Chapter 91 | The Galgame Martial Saint

Night Guard Division, Director's Office.

The light in the room was dim, and the window lattices were half-closed, allowing only a few rays of dusty afternoon sunlight to filter through.

Inside the Boshan censer on the desk, the ambergris burned brightly, and the faint blue smoke curled upward, making the atmosphere feel somewhat oppressive.

Vice Commander Liu sat restlessly.

Opposite him, behind a large red sandalwood desk, Zhou Qingmu was holding a file, reading it word by word.

It was the closing report for Gu Chengming's mission.

The room was terrifyingly quiet, save for the soft "rustle" of Zhou Qingmu turning the pages. Every time that sound echoed, Vice Commander Liu's heart gave a violent thump, and his eyelids couldn't help but twitch.

'Little Gu, oh Little Gu... I only asked you to clear out some water bandits. How did you end up causing such a massive scene for me?'

But things had reached this point, and he could only brace himself and accept it. After all, he was the one who had sent the boy, he was the one who had stamped the file, and the nature of the matter had been finalized by him. What room was there for reversal?

To be honest, he really hadn't expected the contents recorded in the file to be like that.

He had simply assumed Gu Chengming had cleared the bandits, bickered a bit with the East Sea officials, and then returned.

"Rustle."

The sound of the last page being turned echoed.

Vice Commander Liu's body jerked. Zhou Qingmu set down the file, and her gaze crossed the curling smoke to land on the Vice Commander's face, which was struggling to remain calm.

Vice Commander Liu's Adam's apple bobbed with difficulty, and he gave a couple of dry laughs.

"Director, about... Little Gu's mission this time..."

His mind spun rapidly, trying to think of how to make the boy's actions seem more reasonable. However, before he could speak, Zhou Qingmu interrupted him.

"A third realm Jiao-beast, a direct descendant of the East Sea."

Zhou Qingmu's slender fingers tapped lightly on the file.

"And he was slain publicly in the presence of Daqian officials, followed by carving an inscription to establish dominance."

Hearing these words, Vice Commander Liu felt his heart grow cold.

"Liu Batian," Zhou Qingmu suddenly called his full name.

"Your subordinate is here!" Vice Commander Liu's legs went weak, and he almost knelt down right then and there.

Seeing his state, Zhou Qingmu's eyebrows twitched slightly, and she praised him, "I thought that after all these years, you hadn't gained anything except strength. I didn't expect... you to have more accountability than before. Not bad, not bad."

"Ah?"

Vice Commander Liu's mouth hung open, completely dazed.

Seeing his expression, Zhou Qingmu continued, "According to your usual temperament, if you encountered trouble involving the East Sea and the Honglu Temple, you would definitely come crying to me immediately, or suppress the file to ask for my instructions. You would never dare take the initiative yourself."

"But this time, you secretly stamped it yourself and finalized the nature of the matter. It truly exceeded my expectations. Good."

Zhou Qingmu slapped Vice Commander Liu's broad shoulder heavily.

"This is what a Vice Commander of my Night Guard Division should look like!"

"..."

Vice Commander Liu stood there, feeling like the situation had taken a sharp turn. His brain couldn't keep up.

Zhou Qingmu turned back to her desk and slapped the file down hard, causing the teacups on top to jump.

"In the eyes of my Night Guard Division, as long as someone kills or eats people on Daqian's territory, they are evil! And evil should be slain!"

"Gu Chengming did very well, and you did well too."

Hearing her words, how could Vice Commander Liu not understand Director Zhou's stance?

He immediately breathed a sigh of relief, while also feeling a bit strange.

He cupped his hands and asked tentatively, "The Director is wise. However, I'm afraid the Honglu Temple won't let this go. Moreover, Lord Fubai of the East Sea is notoriously protective. If that old dragon really goes mad and uses this as an excuse to pressure the court, or directly stirs up trouble..."

Zhou Qingmu sat back in her chair and sneered.

