In the end, Nana Toki still got sniffed out by that pack from the Immortal Realm, like wolves catching the scent on fresh frost.

The reason was pure melodrama. When Blue Magpie tried to break through Nascent Soul and reach the Void Spirit stage, a heaven-and-earth anomaly erupted, like a storm bell tolling across the sky. The concealment talisman Nana Toki had stuck on her got blown clean off, fluttering like ash in a gale. Before she could yank out a teleport talisman and bail, the Immortal Realm crowd dropped in like thunderheads.

Damn. Of all things, it was Nesting Phoenix the idiot who dug the pit I fell into. Seeing Immortal Realm cultivators ring her overhead like a noose of stars, Nana Toki’s mouth twitched in helpless rage.

I swear I must’ve owed you in a past life, and this life I’m paying with my life.

Before the words finished, a white-robed cultivator above her stepped forward into empty air, like a mountain shifting its roots. His spirit pressure crashed down so hard even the void spiderwebbed with hairline cracks.

If the System hadn’t slapped a buff on Nana Toki that immunized spirit pressure, she’d have died ten times in that single blink, like a candle snuffed in a squall.

“Snake demon! Last time you slipped a trick and got away, you forced me to stay in this spirit-starved mortal world,” the white-robed man thundered, voice sharp as cold iron. “If I don’t seize you today and reclaim the Azure Crow Fairy’s reincarnation seed, I, Chen Youxian, will write my name backward.”

He stood with commanding presence, jade-cut features hard as polished stone. The vast immortal aura rolling off him made the air ripple, like wind combing waves.

Aren’t these the same guys who besieged Swallow Sis back in the Wildbeast Wasteland? Why are they still stuck in the mortal world?

Nana Toki recognized the leader almost instantly. She’d thought that whole lot had gone home. Turns out they’d been camping out here.

If they learned the Azure Crow Fairy’s reincarnation seed they crave already dove into the mortal world and turned into a full-on idiot, would they choke to death on their own pride?

As she thought that, a surging, sky-flooding demon aura exploded from Swallow Sis at her side. The talisman concealing the true strength of the Heavenswallow Serpent lit with an eerie azure flame, like moonfire licking dry leaves.

“Dream on,” the Heavenswallow Serpent snarled, voice like steel on ice. “My lady stepped beyond the Three Realms and the Five Elements thousands of years ago. Your little Immortal Realm isn’t fit to touch her reincarnation seed.”

Prismatic scales flashed across her body in an instant, a rainbow armor clinging like living glass. The Immortal Realm cultivators circling Nana Toki hardened their expressions. This was the bloodline of the strongest beast-clan in the Three Realms—the Heavenswallow Serpent. No one dared blink, even seeing the wounds riddled across her.

“Whether you’re worthy isn’t for a traitor to the Immortal Realm to decide.” Chen Youxian’s eyes glittered with frost. “Don’t forget, snake demon—Azure Crow Fairy may have helped you take human form back then, but the life you keep beating is ours.”

“Bullshit.” Old anger sparked like flint; the serpent’s beautiful eyes turned abyss-cold. “If not for my lady helping me form successfully, I’d have become a heap of bones and dust in the long river of time. What virtue do you Immortal Realm people have to claim my life?”

“Impudent! You were born in the Immortal Realm, raised by its spirit and immortal qi, you belong to the Immortal Realm,” Chen Youxian bellowed, voice pounding like drums. “Not only do you feel no gratitude, you trespassed a forbidden ground, stole the Azure Crow Fairy’s reincarnation seed, and cast it into the mortal world. Your sin is unforgivable. Today I, Chen Youxian, act for Heaven and cut down this arrogant serpent.”

His Great Vehicle might rolled like a sea in storm, enough momentum to swallow rivers and move mountains. His hand seals bloomed into shifting sigils, deep mysteries flickering that made every other disciple’s spirit arts dim like stars at dawn.

His aura felt even more domineering than when Nana Toki met him in the Wildbeast Wasteland.

