The flames that erupted from Seraphine’s fingertips hesitated for just a moment. Her naturally upturned eyes curved into a subtle smirk, red lips parting as her breath disappeared into the sudden blaze that shot skyward. Across the arena, Cui Zhenchuan’s pupils contracted sharply. His heart trembled as he raised his spear to block the incoming fire. From the spectator stands below, I let out a small “ah” and muttered to myself, “Seraphine’s so fierce.” Behind Echo, a thunderous roar erupted as the crowd of cultivators watching this Golden Core stage duel broke into amazed shouts. Many had heard of Seraphine’s reputation before, but most were witnessing her prowess firsthand today. “Truly worthy of being the Eastern Continent’s undisputed number one among the younger generation!” someone whispered. “To cultivate to the Great Perfection stage—her talent and fortune must be absolutely extraordinary! It makes one sigh with envy!” “Just watching her make a move from the sidelines fills me with instinctive fear, as if I’m seeing Palace Lord Yunong Velka’s heroic bearing from centuries past! Like mother, like daughter indeed!” “Everyone, observe how Palace Lord’s whip technique is sharp and merciless, her cultivation method domineering, pressing forward step by step. Fellow Daoist Cui shares her cultivation level, yet he’s been at a disadvantage from the very beginning.” “This truly matches the rumors about her arrogant and domineering nature, hahaha! If I had Palace Lord’s talent and background, I might be even more arrogant than her!” The discussions merged into the cheering. The Luanyang Palace disciples tried to suppress their excitement—but completely failed, raising their weapons high to cheer Seraphine on. One particularly clever disciple poked his head out, glancing around to make sure no one was dispelling that spiritual light. With a mischievous grin, he rubbed his hands together. A beam of spiritual light shot into the sky, displaying: [Luanyang Palace’s Eastern Continent’s Number One Palace Lord—Invincible Under Heaven] I looked up and laughed. Following that first display, countless more spirit lights flew up one after another. Some imitated Echo’s text, others expressed their feelings directly, praising Seraphine’s appearance and demeanor. Poetry mixed with plain speak, spirit lights and ethereal images filled the viewing platform in a dense array. “Father, look at that!” Xu Zehua stared at those titles like “Luanyang Palace’s Eastern Continent’s Number One” and “Seraphine Golden Core Champion” his temples bulging with anger as he raised his hand to dispel the spiritual projections. Xu Zhuoli grabbed his wrist and forced his arm down. “What are you getting worked up about?” Xu Zhuoli said calmly. “Let them be arrogant for now. When you defeat Seraphine in the competition, won’t these words just slap her face? You can’t even sit still through something this minor—no wonder Luanyang Palace got one over on you!” Xu Zehua, properly scolded, forced down his anger and glared at the spirit lights before angrily flicking his sleeves. Seeing that the supervising elders weren’t intervening, everyone gradually loosened up. “Luanyang City Passionate Night” became “Eastern Continent Competition Passionate Arena.” Though everyone was sitting nearby, they didn’t dare go too far, only daring to say friendly things like “You White Tiger Pavilion losers are trash—let daddy teach you who’s your papa on the arena” and “I’m more beautiful than flowers—how could I birth something as ugly as you? Stop trying to claim me as your mother.” Intense fighting on stage, intense fighting off stage. Various spirit lights and projections rose and fell, rose and fell—truly a beautiful scene of friendly martial exchange. Lanzhi on the high platform watched in amazement, her brow furrowing with concern. The peak master of Luanyang Palace’s Benevolent Central Peak laughed heartily beside her, saying, “Fairy, don’t worry. Let them make some noise. If it stirs up their fighting spirit, perhaps they’ll break through their usual potential on the arena.” Lanzhi bowed respectfully in surprise, saying, “Thank you for the teaching.” The Benevolent Central Peak master nodded and waved out spiritual energy, clearing away all the spirit lights that had spread beyond the viewing platform. The crowd understood—keep the “friendly exchanges” within this overhead space! And until the arena match concluded, two text projections above