The figure standing before Cao Tieniu was a void in the world.

Dressed in midnight-black palace robes, her expression was a mask of glacial indifference. She emitted no aura, no pressure, no sound. If one closed their eyes and extended their Divine Sense, they would find nothing but empty air where she stood.

Cao Tieniu, the first to arrive, dropped to his knees, sweat already slicking his palms.

“This junior, Cao Tieniu of the Four Seas Gang, pays respects to Supreme Guan, Sect Master of the Azure Mystic Sacred Land! Forgive us for failing to welcome you properly!”

His heart hammered against his ribs like a trapped bird.

A Supreme had descended in person.

Guan Xuelan. The most powerful Mahayana cultivator in the region. She was actually here.

When Cao Tieniu had made the split-second decision to “save” Qin Meran, he had fantasized about this moment. He had hoped to forge a karmic bond that would let him gaze upon the Supreme’s face. But he never expected the heavens to answer his prayers so swiftly.

Guan Xuelan ignored his prostration. Her voice was flat, devoid of human warmth.

“This seat heard you possess an Earth Cloud Sprout?”

Cao Tieniu nodded frantically, not daring to look up. “Reporting to the Supreme, we… we were indeed lucky enough to obtain half a stalk. We intended to gift it to your noble sect…”

“Then hand it over.” Guan Xuelan extended a pale hand.

The abrupt demand stunned Cao Tieniu. He swallowed hard, a bitter taste in his mouth. “Supreme… to be honest, the Earth Cloud Sprout was… intercepted by Peak Master Qin before we could deliver it.”

Terrified of offending her, he quickly recounted the events, painting the Four Seas Gang as loyal custodians who had been misunderstood. He stole a glance at her face, hoping for a flicker of understanding or perhaps concern for her disciple.

There was nothing.

Her expression remained frozen. Even upon hearing that Qin Meran was comatose and grievously injured, Guan Xuelan’s eyes did not ripple.

Is she born without a heart? Cao Tieniu wondered, a chill running down his spine.

He suppressed the thought and led her to the sickroom. “Peak Master Qin’s physical injuries have stabilized, but she refuses to wake. It is as if her will is trapped…”

The room was filled with the scent of high-grade medicinal herbs. The Four Seas Gang had emptied their treasury to treat Qin Meran, hoping to curry favor.

Guan Xuelan stepped up to the bed. She looked down at her disciple, not with the eyes of a teacher, but with the clinical detachment of a butcher inspecting meat.

She did not check Qin Meran’s pulse. She did not check her breathing.

Instead, a terrifying surge of Soul Power erupted from her forehead and drove straight into Qin Meran’s mind.

Soul Search.

Cao Tieniu’s jaw dropped. He stood frozen, paralyzed by disbelief.

A Supreme… Soul Searching her own disciple?

This was a brutal technique. On a conscious enemy, it was torture. On a comatose ally, it risked shattering their soul forever. It was a violation of the highest order.

“Nngh…”

Qin Meran, who had been silent in her coma, began to convulse. A low, guttural whimper tore from her throat as her body visibly withered, her essence being forcibly dredged up by the invasion.

Guan Xuelan did not blink. She sifted through the memories, looking for the truth of the Earth Cloud Sprout, indifferent to the damage she was causing.

Suddenly, she stopped.

She withdrew her consciousness violently, leaving Qin Meran gasping for air, and whipped her head toward the window. Her eyes narrowed into dangerous slits.

She sensed it. A ripple. Faint, but unmistakable.

She walked out of the room, her gaze locking instantly onto a distant structure.

The Listening-to-Rain Pavilion.

Inside the Pavilion, the silence was deafening.

Gu Xiu sat at the center of a spiritual storm. The process of grinding his soul to dust had reached its terminus.

The last wisp of his original soul, stained pitch-black by the Dao Injury, flickered like a candle in the wind.

Gu Xiu did not hesitate.

Grind.

Shatter.

With a mental command, the Soul-Shattering Grindstone completed its revolution. The final wisp was crushed into oblivion.

And with it, the parasitic Dao Injury that had plagued him for years was finally, utterly destroyed.

Darkness took him.

But it was not the darkness of death.

In the void where his soul once existed, the scattered fragments did not dissipate. Instead, triggered by the destruction, they began to vibrate.

Boom!

A radiant, blinding light erupted from within his body. The fragments began to swirl, pulled together by a gravity of their own.

The Golden Feather Soul Pill dissolved, providing the raw material. The Earth Cloud Sprout melted, providing the vitality. The Character ‘Mi’ (Seek) Rune hummed, injecting the laws of the universe.

A profound Heavenly Dao Rhyme descended, pouring into the swirling mist of his consciousness.

This was not repair. This was reforging.

Gu Xiu was finding life in the midst of death.

However, as his soul began to stitch itself back together, the sheer potency of the energy leaked into the atmosphere of Cloud Firmament City.

The spiritual ecosystem shifted.

Normally, the Yin Souls—spirits of the restless dead—drifted aimlessly through the cracks of the world. They were mindless scavengers, feeding on scraps of spiritual energy.

But tonight, they smelled a feast.

The scent of a shattering and reforming soul, infused with Immortal herbs and Divine Runes, was like blood in shark-infested waters.

Shadows lengthened. The temperature in the city plummeted. Countless invisible entities turned their hollow gazes toward the Listening-to-Rain Pavilion, drawn by the instinct to devour.

Even Guan Xuelan, standing in the courtyard of the Four Seas Gang, felt a flicker of greed pass through her eyes. To a cultivator, such pure soul energy was a supreme tonic.

She suppressed the urge, her eyes cold and calculating. She turned to Cao Tieniu.

“You said you wish to form an alliance with the Azure Mystic Sacred Land?”

Cao Tieniu, still reeling from the Soul Search he had witnessed, snapped to attention. “Yes! The Four Seas Gang will go through fire and water for the Supreme!”

“Good.”

Guan Xuelan pointed a slender finger at the distant pavilion.

“Gather your experts. Go to that courtyard. Break the array and the restrictions for this seat.”

“What?” Cao Tieniu blinked.

He knew that place. That was where the rogue cultivator Feng Bugui lived. Why would a Supreme care about a rogue’s dwelling? And why would she need them to break the array?

But the confusion was quickly washed away by the thrill of opportunity. This was a test. A chance to prove their utility.

“The Supreme is gracious to give us this chance!” Cao Tieniu shouted, adrenaline flooding his system. “Brothers! Assemble!”

The Four Seas Gang moved with the efficiency of a pack of wolves. Within moments, a formidable group of cultivators surged toward the Listening-to-Rain Pavilion.

Cao Tieniu led the charge. He didn’t care who Feng Bugui was. He didn’t care about the heavy arrays. If the Supreme wanted the door open, he would tear the building down brick by brick.

They arrived at the gate, spiritual weapons drawn, qi flaring.

“Break it!” Cao Tieniu roared, raising his weapon to strike the protective barrier.

HUM.

The air suddenly vibrated. A high-pitched keen, like the scream of a dying god, tore through the sky.

Cao Tieniu froze. Every hair on his body stood on end.

From the high heavens, a streak of light descended.

It was an arrow.

But it was not made of wood or iron. It was condensed from pure, volatile spiritual energy. As it streaked toward them, the very space around it collapsed, leaving a trail of fractured reality in its wake.

This was not an attack a Nascent Soul cultivator could withstand. This was the wrath of a Great Power.

And it wasn’t aiming for the array.

It whistled past Cao Tieniu’s ear, the shockwave nearly knocking him to the ground.

It was aiming directly at Guan Xuelan.

Someone had dared to hunt the Supreme.