The scholar walked toward a crystal pillar in the center of the room, his fingers brushing the surface as it instantly displayed a glowing star map. "Heavenly Jade is not merely a high-level spiritual stone. It is a drop of essence from the frozen Heart of the World. In the Western Region, all Heavenly Jade veins are under the strict seal of one grand authority: the Sacred Pavilion Heavenly Leaf."

  Zhi Xuan narrowed his eyes. "If that faction holds them, then the only way is to steal them, or buy them from the black market."

  "Stealing from them is akin to jumping into a soul-refining cauldron," the scholar replied with a slow shake of his head. "And the black market... even the underground rats aren't crazy enough to trade a treasure that the Elders can track through its mental vibrations."

  The scholar paused, gazing at Zhi Xuan with a profound look. "However, there is one path that requires no oath of fealty, though it demands a gamble with one's life. Have you ever heard of the Trial of the West Flower Towers?"

  Zhi Xuan shook his head. "I have only just set foot on this land."

  "The towers are located in the Holy City, far to the north of here. From the eighth to the tenth peaks, each possesses spiritual rings that produce Heavenly Jade as a reward for those capable of ascending to the highest levels."

  "What kind of trial?" Zhi Xuan asked flatly.

  "It is not a trial of brute strength," the scholar answered, his expression turning more somber. "In each tower, you will find various missions to undertake. Each mission is a service rendered to those who issue them. However, the difficulty increases until the tenth peak, where the missions become nearly nonsensical in their impossibility."

  Zhi Xuan remained silent, letting the information sink into the recesses of his mind. "Exchanging services for Heavenly Jade... a calculated system to ensnare powerful wanderers to work for their interests without the need for a formal bond."

  "Precisely," the scholar nodded as the star map on the crystal pillar faded, leaving a heavy silence between them. "The Sacred Pavilion Heavenly Leaf is a cunning entity. They allow resources to flow to independent practitioners, but in return, they settle matters that are too dirty or too dangerous for their own sacred disciples to handle."

  Ruo Xianxue laughed hoarsely within his Sea of Consciousness. "How fascinating! So you are to become a hunting dog paid in glowing stones? Zhi Xuan, your fate truly always revolves around being a tool for others, or a destroyer for those who try to possess you."

  Zhi Xuan ignored the mockery. His eyes remained fixed on the scholar. "How long does it take to reach the West Flower Towers from West Light City?"

  "On the outskirts of this city, there is a teleportation formation free for use, provided by the Sacred Pavilion Heavenly Leaf as the masters of the West. However, a warning from me," the scholar stepped closer, his stable aura vibrating slightly as he cast a sound-muffling formation only around himself and Zhi Xuan.

  "The warning is not about the towers, but the Holy City itself," the scholar whispered, his eyes glinting with knowledge that surpassed his apparent age. "It is about the Young Kings and powerful cultivators arriving from the seven regions of Yao Gu. They seek only one thing: the Ancient Cultivation Technique possessed by the Sacred Pavilion Heavenly Leaf."

  Zhi Xuan showed no outward reaction to the whisper, but the ripples in his mental pond trembled slightly. An Ancient Cultivation Technique was no cheap commodity to be displayed in an alchemy shop window; it was a legacy of blood and sweat from ancestors capable of turning an ordinary practitioner into a sovereign of the heavens.

  "A technique capable of drawing attention from seven regions..." Zhi Xuan murmured, his voice as cold as dew upon a gravestone. "No wonder the Western Region seems so calm; they are harboring a storm beneath their robes of purity."

  "Correct, Colleague," the scholar withdrew his hand, letting the soundproof formation fade into the air. "The Holy City is no longer just a place of pilgrimage, but an arena for dragons and phoenixes. If you truly wish to go there for Heavenly Jade, you will be in the middle of their sparks."

  Zhi Xuan placed a small pouch containing several high-quality spiritual stones on the agarwood table as payment for the information. "Tell me more. I already know the Sacred Pavilion Heavenly Leaf is a faction with several ancient techniques. But why is every region swarming toward the Holy City?"

