Long before the real action started, Echo’s human form had tossed out a box of spirit pearls, letting spiritual energy drift around the barrier like atmospheric mood lighting.

The twin dragons assumed Echo’s act was standard pre-battle prep—absorbing ambient energy for the fight ahead. They had no idea she was setting up the perfect smokescreen.

When the spiritual mist started rising, masking the moment Echo ejected a certain timid little spirit heart into the mix, the dragons didn’t even notice. The energy was already so thick you could practically swim in it.

Poor little spirit heart. After months of cozy hibernation inside the golden bell, with only Seraphine for company, it had gotten used to the quiet life. Just peacefully cycling energy for its master’s cultivation, living its best introvert life.

Now? Suddenly thrust into a battlefield with two massive golden dragons crackling with lightning and hail, the little guy was so terrified it immediately leaked a fat drop of spiritual essence.

Dragons! Actual dragons!

The spirit heart wasn’t even as big as a single dragon scale. Lightning split the sky, ice pelted its tiny form, and in that moment of existential crisis, it decided it would rather marry a meditation cushion than endure this nightmare.

Just when it thought things couldn’t get worse, its other master—Echo—dumped an entire box of spirit pearls into the chaos. Spiritual energy exploded everywhere, and floating in the middle of it all was a familiar little orb.

The spirit heart drifted closer, hoping to hide behind the orb for protection.

That’s when the orb sprouted eyes and a pair of tiny limbs.

Topped with its signature little flower, the orb grabbed the approaching spirit heart and opened wide.

“Chirp!”

This was true despair.

The trembling spirit heart watched its trusted companion swallow it whole.

Down it went!

Data streams flowed like rivers of starlight. The spirit heart found itself floating in a vast digital galaxy, watching countless points of light converge into strange, text-like formations that wrapped around its essence.

Two drops of spiritual liquid squeezed out in terror, only to immediately dissolve into the data stream.

A familiar, gentle voice echoed through the space: “Please provide me with lots of spiritual energy.”

“Chirp.” Despite its fear, the spirit heart obediently began releasing energy. The concentration was so intense it condensed into liquid form, creating a misty spiritual essence that those weird text-formations absorbed at lightning speed.

Whoosh, whoosh—gone, just like that!

Panicking, the spirit heart pumped out energy even faster, but it couldn’t keep up with the absorption rate.

“Chirp……”

So scary…… wuuu…

Outside the barrier, the twin dragons’ expressions shifted from confident to stunned as they stared at the tiny silver orb that had been easy to overlook moments before.

“Artifact manifestation?” their voices rumbled like thunder.

Echo, in orb form, brandished her little sword and grinned. “Shall we?”

Light blazed as she shot toward them, that admittedly ridiculous-looking blade raised high.

“Ten Thousand Swords Rise.”

Countless blades materialized in the air. Snow and lightning clashed as the dragons breathed fire in frustration.

The orb could use stealth techniques just like Echo’s human form, but being this small had its advantages. Compared to a human, it was nearly impossible to track, appearing in completely unexpected places instead of engaging in honorable face-to-face combat.

“Coward!” the dragons roared.

Echo sliced up from beneath one dragon’s belly, Nine Heavens scraping against scales in a shower of sparks. “I prefer ‘tactically creative,’” she replied calmly.

“ROAR!”

Outside the barrier, Seraphine stood and gazed at the night sky.

From the moment Echo entered the barrier until now, an entire month had passed. Sunrise, sunset, she’d kept vigil outside for thirty days straight.

When she had disappeared before, had Echo worried about her the same way? Seraphine wrung her hands, pacing the platform. Error’s green eyes watched her with concern, occasionally chirping softly at the sky to cheer Echo on.

At least no news was good news.

Seraphine’s lips trembled as she looked up at the stars.

On the horizon, golden light slowly rose—another dawn……

Inside the barrier, after endless combat, the twin dragons finally noticed something was wrong.

They’d been fighting the orb day and night, nearly draining all the spiritual energy in the area, but instead of weakening, Echo was getting stronger. And now—

“I’m about to break through,” Echo announced, raising her sword conversationally.

The moment those words left her, Nine Heavens unleashed a strike infused with elegant sword intent. The clouds and moon cannot be chased, the mountains remain undimmed, only this sword carries desolation—one blade illuminates heaven and earth.

Spiritual pressure rolled out like crashing waves, slamming into both dragons. They plummeted with a thunderous crash.

“Roar.”

This roar was much quieter than their previous ones. They struggled back into the air, staring at the orb they could no longer underestimate.

