“Do you think I’m made of dough?”

Seraphine held up her book and gave Echo’s forehead two more gentle taps.

I rubbed my head and said warmly, “Good afternoon, Seraphine.”

She snorted with laughter and tossed the novel aside, jumping down from the hammock.

Under a nearby peach tree, Error had made herself a little nest and was sleeping coiled up in her true form.

Qiu Shuangshuang was curled up inside Error’s coils, hugging the Water Dragon’s Hymn spear and snoring peacefully.

When she heard them talking, she rubbed her eyes and glanced at the sun’s position.

“Master, are you done resting already?” Qiu Shuangshuang poked her sleepy head out of the dragon nest, watching Echo pack up the hammock.

I sighed with an old soul’s weariness. “Can’t sleep anymore.” Dreams were terrifying for systems.

Since Master was up, Qiu Shuangshuang didn’t dare slack off and quickly climbed out. Error, however, shrank down and flew over to coil around Seraphine’s hand.

“You’ve worked hard,” Seraphine said, stroking Error gently. “Rest a bit more.” Compared to Echo—a body stuffed with a system’s soul—Error was just a small Golden Core stage dragon. After flying non-stop for so long, she needed proper rest.

The three of them who were refreshed headed toward Brocade City.

I walked along picking peaches, and Qiu Shuangshuang couldn’t miss such a perfect opportunity to show off to her master, declaring herself the number one peach picker of Autumn Water Pavilion!

Seraphine turned back, irritated. “Both of you, come here!”

The master-disciple pair, with robes full of peaches, hurried over to follow behind Seraphine.

Even without the soul remnant , Brocade City hadn’t suddenly become ruins like in novels. It sat like a beautiful maiden among the greenery, elegant and graceful. Hibiscus flowers were planted throughout the city, adding to its delicate charm.

Seraphine rubbed her forehead. When she’d fallen into the peach blossom forest, she’d been in a daze when that woman found her.

Later, those women had taken her outside the city to admire flowers. Remembering the path they’d walked, she lowered her hand and said quietly to Echo, “Follow me.”

I quickly reached out to take Seraphine’s hand, giving her a determined look.

If we were going to disappear again, we’d disappear together.

Seraphine smiled softly, and they walked hand in hand through the streets.

That woman’s home wasn’t in one of the grand mansions belonging to the city’s wealthy families, but in an unremarkable alley. The courtyard was planted with flowers and herbs, looking quite elegant.

I took Nine Heavens and bent over, poking around in the grass. Seraphine asked humbly, “What are you doing?”

“Seraphine, based on my experience, secret realm tokens are always hidden in plants and trees. I’m checking if there’s a token here. Oh, and I discovered something else—teleportation tokens always send you to places with opportunities waiting. Many of the gifts I gave you were found near tokens.”

Qiu Shuangshuang, who had been respectfully listening to their conversation, perked up her ears and drew the Water Dragon’s Hymn to help search through the plants. But before the spear tip even touched the grass, Water Dragon’s Hymn shot away with a “whoosh.”

Don’t touch the dragon.

“Sigh, look at Nine Heavens, then look at you.” Qiu Shuangshuang made the same sound her mother often made and pulled out her own weapon to dig through the dirt.

Meanwhile, Seraphine and Echo searched the small courtyard inside and out. Aside from being more elegantly decorated, it seemed no different from an ordinary home.

“I woke up in that woman’s chamber.” Seraphine said, quickly crossing the garden toward the embroidery tower nearby. Inside, everything was exactly as she’d left it, but through the open window, the red apricot blossoms had already fallen and turned to mud.

After scanning the surroundings, I noticed a tightly closed box on the dressing table and pulled Seraphine over.

“Please be careful, Seraphine.” I said in a low voice, then raised Nine Heavens to flip open the unlocked box.

“Click.”

The wooden box opened, revealing a golden token inside.

Seraphine suddenly looked at Echo and raised an eyebrow.

Plants and trees?

“It’s a wooden box.” I maintained that my experience was still correct, pulling Seraphine’s hand behind my back and examining the pattern on the token. One look was all it took—I’d seen this flower before.

Just today, in Seraphine’s hands.

“Dragon Sand Pure Pistil?” Seraphine raised an eyebrow. “Interesting. I remember the black token had a hibiscus flower carved on it.”

I was a bit surprised. “Could there be other opportunities in the desert that I missed?”

“Perhaps. The Twin Dragon Secret Realm is vast, and traveling by token, it’s inevitable you’d miss some places.” Seraphine comforted Echo. “I just wonder if we can be teleported together while holding hands.”

I had experience bringing dragons during teleportation, but before that, I thought of something else. Besides Seraphine, I now had a disciple too.