"The Honglu Temple? If those spineless cowards dare to have an opinion, let them come to this office to find me directly."

"As for the East Sea... if Lord Fubai really thinks he's tired of living and dares to come for an explanation, I'll show him what our Night Guard Division's 'explanation' is like."

At this point, Zhou Qingmu paused, retracted her terrifying killing intent, and returned to her usual appearance as a Director handling official business.

She looked at Vice Commander Liu, who was still standing there with a complicated expression, as if she had suddenly remembered something. "Oh, right, Liu Batian."

"Your subordinate is here."

Zhou Qingmu pointed to the file on the table, her tone carrying the rigor of official business. "Slaying a third realm in the second realm, and a direct descendant of the East Sea at that—this kind of achievement is top-tier anywhere."

"Our Night Guard Division is clear about rewards and punishments. For the merit of this matter, remember to speak with the Merit Hall and allocate more to Gu Chengming."

"Don't use the standard for 'expelling water bandits.' Calculate it directly according to the standard for 'slaying a third realm rampaging great demon.' Don't withhold any spirit stones or merit points he deserves."

"Yes, your subordinate understands."

Vice Commander Liu quickly complied, secretly clicking his tongue. Little Gu was going to strike it rich this time.

"And one more thing."

Zhou Qingmu looked up, her gaze falling on Vice Commander Liu again. The approval in her eyes had not dissipated. "Regardless of the reason, the result of your decisiveness this time is good. This accountability is worth praising."

"I'll mention it to the Ministry of Personnel later and set your evaluation for this year as 'Excellent.' You've been in this position for quite a few years. If you can maintain this... well, this boldness in the future, it might not be impossible for you to move up."

Hearing this, Vice Commander Liu felt his head buzzing.

Think about it—he, Liu Batian, was usually diligent and walked on thin ice, fearing a single misstep, which only resulted in being mediocre.

This time, he had blindly stamped a file and almost caused a catastrophic disaster, but instead, he became a model of accountability.

This world, this bureaucracy, this life... it was truly ridiculous.

Vice Commander Liu took a deep breath, suppressed his complicated emotions, and bowed deeply to Zhou Qingmu.

"Thank you for your cultivation, Director! Your subordinate will definitely redouble his efforts in the future and will not fail your high expectations!"

Zhou Qingmu nodded in satisfaction and waved her hand for him to withdraw.

"Go, handle things beautifully."

"Yes!"

Vice Commander Liu cupped his hands and turned to leave.

Only when he stepped out of the Director's office and was hit by the cold wind outside did he realize his back was already soaked with cold sweat.

He wiped his face and looked back at the closed vermilion doors, exhaling a long breath of turbid air. His legs were still cramping slightly.

"Mother of..." Vice Commander Liu whispered to himself. "This Little Gu is truly my lucky general."

The morning light was faint, and dew from the night before still hung on the leaves of the cassia trees in the small courtyard of Jishan Neighborhood.

When Gu Chengming woke up, he noticed the ranking update notification from the Imperial Observatory.

【Hidden Dragon Ranking, 20th: Gu Chengming】

【Note: Slew a dragon in the East Sea, slaying a third realm with a second realm body.】

Looking at this short line of text, Gu Chengming felt a strange sense of nuance.

He had only returned to the capital yesterday, and his debriefing report with Vice Commander Liu hadn't even cooled yet, but the Imperial Observatory's ranking had already been updated.

This indicated that the Imperial Observatory's adjustments to the rankings didn't rely on the official paperwork submitted by the Night Guard Division at all, but had its own independent and swifter intelligence source.

"Heavenly Sight and Earthly Hearing..."

Gu Chengming muttered to himself as the "Heavenly Eye" that his own Elder Yu took pride in surfaced in his mind.

Elder Yu once said that at full power, she could spy on most of the activities in the Wenjian Sect. That was already an extremely startling divine ability, yet the array of the Imperial Observatory could cover its surveillance to the shores of the East Sea thousands of miles away, even capturing details of the battle.

