“Palace Lord, you definitely have issues,” Siyi said to Seraphine, whose face had suddenly darkened.

Don’t avoid treatment out of fear. Before heading to the secret realm, it would be wise to visit the Heart Demon Chamber.

Seraphine stood up, her gaze indifferent as she glanced at Siyi, then vanished from the room in the blink of an eye. Siyi picked up the freshly brewed tea and sipped it slowly while listening to the storyteller’s voice from the platform. After a long while, she sighed.

“When will all this worldly chaos finally settle down…”

Luanyang City backed against Luanyang Palace, rising and falling with the palace’s fortunes for countless years. Now that Luanyang Palace commanded great prestige, the city naturally buzzed with life and excitement.

From within the city, one could see distant mountains layered like waves, shrouded in mist. Climbing to the highest tower and gazing far into the distance, you could glimpse a corner of Luanyang Palace, appearing like a celestial palace among the clouds.

Throughout the Eastern Continent, whether wandering cultivators or mortals, all held infinite longing for Luanyang Palace.

That’s why the Celestial Viewing Platform did such good business.

The platform was actually the city’s tallest building, constructed to mimic Luanyang Palace’s architecture and thus extraordinarily magnificent. Located between the inner and outer cities, it stood like a gateway, clearly separating the two districts.

The inner and outer cities served different purposes—the inner city catered to cultivators, while the outer city housed mortal life. However, paths were made for walking, and neither inner nor outer city had rules restricting only cultivators or mortals from entering. But once inside, everyone had to follow the city’s rules, or Luanyang Palace’s daily patrol disciples would personally teach lawbreakers the meaning of order.

Cultivators came and went through the inner city streets, carrying various weapons, while Luanyang Palace disciples occasionally patrolled past in vermillion robes embroidered with subtle phoenix patterns, walking with eyes straight ahead.

Passersby, whether cultivators or mortals, openly or secretly cast their gazes upon them.

The White Water Sect disciples looked enviously at the retreating figures of the Luanyang Palace disciples. They’d heard from their sect master that Luanyang Palace’s lord was young and absolutely beautiful, but arrogant and contemptuous of others. The city’s disciples were the same—anyone connected to Luanyang Palace seemed to carry an air of superiority over everyone else.

“If only I’d participated in Luanyang Palace’s spiritual root testing back then. Maybe I’d be a Luanyang Palace disciple now!” one White Water Sect disciple whispered. “It’s all because my parents thought White Water Sect was good. Only after I joined did I realize that while White Water Sect might be impressive in our town, it means nothing to other cultivators.”

The other White Water Sect disciples felt the same way, sighing together with a sense of having “taken the wrong path.”

“You can’t say that,” another disciple said. “At least our sect was prosperous once. You all know White Water Sect and Lianshan Sect are sworn enemies, but do you know why White Water Sect could become enemies with Lianshan Sect? Take Xue Bufan for example—his engagement to Luanyang Palace’s lord was arranged from birth. Back then, Lianshan Sect was so glorious, able to connect with Luanyang Palace. But look at Lianshan Sect now!”

Wasn’t it utterly fallen, even the engagement called off?

“Our White Water Sect is the same.”

The first disciple shook his head. “What kind of situation is this? Prosperous together when times are good, fallen together when times are bad. When will our White Water Sect grind Lianshan Sect into the dirt so they can’t even get up! Speaking of which, I’ve never heard of Luanyang City being down and out?”

The same disciple chuckled mockingly. “How do you know Luanyang Palace never fell? Just from the word ‘Luan’ in Luanyang Palace, can’t you tell something’s off?”

He didn’t lower his voice, so other tea-drinking customers nearby pricked up their ears.

The White Water Sect disciple continued: “Luan means greed, avarice—not a good-sounding name anyway. I heard from my master that Luanyang Palace was silent for many years. Later, it was the previous Palace Lord’s predecessor—Palace Lord Velka’s grandmother—who showed exceptional talent and found spiritual veins, revitalizing Luanyang Palace’s glory!”

