“Sister Shi!”

Before Shi Siling could finish her sentence, Wan Xiaobei stepped forward, inserting herself into the conversation with a bright smile. “We meet again!”

Her sudden appearance caught everyone off guard. But what truly stunned the onlookers was Shi Siling’s reaction. The terrifying Half-step Supreme actually nodded slightly in acknowledgement.

“Pavilion Master Wan.”

Pavilion Master!

Those two words hit the crowd like a thunderclap. The disciples of the various clans and sects could barely conceal their shock. The survivors who had entered Falling Rain Valley alongside her looked as if they had seen a ghost. They had known her only as the leader of the Ten Thousand Treasures Pavilion team.

They had no idea.

This unassuming girl was actually the newly appointed Pavilion Master of the continent’s wealthiest organization!

Wan Xiaobei ignored the stunned gapes of the peanut gallery. Her focus remained locked on the dangerous woman in front of her.

“Sister Shi, Fellow Daoist Feng Bugui is a revered Guest Elder of my Ten Thousand Treasures Pavilion,” Wan Xiaobei said, her voice courteous but firm. “I hope Sister Shi can be magnanimous and let this matter drop. If you do, my Pavilion will owe you a debt of gratitude, and we will offer a generous reward.”

She paused, her expression earnest. “I know you only wished to test the depth of his technique, and that you bear him no true malice.”

Shi Siling remained silent, her gaze piercing.

“Sister Shi, you are the Peak Master of Azure Mystic and a Half-step Supreme,” Wan Xiaobei continued, laying on the flattery thick. “For a mere mortal to attack you… how is that different from suicide?”

“This Supreme already stated,” Shi Siling said coolly, “I merely wished to witness one move. I would not have harmed him.”

“I believe you,” Wan Xiaobei nodded. “But even knowing you wouldn’t strike to kill, the pressure of standing before a Half-step Supreme is suffocating for a mere Foundation Establishment cultivator. How many in this world would have the courage to actually raise a hand against you?”

Shi Siling fell silent.

She had to admit, the logic was sound. As a Half-step Supreme, a casual flick of her sleeve could annihilate a Foundation Establishment cultivator. For one to even stand straight in her presence was a feat of willpower. Expecting him to attack her… that was indeed bullying the weak.

“Speaking of which,” Wan Xiaobei added, seizing the momentum, “the last time Guest Elder Feng sparred with your personal disciple, Fellow Daoist Bian Yifei, it was a narrow victory. Sister Shi, you might not know this, but that battle severely depleted Guest Elder Feng’s Spiritual Qi. It nearly damaged his Dao foundation.”

She sighed theatrically. “He was so weakened that upon entering Falling Rain Valley, he had to seal his own cultivation and trap himself on the broken bridge just to survive.”

“I am not accusing your esteemed sect of using power to bully the weak, of course,” Wan Xiaobei said with a harmless smile. “I simply wish to prove that Guest Elder Feng isn’t as unfathomable as he seems. He won by a hair’s breadth. I hope Sister Shi can show mercy and spare my Guest Elder.”

“Rest assured. Once we return, I will immediately have a shipment of rare treasures sent to the Azure Mystic Sacred Land. Consider it a token of gratitude for your mercy, and an offering of mourning for the fallen Daoists of your sect.”

“What do you think?”

Wan Xiaobei’s face was a mask of sincerity, looking as though she had no other choice but to beg. Yet, her words carried a hidden edge—mián lǐ cáng dāo. She was subtly reminding Shi Siling that bullying a junior would damage her reputation, while simultaneously offering a face-saving bribe.

Shi Siling naturally heard the subtext.

She glanced at the calm, silent figure of Feng Bugui one last time. Given Wan Xiaobei’s identity, she decided it wasn’t worth the trouble. She nodded once, turned, and vanished without another word.

Only after the terrifying pressure of the Half-step Supreme faded did Wan Xiaobei let out a long, heavy sigh.

She hadn’t intervened for show. She was genuinely terrified. If Shi Siling, in a fit of rage, had decided to crush Feng Bugui, the Ten Thousand Treasures Pavilion would have lost its top Guest Elder. As the Pavilion Master, she couldn’t sit idly by.

