Su Jiu's delicate face showed visible hesitation.
"You mean..."
"The two of us, right here...?"
"Mhm."
Su Ji lowered his voice.
He then began analyzing the situation for his junior sister: "The most dangerous place is the safest."
"Right now, all the cultivators are focused on the arena."
"And the owner of this cave has activated three arenas simultaneously—that must be her limit. She can't spare any attention to watch us."
He pointed to the thick stone pillar beside them. "Plus, this spot is obscured. If you're still worried, just cast an illusion spell. At this distance, who could possibly see through it?"
Su Jiu was swayed by his reasoning.
But...
She still felt somewhat...
Seeing her hesitation, Su Ji's tone turned pained.
"Junior Sister, don’t tell me you think I’m some despicable scoundrel who takes advantage of others?"
"Do you think I want this?"
"Use your—ahem—brain and think about it."
"What tangible benefit do I get from helping you break through?"
"None, right?"
"And I’m only at Qi Refining—you’re already at Foundation Establishment!"
His words grew faster, almost accusatory.
"You’ve seen it yourself. I only have two Heavenly Gifts—one for foreseeing danger, the other for enhancing spear techniques. Both are high-grade, but neither can save us now."
"And you? You don’t have a way out either. Are we really betting on that woman’s mercy?"
"If we want to live, we have to rely on ourselves!"
This wasn’t entirely baseless.
In the [Heavenly Vision] Su Ji had glimpsed, Su Jiu and that mysterious woman fought to a stalemate.
Meaning the woman wasn’t overwhelmingly stronger.
If Su Jiu could break through again, she’d surely gain the upper hand.
Noticing her internal struggle, Su Ji pressed on.
"Remember when I said I was the young master of an upper-realm clan? This is my family’s secret technique—no lies!"
"Every time I use it, it drains my spirit and essence. The cost is immense!"
"If not for survival, I’d never do this!"
His voice grew impassioned, as if wronged beyond measure.
"To be blunt, if I really had ulterior motives, I could spread the word and have countless saintesses lining up for me. Junior Sister, you don’t actually think you’re the most beautiful woman in Great Xia, do you?"
Su Jiu: "..."
His words sounded convincing, but she still couldn’t cross that mental barrier.
Last time in the bath, it was due to the blood oath and Elder Liu waiting outside—getting caught would’ve been disastrous.
Under those extreme circumstances, she had no choice.
(Not to mention Su Ji kept pushing her head down—she didn’t dare resist too hard, afraid the noise would break the illusion.)
This time, she couldn’t justify it to herself.
"But..."
Su Ji: ???
After all that, she’s still refusing?
Since when was Su Jiu this indecisive?
With a sigh, he played his final card.
"Junior Sister, I shouldn’t reveal this, but you don’t trust me—and I just want to live."
His voice turned solemn, laced with despair.
"That woman is Great Xia’s last Nascent Soul cultivator."
"In the future I saw, you’d ask her, ‘Didn’t you ascend?’ Then you’d say, ‘If even you couldn’t break free, then Great Xia is truly doomed...’"
"She’d call you both failures, demand to know why you got a second chance."
"Then... she’d possess you. You’d die."
Su Jiu’s breath hitched. Her eyes darted toward the distant arena.
"...Her?"
She pieced it together.
It made sense.
Even with ideal conditions, a Nascent Soul’s remnant soul couldn’t linger indefinitely.
By now, even Great Xia’s last Nascent Soul would be at her limit...
She believed him completely.
Su Ji had voiced her private grief over Great Xia’s cultivation decline—and her own self-loathing as a "failure."
Only someone who’d glimpsed the unseen could know such things.
"Junior Sister, I rushed three hundred miles without rest to bring you this warning."
"Will you really let me die here because of your pride?"
"I misjudged you!"
"I regret coming!"
Su Jiu had to admit—Su Ji’s silver tongue was unmatched.
His relentless rhetoric left her defenseless, guilt flooding her heart.
"Then I—"
Before she could agree, he cut her off, exasperated.
"Still hesitating?"