  The scholar accepted the pouch with a movement so fluid it was almost imperceptible, as if mortal gold and gems were merely passing dust. He stroked his neat beard, his eyes fixed on the reflection of light in the pavilion's central pool.

  "Because the 'flowers' of the Sacred Pavilion Heavenly Leaf are searching for Dao Protectors," the scholar replied in a lowered tone, as if his words were a heavy celestial secret. "They are the Sacred Fairies, rumored to be three descendants of the Sacred Pavilion Heavenly Leaf ancestors. However, what most attracts the geniuses is that they do not know which Sacred Fairy will seek a Dao Protector."

  Zhi Xuan froze for a moment; a familiar name knocked once more against the walls of his consciousness. Beneath the Ghost Hood, his eyes narrowed, staring at the scholar with a sharpness capable of skinning the mind.

  "Sacred Fairies?" Zhi Xuan hissed, his voice carrying a cold vibration that caused the water in the pool to stop rippling. "And you say the practitioners of the seven regions of Yao Gu come here just to fight for a woman's affection?"

  The scholar smiled bitterly, walking slowly around the pool. "Do not misunderstand, Colleague. In this cruel world, such things are merely decorations atop the altar of power. A Dao Protector—you surely understand what that means, do you not?"

  Zhi Xuan remained silent. A thread of karma reminded him of his bond with the Sacred Fairy of the Zhu Clan, yet here he discovered that perhaps the girl who had sought him for two hundred years was searching for a Dao Protector to break the shackles of a Dao Heart obsessed with him.

  "A Dao Protector," Zhi Xuan hissed, his fingers clenching beneath his robes without him realizing. "Not merely a companion, but a union of two destinies to pierce the boundaries of heaven. If that Sacred Fairy truly possesses an Ancient Cultivation Technique, then whoever is chosen as her Dao Protector will gain access to that eternal legacy."

  "And if your guess is correct," Ruo Xianxue interrupted with a laugh that sounded like cracking bone, "then your 'Clear Water' is being auctioned atop a sacred altar. She wishes to wash the stain of your name from her mind by binding her fate to another. Isn't that a sweet end to a two-hundred-year obsession?"

  Zhi Xuan did not respond to the taunt, but the cold air radiating from his body made the scholar before him step back. "What are the names of these three Sacred Fairies?" Zhi Xuan asked, his voice now as heavy as a sledgehammer hitting an iron anvil.

  The scholar wiped his temple, which was suddenly slick with cold sweat, feeling an immense mental pressure despite Zhi Xuan suppressing his cultivation. "Their names are exalted secrets, but the world knows them by titles: the Blue Cloud Fairy, the Eternal Snow Fairy, and the youngest, rumored to possess the purest Dao Heart... the Morning Dew Fairy."

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  Hearing those names spoken so openly, Zhi Xuan’s heart seemed to stop for a beat. The karmic knot he had tried to ignore now tightened, constricting the core of his soul with suffocating strength. The Morning Dew Fairy—he had already guessed who it was. That girl was truly in the center of the storm, and he—consciously or not—had been drawn back to the heart of the vortex.

  The scholar, seeing Zhi Xuan frozen, smiled thinly and composed himself. "And the Ancient Cultivation Technique is no mere rumor; it is one of a thousand grand legacies of the Sacred Pavilion Heavenly Leaf. You surely know its value if even cultivators from the seven regions are coming to the Holy City. Not just to become a Dao Protector for a Sacred Fairy, but because the Ancient Cultivation Technique of the Sacred Pavilion Heavenly Leaf is peerless, even after hundreds of years."

  Zhi Xuan stood motionless in the silence of the Pavilion of Heavenly Secrets. The light from the fading crystal pillar seemed to pull away the last remnants of the peace he had felt by the river. Ancient Cultivation Technique, Dao Protector, and the Morning Dew Fairy—these three strands of fate now shackled his steps, forcing him to look north once more, toward where the sky of the Western Region peaked in its false purity.

