"You are cultists." Luo Lun's voice was icy, carrying undisguised disgust.
A smile that seemed both compassionate and detached appeared on Ovia's face. "That is merely a label given to us by outsiders... They simply cannot comprehend the greatness of what we are doing. Future generations who know the truth will carve monuments in our honor."
It was their usual rhetoric.
Well, there was no point in arguing with these people. Their logic had long been twisted by their own fervor.
Luo Lun said, "I cannot trust you."
"We can swear in the name of the Hero to let you leave safely." Ovia's voice softened, carrying a strange, bewitching power.
"Forget it, Ovia, this one won't talk." Colton sneered, the killing intent in his eyes almost taking physical form. "This person is a dangerous assassin with a tough backbone... It would be better to finish her off as soon as possible."
The air seemed to freeze. Luo Lun could feel Colton's undisguised malice and was well aware of the danger lurking beneath Ovia's seemingly gentle demeanor... Her mind raced, searching for a chance of survival. She had to throw out an answer that was reasonable enough and could temporarily divert their attention.
"I think the Holy Sword should be in Mr. Xia Lun's hands," Luo Lun spoke up.
Colton's mouth twitched. He had just made that remark... Was she deliberately going against him?
Ovia looked at the solemn black-robed old man behind her. The old man's cloudy eyes were half-closed, as if he were listening to invisible echoes in the air.
"She is not lying," the old man's somewhat hoarse voice came through.
Luo Lun breathed a sigh of relief.
She genuinely did not know where the Holy Sword was... She didn't even know what this so-called Holy Sword actually was.
But if she had to give an answer, it would undoubtedly be Xia Lun.
At least, that was what she truly believed in her heart... She was merely stating her own guess.
After all, Xia Lun was the Hero; it was perfectly normal for the Holy Sword to be in his hands.
"So it really is in that guy's hands. No wonder he dared to impersonate the Hero... I appreciate you, Miss Luo Lun." Ovia seemed very satisfied with Luo Lun's answer. A ray of spiritual light emerged from her fingertips and sank into the shackles.
With a crisp click, the restraints on Luo Lun's hands were released.
The moment she regained her freedom, Luo Lun's muscles instinctively tensed, but she forced down the urge to counterattack immediately, looking cautiously at the people in front of her.
She could barely handle Ovia alone... Launching a rash attack right now would undoubtedly be a very reckless move.
"Tsk, we won't break the promise we made to the Hero." Seeing Luo Lun like this, Colton felt a bit displeased.
Luo Lun was a young and beautiful woman... Logically speaking, any normal man would feel some affection toward her, but Colton was clearly not one of them.
More accurately, he disliked anyone who achieved great success at a young age.
Because he too had once shocked the academic world with a thesis and was regarded as a genius favored by the Truth Magic Academy, enjoying boundless fame for a time... But geniuses in this world were as common as carp crossing a river, and after just a few years, he had faded into mediocrity.
"Can I go now?" Luo Lun rubbed her wrists, which were aching slightly from being bound by the shackles.
"Please do," Ovia waved her hand.
Without a word, Luo Lun smashed through the window and leaped down. In just a moment, her figure vanished into the night outside.
"What do we do next? Are we going to take back the Holy Sword?" Colton looked at Ovia.
"No, that imposter's strength is quite terrifying. Even the Hero is extremely wary of him... Let's continue with our plan first. The Holy Sword is not absolutely necessary." Ovia shook her head.
Elesha frowned deeply.
"What is it, Miss Elesha?" Ovia noticed her unusual expression and asked gently, "Did you notice something?"
"Why didn't she just use the front door?" Elesha couldn't help but say. "And she smashed the window... Does she know how troublesome it is to clean up? It takes weeks to order custom-made windows."
Hearing this, the expressions of the Twilight Apostles froze for a moment, clearly not expecting that Elesha would care about such a trivial matter.
"Because she's an assassin?" Colton smiled. "Compared to that, Miss Elesha, there are worse things... Don't forget, that person smashed right through your floor."
Ovia also spoke up, "The garden has been practically ruined by the battle, but I bear some responsibility for that. I will take care of it."
"Thank you so much, Lady Ovia." Elesha gave Ovia a graceful curtsy.
"I'm going to rest." Colton yawned, stretched his back, and then left on his own.
"Then I will take my leave as well, Miss Elesha."
"Take care, Lady Ovia."
Ovia's figure seemed to be swept up by an invisible wind, lightly transforming into a wisp of air and quietly dissipating into nothingness.
The black-robed old man had also, at some unknown point, melted into the wall on the side and disappeared.
"Elesha..." a worried voice sounded from behind Elesha.
"Ah, Grandmother, is there something you need me for?" Elesha turned around with a beaming smile.
"Those people... are not... you..." Lanxia looked at her granddaughter, her cloudy eyes filled with struggle and fear. Her lips moved, but the words of warning seemed to be choked back by an invisible rope around her throat, unable to be spoken.
"You need to be careful."
"Careful? What is there to be careful about? They are all my friends." Elesha was a bit puzzled. "Besides, they are all very powerful. With their help, reviving the Norman family will be a breeze... Isn't this what you have always hoped for?"
"Elesha, you should know that there is something not quite right about them. They are cultists..." Lanxia's voice was dry.
"What are you talking about, Grandmother? They are perfectly normal. Is there anything wrong with them?" Elesha tilted her head, her tone light and filled with innocent longing.
Lanxia paused slightly; she truly could not point out anything wrong.
Everything seemed far too normal. Although they were called cultists, they could communicate normally and did not go inexplicably mad.
But Lanxia always felt that there was a trace of eeriness about them... A strange sense of incongruity made her blood run cold, like icy vines wrapping around her heart.
"You are the one who isn't acting normal, Grandmother. You are already very tired, so you should go back and rest." Elesha waved her hand at her grandmother.
Lanxia opened her mouth, but it ultimately turned into a heavy sigh. Hunching her back, she slowly turned and walked away, her retreating figure filled with a sense of powerlessness and profound despair.
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."
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!
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.”
ive and Ruthless] Before his transmigration, Ye Xuan was playing a game called "Severing Emotions to Attain the Dao." The game's core wasn't about leveling up by fighting monsters, but about conquering various "bad women" with wicked personalities and cold, fickle natures. There was only one method to conquer them: stay unwaveringly by their side, then die at a critical moment, driving them to madness after losing the protagonist. The higher their level of regret, the higher the player's score. To dominate the server, Ye Xuan conquered all the bad women. In the early stages, he showered them with boundless tenderness, only to choose to sacrifice himself for them later, making them weep bitterly and drown in regret. Among them were: Xia Lengyue, the unfaithful immortal wife who chased after powerful men and discarded her husband like trash. Ye Qingcheng, the Demonic Venerable of the Joyous Union Sect, who appeared pure and innocent but was, in reality, promiscuous. Wu Lingxiao, the Empress of the Great Xia Dynasty, who lusted after men and loved maintaining a harem. Bai Qiangu of the Endless Demonic Sect: a bloodthirsty mass murderer. However, when the protagonist transmigrated into the game world, he made a horrifying discovery. Eight hundred years had already passed. The bad women he had conquered had now each become deities and revered ancestors. Faced with the endless stream of toxic women coming for him, Ye Xuan could only rely on his god-tier acting skills to carve a path of survival through this world of treacherous women.
