“Gu Xiu, your handwriting is so beautiful. Why can’t I ever write as gracefully as you?”

“Gu Xiu, starting today, you can’t call me Sister Meran anymore. You’ve officially entered the sect. You must call me Fifth Senior Sister, understand?”

“Just wait. In the future, when Senior Sister becomes a powerful talisman master, I will craft talismans exclusively for you. Our Azure Mystic Sect might be poor, but I promise, you won’t lack for anything compared to outsiders!”

“Gu Xiu…”

Inside the Listening-to-Rain Pavilion, the air was heavy with the scent of old memories.

Gu Xiu sat cross-legged in the center of the room. The agony inflicted by the Soul-Shattering Grindstone had dulled slightly, settling into a rhythmic, throbbing ache. But this was not a reprieve.

In fact, he had reached the most perilous juncture.

The grinding had reached the core of the soul Dao Injury. If one possessed the Spirit Eye, they would see Gu Xiu’s radiant white soul besieged by a suffocating layer of pitch-black mist.

Under the dual pressure of the Grindstone and the restorative Earth Cloud Sprout, the black mist was being forced back. But the Dao Injury possessed a malign intelligence of its own. Realizing that physical resistance was futile against the combined force of destruction and regeneration, it changed tactics.

It lunged at his mind.

The mist frantically dredged up Gu Xiu’s deepest memories, attempting to shatter his Dao Heart with nostalgia. Scenes he had once treasured played out before his eyes.

Yet, the past was merely ash.

Gu Xiu sat in the eye of the storm. He did not shun these memories, nor did he embrace them. They washed over him like a breeze against a mountain—unable to move the stone. He remained as free as the wind and as firm as a rock.

Sensing that nostalgia was ineffective, the Ink Cloud Dao Injury shifted the illusion.

Qin Meran appeared.

She wore the ink-wash dress she loved most, but her expression was one of utter devastation. Tears streamed down her face like rain on pear blossoms.

“Junior Brother, I was wrong. I let you down,” the illusion wept, her voice trembling with heartbreak. “Senior Sister regrets everything. I misunderstood you. I was deceived. Please, will you forgive me?”

“I failed you back then. I owe you so much.”

“Senior Sister is begging you. Please, forgive me…”

It was a soul illusion, vivid and indistinguishable from reality. Even Gu Xiu knew that, in another life, this might have been the apology he waited for.

But now? His heart was a frozen lake. He watched the weeping woman with the indifference one might show a stranger on the street.

Whoosh!

The scene twisted violently.

Bloody wounds erupted across Qin Meran’s body. She was surrounded by shadowy, powerful enemies radiating murderous intent. Her face was pale as paper as she reached out a desperate hand toward Gu Xiu.

“Junior Brother, save me!”

“I’m dying! Save me! I know I wronged you… please, save me and I’ll spend my life making it up to you!”

Gu Xiu did not move. He sat in silence, observing the carnage with cold detachment. There was no ripple in his gaze, no sorrow in his heart.

He watched as the illusionary enemies overwhelmed her. He watched as her heart meridian was shattered, her Nascent Soul crushed, and her soul ground to dust.

Throughout it all, Gu Xiu remained calm.

It was as if he were watching the death of an irrelevant passerby, not the woman he had once sworn his life to protect.

He knew these were hallucinations born of the Dao Injury. But he also knew a deeper truth: He and the Azure Mystic Sacred Land had severed all ties.

Whether they regretted or resented, whether they lived or died—it had nothing to do with him.

Sensing that Gu Xiu’s Dao Heart was an impregnable fortress, the Dao Injury let out a silent shriek. It abandoned the illusions and began to frantically ravage his soul once more, trying to drag him into oblivion through pure pain.

While Gu Xiu fought his silent war inside, a different drama unfolded outside the pavilion.

The members of the Four Seas Gang stood in a semi-circle, staring in bewilderment at the woman lying on the ground.

Qin Meran was slumped in the dirt, blood staining her lips.

“What’s wrong with this woman?” one gang member whispered.

“Who did this? That takes some nerve… attacking a Peak Master of the Azure Mystic Sacred Land?”

“What do we do now?”

The Earth Cloud Sprout was gone. All evidence pointed to Qin Meran, the Master of Ink Scroll Peak. The Four Seas Gang had no desire to provoke a Sacred Land, but this was an Immortal medicine. It was a treasure that even a Mahayana Supreme would covet.

