The Modifier’s Grand Heist and an Unexpected Fall

——Upper Realm——

——Trial Secret Realm——

Bai Qiuyuan stood poised atop a towering cliff.

With the arrival of spring, Bai Qiuyuan had donned a lightweight, white feathered robe.

His hair, deemed unseemly when left unbound, was gathered neatly with a feather crown.

At this moment, were one to overlook his youthful age, Bai Qiuyuan exuded an air of ethereal grace and profound wisdom.

‘Having ascended to a realm where a secret domain was coincidentally opening, Bai Qiuyuan had entered to partake in the excitement.’

After spending several months in the mortal realm, Bai Qiuyuan had thoroughly adapted to the world of cultivation.

Approaching the cliff’s edge, Bai Qiuyuan gazed down into the bottomless chasm below, his expression impassive as he mused inwardly.

‘To fall from a cliff and survive surely implies a fortuitous encounter awaits.’

‘Let me put that to the test.’

‘Come to think of it, there’s a certain move I’ve long wanted to try. This seems like the perfect opportunity.’

With these thoughts, Bai Qiuyuan cast a Body Lightening Spell upon himself, then silently walked to the precipice, taking a leap of faith as he plunged into the abyss!

“Senior Brother, I think I just saw a child on the cliff.”

“You must have seen wrong. How could there be a child in a secret domain?”

Just then, two disciples from an unknown sect, clad in grey robes, passed by not far from where Bai Qiuyuan had stood.

“We should hurry and continue hunting demonic beasts.”

“In just one more day, the trial secret domain will close.”

“After that, we’ll have to wait fifty years for it to open again.”

“Indeed, let’s go.”

With that, the two ceased their contemplation and departed from the cliff.

Bai Qiuyuan arrived at the bottom of the cliff, completely unharmed thanks to his Body Lightening Spell and the protective aura of his True Qi.

Surveying the inky blackness around him, Bai Qiuyuan retrieved a fist-sized luminous pearl from his pocket.

The pearl’s glow swiftly illuminated the cliff bottom. Once assured of sufficient light, Bai Qiuyuan set off to search for his supposed “fortuitous encounter.”

A few minutes later, Bai Qiuyuan stood frozen, staring at the empty cliff bottom.

‘Could it be that I was mistaken?’

‘It appears there are no martial arts manuals here, nor any peerless masters on the verge of death, ready to impart their lifelong cultivation to another…’

‘But don’t all those cultivation grandmasters in novels have a habit of hiding their immortal abodes beneath cliffs?’

‘I should search around for any hidden mechanisms.’

Before long, Bai Qiuyuan fell into contemplation, his gaze fixed on the sole small pond at the bottom of the cliff.

After surveying his surroundings and confirming that this was indeed the only pond at the cliff bottom, Bai Qiuyuan, unwilling to give up, pulled another Water Evasion Talisman from his sleeve.

The talisman paper quickly ignited, and a blue light surged forth, enveloping Bai Qiuyuan’s body.

Once the talisman had burned to ash, Bai Qiuyuan, still clutching the luminous pearl, plunged directly into the pond.

Bai Qiuyuan reached the deepest part of the pond, where he discovered an underwater tunnel.

Bai Qiuyuan mused inwardly.

‘This pond is actually deeper than I imagined…’

‘And beneath the pond, there’s actually a hidden world?’

‘If not for the luminous pearl, the murky darkness of the pond would have truly hidden it.’

Without hesitation, Bai Qiuyuan entered the tunnel.

Before long, Bai Qiuyuan had traversed the underwater tunnel and emerged into a grotto.

Bai Qiuyuan poked half his head out of a pool connected to the pond, surveying his surroundings.

Only after confirming there was no danger did he leap out of the water.

The moment his feet touched the ground, the protective layer of the Water Evasion Talisman shattered and dissipated.

Bai Qiuyuan paid it no mind, instead observing the cave with a sigh of satisfaction.

“Good thing I didn’t just leave.”

Then, Bai Qiuyuan drew his Ink Severing Sword, continuing deeper into the cave, illuminating his path with the luminous pearl while maintaining a wary vigilance.

After a few more minutes, Bai Qiuyuan spotted a colossal, rust-covered bronze gate.

Not far in front of the gate stood a stone-carved tombstone.

[Tomb of XXX the Thief]

The preceding characters, for some reason, had been completely weathered away, rendering them illegible, yet Bai Qiuyuan still managed to discern the last three words.

‘Thief? Perhaps something like a ‘Divine Thief’?’

‘This doesn’t seem like a legitimate inheritance. I should just grab what I can and make a quick escape.’

Without further deliberation, Bai Qiuyuan immediately bypassed the tombstone and pushed open the grand gate.

Beyond the gate lay a long tunnel, equipped with specialized illumination arrays.

However, these arrays, having existed for too long, now emitted only a faint, weak glow.

Gazing at the scene within the gate, Bai Qiuyuan summoned his Modifier and spoke.

“Pause.”

Instantly, everything in the world, save for Bai Qiuyuan himself, transformed into shades of grey and white!

And the world, at this very moment, ceased to move!

[Time Pause: Can be used once every three days, lasting for half an hour each time. Only effective within a secret domain; invalid outside. When activated, time within the secret domain completely stops. Exceeding half an hour will result in bodily harm.]

Bai Qiuyuan looked at the words [Trial Maze] by the entrance, then used his Modifier to bring up the maze’s map!

Bai Qiuyuan then followed the map directly into the maze.

Aided by the Modifier, Bai Qiuyuan navigated the maze as if strolling through his own backyard garden!

Furthermore, with time paused, the traps originally set along the correct paths within the maze were all rendered inert.