The foundations of Daqian were truly unfathomable.

Gu Chengming sat by the stone table, his finger unconsciously stroking the edge of his teacup.

But since Daqian possessed such terrifying surveillance methods and could even mobilize dragon qi to suppress all directions at any time, why was its attitude toward the East Sea Jiao-clan so ambiguous, even to the point of endurance?

He had browsed the Records of East Sea Miscellaneous Affairs at the Imperial Academy. According to the book, although the entire East Sea Jiao-clan claimed to have ten thousand tribes, the only top-tier combatants they could truly field were four fifth realm Lord Dragons, plus several fourth realm great demons.

This power might be quite formidable in front of sects, but it was clearly not enough before the Daqian Empire.

It wouldn't even require the power of the whole nation. Just the Night Guard Division and the Demon-Slaying Bureau joining forces, plus a few army-accompanying worshippers—though completely flattening the East Sea might be an exaggeration—it was definitely more than enough to intimidate them or slay a few troublemaking dragon descendants to uphold national law.

Yet the reality was that the officials of the Honglu Temple, for the sake of so-called "diplomacy," not only bowed and scraped to the man-eating evil dragon but even turned around to oppress their own citizens to settle the matter.

There must be some secrets involved that someone at his level could not yet touch.

Gu Chengming thought for a moment, but eventually shook his head, pushing these chaotic thoughts to the back of his mind.

Since this was a return from a "business trip," according to the rules of the Night Guard Division, he had a few days of leave.

It was perfect; with these few days of leisure, he could properly settle and reflect on the gains from this East Sea trip.

To be honest, what helped him the most this time was not the core harvested from the Jiao-demon, but the single sword strike he had borrowed from the Reef Daoist by performing the Red Dust Technique.

With his second realm soul strength, trying to plant a "fated death" karma on a third realm Jiao-beast out of thin air was nothing but a fool's dream.

So, when he pointed his finger, he wasn't creating something from nothing, but "connecting."

He was connecting the "cause" from a hundred years ago—the Reef Daoist, a former Enforcement Hall Elder of the Wenjian Sect.

Red Dust is not about romance, but about the thoughts of all living beings and the entanglement of karma.

Back then, the Reef Daoist's entire family was eaten by Ao Qing. This was a blood feud, a "cause." Once this cause was planted, it would inevitably produce a "result."

However, the Reef Daoist had many concerns back then. For the sake of the sect and the overall situation, his sword was forcibly suppressed by his heart demon, and he snapped the "result" that was about to form.

But this karma did not disappear; instead, it turned into an obsession, a surge of pent-up qi, hanging between heaven and earth, suspended above that Reef Village. It even became the Reef Daoist's heart demon, eventually leading to his death.

It was an incomplete loop.

What Gu Chengming did was use the red dust qi as a guide to find that broken thread again, then use the sword in his hand to complete this "result" for the long-deceased elder, a century late.

At that moment, what he borrowed was not just that one sword strike, but also the great momentum of "it should be so" between heaven and earth.

It was a strange feeling.

When you know that this sword strike follows heavenly principles and conforms to karma, there won't be the slightest hesitation in your heart. Your sword will be faster and heavier than ever before.

Was this perhaps the so-called Jianxin Tongming?

As this realization deepened, the aura within Gu Chengming's body began to change. The true essence that originally flowed like a trickling stream in his dantian now seemed to be pulled by something and began to accelerate.

The "dragon-shaped qi seed" residing in the center of his sea of qi, which had unexpectedly condensed when he broke through to the second realm, also seemed to sense the change in its master's state of mind.

It was no longer silent. It raised its head and let out a clear dragon roar that only Gu Chengming could hear.

Gu Chengming felt a jolt through his entire body.

