An ethereal aura hung in the air. Cranes soared across the blue sky, and ancient, solemn halls rose majestically among the beautiful peaks, gleaming with golden light.
Now and then, streaks of spiritual light flashed past. They were people flying on magical artifacts.
On the spacious training grounds between the halls, quite a few people were diligently cultivating.
“Li Sisi! You skipped your cultivation techniques class again today!”
A loud, booming shout rang out from somewhere nearby, shattering the peaceful atmosphere.
The people on the training grounds barely reacted. They were used to this by now. It was only Third Senior Sister from the inner sect skipping class again.
The girl sleeping in a century-old spirit tree near the training grounds woke to the shout and opened her eyes. She rubbed her still-sleepy eyes and slowly sat up. Her long, silky hair tumbled playfully over her shoulders, revealing a delicate little face.
She hadn’t slept well. She had dreamed of things from her past life. Her death and the destruction of her Dao seemed to have happened only moments ago; the pain of being torn apart by heavenly lightning still coursed through her body.
Looking down from the tree, she saw an old, white-haired man in white robes standing below, hands on his hips and face ablaze with anger.
He was her Master in this life: Perfected Person Mingchen, sect master of Lingfeng Sect.
“Get down here, now!” Perfected Person Mingchen shouted again.
Ever since he had taken this disciple, he’d had no peace. Every day, he received complaints about her from the sect’s various teaching elders.
He ought to have been a dignified, otherworldly figure, revered by the sect’s disciples. Instead, here he was, standing with his hands on his hips and hollering for someone like an ill-tempered lout. He was furious.
Li Sisi sprang nimbly from the tree, dozens of meters above the ground, and landed lightly.
“Master, what brings you here again?”
Perfected Person Mingchen was so angry that the long beard on his chin practically flew up. “You’ve got the nerve to ask? You skip class every day. I can’t even show my face around the sect.”
“Wouldn’t it be even more embarrassing if I fell asleep in class?”
Li Sisi had lived a very long time in her previous life. Though the lessons taught at the sect weren’t exactly the same in this life, their underlying principles were, so they were of little use to her.
In her previous life, she had simply been too outstanding. She created an unorthodox cultivation method unlike anything that had come before or would come after, allowing every cultivator to break through their cultivation bottlenecks and reach the peak.
But when she attempted to ascend and faced her tribulation, the Heavenly Dao killed her. She died beneath a sky full of terrifying, tearing bolts of heavenly lightning.
She never expected that she hadn’t died for good—that she would end up in an entirely unrelated cultivation world, where someone found her and brought her back to a sect.
Given a second chance, she would never stick her neck out again. In this life, she would take it easy and coast along in peace. Her goals were simple: not to starve or freeze to death.
Perfected Person Mingchen snorted. “Can’t you be more like your senior brothers and junior sister and give me a little peace of mind?”
Li Sisi didn’t think she’d ever caused any major trouble. She’d always been easy to look after. All she needed was food to eat, clothes to wear, and somewhere to sleep.
Besides, she was the third disciple. The two senior brothers above her were more than capable of holding up the sky; the sect didn’t need her to contribute to its development. And below her was an adorable, lively Little Junior Sister, so there was no need for her to play the beloved darling and win everyone’s affection.
So wasn’t slacking off and taking it easy exactly right for her?
When she didn’t answer, Perfected Person Mingchen simply tossed her a jade slip.
Li Sisi caught it. “Master, what’s this?”
“In three days, all the inner disciples at or below Foundation Establishment are going out on a training expedition. I’ve picked a task for you. Get ready.”
“A training expedition?” Li Sisi was baffled. She’d been at the sect for nearly ten years, so how had she never heard of this?
But before she could ask anything else, her Master, putting on his oh-so-respectable air, flew off.
Had her Master been wanting to kick her out all along? Out of sight, out of mind?
Li Sisi opened the jade slip. The mission was brief and clear:
Ten fifth-tier demonic beast cores. Training period: one year. If the mission is not completed, an equivalent payment of one hundred thousand low-grade spirit stones must be submitted to the sect.
“Foundation Establishment against Golden Core? You rotten old man, why don’t you just fly up to the heavens?”
Li Sisi wanted to swear. The filthiest curses imaginable.
Demonic beasts were divided into ten tiers, with every two tiers corresponding to one of the five cultivation stages: Qi Refining, Foundation Establishment, Golden Core, Nascent Soul, and Deity Transformation.
She had been lackadaisical in this life and had only just reached Foundation Establishment. It wasn’t that she couldn’t fight them, but she’d be at a disadvantage. However she looked at it, it was a terrible deal.
She opened her storage pouch to check. Well, would you look at that—not only did she not have one hundred thousand low-grade spirit stones, she didn’t even have ten.
All she had in the pouch were two low-grade spirit swords, two sets of clothes, a sect token, and a few low-grade talismans. She didn’t even have a single healing pill.
How could she be so poor? Wasn’t she the dignified Third Senior Sister of the inner sect?
This was practically forcing her into a secret realm.
Li Sisi tossed the jade slip into her storage pouch, then leapt back into the tree.
Sigh. Whatever it was could wait until she woke up. It would be a shame not to sleep in such lovely weather.
As she slept, a faint vortex of spiritual energy formed around her, drawing the surrounding energy swiftly into her body. Anyone who witnessed the sight would have been stunned.
Li Sisi dreamed again, but this time the dream wasn’t about her.
There was a man—tall and coldly handsome.
He was kneeling on the ground, holding a woman in his arms. Her face was pale, her white clothes stained with blood, and her eyes were closed, her body lifeless.
The man’s face showed no expression as he held her tightly.
Endless flames and black smoke surrounded them. Countless corpses lay on the ground, and the earth appeared dark red in the firelight.
Before the man stood a dense mass of vicious demonic beasts. Many people hovered above them, evil energy radiating from their bodies.
The person at their head aimed the weapon in his hand at the man, looking down on him as if he were an ant. “You’re the only one left. The cultivation world is finished. From now on, this world will belong to the demon realm.”
At those words, spiritual energy surged around the man. Dark clouds filled the sky, and the terrifying pressure of heavenly lightning bore down on them. The clouds roiled with a rumble, and faint streaks of purple lightning flickered within them.
Everyone on the other side was startled.
“You’re choosing to undergo your tribulation and ascend now?!”
“With my current cultivation, I can’t kill you. So I’ll become an immortal—and wipe you all out the moment I ascend!”
“You’re deluding yourself. In your condition, you won’t even survive the ascension tribulation.”
“There’s only one way to find out!”
As soon as he finished speaking, purple heavenly lightning crashed down. The world around them blazed white, and the oppressive force filling heaven and earth cracked apart.
Everything within a thousand meters of the man turned to ash, including the woman in his arms.
Li Sisi watched the lightning shift and flicker. She watched as the man rose to his feet with nothing but a bloodied skeleton left of him. She watched every living thing within sight vanish—and watched the man fall to the ground, never to rise again.
Even the golden light of ascension couldn’t bring him back to his feet. In the end, the golden light faded, and the world turned a dull gray, stripped of all life.
Li Sisi woke with a start. For a long while, she couldn’t gather her wits. Everything in the dream remained lodged in her mind.
What on earth was going on? Why had she dreamed of…
First Senior Brother?
And what, exactly, had happened to bring all this about?
Even she, who had weathered countless storms, found the horrifying sight chilling to the bone.
And the person in First Senior Brother’s arms had been Little Junior Sister.
Had everyone died?
Then what about her?