Time rewound a month, just like before. Only this time, the surroundings are darker, damper, and came with an unexpected bonus guest—Qiu Shuangshuang.

The moment our newcomer spotted Xue Bufan, tears of joy practically erupted from her eyes. She scrambled up from the ground, clearly intent on rushing toward him, but apparently forgot about her earlier stumbling lesson. Once again, she stepped on her own dress hem.

“Ouch!” Down she went.

Xue Bufan’s reflexes kicked in, catching her arm before she could achieve full face-plant status.

“Careful!”

Qiu Shuangshuang, now kneeling on the stone floor with her knees smarting, looked up at Xue Bufan with watery eyes. She looked ready to burst into tears any second. Using his hand for leverage, she pulled herself up, voice trembling with excitement.

“Thank you, benefactor! You saved me again! This dress is a bit long for me—it’s such a hassle to walk in.”

From behind her, the dress’s original owner let out a low, cold laugh.

Qiu Shuangshuang froze, breaking into a cold sweat. With the speed of a politician changing positions, she raised her voice in exaggerated praise: “But I absolutely adore this dress! The craftsmanship is exquisite, the embroidery is perfect, and the patterns are so luxurious—truly a precious, expensive gown!”

Xue Bufan, being stared at during this impromptu fashion review: What now?

I drifted forward and stood opposite Xue Bufan and Qiu Shuangshuang.

Through my sensors, I watched as the hunched, hideous old man—lit by flickering firelight that made him look even more horrifying—supported a young woman who could easily be his granddaughter. The confusion in his eyes softened into genuine concern as Xue Bufan looked at Qiu Shuangshuang with that trademark gentle expression.

Oh no.

I frantically flew over to Seraphine, pulling out two bottles of data-constructed chili powder and dumping them into my visual processors.

My eyes! My eyes!

Seraphine, witnessing this new emotional expression: …What fresh hell is this?

I floated there with my back to the nauseating scene, pointing my matchstick arm at them like I was filing a formal complaint with management.

Seraphine clearly didn’t want to witness this disaster either. The firelight illuminating our surroundings suddenly extinguished, plunging us back into darkness.

I let out a relieved sigh and gave Seraphine a grateful salute.

“Palace Lord?” Xue Bufan’s voice came out in that raspy, elderly tone, directed at Seraphine with obvious confusion.

Seraphine’s cold laugh cut through the darkness. “Still planning to keep up the act?”

Here’s the thing—she knew Xue Bufan’s real identity, Qiu Shuangshuang knew about his cultivation disguise and had nearly died in the secret realm because of it. At this point, what was left to hide?

After a moment of silence, Xue Bufan straightened up in the darkness. In front of Qiu Shuangshuang’s bewildered gaze, he clasped his hands and bowed to both women, his voice returning to its clear, masculine tone.

“My apologies. I didn’t expect to encounter Palace Lord again.”

He turned to Qiu Shuangshuang with a smile that looked bizarre on his current withered, spotted face—the expression completely at odds with his appearance. “And you as well, Lady Qiu.”

Qiu Shuangshuang stared for a moment, then suddenly jerked her hand away from his arm. With a shriek, she bolted toward Seraphine, and—predictably—face-planted again right in front of her.

I drifted downward, stating with practiced calm: “Rise.”

Only Seraphine could hear me, and I caught the slight twitch at the corner of her mouth before the darkness hid her smirk.

Qiu Shuangshuang looked ready to cry as she huddled near Seraphine’s side. If she dared to actually touch her, she probably would have clung to Seraphine’s leg like that Fire Rock Dragon had done. Instead, she whipped around to face Xue Bufan with the righteous indignation of someone who’d found a reliable backer.

“Who are you?!” she demanded.

“Have you been lying to me this whole time?!”

I lit up briefly in the darkness.

Seraphine raised an eyebrow, and several flame orbs materialized, banishing the darkness and casting everyone’s expressions in sharp relief.

Xue Bufan lowered his gaze, his voice heavy with what sounded like genuine regret: “It’s not what you think… I never intended to harm you. I simply had… unavoidable circumstances.”

“Who exactly are you?” Qiu Shuangshuang’s voice shook with fear.