The meridians in his body trembled slightly in the dragon roar. The gates that were originally somewhat stagnant were like snow encountering boiling water before this power, melting instantly.

There was no need to deliberately charge through, and no need to take any pills.

Everything happened naturally.

The surrounding heaven and earth spiritual qi seemed to be summoned, frantically pouring into this small quiet room and gathering around Gu Chengming, forming a visible spiritual qi vortex.

The originally full true essence was once again compressed and refined, becoming thicker and heavier, faintly glowing with a pale golden luster.

The dragon-shaped qi seed also seemed to grow a bit at this moment. The previously blurred scales became clearer, and as it swam, it drove the true essence to surge through his meridians like a great river.

Second Realm, Third Level.

Gu Chengming slowly opened his eyes, and a bolt of lightning seemed to flash in the void of the quiet room.

He raised his hand. Without using any spiritual power, he simply held his fingers together like a sword and made a light stroke in the air.

"Ssh."

A faint sound of tearing silk came from the air, and a very light sword mark stayed in the void for a moment before slowly dissipating.

He could feel that his current strength had improved again compared to before slaying the dragon.

"Phew..."

Gu Chengming exhaled a long breath of turbid air. That breath condensed in front of him without dispersing, circling for a moment before slowly fading away.

The next day.

Gu Chengming originally intended to go and debrief with Vice Commander Liu, but he hadn't expected to be unable to find him.

According to the other guards, the Vice Commander seemed to have been called away by Director Zhou to handle something.

With no other choice, he could only return to the Hidden Dragon Hall to check things out and incidentally learn about the recent happenings in the capital.

Only Li Dujiang was in the Hidden Dragon Hall.

When Li Dujiang saw Gu Chengming, he smiled and said, "Well slain."

Gu Chengming said instinctively, "Senior Brother overpraises me. It was just a moment of righteous indignation; I'm afraid there will be plenty of trouble in the future."

"Trouble is inevitable, but it won't be as fast as you think."

Li Dujiang picked up his goji berry tea and took a sip, clearly knowing the East Sea situation like the back of his hand. "Lord Fubai is indeed protective, but he can't move right now."

"However, don't let your guard down. I've heard the sect elders mention that old dragon; he's a person with absolutely no bottom line."

"Ordinary fifth realm great cultivators care about their reputation to some extent, but Lord Fubai is different. If he finds the time, he will personally come to assassinate you regardless of his status."

Gu Chengming's heart stirred upon hearing this.

Although Li Dujiang was a disciple of the Hunyuan Sect, his analysis of the East Sea situation and even the Lord Dragon's character was far too detailed. It seemed as if he had very deep connections over there.

However, everyone had their own secrets. Gu Chengming didn't ask further and only cupped his hands in thanks. "Thank you for the reminder, Senior Brother Li."

"Since we are comrades, we should naturally look out for each other."

Li Dujiang waved his hand, then his gaze swept over Gu Chengming as if remembering something. "By the way, since you were the one who slew that dragon, did you take the dragon core?"

Gu Chengming nodded. "It's in my storage pouch."

"That's good stuff. You're a sword cultivator, and this dragon core is an excellent primary material for refining a water-attribute Dharma Sword. If you can find a skilled mechanist to use it as the core, supplemented by the dragon's spine and tendons, the quality of the refined Dharma Sword will at least be a second-tier peak grade."

Hearing the words "refining a sword," Gu Chengming had a plan, thinking that he should find an opportunity to hand the materials over to the Smithing Hall in the future.

If he could assemble another Dharma Sword... he wouldn't fear a cultivator in the early stage of the third realm at all, even without using the Red Dust Technique.

Another day passed.

The alleys of Jishan Neighborhood were not wide. The pagoda trees on both sides grew somewhat wildly in the early spring, their branches and leaves reaching over the walls, sifting the already dim moonlight into mottled fragments.

Fu Xiaoxiao kicked a small pebble at her feet, mumbling something unclearly.