“Die!” Two overbearing auras slammed together, and a violent wave of Spirit Energy burst, like typhoons colliding. Even with Nana Toki hauling Blue Magpie and the System to a safer corner, the backlash still licked them like flying embers.

Tsk. At this level, a tiny Golden Core like me can’t even wedge a finger in.

If I get tossed in there, I might not last a single second.

“Hey! Didn’t you promise me a one-hit musou plugin? Why haven’t you sent it?” Nana Toki hadn’t forgotten the System’s talk about applying to its idiot owner for a cheat. “If you keep dragging your feet, how am I supposed to show off?”

System: “...” Who said I promised you a one-hit musou plugin? It’s a normal difficulty-reducer! If I had that plugin, I’d use it myself!

“My owner already replied,” the System said stiffly, like a kettle trying not to whistle. “But the tool’s code is huge. Even at max speed, it’ll still take a while.”

“How long is ‘a while’?” Nana Toki perked up. She’d nearly worn out the toys in her hidden spaces; new System gimmicks sounded fun.

“Uh, depends. Our plane is Tier Four, high-tier. So the aid tool might arrive next second… or next year.”

“...”

Next year? By next year you can reclaim my corpse. Your owner’s as unreliable as you are.

The distant battle had boiled to white heat. Swallow Sis, in human form, fought several Immortal Realm cultivators alone and still held even, like a lone pine bending but not breaking in blizzard winds. Nana Toki was suddenly grateful she’d given her the Immortal Phoenix Flame Grass and the Eight Cornered Ghost Algae Fish to refine; without those, even Swallow Sis might have buckled.

The commotion was huge, thunder rolling underfoot. Luckily they were inside the Netherworld City. Anywhere else in the mortal world, the sky would have cracked and the ground would be a churning sea.

If this drags on, even Swallow Sis might not last. They’ve got more than one Great Vehicle cultivator. If they keep wheel-fighting, even with two heavenly treasures refined, the Heavenswallow Serpent could get ground down.

We need a fast exit, like smoke slipping through a keyhole.

Going head-on with the Immortal Realm right now is dumb. We stall until that idiot owner ships the aid.

“By the way, that buff you gave me makes me immune to Great Vehicle spirit pressure, right?” Nana Toki glanced at her System, eyes gleaming with risky ideas. “If I rush in and let them hit me, can your buff tank it?”

“Uh… in theory… no,” the System said, hearing the chaos in her plan like a drumroll. “It only immunizes spirit pressure. If they use martial or spirit arts directly, you’ll still get one-shot. Also, the buff only works on you. Blue Magpie and Swallow Sis can’t use it.”

“...” Damn. No loopholes.

“Well, don’t be too discouraged. There’s a turn,” the System said, stepping subtly forward, a faint, invisible force spilling off it like warm mist. “Remember the wisp of immortal qi I refined in the Wildbeast Wasteland a year ago? I’ve fully refined it.”

“...”

Nana Toki stayed weirdly calm. “Oh. And? You still can’t hand me a newbie gift pack, and you still can’t give me a one-slice kill.”

System: “...” Why does she still remember the newbie gift pack gag? And I really don’t have a one-slice kill!

“I can actually help you now,” the System puffed, bright as a lantern. “Standing right here, I’m strong. I’m not the lazy fish System anymore.”

“Oh. So when do I get the newbie gift pack and the one-slice kill?”

System: “...” Great. My morale’s broken.

“Anyway, forget those for now. I can help you break this stalemate.”

“Isn’t your strength capped at peak Body Condensing, below early Void? Those Immortal Realm cultivators are all above Great Vehicle.” Nana Toki narrowed her eyes, doubt flickering like shade under leaves. “Can you win?”

“Uh… fighting, no,” the System admitted, like a pot confessing it’s hollow. “But because I refined a strand of Immortal Realm immortal qi, if I go full defense, they can’t do a thing to me.”

“Really?” Nana Toki’s brows lifted. A crooked idea bloomed in her mind like a midnight flower. “If Swallow Sis grabs you and uses you as a masochist meat shield, we bulldoze straight out. Doesn’t sound impossible.”

System: “...” Hello? Do you hear yourself?