Future Goal & Path!

With each word, Su Xiaobai's heart grew colder and more merciless.

'This fat pig…'

His cold eyes swept over the crowd, and they landed squarely on Shang Bao, a greasy merchant stuck in the Qi Consolidation realm for fifty years. The man's bloated belly hung over his belt, and he reeked of arrogance.

Fatty Shang waddled through the market, oblivious to the sharp gaze now locked onto him. To Su Xiaobai, the man radiated weakness—a perfect target.

With a wry smile, Su Xiaobai approached.

Fatty Shang glanced at him, his lips curling in disdain. "Want something?" he muttered, still smug from his earlier jab.

How dare a brat from a lower cultivation challenge him?

Su Xiaobai stepped closer, a cunning smile playing on his lips. "Fatty, your spirit stones have fallen."

Shang Bao's eyes widened. "What?! Where?!" he gasped, frantically looking down, his massive belly blocking his view.

In that instant, Su Xiaobai's foot shot out, fueled by spiritual enegry, aiming directly at Shang Bao's shaking buttocks.

"Fatty Sent to Heavens Technique!"

A howl like a dying pig pierced the air as Shang Bao was sent flying, his rotund body crashing to the ground.

CRASH!

Before anyone could react, Su Xiaobai had already melted into the crowd, vanishing like smoke.

"Did you see that?" a bystander whispered, eyes wide with disbelief.

"Who the hell was that kid?" another murmured.

"Serves the fatty right! Talking shit about people's mothers," someone chuckled.

Shang Bao, now sprawled in the dirt, his face a mask of humiliation, struggled to get up, cursing through gritted teeth. "Bastard! You'll pay for this!"

The crowd snickered, watching with amusement as the merchant floundered. "Looks like Fatty finally met his match," one cultivator laughed.

"Was that really the Fatty Kick Technique?" another joked, shaking their head in disbelief. "Never thought I'd see it used so beautifully."

Su Xiaobai could hear the whispers behind him, but they barely registered. He shook his head, cursing his own pettiness for stooping to their level.

"Heh, since the higher ups won't punish insignificant characters like you, I just did them the favor," he muttered to himself. The anger that had flared so briefly began to cool as he made his way to a nearby inn.

_____

After finding a good inn, Su Xiaobai rented a room for a month.

His mind felt clouded, and he needed time to gather his thoughts and plan his next move. The spirit stones in his spatial ring were sufficient, so at least money wasn't a concern.

As soon as he entered the room, he called for a young maid who had guided him up the stairs.

"Can you fetch me some charcoal?" Su Xiaobai asked, catching the puzzled look on the girl's face. "Just bring it, please," he added, trying to sound polite despite his fatigue.

The girl nodded and hurried off, returning shortly with the requested item.

"Here's your charcoal, sir," she said, handing it to him.

"Thanks," Su Xiaobai replied before closing the door with a soft thud.

Once alone, he sighed deeply. "Now, I can focus."

Su Xiaobai sat cross-legged on the floor, his mind racing. His white hair, distinct and easily recognizable, was a liability. Even if no one in this world knew him yet, he couldn't take unnecessary risks.

He ground the charcoal into a fine powder, mixing it with water until it formed a thick paste. Carefully, he smeared it through his hair, blackening each strand.

The dark color gave him a completely different appearance when he checked the cracked mirror in the corner of the room. His new look made him feel like a stranger.

"At least now I can blend in," he muttered, rinsing the remaining charcoal from his hands and making sure no evidence of the change was left behind.

_____

After taking a deep breath, Su Xiaobai turned his thoughts to his next steps. He needed to leave this place soon, but more importantly, he needed answers.

The memories from Ning Gufan haunted him—two clans were involved in his family's downfall.

The Azure Dragon Clan and the Sun Dynasty.

"Sun Dynasty…" His expression darkened as the name crossed his mind.

