Troublemaker’s Guide to Immortality

Even Yun Jin herself was stunned.

It opened?

She had tried again just this morning, but nothing happened. Her spiritual power hadn't significantly changed since then. And yet now, the ring had opened as if it were the easiest thing in the world. Still, an open ring was always good news.

Yun Jin sent her spiritual sense inside. She hadn't even started looking at what was stored within, and she was already satisfied.

The ring itself was a high-capacity storage ring. Most storage pouches capped at ten square meters, but this one held a space that spanned a full thousand square meters with a height of ten meters. It could hold an incredible amount of items—more than enough for her needs.

Just as she was preparing to explore the contents, a white-robed figure flickered into view.

Yun Jin glanced over curiously.

It was a man, appearing very young, though his face was pale, as if he had only just recovered from serious injuries.

The figure spoke, "I am Cang Li. Years ago, I survived thanks to the aid of a Yun family ancestor. To repay that life-saving grace, I left behind this ring as a gift for the descendants of the Yun family. A barrier was set within. Once the accumulated spiritual power input reaches the level of a Golden Core cultivator, the ring may be opened."

With that explanation, everything made sense.

So the ring required accumulated spiritual power. Yun Jin had only ever tried briefly before setting it aside, which was why it had taken this long to reach the threshold. Ye Danxia must have been testing it constantly, allowing her to open it much earlier.

One mystery solved.

Yun Jin raised her brow slightly.

Cang Li?

That name... sounded oddly familiar.

She recalled now—he was a legendary genius from the Kunlun Sword Sect, once considered the uncontested heir to the next sect leader.

He had met the male and female leads in the original story. From the very beginning, he treated the heroine with unusual kindness, even inviting them personally to Kunlun Sword Sect. But the two had already joined Qingxiao Pavilion, so the invitation was declined.

Back then, Yun Jin had suspected he was just another tool character who fell in love with the heroine at first sight. The Demon Sovereign male lead had been especially wary of Cang Li, treating him like a romantic rival.

And Ye Danxia, caught between two outstanding men vying for her attention, had been more than pleased. But now, watching this recording...

Yun Jin suddenly realized the truth.

Cang Li likely hadn't fallen for the heroine at all.

He had seen the ring and assumed Ye Danxia was a descendant of his benefactor from the Yun family. No wonder he had kept asking about her background. And what had Ye Danxia said at the time?

She claimed to be the adopted daughter of the Yun family, raised as closely as a sister to the Yun family's eldest daughter. When the Yun family met disaster, she supported her sister through hardship, and the two of them joined the Tianxing Sect together. Sadly, the young mistress was later killed by the Demon Clan, and she, Ye Danxia, was now cultivating in order to avenge her friend.

As for the ring, she said it had been entrusted to her by the young mistress before her death. Yun Jin, in her soul form at the time, had thought Ye Danxia's performance was just second nature—lies told so easily they seemed like habit.

But now that she thought about it...

Ye Danxia had undoubtedly seen the image of Cang Li in the ring. That meant she had recognized him the moment they met. And yet she had feigned ignorance, clinging instead to her fabricated story of vengeance for a fallen friend.

Because Ye Danxia had claimed the ring was given to her, Cang Li naturally assumed that the first person to open it was the Yun family daughter. That explained why Ye Danxia didn't recognize him—at least in his eyes.

He had probably done some investigating afterward, just to be cautious.

And what would he have found?

The Yun family had indeed been destroyed. Ye Danxia's identity as their adopted daughter could be confirmed. As for everything that happened later in the Tianxing Sect—well, with people like Zhao Wuji spreading her version of the story, the truth could be twisted however she liked. In the end, Yun Jin really did die at the hands of the Demon Clan.

After learning all this, Cang Li's hatred for demons must have deepened, which eventually led to him falling into a trap—one that dragged the entire Kunlun Sword Sect down with him.

In the blink of an eye, Yun Jin pieced it all together.

This ring hadn't played a huge role in Ye Danxia's rise to glory. It only showed up frequently in the early part of her journey. Later on, she naturally acquired better magical tools.

But who could have guessed—

Even this ring had been used by Ye Danxia to manipulate someone like Cang Li.

Yun Jin's gaze cooled.

In this life, without this ring, she was curious to see how Ye Danxia and her Demon Sovereign lover would deceive the Kunlun Sword Sect again.

The image of Cang Li continued.

"The current Yun family has no cultivators with spiritual roots. Since you were able to open this ring, you must be one of their descendants. Inside, I have prepared spirit stones and some basic pills and talismans commonly used by cultivators. Feel free to inspect them at your leisure."

He paused for a moment, then added, "But of course, these worldly items cannot truly repay a life-saving debt. This ring shall serve as a token. If any Yun descendant carries this ring to Mount Kunlun, they may seek me out. There is a single purple talisman within. Ignite it atop Mount Kunlun, and I will come to meet you personally."

With that, the image slowly faded.

Yun Jin narrowed her eyes, falling into thought. She had always been drawn to the sword. It was her calling. And Kunlun Sword Sect had always been her next destination. What she hadn't expected was this connection between the Yun family and the Kunlun Sword Sect.

With this ring as proof, she had no doubt that if she went to seek out Cang Li now, he would welcome her into the sect with open arms.

However...

Yun Jin smiled faintly.

She would go to Kunlun.

Not just because it was a sacred land of the sword, but because the entire sect had fought the Demon Clan to their last breath.

That kind of spirit—that kind of resolve—was exactly what she admired.

Still...

She didn't want to take any shortcuts.

If she was going to join the Kunlun Sword Sect, she would walk through the front gates with her head held high. She would climb Mount Kunlun with her sword in hand, her path clear and righteous, until none could stand above her in the Sword Dao.

Just imagining Cang Li's stunned reaction—the cold, aloof genius witnessing her arrival—made Yun Jin chuckle to herself. She returned her focus to the ring's contents.

As Cang Li had said, most of it was standard fare for cultivators. All the materials were suitable up to the Golden Core stage. There were no higher-level resources.

Which made sense. Cang Li likely believed that after viewing the image, she would seek him out quickly. Preparing materials only up to the Golden Core stage would have seemed sufficient.

The spirit stones included:

100 top-grade spirit stones

1,000 high-grade spirit stones

And a generous scattering of lesser stones

This amount was more than enough for a Golden Core cultivator to live comfortably. In her previous life, Ye Danxia had used these very stones to buy influence and loyalty.

As for the pills—

There were first to third-grade pills, mostly focused on cultivation advancement. Cang Li had prepared ten bottles for each stage, allowing her to progress rapidly.

Ye Danxia's quick advancement in her past life had partly been due to her innate talent, but these pills surely played a large role as well.

To Yun Jin, though, they were only useful for adding to her collection of pill formulas. She had little other use for them. Still, she accepted Cang Li's kindness with a calm heart.

There was no need to mention the talismans and minor trinkets.

The only thing that truly held Yun Jin's gaze—

Was a sword.

The moment she sent her spiritual sense toward it, Cang Li's image appeared once more.