The wind tore past her in a continuous roar as Meng Lin cut through the sky, the landscape below shifting from the clustered buildings of Falling Maple City to sprawling fields and distant hills.

She maintained a steady pace, neither rushing nor lingering, her spiritual consciousness spread thin across the terrain to catch any anomalies that might warrant attention.

She had been scanning the terrain below; however, her thoughts wandered elsewhere. She wondered what that strange feeling was—it was almost like a sense of relief.

Her mind lingered on the sensation, turning it over. And she realized that she had not once considered the thought that she might have just killed someone innocent.

It had felt natural to do so, almost as if that was what should have happened.

The man had answered every question and offered everything without resistance. There had been no threat in him, no deception she could detect, even when she tore his soul from his corpse to verify his words.

That was not how she would normally do things. And afterward, she felt better.

She couldn't help but feel a sense of discomfort thinking back to the description of the dead skill. "Did my personality perhaps change a bit?"

The more she thought about it, the more she realized that might be what had happened, her lips pressed into a thin line.

The wind howled louder as she pushed herself faster. Below, the landscape shifted. Settlements gave way to broader stretches of cultivated land, and an imposing city loomed over the horizon.

Meng Lin descended gradually, dropping below the cloud cover, her aura compressing inward until it was little more than a speck in the sky.

Looking down, she saw a few people move in and out, most of them mortals and Qi Gathering cultivators. At first glance, it appeared no different from Falling Maple City.

However, Meng Lin noticed the aura of a high-level cultivator, most likely in the Nascent Soul Realm. She also felt a large number of Qi Gathering and Foundation Establishment cultivators.

She landed several hundred meters from the nearest gate and walked the remaining distance, adopting the posture of a wandering cultivator of no particular distinction.

The guards at the southern gate were two Foundation Establishment cultivators in pale blue armor, their gazes sharpening as she approached.

One of them stepped forward, his hand raised in a gesture that was half-greeting, half-assessment.

He couldn't quite place her cultivation level but wasn't foolish enough to risk offense. "Senior, you may enter without a fee. Heavenly Crossing City welcomes all cultivators of the Gold Core Realm and above."

Meng Lin nodded once, neither friendly nor cold, and passed through the gate.

The difference hit her immediately.

Not the architecture—though the buildings soared higher and gleamed brighter than anything in Falling Maple City.

It was the feeling.

Every third person on the street radiated Foundation Establishment cultivation. Gold Core cultivators were rare, their robes marking them as members of various forces; most noticeable were those in white robes with a symbol on the back.

"Human beings are like cockroaches," Meng Lin muttered under her breath.

Suddenly, a young man approached, his appearance slightly unkempt.

"Senior, do you need a guide? I can show you anywhere in the city for just one low-grade spirit stone!"

Meng Lin stopped, her eyebrows raised slightly as she turned to the young man. He looked to be in his late teens, at the eighth stage of Qi Gathering.

"And who are you?" Meng Lin asked, her voice flat.

The young man straightened, offering a bow that was more enthusiasm than grace. "This humble one is Xiao Bai. I've been here since the establishment of Heavenly Crossing City. I know every street, every alley, every hidden teahouse and backroom deal. If it exists in this city, I can find it."

Meng Lin studied him for a moment.

"Heavenly Crossing Building," she said finally. "Where is it?"

"The Heavenly Crossing Building? Senior, are you looking to leave?" He hesitated, glancing at her robes. "The teleportation fee alone is fifty mid-grade spirit stones, and the array activates once per moon cycle. The next departure is in seven days. If Senior would like to go now, I can take you there."

Meng Lin considered. The Heavenly Crossing Building could wait.

"Take me to an inn," she said. "Introduce the city to me as we walk."

Xiao Bai's face split into a grin, all teeth and relief. "Right away, Senior!"

They walked.

Xiao Bai talked—a constant stream of words that Meng Lin filtered with half her attention, storing what mattered and discarding the rest.

"—The city was founded four years ago by the Heavenly Crossing Sect. Though they moved their main headquarters to the Southern Region, they still have dozens of cities all over..."

Meng Lin's eyes moved across the street. A Gold Core cultivator in white robes passed, the symbol on his back—a crossed sword and staff within a circle—marking him as belonging to whatever force dominated this place.

Noticing her gaze, Xiao Bai quickly commented.

"—The white robes are Heavenly Crossing Sect disciples. Most are just outer sect members running errands. The real ones, the inner sect elites, don't walk the streets much. Gold Core is the minimum for inner sect—can you imagine?"

