Come on, junior sister, your senior brother will show you the world.

As the voice faded,

The swirling gray-white chaos around them finally came to a standstill.

The void beneath their feet solidified once more, turning back into cold, hard bluestone.

The chaotic sky above transformed into a familiar azure expanse.

Su Jiu opened her mouth to speak, but the words caught in her throat.

She glanced around—the once-empty, lifeless streets were now bustling with noise and activity.

Peddlers carrying their wares on shoulder poles moved through the crowd, their crisp and lively cries ringing out.

Inside a roadside teahouse, a storyteller’s wooden gavel smacked against the table with sharp cracks, drawing cheers from the audience.

Children laughed and chased each other, darting past them in a blur, stirring up a gust of wind in their wake.

Even a horse-drawn carriage approached from a distance, the driver cracking his whip and shouting for pedestrians to make way.

The air was thick with the scent of dust and the lively hum of human activity.

This was Anyang City.

Yet it was not the same Anyang City they had just seen.

This dead city… had come to life?!

“What… what’s going on?”

Su Jiu instinctively tried to summon her spiritual power, only to find that the newly forged Heavenly Palace Golden Core within her remained dormant, utterly unresponsive.

Here, she was no different from an ordinary mortal.

And she wasn’t the only one.

Every cultivator dragged into this place was equally bewildered.

The man from the Puppet Heaven Sect wore a face so dark it seemed to drip with gloom.

The white-jade puppet floating beside him offered no comfort—its hollow eyes no longer held even a shred of reassurance.

The disciples of the Blood Fiend Sect and the Joyful Union Sect were even more at a loss.

A single thought reshaping heaven and earth?

This was far more terrifying than facing a dead city.

Because it was unknown.

“Huh?”

“Why go back on your word?”

“I haven’t even left the city yet.”

To be honest,

Su Ji wasn’t keen on getting involved.

The rewards of this inheritance might be great,

But the risks were downright horrifying.

Especially since Su Ji already had enough foundation to carry him far, far ahead.

At best, this would be the icing on the cake—not life-saving aid.

Of course, all of that was beside the point.

The main issue was that his Heaven’s Gaze ability was still on cooldown.

Su Ji withdrew his scrutinizing gaze, lost in thought.

The man from the Puppet Heaven Sect finally couldn’t take it anymore.

“Senior!”

He cupped his hands toward the sky and spoke in a solemn voice.

“Since we’ve already entered this trial, we ask for your guidance—what exactly is the test for this inheritance?”

Yet no response came.

His posture, hands raised toward the heavens, looked almost comical now.

The city’s residents had already begun pointing and whispering.

A woman with a child even quietly steered clear of him.

Fuming, the Puppet Heaven Sect disciple’s face cycled through shades of green and white before he finally lowered his arms in frustration.

It seemed everyone was trapped in Anyang City.

Their cultivation sealed, reduced to mere mortals, with no hints or guidance.

What kind of trial was this?

Just as the group stood frozen in confusion, the silence was broken—by Su Ji.

Ignoring the wary or puzzled looks from the other cultivators, he grabbed Su Jiu’s wrist and strode deeper into the streets.

“Senior Brother, where are we going?”

In this eerie place, being pulled along by Su Ji gave her an inexplicable sense of security.

“Sightseeing.”

“We were in a hurry last time. Let’s continue now.”

Su Ji’s reply was matter-of-fact, as if they weren’t trapped in a deadly trial,

But rather a couple out for a leisurely stroll on a sunny afternoon.

“Since we’re here, might as well not just stand around.”

Su Jiu: “……”

She was starting to think her brain simply couldn’t keep up with Su Ji’s way of thinking.

At a time like this, with their lives hanging in the balance, he still wanted to sightsee?

But if Su Ji was doing this, he must have some grand… grand wisdom behind it.

Su Ji paid no mind to her internal struggle, tugging her toward a stall selling dough figurines.

The vendor was a kindly-looking old woman, cheerfully shaping dough with deft fingers.

“Boss, make one of her.”

Su Ji pointed at Su Jiu, who stood awkwardly beside him.

The old woman looked up, her cloudy eyes brightening slightly at the sight of Su Jiu. She grinned, revealing yellowed teeth, and praised warmly,

“What a pretty lass! Almost as fine as I was in my day.”

“You’re a lucky young man.”

With that, she scooped water from a bucket at her feet to wash her hands,

Then took a fresh lump of dough and began shaping it with her fingers—no tools needed.

Su Jiu stood stiffly under the old woman’s scrutinizing gaze, her cheeks warming as she averted her eyes.

Moments later, a dough figurine emerged in the old woman’s hands—a perfect likeness of Su Jiu in her Daoist robes, right down to the faint blush on her cheeks.

“That’ll be three coppers.”

Su Ji rummaged through his robes for a while,

Finally pulling out a low-grade spirit stone and offering it.

The vendor blinked at the glittering stone, utterly baffled.

“Customer, this is…?”

“Pretty as this rock is, an old woman like me prefers hard coin.”

Su Ji’s eyebrow rose.

Hmm…

Real people?

The logic held.

A street vendor scraping by on handiwork wouldn’t know about spirit stones.

Even if she’d heard of them, she’d likely refuse such payment.

Su Ji took back the spirit stone and patted himself down again.

This time, he produced a few copper coins—leftover from their earlier outing in Wang’an Town.

He handed them over.

The old woman accepted them without hesitation, her wrinkles deepening with a delighted smile.

Su Jiu watched the exchange, thoughtful.

Su Ji took the figurine, then pulled Su Jiu along to continue their walk.

“Senior Brother, did you figure something out?”

Su Jiu finally couldn’t hold back her question.

“More or less.”

Su Ji’s answer was vague. He glanced back at the group of bewildered cultivators.

“Come on, let’s go somewhere interesting.”

Su Jiu perked up. “Do you have a plan?”

“Got an idea.”

“Where are we going?”

“A brothel.”

Su Jiu: “……”

Her face froze.

She wondered if she’d misheard.

“What?”

“I said a brothel.”

Su Ji’s expression was utterly unapologetic, even carrying a hint of “how could you not get this?”

He leaned closer, lowering his voice.

“Think about it—where’s the best place for rumors in Anyang City? Not the magistrate’s office, not the teahouses, but the pleasure houses where all walks of life gather.”

“We’ll definitely pick up useful information there.”

Su Jiu’s head spun from this twisted logic.

She opened her mouth to argue but found herself at a loss.

Well… he did have a point.

But still… this was just too…

“It’s settled then.”

Su Ji gave her no room to hesitate, declaring firmly.

“Come on, Junior Sister. Let me show you the world.”

Su Jiu stood still for a moment, watching Su Ji's carefree retreating figure. In the end, she clenched her teeth and followed after him.