the arena barrier were never dispelled by anyone. Seraphine won her first battle decisively. After the ritual courtesies with her opponent, Cui Zhenchuan laughed heartily and pointed at the text above. [Warmly Congratulating Seraphine on Securing the Eastern Continent Grand Competition Golden Core Championship in Advance!] She raised an eyebrow, snorted lightly, and said, “Thank you.” With that, she walked down from the arena at a measured pace, whip in one hand, lifting her skirt with the other. I stood at the very front of the viewing platform, clapping. The Luanyang Palace disciples behind me clapped along, everyone creating a rhythm, clapping with real momentum. Right up until the young, beautiful Palace Lord approached and stopped one step away, her long whip lashing out without mercy. Seraphine’s natal weapon was forged by Central Continent’s finest weapon smiths, crafted over ten years from the world’s most resilient materials. The whip was two fingers thick, could extend and contract at will, and despite its iron-like appearance, it was flexible as silk, creating sharp whistling sounds with each casual swing. Seraphine refined it in her consciousness sea, fusing it with her natal cultivation method so it constantly burned with golden-red flames. Now those golden-red flames came roaring forward. The front-row Luanyang Palace disciples cried out in alarm and ducked down, watching helplessly as the long whip wrapped around Senior Sister Xi’s neck. The moment it touched her skin, the golden-red flames suddenly vanished, becoming merely an exquisitely crafted ordinary red whip that coiled twice around Echo’s neck. I tilted my head back. Seraphine lowered her lashes, her sharp gaze sweeping around. Those watching gazes immediately “whoosh” away, not daring to look anymore. Seraphine smiled coldly, coiling the whip twice around her palm, forcing the entangled person to come closer. I thought to myself: What lovely weather today! Seraphine said, “Look at me.” I didn’t look at Seraphine, staring instead at the blue sky and white clouds, reminding her: “Act as you please.” This is Luanyang Palace! “You’re always right.” Seraphine muttered, opening her palm. The weapon coiled around her palm and Echo’s snow-white neck instantly transformed into spirit light and disappeared into her palm. I curved my lips into a smile, looking down at Seraphine. After thinking for a moment, I reached up and patted her head, praising: “Seraphine’s amazing!” From somewhere in the viewing platform came the sound of sharp intakes of breath. Seraphine narrowed her eyes, grabbed Echo’s wrist, and said, “I’m finished competing for today. Come with me to the upper viewing platform.” I immediately said, “Okay.” Get full chapters from novel-fire.ɴet She led me forward, passing beneath the viewing platform toward the central mountain. I pulled a paper funnel from my storage ring and said, “Seraphine, this is for you.” Seraphine looked back to see the paper funnel filled with packaged sunflower seed kernels, about half full. Seraphine felt somewhat moved, but thinking that Echo had peeled these while she was fighting intensely on stage, and had even drawn some hatred her way—well, forget it, still quite moving. “Thank you.” Seraphine said with restraint, accepting the paper funnel. In her twenty-six years of life, though she’d faced life and death situations multiple times, she’d also been raised in luxury, with the finest food, clothing, and necessities. This was the first time she’d held something so simple. But Seraphine didn’t dislike it at all. She smiled, taking out a jade box for storing pastries from her storage ring, carefully placing the seed kernels inside to save for later. But when she stored the jade box and unfolded the paper funnel, she discovered it was—the challenge letter Echo wrote earlier! Not the outer envelope, but not much different. On the golden-feathered, dark-patterned letter paper, ink blobs spelled out “I want to kill you, come fight.” Seraphine: “……Didn’t you say we should be hygienic?” I peered over curiously, observing Seraphine’s expression before saying seriously, “I consulted with other people. Cultivators have special constitutions and don’t get sick easily.” Most of them just die when poked. To a system, humans are fragile creatures. So I said, “I learned the dust removal spell.” Seraphine: “Thank you, that’s very reassuring.” I happily said, “Hahaha!” “Who were the other