Yexiaoxiang, nestled adjacent to Baiyujing, occupied a central partition where countless wells and boundaries converged.
Abandoning the unreliable method of sword flight, Su Yunyu chose to teleport directly to the destination. Gazing at the ten miles of pearl curtains and painted bridges veiled in mist, he nearly shed tears of joy.
Finally, finally arrived!
Having endured the humiliation of tumbling off the Xuehua Sword and the insidious trap of being sheltered by individuals harboring ulterior motives, he had at long last arrived safely in Yexiaoxiang.
As expected, high cultivation was a blessing; even teleportation was executed with pinpoint accuracy.
Before him, the alleys and lanes were freshly washed after rain, canopied carriages chased one another, pedestrians strolled about in leisurely pursuit of pleasure, and切切 calls of hawkers drifted from the curbsides, flanked by a broad, winding river carrying painted barges draped in emerald silks.
Compared to the aloof and freezing heights of Baiyujing, this place was vibrant, opulent, and delicate.
Amidst the dazzling sights of prosperity, Xiao Shuying did not even lift his gaze. Amidst the din of the bustling crowds, he asked:
“Master, where shall we go next?”
He had no desire to appear overly proactive, but necessity forced his hand; if he didn’t prompt him now, Su Yunyu might well stand before this worldly prosperity and gawk for a full hour without pulling his thoughts back.
Hearing Xiao Shuying’s question, Su Yunyu snapped back to attention and declared without hesitation:
“We are going to check Tianji Pavilion’s bounty board for this year.”
Obtaining an invitation letter from Tianji Pavilion was an absolute prerequisite for entering the Immortal-Demon ruins to retrieve the Nine-Heads Spiritual Rhinoceros Grass.
In truth, Su Yunyu deeply resented being driven from one task to the next without a moment to catch his breath; he would have loved nothing more than to thoroughly indulge and enjoy himself in this romantic, opulent city…
Alas, circumstances forbade it. Tianji Pavilion’s bounty board operated on strict time limits, and earning an invitation letter wasn’t simply a matter of completing tasks whenever one felt like it.
In other words, if they arrived a step too late and the bounty board closed, they could kiss any hopes of entering the Immortal-Demon ruins this year goodbye and wait until some indeterminate year in the distant future.
Thus, Su Yunyu had no choice but to lead Xiao Shuying straight to Tianji Pavilion’s bounty posting area. Seeing from afar that the board seemed utterly devoid of visitors, a profound sense of foreboding seized his heart.
Ordinarily, Tianji Pavilion’s bounty boards drew overwhelming crowds, yet today the area was chillingly desolate, pointing to only one grim possibility.
Standing frozen on the spot as though struck by lightning after reading through the entirety of the board’s requirements.
Sure enough, as feared, we’ve arrived too late.
Before noon tomorrow, slaughter a full thousand Nightmares.
Only a single full day remained until the deadline, yet Su Yunyu knew all too well that even if Xiao Shuying were granted full cultivation right this second, the two of them combined could never slaughter a thousand Nightmares in time.
Nightmare core essences possessed unique properties; once a Nightmare died, its core would dissipate within a mere two hours. Because of the immense labor and time required to hunt them, their cores were virtually non-existent in commercial markets.
If they wished to secure that invitation letter, they had to find another workaround…
Just as Su Yunyu was racking his brains, Xiao Shuying stared at the details on the bounty board, a flash crossing his eyes as he offered a timely reminder:
“Master, I’ve heard there is a merchant guild here renowned as the absolute best under heaven. Perhaps we could go check it out.”
This guild was called the “Golden-Hilted Saber.” Beyond handling standard commercial transactions, they accepted and posted bounties.
Yet none of those details were truly the core point. What mattered most was…
Xiao Shuying lifted his gaze to look at Su Yunyu, adding:
“People in the sect mentioned that the merchant guild in Yexiaoxiang accepts commissioned bounties.”
“Is that so?” Hearing that bounties could be commissioned, Su Yunyu’s eyes lit up instantly. Refusing to waste another second, he prepared to set off.
Yet, a sudden thought arresting his motion, he turned back to look at Xiao Shuying:
“Would you prefer to rest for a while at an inn first?”
Otherwise, he felt as though the Dragon-Heaven protagonist was rapidly turning into an inseparable pocket accessory.
Moreover, given the boy’s age, he undoubtedly preferred youthful amusements and leisure.
