"Hmm... interesting."
Aina's fingers gently picked up the crest Wolund had brought over to the table. Her fair fingertips rubbed across the cold metal surface, and she slightly furrowed her beautiful brows.
Two exquisite staffs crossed each other, backed by a cluster of eternally burning Fire of Truth... Without a doubt, this was the emblem of the Truth Magic Academy.
To think that even someone within the Truth Magic Academy had become a Twilight Apostle.
"Can we find out who it is?" Xia Lun glanced at his wife beside him.
Since everyone was present, the two did not make any overly intimate gestures, but the tacit understanding flowing between them when their eyes met spoke louder than words.
"Yes, each crest corresponds to a person's identity. To prevent forgery, it records the owner's magic power... If we send it to the Truth Magic Academy, it will be very easy to investigate," Aina said slowly. Then, she flipped the crest over. Engraved on the back was an open ancient tome. "This medal belongs to a professor from the History Department."
"The History Department?" Wolund seemed to have thought of something and fell into deep thought.
Opposite them, Liana and Mo Lini sat up straight, trying hard to keep up with the pace of the discussion. Although they couldn't interject, their small faces were full of earnestness.
"But why would they suddenly attack Olifendo?" Wolund spoke slowly, seemingly confused. "They couldn't possibly not know that with just this handful of people, they can't affect Olifendo at all."
They were only at the outermost gates... Inside Olifendo, there were impregnable defensive formations that those few people simply could not shake.
Of course, Mida and other Demon King-level combatants were exceptions.
"Hmm, could it be a calling card?" Liana suddenly spoke up.
"What do you mean?" Everyone's eyes turned to Liana.
"Look, don't some phantom thieves leave a crime notice before they steal something? Maybe these guys are doing this just to say, 'We're going to do something big next.' Something like that..." Liana gestured in the air with one finger as she spoke.
"That's way too ridiculous, Liana. It doesn't benefit them at all and will only make us more vigilant." Mo Lini shook her head, scoffing at Liana's theory.
"Well, how am I supposed to know what those cultists are thinking? They're a bunch of crazy people anyway..." Liana angrily rubbed Mo Lini's head, then realized something and quickly pulled her hand back.
Mo Lini merely curled her lips. She didn't actually try to bite her this time—Liana was just scaring herself.
Aina's fingertips moved slightly, and a small, delicate dark red blood bat silently emerged from the shadows of her skirt.
The blood bat flew up gracefully and accurately caught the cold crest in its teeth.
Aina casually raised her hand again, tearing open a spatial rift in the air that was only a dozen centimeters long, its edges flickering with an unstable eerie light.
Without any hesitation, the blood bat agilely darted inside with the crest in its mouth. The rift immediately closed, as if it had never existed.
Liana looked at the spot where the rift had been torn open with a solemn expression.
Hmm... It was exactly at head height. If someone was walking past and the spatial rift suddenly opened... that scene would be quite spectacular.
Naturally, no one knew what bizarre things were going through Liana's mind.
Wolund stood to the side, the corner of his mouth twitching uncontrollably. He knew the horrors of spatial turbulence very well; even he did not yet possess the ability to travel through it for extended periods.
If his magic power ran out and he couldn't maintain his elementalization, he would also be shredded into pieces by the spatial turbulence.
Did this mean that a magical construct casually created by Aina possessed greater strength than him?
Mo Lini's eyes were wide open; she seemed to be thinking about something as well.
That blood bat... looked really cute.
She kind of wanted to ask Aina for one, but was too embarrassed to speak up.
Xia Lun, on the other hand, was staring at Aina's profile, as if everything around them had become a blurry background.
His wife was truly beautiful; the more he looked, the more he liked her.
Aina's focused expression when deep in thought was something he could never get tired of watching.
Aina's brow suddenly furrowed.
"What's wrong?" Xia Lun squeezed Aina's hand.
Aina parted her thin lips. "I've received news. Those scholars from the History Department... all defected last night. Today, there's no one left in the History Department's research institute."
"Aren't those old guys who study history supposed to be really smart? How could they be fooled by the Twilight Apostles?" Liana couldn't help but ask.
"Perhaps it was some kind of mental secret art, like brainwashing." Aina pondered for a moment, her fingertips unconsciously tapping lightly on the table, her red pupils flashing with a bloody light. "But logically speaking, those scholars' mental strength should be much stronger than ordinary people. They shouldn't have been brainwashed so easily..."
...
"A rare guest."
Enlaisi looked up and smiled, greeting Wolund. He raised the glass of liquor in his hand and shook it, the ice cubes inside clinking.
Enlaisi asked, "Want to have a couple of drinks?"
"Drink mine." Wolund took out a bottle of liquor from his spatial ring.
As the mellow liquor went down his throat, Enlaisi's eyes lit up slightly. "Good stuff! You're actually willing to bring this out and share it with me?" Enlaisi paused slightly. "You're not trying to make things difficult for me, are you?"
"You also study history," Wolund said straightforwardly. "You probably know what happened... Olifendo was attacked yesterday, and those history professors at the Truth Magic Academy were all corrupted by the Twilight Apostles. Furthermore, most of them had correspondence with you... Therefore, we have to keep you under strict surveillance. I hope you can cooperate."
