Order Era 1136.
"Liyana, Liyana! Wake up."
Inside the tavern, Xia Lun nudged the drowsy elf.
"Ah... Xia Lun, why are you still here? Am I still dreaming?" Liyana rubbed her eyes. "How strange... I admit I’ve missed you when I was bored, but not to this extent..."
Clink-clank—
The glass bottle on the table was knocked over by Liyana in her daze, shattering on the floor with a loud crash.
"Definitely a dream... Xia Lun wasn’t this young last time I saw him. I remember you’d already become a middle-aged man..." Liyana let out a big yawn before shamelessly pinching Xia Lun’s cheek.
Hmm, warm—just like a living person.
Liyana seemed to realize something was off and gradually snapped awake.
"Uh... Ah! W-wait—"
Realizing the person before her wasn’t an illusion, Liyana let out a shriek. Xia Lun swiftly covered her mouth and gripped her wrist.
"Mmph—!" Liyana’s pupils shrank as she shook her head violently, letting out a muffled, bewildered noise.
"Don’t panic! Liyana, calm down. It’s me—Xia Lun." He softened his voice as much as possible.
True to his words, Liyana slowly steadied herself.
"Listen, I’m going to let you go now. Don’t make any sudden moves," Xia Lun warned.
Liyana nodded obediently.
The moment Xia Lun released her wrist, Liyana’s slender fingers shot toward his eyes.
But Xia Lun had anticipated this. He caught her wrist again and pinned her firmly against the table.
"What are you? A shapeshifter? A nightmare? What do you want from me?" Liyana’s mouth was free now, but no matter how she struggled, the weight pressing down on her felt like an immovable mountain.
She was a master archer, not a close-combat fighter—against Xia Lun, she stood no chance.
"Or maybe I’m the real deal?" Xia Lun sighed.
"Bullshit! Xia Lun was just a human—he’s been dead for over a thousand years!" Liyana’s voice grew agitated. "I don’t care what you are, but if you think you can just waltz around wearing his face... I’ll end you!"
She cares this much about me?
Xia Lun couldn’t help but feel touched.
At that moment, Aina spoke softly, "Xia Lun, let her go. If this goes on any longer, I might get jealous."
"Aina, you know exactly what Liyana’s like," Xia Lun muttered, reluctantly releasing her. "There’s no way I’d ever have that kind of interest in her..."
Liyana didn’t scream this time.
"Aina... It really is you! Long time no see!" Rubbing her wrist, Liyana stared at the two in disbelief before her expression brightened with joy. "I haven’t seen you since Xia Lun’s funeral... You haven’t changed a bit!"
She’s not even questioning whether Aina might be fake too?
Xia Lun felt a pang of unfairness.
Liyana excitedly tugged at Aina’s hands, bouncing up and down. Xia Lun raised an eyebrow and couldn’t resist interrupting, pulling Aina’s hand back. "Hey! Boundaries. This is my wife."
Liyana gave Xia Lun a strange look. "So, Aina, is this a puppet modeled after Xia Lun? It’s scarily accurate... Can you make one for me too? Ah, don’t get me wrong—I just want someone to chat with. No extra functions needed."
Xia Lun: "..."
What a rude brat.
"Liyana," Aina said gently, "He is Xia Lun... He’s been resurrected."
The thousand-year-old elf girl froze like a statue.
"Resurrected? Are you joking?"
"No," Aina replied.
"He’s... really back? The same Xia Lun, the hero from a thousand years ago? My old comrade?"
"Yes."
"No puppet could’ve pinned you down like that," Xia Lun remarked dryly.
Liyana’s struggles had been fierce, but after his resurrection, his physical abilities had skyrocketed—handling her was effortless now.
"You’re really Xia Lun!" Liyana gasped, covering her mouth.
Xia Lun smirked. "Liyana, you’re not as thrilled as I imagined... I’m a little disappointed."
"You bastard, you’ve been dead for a millennium—honestly, I’d gotten used to it," Liyana grumbled. "But what reaction did you expect? Me sobbing and hugging you while screaming your name?"
Xia Lun coughed lightly, pretending he wasn’t embarrassed.
But then Liyana’s eyes welled up, and she suddenly lunged forward—
—straight into Aina’s arms.
"Waaah—Xia Lun! You’re actually alive! I’m so happy! Aina, you must be overjoyed too, right? Waaah—"
"Hey, hey!" Xia Lun’s eye twitched.
Same as always—using her gender as an excuse to cling to Aina shamelessly.
Just as he moved to pull Liyana away, Aina waved him off.
She gently patted Liyana’s back.
Because... she could tell Liyana was crying for real.
After a while, Liyana finally calmed down and sat across from Xia Lun and Aina.
"How have you been all these years?" Xia Lun asked, eyeing the empty bottles littering the table.
"Just... drifting along," Liyana admitted, scratching her head sheepishly. "After you died, I didn’t have the heart to join another team. Mostly took on bounties for money... spent it when I had it, earned more when I didn’t..."