She could, although she wondered how many disciples there were within the city.

"—That district there, the one with the red lanterns? That's the Pleasure Quarter, but Senior probably isn't interested—oh, but the spiritual wine from the Drunken Immortal Pavilion there, that's worth—"

Spiritual wine—Meng Lin's interest piqued a little as she listened. The city unfolded around her like a map, three main streets radiating from the central plaza where the Heavenly Crossing Building rose, with countless smaller streets branching like veins, each district with its own character.

Xiao Bai's enthusiasm never flagged. He pointed out Blacksmith's Row, where a few Qi Gathering Realm cultivators were gathered. The Alchemist's Quarter, where the smell of medicinal herbs hung thick enough to taste.

"—And that street there, Senior, don't go down there alone after dark. The Night Market opens then, and not everything sold there is legal, if you understand my meaning."

After nearly an hour of walking, they turned onto a quieter street lined with ginkgo trees, their golden leaves scattering across cobblestones that had been worn smooth by years of footsteps.

The buildings here were lower, older, built from gray stone rather than the pale jade that dominated the city center.

Xiao Bai talked less when they approached these buildings, perhaps reminded of something.

He led Meng Lin to a three-story structure that seemed to huddle between its neighbors, unassuming and deliberately forgettable. A wooden sign hung above the door, carved with two characters: Still Water.

"Here, Senior," Xiao Bai said, his voice dropping to something almost reverent. "The Still Water Inn. It's been here since before the appearance of Heavenly Crossing. It's quiet, and the owner doesn't ask questions. Most Gold Core seniors prefer it when they want... discretion."

Meng Lin looked at the building. Her spiritual sense brushed against it and found layers of formations—privacy seals, noise dampening, defensive barriers to repel anyone below the Soul Wandering Realm.

They entered.

The first floor was a common room like any other inn; however, unlike most inns, there was not much noise.

Instead, Meng Lin found low tables arranged across polished wooden floors, each occupied by no more than two or three cultivators speaking in murmurs that seemed to disappear.

That was when Meng Lin noticed a large formation on the floor—a noise-canceling formation that intricately isolated sound at each table, giving the place a tranquil aura.

Lanterns hung from the ceiling, casting warm light throughout the room. Behind a long counter in the middle, an elderly man sat.

Every head turned as Meng Lin and Xiao Bai entered—not with open curiosity, but with the sharp, assessing gazes of cultivators.

There were only five individuals on the floor: a woman in green robes at the nearest table—peak Foundation Establishment.

Two men shared tea in the corner, their auras carefully suppressed but their posture marking them as Gold Core. Three young men by the window, their gazes lighting up at her.

Meng Lin walked to the counter, Xiao Bai trailing behind in uncharacteristic silence.

The elderly man looked up. His eyes were cloudy with cataracts.

"Welcome," he said, his voice a rasp like dry leaves. "A room?"

"Yes," Meng Lin replied.

"Top floor, eastern corner, room number nine. Five mid-grade spirit stones per night. Meals extra. No fighting on the premises—" he tapped a jade token on the counter, and Meng Lin felt the formation beneath the floorboards pulse with warning "—the formation isn't just for show."

Meng Lin placed nine mid-grade spirit stones on the counter, the old man's eyebrows raising.

"I want a meal first," she said.

He swept his gaze over the stones and produced a token key etched with formation marks. "You can take a seat. A waiter will come for your meal."

Meng Lin took the key and turned to Xiao Bai, who promptly said,

"Senior, if you need anything else—tomorrow or the day after—I'll be at the southern gate most mornings. Just ask for Xiao Bai, anyone knows me—"

"Wait."

"Sit with me," Meng Lin said. She pointed to the extra spirit stones on the counter. "This is enough for both of us."

Xiao Bai's eyes widened. He beamed with excitement that transformed his entire face. "Senior! Truly? You—you would share a meal with this one?"

Meng Lin was already moving toward an empty table near the window, away from the three young men whose gazes had begun to turn to bewilderment the more they looked at her.

She chose a corner where the wall met the courtyard glass, where she could see the door, the stairs, and the tree outside.

They took a seat, and very quickly a young woman walked up to them, a cultivator at the fourth layer of Qi Gathering.

She quickly took their orders, and after a few minutes, the food was delivered to their table. Meng Lin couldn't help but admire how little time it took.

