“When we first met I was sure he was the man I wanted to marry, he was very handsome and also a genius of his clan but unfortunately this was just a pipe dream among many.”

“A man who used to be a genius suddenly gave up cultivating and for some reason decided to pursue me. If at first he did not annoy me, then as time passed his actions became more and more absurd.”

“It’s been about ten years now and he’s been following me at every turn all this time. Eventually the man I liked disappeared and in his place came a man I hated.” 

“I still can’t understand his actions, why couldn’t he understand that if he hadn’t stopped cultivating and become a decent man I probably would have been married to him by now.”

‘What an idiot…’ Zhang Ya thought, but asked something else entirely:

“I’m curious what happened next?”

When they first spoke to each other, Zhang Ya was the first to complain about her life, because she was quite comfortable talking to this woman for some reason, but now Zhang Ya was the listener as the woman complained._.

If other young cultivators of both the righteous and demonic paths had seen this scene, their eyes would have popped out of their sockets.

At Zhang Ya’s question, the woman frowned slightly and stopped at one of the stairs, and after thinking for a while, she answered.

“Over time our statuses in society changed, I became the genius of my clan while he became the useless young master of his clan, and one day I couldn’t take it anymore and asked him to break off the engagement.”

“He flatly refused, saying “I can’t do it without you,” but I didn’t give up.” – The woman patted her chest. 

“Every time I met him, I suggested it over and over again, until one day he suddenly suggested it himself. I was a little stunned at that moment and, of course, I didn’t waste the opportunity and didn’t hesitate to say yes.”

“And now I’m completely free.” – She smiled.

Unfortunately, under Zhang Ya’s penetrating gaze, she could not hide her sadness. Zhang Ya noticed how the woman, even though she was smiling, her smile was strained or rather forced.

She didn’t ask why she felt a different feeling instead of joy; instead she wondered what the end was for the man who was chasing her.

“What happened to the man next?”

The woman thought for a while and then answered:

“I didn’t notice that the moment he proposed to break the engagement he changed, when he arrived at my clan he flirted with my mother, which he had never done with any woman other than me before, and the next morning his whole clan was bustling about him sleeping with some woman.”

“The funny thing is that after he met my mom, she started talking about him every day, like she was obsessed with him.” – She grinned bitterly.

Zhang Ya after hearing about the situation with the woman’s mother, looked at her a little bit dazed.

But, she didn’t stop and instead continued to recount her story:

“After a few days, I arrived at his clan celebration and found out that he had left the clan to join a sect. And just recently I found out that all he’d been doing all this time was hiding his true identity.”

“This bastard actually hid both his cultivation base and his talent. Everyone thought he was in the late stage of the Initial Ascension(1), but his real cultivation is in the late stage of the Earthly Ascension(2).” 

“Unfortunately I found this out too late, now he shines like a star in the sky while I am nothing compared to him, he chose the demonic path while I chose the righteous path, I realize that I cannot be together with him, and he may even hate me.”

“But all I want is to ask him whether he ever liked me”

At that moment small drops of tears flowed from the woman’s eyes, she did not tell anyone her true feelings all this time trying to keep them to herself, keeping a constantly cold expression on her face.

But, now that she no longer had to pretend, she could reveal them a little.

Of course she could not tell that this man was none other than Victor, nor that she was now branded as his fiancee and many righteous path cultivators even wanted to kill her just for that.

The woman was only able to arrive in the secret realm because she told her sect that she only needed that legacy to kill the man, Victor, and wash away her shame.

She didn’t really know if she would achieve her goal or not, but she was sure of one thing, she certainly wouldn’t kill Victor. She wanted the inheritance only to get a chance to stand by his side or just get an answer to her question.

After that they silently continued to climb up the stairs, Zhang Ya did not know what to say to the woman’s words as she had no experience in such matters, well, the woman said everything that she had kept to herself for so long.

She even felt a little better afterwards.

Even though it was their first meeting, they both complained about their lives without even realizing that they were both talking about the same person. 

They were both well aware that when their next encounter comes, or even meaby in this secret realm, they might have a bloody battle in which only one can survive.

The two women still continued their conversation as they climbed the staircase slowly but surely making their way to the top.

10,000 steps… 15,000 steps… 20,000 steps…

The moment they had walked 20,000 steps, they finally saw the palace before their eyes, the summit they had longed to reach thus passing the first test!