Xuanjian: I am the tenth son of Zhenchi, and I plot to seize the throne from Zhenlong.

"On the sixteenth day of the first month, my killing of the wicked servant alerted that vile woman, and the two maids sent to the courtyard that night were also her spies."

"On the seventeenth day of the first month, she sent someone to invite me to the main courtyard. She assumed I was unaware of the secrets involved, so she pretended to make peace, but in reality, she intended to use her cultivation techniques to cripple my path! Time... is running out."

On the bed, Su Ming kept his eyes tightly closed, cold sweat pouring down his face, as he continued to listen to the information in his mind.

"Many years ago, tonight was my last chance. In the maple forest to the west of my family, there was a hidden cave that was only discovered many years later. Inside was a... inheritance."

The voice in my head started to come out intermittently, as if it were being interfered with by something.

"A perfect match...destiny...and fire...this is the last...chance, we must change..."

The voice in Su Ming's mind completely disappeared. He exhaled a breath of stale air and slowly opened his eyes.

"Should I go?" he asked himself, then chuckled and stepped out.

Within the void, the two figures of the Purple Mansion exchanged a glance, both seeing the surprise in each other's eyes. After a moment of silence, the Purple Mansion with the divine power of command spoke first: "Heh, we've been guarding this place for so long, but we didn't expect someone to have already made their move."

Another Purple Mansion cultivator said with a hint of helplessness, "The one with the destiny of a child cultivating fire is really making no attempt to hide it. I wonder who it is..."

The Divine Power Purple Mansion sensed his fear, and its tone carried a hint of resentment: "Just... that's it?"

The other cultivator, however, had already vanished into the vast emptiness. His words were hesitant and cautious: "I am merely a wandering cultivator from the mountains, out searching for a promising talent; I dare not provoke him..."

The Divine Power Purple Mansion paused in the void for a few breaths, pondering in silence. This Fate Child suddenly obtained the Fire and went to cultivate, it was unclear whose handiwork it was, but the matter was undeniably strange.

Even with his supernatural powers, he couldn't see clearly who it was or when they attacked. Suddenly, he thought of something, his heart skipped a beat, he sighed, and then he too vanished from the void.

Seeing Su Ming excitedly accept the cultivation technique and spiritual energy, and then carefully conceal his tracks and return the way he came, Jiang Shi nodded in satisfaction and casually covered up the entire cave.

He had specifically sought out the cultivation techniques and Qi, and with the "Hidden Spirit Concealment" activated, doing these things was extremely convenient; the disappearance of a Qi-cultivating spiritual object wouldn't be impossible to conceal.

This fire, if it burns the child's brain, will allow him to continue controlling the child, lest the higher the cultivation level and the wider the vision, the more suspicious the child becomes and the less he can be controlled.

The next morning, Su Ming was summoned to the main courtyard early. Just as the words in his mind had said, that vile woman gave him a cultivation technique and a golden spiritual energy in a jade bottle with a kind expression.

Instead of discussing the origins of the cultivation technique and spiritual energy, she pulled Su Ming aside and said a lot of comforting words. In the end, she gave him a few spirit stones and advised him to cultivate diligently, appearing to be doing it for his own good.

Su Ming readily agreed with a smile, and then entered the clan's secret chamber with an eager expression.

In the secret room, he took out two bottles of spiritual energy and placed them in front of him. He hesitated for a moment. He couldn't tell the difference between the two bottles. Judging from their appearance alone, one bottle was golden and shiny, while the other was grayish-red with a dark sheen. The one that was golden and shiny was more to his liking.

After hesitating for a moment, Su Ming made a decision. He put the bottle of golden spiritual energy into his storage bag and took out the cultivation technique he had obtained from the hidden cave to study it carefully.

As long as he can achieve Qi Refining, the clan won't care what kind of cultivation method he practices. As for its origin, he can simply say that it's a private inheritance left by his mother, which he has never had the confidence to break through to the next level, hence the preservation.

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

In the southern borderlands, in a icy pool...