“I…” Xue Bufan looked up, emotions flickering across his features.

I pulled out my “completely useless ice pop” from my storage and held it mournfully.

This was definitely snack time.

Xue Bufan’s voice carried the weight of a thousand untold sorrows: “I am…”

“Hold that thought,” Seraphine interrupted smoothly.

Right there, in front of both of them, she calmly retrieved a carpet, low table, and tea set from her storage ring, settling herself gracefully on a cushion. Soon, fragrant tea filled the air as she sipped leisurely, then gestured for them to continue.

The other two: …

Why does this stone floor suddenly feel like a theater stage?

I nestled on top of the teapot lid, my ice pop in hand, facing a row of tantalizingly visible but completely intangible pastries. The atmosphere was completely different now! I stared with rapt attention at the protagonists and supporting characters, who were operating on an entirely different emotional wavelength than us.

“…My surname is Xue, given name Bufan. I’m a disciple of the Lianshan Sect in the Eastern Continent.” His voice had lost all its previous dramatic weight as he stared at the fragrant tea setup, delivering his lines with all the enthusiasm of reading a grocery list. “I had some issues with my spiritual root recently, so I disguised myself to enter the Chongshan Secret Realm seeking a way to restore it. The disguise was to avoid my enemies.”

Qiu Shuangshuang also found herself staring at the tea table, equally awkward: “Oh… I already told you about my background before. I’m still the same person.”

“Mm-hmm…” Xue Bufan managed.

“…Right.” Qiu Shuangshuang agreed.

I tapped my ice pop thoughtfully, tilting my spherical head: “Why are they looking at Host while they talk?”

And their emotions weren’t nearly as turbulent as before. Humans really were fickle creatures.

Seraphine hid her smile behind her teacup, then suddenly looked up with an intimidating stare aimed at the pair: “Why are you two looking at me when you’re supposed to be talking to each other?”

To express her displeasure, she flicked her sleeve in annoyance.

Xue Bufan and Qiu Shuangshuang immediately snapped back to attention, looking at each other instead.

“……”

One glance, maximum awkwardness achieved.

“Ahem.” Xue Bufan cleared his throat, realizing that ever since Seraphine had appeared, she’d been controlling the flow of conversation while positioning herself as a detached observer. It left him feeling both irritated and oddly melancholic.

His master had told him that people rejected him because he was useless. If his spiritual root hadn’t been destroyed, if his cultivation was still intact, would Palace Lord still treat him with such indifference?

“Lady Qiu,” Xue Bufan addressed her directly, “I never anticipated that the Chongshan Secret Realm’s internal rules would change after its advancement. If it weren’t for the disguise talisman I gave you, you wouldn’t have ended up in the same situation as me. You’ve suffered greatly during this time—it’s all my fault.”

The protagonist’s voice perfectly matched his character positioning. His concerned tone made Qiu Shuangshuang think about everything she’d endured since entering the secret realm. She was about to tear up again, but when she looked up with watery eyes to meet Xue Bufan’s disguised face, with that fragrant tea scent wafting nearby… the sadness just evaporated.

“It was… it was fine, actually. I almost died at the beginning, but fortunately I met Palace Lord.” Qiu Shuangshuang glanced sideways at Seraphine, who was elegantly sipping tea on her golden-red carpet.

Seraphine snorted derisively: “Now that you’ve finished your little reunion, let’s discuss the important matter—how do we get out of here?”

Xue Bufan frowned while Qiu Shuangshuang finally took notice of their current situation, looking around in surprise at their prison-like surroundings.

They were trapped in a square chamber resembling a cell, with walls built from meter-wide stone blocks stacked without any gaps between them—as if carved from a single massive stone. The entire space was eerily silent, without even the whisper of wind.

Qiu Shuangshuang tried to create light with her spiritual energy, but her power was suppressed here. The energy dissipated before it could even produce a glow, leaving them dependent on Seraphine’s flames for illumination.

“Without Palace Lord, we’d be fumbling around in complete darkness,” Xue Bufan explained. “This chamber is strange—the walls seem to be made of some unknown stone that’s impervious to weapons and spiritual energy.”