Both of them looked toward the garden, where Qiu Shuangshuang was bent over “picking flowers and stirring up grass.”

“No, her cultivation is too low. If there’s danger, I’m afraid I can’t protect her.” Seraphine shook her head.

I blinked. “Why would you be the one protecting her?” Shouldn’t that be me, as her master?

Hearing this, Seraphine shot Echo a displeased look. “You need to protect me.”

Ah!

That’s right!

I nodded.

I called Qiu Shuangshuang’s name. Her eyes lit up and she hurried over, grabbing the windowsill excitedly. “Master, what are your orders!”

“Qiu Shuangshuang, Seraphine and I are going on an adventure that we can’t bring you on. Continue searching for Golden Dragon fragments and let Water Dragon’s Hymn protect you.” I said in my cool voice.

Qiu Shuangshuang scratched her head. “Okay, Master.”

Seraphine also instructed, “Though cultivators can’t fight each other in the secret realm, the Twin Dragon Secret Realm is extremely dangerous. It’s filled with countless spirit beasts and spiritual plants, including Soul Transformation stage monsters lurking about. Be very careful.”

“Yes!” Qiu Shuangshuang said loudly. “If I encounter fierce beasts much stronger than me, I’ll definitely use the thirty-six strategies with running away as the best!”

Seraphine was satisfied with Qiu Shuangshuang again. At least when she wasn’t being stubborn, she was quite clever. She said warmly, “If your life is in danger, don’t hesitate to withdraw from the second round. When that happens, just tell your master what you want and she’ll help you get it.”

The master observing Seraphine teaching her disciple blinked, then suddenly leaned down to whisper in Seraphine’s ear: “Seraphine, I don’t have any points left.”

Not a single one.

I couldn’t exchange for any items.

Seraphine’s ear grew warm, and she lowered her voice too: “Don’t worry, we have money. Didn’t you bring back so many treasures?”

With all those things, we could buy anything.

She cleared her throat under Qiu Shuangshuang’s sparkling gaze and waved her hand. “Go on.”

“Yes, Master, Mas—Palace Lord!” Qiu Shuangshuang’s tongue nearly got twisted. She patted her own mouth, picked up Water Dragon’s Hymn with a grin, and waved goodbye. “See you at Golden Jade Tower!”

Me: ?

Qiu Shuangshuang seemed to have a bit of a stutter.

“Water Dragon’s Hymn, please protect Qiu Shuangshuang.” I called out.

Water Dragon’s Hymn manifested as a woman’s phantom floating in the air and nodded.

Qiu Shuangshuang stomped her foot in frustration. “You just won’t acknowledge me, will you!”

Water Dragon’s Hymn looked down at Qiu Shuangshuang with a glance.

Too weak. Not worth acknowledging.

Watching them leave, Seraphine said leisurely, “It seems I’ve missed quite a lot.”

What was this Golden Jade Tower place?

I laughed heartily and reached out to wrap my arms around Seraphine’s waist, making her eyes widen in shock. “Please hold me tight, and it would be best if you used your whip to tie us together.”

Previously, when I used tokens, Error had been coiled around my wrist. Not knowing how many people the token could transport, if Seraphine and I made maximum contact, perhaps the token would recognize us as one person.

Seraphine: “……Alright.”

She brought out her natal weapon, and the red whip bound the two of them face-to-face with a series of “swish” sounds.

Long hair hid Seraphine’s reddening ears as she hooked the corner of her mouth at Echo.

I made an “mm” sound and tilted my head back.

So cramped.

“Seraphine,” I said, staring at the ceiling with my head tilted back, my hands fluttering against my hem. “You tied it a bit too much. I can’t reach the token.”

That was exactly the point.

Seraphine’s expression turned mischievous as she pressed her delicate hand on the token in the box. White light flashed, and the last bit of movement in Brocade City disappeared.

Completely quiet.

The two not-so-quiet people opened their eyes.

Seraphine stepped back, and Echo, still tied up, couldn’t help but hop forward.

I looked at my bound self, then at Seraphine, who looked perfectly composed and unrestrained.

Huh?

How did this happen?

I sprouted question marks and said, “Seraphine, untie me.”

Seraphine “suddenly noticed” that Echo was tied up, covered her lips, and said “sorry” before withdrawing her natal weapon back into her consciousness sea.

I sighed in relief, straightened my clothes, and smiled at Seraphine.

Dummy.

Seraphine smiled warmly and looked around. “Underground?”

The space around us was extremely spacious, with blue bricks and golden walls. Two coiling golden dragons were carved into the walls, and the ceiling and floor tiles were decorated with dragons and phoenixes, looking very majestic. Torches burned on the walls every few meters, illuminating the entire platform.