Hearing the suggestion, Xiao Shuying blinked slowly, then gave a slow, deliberate shake of his head:
“Wherever Master goes, this disciple goes.”
If it came to putting on a convincing act, he was hardly inferior to anyone else.
Besides, he had to accompany him to the Golden-Hilted Saber guild…
“Very well,” Su Yunyu harbored zero suspicion, leading Xiao Shuying off to find this supposed premier merchant guild under heaven.
In truth, finding it required virtually no effort. Walking barely a couple of miles from Tianji Pavilion’s bounty board into a thriving, densely populated district brought them directly before the grand signboard of the “Golden-Hilted Saber.”
Had it not been for the prominent characters inscribed upon the lintel, passersby might easily have mistaken the establishment for the sprawling estate of some formidable magnate.
Merely judging by its scale as a commercial guild, its footprint was already striking enough to turn heads.
Numerous luxurious carriages adorned with carved saddles and embroidered hubs lined the street before the guild’s entrance. Stepping inside, the vast main hall contained a single middle-aged man who was diligently organizing ledgers behind the counter.
Though he clearly heard customers enter, he didn’t even bother turning his head.
A testament to the customary arrogance cultivated by the establishment.
Su Yunyu had no intention of engaging in roundabout pleasantries. Approaching the counter, he stated his purpose with blunt directness:
“I wish to commission a bounty.”
Having just closed one ledger and opened another, the man still refused to turn around, replying in a flat, unyielding tone:
“Bounties cannot be commissioned at present. The guild is currently overwhelmed with administrative tasks, and we lack the available manpower.”
Su Yunyu furrowed his brows slightly. Unwilling to be dismissed so lightly and casually brushed aside, he reached into his spatial storage, withdrew a pouch of superior-grade spirit stones, and dropped it onto the counter with a sharp clack:
“You may name your own price. I genuinely have an urgent matter to attend to.”
Hearing the crisp chime of spirit stones, the man finally set aside his ledger, turned around, picked up the pouch, and weighed it in his palm.
The moment he turned, Su Yunyu was startled to observe a jagged scar running straight across the man’s brow, cutting diagonally down his eye and across his jawline.
Though horrifying, it was hardly remarkable within the ruthless world of cultivation; instead, seeing the man hefting the spirit stones gave Su Yunyu hope that room for negotiation remained.
“Our esteemed guest is certainly extravagantly wealthy,” the man set the pouch down, a cryptic, inscrutable smile touching his lips:
“However, regardless of how many spirit stones you are willing to offer, our guild simply does not have the manpower to spare.”
With that, he pushed the pouch back across the counter and reached out as if to retrieve the ledger he had just closed. In a rush of anxiety, Su Yunyu pressed:
“Is there truly no other way?”
The man remained silent, offering no further discussion regarding the commissioning of bounties.
Observing the man’s movements, a sharp glint flashed across Xiao Shuying’s eyes as he suddenly spoke up:
“I’ve heard a rumor that your guild operates by a specific rule.”
The man’s hand flipping the pages of the ledger froze for a fraction of a second. Xiao Shuying continued unperturbed:
“It is said that anyone who defeats the guild’s master.”
“Enough!”
Before he could finish, the man slammed the ledger shut with a heavy crash, whipped around, and fixed his gaze upon them, gone was the cryptic smile, replaced by an expression of cold, condescending scrutiny:
“We do indeed have such a rule. Anyone who defeats the master may command this guild at their discretion. However,”
Lifting his eyes, he thoroughly appraised the two figures before him. He noted that Su Yunyu wore a sparrow-patterned mask concealing his face while his cultivation realm remained entirely unreadable; and when his gaze shifted to Xiao Shuying, it was obvious the boy hadn’t even commenced foundational breath-absorption, he was thoroughly, undeniably an ordinary mortal. A mocking chuckle escaped his lips:
“If you fail, however, you will be bound to spend the rest of your life serving as a bondsman at the Golden-Hilted Saber. Are you certain you are prepared to accept such a heavy stake?”
Hearing those terms, Su Yunyu cast the rumors brought up by Xiao Shuying to the wind, his attention catching instead upon the mysterious “master” of the guild. Imagining that the scarred man before him might be a subordinate, he maintained absolute calm and replied:
“You needn’t concern yourself with that. Please lead the way.”
As the grand number one person in the world, his cultivation realm was practically a built-in master-key cheat code across this entire realm.
Across the entire Three Realms, friend or foe alike, he had never once encountered a match.
