Wrapped in her little quilt, Shu Tiantian not only suspected something was wrong with her ears, she also suspected she might be dreaming.

After all, the great devil who would destroy the world three thousand years later was no longer merely extreme, but already an anti-human big boss—and for him to tell her to think more positively (?) was simply too challenging to her worldview.

An elegant tea table had appeared beside the bed. Old Ancestor of Void Abyss narrow phoenix eyes half-closed as he lifted his teacup; his black cloak flowed like water as it spread out. With one hand he brushed away the tea foam, his demeanor casual, yet his gaze fixed as he looked Shu Tiantian up and down without blinking.

Shu Tiantian, who had been overwhelmed with emotion and had her mind full of my life is so miserable, was stared at until she was forced to recover some awareness of herself as a spy, and she became somewhat nervous.

But it seemed the other party had no intention of killing her? Yet the two of them saying nothing all this time was somewhat awkward. Shu Tiantian couldn’t squeeze out a single word for a long while, and didn’t know whether she should respond to what the great devil had just said.

With the little flame of revenge blazing fiercely, Shu Tiantian’s mind was already spinning wildly. Thinking about it carefully, although she was a spy, because of the three-month agreement right now, she could also be considered someone working for the great devil. No matter how you put it, she counted as a temporary worker under him, right?

She wasn’t the kind of person with a “defy the heavens and earth” personality, but she felt that if she didn’t vent this anger, she would spend every day figuring out how to give the Tianji Sect, who wanted to send her to her death, a lethal dose of laxatives.

But she was insignificant and powerless; facing the enormous behemoth that was the Tianji Sect, she naturally couldn’t do anything. Even revenge would be like scratching an itch. Even if she really died this time, they would only need to lightly sigh that it was her fate—no price would need to be paid.

But she had almost died for nothing like that. She had struggled so desperately to survive—not to change the fate of her early-dying white moonlight self, but just to exchange one way of dying for another?

No, she absolutely wouldn’t accept that!

The more she thought about it, the redder her eyes became. After a long time, she finally forced out a muffled question, “Um… were my parents killed by you?”

Old Ancestor of Void Abyss, who was drinking tea, glanced at the sword hovering outside and peeking around. The Dragon Bone Sword instantly understood; it immediately floated over and spoke with righteous conviction, “Merely mortal humans—would they require the Master to act personally? The Master fell into slumber twenty years ago. You are only eighteen now. There is likely another truth to this matter.”

Shu Tiantian wasn’t very surprised that the sword could speak. What surprised her was probably just that the Dragon Bone Sword was actually the great devil’s sword.

Hearing those words, Shu Tiantian let out a slight breath of relief. She didn’t think he had any need to deceive her. And… when the Tianji Sect found her, her parents were already gone. Since no one had truly seen her parents being killed, perhaps it had all been fabricated by the Tianji Sect to deceive her. Maybe her parents in this lifetime had fortunately survived?

With reddened eyes, she said to the great devil, “Please wait a moment.”

She scrambled off the bed, ran outside, then huffed and puffed as she picked a Scarlet Flame Flower from outside and brought it back.

She stretched out her hand, spreading it open before him to show the flower, then activated Withered Wood Meets Spring—

In the next instant, on the fiery red stem of the single Scarlet Flame Flower, a tiny flower bud actually emerged!

Under the stimulation of life force, the bud quickly swelled full, and then… two small flowers bloomed.

Ji Wushu’s hand holding the teacup trembled slightly. His beautiful golden pupils almost instantly turned into vertical slits.

For two thousand years, Scarlet Flame Flowers born from dragon blood had always been able to bloom only one flower. After a long time, they would wither, just like his vitality, gradually draining away. He had long accepted such a fate; even unwillingness had nearly vanished, leaving only cold hatred.

Because there was no future, that bit of unwillingness was useless. Because he knew that as vitality faded, like the Scarlet Flame Flower, he would eventually be tormented to death—everything had turned into bone-deep hatred.

But two thousand years later, in her palm, two flowers had bloomed.

Shu Tiantian did not notice the young man’s expression, only carefully nudged the Scarlet Flame Flower a little closer to him.

When she woke up, Shu Tiantian had vaguely felt that her cultivation had leapt up by a large margin.

Although this inner demon tribulation had been heavily watered down, since it had deceived the Heavenly Dao, naturally Shu Tiantian, who had passed the tribulation, would also gain some benefits.

So Shu Tiantian quickly discovered that Withered Wood Meets Spring had advanced. Though she had never tried it before, she was completely certain she could make the Scarlet Flame Flower bloom.

And she had indeed done it.

She heard the young man opposite her ask, his tone casual, “So, what do you want to exchange?”

Shu Tiantian clenched her fists, lifted her reddened eyes—

And then heard the man’s voice, extremely pleasant, yet unhurried as he interrupted her,

“When there are no delusions, one mind is a Buddha-land. When there are delusions, one mind is a hell. Sentient beings create delusions; from the mind arises the mind—thus they constantly dwell in hell.”

Translation: Think more positively. Don’t make things hard for yourself.

If she truly wanted to slaughter the entire Tianji Sect because of this matter, it would indeed trigger inner demons and lead to eternal damnation. And her soul was already unstable—if she fixated on a dead end, the consequences would be unimaginable.

He said coolly,

“Revenge is permissible, but to abandon your Dao heart over a moment’s impulse… it seems your Dao heart is nothing more than that. In this world, there are countless people with deep hatred and enmity. If each one clung to it until it became an inner demon, would not everyone be trapped in hell?”

