The moment the crow flew toward the west of the city, I turned and left the square. Ye Qingwan followed behind me, her footsteps so light it was as though she feared disturbing something. I did not return to my residence. Instead, I went around the eastern side gate of Ji Manor and slipped beneath the cover of night onto a bluestone path abandoned for years. This path led deep into the Forbidden Ground, a place even the guards avoided on ordinary days.
She did not ask where I was going. She simply followed in silence.
I knew she was waiting for an answer. But she still could not know everything.
The entrance to the secret chamber was hidden within a crack in the rear wall of the old ancestral hall, with three ancient arrays barring the way. The first was the Soul-Locking Breath-Stillness Array, which sensed the flow of Spiritual Power. The second was the Spirit-Sensing Array, capable of distinguishing the authenticity of one's aura. The third was a bloodline verification array; none but the Direct Lineage could enter. Three years ago, before my Dao bones were shattered, I could have broken through them with ease. Now, I had to act like an ordinary mortal and slowly grind out a gap bit by bit.
I crouched down and pressed my palm against the ground.
The Pseudo-Primordial Body began to circulate silently, drawing strands of leaking Remnant Dao aura into my body before releasing them backward through my meridians, imitating the natural rhythm of Spiritual Energy. The array patterns flickered faintly several times, as though their senses had been deceived, then slowly dimmed. The first layer was passed.
The second layer was even more troublesome. The Spirit-Sensing Array did not rely on spiritual pressure; it specifically identified bloodlines and traces of aura. I took a small piece of dried medicinal dregs from my sleeve—it was a remnant fragment of the Impurity-Dispelling Powder Ye Qingwan had left here years ago. Back then, to avoid being tracked down, she had once concocted medicine here. The scent had long since faded, but the array still recognized that unique bitter fragrance. I crushed it and scattered it before the door. Medicinal fumes spread through the air, the array patterns trembled slightly, and finally returned to stillness.
The final layer relied on blood.
I bit my fingertip and pressed a drop of blood onto the bronze door ring. The blood seeped into the crack of the door, spreading along the ancient patterns. A moment later, a deep click sounded, and the stone door slid inward.
A cold wind rushed at my face.
At the center of the secret chamber, a bronze cauldron floated silently. Above it, the ninth Remnant Dao Crystal rotated slowly, giving off a dim golden glow. This was the last piece I needed. Over the past three years, with the System's help, I had gathered these scattered remnants of heaven and earth bit by bit. They were fragments left behind by an ancient war, containing the power of broken laws. Ordinary people would burn to ashes upon touching them; only the Heaven-Slaying Origin could contain them.
I stepped forward slowly and reached out to take the crystal.
The instant it left the cauldron, an invisible wave exploded from within my body. A phantom shadow flashed into existence behind me—a black silhouette coiled like a dragon amid the first opening of Chaos, while countless Runes seemed to flow, rise, and perish within it. It was not an illusion, but a sign that the Heaven-Slaying Dao Foundation was about to condense. I immediately took out the fragmentary scroll of the Nine Revolutions Profound Art and wrapped the crystal in it. The damaged Runes lit up on their own, suppressing the leaking Dao resonance.
At the same time, I sat cross-legged and used the Pseudo-Primordial Body as a vessel, forcibly pressing the erupting origin deep into my bone marrow. My heartbeat gradually steadied, and the phantom vanished as though it had never appeared.
But I knew that if any Sky Patroler had passed by in that instant, he would definitely have noticed something.
I closed my eyes and adjusted my breathing for a moment. Only after confirming that my aura was stable did I rise and put away the crystal. I also took out the Jade Slip in my robes. With a slight movement of my fingertips, I inscribed the complete Blood Demon Sect defense map into it. The locations of the nine sentry posts, patrol rotation times, and distribution of hidden posts were all laid out clearly. This was the intelligence Yan Jiuxiao had handed over. After I reorganized it, it had become a map that could truly be used.
Just as I finished and was about to leave, the wooden door was pushed open.