But this was a sealed space with no doors or windows.

Why were we teleported here? As Seraphine frowned in thought, a hand reached over and poked her stomach.

Seraphine’s expression changed, and she slapped that misbehaving hand with a “smack.”

I yelped “Ow!”

“That hurt.” I said, raising my hand and blowing on the reddened back.

Serves you right.

Seraphine snorted coldly, grabbed Echo’s reddened hand, and rubbed it with her fingers while saying coldly, “What were you trying to do?”

I said curiously, “I was wondering if I could store Nine Heavens in my consciousness sea like you do. If I form a soul-bond with Nine Heavens, can I summon and dismiss weapons at will like you?”

Then I wouldn’t have to carry it around, and it wouldn’t poke me when I lay down. How nice!

“You can try. I’ll teach you the soul-bonding technique, but you need to use a drop of essence blood first.” Seraphine looked around hesitantly. “But I don’t know if this place is dangerous. Should we wait until we’re outside to perform the bonding?”

I said either was fine, but what was essence blood?

Curious, I opened my interface and looked at the feedback from various databases. In cultivation stories like this, besides essence blood, there was also heart’s blood, which was supposedly much more powerful—like the essence of essence blood.

Very curious, I consulted the scientific world’s human anatomy and experimentally tried to force out a drop of heart’s blood.

“Pff.” A large mouthful of blood spilled from my mouth. My face instantly turned pale, and dull pain spread from my heart.

Seraphine, who had been observing their environment, whipped around and shouted angrily, “Xi Lingren, what are you doing!”

Error crawled onto Seraphine’s shoulder, breathing worried little flames.

I covered my mouth with my fingers as bright red blood dripped between them, creating long streaks. The contrast between my pale jade fingers and the vivid blood was particularly striking. When I lowered my hand, my blood-stained lips were as red as cinnabar, and a drop of golden blood flew out from my palm. I frowned and said, “It hurts.”

So this body really did have something called heart’s blood.

Under Seraphine’s murderous glare, I lowered my eyes and said quietly, “That’s not scientific.”

“I’ll put it back.” I said, enduring the pain and trying to return the heart’s blood to my body. But when I used spiritual energy to control it, I discovered that the golden blood drop suspended in air wouldn’t obey my commands and flew toward a specific direction.

Seraphine quickly flew up, trying to retrieve Echo’s blood, but the platform suddenly blazed with a golden barrier that forced her back.

“Give it back!” Seraphine roared, bringing out her natal weapon and lashing it fiercely against the barrier.

Inside the barrier, the golden blood split in two, landing on the foreheads of the two golden dragons carved into the walls. Seraphine’s pupils contracted as she quickly stepped back, shielding Echo.

I rubbed my chest, with a “wailing loudly” expression floating over my head.

“Twin Dragons.” Seraphine said in a low voice.

On the walls, the massive twin dragons carved into all four sides came to life, flying toward the suddenly opened ceiling. The entire platform rose, following the spiraling golden dragons higher and higher until it stopped at a mountain peak.

I suddenly realized this mountain was very familiar—it was the one the black scorpion had pointed to before!

I looked up at the golden twin dragon phantoms chasing and spiraling through the air.

“Cultivator, I have received your heart’s blood and accept your challenge,” the golden dragon lowered its head to look at me clutching my chest, its voice like thunder. “If you win, the Twin Dragons will serve you from now on, and this realm will belong to you.”

Seraphine: “……”

She stared blankly at Echo with her aggrieved expression, Qiu Shuangshuang’s voice echoing in her mind: “Treasures everywhere she goes!”

The golden dragon continued slowly: “If you lose, you must naturally forfeit your life to atone for the offense!”

I lifted my lip unhappily: “Oh.”

Seraphine: “……You’re still complaining? Isn’t this the fairy cave dwelling you once mentioned?” You little poor system!

My eyes lit up, and I stopped rubbing my chest.

A free cave dwelling!

⁂

In Sunset Glow City, at the manor where Ink-Trace Venerable was staying.

Jingxing refused the tenth cup of tea Zhao Qingcheng had offered today, his eyebrows moving as he looked in surprise toward the tightly closed secret realm gate floating above the city.

The observant Zhao Qingcheng quickly asked, “Venerable, has something unexpected happened?”

“……No, but something interesting has indeed occurred,” Jingxing chuckled lightly. “Let me wait and see.”

In the secret realm, the twin golden dragons spiraled through the air, their golden eyes fixed intently on Echo.

My silver-white hair fluttered in the wind. Though my face was pale, my expression remained completely calm as I drew Nine Heavens, casually tossed the scabbard aside as usual, and said peacefully to the twin dragons:

“I accept your challenge.”