“You are not yet eighteen. The Great Dao is boundless—if you seek revenge, there is still plenty of time ahead.”

If she were truly filled with hatred and seized the chance to demand that he immediately tear every person of the Tianji Sect into pieces, Ji Wushu would not be unable to do it. In fact, this sinful dragon had never intended to let the Tianji Sect go—and had just dug up their ancestral graves.

But once the little spy spoke, and Ji Wushu agreed, the karma of slaughter would fall upon her.

Shu Tiantian was not some demonic cultivator, and she cultivated an especially righteous Dao. If she indulged in hatred, she might fall into deviation; even if she truly killed everyone in the Tianji Sect, her Dao heart would be destroyed.

Shu Tiantian, who had actually only wanted to develop a powerful medicine to make her enemies’ digestive systems malfunction so they would have diarrhea for life until they wanted to self-destruct: …Oh.

She still didn’t know how great a misunderstanding had been caused by a certain dragon projecting himself onto her.

She lowered her head, hugged her knees, and curled into a corner without speaking.

She still really wanted to drug them, but she had to admit that since waking up, aside from anger, she had truly felt like the sky had collapsed. Forget her Dao heart—she had even felt life held no more meaning.

But thinking about it carefully, she had already fallen out with her sect. She didn’t plan to go back. She had always been a medical cultivator meant to wander the world and cultivate her own Dao—naturally, the sky was vast for birds to fly, the sea wide for fish to leap.

Not to mention, she had a dragon now.

Thinking about it, she suddenly felt his words were so familiar that her nose stung. At a time when she felt the whole world had abandoned her, there was still someone giving her such guidance.

She rubbed her reddened eyes, and after a long while finally spoke with deep gratitude, “You’re completely different from how I imagined.”

The unhurried young man lowered his head to drink tea, hiding the smile at the corner of his lips, already preparing to take out the Soul-Stabilizing Pearl from within his sleeve…

Then Shu Tiantian said gloomily, “You remind me of my grandfather.”

Although she still really wanted to drug people, Shu Tiantian was indeed moved—because the last person in the world who had been willing to guide her like this had been her grandfather.

And the two even had mysteriously similar tones.

The smile at the corner of the young man’s lips vanished.

Shu Tiantian was grabbed by the back of her collar and coldly thrown out of the great hall.

Swept out the door, Shu Tiantian was bewildered and had no idea what had happened. If he didn’t want to help, then fine—why throw her out?

But thinking about it, Old Ancestor of Void Abyss was that kind of unpredictable great devil. Did she really expect him to show a good face to her, a spy? His mercurial temper seemed quite normal.

Fortunately, she was thrown out together with the sleeping black dragon.

Just as Shu Tiantian was about to hug the dragon’s horn and rub against it, the long-slumbering dragon opened its eyes, swiftly pulled its horn out of her arms, and gave her a merciless view of the back of its head.

Shu Tiantian: ?

But Shu Tiantian didn’t mind at all that the dragon wouldn’t let her touch it. Instead, she moved closer with a heart full of melancholy, thinking: From now on, it’ll just be the two of us relying on each other.

At this moment, Shu Tiantian still didn’t know that the ancestral graves of the Tianji Sect had already been dug up. She still hadn’t given up on her grand poisoning plan—she only felt that a gentleman must avenge such a grudge—but she wasn’t in a hurry. She would plan it carefully over time!

However, compared to that matter, something even more urgent was that Shu Tiantian had obtained some information about the Millennium Calamity from the pseudo inner demon.

There were still a little over ten days until the Millennium Calamity. The cultivation world had already begun making large-scale moves—even deploying her, a secret weapon they had nurtured for many years. It was clear they were taking this seriously.

Although Shu Tiantian knew the plot of the novel, it had only focused on the Tianji Sect alone. She didn’t know what exactly would happen to Old Ancestor of Void Abyss this time.

She remembered that in the original story, this plot point should have been when Ling Ruoshui shone brilliantly at the once-in-a-century Ten Thousand Sects Assembly.

Whether Ling Ruoshui had been expelled or not, she didn’t know—but it seemed certain that the Ten Thousand Sects Assembly would proceed as usual.

This time, the assembly was being hosted by the Tianji Sect. The novel had described countless grand scenes; it was said even sects from the Upper Realm would descend. In short, it would be more magnificent than any year before.

Shu Tiantian had never doubted the purpose of the Ten Thousand Sects Assembly before—but now she guessed it. These people probably weren’t here for friendly exchanges at all. Their purpose was likely to overcome Ji Wushu, the Millennium Calamity.

Although that temperamental great devil looked extremely capable in battle, judging from the scale of the Ten Thousand Sects Assembly, it seemed they intended to use sheer numbers.

She didn’t know the great devil’s chances of winning, but as the saying went—when immortals fight, mortals suffer… She patted the dragon, and decided that before the Millennium Calamity arrived, she would steal the dragon away.

After all, the dragon was so badly injured—it wouldn’t be able to help Old Ancestor of Void Abyss fight anyway.

The great devil had guided her, and saved her multiple times, so Shu Tiantian decided that if something really happened to him, she would take the dragon and escape. Then during festivals and holidays, she would burn a few more sticks of incense for the Old Ancestor. Amen.

After listening to Shu Tiantian’s chirping, conspiratorial plotting at his true form—planning to steal his true body right under his nose—Old Ancestor of Void Abyss: …..

Shu Tiantian felt something rub lightly against her palm. She lowered her head to look.

She saw a Soul-Stabilizing Pearl, radiating flowing brilliance, still stained with a trace of golden-red blood.