Chapter 8: A Three-Year Promise

“You…!”

Yi Hanyue’s voice went taut as a bowstring, her right hand snapping onto her sword hilt like lightning.

If that earlier “I like you” had just been meaningless, shameless flirting, it had made her angry, sure, yet having endured it once had built up at least a little immunity.

That line “I think you’re really cute,” however, pierced straight through her years-old mask of frost like a red-hot needle. A suspicious flush seemed to creep up the tips of her ears—she hadn’t heard anyone use that word to describe her in a very long time!

Facing the girl’s hair-trigger urge to draw her blade yet again, Yan Ling didn’t flinch. She seemed to have figured out the temperament of this easily spooked kitten already.

She puffed out her chest and spoke with open honesty. “I’m only expressing gratitude for your sponsorship. I don’t have any improper thoughts.”

Then she stepped half a pace closer, a sly smile curving her lips. “Why? Having second thoughts? If you attack me now, a Half-Step Golden Core powerhouse bullying an ordinary mortal whose Cultivation Base is completely ruined… wouldn’t word getting out tarnish your reputation as the ‘Number-One Heavenly Prodigy of the Primordial Chaos Sect’? After all, you care about fairness more than anything, don’t you?”

Those words hit Yi Hanyue’s weak spot like an icicle. Her fingers tightened fiercely around the hilt until her knuckles turned white, her face shifting between pale and livid.

After a brief beat—click.

Yi Hanyue let go of her sword.

She turned her face aside, her voice hard as frozen stone. “I never regret the choices I make. Still, don’t think you can make a fool of me! If you stay like this for the rest of your life, am I supposed to wait forever? Our duel needs a fixed date!”

Watching the girl’s tense profile, Yan Ling chuckled inwardly. Hook, line, and sinker.

She held up three fingers, her eyes turning solemn as her tone dropped a notch. “Three years. All I need is three years. Once those three years are up, no matter what Cultivation Base either of us holds, I will step onto the Fighting Arena and defeat you fairly and squarely!”

“Arrogant!”

Even more than being called “cute,” that declaration stoked Yi Hanyue’s fury. The air around them grew so cold a thin layer of frost formed, making even the Steward behind the counter shrink his neck back for fear of getting caught in the chill.

In that moment, Yi Hanyue felt she had finally seen through her. This woman was just spouting sweet nonsense to mask her incompetence and squeeze favors out of her, no different from everyone else who wagged their tails at her feet—except her methods were even cruder!

For the first time, Yi Hanyue laughed—out of pure anger—her lips curving in a frigid arc. “Fine. Just wait, then. In three years, I will make you pay for every word and deed today!”

With that, she turned to leave.

“I mean it.”

Suddenly, she realized there wasn’t a trace of humor left in the girl’s voice. Even the trailing syllables dropped heavy as a stone sinking into a deep pool, freezing Yi Hanyue in her tracks.

Yan Ling’s voice cut through the icy air and landed squarely in Yi Hanyue’s ears. “If I can’t do it, then let me die beneath your sword!”

After all, if I fail to finish the mission within three years, my ending won’t be much different, Yan Ling silently added to herself.

From the intel she had gotten earlier from that Senior Sister who abandoned her, she knew this Iceberg fairy was the first person in the sect in four hundred years to relearn the lost pinnacle technique, Supreme Forgetfulness Record. If she couldn’t fleece that Heaven-Tier scripture off her, she was doomed anyway!

So she had no choice but to find more excuses to get close to her and poke at her emotions.

Besides, the more resolute I act, the harder it should be for someone as proud and competitive as her to bring herself to kill me… right? Probably?

Nobody else had any clue what was running through Yan Ling’s head.

Every person in the hall froze mid-motion in shock, as if the entire Immortal-Guiding Pavilion had been locked in ice.

Even the fawning Steward turned into a stone statue, the abacus beads under his fingers snapping with a loud clack that echoed sharply through the dead silence.

Yi Hanyue turned slowly back around, truly looking at this girl riddled with openings for the very first time. Her eyes burned frighteningly bright—not with that mocking glint from before, but as if tempered in fire, making even the icy blue reflection in her pupils seem to glow with heat.

She didn’t understand.

It was just a duel she had agreed to on a whim.

Why was this woman staking her life on it?

Was it to repay the debt of two hundred Low-Grade Spirit Stones?

Or did she genuinely value a fair duel against Yi Hanyue more than her own life?

Yi Hanyue’s fingertips curled unconsciously, a strange tightness catching in her chest. She had seen countless people boast just to cling to her coattails, yet never once had anyone staked the rest of their life on her.

An unfamiliar weight pressed down on her heart, making it hard to breathe.

“You…” She wanted to say, “You don’t need to go this far,” yet when the words reached her lips, they came out as stiff and cold as ever. “Do as you like.”

Without looking back again, she tapped the tip of her toe and vanished outside the pavilion as a streak of blue light—only, her figure seemed to move a touch faster than when she arrived, almost as if fleeing from something.

Staring in the direction she had vanished, Yan Ling shook her head repeatedly and clicked her tongue. Ah, what a pity! What a shame, what a colossal shame!

Anyone with working eyes could see that little Iceberg was completely rattled by my teasing—though to everyone else, it probably looked like I had a death wish.

Too bad I didn’t get close enough for skin contact, so I missed out on a card draw. What a massive loss!

Still, in that state, she was seconds away from snapping. If I’d actually been shameless enough to rush up and touch her, she really might have chopped me in two…

No, no, no!

Looks like I have to raise my strength fast and reach the realm of True Qi Projection as quickly as possible. That’s the only way to break the distance limit on Card Drawing!

“Still spacing out? Hurry up and finish registering, you suicidal lunatic!” The Steward’s impatient bark snapped Yan Ling out of her thoughts. “Your Spirit Root attributes are done. Go over there and test your Spiritual Power level—not that I think there’s any point.”

Ignoring his jab, Yan Ling stepped over as instructed and placed her hand on a transparent Spirit Stone.

The stone gave off only the faintest flicker of white light.

It didn’t even reach the bare minimum of the First Layer of Qi Condensation.

“Sure enough, the clash of water and fire injured your Wind Spirit Root too. Your Cultivation Base is back to zero.” The Steward marked a cross on the register with open disdain. “The Servant Courtyard is on the back mountain. Find it yourself. Also, even though you’re allowed to audit classes, you still have to finish your daily chores—otherwise, don’t blame the sect for showing no mercy.”

Stepping out of the Immortal-Guiding Pavilion, Yan Ling heard the disciples along the road whispering again, buzzing like flies.

She pretended not to hear them, though a cold smile tugged inside her heart. So what if I’m in the Mortal Realm? I have plenty of ways to turn the tables.

She made her own way to the quarters the Steward Disciple had assigned her. The moment she stepped through the door, a wave of decay hit her in the face.

While the outer sect grounds looked like an ethereal painting of an immortal gate, her own room was far worse than she had imagined: a leaky roof, cobwebs in the corners, a lingering stench of mold, and a mountain of firewood piled high along one wall.

What kind of room is this? It’s literally a woodshed! Did that Steward put me here just to spite me?

Whatever.

Yan Ling didn’t care. Getting stronger was far more urgent right now. Shutting the courtyard gate behind her, she eagerly summoned the Blue Talisman Card holding the Primordial Chaos Heart Method into her palm and prepared to study it.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Suddenly, rough knocking pounded against the door.