Still, she couldn't resist grumbling under her breath.

"Stinky big sister… just wait till we go back home. I'll tell Big Mother everything. Hmph! I hope that mysterious master also turns you away. Then I can watch your face when Father marries you off to that Yun family pig from the Soaring Dragon Continent…"

The words slipped out before she could stop herself.

And the effect was immediate.

Fang Biyu froze. Her steps halted. The color drained from her face as if struck by a lightning bolt.

No.

She was not going to marry that pig.

The Yun family's young master, Yun Tao—she had heard the rumors. Every woman in his household lived worse than livestock. Some were never seen again after entering his courtyard. Just thinking about it made her stomach twist in dread.

Her father's decision had been cruel—but Fang Biyu understood it. The catastrophe was coming. Families were falling like flies. The Fang family head simply made the only choice he could. Sacrifice one daughter… preserve the clan.

If it ensured her family's survival, he would do it—even if it shattered her life.

Fang Zhirou watched the sudden stillness in her sister's posture and realized she had gone too far. Guilt crept into her chest like a cold wind. She lowered her head, lips trembling slightly.

After a few minutes of heavy silence, she finally whispered, glancing around to make sure no one was eavesdropping:

"Forgive me, big sister… I didn't mean to hurt you."

The soft apology pulled Fang Biyu out of her spiraling thoughts. She blinked, then turned to look at Zhirou, forcing a small smile onto her pale face.

"You don't sound sincere, little Zhirou."

Zhirou immediately shook her head like a frantic chicken.

"I am sincere! Look—my nose didn't get long. That means I'm not lying!"

Her innocent, cheeky logic shattered the tension like sunlight cutting through fog. Fang Biyu's anger melted in an instant. A warm, helpless smile—brighter than dawn—spread across her face.

No matter what happened… she could never stay angry at her little sister.

Just then, Fang Biyu finally remembered why she had even come to this part of the city—to seek out the mysterious master of the Phoenix and Dragon Dojo and beg to be accepted as his disciple.

Her heart tightened.

This was her only path forward. Her only hope.

A trace of cold determination flickered in her eyes as she steadied her breath.

She didn't blame her father. In this world, where demons devoured cities and countless clans fell overnight, the Fang family head had no choice. If sacrificing his eldest daughter could secure the family's survival… he would do it.

He had already chosen the Yun family.

But this time… Fang Biyu refused to accept her fate so easily.

If only she had been stronger—strong enough to protect the Fang clan from whatever disaster loomed over the continent—this day would never have come.

"I will not be sold like cattle," she whispered, almost trembling. "I will not be that pig Yun Tao's plaything…"

She raised her gaze.

Far ahead, past the rubble and abandoned streets, stood the large wooden gates of the Phoenix and Dragon Dojo. The gates were quiet, unassuming—but behind them lived a figure whose name had shaken the entire Imperial City.

A man who had slaughtered Bu Fang.

A man even her father feared.

If he accepted her as a disciple—if he taught her cultivation personally—then perhaps…

Perhaps she could escape this fate entirely.

Perhaps she could change the destiny of her family.

Without realizing it, her steps grew firmer. Her earlier gloom faded, replaced by a fierce, unyielding burning resolve.

…

Meanwhile, far inside the dojo—

Wang Chen sat cross-legged in deep thought, his consciousness immersed within his spiritual space. His expression twisted into something between awe, confusion, and mild panic.

Because what he saw made absolutely no sense.

The vast stretch of grassland within his Garden of Eternity was no longer empty.

Tiny humans—barely the size of ants—were running across the emerald plains, wearing crude animal skins. Groups of them surrounded a small reptilian elephant barely the size of a mouse, their tiny spears raised with battle intent as they hunted the creature down with shocking ferocity.

Wang Chen blinked.

Then blinked again.

"…This is insane."

He had never—never—heard of a spiritual space developing life on its own. Even the Grand Ascension experts of the Upper Realm couldn't store living beings inside their spiritual domains.

Yet here he was… with a microscopic civilization growing inside his soul.

He rubbed his temples.

"Why are there humans inside my spiritual space? And why are they multiplying?!"

His anxiety deepened as he studied the scene. What if these tiny humans evolved? What if they developed intelligence? What if, one day, they learned how to attack him from the inside?

A chill crawled down his spine.

"I don't need tiny people staging a rebellion inside my soul! That's not how a spiritual space is supposed to work!"

His entire cultivation path felt like it was spiraling more and more off track. Creatures of time, talking trees, abyssal trials, and now—tiny humans evolving inside his spiritual sea.

"If these guys affect my combat power, I swear I'll… I'll… do something!"

He wasn't sure what he would do, but he definitely would do something.

For now, he could only hope they stayed harmless.

And preferably… stayed tiny.

...

Meanwhile, Li Huang kept a close watch outside, his eyes sharp as hawk seemed to contain a terrifying sharpness in them capable of cutting through the distance itself.

He could easily tell what these lone cultivators, and praised their guts but he didn't drive them out as his master didn't say anything, if Lin Huang could guess what these cultivators were thinking, Wang Chen could also deduced the same, yet he didn't took any action.

"Maybe it is as these cultivators said, master may really want to protect them.."

Just then he noticed two weak cultivators no mortals moving toward the dojo, his eyes sharpened, it was fine if they wanted to hide near the vicinity but to get so close to the dojo.

Hmph! I need to teach them a lesson.

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