  "Morning Dew Fairy..." Zhi Xuan hissed in his mind. The name felt like a drop of clear water falling onto the embers of his soul. He remembered Ye Xishui's mournful eyes, how she had looked at him on the banks of the Dragon Lotus City river—a gaze that did not ask for forgiveness, but for an acknowledgment of an existence that had withered for two centuries.

  "If she is seeking a Dao Protector," Zhi Xuan murmured softly, barely audible, "then her Dao Heart is truly on the brink of collapse. She wishes to patch that fracture with another's destiny."

  The scholar in grey nodded slowly, as if able to read the ripples of emotion hidden by the Ghost Hood. "Many suspect as much. A Sacred Fairy with a wavering Dao Heart is a flaw for a grand sect. The Sacred Pavilion Heavenly Leaf will not allow their treasure to be destroyed. Seeking a Dao Protector is their way of 'cleansing' the Fairy."

  "But, how did you know of those rumors?" the grey scholar continued, narrowing his eyes at Zhi Xuan with an expression that looked both comical and sickening.

  Zhi Xuan faltered for a second, his tall frame tensing slightly as the corner of his lip twitched. "I was only guessing. Does a Sacred Fairy not require a Dao Protector if something happens to her Dao Heart?"

  The scholar gave a dry, meaningful chuckle. He stroked his beard again, his sharp eyes seemingly stripping away layers of Zhi Xuan's disguise. "An incredibly accurate guess for a wanderer who just landed. In this Western Region, guesses that sharp often lead to enlightenment—or death."

  Zhi Xuan immediately calmed his mental turbulence. He withdrew the ripples of energy that had leaked, making his presence as bland as a stone in a desert. "I am just a practitioner who wants to survive. If I must climb the West Flower Towers, I need to know who will stand in my way."

  "Fair enough," the scholar replied, turning away and walking slowly toward the towering bookshelves. "Then go north. Use the teleportation formation in the White Jade District."

  Zhi Xuan offered no final salute. He simply turned around, his black-and-white robes sweeping the floor with a soft hiss. Every step out of the Pavilion of Heavenly Secrets felt heavier. He no longer felt the warmth of West Light City; instead, the pure air around him felt like fine needles trying to pierce his skin.

  "Zhi Xuan, are you truly going there?" Ruo Xianxue asked, her voice now serious, devoid of her usual mockery. "You know this is a karmic trap. Once you enter the Holy City, the 'scent' of your soul will attract Ye Xishui. You can hide your face, but not the karmic bond from the eyes of someone who has carved your name into her core for two hundred years."

  "I need Heavenly Jade to reach the next realm," Zhi Xuan replied flatly while crossing the crowded market now glowing with mental lamps. "If she is there, it is just another obstacle. I will not let past obsessions block my path to the peak."

  "Liar," Ruo Xianxue hissed. "You are going because you want to see if that 'Clear Water' will truly freeze and belong to someone else. You hate being a tool, but you hate it more when a coincidence that became karma is touched by the filthy hands of those geniuses."

  Zhi Xuan stopped in front of a large arched gate radiating sky-blue light—the White Jade District teleportation formation. Around him, a line of practitioners in lavish clothes with precious swords stood waiting, their faces filled with ambition and arrogance. They were the 'dragons' the scholar spoke of, come to fight for the legacy and the Fairy.

  Zhi Xuan slipped among them, his figure covered by the Ghost Hood appearing so ordinary and inconspicuous, like a shadow passing under the sun. He gave a few spiritual stones to the formation attendant, a Sacred Pavilion Heavenly Leaf disciple who looked at him with disdain.

  "To the Holy City? One person?" the attendant asked lazily.

  Zhi Xuan simply nodded without a word.

  "Go in. Pray you don't get trampled by the horses of the great clans when you arrive," the attendant mocked while activating the formation seals.

  Zhi Xuan stepped into the center of the complex rune circle. As the teleportation light began to envelop his body, he felt the familiar tug of space. However, this time something was different. Amidst the dimensional chaos, he seemed to hear the faint echo of a guqin—a melody full of longing and pain, blown by the wind from the north.

  "Xishui..." Zhi Xuan whispered in his deepest mind, just before the world around him exploded in blinding white light.

