The Western Mountain safehouse defied all expectations—a three-story modernist villa nestled in dense forestry, its floor-to-ceiling windows framing breathtaking cliffs. Antique scrolls glowed faintly under Chu Yang's spiritual sight.
*"Concealment arrays will hold against Darkmoon for now."* Su Yuyan tossed keys onto the quartz coffee table. *"Ground floor—living space. Second—bedrooms. Basement—cultivation chamber. Choose a room."*
Chu Yang picked the east-facing suite where dawn painted the mountains gold. His phone buzzed as he unpacked—HR from his former company.
*"Two unexcused absences. Final warning before termination."*
He glanced at the wilderness beyond the glass, then at his laptop. That cubicle life felt like someone else's dream.
*"I quit."* He snapped the SIM card.
Su Yuyan leaned against the doorframe, steaming teacup in hand. *"Burning bridges?"*
*"Necessary purge."* He booted up his machine. *"I need gear—high-end laptop, server-grade GPU, triple monitors—"*
*"Building a cybercafe?"*
*"Cultivation optimization rig."* His fingers flew across the keyboard, pulling up 3D meridian models. *"If the slip can simulate techniques, we'll batch-test efficiency algorithms. Imagine 20% energy savings per cycle—"*
Her teacup hovered midair. *"You're applying... computational science to cultivation?"*
*"Why not?"* Graphs bloomed across screens. *"Ancient masters relied on trial-and-error. We have Monte Carlo simulations."*
A beat of silence. Then—
*"Basement. Now."*
---
The subterranean chamber dwarfed the floors above. At its center lay a circular platform etched with primordial runes. Su Yuyan knelt before an ironwood chest, unlocking it with a pulse of qi.
The violet crystal she withdrew hummed with latent power. *"Spirit Testing Gem. Clan artifact for aptitude screening."*
Chu Yang grasped it.
Light exploded—cobalt brilliance laced with gold fractal patterns.
Su Yuyan's breath hitched. *"Nine-purity spiritual roots... Legendary even in high-qi eras. You'd reach Tribulation Transcendence if—"*
*"If?"*
*"If this weren't the Dharma-Ending Age."* She replaced the gem with reverent care. *"Talent means nothing without resources."*
*"Hence optimization."* He patted his laptop. *"One week. 20% efficiency gain guaranteed."*
Her gaze sharpened. *"I'll provide Su Clan's foundational manuals. Condition—you share all refinements."*
*"Deal."*
---
Dawns began with solitary cultivation. Afternoons bled into coding marathons where Chu Yang translated esoteric techniques into computational models. Evenings brought collaborative refinement—her encyclopedic knowledge of energy dynamics correcting his algorithmic assumptions.
By day five, *"Tai Xu Yan Tian Jue: Codex Edition"* was born.
Su Yuyan tested the revised meridians on the balcony. Azure light condensed around her—23.7% denser than baseline. *"How?"*
*"Eliminating redundant loops."* He pointed at flowcharts. *"Like trimming bloated code. Fewer operations, faster runtime."*
That night, Chu Yang cycled the new sequence. His dantian's whirlpool accelerated exponentially, the icy mote swelling in response. Most startling—he could now *sense* Su Yuyan's qi fluctuations through the wall like Wi-Fi signals.
---
Dawn's alarm came via text:
**Zhang Hao:** *Wang Shijie's back! Swears you cursed him. Hired PIs to tail you.*
Chu Yang barely replied when another message exploded:
**Zhang Hao:** *HE KNOWS YOUR NEW ADDRESS! Bragging about 'settling scores' today!*
*"Problem?"* Su Yuyan appeared, fastening her hair.
*"Leftover mortal drama."* He summarized Wang's vendetta.
She plucked a decorative shortsword from the wall—its glamoured form shimmering into an umbrella. *"No spells on mundanes. Basic rules."*
---
Wang Shijie's BMW idled outside Chu Yang's old apartment. Two hired brutes flanked him, interrogating residents.
*"There you are!"* Wang's jade pendant pulsed crimson as he pointed. *"Break his legs!"*
Pre-cultivation, Chu Yang would've been pummeled. Now—
The thugs moved through molasses.
A fingertip to the first man's ribs—precise qi injection—
*Gagging collapse.*
The second received a cervical tap—
*Instant paralysis.*
Wang stumbled back. *"Witchcraft!"*
*"Neural disruption."* Chu Yang seized the pendant. *"This thing's eating your lifespan."*
Wang's denial died as Chu Yang listed symptoms—3 AM palpitations, clumps of hair on pillows, whispering hallucinations...
The crushed pendant shrieked into oblivion.
*"Eat liver. Sunbathe."* Chu Yang turned away. *"Next time, I'll be identifying your corpse."*
---
At the café, Su Yuyan's untouched latte condensed as she nodded approval. *"Clean handling."*
*"That pendant?"*
*"Soul-leeching talisman. Darkmoon's favorite puppet strings."*
En route to the mountains, a news alert blared:
**"Third Unexplained Death: Blood Solidified Internally, No External Wounds."**
Su Yuyan's knuckles whitened. *"Hemostasis Curse... Darkmoon's mobilizing."*
The victim's photo revealed a thorn-entwined eye tattoo on her wrist.
*"Sacrificial marker."* Su Yuyan's voice turned glacial. *"They're preparing a grand rite."*
---
Basement analytics unfolded across triple monitors. Chu Yang's algorithm plotted the three deaths—forming a pentagram missing two vertices.
*"Summoning matrix."* Su Yuyan traced the screen. *"The epicenter is..."*
*"Tiansheng Tower?"*
*"Ma Tiansheng—renegade cultivator. Owns three primordial artifacts."* Her finger froze. *"Darkmoon's after his collection."*
A sudden frost erupted in Chu Yang's dantian—the icy core shrieking a warning.
Simultaneously, Su Yuyan clutched her chest.
*"Perimeter breach!"* She lunged for her sword. *"They're here!"*