Hearing the unshakable confidence ringing in Su Yunyu’s voice, the man raised an eyebrow, a smirk playing across his lips:
“Very well. You asked for it.”
With that, he made to step out from behind the counter. However, feeling a gentle tug at his sleeve, Su Yunyu looked sideways to find Xiao Shuying blinking at him, clearly wishing to communicate something.
In that instant, the dead-certain synergy between him and the Dragon-Heaven protagonist activated smoothly.
Nodding in mutual understanding, Su Yunyu told the man:
“Wait a moment; my younger brother and I have a few words to exchange.”
Mistaking the pause for last-minute stage fright, the man let out a derisive snort and raised no objections, granting them the privacy to confer.
After all, challenging the guild master carried consequences that harmed no one within the guild’s operational staff; thus, regardless of who approached the trial or what pretext caused them to abandon it midway, the staff remained entirely indifferent.
The only reason this rule wasn’t widely advertised was to prevent a continuous influx of naive fools locking themselves into a lifetime of servitude under the Golden-Hilted Saber.
Rubbing the scar across his cheek, a souvenir from a previous failed challenge—the man turned his back once more to resume reorganizing the ledger he had already inspected a hundred times over.
Leading Xiao Shuying into a secluded alcove, Su Yunyu lowered his voice instinctively:
“What is it?”
In the quiet emptiness, a lowered voice echoed with a strange, eerie resonance, carrying an inexplicable, delicate intimacy.
Especially coming from someone standing at the apex of the world who had voluntarily lowered his posture, it felt, rather surreal.
Suppressing a complex surge of emotions within his chest, Xiao Shuying fixed his gaze on pure clarity and spoke:
“Actually, one detail in the rumor I heard earlier was slightly inaccurate.”
“Oh?” Su Yunyu raised an eyebrow.
“Defeating the master is not enough to command the guild. I heard…” Xiao Shuying paused infinitesimally before smoothing over the fabrication:
“I heard from Xiao Qingran that it must be fought to the death. Unless the master is actually slain, the title and command will never be officially transferred.”
The actual rule was nothing of the sort; Xiao Shuying was simply spinning a tale by invoking Xiao Qingran’s name as a convenient scapegoat.
His sole objective was to maneuver Su Yunyu into eliminating the master, thereby severing the financial ties and backchannel funding the Golden-Hilted Saber consistently supplied to the Xiao estate.
As for whether Su Yunyu would believe him or choose to follow through, he left entirely to the man’s personal discretion.
Based on his accumulated understanding of this individual, Su Yunyu was cold-blooded and ruthless to the core; taking a life probably carried the emotional weight of stepping on an ant.
Consequently, he estimated a ninety-percent probability that Su Yunyu would slaughter the master without hesitation.
Su Yunyu, however, frowned in deep distress upon hearing the condition. Fought to the death, meaning I have to directly execute the guild master?
As an upstanding citizen shaped by twenty-first-century values, he had never even butchered a fish in his civilian life; demanding that he engage in a mortal struggle to the death felt somewhat… excessive.
Hunting down Xiao Shuying across lifetimes had been an unavoidable mandate driven by system imperatives; taking the life of an unrelated stranger, however, was an entirely different magnitude of psychological barrier.
“This.” Su Yunyu wrestled internally with the terms, but ultimately realized he had no better alternative. With a resigned sigh, he nodded:
“I understand.”
Securing Tianji Pavilion’s invitation letter was an absolute necessity for the sake of the bounty tasks, which meant he had no choice but to accept the brutal prerequisite of a fight to the death with the guild master.
Observing him nod in quiet acceptance, Xiao Shuying thought to himself: As expected.
No matter how flawlessly this man disguised himself, he could never shed his intrinsic ruthlessness.
When it came to taking a human life, hesitation was entirely absent from his thoughts.
If the man could ruthlessly hunt him down across countless lifetimes, turning his blade upon a stranger was naturally second nature.
For reasons he couldn’t quite articulate, a restless wave of irritation churned deep within Xiao Shuying’s chest.
Therefore, when they returned to the main hall and the scarred man led them down a corridor straight to a heavy iron-reinforced door, Xiao Shuying maintained a sullen, unreadable silence.
The man stopped before the door, raised a hand to point forward, and declared:
“The master is inside. Proceed.”
With that, casting a look of sparrow-masked Su Yunyu that clearly telegraphed his certainty of impending failure, the man offered a final, sarcastic send-off:
“May fortune favor you.”