Jiu Xian stared at Bing Mei’ren.
No.
At Cai Xi.
The name echoed in his mind.
“Who... are you?”
He finally asked the question that had been lodged in his throat for days.
“I—I don’t know.”
Cai Xi shook her head, confusion visible in her eyes. “I remember going somewhere... with two people. Their faces are blurry. Before that—after that—I remember nothing.”
She suddenly winced, clutching her head as she sank down.
“hey—don’t push her,” Yao Qing said quickly, helping her up and shooting Jiu Xian a sharp glare. “At least now we know her name.”
Jiu Xian’s breath caught.
“G—Granny?”
The words slipped out before he could stop it.
Images crashed through his mind.
Running through the forest.
The ambush.
Blood and fire.
And a voice filled with hatred calling her name—
Cai Xi.
That was what the enemy had called her.
His chest tightened.
So it wasn’t a coincidence.
It was her.
Even if she didn’t remember… it was still her.
He stepped forward and wrapped his arms around the white-haired girl, holding her tightly.
Yao Qing followed without hesitation, hugging her from the other side. Tears streamed freely down her face.
“I’m glad you’re alive,” Yao Qing whispered.
Cai Xi stiffened.
“H-Hey!” she protested, puffing her cheeks and crossing her arms awkwardly. “I’m not your granny! I’m still young! How can you call me a grandma?!”
Despite everything—
The grief.
The confusion.
The broken memories—
A fragile sense of warmth returned.
“Hohoho~ It gladdens me to see your bond,”
A calm, resonant voice echoed through the hall.
“As much as I would enjoy letting you bask in reunion… we do not have much time.”
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The air changed.
“You will now witness secrets,” the voice continued,
“Secrets the Heavens themselves strive to conceal.”
The temperature plummeted.
Breath turned heavy in their chests.
The air pressed down like unseen hands.
Above them, the star charts on the ceiling froze mid-glimmer — constellations locked in place as though time itself had been pinned.
Sound dulled.
Sensation faded.
The trio slipped into a trance.
“Do not forget what you are about to experience…”
The voice softened, distant now.
Then—
The world shattered.
“Sect Master. The new batch of disciples has been selected.”
Jiu Xian found himself seated upon a grand throne within an immense hall.
Dragon pillars towered on either side.
Spiritual banners fluttered without wind.
Before he could react—
“Hahaha! I see… I see.”
The words left his mouth on their own.
His heart lurched.
He couldn’t move.
Couldn’t blink.
He had no control over his body.
“Are there any seeds worth cultivating?”
I’m speaking…
But it’s not me.
“Yes,” replied the beautiful woman seated to his right, her voice smooth and measured.
“There are seven Supreme-Grade spiritual roots in this batch. The elders are already competing over them.”
“Hehe~”
The woman on his left laughed softly.
Her hand rested over her slightly rounded belly as she leaned closer, voice sultry yet assured.
“It seems the sect will flourish,” she said.
“Just like our family.”
A chill crept through Jiu Xian’s chest.
‘Sorry, our what?’
Time passed.
Jiu Xian experienced the life of the Sect Master — leading the sect, making decisions beyond his will, and spending years with this new family he could not reject. He watched as a daughter was welcomed into the world, and he was forced to witness the Sect Master raise her, day by day, year by year.
Days turned into years.
Years turned into decades.
Batch after batch of disciples entered the sect, their cultivation realms steadily increasing as time flowed onward.
Most of them faded into the background.
But one disciple remained etched into Jiu Xian’s memory.
Lu Jin.
Lu Jin had entered the sect not through talent, but through obligation — admitted because an elder owed a favor to his ancestors. His spiritual root was of the lowest grade, barely qualifying him as a cultivator at all.
From the moment he arrived, scorn followed him.
Mockery.
Dismissal.
Open contempt.
A few years later, Lu Jin vanished without warning.
Searches resulted in no clues.
As if the earth devoured him.
Years passed.
When he returned, everything changed.
His cultivation had grown at an absurd pace, rising rapidly until it rivaled even the Supreme-Grade talents. Each breakthrough came effortlessly, as though resistance itself stepped aside before him.
Whenever there was no path forward, one appeared.
Whenever fate should have crushed him, it yielded instead.
Watching it all unfold, an unease settled deep within Jiu Xian’s chest.
It was as if the heavens themselves had torn open a path—
Just for Lu Jin.
He watched helplessly as his daughter developed feelings for the strange disciple named Lu Jin.
What began as curiosity soon turned into infatuation.
Again and again, he tried to guide her away from him—carefully, subtly, without revealing too much. But the more he warned her, the more stubborn she became.
One night, as the sect lay quiet beneath the stars—
“Dear,” his Dao companion said softly, worry etched into her expression,
“our sect cannot shelter this Lu Jin. His fate is shielded by the heavens.”
“I know,” he replied, voice heavy. “But what can we do… we realized it too late.”
Another woman sighed quietly beside them, her gaze distant.
“I told Xi’er the truth. I told her about fate.”
“She refused to believe it.”
“She is still young,” he said at last. “Her path is long. She will sort out her feelings… and see through this illusion.”
He wanted to believe it.
Life continued.
And then—
Calamity descended.
“Hahahaha—!”
A thunderous roar tore through the skies above the sect, shaking mountains and shattering silence.
“I finally found you… Lu Jin!”
The heavens themselves seemed to tremble.
“You cannot escape from me. Come out and meet your demise—
or I will annihilate this sect.”
In the next breath, the Sect Master vanished.
He reappeared at the sect entrance, robes billowing, eyes burning with authority.
“Which dog dares threaten the Heaven Defying Sect?”
“Are you courting death?”
The man standing outside laughed.
“Insolent cur. You have eyes, yet fail to see Mount Tai.”
“Hand over Lu Jin, and I will leave your sect intact.”
The Sect Master’s expression did not change.
“Very well,” he said calmly.
“I will give you Lu Jin.”
And then—
He unleashed everything.
Dao-Seeking Realm power erupted outward, laws manifesting as blazing comet-like forces that tore through the heavens and crashed down upon the intruder.
BOOM!
BOOM!
BOOM!
Explosions shook the world, each more violent than the last.
When the smoke cleared—
The man still stood there.
Untouched.
He laughed.
“Hahaha… that tickled.”
His gaze sharpened.
“Are you certain you do not wish to reconsider?”
The Sect Master stared at him, heart sinking.
“…I see,” the man said slowly. “So that is how it is.”
He raised a hand.
A Dao Seal materialized in the air, ancient and oppressive, radiating a pressure that made the world itself recoil.
“I—Immortal Ascension Realm…?”
“H–how is this possible?!”
Panic surged.
The Sect Master activated every defensive treasure he possessed. Sect-wide formations flared to life, layers upon layers of protection rising in desperate defiance.
The Dao Seal drifted forward.
One by one—
Treasures shattered.
Formations collapsed.
Hope disintegrated.
When the seal struck him—
Fate was decided.
The Sect Master was flung backward, coughing blood as the seal burned itself into his existence.
“You have seven days,” the man said coldly.
“Hand over Lu Jin, and I will remove the seal.”
His eyes gleamed with cruelty.
“Protect him… and I will make you watch your sect fall.”
“Only then will you be allowed to die.”
With a casual wave of his hand, the man vanished.
Leaving behind—
A decree of extinction.
