth, who had broken thirteen out of his twenty-four ribs, in this plundered village to fend for himself would lead to a predictable outcome.

After all, the kid kept calling him "brother."

More importantly, his name was Su Hongzhen.

...

And so, Chen Yan pushed the cart carrying Little Su, heading in the direction of the town the youth had mentioned.

Su Hongzhen was very talkative.

The entire journey, he chattered incessantly.

He told Chen Yan about his past, saying he was an orphan. His mother died from difficult labor when he was born, and his father passed away from illness when he was three.

After his father's death, his aunt, seeing how pitiful the child was, took him into her home.

Little Su's uncle was originally a merchant in Liaolong's Huangquan City, and the family was quite well-off.

Until later, when he went into business with a partner, he was cheated. The partner ran off with the funds, leaving Little Su's uncle saddled with a mountain of debt.

From then on, the family's fortunes plummeted.

And after the family's situation worsened, Little Su's uncle began to look at him with increasing displeasure.

However, Little Su was only nine years old at the time, and his uncle never said anything directly to him.

Instead, he made sarcastic, veiled remarks to his aunt in private.

Su Hongzhen was smart. He understood everything.

He knew very well that things turning out this way was not his uncle's fault, and even less so his aunt's fault.

It was his own fault.