"I've already said goodbye to my husband," Bianca said to her master. Despite having become the Sect Leader, she still held deep respect for the mentor who had shaped her fate.
"You're entering the secret realm of Lingxiao Sect for your cultivation, and when you come out, it will be twenty years later. Your little man can only live for another ten years at most, and he won't be able to wait for you. Are you sure you want to enter the secret realm of Lingxiao Sect for cultivation?" Flora, despite having lived for centuries, still maintained her youthful appearance. She was deeply concerned for her successor.
Many years ago, Flora had accepted Bianca and Dawn as her only two disciples. Each time, Flora gave them the same number of high-quality elixirs, but Bianca always hesitated to use them, giving all of them to her lover instead—an unwavering habit for a thousand years.
The pure, selfless love between them—without any ulterior motives—made even Flora, who had been single for three thousand years, feel a sense of envy.
Bianca had her reasons for needing to enter Lingxiao Sect's secret realm. It only opened once every two thousand years. Within the realm, one could receive profound legacies and experience great growth in cultivation. "Only the Sect Leader is qualified to enter for cultivation," Flora continued. "You must become even stronger if you are to avenge those from your small village. People of that caliber are beyond our reach, especially since you don't even know who the murderer is. Why cling to this obsession? It would be better to stay by your little man's side and help him through his last days."
Bianca's expression became chillingly cold as she thought about what had happened nine hundred seventy years ago.
Back then, Flora had taken them back to their small village to visit their parents, only to find that the entire village had vanished, replaced by a bottomless black hole with a five-kilometer radius. The people of the village were gone, reduced to bones, and the area around the hole shimmered with powerful laws, preventing them from approaching.
Dawn, too, was shaken by the sight before them. This was the unresolved knot between the two of them.
"Master, please don't tell my husband about this," Bianca requested. "For the days to come, I entrust my husband to you."
"Dawn is also my disciple. I'll take good care of him, of course."
A laugh echoed from Dawn's mountaintop as the old man was working on strengthening his leg bones.
"This long-awaited feeling of ease... the symbiote only restored my bodily functions," Dawn muttered, his voice tinged with a mix of frustration and resignation. "It restored my appearance, but the limits of my lifespan haven't changed. If my cultivation doesn't improve within ten years, I'll still die. The biggest problem now is finding the Child of Destiny—preferably a woman—and she must submit to me."
Though nearly a thousand years old, Dawn still possessed the boundless energy of a man in his twenties.
"I'm just an old man in the Golden Core stage. Why would a proud Child of Destiny ever submit to me?" With that, the old man leapt back into his usual reclining chair, pretending to nap under the sun.
"Master Dawn, I've come to help clean your courtyard," a young, tender voice suddenly called out.
Standing before him was a young and beautiful outer disciple named Bi Huajin. She hailed from a small mountain village and possessed only mediocre aptitude for cultivation. Years ago, the old servant had taken pity on her and frequently gave her top-tier cultivation pills. In return, Bi Huajin visited his courtyard weekly to clean and do his laundry.
Bi Huajin's reputation among the outer sect disciples was far from stellar. In just a year since joining Lingxiao Sect, she had managed to swindle ten young male disciples out of all their cultivation resources. Remarkably, none of them had even so much as held her hand. Without a doubt, Bi Huajin was a conniving little shrew.
Despite knowing her true nature, the old man chose not to expose her. After all, Bi Huajin was diligent in her work, and he found her efforts satisfactory. The pills were abundant and insignificant to him, and he considered their arrangement a fair trade.
"Huajin, why are you here so early today?" the old man asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Elder, did you break through?" Bi Huajin responded, flashing a sweet smile.
"Just a minor breakthrough," he replied casually.
At that moment, a system-like notification flashed in the old man's mind, revealing Bi Huajin's details:
Name: Bi Huajin
Age: Eighteen
Cultivation Level: Qi Refining, Sixth Layer
Constitution: Glazed Holy Body (Unawakened)
Summary: The Glazed Holy Body requires vast amounts of medicinal resources to activate. Once awakened, the cultivation speed will skyrocket.
"This conniving little shrew is a Child of Fortune?" The old man's eyes widened in astonishment.
"Elder, why are you staring at me like that?" Bi Huajin tilted her head, her expression feigning innocence.
The old man scrutinized her carefully, his thoughts racing. Her figure and appearance aren't bad at all. I can't believe I was so focused on Bianca before that I failed to notice her.
The system continued feeding him information:
To capture a Child of Fortune, there are two methods:
Forced submission: Make her yours by overpowering her will.Willing submission: Gain her genuine loyalty and devotion.
"Forced submission… interesting. I'll need to think about that," the old man mused, a smirk playing on his lips.
"Huajin, why don't you start cleaning the rooms now?" he finally said, snapping out of his thoughts.
"Of course, Elder," Bi Huajin replied cheerfully and went off to complete her chores.
As he watched her leave, the old man's mind churned with plans. A Child of Fortune, huh? This could be very entertaining.
The Grand Elder stood in the courtyard, his gaze fixed on Bi Huajin.
"Grand Elder, I've finished cleaning the courtyard," Bi Huajin said politely.
"Good," the Grand Elder nodded in acknowledgment.
Bi Huajin froze for a moment, her eyes widening in disbelief as the Grand Elder handed her a small box filled with pills. She quickly realized their value. As an outer sect disciple, her monthly allowance was only five low-grade Qi Gathering Pills. But the pills before her? Their worth was equivalent to one hundred thousand of those.
"Grand Elder, are you sure you didn't make a mistake?" she asked cautiously, her voice carrying a hint of disbelief.
"There's no mistake," the Grand Elder replied calmly. "From now on, I'll take care of all your cultivation resources."
Bi Huajin's heart sank. She wasn't naive. She understood the implication behind his words. But she didn't want to believe that this kind and benevolent elder was like the others. Still testing the waters, she said, "I don't quite understand what the Grand Elder means."
"Come on, Huajin, drop the act," the Grand Elder said, his tone turning cold. "I've heard all about your little tricks in the outer sect. Let me be direct—I like you. Submit to me, and I'll take care of you."
Bi Huajin's face went pale. Her expression crumbled, tears welling up in her eyes. This wasn't the first time someone had said such things to her. She was just a girl from a small village with no background or extraordinary talent. The only thing that had set her apart was her beauty, and it had brought her nothing but trouble. Over the years, countless men had made similar demands, all driven by their lust.
"Grand Elder," she said, her voice trembling with disappointment. "You've let me down. I thought you were different from all the others. I thought you were better."
"You're free to refuse," the Grand Elder said, his tone indifferent. "But if you do, you'll need to return all the pills I've given you."
"Those pills were gifts!" she snapped, her frustration breaking through her composure.
"Were they?" The Grand Elder smirked. "I say you deceived me into giving them to you. Now, who do you think the outer sect elders will believe—me or you?"
Bi Huajin's heart turned cold. As an inner sect elder, the Grand Elder rarely left his courtyard, but his authority was undeniable. No outer sect elder would risk offending him for the sake of a lowly disciple like her.
She clenched her fists, regret washing over her. She had been too greedy, too confident in her ability to read people. This time, she had miscalculated.