Heaven Burning Qi Refining Tower

Sword Clan, a cliffside cottage

Gongsun Lin sat on a stone stool outside the cottage, holding a small wine pouch and savoring it sip by sip.

"Since you're here, come out." Gongsun Lin picked up a pair of chopsticks from the stone table beside him, grabbed a peanut, tossed it into his mouth, and spoke while chewing.

After a ripple of spatial fluctuations, an ordinary-looking Middle-aged Man appeared five steps away from Gongsun Lin.

"Sit." Gongsun Lin waved a hand, gesturing for him to sit on the stone stool on the other side of the table.

The Middle-aged Man froze for a moment, then smiled helplessly and sat down beside him without hesitation.

"Want some wine?" Gongsun Lin shook the wine pouch.

"No. I haven't had any in more than ten years," the Middle-aged Man refused.

"Hmph, so pretentious. You Ancient Clan people are all ridiculously pretentious." Gongsun Lin snorted and tossed another peanut into his mouth.

"We're not as carefree as you Sword Clan people. After all, we carry the title of foremost among the Nine Ancient Clans. There are many things beyond our control," the Middle-aged Man sighed.

"If you don't want the title, then don't carry it. Back when the Xiao Clan was number one and ran into a crisis, you should have honestly gone to help them. Instead, you wanted to sit back and watch the tigers fight. Hmph!" Gongsun Lin rolled his eyes at him disdainfully.

"You know what those old stubborn fools in the clan are like."

"Gu Yuan, you're a dignified late stage Nine-star Dou Sheng. Do you really need to fear them? If you ask me, you should give them a proper beating and establish your authority. Let them know that the Ancient Clan can do without them. Without you, though, the Ancient Clan is finished!" Gongsun Lin took a gulp of wine and spoke at length.

"..." Gu Yuan fell into thought.

"I won't say any more about that. Let's talk about this matter first." Gongsun Lin waved his hand and set the wine pouch on the stone table.

"The young lady with the Ancient Clan's Divine Grade Bloodline, a rarity seen once in a thousand years, actually ran off to the Xiao Family to play the part of a young miss." Gongsun Lin grinned, his tone carrying a hint of mockery.

"This..." Gu Yuan looked embarrassed.

"I know what you're trying to do. Don't worry, our Sword Clan has no interest in the Ancient Jade. What difference could one more or one less piece possibly make?"

Gu Yuan sighed and explained, "I was afraid the Xiao Family wouldn't be able to protect the Ancient Jade and that it would fall into his hands. The Xiao Family is simply too weak now. There's no need for the Nine Ancient Clans to act—even some insignificant faction on the continent could wipe them out. I intended to retrieve the Ancient Jade, then place it in the Heavenly Tomb and entrust it to that person."

"Bullshit! As if I don't know what you're like. Dare you say you don't want to become a Dou Di? But I've already said it: whether there's one less piece of jade or one more, it makes no difference. I'd rather the Xiao Family's piece vanished without a trace. That would save the continent a great many troubles. Look at it—over these nine Jade Slips, which don't even add up to the size of a palm when put together, how many people have died in the past thousand years?" Gongsun Lin pinched up a peanut and tossed it into his mouth.

"Among all of us, you're the one who sees things most clearly." Gu Yuan chuckled.

"Also, you even dragged your daughter into this over a piece of jade. That's another thing I look down on you for. If she ends up getting together with some brat someday, you'll regret it to death." Gongsun Lin laughed as well.

"Sigh! I already regret it now." Gu Yuan's face darkened as he thought of that young man hundreds of thousands of miles away.

"Heh, she really got involved with someone? I understand, I understand. We're both men with daughters." Gongsun Lin delighted in his misfortune.

"Will you still be laughing so happily when your son-in-law comes knocking?" Gu Yuan snorted unhappily.

"I'll beat him up first, then we'll talk. Listen to me. If the brat your daughter likes really comes to meet you, remember to give him a show of force first. Don't beat him to death, but make sure he never forgets it. After the beating, see if he still dares to love her. If he doesn't, kill him outright." Gongsun Lin picked up the wine pouch and began drinking again.

"Fine! I'll listen to you for once!" Gu Yuan smiled, grabbed a peanut, and tossed it into his mouth.

"Want wine?" Gongsun Lin raised a brow and took another wine pouch from his Storage Ring.

"I'll drink!" Gu Yuan accepted it heartily.

"Want to fight after we finish? It's been a long time since I stretched my limbs. My sword is practically rusting."

"Let's fight!"

Liuli pushed open the wooden gate and stepped inside. Before her stood a three-story pavilion, along with a sizable courtyard. At the center of the courtyard was a dry little pond three zhang wide. This was her dormitory in the Inner Academy.

