Help Su Qi Regain Her Reputation.

But for now, I really should go meet up with Liu Yuan first.

Though they were a blended family, the relationship between their respective parents was actually quite good.

One glance at Liu Yuan’s looks was enough to tell.

Su Qi’s stepmother, even in her thirties as a married woman, still retained her charm.

If not for the fact that raising two kids was already troublesome enough—and because they took proper precautions—their fiery passion would’ve likely resulted in another child in no time, dutifully responding to the national birth policy.

That kid would’ve had a heavenly starting hand in life, even getting bonus points in the martial exams—standing a cut above the rest.

Who knows? Maybe Su Qi’s penchant for mischief was inherited from the old man.

Unfortunately, both parents later went missing in the Source Realm and were presumed dead.

Given that, Su Qi didn’t feel obligated to meddle too much in Liu Yuan’s affairs—after all, she wasn’t his blood-related sister.

But if something really happened to Liu Yuan on her first trip into the Source Realm, the old man’s ghost would probably haunt Su Qi in the middle of the night, demanding his life.

Still, this was a one-time thing.

Liu Yuan wasn’t his wife—Su Qi had no reason to look after her for the rest of her life.

The first time could be chalked up to inexperience, but once Su Qi helped her get through her "first time," she’d naturally understand the stakes.

It would hurt. There’d be blood.

Of course, there was another possibility…

Su Qi just wanted a free ride into the Source Realm…

He was probably already fantasizing about surprising little "Iris" once they set up camp.

"Give me your Source Signal ID. I’ll add you, then just send me your location later."

Inside the Source Realm, even with the signal towers set up by Great Xia, phones had very limited functionality.

Entertainment sites or chat apps like QQ were unusable—the signals couldn’t get out, and the servers outside couldn’t receive them from inside the Source Realm.

The only two usable features were local calls within the same signal tower’s range and a handful of functions on Source Message.

Most of the time, a phone wasn’t much different from a brick.

Source Message, as the name suggested, was specifically designed for this purpose.

......

On the other end.

Liu Yuan frowned slightly. Su Qi didn’t have her Source Message?

Well, Su Qi had been practically invisible for the past few years.

She never thought to add him either.

"Alright, my Source Message ID is y—"

Liu Yuan’s voice cut off abruptly.

While dialing, she suddenly remembered—she hadn’t done her daily mission yet.

"Daily Adventure" sounded way too cheesy, so she just called it her daily mission.

Last night, since she had to wake up early, she didn’t bother waiting for the golden reset time at midnight.

Now that she had a moment to spare, she could finally check what today’s mission was.

And at that exact moment, she saw the task details.

[Please select your Daily Adventure target]

[Option 1: Su Qi]

[Option 2: Random]

Su Qi.

[Daily Adventure (Special Three-Day Combined Edition): Su Qi, who promised to arrive on time, unsurprisingly only crawled out of bed at 10 AM. Such unreliability is understandably infuriating. Please "go back on your word" three times in a row against Su Qi, letting him experience the same frustration and helping him rebuild his sense of credibility.]

[Daily Adventure Reward: Each "broken promise" grants a three-day trial of Special Passive ①, with rewards stacking perfectly (Base attributes have reached current equipment limits. Please trigger and complete a Promotion Adventure as soon as possible.)]

[Note: After the first "broken promise," the adventure is considered active. You must complete two more consecutive instances of going back on your word. Otherwise, enforcement will be compulsory—unless you choose to destroy the card to end the enforcement.]

Help Su Qi rebuild his credibility?

That sounded… weird.

But…

This was the first time she’d seen such a unique daily mission reward.

If she could pull off three consecutive broken promises, wouldn’t that mean triple cultivation speed?

And since this was a three-day version…

If she finished quickly, she’d effectively have three times the experience gain for the next two and a half days?

Three days stronger than seven!

Plus, "going back on your word" three times didn’t seem too hard.

With the martial exams approaching, every student was desperate for more time to grind.

No detail was too small to optimize—let alone a boost this huge.

She did feel a little bad for Su Qi, though. He was only coming out of goodwill…

But the mission came from her brother’s card…

Her brother’s mission…

Maybe… she could treat Su Qi to a meal after leaving the Source Realm as an apology?

Racking her brain, she finally came up with a way to "go back on her word" without seeming too abrupt.

"Never mind, I’m not telling you. You’re the one who couldn’t be on time today—if we’d come in together, this wouldn’t even be an issue."

Su Qi: ???

He’d already opened Source Message (Source Realm Edition) to add her.

What, was she trying to be a brat now?

Did she think this was funny?

Though… technically…

Liu Yuan wasn’t wrong…

Sophistry!

This was pure sophistry!

"Liu Yuan, if you’re sick, go see a doctor. I’ll let it slide normally, but don’t pull this crap in the Source Realm. Just send me your Source Message ID already."

Beep beep beep—

The call disconnected.

......

Old Li, who’d been watching Liu Yuan make calls about the tent situation, felt a headache coming on.

What were the odds?

Last time, he’d used someone as a cautionary tale—right in front of their sister?

Sure, Jiangxia wasn’t small, but how did this kind of coincidence even happen?

One’s surnamed Liu, the other Su—how were they family?

Was the universe messing with him?

Old Li hesitated before asking, "Su Qi’s your brother?"

"As in, the ‘Qi’ from ‘prayer’?"

Liu Yuan nodded. "Yeah, that ‘Qi.’"

That kid…

He’d heard from a colleague that Su Qi held grudges.

"What tier is he now?"

"He says he’s sixth tier."

Hearing that, Old Li’s heart sank straight into the grave.

Damn. Same tier.

But even within the same tier, there were gaps.

Old Li was in his forties and only sixth tier—this was as far as he’d go in life.

Su Qi, even if he’d hit setbacks, wasn’t someone he could compare to.

"Last time… ahem… I was just talking offhand…"

"Teacher, I didn’t tell him."

Out of despair, a glimmer of hope!

"Good, good, good."

Old Li repeated it three times in relief.

"I’ll go clear out any fourth-tier creatures nearby first."

"Then I’ll get you some straw mats from the supply point to make do tonight."

"Don’t expect better treatment—consider it a lesson."

"Even beasts have some survival instincts. As long as you stick together, the collective ‘presence’ of your group will deter them. Unless provoked, they won’t dare approach this area."

"So stay put. I’ll be back in about two hours."

"I’m not joking—one misstep in the Source Realm, and it’s game over."

With that, Old Li left.

He didn’t bother with fancy tricks like drawing a "don’t leave this circle" boundary—after all, he was just a sixth-tier teacher. What kind of flashy skills did they expect?

Of course, the bigger reason was…

This was just an E-rank Source Realm.

What could possibly go wrong with a group of students at the peak of Tier 3 and Tier 4 gathered together?

His primary responsibility was to ensure that during one-on-one combat training with source realm creatures, none of the students sustained injuries—or worse, fatalities—that could jeopardize their martial exams.

...