However, when she turned to look at him, she found Feng Bugui’s expression completely tranquil. There was not a hint of relief on his face.

An inexplicable thought rose in Wan Xiaobei’s heart.

Did Guest Elder Feng… actually have the confidence to injure Peak Master Shi just now?

Before she could dwell on the absurdity of that thought, Gu Xiu spoke.

“We should leave.”

“Right, right! Let’s go!” Wan Xiaobei snapped back to reality, her face turning serious. She immediately ordered her subordinates to board their airship.

She had obtained a massive Fated Chance in the valley. Revealing her identity was necessary to protect Gu Xiu, but sticking around was dangerous. As the Pavilion Master, few would dare attack her openly, but if they lingered, greedy eyes would inevitably start plotting.

As the massive airship of the Ten Thousand Treasures Pavilion roared to life and ascended into the sky, no one noticed an old man standing in the dense forest a hundred zhang away.

He slowly lowered a longbow, the string still humming slightly.

His name was Sang Shoudao. His name meant “Guarding the Dao,” and so he did.

He would not intervene excessively in junior affairs, but if an irresistible force appeared—like a shameless Half-step Supreme bullying his charge—he would have acted.

He shouldered his bow, preparing to leave, but then his eyebrows raised. He looked toward the distant horizon with a playful glint in his eyes. Several dark shadows were stealthily tailing the rising airship.

“Seems… things are getting interesting.”

High in the sky, aboard the swiftly moving airship.

The tension of the confrontation had evaporated, replaced by Wan Xiaobei’s unbridled excitement.

“We made a killing! Guest Elder Feng, we absolutely made a killing!”

She leaned in, whispering conspiratorially. “Let me tell you a secret. In this entire trip to Falling Rain Valley, I am the biggest winner!”

“I obtained the legacy of the valley’s true master! Now, I have a Supreme as my Master, just like the Immortal Venerable Gu Xiu whom I admire so much!”

The expedition had been a disaster for the five sects and three clans. They had returned empty-handed and bloodied. But Wan Xiaobei, having spent a fortune to bribe the Rain Ghost, had walked a smooth path through the trials.

In the end, she had successfully inherited the mantle of the valley’s creator—Supreme Biluo.

“My Master, the one who left the projection, was incredibly powerful,” she gushed. “Back in her era, she slew other Supremes and ascended to the Immortal Gate! And she didn’t just fail to cross it; she pushed the gate half-open and then chose to give up! That makes her stronger than many who actually ascended!”

“And do you know who she is? She’s the woman in the green dress with the paper umbrella! I received her Dao transmission and her secret arts. In the future, I might even be able to trample Supremes under my feet…”

Wan Xiaobei was a chatterbox once she got started. She pulled Gu Xiu along, recounting every detail of her adventure.

“Right! Let me show you something!”

Feeling that words weren’t enough, Wan Xiaobei stood up. She circulated her cultivation method and took several casual steps across the deck.

It looked unremarkable at first.

But then, her hands flashed in a rapid seal.

Whoosh!

Instantly, lifelike projections of Wan Xiaobei appeared at every spot she had stepped. They were indistinguishable from her real body, lingering in the air like echoes of time.

“How is it? This is my Master’s ‘Rainfall Leaves Traces’ technique!” she boasted, puffing out her chest. “I’ve only just learned it, so the projections are brief. But if I cultivate it to the limit, I can leave traces that last for a thousand years.”

“And when my cultivation is higher, I can even embed offensive attacks into these shadows. It’s far superior to ordinary illusions. These traces exist in the flow of time—even a Supreme Domain cannot suppress them.”

Gu Xiu watched her eager display with a faint smile.

The Rainfall Leaves Traces technique was indeed powerful. He had obtained it as well. When he first analyzed it, he had marveled at Supreme Biluo’s genius. It was a truly breathtaking art.

Just as Wan Xiaobei was basking in his attention, the rapidly advancing airship shuddered violently.

SCREECH—!

The vessel slammed to a halt as if hitting an invisible wall. Several Ten Thousand Treasures Pavilion disciples lost their footing, tumbling across the deck. Confused shouts rang out as everyone rushed to the railings.

One look outside turned their confusion into horror.

Interception.

