Su Jiu is dead.

"I read it in a book."

This explanation was half-truth, half-lie, impossible to discern.

Su Jiu’s eyes scrutinized him, as if searching for any cracks in Su Ji’s composure.

Yet Su Ji’s expression remained utterly unreadable, not a trace of guilt to be found.

[Conversation with Su Jiu, meeting aesthetic standards, triggering romance options.]

[Option 1: Press for details—keep asking about Daji’s life, like her preferred posture? (Reward: Su Jiu’s favorability -10, along with a disgusted scolding: “Are you out of your mind?”)]

[Option 2: Admit it’s just a story you heard. (Reward: Su Jiu’s suspicions dispelled, favorability +1)]

[Option 3: Stay silent. (Reward: None)]

[Permanent Option: Offer your meager life as tribute to my supreme sword path! (Current kill count: 0)]

Su Ji silently chose the third option.

Su Jiu studied him for a long moment before finally looking away.

"Hearsay. Don’t bring it up again."

Her tone was indifferent, closing the topic.

Just then, the void trembled violently once more.

The broken path beneath their feet began to mend, transforming into a wide flagstone road.

An ancient, timeworn marketplace materialized before the crowd.

On either side of the street, stalls hovered midair, their wares gleaming with an otherworldly radiance—treasures of every kind displayed in silent splendor.

At the far end stood the exit to this Heavenly Dao Secret Realm.

The ethereal voice spoke again:

[On the path of cultivation, wealth, companionship, methods, and land are indispensable.]

[This is the Heavenly Dao Market, where fortune reveals itself.]

[Trade your riches for my Dao.]

As the words faded, every cultivator present found a small brocade pouch in their hand.

Su Ji opened his to find ten golden coins, each intricately carved with swirling cloud patterns.

Before he could examine them further—

"Move!"

Su Jiu’s voice carried an urgency that brooked no argument.

She seized Su Ji’s wrist and dragged him toward the market without hesitation.

"Every item here is one-of-a-kind. I need to find that thing before anyone else."

As Su Ji was pulled along, his gaze locked onto a shadowy structure at the market’s entrance—a stark contrast to the luminous stalls around it.

A pawnshop.

Its weathered sign bore a single, lonely character: "Pawn."

Before he could take a closer look, he was yanked into the treasure-lined street.

Su Jiu’s breath hitched for an instant.

Her eyes fixed on a jade pedestal at the market’s center, where an ancient jade tome glowed with a soft, multicolored light.

[Desire Fox Scripture: Price—1,000 Heavenly Dao Coins.]

Su Ji saw it too.

But his attention was riveted to a tattered thread-bound book on a neglected corner stall.

Its cover bore three bold characters, written in a script he knew all too well—

[Primordial Scripture]

[Price: 10 Heavenly Dao Coins.]

His heart skipped a beat.

A quick scan confirmed no one else had noticed the book. The crowd was mesmerized by dazzling artifacts, pills, and high-tier techniques. To them, the characters were meaningless scribbles.

Moreover, the market’s pricing reflected true value. No one believed a 10-coin item could be a hidden gem.

The Heavenly Dao never misjudged.

Except for Su Ji.

He alone could read it.

"Junior Sister, is that Desire Fox Scripture really that powerful?"

Suppressing his exhilaration, Su Ji feigned casual curiosity.

Su Jiu didn’t look away from the jade tome. She nodded gravely.

"Yes."

Her voice held a longing even she didn’t recognize.

"How so?"

"If I obtain it, reaching the Ninth-Grade Golden Core would be effortless."

Su Ji listened, mind racing.

"Everything here is genuine?"

"Of course."

Su Jiu finally turned, her tone cool again.

"The Heavenly Dao Secret Realm deals only in truth."

She pointed to a rusted broken sword on another stall.

"That’s a fragment of the ‘Immortal-Slaying Sword.’ A relic of ancient slaughter, its edge still carries peerless sword intent. Price: 300 coins."

Next, she indicated a shriveled fruit.

"The ‘Longevity Dao Fruit.’ A single bite grants mortals instant Foundation Establishment, or adds a millennium to a cultivator’s lifespan. Price: 800 coins."

Su Jiu listed treasures and their effects with ease.