  A moment later, the spatial pressure vanished, replaced by an incredibly pure coldness and the scent of peach blossoms blooming in the snow. Zhi Xuan opened his eyes. He now stood on a vast plaza made of celestial marble. Before him loomed a city that seemed built upon the clouds, with tall towers whose peaks disappeared behind eternal mist.

  This was the Holy City, the heart of the Western Region, and the seat of the Sacred Pavilion Heavenly Leaf. In the distance, three giant towers surrounded by slowly rotating rings of spiritual energy were visible—the West Flower Towers. And beneath the shadows of those towers, thousands of practitioners from all over Yao Gu gathered, creating an atmosphere of competition so dense it vibrated the air.

  Zhi Xuan stepped out of the teleportation circle, feeling the soles of his boots touch the cool celestial marble. The air in the Holy City was not just pure, it carried a strange weight—as if every breath had been blessed by the prayers of ancestors for thousands of years. Above, the sky was no longer pale blue but a glowing silver, with clouds hanging low like silk curtains protecting the residence of gods.

  Zhi Xuan stood still for a moment at the edge of the marble plaza, letting the low roar of human voices around him wash over his consciousness. In the Holy City, the bustle did not feel like a noisy market, but like an orchestra of suppressed ambition.

  "Look! That is the banner of the Fire Sword Clan from the Northern Region!" shouted a young practitioner with a ponytail, pointing toward a flying carriage pulled by two winged lions that had just landed on the eastern plaza. "I heard their heir reached the peak of the Soul Transformation realm at less than a hundred years old. He must be aiming for the Dao Protector position for the Blue Cloud Fairy!"

  "Hmph, the peak Soul Transformation realm is indeed extraordinary, but does he have a tough enough Dao Heart?" countered his companion, a burly man with a giant axe on his back. "The Holy City is a tiger's den now. Not just from the North, but geniuses from the Central Plains and Eastern Region have also appeared. Yesterday, I saw the jade carriage of the Eternal Alchemy Sect pass by."

  In another corner, a group of female practitioners in pink silk whispered while staring toward the towering West Flower Towers. "Have you heard? Rumor has it the Morning Dew Fairy was seen at the peak of the third tower yesterday morning. Her face was veiled, but her aura... ah, even from a thousand depa away, that sacred coldness could freeze our spiritual essence."

  "Of course," one of them replied enviously. "The Ancient Cultivation Technique of the Sacred Pavilion Heavenly Leaf isn't just about power; it's about soul resonance. But still, I heard the Fairies are very picky. Many come with mountains of treasure, only to be sent away with a single cold word."

  "Look! The Red Blood Sect has arrived! Why is that sect from the Northern Region here?!"

  "The Red Blood Sect?! Isn't that the sect that believes in using other cultivators as cultivation furnaces?!"

  The echo of voices from the plaza gate made the crowd of practitioners around Zhi Xuan jump, creating a wave of unease that spread quickly like ripples in a pond hit by a black stone. In the distance, a large blood-red palanquin carried by eight giant men with strangely pulsing muscles floated low, forcing its way through the crowd.

  "Red Blood Sect..." whispered an elder from a small clan, his face turning as pale as prayer paper. "Why is a man-eating tiger from the North allowed to set foot on this sacred ground? Has the Sacred Pavilion Heavenly Leaf lost its fangs, letting such soul-preying trash inside?"

  "Hush! Lower your voice, old man!" snapped his companion, pulling the elder's sleeve. "Don't you see who is sitting on that palanquin? That is Young Master Xue, nicknamed 'The Soul-Twisting Hand'. I heard he came to take the Ancient Cultivation Technique!"

  Around Zhi Xuan, the murmurs of low-level practitioners—the ants who only came to witness the splendor—began to tremble with pure fear.

  "I heard they use female practitioners in the Divine Wheel realm as furnaces to refine their blood essence," whispered a female practitioner with a trembling voice, hiding her face behind her friend's sleeve. "If they win the tower trial or—heaven forbid—obtain a Dao Protector position, this Western Region will turn into a sea of blood!"