"How bad is it?" Nana Toki asked, her voice cool as moonlight on water.

"Fourth Elder said Master might not mend for ten or twenty years," came the answer, heavy as a winter without thaw.

Nana Toki went quiet, the pause dropping like a stone into a well.

"Ten, twenty years? That serious?" Shock rose like a wave slapping cold rock.

"But if we can borrow a soul pearl from the South Sea's Oceanward Tower, it’ll mend divine sense swiftly, like rain stitching torn clouds."

"Then why wait? We head for the Oceanward Tower," Nana shot back, resolve snapping like a drawn bowstring.

After hearing Shrine Water needed a soul pearl to repair her mind, Nana grabbed Nesting Phoenix’s hand and strode out of Cloudpeak Sect, urgency biting like frost.

She refused to rot in Cloudpeak for decades; ten or twenty years could see the heroine ascend, like a crane vanishing into blue skies.

Good grief—none of the System’s hidden-task targets ever let her rest, all thorns underfoot and nettles in the path.

They were all idiots, squawking like ducks before a storm.

Irritation churned like grit in her teeth; if not for task clears, she’d have tossed it all aside like a hot coal.

"Hey, Senior Sister, you’re leaving already?" Shuiqin Lin called, breath quick as sparrows.

She rushed up, worry fluttering like moths. "It’s no use. Our sect master and Oceanward Tower’s lord have private enmity, oil and fire. They won’t lend us a soul pearl."

Under heaven, everyone knew Cloudpeak Sect and Oceanward Tower were enemies, their feud gnawing like salt on iron.

Shuiqin Lin feared Nana would meet trouble, like walking into a thorn-bristled thicket.

"Who said I’m going to borrow?" Nana’s words cut clean, a blade flashing in shade.

"If you’re not borrowing a soul pearl, why go?" Her confusion swirled like mist over a ravine.

"...Come here." Nana hooked her closer, a tug like a fishing line in swift water.

"Since we need it, whether they give or not, we take it and use it," Nana said, calm as jade. "At worst, we return it later like loaned fire lighting a lamp."

With Nesting Phoenix as her pillar, Nana felt steady, like a cliff at her back against surf.

The System forbade killing male and female leads, but said nothing about NPCs, loopholes drifting like fog.

"Se—Senior Sister, you mean to rob Oceanward Tower?" Shuiqin Lin gasped, shock cracking like noon thunder.

Even Sect Master Yunlan wouldn’t dare say that; Oceanward Tower ruled the South Sea, a cliff face sheer and ancient.

It wasn’t something you could snatch by words, like trying to net the wind with rope.

"Did you bash your head in Moonview Peak’s rear forbidden grounds?" she blurted, panic fluttering like startled birds.

"You bashed yours," Nana shot back, tone crisp as morning frost.

She brushed off Lin’s hand from her forehead, annoyance flicking like a horse’s tail. "Cultivate properly. If you’re not at Foundation Establishment when I return, you’ll face the wall for a year."

"Senior Sister, that’s inhuman!" she cried, despair dripping like cold rain down a collar.

Nana didn’t bicker; she told her to care for Shrine Water, words steady as stacked stones, then dragged Nesting Phoenix out the gate like wind tugging a banner.

The original body had no South Sea memory, so Nana aimed for a mortal teahouse, seeking news like a hunter following tracks.

Before rumors could settle, a few disciples from other sects came to flirt, eyes greasy as smoke.

Annoyance flared like sparks; she lifted a hand to teach them a lesson, but Nesting Phoenix moved first and burned them to clean ash, a wildfire under a clear sky.

Nana went silent, the ellipsis hanging like fog.

This one stayed true to herself, willful as a river ignoring banks.

"I don’t permit anyone to touch you," Nesting Phoenix said, arms folded, voice smooth as steel through silk.

Where did this pervert crawl out from? Nana thought, exasperation stinging like pepper.

The teahouse folk had never seen flames so tyrannical; they swallowed hard, gazes snapping back like birds after a hawk passes.

Even the boss grew sensible, bowing and bustling, tea and water ready, fear fluttering like prayer flags in wind.

Nana, bemused, slid over a few coins, the clink neat as rain, and asked softly, "Know what’s been happening in the South Sea lately?"

"You two honored ladies heading south?" the teahouse boss whispered, eyes lifting like cautious suns.

"Mm." Nana’s assent fell light as dew.

"Not peaceful down there," he murmured, words creeping like ants. "Demonic beasts show up often, no clear cause, hearts shaking like reeds. Many sect disciples have gone.