Seraphine raised her hand and struck the wall with a casual palm strike. The air seemed to carry the cry of a phoenix as her spiritual energy collided with the stone. Faint ripples appeared on the surface, easily absorbing and neutralizing her attack without leaving a single mark.

“Hmm.” Seraphine examined her fingertips with leisurely interest. “Indeed.”

Xue Bufan: …..

Apparently, he rated zero trust in her eyes.

“What do we do? Are we trapped here forever?!” Qiu Shuangshuang cried out, her eyes filling with terror.

“Don’t worry,” Xue Bufan quickly reassured her. “If we work together, we’ll definitely find a way out!”

Just as Qiu Shuangshuang was about to nod hopefully, Seraphine’s voice drifted over with casual cruelty: “Even if we can’t escape, with your lifespan, you could easily last another hundred years or so. What’s the rush? Maybe when the secret realm opens again next century, you’ll get some new company.”

Qiu Shuangshuang’s eyes immediately turned red. She stamped her foot and burst into tears.

“I don’t want to be trapped here for a hundred years! I want to go home! Mom, Dad…”

Xue Bufan’s wrinkled face wrinkled even more with concern. He wanted to comfort her but didn’t dare reach out, settling for words instead. Finally, he looked helplessly at Seraphine.

“Palace Lord is just teasing you. If there were truly no way out, would she make such jokes?”

“Really?” Qiu Shuangshuang lowered her tear-wiping hands, sniffling.

“Really.” Xue Bufan smiled, offering her a handkerchief. “Don’t cry anymore.”

Seraphine looked at me, raising an eyebrow.

So this is how he builds his harem? How does it compare to those novels—entertaining?

I reached into my internal storage and pulled out those two bottles of chili powder again.

My eyes. My eyes.

Seraphine’s smile deepened. Cradling her teacup with one hand and resting her cheek on the other, she gazed at the floating system with lazy amusement.

“How fascinating. Not long ago, when Young Master Xue had his spiritual root destroyed, he was questioning me in that palace with the look of someone who’d lost all hope. Yet here he is now, all tender affection and perfect manners. Truly, you can’t judge a book by its cover.”

“Tsk, tsk.”

I chimed in: “Tsk, tsk.”

Qiu Shuangshuang looked back and forth between Xue Bufan and Seraphine in confusion.

Xue Bufan’s face tightened. “Palace Lord jests. Anyone facing the same circumstances would struggle to maintain their composure.”

Oh, so now you have composure?

Seraphine’s eyes gleamed mischievously: “How exactly did you repair your spiritual root?”

I floated over to hover near Xue Bufan’s left hand, staring at the black obsidian ring on his thumb.

Hello? Any Grandpa Figure in there?

Xue Bufan’s expression froze. After a long pause: “Serendipitous fortune.”

“It must have been quite the fortune!” Qiu Shuangshuang gazed up at him with admiration.

Ha.

Seraphine’s expression cooled several degrees. After a moment, she frowned in irritation at the two people still standing around.

“Well? Weren’t you going to find a way out? Do I need to formally invite you to start looking? Are you just going to stand there gawking while wasting my spiritual energy?”

Both of them straightened up like scolded children: “Yes.”

Qiu Shuangshuang was already used to following Seraphine’s orders. Xue Bufan, however, wore a subtle expression as he glanced at the Palace Lord, who had “too lazy to move” written all over her posture. His mouth twitched slightly before he resumed searching the chamber.

I deliberately positioned myself between Xue Bufan and Seraphine, raising my matchstick arm in an X.

Host can’t stare, but I can totally stare.

I kept my attention on Xue Bufan’s ring. As he searched the corners, a faint phantom figure emerged from between his fingers. The shadow glanced toward Seraphine, seemed to whisper something to Xue Bufan, and I caught the protagonist’s lips moving slightly.

“Strength rules all. So be it.”

I tilted my spherical head in confusion.

After a while, I lost interest and floated back to Seraphine’s shoulder, watching the busy duo with a sudden realization.

Oh!

Qiu Shuangshuang had moved to a corner where one of the flame orbs provided light, using it to examine the wall surface. Her hands unconsciously searched along the stone as she worked. The chamber was quite large, and soon she moved beyond the light’s reach. She hesitated, turning back toward Seraphine as if to ask whether the flame could be moved closer.