"Can’t say it? Then use your hands!"
"Can’t speak? Then gesture!"
"Will hands work?!"
He backed her into a corner, offering one concession after another. Clearly, survival was his only goal.
"Then... then—"
But before "okay" could escape her lips, he interrupted again.
"Enough stalling!"
"Junior Sister, I’m begging you!"
The next moment, Su Ji abruptly bent down and seized the very thing the Heavenly Gifts had scored 99 points.
"To survive, I’ll endure any humiliation!"
"Surely you can accept this?!"
With his plea laid bare, refusal now would brand her heartless...
Her lashes fluttered as she shut her eyes.
"...Fine."
iaobai: "Councilor Dad, front me some funds. I want to hire ten thousand professional miners for a project!" [Five-Star Mission Issued: Capture the leader of the Blood Heaven Pirate Gang, who is on the run in the Radiant Star Sector. It is said the gang has over a hundred members. Proceed with caution.] Lu Xiaobai: "Councilor Dad, lend me the family's hundred-thousand-strong Lu Army!" [Seven-Star Mission Issued: Subdue a juvenile Void Dragon Beast.] Lu Xiaobai: "Councilor Dad, I'm taking your tamed Void Dragon Beast King out for a family reunion!" I said, System, don't you have any slightly more challenging missions? You're just not up to par! [Nine-Star Mission Issued: Become the Human Councilor.] Lu Xiaobai: "Dad, there's a small matter I'd like to discuss with you..."
grated, and just when he finally managed to get into an elite academy, he discovered that he actually had a system, and the way to earn rewards was extremely ridiculous. So for the sake of rewards, he had no choice but to start acting ridiculous as well. Su Cheng: "It's nothing but system quests after all." But later, what confused Su Cheng was that while he was already quite ridiculous, he never expected those serious characters to gradually become ridiculous too. And the way they looked at him became increasingly strange... (This synopsis doesn't do it justice, please read the full story)
close your eyes and open them again, only to find yourself transmigrated into the role of a villainous male supporting character. Readers familiar with urban wish-fulfillment novels know that it is only through the relentless antics of the villainous male supporting character that the plot between the male and female leads can progress. As the villainous male supporting character, Long Aotian not only has to bully the female lead, harass the second female lead, and flirt with the third female lead, but he also has to go all out to antagonize the male lead. In the end, when his body is discovered, he is still clutching half a moldy fried dough stick in his hand. Fully aware of the plot, Long Aotian is determined to change his fate, starting with the female lead! In the beginning, the female lead lacks confidence: "Big brother, I hope I didn't scare you?" In the middle, the female lead treads carefully: "Brother Long, please don't hit me, okay?" Later on, the female lead becomes coquettishly clingy: "Aotian, it's time to pay the 'public grain' tonight." Long Aotian's legs go weak, and he feels like crying: "I taught you to be thick-skinned, not shameless!"
ress Kneels to Admit Wrong] [Dealing with Love-Struck Fools] [Forced to the Throne] Ren Tianye transmigrated into a female-oriented novel world, only to find everyone in it was utterly insane. He risked his life to save a young girl from barbarians, but was accused of arriving too late and branded the real murderer. He held a knife to a military officer's neck, demanding the troop tally, but the officer only cared about questioning his wife: "Do you not love me anymore? All these years of affection and time together, they were all a mistake, a mistake!" After seizing Yunji City, the original defending general, to save face with the Empress, knelt on the ground: "You must give Yunji City back to me, or I'll hang myself at the city gate and let everyone know you're a villain!" The young lord of the Duke's mansion, to please a woman, directly ordered a merchant: "The menstrual pads you buy for her must be studded with diamonds. Loving her means giving her the best." Having become a great general, he was about to marry a merchant's daughter, who set a pre-nuptial rule: "I can divorce you anytime. When that happens, you must give me half of your troops and soldiers!" Even the Empress was a severe love-struck fool, who ordered the execution of 70,000 elite troops simply because they stood in the way of her romance. Ren Tianye was speechless. He was done. Let it all burn! This deranged female-oriented novel world! ...
