Li An’s expression shifted slightly.
With a sweep of her sleeve, Su Bai tossed out an object.
It was something between jade and stone, shaped like a round jade disc.
It shimmered with a light, airy glow, and delicate patterns of blue and white flowed continuously across its surface—it was none other than the Domain-Spanning Spirit Mirror.
During her years in seclusion, she couldn’t suppress her curiosity and had spent a hefty sum of spirit stones to purchase one from a green-robed Daoist.
With it, she had browsed the sights of the four domains and gathered intelligence.
“I don’t know about the so-called Divine Essence of Ten Thousand Spirits, but the City of Ten Thousand Souls is a resource hub of the Immortal Alliance.
Temporary loss of contact is one thing, but if someone were to report this to dantian from the Outer Domain’s Heavenly Ruins, “do you have any idea how long it would take the Immortal Alliance to send a few Core Formation cultivators—or even a Nascent Soul True Lord—here?”
“One incense stick’s time? Two? A quarter of an hour?”
Su Bai smiled faintly, the sunlight behind her flaring into a radiant green-gold hue that illuminated a thousand-zhang radius.
Even the massive city three thousand miles away was cast in an eerie aquamarine glow.
“Do you have the confidence to eliminate me and my disciple within fifteen minutes? If not, I’m afraid you’ll be leaving your life behind here.”
Li An’s face turned ashen.
His eyes burned red as he glared at her stunning face, as if trying to carve her features deep into his mind.
After a long pause, his lips moved.
He clenched his teeth and spat out one word.
“Retreat!”
As soon as he spoke, he ignored the black-clad demonic cultivator beside him, transforming into a streak of blood-red light and vanishing into the horizon.
The black-robed cultivator was left completely dumbfounded.
When he met Su Bai’s amused and unblinking gaze, a chill ran down his spine.
Without hesitation, he too turned into a streak of light and fled after Li An.
Su Bai made no move to stop them.
She simply stood there and watched until both had completely disappeared from sight.
Only then did she let out a long breath.
The man hadn’t been wrong—she had just broken through to the Core Formation stage.
While she now had the cultivation and spiritual power of a Core Formation cultivator, she lacked the techniques to match.
At best, she was a half-step Core cultivator.
If a real fight had broken out, the odds would not have been in her favor.
But this time, fate had smiled on her.
The enemy chickened out.
***
“Xiaohei,” Su Bai called softly.
But there was no response from the bundle in her arms.
Frowning, she looked down—only to find her little pet staring up at her, dazed and stiff.
Su Bai: ???
‘What’s wrong with him?’
‘Could it be that he’s been so overwhelmed by my post-breakthrough majesty that he’s gone into shock? Or maybe he hit his head during the skirmish?’
“Xiaohei, what’s wrong?” Her gentle voice was full of concern for her small companion’s mental health.
Su Xiaohei was staring wide-eyed at her, his face full of disbelief, as if he had just seen a ghost.
“Mas… Master?”
“It’s me.”
Su Bai frowned.
‘Did my body really change that much after tempering it? I mean, I’ve heard of certain body-refining techniques turning someone from five-foot-two to six-foot-three overnight, but come on—this is the pet I raised for over ten years. How could he not recognize me?’
‘Is that even reasonable?’
“…Mom?”
“I’ve told you a thousand times—call me Dad.”
[Smack!]
Su Xiaohei clutched his forehead, grimacing in pain, but deep down, he was already certain—the celestial being in front of him was indeed his master… and his mom.
Heavens above!
He liked calling her “Mom” before, but how did she actually become his mom?!
“Why are you giving me that weird look? Your dad—I mean, I—just broke through to the Golden Core realm! Inside the sect, you call me Master, but outside the sect, you’re supposed to—” Su Bai arched a delicate brow proudly, but then her expression froze.
The next moment, shock, fear, confusion, panic, disbelief, and fury all twisted together across her face.
“I—what the hell?!”
Her crisp, pleasant voice echoed throughout the city, scattering ghosts and sending night demons fleeing.
The reverberation lingered long after.
***
“What the hell?!”
“Why did I gender-swap?! Can’t this stupid simulator be remotely realistic?!”
“I like playing female characters in games, but that doesn’t mean I want to actually become one!”
The veins on Su Bai’s fair forehead bulged as she picked up her phone and hurled it hard at the bed.
The snow goose-down mattress was absurdly soft and bouncy.
The phone rebounded cleanly and smacked right into her chest.
“Hiss—ow! That hurt!”
“Wait… my chest…?”
Su Bai looked down at her full, round breasts and froze, stunned.
Then she shouted, “How the hell did I turn into a girl?!”
“Sweetie, what are you muttering to yourself in there? I can hear you all the way from the living room,” came Su Bai’s mother’s puzzled voice from outside the room.
“Mom…” Remembering her current girly voice, Su Bai quickly pinched her throat and rasped, “It’s nothing, Mom. Just watching a fantasy romance show. The female lead is so dumb it’s driving me crazy.”
“Oh, that explains the weird girly voice coming from your room.”
“Ahem. Mom, I’m hungry~ What’s for dinner?”
“Spicy beef.”
“Perfect. I’ll finish an episode first.”
***
After settling things with her mother, Su Bai finally let out a long breath, her tense nerves relaxing a bit.
Only then did she notice that her back was soaked in cold sweat.
The wet clothes clung to her skin, bringing an uncomfortable chill.
Her gaze swept across to the mirror on her bedside table.
She instinctively reached for it, wanting to see her current appearance.
But before her hand even moved, the mirror floated straight toward her and hovered in front of her.
‘This is… magic?’ Su Bai stared at the mirror suspended midair.
With another thought, it gently dropped into her palm.
She sat still for a while, then turned her attention to the game interface still glowing on her bed.
Su Bai moved her fingertip slightly.
A faint sword light shot out, but just as it neared the screen, it abruptly stopped and dissolved into nothingness.
Su Bai picked up her phone again and sighed softly.
‘Forget it. Let’s keep simulating.’
‘If I could gender-swap once, maybe I can swap back.’
***
[You never expected the cost of breaking through to the Golden Core would be gender-swapping. If you’d known, you’d have restarted instead of pushing forward. And not only did you swap in the simulator—you swapped in real life too. A double dose of gender-swap hell.]
[The silver lining? You now possess magical power. And it’s in the real world, which might mean you don’t have to eat beef tonight.]
[Ahem. Back to the present. After successfully forcing the enemy Golden Core cultivator to retreat, you sat in place for a long time, trying to accept the reality of your gender shift.]
[Only now do you finally have the presence of mind to observe the ruined city around you. The City of Ten Thousand Souls is destroyed. When the demonic cultivators left, they shattered the protective array, unleashing countless ghosts into the world like hornets from a nest.]
[You gathered the surviving cultivators—only a few hundred remained. Every one of them was battered and barely holding on. Out of tens of thousands, only a few hundred survived. The thought alone sends a chill down your spine.]
[About half an hour later, a rescue team from the Immortal Alliance finally arrives in response to your emergency report—one Nascent Soul True Lord and several Golden Core masters.]
[They escort you onto a giant flying vessel. After some initial treatment, you’re brought to a private room as the original whistleblower.]
Interesting. we get the best of both swaps. One in cultivation and one in a modern setting.