He could still understand the Azure Dragon Clan going after his family, but the Sun Dynasty? There had been no major conflicts between them. Su Xiaobai frowned. 'Why would they get involved?'

What Su Xiaobai didn't yet know was that Long Lifen and Sun Liang had been secretly engaged for centuries, even before his birth.

The events leading up to the attack on Storm Peak Mountain had started long before he was even born.

The full vision of what had happened at Storm Peak Mountain had been revealed to him through Ning Gufan's memories.

He had seen it all—the ambush, the blood, and the hand Sun Dynasty had played in it.

"Sun Lingxi..." Su Xiaobai's face twisted into a snarl. He needed to find her. He needed answers. But there was one glaring obstacle—he was trapped in another world.

To return to White Cloud Star, he would either need a powerful spatial treasure—something rare and difficult to find—or the strength to bend space itself.

Both options seemed impossibly far off.

Time wasn't on his side, but he couldn't afford to rush blindly into danger.

— His immediate goal was clear: increase his strength and seek treasures in Immortal Rain Valley that could aid his journey back. If there was a chance to find anything that could help him traverse the space, it was here.

The knowledge Ning Gufan had left behind hinted at the differences between White Cloud Star and Immortal Rain Valley.

Here, there were no hunters or guardians.

Instead, cultivators were divided into two distinct paths—righteous and evil.

The evil path offered rapid power but at a great cost—sacrifice, both of oneself and others. It was a temptation Su Xiaobai had to be wary of, though it didn't seem much worse than the life he had already lived.

He was relieved that Immortal Rain Valley wasn't plagued by the hunter scourge that had devastated White Cloud Star. Back home, the hunters had killed indiscriminately, turning their victims into part of their army. It was an endless cycle of death.

"Why didn't we know about this?" Su Xiaobai muttered under his breath, thinking of White Cloud Star.

Here, in Immortal Rain Valley, knowledge of the upper realms and the other lower relams was common, yet White Cloud Star had remained isolated, as if locked in ignorance.

Was it all part of a bigger conspiracy?

White Cloud Star was smaller, less significant compared to the vast empires and continents of Immortal Rain Valley. But now, it seemed more mysterious than ever—a small world hiding far darker secrets.

Su Xiaobai's mind buzzed with possibilities.

However right now, his goal was simple: get stronger.

The answers he sought—about his family, his enemies, and his place in this world—could come later.

Whoosh!

He raised his hand, and a crimson red flame sprang to life, hovering in his palm. The temperature in the room soared instantly as the infernal flame danced and crackled, its intense heat causing the air to shimmer.

This flame was the 'Infernal Flame', an ancient and wild power he had inherited from Ning Gufan. Refining and stabilizing it had taken him an entire day, and even now, he could feel the flame's resistance, as if it had a mind of its own.

The flame had developed a quasi-consciousness, making it unpredictable and dangerous to control.

To keep it in check, Su Xiaobai wore the 'Spirit Jade Pendant' around his neck. The pendant acted as a stabilizer, calming the flame's wild nature and allowing him to control it without being burned.

He glanced down at his hand, his eyes flickering with determination before extinguishing the flame with a thought.

Then, he turned his attention to his spatial ring, the storage treasure he had acquired from Ning Gufan. In the cultivation world, spatial rings were small artifacts that held a vast space within them, allowing cultivators to store weapons, treasures, and even food. Su Xiaobai had merged this new ring with his own, creating a single, much larger storage space.

The ring was a rich golden color, with a thin green line running through the middle—an unusual design that hinted at a hidden secret.

Although the Evil Empress had taken anything valuable to her from Ning Gufan's belongings, she had still left behind what she considered "trash."

However, in the cultivation world, one man's trash could be another man's treasure.

Su Xiaobai smiled to himself.

There was much left for him to explore in this ring, but for now, he had more pressing matters.

He reached into the spatial ring and withdrew a scroll. It was the cultivation technique he had carefully selected after a week of consideration: [Starslayer God Arts].