Even if Bai Qiuyuan walked over them, they could not activate normally!

Thus, Bai Qiuyuan quickly cleared the first stage and arrived at the second.

The second stage was a massive underground river, beside which stood a stone tablet faintly inscribed with the words [Yellow Springs River].

Within the rushing currents, massive, crocodile-like demonic beasts could seemingly be seen, and their numbers were far from few!

However, with time halted, the turbulent currents instantly lost all their power.

The demonic beasts, too, were frozen motionless in the water, posing no threat whatsoever!

After casting his Body Lightening Spell, Bai Qiuyuan used his True Qi to support his feet, allowing him to step and walk upon the water’s surface!

In this manner, Bai Qiuyuan walked directly towards the riverbank.

Gazing at the frozen demonic beasts in the water, Bai Qiuyuan remained silent for two seconds before drawing his Ink Severing Sword and slicing through every single one of them.

‘It’s better to just deal with them directly.’

‘This is my first time using Time Pause. If time resumes normally later and I get ambushed by them, it’ll be troublesome.’

Soon, all the slain demonic beasts were collected by Bai Qiuyuan into his item inventory.

Bai Qiuyuan successfully crossed the Yellow Springs River.

Next, Bai Qiuyuan arrived at an underground palace.

The entire palace was constructed from various rare ores, exuding an aura of immense grandeur.

Had he not seen the character “thief” on the tombstone at the entrance, Bai Qiuyuan might have mistaken this place for the immortal abode of some grand master.

Observing the palace, Bai Qiuyuan did not enter immediately. Instead, he opened his Modifier and issued a command.

“Search the palace for all valuable and useful items.”

“Raid!”

As he spoke, several enormous black spatial rifts appeared around Bai Qiuyuan!

These rifts connected directly to Bai Qiuyuan’s item inventory space!

Following this, the palace began to tremble!

Vast quantities of elixirs, spirit stones, secret manuals, and spatial rings all flew out from within the palace!

Even floor tiles were torn from their places by the immense suction of the rifts!

They soared into the spatial rifts surrounding Bai Qiuyuan!

Bai Qiuyuan gazed at the rifts around him, lost in thought.

‘Is this an illusion? It feels like the Modifier hasn’t weakened since coming to the Upper Realm; instead, it’s grown even more powerful…’

However, after a moment of contemplation, Bai Qiuyuan couldn’t come up with any definitive explanation, so he simply decided to stop thinking about it.

A few minutes later, Bai Qiuyuan gazed at the countless neatly categorized treasures within his Modifier’s item inventory, an irrepressible smile spreading across his lips.

‘This is truly a massive haul.’

Just then, Bai Qiuyuan suddenly felt something trickling from his nose.

He raised a hand to wipe it, discovering he was bleeding from the nose.

‘Is this a side effect of Time Pause?’

“It’s time to go.”

With that, Bai Qiuyuan closed the item rifts and returned the way he came at top speed.

The moment he returned to the cliff bottom, Bai Qiuyuan deactivated the Time Pause within the secret domain…

After Time Pause was lifted, the remnant soul of an old man, a Spirit Transformation cultivator, stared in stunned silence at his immortal abode, which had been reduced to nothing but bare ground.

“W-what?! Where’s this old man’s immortal abode?! Where’s this old man’s massive immortal abode?!”

“This old man merely blinked, and now everything’s gone?!”

“Is this old man dreaming?!”

“Hmm? And why are all the demonic beasts in the Yellow Springs River gone?!”

“Not a single trap in the maze was triggered!?”

“Even a Spirit Transformation cultivator couldn’t possibly avoid triggering a single trap!”

The old man’s remnant soul cried out in despair.

Then, on the completely barren ground, the old man saw his own corpse, stripped naked and lying prone.

The Old Man: “W-what?! What kind of deranged fiend is this?!”

“They didn’t even leave this old man a single piece of clothing?!!!”

Instantly, the old man’s remnant soul became disheveled in the air, the light fading from its eyes. Its already faint aura dwindled like a candle wick burning out, threatening to extinguish completely with the slightest further blow, leaving not even a wisp of a soul behind.

Bai Qiuyuan was preparing to use his sword to fly, ascending the cliff face with the aid of his Body Lightening Spell.

Just then, Bai Qiuyuan saw a dark silhouette plummeting from above.

Bai Qiuyuan: “?”

‘Is that a person?’

Bai Qiuyuan instinctively plunged his Ink Severing Sword into the ground, then leaped, soaring directly towards the dark figure.

Bai Qiuyuan then used his True Qi as a cushion, allowing him to safely catch the person falling from the cliff.

Only after catching the person did Bai Qiuyuan clearly see their appearance.

It was a black-haired girl, appearing to be eighteen years old, clad in a light blue long dress, and possessing a beauty so captivating it could bring ruin to nations.

The girl clutched a blue longsword tightly in one hand, her clothes covered in sword marks and bloodstains.

The girl still retained a sliver of consciousness at that moment, managing to open her eyes and look at Bai Qiuyuan, who had caught her.

Through her hazy vision, the girl gazed at Bai Qiuyuan and asked with difficulty.

“You…”

Thud!

“Pfft!…”

When Bai Qiuyuan landed, the darkness had prevented him from accurately judging his landing spot.

Upon landing, due to Bai Qiuyuan’s young age and short stature, the hilt of his 1.4-meter Ink Severing Sword, which was stuck in the ground, precisely struck the back of the girl’s head.

It delivered a direct, heavy blow to the girl’s occiput!

The girl, who had still been conscious, immediately fell into a dead faint from the impact.

Bai Qiuyuan: “…”

Bai Qiuyuan silently placed the girl on the ground, falling into deep thought…