"Little fish? Come out now. I'll give you five more counts. The feeling of the mark activating isn't pleasant!"

The clam demon remained in the icy pool, its shell slightly open. It scanned the area with its spiritual sense and shouted in an unfriendly tone, "This place is truly icy and cold. If it hadn't been missing that slave for several days, it would never have wanted to come in."

However, after a long while, seeing that the black carp that usually turned into water and hid in the cold pool showed no intention of coming out, the clam demon's eyes flashed with anger, and it suddenly activated the magic weapon in its hand.

A few breaths later, the cold pool remained deathly silent. The clam demon felt a sense of unease and tried to activate the magic artifact again, but it could not even find the mark left inside.

……

In another body of water, Minghua hid under a leaf, slowly calming her still throbbing mind. There was no smug look in her eyes, only a fixed gaze on a piece of meat floating on the surface of the water.

"Squeak~"

A sound of leaves rustling came from the tree by the water, and a gray monkey with a golden tuft of fur between its eyebrows was scratching its ears and cheeks anxiously in the tree.

Seeing its agitation, a female monkey rushed over to groom it, but was slapped off the tree. It then began to shake violently on the branch, causing leaves to flutter down.

"Crunch~"

The branch broke, and the gray monkey nimbly leaped to another branch, its eyes fixed on the piece of meat in the water. It had been there for two days and knew that something was waiting for it in the water.

But the allure of that piece of meat far surpassed any spiritual fruit or demon it had ever eaten. It had been stuck at the third level of Qi Refining for a long time and really didn't want to let it go.

Under the tree, the dying cries of the mother monkey it had casually knocked down caught its attention. Then, its eyes lit up, and its not-so-bright brain began to work, glancing at the troop of monkeys following it in the surrounding trees.

A few breaths later, the first monkey had its arm broken and was thrown into the water. Then two, three, like throwing stones, and in a short while, the entire group of monkeys was thrown into the water.

The pain caused the monkeys to thrash about in the water, but because of their severed hands, they could not get ashore quickly. The entire surface of the water became chaotic, and the piece of flesh was tossed about by the waves created by the monkeys.

Excitement gleamed in its eyes. It tried to conceal its presence and hid quietly among the leaves on the branch closest to the piece of meat. After a long while, some monkeys drowned in the water, while others successfully climbed ashore and huddled together under the tree.

It grew increasingly impatient. There were fewer and fewer monkeys struggling in the water, but the meat was still not very close to the shore, until the last monkey drowned and its body sank to the bottom.

The gray monkey cried out urgently, rose from among the leaves, and with a sudden burst of strength, prepared to leap from the branch and throw the troop of monkeys back into the water.

But it forgot that the branch it was hiding on was too close to the water, and the sudden force caused it to sink a bit, its long tail almost touching the water's surface.

Minghua had been waiting in the water for a long time and naturally wouldn't let the opportunity slip by. So, several water blades were unleashed from the water, striking the tree branches and blocking all of the gray monkey's escape routes.

A section of the tail fell into the water first, followed by the gray monkey, which lost its balance. Its expression was filled with terror as it began to struggle desperately.

……

In the latter half of the night, Minghua used the water current to carry the entire monkey carcass into an underwater cave. After completely concealing its presence, a hint of joy finally appeared in his eyes.

She didn't know what lineage the three-legged toad belonged to. She only got a small portion of it that day. After eating it, she successfully broke through to the third level of Qi Refining in just two days. Then she left in the dark.

After traveling for several days, she noticed that the monkey was quite interested in the three-legged toad meat she was carrying. Since her water control ability had greatly improved after breaking through the third level, she came up with this plan.

After eating the monkey, Minghua planned to travel further. That clam demon named Yunzhu could possess magical artifacts even in the Qi Refining stage, so she must have some tricks up her sleeve. She wanted to prevent Yunzhu from finding her.

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Ps:

The frequent shifts in perspective might slightly affect the viewing experience; I'll try to speed up the pace as much as possible.