Thousand Deaths, Bai Xiaotong

"Grandpa, I'm only worried about your subordinates," Bai Xiaotong grumbled and shuddered while thinking of a future being chummy with a man. " I'm too young for that… that cringe thing."

"Besides, if anyone should be worried, it's me! You're not getting any younger, Grandpa. You're still out there in the military, working harder than most. What would happen if you suddenly hurt your back while commanding soldiers in battle? Meh, that's just... uncool!" she glanced at her grandpa and teasingly clucked her tongue in repeat.

Tsk. Tsk. Tsk.

Bai Xiong chuckled, a low, gruff laugh that didn't quite match the sharp concern in his eyes. "Cheeky brat," he huffed, but there was warmth in his words. "Who do you think am I? I, Bai Xiaotong, am still in my prime, even in my sixties."

"What back pain? Grandpa is naturally healthy with just exercise and eating greens. I'm healthier than most kids your age!" His voice had the familiar tone of mock offense, but when their eyes met, both of them couldn't help but grin, and laugh heartily.

Meanwhile, a reporter hidden behind a bush, stifled a bitter laugh, almost choking on his words.

"Exercise? Eating greens?! Why don't you just say you only drink water and reached immortality?!"

Even the damn elders of rich clans with many resources still suffer from old bones and aging.

Besides, "Damn, who else isn't eating vegetables these days?"

He's been eating greens everyday that he becomes so fed up with it and even wonders if he's still human or a damn cow.

Livestock and treated mutated beast meat are so frighteningly expensive he couldn't help but cry foul.

"General Bai really knows how to pull nonsense. Fuck, I'm so angry! I'm going to write that statement, let's see you get roasted on the internet!"

"With someone like Thousand Death Bai Xiaotong as your granddaughter, who can make ten pills just by casually breathing, who would need to worry about a measly backache?" His gaze lingered on the two of them and muttered under his breath filled with sarcasm.

That woman's one of the Great Ten, owner of Supreme-grade skill: Avatar of Cultivation!

Although no one knows about the full details of her avatars and level of mastery, aside from array formation and alchemy, with her cheat-like skill, it won't be long before she masters all the ancient hidden arts of transcendent figures and cultivators.

A mere back pain? Oh please. Forget about people her age, that old man might even be healthier than a newborn baby.

The reporter shook his head and focused his thoughts on the stories he could sell. If only he could get a glimpse of that young woman's life or take ahold of a better scoop, how much money could he possibly earn from the big companies and clans that wanted to recruit her?

"Please let something interesting happen today, damn, I got a lot of bills to pay."

As for Bai Xiaotong, the admiration and attention of others were just secondary to the deep truth that weighed on her heart. She had always been her grandpa's biggest fan, but over time, her ideals had shifted—her belief in the heroism of the world had crumbled after she witnessed its dark side firsthand.

She knew her grandfather's dedication to his country, and the people—how fiercely he had fought to protect them. But in the end, she also knew the bitter truth of the heroes' cruel fate.

Heroes are celebrated when alive, but once they fall, their sacrifices are quickly forgotten. Heroes die, and the world moves on.

The truth had become evident to her in ways no one else could understand as a youngster, and it was a truth that had hardened her heart. Her parents are heroes who have fallen in battle. They had given their lives for a cause that seemed to vanish with their deaths.

People expected the powerful to protect them, but when they fell short, those same people would be the first to condemn them for not living up to impossible standards. Their sacrifice was nothing more than a fleeting memory for the masses who believed they were expendable.

Bai Xiaotong's eyes darkened with the sharp edge of her grief cutting through her as she thought of her lost parents. The bitterness of it all surged within her as the memories of those final days in the military came rushing in painful fragments.

She was just ten years old when she awakened supreme-grade power. At thirteen, eager to follow in the footsteps of her parents and her grandfather, she had joined the military, driven by the desire to protect the precious lives they had fought so hard to save.

However, she was wrong to believe that everyone deserves saving grace. So terribly wrong.

One rainy evening three years ago in the Northern Suburbs of the Capital City.

Before the crimson grave of a massive dungeon gate, the suffocating air grew more tense as a girl's voice, raw with grief and fury, echoed through the desecrated night.

"How could you force me to save those scumbags after what they did?" Bai Xiaotong's voice cracked, seething with anger.