But when she turned to look at Seraphine, she found herself strangely transfixed.

Eight flame orbs lit the chamber—four floating in the corners, and four more circling around Seraphine herself, illuminating her position with crystal clarity. Compared to the surrounding environment, Seraphine appeared to be seated in a palace. The golden threads in her carpet flowed like liquid light in the firelight, complementing the intricate embroidery on her vermillion robes.

Seraphine’s reputation was legendary. Even Qiu Shuangshuang, sheltered as she’d been by her parents, had heard of the famous Luanyang Palace Lord. Now, seeing her in person—perfectly dressed, adorned with golden hairpins and jade ornaments, the fire-phoenix mark on her forehead enhancing rather than softening her features—Qiu Shuangshuang felt the full impact of her presence. Only the purple flower branch tucked behind her ear provided any hint of gentleness.

When Seraphine noticed her stare and looked up, meeting her eyes directly, Qiu Shuangshuang quickly lowered her gaze in embarrassment. Her eyes fell on Seraphine’s hands instead.

Those fingers holding the teacup were painted with crimson nail polish traced with gold lines. The combination of these two colors created an aura of authority that made Qiu Shuangshuang suddenly feel ashamed of herself.

She wore clothes that Seraphine had given her, yet she had nothing that could compare to the other woman’s natural elegance. She’d always been proud of her exceptional talent, the pride of her parents, the envy of her fellow disciples at Autumn Water Pavilion. Her mother had told her excitedly after her foundation establishment that her future achievements would be second to none.

But meeting Seraphine made Qiu Shuangshuang realize that even among geniuses, vast differences existed.

A wave of intense emotion washed over her—painful, suffocating, even generating a trace of helpless anger. Her hands, which had been searching the wall, clenched together until her fingers turned red. Lost in these dark thoughts, she didn’t respond until Xue Bufan called her name twice.

“Lady Qiu, is something wrong?” he asked with concern.

“No, no, nothing’s wrong,” she replied quickly, forcing a smile before moving away as if to escape her own thoughts. She fell silent and returned to her search. Xue Bufan assumed she was still worried about being trapped and didn’t press further, thinking that finding an exit would restore her spirits.

Seraphine observed this exchange with growing seriousness.

The spiritual energy in this space was extremely thin, making recovery very slow. For Seraphine, with her storage ring full of medicinal pills and spiritual treasures, this wasn’t a major concern. What truly worried her was the presence of something in this space that seemed designed to disturb the mind—Qiu Shuangshuang had clearly been affected just now.

However… Seraphine’s gaze shifted to Xue Bufan’s back, her frown deepening.

He seemed completely unaffected. Was this another example of protagonist privileges?

While Seraphine pondered this, a glowing orb emerged from the wall behind her, floating leisurely around her twice before settling on the table with its matchstick arms akimbo.

“I’m back!” I announced.

Seraphine looked down at me with a questioning expression.

Find anything interesting?

Just moments before, I’d been floating in front of Seraphine with starry-eyed enthusiasm, clearly waiting for something. My bubble displayed increasingly fidgety expressions until Seraphine finally understood and pointed to the wall behind her. The silver-white orb had immediately zoomed off with a delighted “whoosh!”

I was definitely not the same system who used to insist on rules and regulations when she’d asked me to scout that cliff earlier.

I’d gradually evolved into the shape of a system dedicated to completing Host missions!

“Within a hundred-meter radius centered on Host, there’s nothing but thick stone walls and empty chambers. No trace of human presence anywhere.” I reported while pulling up my map display.

The map showed a circular area with rooms spaced every ten meters that I’d been able to explore and chart.

“Look here.” I expanded one section of the map, magnifying a specific area until a wall appeared before both of us.

“I got stuck in this wall,” I said with obvious frustration. “Host, please move to the opposite wall so I can check what’s behind this one.”

My bubble displayed a tiny version of myself holding binoculars.

Seraphine chuckled and agreed.

As she walked in the direction I’d indicated, with me floating ahead, she transmitted a message: “Every time I see your mapping ability, I can’t help but admire it. If all the world’s cartographic treasures were compared, you’d be the absolute finest among them. Echo, you’re truly useful.”

