"I'm giving you two choices," Empress Chaos said. "One, become my cultivation cauldron. Two…" In a boundless chaos-space, a breathtakingly beautiful woman hovered in midair, looking down at a sharp-featured youth with cold authority. Her figure was graceful, her skin pale as snow. That face alone could topple kingdoms, and the curves beneath it were even more impossible to ignore. Power clung to her like frost, aloof and regal. Yet the way she stared at the boy burned hot, like a starving wolf eyeing a feast. She was Empress Chaos, an unmatched existence standing at the pinnacle of all cultivators, someone who had lived through endless ages. The boy was Archie Cutmore, a noble scion from some remote empire on Ninosith, only sixteen years old. "Two! Two! I choose two!" Archie blurted without a second thought. Empress Chaos had already drained his yang once, and it had nearly snapped him in half. If he became her cultivation cauldron, he would not just suffer. He would be ruined. Empress Chaos's voice remained flat. "Two means becoming my dao companion. Cultivate like your life depends on it. Reach the summit of cultivators within a hundred years. Otherwise, die." Archie's whole body went cold. Despair flashed in his eyes. Choice one and choice two sounded like the same blade, just sharpened differently. People liked to joke that an older woman brought fortune. Three years older, and you got gold bricks. Three thousand years older, and you ascended to immortality. But Empress Chaos was 99,990,000 years older than him. She did not bring him fortune. She wanted his life. "Since you've made your choice," she said, "keep healing me." Archie shut his eyes. His body had been sealed in place long ago. He could not resist. He could only endure whatever she decided to do with him. Empress Chaos flickered forward and appeared right in front of him. Then she pushed him down… Her cultivation was terrifying. With a flick of a finger, she could grind mountains to dust and shatter the void itself. To her, Ninosith was nothing more than a weak lower realm. Even the strongest cultivator on the continent could not withstand a casual point from her hand. Yet when she had been breaking through her shackles, on the verge of stepping into an even higher realm, her "friend," Empress Ninos, had betrayed her. Empress Ninos had struck without warning, grievously wounding her, trying to seize the supreme treasure Empress Chaos had obtained from an ancient ruin: the Chaos Pagoda. Empress Chaos had fought like a cornered beast, paying an enormous price. In the end, she used a forbidden art, shattered space with the Chaos Pagoda, and fled into the lower realm. She survived, but only barely. Not only was she badly injured, she had also been poisoned by Empress Ninos's fox-charm toxin. If she could not immediately find a virgin and join yin and yang, using his pure yang to suppress the toxin in her body, it would not be long before she died and her cultivation dissipated into nothing. A day and a night later, Archie slowly opened his eyes, and weakness crashed over him. Grimacing, he braced a hand against his lower back and forced himself upright. Empress Chaos sat nearby in a lotus posture, fingers forming seals as she cultivated. After a full day and night of "nourishment," color had returned to her cheeks. The aura around her had grown even more oppressive. "I chose two, didn't I?" Archie thought bitterly. "So why does it feel exactly like being a cultivation cauldron?" As his mind spiraled, Empress Chaos abruptly opened her eyes. Their brightness made the stars feel dull. Archie stared despite himself. "Have you had your fill?" Her voice was ice. Reality snapped back into place. "I took your pure yang," Empress Chaos said, unhurried. "But you didn't lose out. Your damaged foundation has already been restored." The moment Archie heard that, his hands clenched into fists. Murderous intent surged in his eyes as he ground out, "The Cutmore family! If I don't avenge this, I swear I'm not human!" The Cutmore family was the foremost of Beirat County's three great clans within Certonville. Experts filled their ranks, and their strength ran deep. A great clan meant countless members. Besides the main branch stationed in the county seat, the Cutmore family also had a side branch split into four major branches, scattered across the county's four cities. Archie belonged to the Quirby branch. Five days ago, Santiago Cutmore, the head of the Quirby branch, had used a