Someone had laid a massive Formation directly in their flight path, forcibly dragging the airship out of the sky. The ambient spiritual energy screamed as the trap began to corrode the ship’s defensive array patterns.

The experts aboard the ship reacted instantly. Several streaks of rainbow light shot into the sky. Elder Chen, Wan Xiaobei’s personal protector, landed atop the main mast, his robes flapping in the violent wind.

He gazed toward the east, his voice amplified by Qi. “Since Fellow Daoist has stopped my Ten Thousand Treasures Pavilion’s airship, why not show yourself?”

“We heard the Ten Thousand Treasures Pavilion obtained quite a few Fated Chances in the valley,” a ghostly voice drifted from the void. “We merely wish to broaden our horizons. I wonder if Elder Chen and Pavilion Master Wan would be willing to share?”

From the direction Elder Chen was facing, a group of figures shrouded in black mist emerged.

Elder Chen’s expression turned grave.

There were many of them. And they were strong.

Five Nascent Soul experts. And the leader… exuded the terrifying aura of the Soul Formation stage!

The Ten Thousand Treasures Pavilion had brought guards, but stopping a force of this magnitude was nearly impossible. No one had expected Wan Xiaobei to hit the jackpot, and certainly no one expected these vultures to act so quickly and so ruthlessly.

Elder Chen tried to stall, secretly crushing a jade slip to call for reinforcements while attempting to negotiate.

But the enemy was not stupid.

“Everyone saw Young Pavilion Master Wan receive the Rain Ghost’s protection,” the leader sneered. “Her harvest must be bountiful.”

“We ask Young Pavilion Master Wan to voluntarily hand over the legacy for us to… borrow. If you refuse, we will be forced to take it. The difference is whether you are alive or dead when we do.”

They had concealed their identities, but their greed was naked. They knew time was against them. When the brief exchange yielded no results, the leader waved his hand.

“Attack.”

The ambushers activated their trap formation fully.

The Ten Thousand Treasures Pavilion was using a small, high-speed airship intended for five hundred passengers. Its shields were sturdy, but the enemy had come prepared. They had deployed a specialized “Ship-Breaking Formation,” designed to grind down mobile defenses like a millstone crushing grain.

The energy shield around the ship began to flicker and dim. It had become a turtle shell, and the hammer was falling.

“We cannot sit and wait for death!” Elder Chen roared. “The defensive array won’t last under this interference. We must sally forth and engage them!”

It was the only tactical choice.

Without hesitation, Elder Chen led the few high-level experts of the Pavilion, charging out of the shield to intercept the black-robed attackers.

But the moment they left the safety of the ship’s perimeter…

It was a trap.

The enemy had reserves. As soon as Elder Chen’s group engaged, more figures materialized from the void. They didn’t join the melee. Instead, they channeled their energy into a massive Dharma Treasure that resembled a demonic battering ram.

It was a Siege Breaker—a weapon of war used to shatter sect gates.

Before Elder Chen could scream a warning, the battering ram, amplified by the enemy formation, slammed into the airship’s weakened shield.

BOOM!

The world shook. The defensive array didn’t shatter completely, but for a split second, a tear appeared in the barrier.

It was a hole no wider than a man. It repaired itself in the blink of an eye.

But a blink was enough.

Over a dozen dark figures, their auras blazing with killing intent, shot through the gap and landed heavily on the deck.

Every single one was a Golden Core cultivator.

The airship’s defenders were mostly Foundation Establishment disciples who had been exploring the valley. Now, with a squad of enemy Golden Cores breaching the perimeter, the situation was catastrophic.

It was tigers entering a flock of sheep.

Wan Xiaobei’s face lost all color. She realized with a sinking heart that she had miscalculated. The greed of the cultivation world was far deeper than she had anticipated.

Beside her, however, Gu Xiu did not panic.

Instead, a strange light flickered in his eyes as he looked at the invading assassins.

Wan Xiaobei had gained much in the Falling Rain Valley.

But he? He was the one who had truly stripped the valley clean.

Earlier, he had been lamenting the lack of an opportunity to test his new powers. He wanted to verify exactly how strong he had become.

And now?

The test subjects had delivered themselves to his doorstep.

Perfect.