Siyi hurried to keep pace behind Seraphine.

Luanyang Palace was already an impressive sight on any day, but with its stunningly beautiful Palace Lord striding through the halls like an avenging goddess, her robes billowing like flames, the whole place seemed to radiate barely contained fury.

Safe to say, she was absolutely livid.

Oddly enough, this put Siyi at ease. If heart demons were truly troubling Seraphine, her temperament would be different from usual. Having watched her Palace Lord grow up, Siyi recognized this particular brand of rage. It was exactly how little Seraphine had stormed around when her favorite sweets sold out at the city festival years ago.

No change. Not even a little.

Seraphine took her seat and fixed the waiting guests with a gaze that could have flash-frozen lava. The White Water Sect leader had originally planned to leverage his age and seniority to establish some dignified authority, but one look from those cold eyes had him reflexively bowing.

“Good day, Palace Lord.”

“Ha.” Seraphine’s laugh was sharp as winter wind. She slammed her palm against the long table, fury radiating from every word. “Luanyang Palace and White Water Sect have always minded our own business. Your ancient grudges with Lianshan Sect were never our concern. But you have incredible audacity, daring to commit murder and robbery, intercepting Luanyang Palace’s reparations!”

Bai Fenghui was also at Golden Core stage, but somehow felt distinctly smaller in Seraphine’s presence. His heart trembled as he marveled at the difference a Great Perfection Golden Core made. He’d heard that Great Perfection Golden Core cultivators could battle opponents an entire stage higher, which certainly explained Seraphine’s insufferable arrogance.

Well, insufferable but earned.

With this realization, the anger in his eyes transformed into a calculated smile. He gestured, and White Water Sect disciples marched into the hall, escorting two bound prisoners and several heavy chests.

The chests hit the floor with substantial thuds. When the disciples opened them, spiritual stones gleamed like captured starlight.

I drifted over for a quick scan, then returned to report.

“Two thousand high-grade spiritual stones, five thousand medium-grade, and ten thousand low-grade.”

Seraphine didn’t even bother lifting an eyebrow. She propped her chin on her hand and regarded the scene below with supreme indifference. I captured this expression and filed it under: Is That All?

When Seraphine showed no reaction, Bai Fenghui hurried to explain. “The ones who intercepted Lianshan Sect’s reparations were indeed White Water Sect disciples, but they acted without my authorization! These two are the culprits!”

Two men knelt before the spiritual stones—one old, one young, both bound and bloodied.

Siyi transmitted to Seraphine that the younger man was the one who’d fallen for their palace servant.

After receiving this information, Siyi smiled pleasantly. “Oh? If White Water Sect can’t control its own disciples, why bring them to Luanyang Palace? Don’t tell me you want us to handle discipline for you?”

She said this knowing it was impossible. If they actually handed the prisoners over, a few bloodstains would be the least of their worries.

Bai Fenghui laughed nervously. “No need to trouble Luanyang Palace with that. I simply wanted the Palace Lord to understand that White Water Sect has absolutely no desire to antagonize Luanyang Palace. Not in the past, and certainly not in the future. This situation requires some explanation—White Water Sect and Lianshan Sect have feuded for years. When we learned of your broken engagement with that brat Xue Bufan, our entire sect celebrated for you!”

“Lianshan Sect is corrupt to the core, greedy beyond measure. If they’d truly formed marriage ties with Luanyang Palace, the Palace Lord would have suffered endlessly. Look at all the trouble they’ve caused you over the years! Now they’ve gotten so many valuable gifts for nothing. My disciples couldn’t stand it—they wanted to intercept those reparations and return them to where they truly belonged, with Luanyang Palace.”

He delivered this shameless speech without even a blush. Siyi’s smile deepened.

“I see. Then I suppose I made an error—after all, I killed all those White Water Sect disciples who were ‘pretending to be bandits.’”

The hall fell silent enough to hear a pin drop. I caught the sound of Seraphine’s quiet, mocking laughter.

