It was only a bundle of five-hundred-year-old herbs.
Now, Yun Jin could bring something like that out with ease.
But back then, that very bundle of herbs had cost the Yun family their lives.
In her previous life, Yun Jin had willingly become a servant just to enter the Tianxing Sect. All she wanted was power, so that one day, she could track down the cultivator who had slaughtered her entire family and take revenge.
But she never gained that power.
Even Ye Danxia, who had accepted the ring and promised to help her find the real culprit, eventually went back on her word. She got too busy falling in love to remember the Yun family who had died so brutally.
This time around, Yun Jin hadn't fixated on revenge. The reason was simple.
Almost laughably so.
In her past life, after her death, she had remained as a wandering soul. She stayed by Ye Danxia's side and watched as Ye Danxia used the ring to gain Cang Li's trust.
Naturally, Cang Li also learned about the massacre of the Yun family. He later launched an investigation.
And the result?
They found the culprit. A cultivator at the Golden Core stage who had been tempted by the demon race and strayed into demonic cultivation. But Cang Li never had to personally kill him. Not long after stealing the herbs, that man was devoured by the dark arts he practiced and died.
It was a dramatic ending.
But also expected.
If this had been the protagonist's grudge, the story would have lavished it with tension and emotion, painting every stroke with great care.
The protagonist's pain, the protagonist's hatred, it would have been magnified to the extreme.
Their revenge would be a grand, turbulent arc.
But Yun Jin?
She was never the protagonist. The Yun family was just an ordinary mortal clan. Their deaths were meaningless, merely one more casualty in the cruel world of cultivation.
Yun Jin's grief and despair didn't matter. A mere side character didn't deserve a dramatic revenge arc. Having her enemy die without effort was already the greatest mercy fate had given her.
So this time, after returning, Yun Jin no longer sought out the killer.
That person had long since turned to bones. But the hatred remained buried in her heart.
Yes, the killer was dead.
But why were evil cultivators running rampant now? Because of the demon race's influence. And because most cultivators simply didn't care.
Yun Jin had seen the root of the problem.
As long as the demon race wasn't eradicated, more and more would be tempted to become evil cultivators. Most of them lacked the courage to confront powerful sects head-on, so they turned their cruelty on mortals and rogue cultivators.
Even though there was a Demon-Slaying Alliance, it could not cleanse the world of all its filth. Many in the Demon-Slaying Alliance only acted when there were rewards involved. By the time they took action, countless tragedies had already occurred.
The Yun family was one such tragedy.
Her Third Senior Brother's fate was another.
Evil cultivators and the demon race were symbiotic.
If she ever had the chance, she would personally wipe them out.
A flash of cold determination crossed Yun Jin's eyes.
The one who destroyed the Yun family had only been a lowly Golden Core-stage evil cultivator. If she'd had her current strength back then, would someone like that have even posed a threat?
But at the time, she had only been a mortal.
Still, lacking power wasn't a sin.
There were so many mortals in this world without spiritual roots. They were born without the potential to cultivate. In sheer number, they outnumbered cultivators by thousands of times.
So what should those mortals do? Just accept being slaughtered without resistance?
A quiet thought began to stir in Yun Jin's heart.
She had traveled through countless worlds. Some were ruled by the law of the jungle, but others maintained strict order.
A world could never be absolutely fair. But a world where even the weak could live in peace—such places were not a fantasy.
Of course…
It was still far too early to think about such things.
If she wanted to change the world, she needed power first. Power that surpassed everyone.
Even her master, Ji Wusi, she had to one day surpass him.
Her master was a good person, but they would never fully share the same ideals.
If Yun Jin wanted to walk her own path, she needed to become the strongest cultivator in the human realm.
An Tong quietly glanced at Yun Jin's profile. Her expression was calm, but a trace of chill lingered there. His heart gave a tiny shudder.
Young Master suddenly looked... a little scary.
A bit intimidating, even.
An Tong quickly looked away and changed the subject. "Young Master, everyone's moved on to the second trial."
"This Duan Yiwei turned out just as we expected, totally inflated within this world. But Jin Yu surprised me. He ditched his status and just ran off…" An Tong was still reporting cheerfully when he paused. His gaze landed on Yue Zhao's projection, and he let out a soft "Eh?"
In the fast-forwarded view, Yue Zhao had started building a commercial and industrial society. He even developed the early stages of socialism…
An Tong was dumbfounded.
He knew that the three thousand worlds were each unique.
But Yue Zhao's attempt to shape an equal society? That was a first.
Could people from this world even manage such a thing?
An Tong, full of curiosity, increased his surveillance of Yue Zhao.
On screen—
Above Yue Zhao's head, two faint soul shadows slowly surfaced.
An Tong gasped. "Young Master! This Yue Zhao… he's from another small world!"
Yue Zhao's soul had already fused quite well. If An Tong hadn't enhanced the observation, he might not have noticed anything at all.
Excited by his discovery, he turned eagerly toward Yun Jin, expecting her to be just as shocked.
But Yun Jin remained calm, her expression unchanged.
An Tong blinked. "Young Master, you already knew?"
Yun Jin smiled lightly. "It wasn't hard to see."
What An Tong didn't know was that Yun Jin had traveled through far more worlds than their Eldest Senior Brother ever had.
And her soul was protected by the system. Not even An Tong could peer into it.
His face instantly drooped. So Young Master already knew.
And here he'd thought it was some ground-breaking revelation.
Still—
An Tong quickly perked up. "Young Master, Yue Zhao's two souls haven't fully merged yet. Our Wushuang Sect has a secret art that can fuse souls. It would be perfect for someone like Yue Zhao. If he learns it, not only will his souls completely merge, but his progress in all soul-related paths will be incredibly fast."
Even the Tian Po Sword chimed in, "I wasn't that impressed with Yue Zhao at first, but if he really has dual souls and learns our Wushuang Sect's secret art, then Young Master, your Eldest Senior Brother may have the potential to become a top-tier cultivator."
Dual souls were incredibly rare. In the thousand-year history of this world, there might have been only one or two cases.
And it just so happened that the Wushuang Sect once had a senior cultivator born with dual souls. That person left behind a soul cultivation method within the sect. It had become Yue Zhao's destined opportunity.
Yun Jin chuckled. "An Tong, now take a closer look at my Second Senior Sister."
An Tong adjusted the Heart-Seeking Mirror and focused his attention.
Then, his expression changed again.
Si Wanning wasn't a dual soul, but her soul was far stronger than others. Even more shockingly, traces of karma were embedded in her very soul.
Karma—one of the highest Daos.
Even glimpsing a sliver of it was rare for cultivators.
But within Si Wanning's soul, the traces of karma were unusually clear.
Why was that?
===
'Karma' is also be known as 'Cause and Effect'