Chapter 1

Endless yellow sand. One woman, one sword.

The moment I drove my sword into the demon king’s body, a wave of dizziness swept over me.

Big Sword cried, “Something’s wrong with the demon core!”

I swore furiously. “Then why didn’t you say so sooner?”

My palm burned so fiercely that I almost flung the demon core away on the spot.

But the instant it touched me, the thing burrowed into my body like it had gone mad. I could not pull it free no matter how hard I tried.

Talk about aggressively eager.

The pain tore through me.

Before I blacked out, I seemed to glimpse the familiar uniform of the Changheng Sect.

When I opened my eyes again, I was back in the Listening Bamboo Pavilion on Canglan Peak.

Someone sat behind me, channeling spiritual energy into my body.

At the first sign of movement, he withdrew his hand and said in a voice so detached it held almost no emotion, “If you’re awake, leave.”

That voice…

I blinked and slowly turned my head. There sat my disaster of a master, wearing an expression of lofty, unapproachable dignity. Those words had come from him.

I remembered the Changheng Sect uniform I had seen before losing consciousness.

I had to admit, I was a little touched.

Who would have guessed that cowardly as Master was, he would risk his life to save me?

I immediately sidled up to him like an eager lackey, grinning with my usual shamelessness.

“Heh heh, Master, I knew you wouldn’t just stand there and watch me die. But how did we end up back at the Listening Bamboo Pavilion? Don’t tell me you came to swindle Shen Du out of more spirit stones.”

Perhaps it was my imagination.

The room went silent for a beat after I spoke.

Then one of the immortal attendants gave an awkward laugh.

“Number Six, what are you talking about? Show Immortal Fu Ning some respect.”

I looked up in astonishment.

Almost at once, I surveyed the room again.

Something was terribly wrong.

On closer inspection, the room did follow the layout of the Listening Bamboo Pavilion, but everything was gray rather than the immaculate white favored by that obsessive clean freak Shen Du.

The immortal attendants around me wore Changheng Sect uniforms, but the runes embroidered on them were unlike any I knew.

Most important of all—

My master, that perfect union of greed, drunkenness, laziness, and incompetence,

was now staring coldly down at me as if the entire world lay beneath him.

What had they just called him?

Immortal Fu Ning?

Good heavens.

“Number Six, are you still thinking about what happened? Oh, don’t take it to heart. Immortal Fu Ning has a bad temper and snaps at everyone. He wasn’t singling you out.”

After we returned to “my” room, a girl whose nameplate read “Number Four” helped put my things in order as she comforted me with a smile.

“Besides, Immortal Fu Ning only looks cold. When you fainted at the altar today, didn’t he stop the sacrifice immediately and channel spiritual energy into you? He treats us better than anyone else in the Changheng Sect. At least he sees us as human.”

I kept my face blank and pretended to contemplate her words.

In truth, I had not understood a single thing.

What altar? What sacrifice?

Just then, my storage pouch began to heat up, as though something inside were about to burst free.

Then a familiar voice rang out. “Holy hell, I was suffocating in there!”

Hearing a familiar voice in this strange place nearly brought tears to my eyes.

“Big Sword, thank goodness you’re here. I almost thought I’d crossed into another world. Where are we? Didn’t Fu Ning live five hundred years ago? Why does he look exactly like my master?”

Big Sword took two distinctly human-sounding breaths.

“I just broke through a barrier and asked around while I was at it. This seems to be an illusion created by the demon king. I don’t know what it’s meant to do, but for now, there doesn’t appear to be much danger. Keep your head down and play along with the people here. I’ll find a way to get you out.”

I agreed without hesitation. “Fine. Don’t forget.”

Big Sword went silent after that. I furtively rummaged through my storage pouch again, only to find it had returned to its perfectly ordinary state.

By then, Number Four had finished arranging my things. She glanced at the darkening sky, exclaimed in alarm, and grabbed my arm.

“All right, stop brooding. Today’s the fifteenth. We can’t delay our real business.”