If the disciples of the Hehuan Sect saw their own Elder Fu, who usually walked without touching the dust, currently shrinking back at the entrance of a mortal alley like a guilty little girl, their mouths would probably hang open.

"What a broken place..."

Fu Xiaoxiao looked disdainfully at the slightly muddy bluestone floor beneath her feet.

"Why would a Wenjian Sect disciple huddle in such a nook and cranny? Aren't they afraid of losing face?"

While she compiled grievances against Gu Chengming in her heart, she couldn't help but stand on her tiptoes, peeking over the not-so-high courtyard wall toward the small courtyard where a light was on.

Actually, she should have come earlier.

Or rather, she had wanted to settle the score with this guy half a month ago.

Ever since she was "forced" to give those five hundred spirit stones and then pass on that one-finger Red Dust Technique in the Heart Sutra Hall that day, her heart had been like it was being scratched by a cat. She felt she had lost face, yet she also had some inexplicable anticipation?

She anticipated that this boy would come to the Imperial Academy to seek her guidance again, even if it was just to clear up the karma of those five hundred spirit stones.

To that end, she had gone through a lot of trouble over the past half-month.

As a Hehuan Sect Elder, she usually hated the pedantic, sour atmosphere of the Imperial Academy.

But during this half-month, she had endured that discomfort and ran to the Imperial Academy every day.

One day she would pretend to go to the clinic to find her Junior Sister Li Suizhuang for a follow-up, and the next day she would take a classical text she couldn't understand at all to the Heart Sutra Hall to look up information. She even deliberately walked several extra laps on the corridor where Gu Chengming had left last time.

She had even thought of the opening lines.

If they met, she would nonchalantly raise her eyebrows and say:

"Oh, what a coincidence? This seat just happened to be meditating on the Dao here recently. Since we've run into each other, I'll test your progress while I'm at it."

And the result? Half a month! She hadn't even seen a ghost of him!

That boy seemed to have vanished from the face of the earth. Let alone the Imperial Academy, she had even secretly had people from the Elegant Garden stake out the entrance of the Night Guard Division, only to receive news that "Officer Gu has gone out on official business, and his return date is uncertain."

Out on official business?

The more Fu Xiaoxiao thought about it, the angrier she became. The silk handkerchief in her hand, embroidered with twin lotuses, was almost twisted into a pretzel.

'Fine, leave if you want, but you've learned so much of the Red Dust Technique from me. You didn't even say a word before leaving? Do you really think of this seat as the kind of tool you just pay and discard?'

"Heartless little brat..."

Fu Xiaoxiao ground her teeth hatefully. Just as she was about to kick the base of the wall twice to vent her anger, she suddenly detected a very subtle tea fragrance with a hint of warmth floating out from the courtyard with the evening breeze. It was also mixed with a trace of a faint, familiar aura.

That was the unique qi circulation of the Yin Yang Creation Strategy.

Fu Xiaoxiao's movements paused, and her ears twitched sharply.

'He's back?'

Her originally somewhat depressed mood brightened a bit when she realized this.

"Hmph, so you know to come back."

She smoothed her skirt, tidied her hair bun—which wasn't messy—against the air, took a deep breath, and then silently flipped over the courtyard wall.

In the courtyard, the lights were dim.

Gu Chengming was sitting by the stone table, holding a volume of miscellaneous notes he had just bought from a bookstore, with a pot of hot tea by his side.

Yu Wenqiu was not there, but the orange cat was lying at his feet, sleeping soundly.

Although he had already noticed the movement outside the courtyard, when that red shadow actually landed in front of him, Gu Chengming still cooperated by showing a look of surprise. He stood up and bowed. "Senior Sister Fu? To visit so late at night, I wonder what..."

"Don't give me that fake politeness!"

Fu Xiaoxiao landed and stood still, her arms crossed and her chin slightly raised.