I held a virtual little brush, sketching on my interface panel, marking “hearsay” in my work log.

Hovering in the center of the table, I was openly eavesdropping on gossip.

The first disciple said helplessly: “After all that talk, you still haven’t explained how Luanyang Palace actually fell. I do know our sect and Lianshan Sect faced similar circumstances—disciples dwindling, no successors, gradually declining.”

So when Xue Bufan tested as having supreme spiritual roots, the sect master was terrified for a long time. When Xue Bufan’s spiritual roots were destroyed, no one was more excited than the sect master.

As the disciples chatted, Bai Fenghui’s personal disciple approached. Hearing their conversation topic, he placed his hand on one disciple’s shoulder encouragingly: “That’s not wrong, but times are different now. White Water Sect has us!”

He lowered his head, using a knowing expression to gather everyone close, smiling proudly: “When Master… emerges, we’ll be set!”

The disciples beamed with joy, agreeing enthusiastically.

I put down my small panel, a little circle appearing below my optical sensors, slowly widening.

These people might as well have “we have a secret” written on their foreheads.

How speechless.

Seeing them start chatting cheerfully about other matters, I slowly drifted to the second floor’s private rooms.

This establishment catered to cultivators, with guest rooms featuring spirit-gathering arrays for cultivation. The private rooms had similar spirit-gathering effects, though not as strong as the guest rooms. Both options were expensive.

After White Water Sect’s hefty compensation payment to Luanyang Palace, their finances were tight. Except for Bai Fenghui, the other disciples stayed in ordinary rooms, using insufficient spiritual energy as an excuse to drink and chat in the main hall.

I found Xue Mengtao in a private room near the railing.

She’d changed out of her Luanyang Palace robes into a plain green shirt, sitting in silent meditation. Faint spiritual energy flowed around her as she drew qi into her body while listening to the laughter below, worry lines between her brows adding a touch of fragility.

I opened my work log and wrote: Xue Mengtao on mission.

I hadn’t forgotten that monitoring Xue Mengtao was also one of my tasks.

Just as I was about to find a middle position for surveillance, a low male voice flashed past outside the room, drowned in the enthusiastic calls of servers greeting customers. The cross-legged Xue Mengtao started, suddenly standing and rushing out.

“Young Master?” she asked, looking at the flowing crowd with shock.

Xue Bufan was here too?

I floated out and activated scanning mode on the crowd. Among the people coming and going, none matched the physical profile of Xue Bufan recorded in my files. Perhaps Xue Mengtao had misheard, or perhaps Xue Bufan was deliberately disguising himself. I suspected the latter.

With the secret realm that destroyed the protagonist’s power reopening, it wouldn’t make sense for the protagonist not to participate.

I just didn’t know what Xue Bufan was doing in Luanyang City.

I stubbornly scanned the crowd again. Although my host hadn’t earned points through side quests to purchase golden fingers from the shop, fortunately I was an excellent! High-level! System! I could use my basic functions to assist my host.

But—I really missed all the various items in the shop.

The lonely system opened the shop interface, staring at my host’s zero point balance, desperately wishing I could stare a 1 into existence.

Xue Mengtao was equally persistent, following the crowd upward in confusion. When she reached a corner, suddenly an arm grabbed her, pulling her into an alcove.

My optical sensors brightened as I rushed over.

[WARNING: About to exceed 100-meter range from host!]

[WARNING!]

…

My black eye circles dropped down as I backed away, staring at the wall.

Warning: System is monitoring you.

I stared for a while until Xue Mengtao emerged tearfully from the corner, followed by a cloaked man with a hunched posture. The man’s face was extremely old and ugly, covered in black sores that I preferred not to look at directly.

Xue Mengtao was actually gazing lovingly at such a face. No wonder the main system said human potential was limitless.

Xue Mengtao said to the disguised Xue Bufan: “Young Master Xue, you must take care of yourself no matter what.”

“You too,” Xue Bufan replied without changing his voice, speaking softly. “Luanyang Palace isn’t as free as Lianshan Sect. There are many rules—you must be careful in your actions.”

