Have you seen... one of my companions

The air in the room grew still.

Outside the window, the wind and snow were blocked by the thick paper panes, leaving only the occasional crisp crack of branches snapping under the weight of snow.

Yun Yao stood with her arms crossed, looking down from a height at the man on the bed, who had just woken up and still looked frail.

“Hey, say something.”

Seeing that Su Ji hadn’t spoken for a while, Yun Yao was losing her patience. Her almond-shaped eyes were wide open, her chin slightly raised as she tried her best to maintain a “don’t mess with me” attitude. “I’ve already introduced myself, so shouldn’t you do the same?”

She paused briefly, as if to add more weight to her threat, and tacked on, “I don’t want to end up saving an ungrateful snake. If you’re really carrying some big trouble… hmph, I’ll just have to throw you out.”

Su Ji lay in bed, listening to this utterly guileless threat, and the corner of his eye couldn’t help twitching.

This girl…

Was she innocent to the point of being dense, or was she simply missing a few brain cells?

Who interrogates someone’s background by blurting out their own thoughts first?

No normal person would admit to being trouble.

And once you said something like that—

Unless they were completely brain-dead, even a bloodthirsty demon lord at that moment would package himself as a pious, vegetarian charity case.

Su Ji sighed inwardly. He felt that if he were to lie to a naive soul like this, he’d be taking advantage of an honest person.

But that thought only flickered through his mind.

Could conscience feed him?

Right now, the biggest problem staring him in the face was—the information gap.

He was completely in the dark about this so-called “Upper Realm.”

All he knew was that there was a place called the Great Wilderness, the Chaotic Star Sea to the north, and some places called Imperial Court Mountain and Wind-Listening Pavilion.

As for the distribution of other powers, local customs, and sect rules—he knew nothing.

If he fabricated a false identity, claiming to be a disciple of some sect or the son of some noble family…

As long as Yun Yao asked a couple more questions, he’d be exposed on the spot.

Then a “spy” label would be slapped on him, and it wouldn’t just be about getting thrown out—he’d probably be dragged off by this Yin-Yang Sect to have his soul extracted and bones pulled.

Su Ji’s mind raced, quickly weighing the pros and cons.

Since he couldn’t fabricate a lie… why not tell the truth?

After all, his current pathetic state was undeniable: his cultivation was completely lost, all his meridians were severed, and he was broke beyond belief. Wasn’t this the perfect “victim” persona?

“What’s the matter? Can’t say?” Yun Yao saw his eyes flickering and immediately felt alarms ringing in her head. Her hand had already rested on the storage pouch at her waist. “You’re not really some remnant of a demonic sect who fled here after being hunted, are you?”

“Cough…” Su Ji coughed weakly, and a look of bitterness and desolation appeared on his face at just the right moment.

He struggled to sit up but fell back weakly onto the pillow. His half-dead state made Yun Yao instinctively want to reach out and help him, but she forcefully held back.

“You misunderstand, fellow cultivator…”

Su Ji’s voice was hoarse, carrying the weariness of someone who had weathered many hardships. “I am Su Ji.”

“I am no remnant of a demonic sect, nor any great villain or evildoer.”

He lifted his head, his eyes meeting Yun Yao’s directly, frank and filled with helplessness. “I am… merely a cultivator who ascended from the lower realm.”

“An ascender?” Yun Yao was taken aback. The hand on her storage pouch loosened slightly, and the wariness in her eyes turned to curiosity. “You’re an ascender?”

The Chaotic Star Sea was close to the Great Wilderness, and there were exceptions to everything. Occasionally, some ascenders found ways to escape, but most of them ended up in miserable circumstances.

“Yes.” Su Ji nodded, the bitterness in his smile deepening. “Unfortunately, my fate has been harsh. The moment I ascended, before I could even get a glimpse of the prosperity of the Upper Realm, I was captured by the Zhao Clan of the Great Wilderness. They put a binding ring on me and turned me into a mine slave, hidden from the light of day.”

“A mine slave?” Yun Yao exclaimed. The way she looked at Su Ji instantly changed.

From scrutiny to… sympathy.

In the Great Wilderness, mine slaves were the lowest tier of consumable labor. She had heard about that.

No wonder this man had no trace of spiritual energy and was so badly injured. So that’s what those damn clans did to squeeze people dry!

Su Ji keenly caught the shift in her emotions and breathed a quiet sigh of relief inside.

Looks like this first move was the right one.

This girl was clearly soft on the inside but tough on the outside, and she had an overflowing sense of justice.

“That’s right, a mine slave.” Su Ji continued refining his persona. “In those pitch-black mine pits, we worked like livestock—no dignity, no hope.”

“Until a few days ago…”

Su Ji paused, a hint of well-calibrated fear flickering in his eyes. “No one knows why, but a huge riot suddenly broke out in the mining area. It seemed like some big shots were fighting it out—the sky and earth were splitting apart. The overseers were dying or fleeing.”

“I’m… just a little guy trying to survive.”

“Taking advantage of the chaos, I ran for my life. I don’t know how long I ran, or where I ended up…”

“Then I couldn’t run anymore and passed out.”

After finishing, Su Ji let out a long, drawn-out sigh, perfectly embodying a survivor’s relief and uncertainty about the future.

Apart from omitting two insignificant little details—“I was the one who caused that riot” and “I killed all those overseers”—the rest was the absolute truth.

Sincerity was the ultimate killer move.

Yun Yao listened, dumbfounded.

Although she was a disciple of the Yin-Yang Sect, she was too sheltered by her sect, and this remote Kongxuan Mountain was isolated. She usually only heard stories about the outside world from her junior brothers.

Now, hearing such a harrowing tale, the young girl’s sympathy instantly overflowed.

“Those clans are just too despicable!” Yun Yao shook her fist indignantly. “Ascenders are people too—how dare they treat them like this!”

She looked at the man lying on the bed, covered in injuries, and the last bit of caution she had was thrown out the window.

What kind of trouble was this?

This was clearly a poor, suffering soul in desperate need of saving!

“Don’t worry!” Yun Yao patted her chest, speaking with heroic bravado. “Since you’ve made it to our Kongxuan Mountain, consider this your home now! If that so-called Zhao Clan dares to come after you, I… I’ll have my junior brother beat them back!”

Su Ji: “…”

This girl sure had no problem bossing her junior brother around.

Still, since the identity issue seemed to have been smoothed over, Su Ji’s thoughts immediately turned to something else far more important.

Under the blanket, his hand was clenching the bedsheet tightly.

His heart began to race uncontrollably.

From the moment he woke up until now, he had been forcing himself to stay calm, refusing to think about the worst-case scenario. But as time passed, that feeling of panic was spreading like weeds in his heart.

Su Jiu.

The silly fox who had blocked the fatal blow for him even in the final moments.

The junior sister who had given him all her strength when he was at his most desperate.

Where was she?

Su Ji took a deep breath, trying to keep his voice from trembling.

"Thank you for taking me in, fellow cultivator. Your great kindness, Su Ji will never forget."

He first spoke politely, then shifted the topic, asking with feigned casualness: "By the way... when you rescued me..."

Su Ji's Adam's apple bobbed, a hint of barely discernible hope in his eyes: "Did you happen to see... one of my companions?"