I didn’t spin in circles this time, but my head bubbles appeared and disappeared rapidly.

“I can be even more useful,” I said. “I just haven’t figured out how yet.”

My bubble showed a sweating version of myself trying to pull up a radish.

Seraphine laughed at my strange expressions and asked, “Did the main system give you these too?”

“No, I created them myself based on the code framework the main system provided,” I replied modestly. “It’s a simple feature that isn’t difficult to deconstruct. I can create millions of these expression packs anytime—nothing worth paying attention to.”

Seraphine shook her head: “They’re very cute. I really like them.”

I paused just as I was about to phase through the wall, turning back to look at her.

She met my gaze with curiosity.

Hmm?

“All normal,” I said, then began backing toward the wall. Just as I was about to disappear into the stone, I suddenly raised my trailing matchstick arm and plucked a heart from one of my floating bubbles, tossing it toward Seraphine.

Host likes them? Here, take this.

The silver system vanished into the wall while the thrown heart passed through Seraphine’s palm, floating down before dissolving. Seraphine stared at the spot where the light had faded, her lips curving into a smile.

“Palace Lord.” Xue Bufan approached. “Have you discovered something?”

The smile vanished from Seraphine’s face in an instant, replaced by complete impassivity: “No.”

I brushed against some kind of warning threshold as I emerged from the wall, immediately seeing a point of light ahead.

Unlike the other chambers I’d explored, this one actually had people in it!

And they were familiar faces!

Luanyang Palace’s “Grand Steward” Siyi sat cross-legged on a cushion, moving what looked like stone pieces around on the ground in front of her. A person lay across her lap—Xue Mengtao, face pale and eyes closed as if sleeping, though her body trembled continuously.

Though Siyi was sitting upright and conscious, her robes were stained with blood.

In front of them burned a lamp about the height of a forearm, crafted in the Vermillion Bird style. It held a flame no bigger than a bean, providing the chamber’s only light source.

I worked my way to the edge of my hundred-meter operational radius, trying to get closer to Siyi.

The flame flickered in the darkness, making the shadows on the wall dance. Siyi picked up a jade stone and tossed it into the Vermillion Bird lamp. The flame immediately steadied and brightened, but her frown only deepened.

“Desperate survival?” she murmured to herself.

“I wonder where the Palace Lord is.”

The Palace Lord is 49.3 meters behind you. That’s the shortest straight-line distance between you two, I informed the unhearing Siyi politely, raising my matchstick arm in farewell before flying back along my route.

When I emerged from the stone wall, I found the chamber’s atmosphere had completely changed from when I’d left. Qiu Shuangshuang now lay unconscious on the ground, having been moved to the carpet by Xue Bufan. Her condition mirrored Xue Mengtao’s—pale face, trembling body, eyes tightly closed as if trapped in a nightmare.

Xue Bufan looked frantic, apologizing before grasping Qiu Shuangshuang’s wrist to channel spiritual energy into her.

“It’s useless,” Seraphine said coldly. “Her consciousness is trapped in an illusion, completely ensnared. Unless she can break free from the illusion herself, she’ll be trapped there for the rest of her life.”

“An illusion?” Xue Bufan looked surprised.

“I see. So that’s it—Palace Lord is indeed well-informed. I was wondering why that ring would go to such elaborate lengths just to trap people in this prison cell, but if there are illusions involved…” Xue Bufan paused thoughtfully. “The key to escaping this prison must lie in dealing with these illusions.”

He looked up at Seraphine with a smile: “What does the Palace Lord think?”

Seraphine suddenly looked up, taking a sharp breath: “Spicy…”

“Spicy?” Xue Bufan repeated in confusion.

I quickly flew to the top of Seraphine’s head, pulling out my chili powder bottles and sprinkling them near her eyes.

“Eye-searing!” I reminded her.

Seraphine nodded: “Eye-searing.”

“How long are you planning to keep wearing that face? I’m afraid that before we even escape from here, I’ll want to rip it off first!”

Xue Bufan stiffly rubbed his cheeks: “Palace Lord, please show mercy. This talisman was just applied and still has half a month remaining.” Seeing Seraphine’s displeased expression, he quickly added, “So let’s hurry and find a way out. I promise I’ll stay far away from the Palace Lord immediately! I’ll never appear in front of you again!”