“Truly Soul Transformation stage!” one golden dragon exclaimed, craning its neck toward the peaceful sky.

No tribulation lightning?

Echo looked at the dragons, who had stopped attacking. “Not fighting anymore?”

After a long, weighing silence, both dragons lowered their massive heads.

“You fought us two Soul Transformation early-stage dragons as a late-stage Nascent Soul cultivator,” one rumbled. “Though the battle lasted long and you were at a disadvantage, we could not destroy you. Now that you’ve broken through, we are even less capable of victory.”

“Your cultivation method is extraordinary—advancing without tribulation lightning shows Heaven’s favor. We acknowledge your strength and willingly accept you as master.”

The dragons had been thoroughly beaten into submission.

As their words faded, their massive forms dissolved into golden light, coalescing in the air as an enormous tome. Echo’s single drop of golden blood floated above it.

The blood merged with the book.

“We are the secret realm’s manifestation,” their voices emerged from the pages. “We can become all things. Please command us, Master.”

Echo perked up with curiosity. “Can you turn into phoenixes?”

The book’s light split in two, transforming into a pair of magnificent golden phoenixes.

Echo’s eyes lit up as she clapped her tiny hands. “I want to show Seraphine!”

The barrier flickered and vanished. On the platform, Seraphine immediately stood as she spotted a silver orb riding atop a massive golden phoenix, one hand on its hip, the other raising its sword triumphantly as it flew toward her wreathed in dawn light.

“Echo!” Seraphine called out joyfully, extending her palm.

The orb zipped over and landed in her hand with a flourish, sheathing its sword behind its back with a satisfied “haha” sound.

“Seraphine, I did it! I don’t have points to exchange for a proper immortal mansion, but please don’t think less of this secret realm,” Echo announced. “When my body ascends to immortality, it’ll upgrade to a full celestial realm.”

Echo pulled up the secret realm map.

With the blood contract in place, she could sense everything within. The previously unexplored regions slowly filled in as she balanced the map on her head.

“It’s pretty spacious, and comes with built-in guardian spirit beasts,” Echo explained, gesturing to the two phoenixes now huddled sheepishly on the platform.

Seraphine’s eyes held surprise and amazement, but most of all, relief at Echo’s safe return. She stroked the orb’s surface gently. “I’m just glad you’re alright.”

Her gaze shifted to the two phoenixes squeezed together awkwardly. Gone was their previous arrogance—under Seraphine’s stare, they immediately ducked their heads, refusing to meet her eyes.

They hadn’t expected to actually lose to an orb, and now they feared being banished to cleaning duty. Talk about embarrassing for a secret realm’s reputation.

“Hmph.” Seraphine let out a cold laugh, carrying the orb as she walked toward the phoenixes.

Both phoenixes took a step back.

“If you ask me, this secret realm lacks loyalty,” she said icily. “Today it’s Echo they serve, but tomorrow when someone else fights them and wins, won’t the dungeon simply change masters again? What good are countless treasures if they come with faithless guardians?”

The phoenix quickly protested: “We had no blood contract with our previous master. He explicitly said if we wished to follow a worthier master, he wouldn’t stop us. We only sought to upgrade to an immortal mansion and wholeheartedly followed him. Now that we’ve formed a blood contract with our new master, we’ll obey absolutely. Even if someone triggers the defenses, they cannot contract with us unless Master releases the bond.”

Seraphine nodded curtly, her tone still cold. “I despise disloyalty above all else. I suggest you conduct yourselves accordingly.”

The phoenixes bowed respectfully.

“Seraphine, I had them become phoenixes—do you like it?” Echo flew over to perch on one phoenix’s head, patting it with her tiny limbs.

Seraphine smiled. “I do, but they’re rather conspicuous.”

“True.” Echo nodded, having learned the wisdom of keeping wealth hidden. “Please transform again.”

Soon, two golden birds hopped on the ground, flapping their wings and pretending to peck at imaginary grain to look like ordinary fowl.

Echo gave them a thumbs up in her bubble.

“What about your body?” Seraphine asked helplessly.

Echo’s body! Echo smacked her forehead and looked up.

With the barrier gone, Echo’s human form had vanished from the Brahma Bell.

“Master, don’t panic! We moved your body to the forbidden zone for safety,” one golden bird chirped. “We’ll take you there.”

The single-person platform began moving toward the mountain’s interior.

Echo settled on Seraphine’s shoulder, sprouting tiny limbs to prop herself up and nuzzle against her cheek.

Since it had been so long since Echo had done this, it should be worth ten affection points.

Echo happily sprouted some flowers and nuzzled her again.