I couldn’t help but look at her.

Seraphine glanced at me, then turned her attention to the two prisoners.

The white-haired elder spoke from his knees: “They deserved to die! They should have presented the reparations immediately upon meeting your people. They must have been consumed by greed, wasting all my careful planning and nearly causing a feud between our sects. Death was too good for them!”

“And him!” The elder grabbed the trembling young man beside him. “His romance with your disciple should have been a wonderful thing, but he had no business tempting a Luanyang Palace disciple to break palace rules. I heard your disciple has been stripped of cultivation and expelled. I’ve done the same to him—he’s no longer a White Water Sect disciple!”

He shoved the pale-faced young man aside. The desperate man’s eyes held deep hatred as he stared at his former master, but that hatred gradually turned to despair.

“If the Palace Lord is still angry, feel free to kill him. It would be a mercy.”

Suddenly, I heard Seraphine’s mental transmission.

“Don’t you think this White Water Sect disciple could use a grandpa figure too?”

I stared at the character profile I’d just scanned—a portrait of human misery and desperation. The man crouched in terror, lips pressed tightly shut. Even facing death, he didn’t dare speak a word. I wondered if he’d considered this outcome when he was planning his little robbery scheme.

I silently closed the display panel.

“Palace Lord, what do you think…?” Bai Fenghui bowed to Seraphine.

Seraphine’s voice was lazy as a cat in sunlight. “Don’t dirty my floor.”

The young man’s shoulders sagged with relief, thinking he’d been spared.

But Seraphine continued: “Drag him outside.”

The relief froze on his face. Instead of pleading with Seraphine, he looked at the elder, voice trembling: “Master.”

“Go,” the elder said coldly, not even glancing at him. His expression suggested the young man’s life or death was completely irrelevant.

“Master! You were the one who—” Before he could finish, palace servants moved forward on Siyi’s signal, gagging him and dragging him from the hall.

The elder relaxed, thinking he’d successfully traded his disciple’s life for resolution. His mouth was just beginning to curve upward when a golden-red light pierced his dantian.

The pain came afterward.

First, heat. Violent, blazing heat that cooked his body instantly, burning through every vein, turning even his bones red-hot. He heard crackling sounds and continuous, piercing screams.

When he realized the screaming was coming from him, his spiritual roots were already destroyed, and he collapsed like broken meat, gasping for air.

Bai Fenghui had wanted to save him but found no opportunity. He could only watch helplessly as Seraphine crippled one of White Water Sect’s most respected elders.

“Palace Lord, was this really necessary?” His voice was pained.

White Water Sect didn’t have many late-stage Foundation Establishment elders. He’d thought offering a scapegoat and generous reparations would smooth things over, but Seraphine showed no mercy.

From her seat, Seraphine blew on her fingertips and laughed lightly. “Sect Leader Bai admitted these two planned the whole thing together. What sense would it make to punish one and spare the other? Drag them both out.”

Watching the beautiful palace servants remove the elder, Bai Fenghui sighed and said nothing more.

Outside the mountain gate, the young man saw his master being dragged out and burst into maniacal laughter. He pointed at the elder, cursing him at length before limping away like a madman.

Back in the main hall, Bai Fenghui winced at losing a valuable sect member and offered up the spiritual stones, hoping to turn hostility into friendship and consider the matter closed.

But Seraphine had no intention of letting it go that easily.

She didn’t even glance at the stones on the floor. “Since when has Luanyang Palace been so easily satisfied?”

The crippled cultivator had gotten what he deserved. She didn’t care if he wanted to make trouble for Lianshan Sect, but calculating against Luanyang Palace required payment in full cultivation. These spiritual stones were the real reparations.

Bai Fenghui’s little performance trying to save the elder was simply too clever by half.

Siyi smiled sweetly. “Perhaps Sect Leader Bai has forgotten why Luanyang Palace commands this region? And why you wouldn’t dare offend us?”

Bai Fenghui smiled bitterly.