Ye Qingwan stood in the doorway, her gaze fixed on the ripples in the air behind me that had yet to fully disperse. Faint traces still lingered there, like the aftermarks left by rippling water. Only someone extremely sensitive to Dao resonance could detect them.
She neither retreated nor spoke.
I knew she had already guessed a great deal. From the moment I revealed my methods at the Black Market to the strange phenomenon she had witnessed today, every incident had pushed her closer to the truth.
"How much are you hiding, exactly?" she finally asked. Her voice was soft, yet impossible to evade.
I did not evade it.
"Enough to survive," I said.
She stared at me, her gaze sharp. "What was that just now? That aura... it doesn't resemble the inheritance of any sect."
"It isn't an inheritance." I tossed the Jade Slip to her. "It's the reason you can't enter the mystic realm."
She raised her hand and caught it. The instant her fingertips touched the Jade Slip's surface, an extremely faint golden glimmer traveled across her skin. Her pupils contracted slightly, but she did not let go.
"The Blood Demon Sect has set up seven sentry posts around the perimeter, one every hundred zhang. At night, each is guarded in shifts by two people, equipped with tracking spirit hounds and Heart-Peering Mirrors." I looked at her. "If you go alone, you'll be discovered before you even get close to the mountain gate."
She lowered her head to look at the Jade Slip, her fingers tightening slightly. "What about you? Do you think you can get out unscathed?"
"I can," I said. "Because I understand better than they do how to hide."
She looked up at me, her expression complicated. "So you intend to keep doing this? Hide in the shadows and control everything? Let everyone think you're a worthless Young Master, then suddenly strike when no one is paying attention?"
I did not deny it.
"See you in the mystic realm in three months," I said. "Don't be late."
With that, I walked past her. The hem of my robe stirred a gust of wind, extinguishing the lone dying lamp on the stone platform. At the instant the flame went out, her shadow swayed on the wall, as though she wanted to reach out and catch me, only to stop halfway.
I did not look back.
As I left the secret chamber, the night wind was passing through the broken eaves of the ancestral hall. I concealed my aura and returned the way I had come, my figure melting into the darkness. Behind me, the stone door slowly closed, as though it had never been opened.
At this moment, three strands of Heaven-Slaying Origin flowed steadily within me. The ninth Remnant Dao Crystal had settled deep in my bone marrow, faintly resonating with the other eight. The System's thought surfaced soundlessly: Remnant Dao returns as one; the Heaven-Slaying Dao Foundation is about to awaken.
For the next three months, I would continue being the useless Young Master everyone had forgotten.
Until the day the mystic realm opened.
Ye Qingwan was still standing where she was, clutching the Jade Slip in her hand.
She did not chase after me, nor did she call out.
But when she turned, the direction of her steps had changed—not back to her own residence, but toward the deepest part of the Medicine Hut.
There lay the alchemy furnace she never used, along with a long-sealed copy of the Archaic Forbidden Formula.
She began searching for medicinal ingredients.
Some things had already begun to happen.
I stood on a distant rooftop and watched her for a while before leaping down and disappearing into the night.
After returning to my residence, I took an iron box from beneath the bed and opened it. Inside, nine small porcelain bottles were neatly arranged, each containing an aura sample from a Remnant Dao Crystal. I placed the ninth bottle inside, closed the lid, and tapped it lightly three times.
A faint tremor came from the bottom of the box. A hidden Rune lit up, then went dark.
The arrangements were complete.
Once the mystic realm opened, these fuses I had planted in advance would transmit through the Earth Meridian and form a temporary interference field.
It would be enough to help me evade the first wave of pursuit.
I lay down on the bed and closed my eyes.
I could still seem to hear her turning the pages of the medicine tome.
Tomorrow, she might come to question me further. Or she might choose to act alone.
But it did not matter.
I had already given her what needed to be given.
I had also begun doing what needed to be done.
The rest would depend on what happened three months from now.
Moonlight slanted in through the window, falling upon the Jade Slip at the corner of the table.
There was a newly carved mark on it—the final marker I had inscribed earlier.
It represented the blind spot at the seventh sentry post.
My fingers gently traced that carved mark and paused for a moment.
Then I gripped the edge tightly.
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