No Turning Back

After leaving the main hall of the Law Enforcement Hall, the disciples stationed at the gate led the four of them to the teleportation array. In an instant, they were transported back to their respective outer peaks.

As soon as they stepped out of the transmission hall, Jian Dan turned to He Jintang and said, "Junior Brother He, if Senior Sister Feng still plans to go on an out-of-sect mission with us, we'd better set out as soon as possible."

He Jintang didn't reply right away. He furrowed his brow, staying silent for three breaths, then finally nodded. "Understood. Be ready to move at a moment's notice. I'll send word through the messaging talisman."

"Alright."

Jian Dan didn't linger. She turned and returned to her cave dwelling.

After cycling through one round of the Primordial Chaos Art, she fully replenished the spiritual energy she had expended in battle. She then laid two items before her: a white porcelain bottle and a storage pouch labeled Ten Thousand Treasures Pavilion.

The porcelain bottle was something she had obtained in the Purple-grade secret realm, from the dream beast, but had never refined. The pouch contained the defensive robe she had hurriedly purchased, swiping her Purple-Gold card without a second thought. She hadn't even looked at it properly.

Reflecting on the day's events, Jian Dan couldn't help feeling she had been somewhat impulsive. But sometimes, things just happened to fall into place that way. The gears of fate had already begun to turn, and there was no stopping them. Would she go with the flow or swim against the current? Clearly, Jian Dan had chosen the latter.

She remembered what had happened in her previous life, when she and Du Yanran had first entered the cultivation world. A piece of news had shaken the entire realm: the most favored junior of Tianjian Sect's Tian Yun Zhēnzūn—Tian Yue Zhēnjūn—had self-detonated her Nascent Soul, taking her Dao partner, Tian Kun Zhēnjūn, with her. Both perished, body and soul. The True Venerable, who had been suppressing his cultivation, was devastated. His grief pushed him into an unplanned breakthrough, and he ascended to the peak of the Mahayana stage. But without preparation, he faced the heavenly tribulation head-on, fell into a heart-devil's snare, and perished. A generation's sword immortal was lost.

The heavens wept.

Tianjian Sect's Tian Hong Zhēnzūn broke out from seclusion in fury. With a single sword strike, he annihilated Qingyue Mountain, along with the once-glorious Kong and Hua Clans. That marked the beginning of widespread chaos in the cultivation world.

Jian Dan slapped her forehead in frustration. Impulsiveness was the devil. But she couldn't help it. The Tian Yun Zhēnzūn was none other than Feng Yunyi, and his beloved junior, Feng Nianyue, must have been the future Tian Yue Zhēnjūn. Nianyue, Nianyue—and the Dao name "Yue" given by the Zhēnjūn said everything.

When Jian Dan first transmigrated into the cultivation world, she had narrowly avoided being possessed by a demon cultivator named Wang Yueying, who was indirectly linked to the fall of Feng Yunyi, the genius sword cultivator of Tianjian Sect—now the Tian Yun Zhēnzūn.

Everything had come full circle. What once seemed like unconnected events were now deeply intertwined.

While Jian Dan was still in her cave reflecting on her actions, Kong Qiankun received a black mission order from Tian Wu Zhēnjūn. His elegant phoenix eyes widened in disbelief, and his hand trembled as he accepted the token.

"Why?" he asked hoarsely.

For the first time, Tian Wu Zhēnjūn's usually stern expression showed a flash of disdain.

"When you conspired with the Hua Clan to plot against your own junior sister, shouldn't you have considered the cost of failure?"

With that, he turned and departed into the sky, his sleeve sweeping behind him.

Kong Zhēnrén collapsed onto the cushion in his cave, the black sword-shaped mission token in his hand suddenly feeling unbearably heavy. He knew he had no way out.

A black mission order only led to two outcomes. Accept the mission, complete it, and there was still a sliver of hope for survival. Refuse it, and it was tantamount to betraying the sect. The Law Enforcement Hall would hunt you to the ends of the earth, to the very death.

But now, to raise a blade against his own allies—he could already see the collapse of the Kong-Hua alliance. And he knew even if he refused to act, the Law Enforcement Hall would not show mercy.

In fact, by the time He Jintang's group of four returned to their peak, seven Divine Soul stage enforcers, clad in black robes trimmed with golden patterns, had already departed from the secret teleportation array at the base of Law Enforcement Peak. Their destination: Qingyue Mountain, to carry out the eradication order.

Jian Dan, having finished her self-reflection, felt no regrets. She believed that if she had to make the decision again, she would do exactly the same. Her conscience was clear.

She calmed her turbulent thoughts and called the white porcelain bottle to her hand. Opening it, she found two grape-sized azure pearls floating within. They hovered briefly, then shot toward her eyes, fusing slowly into them.

A burning sensation surged through her eyes. Jian Dan shut them tightly and circulated her cultivation technique, channeling spiritual energy to her eye meridians to ease the pain.

After roughly one incense stick's time, the burning turned to coolness, like spring water washing over her vision. When she opened her eyes again, a faint blue light flickered across them.

These were the eyes of the dream beast. After refining them, Jian Dan had inherited its abilities: the power to create dreams, and to enter the dreams of others. With her current cultivation and spiritual sense, she could draw even Golden Core cultivators into dreams without them realizing it.

There were two types of dreamcraft. One allowed her to shape dreams based on her own intent. The other let her slip into another cultivator's dreams and manipulate them from within. Of course, the ability to see through illusions and dreamscapes was only the most basic benefit.

Jian Dan was quite satisfied with this newfound skill.

Next came the matter of her defensive robe. It had been a rocky road acquiring it, to say the least.

She opened the storage pouch marked Ten Thousand Treasures Pavilion. Inside was only a pendant.

The pendant was egg-shaped, just the size of a chicken egg. On closer inspection, it appeared to contain a silver-gray liquid that shimmered and swirled across its surface, as if it could leap out at any moment.

Jian Dan recalled what the attendant had said when she made the purchase. It was the shop's top-tier defensive robe. She had picked it on the spot without asking the price, didn't even wait for a proper introduction, and simply handed over her Purple-Gold card. The young cultivator had told her that binding it required only a drop of blood.

Jian Dan pricked her finger and let a drop of essence blood fall onto the pendant. Instantly, it reacted like oil in a hot pan. The silver-gray liquid surged outward, spreading up her arm and quickly covering her entire body.