"But are you, really?" Amon's voice turned mocking, laced with sarcasm.
"Your disciples are way stronger than you. Even your soul bond doesn't even respond to you. Hmm… maybe you are right. You are a protagonist!"
Ace twitched at the jab.
As much as he wanted to argue… the truth stung.
Even his spirit bot was probably in a higher realm than him.
He still rembered Lily training Liu i... and how the poor little girl ended up all bruised and bandaged like a war survivor just from a sparring session.
"There you go," Amon said smugly, watching his silence. "Even you admit it. Weak as any ordinary mortal."
Ace sighed, but kept his voice steady. "Well, last ti I faced near death… soone ca tos ave . You see, I've plot armors. I'm in a new world and I have a syste, shouldn't you be the one cautious?"
It was a weak bluff, but a bluff nonetheless. Maybe it would buy him a few precious seconds.
But then again, how was Amon even gonna know a thing or two about the novels from his past world.
Amon's laughter rang again, dark and delighted. "Ah yes! You an , don't you? The one who swooped in to save you?"
He snapped his fingers.
And just like that, his body shimred—twisting, warping—until what stood before Ace was no longer the headmaster.
But a breathtaking woman.
Long flowing hair. Crimson eyes. Cold, perfect features.
Sarah.
The Ancestor of the Hua Family.
Ace's breath caught. "You…"
Sarah smiled, chilling and triumphant.
"Ace," she said, voice low and honeyed, "there's nothing you can do. I've planned everything. Since the very mont you stepped foot into this world... every move, every 'accident', every person you t."
Her eyes glinted.
"You thought it was fate?"
She leaned in.
"No, little Ace. It was , Sa-Rah."
* * *
And as Sarah's voice echoed in Ace's mind, whispering of a future already written—
—Elsewhere, another choice was being made.
"Master, let's stop," White Fur said softly, her voice unusually serious.
"Stop? We're so close already!" Liu i exclaid, panting slightly but grinning with determination. "Look! Just eight more steps!"
"Master..." White Fur tugged her sleeve. "Look at your junior brother."
Liu i turned and her heart squeezed.
Shan Yifeng was on the eighty-second step, barely standing. His legs shook under the crushing force pressing down on him.
Beside him, Little Aoki—the Cute valiant Tyrant Bear—had his paws raised high, forming a shimring beast soul shield above them like an umbrella against a storm.
The tremble in his legs said it all. One more step might shatter him. Shan Yifeng was at his limit. And yet, he hadn't taken a step back.
Liu i's eyes drifted upward again.
The dress waited at the top, resplendent and impossible to ignore. Even from where she stood, it shimred with a majestic glow, practically screaming for attention—Look at ! I'm powerful! I belong to the one who dares claim !
And the path to claim it was also simple..
Climb one hundred steps. Just a hundred.
But you gotta climb by this palace rules.
All challengers were judged and grouped—by blood, bond, or belief.
Liu i and Shan Yifeng had been recognized as siblings. And for one of them to earn the prize, both had to climb.
One could reach the summit—but the other had to stay within ten steps. No cheating. No camping at the bottom while the other did the work.
Liu i looked at her junior brother again.
He wasn't complaining. *He never did.*
She sighed, conflicted.
That dress was… perfect.
But so was Shan Yifeng.
And between a shiny dress and a silly, stubborn little brother she could always bully…
"Alright, I've decided let's keep climbi—AHHH!" she yelped as White Fur bit her tiny hand.
She flailed dramatically, nearly toppling off the step. "Alright! Yes yes yes! We're stopping here! Happy?!"
White Fur huffed, satisfied, and climbed onto her shoulder like a smug, fluffy guardian.
Liu i sat down on the step with a sigh, then gave a soft laugh.
"Besides… I can always steal the dress later," she muttered under her breath.
The mont she made the intention to give up, the suppression vanished, so did the dazzling dress—and with a gentle flash of light, Liu i and Shan Yifeng found themselves back at the bottom of the staircase.
"Junior brother, you're too weak," Liu i said with a light hum, hands on her hips and an exaggerated shake of her head.
Though her words sounded scolding, her tone was unmistakably teasing.
"Achoo!" Shan Yifeng let out a loud sneeze, glaring at her through watery eyes. "It's because of your carelessness that I'm sick in the first place! How can a cultivator even get a cold? How careless do you even have to be for that to happen?!"
His nose was red, his sleeves were damp, and he looked like a defeated old man rather than a prodigy cultivator.
Liu i blinked at him, entirely unbothered. "Can't you, uh… use formations to warm yourself up?" she asked, puffing out her chest like a sage sharing ancient wisdom.
Shan Yifeng froze, then slowly turned his head toward her like a puppet whose strings had snapped.
He didn't say a word.
But the sharp, furious exhale through his nose—wet, congested, and offended—spoke volus.
"I did," he finally muttered, voice hoarse. "I maintained a warming formation the entire climb. While still being under constant pressure. While making sure I didn't collapse. While staying within ten steps of your highness."
Liu i opened her mouth to retort but was cut off by Shan Yifeng throwing himself dramatically to the ground.
"Run your mouth all you want," he grumbled, curling up like a dying man. "I'm taking a nap. Wake when the next life-threatening event arrives."
He waved a weak hand. "Call White Fur out. I'm going to sleep in her tails. It's the only warmth left in this cold, unfair world."
White Fur padded over with an amused huff, and Shan Yifeng promptly burrowed into her fluffy tails like a disgruntled dumpling.
Liu i scratched her head. "He's being so dramatic... I only dragged him up eighty-two soul-suppressing stairs. What's the big deal?"
White Fur sighed.
Little Aoki shook his head.
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