Lauren frowned. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  “I don’t draw talismans myself, but I know the toll. If a newly promoted fifth-rank master forces one fifth-rank talisman, he’ll be bedridden for days after. Even if he’s practiced at fourth-rank, he’ll barely manage three in one day.”

  Three a day? How the hell are you supposed to use talismans like grenades with numbers like that?

  Lauren glanced at the thick stack of talismans in front of her and felt her jaw drop. Then, slowly, a grin spread across her face.

  She tapped the neat pile. Now this… this is reasonable.

  Edmund tilted his head, studying her again. “Yes, mental strength varies. But not by this much. You’re an anomaly.”

  The way he tilted his tiny dragon head was almost comical, and Lauren felt her chest tighten with the urge to laugh—or pet him.

  “I did hear something, once,” Edmund said after a pause. “A forbidden method for strengthening mental power.”

  Lauren leaned in. “What kind of method?”

  “Reincarnation.”

  “…Reincarnation? As in, cultivators can be reborn?”

  “I don’t know. It’s forbidden for a reason. Even if it’s possible, it’d demand an unbearable price.”

  Lauren nodded slowly. It made sense.

  Then her mind snagged on the word. Reincarnation…

  Edmund’s voice was matter-of-fact. “A soul that’s gone through reincarnation carries greater mental power than ordinary cultivators. Simple as that.”

  Lauren sat frozen.

  Multiple lives… would that explain why I’m like this?

  The thought struck too close. Too dangerous. This was her secret, not something to hand over to a smug little dragon.

  Suppressing a yawn, she gathered up the scattered talismans. “I need rest. Do whatever you want.”

  Edmund didn’t argue. He dissolved into a wisp of shadow and slipped back into her core.

  It took her a full day and night of sleep before she felt fully recovered. But she had drawn a hundred talismans on her first attempt—proof of what this inheritance could do.

  The next morning, refreshed and focused, she made a decision: today she would head to the righteous sects’ market. She needed materials. She was going to attempt her first second-grade talisman.

  Just before leaving, Lauren sensed someone approaching to pay respects.

  Since her senior brother was still recovering from his injuries, Master couldn’t come out to greet them, so the task fell to her.

  The visitor was a young disciple—fair-skinned, with a face she found vaguely familiar.

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  “Ms. Lauren,” he said, bowing. “My name is Kareem. Master asked me to deliver these.”

  He offered a jade token and a ring.

  “This token holds your reward points from the righteous sects. And the ring… is yours as well.”

  Lauren blinked. She’d traded the Hidden Mist Secret Realm for thirty thousand points?

  And the ring—Yusuf’s. It looked like the sect master had already used a special method to erase the imprint of Yusuf’s spiritual sense.

  Then she remembered Kareem.

  Among the few who had entered initiation with her, there’d been a boy with wind spiritual roots, Kareem. She had assumed back then that Master Drake would take him as a disciple. Instead, Drake had chosen her, and Kareem had entered under Gerald’s tutelage.

  Back then, he’d been a scrawny ten-year-old. Now, at thirteen, he carried himself with the air of someone trying to look grown.

  “So it’s you,” Lauren said with a smile. “Thank you.”

  The boy returned the smile, sweet and guileless. “You’re welcome.”

  Lauren accepted the ring and walked straight to her senior brother, Tarot. After all, he’d been the one to kill Yusuf. The ring was rightfully his trophy.

  Tarot stared at it in silence for a moment before breaking into a smile. “You’re not greedy at all, are you?”

  Lauren froze. What? Greedy?

  She muttered, “Actually, I am kind of greedy. If Senior Brother doesn’t want it, I’ll—”

  Tarot plucked it from her hand. “Who said I don’t want it? I do.”

  With Yusuf’s imprint gone, the storage ring was free for anyone to use. Tarot rummaged through it, then pulled out a small stack of glowing stones.

  A dozen high-grade spirit stones.

  He pushed them toward her. “Here. That thing of yours works, but it burns through spirit stones too quickly.”

  Lauren accepted them without hesitation, her eyes practically sparkling. “Thank you, Senior Brother!”

  Tarot added, “Top-grade stones are almost impossible to come by. Even a Spirit Severing cultivator like Yusuf barely had a dozen. Use them sparingly.”

  “Don’t worry,” Lauren said earnestly. “I won’t waste them.”

  He gave her a small nod of approval. “And remember, a domain manifested through external means will never compare to one born from true cultivation. You need to push yourself—strive to forge your own Ice Domain as soon as possible.”

  Lauren bobbed her head like a woodpecker. “Yes, yes. I’m sure I can.”

  Then, curiosity got the better of her. “Senior Brother… can you cultivate the Dark Domain?”

  Tarot thought for a beat before answering. “I’ve brushed the threshold.”

  Lauren’s imagination immediately ran wild. The Dark Domain—how badass was that? The sun snuffed out in an instant, the world swallowed by pitch black. A ghostly figure sliding from the shadows, dagger gleaming—ripping out kidneys one by one.

  Hell’s assassin. Harvester of death. Largest kidney supplier in the cultivation world…

  Smack.

  Tarot’s hand landed lightly on her forehead. “Hey. What are you daydreaming about?”

  “Huh? Nothing.” She gave an embarrassed smile. “Brother, if you’ve already touched the threshold, it won’t be long now.”

  “I hope so.”

  Tarot pulled out another item, this one bright red with a fat embroidered carp across the front.

  “…A bellyband?” Tarot stared at it, dumbfounded. Then his face darkened. “That old bastard Yusuf. What a pervert. Hoarding a female cultivator’s bellyband in his ring? Disgusting.”

  He glanced at Lauren—and immediately saw her cheeks turn bright red. Clearing his throat, he forced himself to act casual. “Ahem. Well. This is actually a pretty good piece of defensive armor. Probably worth a fair sum. You’re heading down to the sect market soon, right? Look for a short, bald man named Jasper. He can refurbish this sort of thing and resell it.”

  Lauren nodded quickly. “Okay.”

  Perfect timing—she’d been planning to head down for talisman supplies anyway.

  Tarot finished sorting through Yusuf’s stash, keeping what he needed and selling off the rest. When all was said and done, they’d made a small fortune.

  Now flush with wealth, Lauren didn’t hesitate to spend. She went straight to the market to buy materials, asking around until she found the shop that carried the best talisman paper.

  As luck would have it, she ran right into Sebastian and Nash there.

  “Hey—Junior Master?”

  Lauren, veiled, immediately raised a finger to her lips. “Shh.”

  Nash grinned, lowering his voice. “Are you here to shop too?”

  “Mm. Looking for talisman paper.”

  His brows shot up. “You’re studying talismans too?”

  Lauren shrugged. “We study everything.”

  That deepened their curiosity. Drake’s disciples were notoriously mysterious. No one quite knew what they were learning up there.

  “So… formations too?” Nash pressed.

  Lauren hesitated. “…One step at a time. Not yet. What about you two?”

  “Sebastian wants to buy something. I’m just tagging along.” Nash said it breezily, but his eyes flicked with mischief.