Day after day, year after year, battered by wind and rain.

In the blink of an eye… three years had passed.

That night.

[Ding! Congratulations to the host for completing today’s Daily Check-In, reward obtained: Sword-Riding Divine Ability.]

The emotionless voice of the system appeared within Jiang Zirou’s heart.

Inside a side hall of the Sutra Repository Pavilion.

Seated cross-legged on a meditation cushion, Jiang Zirou slowly opened her eyes, her long black hair fluttering despite the absence of wind. Then, a swirling current of qi formed from thin air, gentle yet powerful, lifting her three feet off the ground. After about the time it took for one stick of incense to burn, Jiang Zirou finally took a deep breath.

She stretched lazily.

And landed lightly on the ground.

Qi-flight was the mark of a Grandmaster.

With the system’s help, combined with the girl’s diligent cultivation.

After three years of effort, Jiang Zirou had finally stepped into this miraculous realm last month.

Three years.

From eight to eleven years old, the changes in Jiang Zirou were undoubtedly enormous.

Her face still looked youthful and her figure had not yet developed, but she already carried the foundation of national-toppling beauty.

Only on normal days, Jiang Zirou remained low-profile, barely interacting with others, so very few in the palace had noticed her.

‘Sword-Riding Divine Ability… this time the reward isn’t ten years of cultivation, or a Beauty-Nourishing Pill, or Bone-Revitalizing Pill…’

She took the Sword-Riding Divine Ability manual out from her system storage.

Placed it against her forehead and using the principle of osmotic pressure, the knowledge flowed from the area of high concentration into the low… and it did not take long before Jiang Zirou had already comprehended most of the manual’s contents.

‘To control a flying sword, to take someone’s head from kilometers away… it’s exactly as described in the book!’

Upon reading the descriptions.

Jiang Zirou felt a stir of excitement, but then remembered that blades and swords were strictly regulated within the imperial palace.

She could only sigh helplessly.

After completing her day of cultivation, Jiang Zirou was preparing to leave the Sutra Repository Pavilion and return to her room to rest.

However, at that moment—

Crack.

A faint sound reached Jiang Zirou’s ears.

The girl raised her head, her clear eyes as cold as an autumn lake.

“Someone came into the Sutra Repository Pavilion… is it a rooftop thief?”

She gently tapped the ground with the tip of her foot.

Her entire body rose like a dancing butterfly and in midair, Jiang Zirou tapped lightly again. A faint ripple appeared beneath her feet—precisely the qi-flight divine ability only Grandmasters could use.

Old force fading, new force rising.

Jiang Zirou’s back seemed to sprout wings as she changed direction midair and landed lightly on the second-floor window ledge of the Sutra Repository Pavilion.

Her eyesight was excellent.

She saw, in the darkness, a black-clothed figure gliding away like a ghost toward the outskirts of the imperial city and in his left hand, he was carrying a boy dressed in a yellow brocade robe.

‘The Seventh Imperial Grandson…’

Jiang Zirou frowned.

She recognized the boy.

The old emperor—Jiang Zirou’s convenient whore father—had already reached his twilight years.

And the heir apparent, the Crown Prince, was the father of the Seventh Imperial Grandson.

The old emperor’s health was failing.

In recent days, the Crown Prince often entered the palace to help handle affairs of the state.

And the Seventh Imperial Grandson, still very young.

Fond of poetry and books, he often visited the Sutra Repository Pavilion to read, sometimes staying the entire night.

The Third Prince and Crown Princess had an excellent relationship and currently had only this one child.

If anything happened to the Seventh Imperial Grandson, if he met with any accident… the entire imperial capital would be thrown into chaos.

‘Forget it… guess I’ll make a move just this once.’

Jiang Zirou frowned, thought briefly and reached a decision.

* * *

Outside the imperial city.

Among a range of picturesque mountains beneath the bright moon.

The black-clothed man landed on the ground, casually tossing the unconscious Seventh Imperial Grandson beside him.

He wiped the sweat from his forehead.

Sneering to himself, he said, “They all say the Great Xia Dynasty is in its final years, strong on the outside but hollow within. Looks like it’s true. That so-called War God of the Central Plains, the old prince, is probably long dead. If he were still guarding the imperial palace, how could I possibly have taken this little brat out?”

Mentioning the old prince.

The black-clothed man’s tone was filled with deep fear.

This was not surprising.

Back then, the old prince had been a high-ranked Grandmaster and had nearly broken through to the legendary Martial Great Grandmaster Realm.

In the martial world today, even a Martial Grandmaster was a near-mythical existence, let alone a Martial Great Grandmaster.

‘But the one who was supposed to meet me still isn’t here… don’t tell me I took the wrong route?’

At that moment.

Light footsteps sounded beside him.

Followed by a crisp, pleasant female voice.

“Put down the Seventh Imperial Grandson and I can spare your life.”

“What!?”

The black-clothed man nearly died from fright, whipping around instantly, only to see—about six or seven meters behind him—a young girl in a grey long dress with a delicate appearance, staring at him coldly.

‘When did she get here…’

The black-clothed man sucked in a cold breath, feeling his heartbeat slow by several beats.

He was already a Ninth Rank Qi-Refining expert, only one step away from the legendary Martial Grandmaster Realm. Otherwise, he could never have smuggled the Seventh Imperial Grandson out of the heavily guarded imperial palace.

Yet he hadn’t even sensed someone approaching within ten meters.

If she had attacked him at that moment…

The black-clothed man shook his head violently, unwilling to imagine the outcome.

He looked again and saw that the person who had approached him was merely a girl around ten years old, her appearance gentle and refined.

His shock deepened.

‘A girl barely ten years old, with this kind of strength… even if she started cultivating from the womb, it shouldn’t be possible! And the clothes she’s wearing… clearly a palace maid’s uniform… could it be that I was just careless earlier, didn’t dodge and let a little girl frighten me?’

The black-clothed man’s expression shifted repeatedly.

Finally, he thrust out his palm, surging internal force sweeping forward like a raging tide.

“A little girl with no sense of life or death dares provoke your grandpa!”