"Why do you have to leave so early?"
"It's only June—you still have a long time before school starts, right?"
Xia Yueshan asked, clearly unable to understand.
"Because there are other things I need to take care of."
Lin Yu didn’t want to explain Tang Manman’s situation to Xia Yueshan, so he brushed off the question.
"Then, after you’re done, can you come back?"
Xia Yueshan asked pitifully. Ever since he heard that Lin Yu wouldn’t be returning even during holidays, his frown hadn’t eased.
"No."
"I’ll be going to N City for work, and once I’m done, I’ll just prepare for school directly."
Xia Yueshan’s brows furrowed even tighter, his face practically dripping with sorrow and frustration.
The night was long, but the way home was short.
Lin Yu led Xia Yueshan into the residential complex, nodding slightly in greeting to the familiar faces of the security guards in uniform.
One of the guards, slumped drowsily in his chair, perked up the moment he saw Lin Yu. His bleary eyes snapped open, and he flashed an ingratiating smile.
But sensing that Lin Yu didn’t want to make a scene, he simply grinned eagerly and didn’t make any further moves.
"If you ever run into danger or trouble again, you can call me. Or you can even ask the security guards here for help."
Once inside the complex, Lin Yu patted Xia Yueshan’s shoulder and gave him this reminder.
Xia Yueshan remained sullen, his mood so foul he didn’t even feel like speaking.
After walking Xia Yueshan all the way to his building, Lin Yu saw that his face was still drooping, so he patted his shoulder again and comforted him:
"Don’t be sad."
"All good things must come to an end."
"If fate allows, we’ll meet again someday!"
"Go on home now."
"Don’t keep your sister waiting."
Lin Yu gave Xia Yueshan’s shoulder another pat, urging him to hurry inside.
Xia Yueshan took two steps forward, then stopped and turned back, reluctant to leave. Seeing Lin Yu’s warm, gentle smile, the thought that this might be their last meeting made him even more heartbroken.
He turned back around and headed for the stairwell, just as he was steeling himself to accept the painful reality of Lin Yu’s departure—when a sudden, sharp pain interrupted his melancholy.
Xia Yueshan yelped, immediately clutching his backside.
By the time he realized what had happened and spun around, Lin Yu was already sprinting away, his figure rapidly disappearing into the night.
Gritting his teeth and rubbing his stinging rear, Xia Yueshan hopped on one foot and roared at the distant, nearly vanished silhouette:
"Long Aotian!"
"You just wait!!!"
...
Xia Yueshan angrily shoved open the door, furious at Lin Yu for being such a jerk—and at himself for letting his guard down and falling victim to such a cheap shot!
The moment he stepped inside, he noticed his sister’s gaze fixed on him.
Or, more accurately, fixed on the space behind him.
Confused, Xia Yueshan glanced over his shoulder. Seeing nothing, he closed the door behind him.
"Xiaoshan."
"I just heard you shout—"
"Was that Lin Yu?"
Xia Muzhu’s sapphire-blue almond eyes shimmered with hopeful light, her lips curling unconsciously into a smile.
"Uh..."
Xia Yueshan scratched his head guiltily and mumbled,
"Yeah, he came, but he just dropped me off downstairs and left..."
"Oh..."
"I see..."
The light in Xia Muzhu’s eyes dimmed instantly, losing all its earlier brilliance—like a layer of gray mist settling over a once-vibrant blue sea.
Her smile lingered, but now it twisted into a bitter, self-mocking grimace.
"I—I’ll go wash the dishes."
"I haven’t cleaned up yet."
Xia Muzhu stood up from the couch, her spirit broken, and shuffled toward the kitchen.
Watching his sister’s despondent figure, Xia Yueshan felt a pang of guilt.
That bastard Lin Yu!
How dare he break my sister’s heart like this!
I—
I...
"Ugh!"
Xia Yueshan let out a heavy sigh.
He lamented the fact that there was really nothing he could do about it.
He couldn’t beat Lin Yu in a fight, couldn’t make him stay, and couldn’t even find a proper reason to blame him.
The more he thought about it, the more suffocated he felt. He wanted to retreat to his room and punch his sandbag to vent his frustration.
But just as he turned to take a step, he paused, his gaze drifting back to the figure busying herself in the kitchen.
Lin Yu was leaving.
Should he tell his sister?
Xia Yueshan was torn.
If he told her, she’d be devastated.
She was already heartbroken today—would delivering this news, which would surely hurt her even more, be too cruel?
But if he didn’t tell her, and Lin Yu left without her knowing… would they ever get another chance to meet?
Would she resent him for keeping it from her?
After standing there for only a short while, Xia Yueshan made up his mind.
Tell her.
He had to tell her.
What if it played out like one of those TV dramas?
His sister, upon hearing the news, finally confronts her feelings.
She rushes to the airport—or the train station, or wherever—to intercept Lin Yu and pour out her heart in a passionate confession!
And then…
Would there be a happy ending?
world slacker. But a genius female disciple just had to get clingy, insisting that he take her as a disciple. Not only that, she was always making advances on him, thoroughly disrupting his peaceful slacker life...
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.
rowess are unmatched, commanding a million-strong army! Yet, the Emperor wants to depose him for the sake of a false prince? Hold on, are you throwing me into some female-oriented romance plot? How can I tolerate this? With a grand wave of his hand—the Nine Clan Extraction Technique! Slander the Emperor? Very well, all of you shall die! ... The False Prince: "Although I am not the biological son, Father and Mother love me more. The throne should be mine!" The Female Lead: "Qin Xiao, you are the Emperor, and I am a commoner. If you wish to marry me, you must abdicate. Otherwise, you will never have me!" The Empress: "After we divorce, you must give me half the empire!" The Transmigrator Consort: "You worthless Emperor, why should I kneel to you? All men are equal—I advise you to be kind!" The Great General: "The enemy general is my childhood sweetheart. For her sake, I willingly abandon the frontier defenses!" The Retired Emperor: "Although Yu'er was adopted, I prefer him. Qin Xiao, you should abdicate and let him become Emperor!" ... Very well! So this is how you want to play? Facing this twisted world of female-oriented tropes, Qin Xiao grins and raises his hand to unleash—the Nine Clan Extraction Technique! I am the Emperor. Why would I bother reasoning with you? Seal the gates! Leave none alive!
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.”