Su Ji was stunned.

This place was a trove of legend.

But there was a catch.

The trove was visible—yet out of reach.

Everyone had only ten coins.

This third trial...

Wait.

Su Ji’s peripheral vision caught the other cultivators’ reactions.

After the initial awe, reality set in.

They were poor.

The atmosphere shifted.

Greed replaced wonder.

Some stopped eyeing the treasures. Instead, their gazes slid toward fellow cultivators.

No one approached the pawnshop.

Groups began forming—silent alliances, predatory glances aimed at the isolated.

Su Ji’s stomach sank.

He understood now.

This market didn’t test just "wealth."

It tested "companionship."

Choose allies—or prey?

Here, other cultivators were walking coffers.

Even "methods" played a role.

This wasn’t a market.

It was a blood-soaked hunting ground.

Even if he avoided the pawnshop, his ten coins made him a target.

"Sorry, Junior Sister. You might have to fight alone."

Su Ji pocketed the Primordial Scripture without hesitation.

In a beginner zone where Golden Core was the cap, this was the jackpot.

No need to greedily chase more.

Surviving with this prize was victory enough.

Su Jiu’s composure cracked. "You begged me to bring you here! You swore we’d stick together!"

Su Ji shrugged, shameless.

"A man’s words are a devil’s lies."

"Too naive, Junior Sister."

With that, he tossed the "worthless" book in his hand and bolted for the exit.

Su Jiu’s chest heaved.

She watched Su Ji vanish into the light.

Bastard.

But there was no time to dwell.

The market’s mood had curdled.

Hungry eyes locked onto her.

Packs formed.

The hunt was on.

Her gaze flicked between the radiant Desire Fox Scripture and the circling wolves.

She stood alone.

...

Su Ji's figure reappeared at the edge of the desolate cliff.

The glowing portal of the secret realm slowly dissipated behind him.

He took a deep breath of the outside air, feeling refreshed and invigorated.

Marketplaces, hunts—none of it concerned him.

Without hesitation, he sat down at the cliff's edge, legs dangling over the void, and eagerly flipped open the tattered thread-bound book in his hands.

[The Scripture of No Beginning].

Just the first sentence alone sent Su Ji's mind reeling.

There were no obscure incantations, no cryptic scriptures.

Only the most fundamental, most primal explanation of the "Dao."

If [The Desolate Fallen Dragon Art] was an instruction manual on how to wield power,

then [The Scripture of No Beginning] revealed the very source of power and how to attain it.

The difference was night and day.

[The Desolate Fallen Dragon Art] seemed laughable in comparison.

At only the fourth level of Qi Refining, the cost of switching cultivation techniques was negligible.

Su Ji didn’t hesitate. He immediately took out all eighty-three low-grade spirit stones he had "found" in the first trial and arranged them in a small pile before him.

Closing his eyes, he began circulating his energy according to [The Scripture of No Beginning]'s method.

The spirit stones visibly dimmed, their purest essence transforming into spiritual energy that surged violently into Su Ji’s body.

After consuming roughly twenty stones, he had completely converted all the energy from [The Desolate Fallen Dragon Art] into [The Scripture of No Beginning]'s power.

Then, his aura began to rise steadily.

The bottleneck at the peak of the fourth level of Qi Refining shattered effortlessly, offering no resistance.

Fifth level of Qi Refining!

Su Ji didn’t stop.

He could feel his control over spiritual energy reaching an unprecedented level of precision.

Time flew by as he cultivated.

Before he knew it, half a day had passed.

When Su Ji opened his eyes again, more than half the spirit stones before him had been depleted—only forty or so remained.

His cultivation had stabilized firmly at the peak of the fifth level of Qi Refining.

He had a feeling that if he exhausted the remaining stones, reaching the seventh level of Qi Refining by tonight wouldn’t be difficult.

But there was no need.

The re-examination in three days was a sword hanging over his head.

A sudden, absurd leap in cultivation in such a short time would only invite unnecessary suspicion.

He had to endure.

Storing the remaining stones, he sat quietly at the cliff’s edge, waiting.

He wasn’t worried about Su Jiu dying inside.

If she couldn’t handle something like this, how could she ever stir the winds of fate in the future?