Seraphine looked down, her voice soft. “I’m just relieved you’re safe.”

“Thank you for buying me time to take that pill earlier,” Echo said. “I used my human body to scout their abilities, then defeated them as an orb.”

“How did you manage it?” Seraphine asked curiously. Even back in orb form, Echo was still Echo—her power couldn’t have suddenly skyrocketed.

“Ah!” Echo smacked her forehead and laughed. “I almost forgot about it!”

Echo’s mouth suddenly gaped wide, and she spat out a diamond-shaped spirit heart with a wet “pthoo!”

Echo gave a thumbs up. “I created a physical storage space within my data matrix, placed the spirit heart inside, then rewrote my cultivation code to accelerate energy conversion and maximize efficiency in extracting spiritual power. My processing speed is incredibly fast, and luckily we have an amazing spirit heart!”

Two thumbs up this time.

Seraphine stared at Echo. “……”

Seraphine held the spirit heart Echo had just “spat out,” resisting the urge to cast a dust-removal spell as she picked it up.

“Hm?” Seraphine said in surprise. “It’s not releasing spiritual energy anymore.”

Echo ran a quick scan. “It’s much smaller than before.”

“……Ahem.” Seraphine cleared her throat. “Well then, let it rest properly. What was secretly consumed must be properly returned.”

The spirit heart trembled weakly. Having had so much energy “borrowed” it was too drained to produce liquid, but it was definitely heartbroken!

“This twin dragon dungeon is so vast, I wonder if there are other spirit hearts here,” Seraphine mused. “If so, we’ll collect them for you.”

The platform touched down as a door opened in the eastern wall—previously hidden by illusion magic, its interior remained obscured. One golden bird turned back respectfully.

“The secret realm contains many spirit mines. Two are fully formed, and one contains a spirit heart.”

The little spirit heart stopped trembling and perked up with a “pop!”

To find another spirit heart, it had overcome its social anxiety and actually stood up in a human’s palm!

Echo shook her head and quoted, “Stone eat stone—how poetic.”

You’re one to talk!

The spirit heart flopped against Seraphine dramatically, quivering. She chuckled. “Alright, alright, we’ll get it for you. You’re the greatest hero of this battle.”

Without the spirit heart, how could Echo have emerged safely? Let alone one spirit heart—even two or three, she’d feed them all to it. Did she look like someone who lacked spirit stones?

Echo tried to put her limbs on her belly to laugh, then realized she was still holding Nine Heavens. Shelooked around the platform frantically. “Where’s the sheath?”

Seraphine snorted softly, retrieving the scabbard from her storage ring.

Drop it carelessly again and I’m hiding it next time!

“Thank you, Seraphine,” Echo said gratefully, properly sheathing Nine Heavens before asking her to hold it. She floated toward the wall’s hidden chamber.

“Wait here,” the two birds told Seraphine, following Echo inside.

Seraphine raised an eyebrow.

Three small figures—one silver, two gold—flew through the doorway.

The chamber beyond was modest, its walls lined with luminous pearls illuminating a jade box on a central platform.

A golden bell covered a human figure on the platform—Echo’s body. Echo flew to the table first, staring at the box.

Echo had seen this jade container before.

Echo raised her tiny limbs in a bird-like gesture, then slammed her palm down on the box without hesitation. Light flashed as a crossed-beak peacock symbol appeared and vanished. Echo opened the container.

Inside lay another black ring.

The moment Echo’s limb touched the ring, a black shadow erupted from it—shapeless, with a twisted face and body, shrieking in a harsh, furious voice: “Kill Jing—”

SLAM!

Echo snapped the box shut and patted her surface with a “startled” expression.

So noisy.

Outside on the platform, Seraphine—who was combing Error’s serpentine locks with a small brush—whipped around toward the blurred doorway. “Echo!” Her nerves were on edge, but Echo emerged quickly enough.

Echo’s silver-haired human form walked out wearing a dejected expression, head hanging low as she approached Seraphine.

“What happened? What’s wrong?” Seraphine asked worriedly, cupping Echo’s face as her eyes flashed dangerously toward the two golden birds trailing behind Echo.

They flapped frantically, chirping, “Master has been like this ever since returning to the body!”

Injured again? Seraphine’s brow furrowed with concern.

“Sigh.” Echo grabbed Seraphine’s hand and pressed it to her chest.

Echo’s dejected expression shifted to a wailing emoji—her silver core transformed into a fountain, mouth wide open revealing pink hearts.

“Seraphine,” Echo said pitifully, “it still hurts.”

[Author’s Note]:

Work Log: Really don’t like pain.