Seeing that his complexion was ruddy, his aura was steady, and he had even made more progress than half a month ago without any apparent injuries, the heart that had been suspended for half a month finally settled back into her stomach without a trace.

"What? I can't come?"

Fu Xiaoxiao snorted coldly. Her gaze very critically scanned the simple small courtyard before finally landing disdainfully on Gu Chengming's casual clothes, which he hadn't had time to change out of.

"You're living quite a leisurely life, drinking tea, reading books, and playing with a cat."

Gu Chengming smiled and was not annoyed. He picked up the teapot, turned over a clean teacup, and pushed it across.

"Senior Sister, you're joking. It's just that I just returned from a business trip and am taking a moment of peace."

"Who wants to drink your lousy tea?"

While Fu Xiaoxiao said that, her body was very honest as she walked over, sat on the stone stool, and took a sip from the teacup.

The hot tea entered her throat, dispelling the night chill from the alley.

She set down the teacup, but her gaze was still unfriendly as she looked sideways at Gu Chengming, her tone carrying a hint of interrogation.

"Business trip? You say it so lightly. You were gone for half a month without even a word."

Gu Chengming was stunned for a moment and felt somewhat helpless. "It was sudden. It was an urgent order from the division, and I didn't have time to say goodbye to anyone else."

"Anyone else?"

Those two words were like stepping on Fu Xiaoxiao's tail.

Her eyebrows shot up, and she slammed the teacup onto the stone table with a loud "clack," causing even the orange cat at his feet to startle and look up at her.

"Gu Chengming, let's get one thing straight."

Fu Xiaoxiao leaned forward, her large eyes staring intently at him. She was aggressive, yet because of her petite stature, she looked somewhat fierce-yet-adorable.

"I passed on the Yin Yang Creation Strategy to you and guided you in the Red Dust Technique. There is a great karma between us! By seniority, I am your senior sister; by sentiment, I am half your master! And you call that 'anyone else'?"

"I was at the Imperial Academy..."

As soon as the words left her mouth, she suddenly bit her tongue, almost blurting out "I waited for you at the Imperial Academy for half a month."

If she said that, where would her dignity as an elder go? Wouldn't it make her look like a resentful woman waiting in her chambers?

Gu Chengming looked at her hesitant, slightly reddened face and found it amusing, but he pretended not to notice. Following her words, he asked:

"How was Senior Sister at the Imperial Academy?"

"Cough..."

Fu Xiaoxiao's gaze drifted for a moment, and she stiffly changed the subject.

"I was at the Imperial Academy... just passing by the Heart Sutra Hall, thinking of testing your progress. And what do you know, there wasn't even a shadow of a person! You made me waste my precious cultivation time!"

"How do you plan to settle this debt?"

She glared at Gu Chengming, looking as if "this won't end until you give me an explanation."

Gu Chengming looked at her, his mind clear as a mirror.

Although this Elder Fu had a sharp tongue, the first thing she checked when she arrived late at night was whether he was injured. Behind this seemingly unruly interrogation was nothing more than a sliver of small grievance from being ignored.

Their relationship certainly hadn't reached the point of life-and-death devotion, but it was by no means a casual acquaintance.

"It is my fault," Gu Chengming followed her lead, cupping his hands in apology with a very sincere attitude.

"I left in a hurry back then and indeed didn't think things through. Letting Senior Sister wait for... no, letting Senior Sister make a trip for nothing is truly a sin."

"Hmph, as long as you know."

Seeing his good attitude in admitting his mistake, Fu Xiaoxiao's anger mostly dissipated. She wasn't truly angry in the first place; she just needed a way out—a way to prove that "I am important, you cannot ignore me."

Now that she had it, she naturally took it.

"Seeing that you did quite well at the East Sea this time, I won't hold it against you."

Fu Xiaoxiao picked up the teacup again, drinking much more contentedly this time.

As she drank tea, she observed Gu Chengming from the corner of her eye, her tone becoming a bit more casual and curious. "Speaking of which, that Jiao-demon... did you really kill it alone?"