"The roads brim with sky-bandits and brigands, like crows on carrion; be careful, ma’am, don’t fall for immortal tricks dressed in silk."

"Why’s that?" Nana frowned, doubt fogging like breath on glass.

"You might not know," the boss whispered, gaze skittering like minnows. "Those ‘immortals’ look considerate, but many are hypocrites—painted faces, rotten cores.

"Take the ones you burned; they’ve long done ugly things, leaning on their power. With your beauty, they’d grow greedy, eyes like wolves. Best be wary."

"You’re thoughtful," Nana said, her smile brief as a breeze.

She didn’t worry; with Nesting Phoenix as her shield, she felt steady as a mountain.

She tipped him again, silver bright as fish-scales, then hauled Nesting Phoenix to the nearest relay and bought a few mounts, demonic beasts swift as arrows.

They were ready to head south when Nesting Phoenix balked, stubborn as a stone bull.

"I want to sit with you," she said, grip firm as iron vines, refusing single-seat mounts.

Oh my temper—Nana fumed, ire hissing like steam. You say no, and it’s no?

"Boss, get me a two-seater beast," Nana ground out, each word clicking like teeth.

If she could beat Nesting Phoenix, she’d have tossed this idiot to the roadside, anger crackling like dry pine.

Pressed by circumstance, Nana shared a mount, the beast slicing blue air like a comet toward the South Sea.

For days on end, Nesting Phoenix clung like plaster, Nana unable to shake her off, shadow stitched tight to skin.

Aside from meals, on the beast Nesting Phoenix was practically draped over Nana, warmth pressed like a cat in sun.

Even when Nana took excuses to breathe, Nesting Phoenix followed, ghost-silent, step for step, a moon dogging a traveler.

As for the bandits and sky-thieves the boss warned of—heh—each fell with a single lift of Phoenix’s hand, trouble crisping like moths in flame.

If luck brought a few lecherous sect brats, it was the same: phoenix fire and silence, the sky clean as washed glass.

Pity about their treasures; Nesting Phoenix’s phoenix flames were too domineering, burning even storage rings, loot vanishing like snow in a furnace.

Spendthrift, Nana thought, heart aching like a pulled tooth.

Watching yet another foe turn to ash and drift like bone-gray snow, Nana, cradled in Nesting Phoenix’s arms, gazed upward, melancholy pooling like dusk.

At this rate, would the Oceanward Tower’s soul pearl burn to nothing too, a jewel melted into smoke?

As she weighed how to correct this beautiful menace who lacked common sense, several silhouettes sliced past like swallows.

By the time she snapped back, their mount hung in midair ringed by dozens, a storm-circle of blades and robes.

"Witch! Surrender your life!" the leaders shouted, voices cracking like whips, spells already streaking for Nana’s face like lightning forks.

"You’re misunderstanding something, aren’t you?" Nana said, calm as a lake, while Nesting Phoenix flicked her hand and those spells ignited mid-flight like dry leaves.

"What are you doing, starting a fight at hello?" Nana sighed, patience thinning like stretched silk.

After seeing Phoenix act so often, her temper had mellowed like tea; once she’d attack back at once, now she asked why, then watched the burning.

She wanted to fight herself, but Phoenix forbade it, words firm as a vow: leave killing to me—stay beside me and watch.

Nana felt tamed, a pet behind gilded screens, safety snug as a quilt.

"You demoness slaughtered our sect disciples—unforgivable! No words will wash that blood!" the men yelled, fingers stabbing like spears.

"...Which sect are you?" Nana asked from the saddle, eyes half-lidded, boredom drifting like smoke.

"We’re Jidao Sect!" they barked, pride swelling like frogs.

"Jidao Sect? Never heard of it," Nana said, weariness settling like dust. She’d met too many sects on this road.

Ah, so troublesome—burn them and we move; my master waits for a soul pearl, urgency taut as bowstring.

Nana flicked a glance at Nesting Phoenix, a silent signal glinting like lamp-light.

Phoenix understood. With a sweep of her right sleeve, crimson phoenix fire burst across their foes, flames feeding like beasts on flesh.

Their screams rose like wind in pines, and the blaze climbed fiercer, a red sunrise devouring night.

In the end, the dozens who circled Nana turned to pale bone powder, drifting away like chalk blown from a hand.

Nana exhaled, premonition coiling like smoke; at this rate, she’d become the mortal world’s great villain, a name rocks would echo.