Liyana was still a top-tier adventurer. Xia Lun could tell—her gear was high-quality, far from the destitute image she painted.
"Oh, and then there were the pretty girls—" Liyana’s face lit up with a lecherous grin.
"Yeah, we can skip that part," Xia Lun cut in.
Aina giggled behind her hand, clearly amused.
"Anyway, moving on..." Xia Lun took a deep breath before extending an invitation—one he hadn’t made in a thousand years.
"Liyana... will you join our team again?"
Liyana blinked, momentarily stunned. Then, wiping the lingering tears from her eyes, she lifted her head with a radiant smile.
"Of course—I’d love to!"
ng to die together with you." Lin Xuan is dead, his body thrown into the river by his scumbag lover and her accomplice. She, the president of the Su Group, is decisive, ruthless, and ice-cold. For three days and three nights, she had his body fished out of the river, and without hesitation, she kissed the bloated corpse of Lin Xuan. She laid down beside him in a cold coffin, their fingers intertwined, a smile lingering on her lips as she closed her eyes. The noble and cold-hearted woman, only bending for one man—Lin Xuan. Lin Xuan, with his golden finger, is reborn and returns to the day of his wedding to the treacherous woman. Su Qiang comes to steal the bride. Lin Xuan's eyes light up, eager to pledge his loyalty on the spot, but instead, her kiss transfers a glass of drugged wine into his mouth, causing him to pass out... 【Male Protagonist with Single Female Lead】【Yandere Tycoon】【Action-Packed】【True vs. Fake Heir】
e bizarre and supernatural had descended. The previous emperor was a thoroughgoing tyrant; no longer satisfied with human women, he had set his sights on a stunningly beautiful supernatural entity. He met his end in his bedchamber, drained of all his vital essence. As the legitimate eldest son and crown prince, Wang Hao was thus hastily enthroned, becoming the young emperor of the Great Zhou Dynasty. No sooner had he awakened the "Imperial Sign-In Intelligence System" than he was assassinated by a Son of Destiny—a classic villain's opening. The Great Zhou, ravaged by the former emperor's excesses, was in national decline. The great families within its borders harbored their own treacherous schemes, martial sects began to defy the imperial court's decrees, and border armies, their pay and provisions in arrears, grumbled incessantly against the central government. Fortunately, the central capital was still held secure by the half-million Imperial Guards and fifty thousand Imperial Forest Army who obeyed the court's orders, along with the royal family's hidden reserves of power, barely managing to suppress the realm. As the Great Zhou's finances worsened and supernatural activities grew ever more frequent, the court sat atop a volcano. Ambitious plotters everywhere dreamed of overthrowing the dynasty, and even some reclusive ancient powers emerged, attempting to sway the tides of the world. At the first grand court assembly, the civil and military officials nearly came to blows, fighting tooth and nail over the allocation of fifty million taels of silver from the summer tax revenues. The spectacle opened Wang Hao's eyes—the Great Zhou's bureaucracy was not only corrupt but also martially proficient, a cabinet of all-rounders. Some officials even had the audacity to suggest the emperor release funds from the imperial privy purse to address the emergency. Wang Hao suddenly felt weary. Let it all burn.
m back to his original world. In the end, he realized he had overthought things. [Hey, why is Shen Manni, the female lead, acting strange? Shouldn't she be fawning over the male lead at this point?] [Zhou Qiaoqiao, are you sick? Weren't you supposed to break off your engagement today?] [Damn it! An Youyi, please do your job as an undercover agent and sell my information to the protagonist, you idiot!] ... At this moment, Xu Mo himself didn't know that these female leads had already heard his inner thoughts. Then they decided not to play by the rules. Xu Mo: Please respect my profession as the big villain!
ut it can buy an entire year of absolutely perfect training results! Su Yu stared at his empty wallet and decisively opened up various online loan platforms. “Borrow a thousand bucks! Recharge my vitality!” Boom! His vitality broke a hundred points, shattering the limits of the human body! “Borrow ten thousand bucks! Recharge my combat skills!” Boom! A basic punching technique so common it was everywhere instantly maxed out, revealing the ultimate assassination technique of Five Elements Unity—Inner Force! When a rich kid hired assassins for a midnight ambush, aiming to break both of his legs, they instead ran headfirst into a monster—a human-shaped tyrannosaur, brimming with dragon-like vitality. With just two fingers, Su Yu snapped a steel staff reinforced with alloy. Staring at the killer’s stash of stolen cash—a staggering quarter-million dollars—he showed a corporate-sincere smile: “Thanks for the pre-exam gift pack, Mr. Zhao! I’m gonna go re-invest this!” Three days later, at the National Martial Arts College Entrance Exam, while everyone else struggled just to reach the passing line, Su Yu threw a single punch—and more than a thousand vitality points literally detonated the entire arena!