The pavilion was empty, with no sign that anyone had ever lived there. These pavilion-style dormitories were originally meant for four people, but since she was essentially a transfer student and the existing dormitories already had four occupants each, another building had to be assigned to her. Jia Nan Academy recruited students once every two years, while the Inner Academy Selection Tournament was held once every three years. Therefore, she could have this pavilion dormitory to herself for at most three years. After three years, three roommates would join her.

Of course, having roommates or not made little difference. At Jia Nan Academy, nearly all students spent their time outside their dormitories. More precisely, they spent it in the Heavenly Flame Refining Qi Tower. After all, in this world where strength reigned supreme, cultivation was the foremost priority, and the greater the efficiency, the better.

The Young Girl chose a bedroom on the third floor, arranged it simply, changed into Jia Nan Academy's uniform, and headed outside. Jia Nan Academy's Inner Academy was enormous, no smaller than some medium-sized cities. She needed to familiarize herself with it properly.

However, not long after she left, she ran into a troublesome situation.

She was being stared at!

Having spent so long in the clan, she was usually surrounded by family, and no one had much to say about her appearance. Moreover, in her previous life, she had been an ordinary-looking man and still retained many masculine ways of thinking. As a result, she was not particularly sensitive about her own looks. Even when Gongsun Lan had proposed to her last time, she had always believed he was only interested in her status as the clan leader's daughter. But in truth, the bigger reason was that she really was very beautiful!

"Hey! Who's that pink-haired girl? She's grown into such a stunning beauty."

"I've been in the Inner Academy for so long, yet I've never heard of such a beautiful woman."

"I can't even see through her cultivation. A woman with both beauty and strength truly exists? Wonderful, wonderful..."

"Mom, I'm in love."

"I want to be her dog~"

Feeling everyone's gazes on her, Liuli gradually began to grow awkward as she walked.

Damn it, I should have worn a cloak when I went out.

The Young Girl shrank her neck slightly, her cheeks faintly flushed. The social anxiety from her previous life had somehow returned.

No, I have to stay calm!

Liuli secretly encouraged herself. Pretending to remain composed, she forcibly suppressed her embarrassment, put on a stern little face, and assumed a cold, aloof expression.

With a light push against the ground, the Young Girl leaped gracefully onto a rooftop beside the road. Her figure moved like a nimble cat as she darted between the eaves, heading toward the Heaven Burning Qi Refining Tower to the north.

The scenery along the way flashed past in a blur. After running for around ten minutes, Liuli saw a vast open space ahead.

The open ground dipped inward, and at its very center stood an enormous Black Tower. The Black Tower was extremely peculiar. Nearly all of it was buried underground, leaving only a section of its spire exposed, with a pitch-black entrance carved into it. Students were currently entering one after another.

The space around the tower seemed faintly twisted and wrinkled.

"They really used the Space Sealing Technique." Liuli nodded in approval. This kind of technique was generally only mastered by Dou Venerates. In the entire Black Corner Region, there was probably not a single person capable of setting up a spatial seal on such a scale. After all, Dou Venerates were the absolute peak in the barren Northwest Region. Though the Black Corner Region was the most chaotic and darkest place, compared to the central parts of the Northwest Region, its overall strength was still somewhat inferior. Producing one or two High-tier Dou Zongs was already its limit.

And the one who had set up this formation was the headmaster who had founded Jia Nan Academy. This proved that from the time he established Jia Nan Academy, that headmaster had already possessed the strength of a Dou Venerate!

"The headmaster of Jia Nan Academy... I remember his name was Mang Tian Chi. He seemed to be from the Lei Clan. By now, he should have reached the Half-Saint realm, right?" Liuli carefully recalled. That old man would also deal with Xiao Yan in the future, and they would even have some friendship. If she had the chance to meet him someday, she could get along with him.

Liuli took a conical hat from her Storage Ring and placed it on her head before lightly landing on the ground. Following the crowd, she entered the Black Tower.

The Black Tower's entrance was long and sloped downward. The air in the passage was filled with violent, dense fire-attributed energy, while the pitch-black walls on both sides gave off a faint chill.

After walking for roughly three minutes, the space ahead suddenly opened up into an enormous area. Around five hundred cultivation rooms of varying sizes divided the area, while two main roads ran through it in all four cardinal directions.

"From the outside, this tower really is only the tip of the iceberg." Liuli was slightly astonished.

"Stop!" Just as Liuli was about to head toward the entrance to the next level, an aged voice shouted at her.

Liuli looked around, unable to tell who the voice was calling to.

"Stop looking elsewhere, I'm talking to you! Why are you impersonating a student and coming here?" The aged voice rang out again, and an old man in hemp robes appeared before Liuli.

A double update—didn't see that coming, did you?