people?” Seraphine asked again. I quickly said, “It was Siyi.” Siyi also understands medicine—truly a human skilled at gathering knowledge from many sources and using it effectively. Like how my database contains countless text materials, but there’s still a big gap between storage and utilization. I’m trying to figure out how to make use of it all. The two of us chatted as we walked past the final viewing platform. Compared to the other viewing platforms, this one was much quieter, without any spiritual light displays. Seraphine sensed a hostile gaze and looked up, meeting Xu Zehua’s angry eyes. Seraphine simply stopped walking, assuming the posture of a welcoming host as she addressed the man beside Xu Zehua: “Sect Leader Xu has traveled so far to come here—forgive me for not greeting you properly.” Xu Zhuoli looked at this junior whose age didn’t even amount to a fraction of his own, yet who was so presumptuous and pleased with herself, and said in a low voice, “Palace Lord has many affairs to attend to. How would I dare visit the mountain casually? If I said something disagreeable and you challenged me to a life-and-death duel, I’d waste a life for nothing.” Seraphine laughed heartily, her posture relaxed and casual as she said, “What words, Senior! If Luanyang Palace treated guests this way, how could we reclaim the position of Eastern Continent’s number one?” Xu Zhuoli’s eyes grew cold. He hadn’t expected Seraphine to brazenly claim the title of Eastern Continent’s number one right to his face. Then he heard Seraphine continue, “Now that Eastern Continent’s dao friends have gathered for such a grand event, if our Luanyang Palace did something inappropriate, wouldn’t we be laughed at by everyone? It’s just that there are still many perceptive people in the world. If there are any old fools with dim eyes who can’t distinguish right from wrong, they might as well pack up and go home early to wash their eyes with water.” Seraphine spoke lightly, her voice making the already quiet viewing platform even more deathly silent. Everyone felt the anger emanating from Xu Zhuoli and lowered their heads, their faces twisted with fear. Xu Zehua, seated behind Xu Zhuoli, suddenly stood up and sneered, “You still dare to be arrogant?” His father was at the mid-stage of Soul Transformation! I tilted my head, shaking the hand holding Seraphine’s, my gaze studying Xu Zhuoli as I fell into thought. “Zehua, sit down!” Xu Zhuoli’s voice was slow and heavy. Looking toward the distant arena, he said leisurely, “Sharp-tongued indeed. But there’s always a higher mountain—one should be more restrained, lest one day you offend some great buddha and don’t know how you died!” He released his pressure. Everyone on the viewing platform was forced to bow their heads under his momentum. The pressure rushed straight toward Seraphine. Before Echo could act, a scroll phantom descended from the high mountain, blocking between Seraphine and Echo. All eyes were immediately drawn to it, everyone looking up in amazement. Xu Zhuoli concealed the surprise on his face and bowed toward Lanzhi on the mountain peak. Lanzhi said calmly, “Please follow the rules and don’t cause trouble around the arena.” Xu Zhuoli suppressed his displeasure, looked at Seraphine and Echo, curved his lips in a smile, and said quietly, “The future is long.” Seraphine also smiled. She said slowly, “Yes, the future is long.” Listening to their verbal sparring, I nodded and said, “I understand, Sect Leader Xu, you also want to—” Before I could finish, my finger was pinched by Seraphine. I looked down in confusion as a piece of crispy candy was stuffed into my mouth. —fight me to the death. I obediently ate the candy, completing that sentence in my mind. “Come on, accompany me back to rest.” Seraphine said to Echo with a smile, releasing her fingers and letting the wind carry the letter paper away. The paper fluttered down, landing at Xu Zehua’s feet. Both father and son looked down at the text on the letter. Xu Zehua clenched his fists, and challenge letter, killing intent arose in his heart. He stared at the retreating figures, slowly grinding his teeth. Xu Zhuoli sneered, “Refusing to repent.” I walked behind Seraphine, saying, “Seraphine, you shouldn’t litter—” “It’s fine.” Seraphine said without turning around, her voice soft. “Trash belongs in the trash heap, and we……” Just need to clean it up. Received task: Clean up the trash. Task status: In progress.