On the table was steamed spirit fish in ginger and scallion oil, the flesh so tender it parted at the touch of chopsticks. A jade plate of rice glowed faintly. Pickled vegetables carried the crisp bite of spiritual herbs, and a soup of cloud mushrooms seemed to steam with its own faint radiance.

It had been so long since she had last eaten anything. Granted, at her current realm, eating was not needed—she drew sustenance from her own spiritual energy, her body refined beyond the gross requirements of mortal function.

But there was a difference between sustenance and satisfaction, between existing and living. In the Void Space, there had been nothing to taste, nothing to smell, nothing to remind her that she had once been human enough to take pleasure in simple things.

She picked up the chopsticks—plain wood, unadorned, well-used—and took her first bite in what felt like centuries.

The flavor unfolded slowly—not merely the fish, but the memory it invoked.

A cramped apartment kitchen. Fluorescent lights humming faintly overhead. The smell of cheap yet delicious takeout.

She remembered sitting alone in her room, the city lights piercing through the glass, her phone buzzing endlessly beside her.

The taste lingered—simpler than anything she had back then.

She exhaled quietly before continuing to eat.

As they ate, Xiao Bai expressed his gratitude and said that she was the first to offer him this. He spoke between bites, his earlier caution entirely abandoned.

"Senior," he said, his eyes suspiciously bright, "this one doesn't know how to repay such kindness."

She smiled, not saying anything. In reality, she wanted to do good, as she felt she had been too gloomy since she came out of that Void Space.

"Why do you always refer to yourself as this one." Meng Lin asked.

Xiao Bai blinked at the question, as if it had caught him off guard more than any blade or spell ever had.

“This one…?” he repeated slowly, then scratched his cheek with the back of his chopsticks. “It’s just how people from my realm speak.”

Meng Lin tilted her head slightly, waiting.

He hesitated for a moment before continuing. “In the Vast Heaven Realm… we’re taught early to avoid self-naming in a direct way."

He took another bite, speaking between chews as if trying to hide his embarrassment. “It’s supposed to show restraint of ego.”

Meng Lin lowered her gaze slightly, her chopsticks pausing in midair.

Ego.

Meng Lin let out a faint breath that might have been a laugh if one listened carefully enough. She picked up another piece of food and continued eating with unhurried calm.

They finished the meal in silence, and the other patrons came and went—the woman in green and the two Gold Core men leaving separately. The three young men by the window still sat, chatting and occasionally casting glances toward Meng Lin's table.

Meng Lin rose, retrieving the token key. "Go now. I will need you to take me to the Heavenly Crossing Building in a few days."

He stared up at her, that strange brightness returning to his eyes, different now, more complicated. "Senior," he said, "may this one ask something?"

"Ask."

"Why do you wish to leave? Outside this realm—it's said to be chaotic. Unstable. The great sects there wage war constantly, and who knows what powerful family disciple you might run into? Why would a Gold Core senior, powerful enough to go anywhere here, choose to cross into uncertainty?"

Meng Lin looked out the window at the tea tree in the courtyard, its branches motionless in the stillness of the afternoon.

She thought of the Void Space, of the endless nothing that had been her companion for longer than this city had existed.

"Because," she said, "my heart has always urged me to reach new heights." She uttered what was truly her motivation.

Yes.

"My goal." She turned from the window, and her eyes, which had been dim, suddenly brightened with determination, a faint purple hue surfacing.

She said, "is only what my heart yearns for. And my heart yearns for..." She smiled, pausing her sentence. Her smile was so foreign that Xiao Bai flinched slightly, as if watching a statue weep.

Meng Lin thought of all the events she had been through, and her determination hardened. Although revenge was not at the forefront of her wishes, it was still there. There had been too many tragedies that had afflicted her; thus, she knew deep down that her heart would not be satisfied until she returned it all manyfold.

The afternoon light shifted, a cloud passing somewhere beyond the courtyard, and for a moment the tree's shadow stretched across their table like a pointing finger.

She turned and walked toward the stairs, leaving Xiao Bai sitting in the fading light, the ghost of a smile on her face that he would remember for a very long time.

Meng Lin reached the third-floor corridor, lit by single candles that burned with flames that never flickered. She found the last door on the right.

The token key glowed, and she felt a small strand of spiritual energy brush past her before the door unlocked with a soft click.

As she entered, the privacy formations activated, a subtle ripple passing through the space before settling into complete silence, sealing the room away from the outside world.

Meng Lin stood in the center of the room and finally allowed herself to breathe.

Sitting down on the bed, she called up the system, a new brightness in her eyes.