Enlaisi's tone was somewhat loose, seemingly not caring at all. "Hmm... how should I cooperate?"
"From now on, someone will be monitoring you constantly, and your classes have been temporarily canceled." Wolund raised his glass and clinked it against Enlaisi's, making a crisp sound.
"That's a real shame, the students will be heartbroken." Enlaisi sighed.
"You'll just have to put up with it... Besides, the Twilight Apostles should be making a big move soon." Wolund's gaze rested on Enlaisi; the other man looked very casual, completely off-guard.
"True, it's perfectly normal to suspect me. Let me ask then... will I still get my salary while under watch?"
Wolund was slightly taken aback, not expecting Enlaisi to ask such a question.
"If that is your only request, yes."
"Hmm, that's great. I'll just treat it as a paid vacation." Enlaisi stretched lazily and said with a smile, "It would be wonderful if I could be kept under watch right until I retire."
"As if you'd be that lucky," Wolund scoffed.
This guy was still the same as before, as unserious as ever.
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.
. As long as he maintains the villain image and follows the plot to the grand finale, he can obtain generous rewards and return to the real world. So Gu Chen'an entered the role and began to act as a scumbag villain, but who would have expected that the female leads could hear his inner thoughts. Miss Su from the Su family was shocked: "I originally thought Gu Chen'an was a scumbag, but I didn't expect he turned out to be a gentleman! What? You said I have to call off the engagement? I definitely won't, I'll piss you off!" Bai Yuan Tian was dumbfounded: "Young Master Gu is usually unreasonable and a complete brat, but he actually calls me little sweetie in his heart? What, Young Master Gu even said he likes me?" As the female leads' images collapsed more and more, the plot also collapsed with it. Gu Chen'an looked at all this chaos. "Ladies, don't aggro me, if you keep this up the male lead really will stab me, I still need to survive to the grand finale!"
young master of the Shen family—a figure of immense power and wealth beyond measure—and awakened the "Destined Ultimate Villain System"! His starting scenario? Running into his icy fiancée who shows up with a mountain-descending divine doctor to break off their engagement. The divine doctor arrogantly taunts: "What does your Shen family have besides a bit of stinking money? You're not even worthy of tying Qingxue's shoelaces!" Shen Fei just smiled. He completely defied the usual script: "Fine, I agree to break off the engagement. Also, notify the finance department to withdraw all investments from the Su family." Minutes later, with its capital chain severed, the Su Group teetered on the brink of bankruptcy! The once aloof and proud ice queen CEO was thrown into utter panic. That very night, she went to Shen Fei's villa, casting aside all dignity to beg and plead desperately... From then on, in this world teeming with Sons of Destiny, Shen Fei embarked on a path of extreme dimensional suppression! A mountain-descending divine doctor? Peerless medical skills? Shen Fei: "Reporting you for practicing medicine without a license! I'll gladly take your ancient medicinal cauldron and twin sister assassins." The Crooked-Smiling Dragon King? Commanding a hundred thousand soldiers with a single order? Shen Fei: "Illegal assembly and suspected treason! Let a fleet of attack helicopters sanitize the area and teach you what the state apparatus really means!" A reborn tycoon? Knows all the golden opportunities of the next decade? Shen Fei: "A trillion in capital to reverse and pump the stock market, making you blow your margin and jump on the very first day of your rebirth!" What Chosen Ones? What bearers of Heavenly Fortune? In Shen Fei's eyes, they're all just chives (i.e., suckers/marks) waiting to be harvested! Shen Fei: "Sorry, but as the Destined Ultimate Villain, I don't play by the rules of honor. I only play the game of dimensional suppression."
transmigrates into the world as the sect master of the Heavenly Yan Sect, which is on the verge of being wiped out. He binds a system that grants him cultivation power based on the number of disciples he has: for each disciple, he automatically gains a year's worth of cultivation every single day! Take one disciple: every day he gains 1 year of cultivation power. While others struggle through a year of bitter training, he gets the same just by sleeping through a single night. Take ten disciples: every day he gains 10 years of cultivation power. Foundation Establishment, Core Formation, Nascent Soul—he breezes through all bottlenecks without lifting a finger. Take one hundred disciples: every day he gains 100 years of cultivation power. Even a Soul Transformation Venerable before him can’t survive a single blow. Take ten thousand disciples: every day he gains 10,000 years of cultivation power! With a wave of his hand, he topples empires. With a single step, he crushes the sacred grounds of the universe. ... While others fight tooth and nail for secret techniques, Lin Yan casually hands out Nascent Soul-level cultivation manuals as beginner textbooks. While others strain to find talented recruits, Lin Yan opens his doors to anyone—so long as they’re human. In just three short years, the Heavenly Yan Sect went from a backwater sect made up of three crumbling huts to a sacred land that every cultivator under heaven would kill to enter. ... One day, otherworldly demon gods invade, with a million demon soldiers pressing down upon the realm. Lin Yan, yawning, rises from his lounge chair and glances at the system panel: [Current Disciples: 1.28 million] [Daily Cultivation Increase: 1.28 million years] He waves his hand casually, and the countless demon soldiers are reduced to ashes in an instant. “So noisy… interrupting my fishing.”