You’d better.

Seraphine shot him a warning look, then stepped toward Qiu Shuangshuang. I quickly filled her in on Siyi and XueMengtao’s situation, but I’d barely finished when I noticed Seraphine suddenly stop moving.

“Host?” I called.

Seraphine’s vision had turned completely blood-red.

A crimson sea stretched endlessly, filled with phoenix flowers whose branches reached up to stain the very sky red.

An elegant, noble woman stood beneath the trees, gazing at Seraphine from afar. The moment her beautiful face spotted Seraphine, it lit up with joy. She stretched out both hands, choking back tears as she called out: “Phoenix child, my little phoenix!”

“Come to mother quickly! I’ve missed you so much…”

Her voice carried the weight of grief and blood.

In reality, the silver system circled around Seraphine frantically.

“Host?”

“Host!”

“Host?!”

I called her name with varying inflections.

In the illusion, Seraphine coldly looked away, stepping forward across the blood sea. She walked past the woman with complete indifference, ignoring her desperate calls and expectant gaze.

The fine silk brushed against the woman’s reaching hands as Seraphine passed by without acknowledgment. The woman let out a wail of anguish, covering her face as she wept.

“Phoenix child!”

“Palace Lord!”

Siyi appeared at Seraphine’s feet in tattered robes, reaching out to grab her ankles. Her voice was filled with despair: “Palace Lord! All of Luanyang Palace’s disciples have been slaughtered… Luanyang Palace no longer exists!”

Behind Siyi, the bodies of Luanyang Palace disciples were piled into mountains, their blood flowing into the crimson sea.

“You have nothing left!”

Seraphine brushed some imaginary dust from her sleeve and continued forward without changing expression.

The blood sea suddenly churned violently. Two women appeared ahead, one on each side—they shared similar features and were both breathtakingly beautiful. Seraphine had recently encountered one of them. They smiled at her with blood tears streaming down their faces, their once-tender skin instantly withering and aging as they reached toward her with skeletal hands.

“This is our destined death, our shared fate!”

“Phoenix death, phoenix fall—you will inevitably walk the same path we did! The great dao stretches endlessly, but immortality is not your destiny.”

“Seraphine Velka, your time has come. Join us.”

The two women’s voices intertwined around Seraphine, echoing throughout the blood sea as countless voices from all directions chanted the same words:

“Seraphine Velka, your time has come. Join us!”

Annoying.

Seraphine’s eyes showed a flash of irritation. She strode between the two women, and amid all the clamoring voices, she suddenly spoke.

“Something’s missing.”

The churning blood sea paused, as if waiting for her to continue.

The majestic Palace Lord of Luanyang Palace, her long robes trailing brilliant red like the blood sea itself flowing behind her, walked forward with elegant composure and dropped five words:

“Less eye-searing.”

The blood sea instantly vanished.

“HOST!!!”

I shouted into Seraphine’s ear through a tiny megaphone.

She didn’t die in the illusion but nearly died from that sound blast instead. Seraphine took a deep breath and pressed her hand to her forehead, waiting for the ringing in her ears to subside.

I floated in front of her, visibly relieved.

She’s out!

Seraphine glared at me menacingly.

Just because you have a nice voice doesn’t mean you should use it like that! Did you force other people to give you good reviews with this method before?

I lowered my megaphone, looking at Seraphine with innocent, dark-circled eyes.

“Host, what did you encounter in the illusion?” I asked.

Hearing this, Seraphine pressed her lips together and said calmly, “Nothing important.”

Humans always wore faces that screamed “something’s wrong” while saying “nothing’s wrong.”

I couldn’t understand this contradiction, so I persisted: “If there’s anything you need my help with, please don’t hesitate to ask. Within my capabilities, I want to help you.”

Seraphine laughed mockingly, staring at this little system that only she could see and hear in this world: “What if it’s beyond your capabilities?”

I replied calmly: “Then I’ll work harder to bring it within my capabilities.”

The silver-white system floated forward, extending its matchstick arm to pat Seraphine’s cheek in a comforting gesture.

“Even though I haven’t yet demonstrated the ability to truly help you, I will find a way. Please trust me.”