How could he not know? Luanyang Palace’s prosperity came from controlling spiritual veins, especially after their great victory against the Nine Heavens Sect. The old Palace Lord’s achievements had been remarkable, and all the spiritual veins formerly belonging to Nine Heavens Sect now fell under Luanyang Palace’s control. Since then, their influence had only grown, making them essentially the premier sect of the Eastern Continent.

The spiritual stones he’d brought might seem like a fortune to outsiders, but to Seraphine, they truly were nothing.

“Besides the spiritual stones, I have another gift.” Whether he was pained by losing an elder or by what he was about to offer, Bai Fenghui’s distress seemed completely genuine. He addressed Seraphine: “May we speak privately?”

Seraphine lifted a finger, and the servants on both sides withdrew, leaving only Siyi in the great hall.

Bai Fenghui glanced at Siyi but said nothing, lowering his voice to speak to Seraphine: “Palace Lord, do you remember the secret realm where that Lianshan Sect prodigy was severely injured and had his spiritual roots destroyed?”

Seraphine’s eyes flickered. “Chongshan Secret Realm?”

“Exactly. Chongshan Secret Realm only opens once every hundred years, and only permits cultivators below Golden Core to enter. It’s filled with countless treasures, including premium materials for refining Golden Core Pills. Xue Bufan went there seeking those very materials—at the time, he was unrivaled among the younger generation, the absolute number one Foundation Establishment cultivator. Yet somehow, only he was severely injured in Chongshan Secret Realm. Palace Lord, do you know why?”

Seraphine stared at him coldly.

Bai Fenghui smiled awkwardly and stopped being coy. “Because Chongshan Secret Realm ascended!”

At these words, Seraphine’s eyes widened in surprise. Having experienced many missions and multiple “cultivation” scenarios, I understood what secret realm ascension meant. The realm would upgrade from Foundation Establishment access to Golden Core access, with treasures upgrading accordingly—but the danger level would increase dramatically too.

This was an extremely rare occurrence. Secret realms needed to accumulate massive amounts of spiritual energy to ascend, and such opportunities were beyond precious.

“If the secret realm ascended, that would explain Young Master Xue’s injuries,” Siyi said. “After he was hurt, other sect disciples fled in fear, and Chongshan Secret Realm closed half a month early—probably when the ascension process began.”

Luanyang Palace had also sent Foundation Establishment disciples to seek opportunities in Chongshan Secret Realm, but they’d gained little, wandering only the outer areas without finding a way deeper before being expelled.

Seraphine nodded but looked puzzled. “Even if Chongshan Secret Realm ascended, what does that have to do with me? Secret realms open once per century—surely it won’t open again immediately after ascending?”

Bai Fenghui bowed with a confident smile.

“As the Palace Lord says, the ascended Chongshan Secret Realm will reopen in ten days! White Water Sect wishes to join forces with Luanyang Palace to explore it together, splitting whatever we find equally!”

Seraphine was intrigued. If Bai Fenghui spoke truthfully, the first opening after ascension would contain incredibly rich resources. But since he was also a Golden Core cultivator, why would he willingly share such benefits? The dangers inside must be far greater than typical secret realms.

She looked toward Siyi.

—A silver-white orb blocked her view, holding up a display panel.

The panel’s interface was more elaborate than usual, practically vibrating with excitement.

“I sense the call of mission,” I said, unable to hide my enthusiasm, making my entire system feel more alive.

“This secret realm is connected to the protagonist—it must be crucial!” My clear voice rose with each word as I bobbed up and down, nearly floating above Seraphine’s head.

“Host, we have to go! There’s definitely something the protagonist needs in there. We must claim it!” I encouraged, zipping in front of Seraphine and thrusting my panel forward.

“Maybe there are even beautiful women inside!” I emphasized the word “beautiful,” displaying female silhouettes on my panel—curvaceous, indescribable figures.

I pressed the panel right up to Seraphine’s face for emphasis.

“Beautiful! Women!”