Boom!
The Li Family Elder, swallowed whole by the five fire dragons, was reduced to ashes in the blink of an eye. He'd never imagined he'd die at the hands of a cheat-powered monster like you.
Snap!
Amidst the swirling cinders, one of the fire dragons snatched the elder's storage pouch and delivered it to your hand.
「Twenty years of my lifespan—can you stand against that?!」
You gripped the storage pouch tightly, staring at the spot where the Li Family Elder had been erased from existence. Your expression remained as calm as still water, but the thrill surging in your heart was impossible to contain.
In this moment, you finally understood what it felt like to cheat the system.
No wonder Ye Fan, as the Child of Destiny, had acted like a reckless hothead in your previous simulations—charging into fights at the drop of a hat.
This kind of power rush was intoxicating.
The only downside? The cost was steep as hell.
Your aura began to plummet from the Transcendent Realm, crashing back down to the Divine Ability Realm. A wave of inexplicable exhaustion washed over you, leaving you lightheaded and disoriented.
In that instant, you could feel the vitality draining from your body, a strange, hollow sensation settling in your bones.
「That fight lasted only one second… but it burned through twenty years of my lifespan.」
「And the spiritual energy I 'borrowed' from heaven and earth will take a full month of nonstop cultivation to pay back.」
Now you fully grasped the brutal truth: you were trading lifespan for power.
Still—trading twenty years of life and a month of stagnant cultivation to kill a Transcendent Realm powerhouse?
Totally worth it.
「Let's see what kind of loot a Transcendent Realm big shot has stashed away.」
You opened the storage pouch, and your eyes lit up at the treasure trove inside—countless rare herbs, pills, and a Sixth-Rank Royal Artifact shaped like a curved moon scythe…
But your gaze was instantly drawn to a floating pill in the corner, swirling with black and white qi like a tai chi symbol. Your face broke into an ecstatic grin. 「This is a Yin-Yang Limitless Pill!」
The Yin-Yang Limitless Pill was a Fifth-Rank pill lost to the ages, brimming with pure yin and yang energies. It could help a cultivator break through to the Fifth Realm: Mountains and Rivers flawlessly, with zero risk of backlash.
Clearly, the Li Family Elder had looted this pill from the secret realm—and now it was yours for the taking.
Unfortunately, you were still under the effects of your "loan from the heavens." Taking the pill now, while your cultivation was locked for a month, would be a total waste. You'd have to wait until the debt was repaid to use it.
Rumble! Rumble!
A deafening tremor shook the ground. The secret realm's exit began to shrink, the space around it warping and twisting—it was closing.
「Crap! The secret realm is collapsing!」
Your face paled. You stuffed the storage pouch into your pocket and bolted for the exit, desperate not to get trapped inside.
「Hurry! The secret realm is closing! Who knows how long it'll be before it reopens!」
「People have been trapped in there for a hundred years before—they came out as nothing but piles of white bones when it finally opened again!」
「Dammit! Just a little more! I was so close to grabbing that Spirit Artifact!」
You weren't the only one panicking. Every other cultivator in the secret realm was sprinting toward the exit, screaming in fear and frustration.
But a few greedy fools, blinded by the allure of treasure, refused to leave—choosing to risk their lives for one last chance at a fortune.
Boom!
In the nick of time, you burst through the shrinking exit and emerged back over the waters of Magic City.
The secret realm's entrance sealed shut behind you, vanishing without a trace.
「First stop: Century Hotel. I need to find out what happened while I was gone.」
You headed back to the hotel under your Han Li disguise—but when you arrived, you froze in shock.
The once-magnificent Century Hotel lay in complete ruins, reduced to a smoldering pile of rubble as if struck by a cataclysm.
A cold sense of foreboding coiled around your heart.
「Something's wrong. Very wrong.」
Danger was creeping closer, step by step. The mastermind's forces had made their move again!
「They dared to attack while Sun Zhong and the Security Administration were guarding the hotel—and they destroyed the entire building. How?!」
Sun Qian's expression turned grim.
He could only imagine how ferocious the battle had been. The commotion must have shaken the entire city.
And for the enemy to launch such a brazen assault, they must have been confident they could crush the hotel's defenses completely.
Could it be… a Heavenly Realm elder had stepped in?
You didn't dare approach the ruins. You turned and walked away, pretending to be just another passerby.
A crowd had gathered around the hotel, whispering in shock. Among them were several cultivators, their voices carrying clearly in the air.
「You guys didn't see it—the fight that night at Century Hotel was an absolute bloodbath!」
「Dozens of black-cloaked assassins charged the hotel, targeting the big shot staying there.」
「The young master from the Sun Family of the Imperial Capital vanished that night—everyone says he was kidnapped. His protector was gravely injured, and even Deputy Director Qi Wei barely escaped with his life!」
「In the end, it was the Security Administration Director and the clan ancestors of Magic City's Four Great Families who showed up late and chased the assassins away…」
Every word sent your heart sinking further and further. You could picture the carnage—the hotel's "impenetrable" defenses torn to shreds, Su Meng your double abducted by the enemy.
And that story about the director and clan ancestors chasing the assassins away?
It was nothing but a face-saving lie.
Clearly, the attackers had been powerful enough to scare those big shots senseless.
「That Sun Family young master had only been staying at the hotel for two days when this happened. Wonder how the Imperial Capital Sun Family will retaliate?」 someone muttered.
Wait a minute.
Two days after he checked in… the attack happened a week ago?
That timeline didn't add up!
Your expression shifted. You pulled out your phone to check the date.
September 21, 2026.
Only nine days had passed since you entered the secret realm.
But you'd spent three whole months inside!
「The secret realm's time flow is different from the real world. It's a ten-to-one ratio!」
That's why Ye Fan had only vanished for a few days in your previous simulations, yet emerged with mastery of the Nine Steps to the Heavens.
Ten days inside the secret realm equaled one day in the outside world.