Xue Mengtao nodded emotionally, saying: “If I could find a way to help you restore your spiritual roots…” She paused, wiping away tears and murmuring: “I hate that I can’t take your place. Why was it you who lost your spiritual roots instead of me?”

Xue Bufan was moved, his wrinkled face showing touched emotion.

My two eye circles went one up and one down, trying not to look directly. Finally, I opened Seraphine’s character portrait instead.

Good.

I was functional again.

The electrical current on my surface retracted.

Xue Mengtao reluctantly parted with Xue Bufan.

Xue Bufan said quietly: “If Seraphine makes you do anything difficult, you must tell me.”

“No, the Palace Lord treats me very well,” Xue Mengtao shook her head, not mentioning what Seraphine had instructed her to do. The fate of the last palace servant who leaked Luanyang Palace information was still fresh in her mind. She wanted to stay in Luanyang Palace to find ways to heal Xue Bufan and couldn’t risk testing the waters.

Xue Bufan sighed and bid farewell to Xue Mengtao.

Xue Mengtao walked away, looking back every few steps.

I didn’t leave.

I stopped just outside the warning perimeter, motionless, watching Xue Bufan.

With no one around, Xue Bufan frowned, seemingly talking to someone.

“Seraphine probably knows about the secret realm too. Recently, the area outside Luanyang City hasn’t been peaceful either, otherwise it wouldn’t… Never mind, let’s handle our business first.”

He pulled up his hood and shuffled upstairs.

Wouldn’t what? What business are you handling? You’re talking to yourself—why not speak clearly?

Humans are truly baffling.

I drew a huge question mark on my panel, my form flickering as I floated downstairs.

The White Water Sect disciples’ conversation had progressed to which fairy in the cultivation world was most beautiful, arguing endlessly while nearby customers couldn’t help but join in.

The entire hall erupted into debate over who was the cultivation world’s greatest beauty.

My light stopped flickering as I quickly recorded everything.

This was huge news!

Today was truly a day of harvest.

“So this is what you call big news?” Seraphine looked at the panel displaying a string of names followed by flowery poetic descriptions, her eyelid twitching.

She was even included, described as “Eastern Continent’s absolute beauty, could compete for first place, suitable for distant admiration but not close approach.”

A ball of fire appeared in Seraphine’s palm as her expression turned icy, looking ready to burn everyone who’d said such things.

“Very important,” I said. “I believe all these names will eventually appear around the protagonist. Host can strike first.”

Take them all down, walk the protagonist’s path so the protagonist has no path to walk.

“…” Seraphine was speechless.

“Xue Bufan is in Luanyang City?” she changed the subject.

This was the second piece of big news.

I opened my work log (host mission version) and began a live reenactment.

Seraphine picked up her tea cup.

A few minutes later, I stopped and said: “The distance restriction meant I only heard this much.”

“Like a ghost that won’t leave,” Seraphine muttered. “I wonder if Xue Bufan told Xue Mengtao about his spiritual roots.”

She curved her lips into a smile.

“Xue Mengtao is now Luanyang Palace’s person. Given that she’s been obediently silent and doing her work, I’ll spare her life for now.”

Having covered all the important points and warned my host about the protagonist, now came the next step—

I raised the name-filled panel again, waving it back and forth in front of Seraphine.

Seraphine felt a headache coming on, pressing her joined fingers against her temples. Her freshly applied nail polish gleamed bright red with golden feathers, contrasting beautifully against her snow-white skin.

How had things developed to this point? A deep sense of absurdity arose in Seraphine’s heart. She’d only broken off her engagement with Xue Bufan—why was she now supposed to choose a dao companion from a group of women?

She decided to make things clear with this little thing.

Seraphine resolved to cut through the confusion quickly, but when she looked up and met my large, round optical sensors, she suddenly found herself at a loss for words.

Being stared at by such a pair of strange and peculiar eyes, the words she’d wanted to say wouldn’t come out.