Finally, a glowing portal tore open in the void before him.

A blood-soaked figure staggered out, barely standing.

It was Su Jiu.

Her crimson robes were drenched in dark blood, her delicate face pale as paper, her aura feeble.

She saw Su Ji sitting cross-legged not far away, unharmed and perfectly composed.

An indescribable mix of resentment and bitterness surged in her heart.

"Su Ji, I must have misjudged you."

Her voice was laced with sorrow.

[Dialogue with Su Jiu, aesthetic trigger—romance options activated.]

[Option 1: Junior Sister, are you alright? I’ve been guarding the entrance for hours. I was so worried about you. (Reward: Su Jiu’s favorability resets to zero.)]

[Option 2: Junior Sister, how were the spoils? (Reward: Su Jiu’s favorability -15)]

[Option 3: Remain silent. (Reward: Su Jiu’s favorability -10)]

[Permanent Option: Offer thy meager life as tribute to my peerless sword path! (Current kill count: 0)]

Su Ji slowly rose to his feet.

He didn’t choose any of the options.

Instead, his focus settled on the ever-present, yet never-selected, permanent option.

The only regret was that he didn’t currently have a sword in hand.

At last, he’d get to see what this "Sword Sacrifice" was all about.

"Junior Sister, time to offer tribute."

Su Jiu froze.

She didn’t understand what those words meant.

But in the next instant, she did.

A sword materialized in Su Ji’s grasp.

Its blade was ancient and unadorned, bearing a dull, ashen hue that defied description.

The moment it appeared, the light of the world was devoured, and even the wind stilled.

A primal terror, rooted deep in her bloodline, seized her heart.

This was no mere artifact—it was a weapon forged from the purest law of "Termination."

Su Ji made no grand motion. He simply swung forward, casually.

No sword light. No sound of parting air.

Only a gray line, stretching across the heavens and earth, slicing toward Su Jiu.

Where it passed, space itself fractured into fine cracks.

At the brink of death, Su Jiu unleashed power beyond anything she’d shown before.

Nine massive fox tails erupted behind her, churning the skies.

Each blazed with eerie crimson flames as her demonic energy skyrocketed, forcibly elevating her strength to the late-stage Golden Core realm!

Every technique, every trump card—she held nothing back.

Yet it was useless.

Before that gray line, late-stage Golden Core cultivation was as fragile as paper.

Her tails, capable of shattering mountains, were severed effortlessly, white fur scattering like snow.

Horror etched itself permanently onto Su Jiu’s face.

The gray line passed through her.

She looked down in disbelief at the clean, smooth cut across her chest, blood gushing forth.

"This… is your… innate destiny?"

"No wonder… you reached… such heights in the future…"

Her lips curled into a bitter smile as she asked,

"Why… kill me…?"

"I treated you well… never once thought to harm you…"

The weapon in Su Ji’s hand vanished as suddenly as it had appeared.

He watched Su Jiu sway on her feet, his expression unmoved.

"Because you’re just an illusion."

"Your only purpose was to test my blade."

"Frankly, you’re not even worth testing a spear on."

The light in Su Jiu’s eyes dimmed. "I wasn’t supposed to die here… The Great Xia still needs me to…"

Her words died unfinished.

She was gone.

Su Ji stood in place, waiting.

Waiting for the illusion to shatter.

One second.

Two.

Ten.

Nothing happened.

No collapse of the false world as he’d expected.

Only the wind, thick with the scent of blood, rushing past the cliff and filling his nostrils.

And Su Jiu’s still-warm corpse, blood pooling beneath her, spreading into a stark crimson puddle.

Her delicate face, frozen in endless regret.

Beside her, [The Temptress Fox Scripture] and a seventh-grade cultivation manual lay discarded on the ground.

Su Ji nodded in satisfaction.

Good. This was the flavor an illusion should have—blurring truth and falsehood.

How else could it shatter one’s Dao Heart? Trap them in delusion?

Just a bit of wasted time.

He glanced at his destiny.

[Peering into Fate] was gone, leaving only two remaining.

[Romance Options]

[Fair as Jade, Spear Like a Roaming Dragon.]

So, it still wasn’t over?

"Are you… fucking kidding me?"

"I cheat."