Although it was clearly written on the Imperial Observatory's ranking, she still found it a bit unbelievable.

Slaying a third realm in the second realm was no ordinary matter anywhere.

"Sort of. I borrowed some external power."

"External power?" Fu Xiaoxiao's eyes lit up. She set down the teacup and leaned in closer. "Was it the Red Dust Technique I taught you?"

Gu Chengming looked at the pretty face close at hand and could even see her long eyelashes fluttering.

"Senior Sister is discerning. I borrowed a piece of unfinished old karma, used the red dust qi as a guide, and forcibly slew that Jiao-demon."

Fu Xiaoxiao couldn't help but marvel, "How is your brain wired? You only learned it for half a month, and you can already use the Red Dust Technique to this extent?"

She looked at Gu Chengming, and the admiration in her eyes could no longer be hidden. She even had a hint of secret joy as if she had "found a treasure."

Such a good seedling, if he could be abducted back to the Hehuan Sect...

No, no. This kid was now the apple of the Wenjian Sect's eye and a popular figure in the Night Guard Division. Forcible abduction definitely wouldn't work.

But at least she should make him feel more of a sense of belonging to the Hehuan Sect.

Thinking of this, Fu Xiaoxiao gave a light cough. "Cough... since you've already touched the threshold of the Red Dust Technique, you can be considered to have entered the door."

"But... entering the door is one thing, mastery is another. Although you succeeded by chance this time, it was because you borrowed the advantages of location and people. What if you were in a different environment, without any ready-made karma to borrow? What would you do then?"

This was also the question Gu Chengming had been contemplating during his seclusion over the past few days.

He straightened his posture, his attitude becoming much more serious than the perfunctory one from earlier.

"This is precisely the confusion in my heart."

"That day at the East Sea, although I barely managed to perform it, looking back, I felt that the use of red dust qi was too clumsy. Once detached from a specific environment, the red dust qi in my body is like a tree without roots, making it difficult to mobilize much karma."

"I wonder if Senior Sister has any guidance for me?"

Seeing Gu Chengming's humble attitude in seeking teaching, Fu Xiaoxiao was satisfied. The cold treatment she felt at the Imperial Academy completely vanished.

"The reason you feel it's clumsy is that your understanding of the words 'Red Dust' is still stuck at the level of 'observing,' without truly 'entering.'"

"Entering?" Gu Chengming was thoughtful.

"Correct."

Fu Xiaoxiao stood up and paced twice in the small courtyard.

She walked under the cassia tree, broke off a dead branch, and turned to look at Gu Chengming. "Look at this branch. If it's on the tree, it's full of life; if it falls to the ground, it's withered wood and dead ash. This too is karma."

"You are in the Night Guard Division, seemingly in the deepest part of the Red Dust, seeing all the aspects of the human world, demons, and ghosts. But your heart is always drifting outside."

"This state of mind might be good for cultivating the sword dao—Jianxin Tongming, after all."

"But for cultivating my Hehuan Sect's Red Dust Dao, this is the biggest taboo."

"Without entering the Red Dust, how can you know its suffering? Without knowing its suffering, how can you control the karma of all living beings?"

Gu Chengming's heart stirred slightly upon hearing this.

As a transmigrator, he indeed unconsciously treated this world like a game. Even after experiencing so much, he still habitually looked at everything from a "player's" perspective, calculating the optimal solution.

This sense of detachment protected him, but it also limited him.

"Then in Senior Sister's opinion, how should I 'enter'?" Gu Chengming asked.

Fu Xiaoxiao's lips curved into a smile. She threw away the dead branch, clapped her hands, and walked back to the stone table. She leaned her hands on the table, moved close to Gu Chengming, and whispered mysteriously:

"It's very simple. Go owe debts and make enemies, go be moved by emotion and make mistakes, and let the threads of this world be entangled around you."