The Gang had guarded that sprout for years, terrified of using it, hoping to gift it to a powerhouse to secure their future. And now? Three petty thieves stole it, and a Sect Peak Master intercepted it.

It was infuriating.

Cao Tieniu, the Deputy Gang Leader, felt his blood pressure rising. He had gathered his elites to confront Qin Meran, prepared for a difficult negotiation or even a fight. He couldn’t just let the gang swallow this loss; when the Gang Leader came out of seclusion, heads would roll.

But he never expected to find the thief already broken.

“Deputy Leader,” a subordinate hissed. “She’s helpless.”

“Strike while the iron is hot,” another urged, eyes gleaming viciously. “She dared to rob the Four Seas Gang. She should pay with her life!”

“Are you insane?” an elder hissed back. “She’s a Peak Master! If we kill her and a Supreme investigates, the entire gang will be wiped out. We’ll all be slaughtered!”

“Then what? Just walk away? The Gang Leader loved that sprout like his own son. If he finds out we lost it, we’re dead anyway!”

“Maybe we capture her? Imprison her secretly?”

“You think you can hide a Peak Master from a Supreme’s divination? Don’t be stupid.”

The gang members argued in hushed, frantic tones. They looked at the paralyzed, mute Qin Meran with a mix of greed and terror. They wanted to take revenge, but the shadow of the Azure Mystic Sacred Land loomed too large.

They were powerful in the city, yes. But before a Sacred Land, the Four Seas Gang was just a slightly larger ant.

“Shut up!”

Cao Tieniu roared, silencing the bickering. His face twisted in thought before settling into a strange, strained expression.

“Hurry up and save her!”

“What?” The gang members stared at him, slack-jawed.

Save her? She stole their treasure! She trampled on their dignity! Even if they didn’t kill her, they should at least run away. Why save the enemy?

Cao Tieniu smoothed his expression, adopting a look of profound wisdom.

“The Earth Cloud Sprout is an Immortal medicine,” he declared, his voice taking on a philosophical cadence. “And Immortal medicines are meant for those fated to receive them.”

He looked around at his confused men. “The Four Seas Gang has merely been… safeguarding this treasure for the Azure Mystic Sacred Land all these years.”

“Now, the opportunity has arrived. We are simply gifting it to Fairy Qin. Consider it a way for the Four Seas Gang to forge a bond of good karma with the Sacred Land.”

Silence stretched for a moment. Then, realization dawned on the smarter members.

They couldn’t touch her. If they hurt her, they died. If they left her and she died, they might still be blamed. But if they saved her…

It was a brilliant pivot. Retreat to advance.

“I understand!” a disciple shouted. “I’ll arrange for people to spread the word immediately!”

“Yes! Let everyone know the Four Seas Gang gifted an Immortal medicine to the Azure Mystic Sacred Land and saved one of their Peak Masters! We are now allies!”

“Even when the Gang Leader comes out, he’ll have to accept this. A connection to a Sacred Land is worth more than the herb sitting in a box.”

“Maybe she’ll even be grateful and return it…” one optimist muttered.

The mood shifted instantly from murderous to medicinal. The gang members sprang into action. Some rushed to spread the rumors, while others pulled out their best healing elixirs and began tending to Qin Meran’s injuries.

The Four Seas Gang was efficient. Within half an hour, the narrative had been rewritten.

News spread through Cloud Firmament City like wildfire: The Four Seas Gang and Azure Mystic Sacred Land have formed an alliance! The Gang generously gifted an Immortal herb!

Even the Wanbao Tower, still licking its wounds from the recent skirmish, felt a chill of apprehension. If the Four Seas Gang had truly bought the favor of the Sacred Land, the balance of power in the city would shift dramatically.

The city buzzed with the news. The Four Seas Gang members puffed out their chests, their earlier humiliation forgotten. They had turned a disaster into a political coup.

That night, many disciples drank to their success, fantasizing about the rewards to come. Some even whispered that they might get to see the face of a Supreme.

They were right. But they should have been careful what they wished for.

In the dead of night, silence fell over the Four Seas Gang headquarters.

A figure materialized in the main courtyard. There was no sound, no displacement of air.

A night patrol disciple yawned, spotting the shadow. He opened his mouth to shout at the intruder, assuming it was a common thief.

Then the moonlight caught the figure’s face.

The disciple’s knees gave way. He collapsed to the ground, his voice strangled in his throat, terror seizing his heart.

“Su… Su… Supreme Guan!!!”