“Never mind. What do you understand anyway? I’ll just go along with it for now, at least give you something to do,” Seraphine said in an almost inaudible voice, not wanting to see me hanging on the wall like a candle holder again. After all, only she could see me, so only her eyes would suffer.

“Come here,” Seraphine beckoned.

I perked up, enlarging my panel to make it easier for Seraphine to select from.

“‘A beauty that could topple nations, standing alone in the world, Red Lotus Sect’s Saintess,’” Seraphine read lazily with a cold laugh. “Red Lotus Sect has always been reclusive, avoiding worldly affairs. Their sect rules state that saintesses don’t marry and saint sons don’t wed. This is absolutely impossible.”

Oh, committed to the single life.

But nothing was impossible with the protagonist. Though we were supporting characters, we needed to consider carefully and create possibilities.

I found another angle: “She won’t marry—what if you marry into their sect?”

As soon as I spoke, a golden-red fire whip lashed out, passing through my form and striking the ground. “BOOM!” A black-red crack split the floorboards, with flames still flickering on either side of the whip mark.

My voice remained frosty calm: “Next candidate.”

Seraphine raised her hand with a cold snort, withdrawing her natal weapon back into her consciousness sea, continuing to look down the list.

“Qianxiu Valley’s Yu Xuefei is a medical cultivator with wood spiritual roots, which conflicts with my attributes. Not considering her.”

“Xuanyin Mountain’s Meng Xiangfei. Xuanyin Mountain is also called the Little Demon Cult, and Meng Xiangfei has the title of Demon Maiden. How could a Luanyang Palace Lord be entangled with a demon maiden? Impossible.”

“Taiyan Sect’s Zhu Shiyu practices the Ruthless Path.”

“Ten Directions Sect’s Qiu Jingyue is in the Golden Core stage, but she’s two hundred years older than me. Not suitable.”

“Autumn Water Pavilion’s Qiu Shuangshuang just came of age last year—still a young girl, too young, inappropriate.”

…

Seraphine went through the list one by one, finding fault with each candidate. From the corner of her eye, she saw my black eye circles drift to the top of my head. She slowly closed her lips, frowning: “What are you looking at? Is there something on the ceiling?”

I nodded.

There was.

Flags.

But the person likely to trigger those flags probably wouldn’t be my host, given how she was carefully listing why she was incompatible with each person who might become entangled with the protagonist. I seemed to see countless plot threads flashing by.

“Host dislikes Xue Mengtao yet still brought her into Luanyang Palace,” I suggested, supporting and encouraging my host to continue such actions.

Don’t be defeated by immediate difficulties. Humans should learn to overcome challenges.

Seraphine gasped, wanting to give me another whip lash. “You think too highly of me.”

Setting aside whether it was possible, even if she did it, she’d truly become a Luanyang Palace Lord known for being lustful and dissolute, making enemies of the world for beauty’s sake! She didn’t want Luanyang Palace to become the second Nine Heavens Sect.

I said calmly: “Take them down one by one.”

“…”

Seraphine was speechless, feeling she couldn’t let me continue unchecked. She narrowed her eyes, her long lashes falling to conceal the scenery beneath.

“Echo, you simply want me to marry quickly and sever ties with Xue Bufan. I understand your intentions, but I have absolutely no interest in opening a harem,” Seraphine said. “I’ll give you a task—there are countless cultivators in this world. You can choose freely among them all and select the most suitable dao companion for me. How about it?”

My recently disappointed circuits immediately perked up.

A new mission?

This was the third task my host had given me.

“A deal?” I asked.

Seraphine smiled sweetly, raising her finger to high-five my raised matchstick form across the air.

“A deal.”

Her smile was brilliant and confident. She thought to herself: No matter what gods, ghosts, or demons you bring me, I’ll reject them all. Go ahead and keep yourself busy!

Whether it was a dao companion or falling in love and marrying, she didn’t need any of it!

I was also filled with determination.

I, Golden Finger System Echo, the Department of Transmigration’s most outstanding employee, the only high-level system under the main system, had never failed a mission in my existence.

No matter what the cost, I would definitely find my host’s dao companion!