vicious secret technique to rip the awakened Spirit Flame Bloodline out of Archie's body. He offered it to the main branch in exchange for lavish rewards. As for Archie, with his bloodline torn away and his foundation shattered, his cultivation had been crippled. He had lain unconscious for five full days. Until the Chaos Pagoda tore through space and happened to appear in his room. Sensing that his pure yang was still intact, it pulled him into the pagoda's inner space. Archie sensed that his damaged foundation truly had recovered, and joy had flared in his chest. Then the weight of the Cutmore family's power crushed it flat, leaving only helplessness. "So what if my foundation is back?" he muttered. "Without my bloodline, I'm just trash. No matter how hard I cultivate, I'll never amount to anything." On Ninosith, more than ninety percent of cultivators could awaken a bloodline, but most awakened only the lowest, first-grade bloodline. Only those with exceptional talent could awaken higher-grade bloodlines and enjoy the many advantages that bloodline power brought. Ninosith divided bloodlines into ten grades. From low to high: first-grade, second-grade, third-grade… all the way to ninth-grade, and then the supreme-grade bloodline. The higher the grade, the greater the talent. The Spirit Flame Bloodline Archie had awakened before had been a fifth-grade bloodline. Fifth-grade was no small thing. Across all of Quirby, there were only a few dozen geniuses who had awakened bloodlines above third-grade. As for fifth-grade? Archie had been the only one. With the Spirit Flame Bloodline, he had become the number one genius of the Quirby branch. Santiago Cutmore had targeted him for two reasons. First, the main branch's young master, Griffin Cutmore, had awakened a top-tier sixth-grade bloodline: the Fire Snake Bloodline. Ancient records claimed that if the Fire Snake Bloodline merged with the Spirit Flame Bloodline, it could mutate into something even stronger. To curry favor with the main branch, Santiago Cutmore had used that vicious secret technique, extracted Archie's Spirit Flame Bloodline, and personally delivered it to the county seat. Rumor had it Griffin Cutmore had already used secret methods, along with countless precious treasures, to complete the fusion. His bloodline had mutated from the Fire Snake Bloodline into a seventh-grade bloodline: the Flame Serpent Bloodline, turning him into one of Certonville's top prodigies overnight. Second, Santiago Cutmore wanted to remove Archie as an obstacle and pave the road for his second son, Flynn Cutmore. "A mere Spirit Flame Bloodline," Empress Chaos said with open disdain. "Compared to the peerless opportunity you've obtained, it isn't worth a fart." Archie could not help asking, "What peerless opportunity?" All that yin-yang joining had given him was exhaustion, weakness, and an aching waist. He had not felt any other benefit. Empress Chaos gestured to the world around them. "The space we're in is the eighth level of the Chaos Pagoda. I obtained this supreme treasure from an ancient ruin after surviving nine deaths out of ten. It can suppress time and space." She continued, "Put simply, time flows differently inside the pagoda than it does outside. In the first level, time moves a hundred times faster than the outside world. One day outside equals a hundred days on the first level. One year outside equals a hundred years on the first level." "The Chaos Pagoda has nine levels. The higher the level, the faster the flow of time. Most importantly, as the master, your lifespan isn't affected by the pagoda's time flow." She extended a jade-like finger and pointed at Archie. "After you joined yin and yang with me, you gained the Chaos Pagoda's recognition. You became its second master. You can enter the pagoda's inner space freely to cultivate. Of course, you're far too weak at the moment. You can only enter the first level." Archie's face lit up, excitement breaking through his fatigue. A treasure like this existed? If Empress Chaos had not lied, he could spend a hundred years cultivating on the first level and only lose one year of lifespan. A thousand years inside would cost him only ten years outside. Without a bloodline, his cultivation speed would slow to a crawl. With the Chaos Pagoda, that weakness could be compensated for. And if, in the future, he found another great opportunity and regained a bloodline, he would soar. He would crush every so-called genius beneath his feet.