The Fuyao Immortal Sect still handed over their tribute to Hu Jiao, a Zhun Di of the Divine Realm, in full, not a single bit missing, with Great Sage Chen Xi personally delivering it to Hu Jiao.
Hu Jiao spread out the tribute and casually dumped it on the ground, then began to sort through it with his foot, a process that dragged on much longer than necessary, clearly intended to humiliate.
Great Sage Chen Xi stood quietly to the side, her eyes hiding a deep resentment, yet she dared not show it, forcing herself to endure, fearing that any outburst would bring retribution from the Divine Realm's cultivators upon the entire Fuyao Immortal Sect.
"Tsk tsk, not a single bit missing, but also not a single bit more. Such limited vision from the Fuyao Immortal Sect, no wonder they've fallen to this state. Truly pathetic," Hu Jiao said, shaking his head with disdain, showing no respect for the Fuyao Immortal Sect.
Great Sage Chen Xi kept her head low, simply replying, "We followed your instructions precisely. If there are no issues, our sect will now close its doors for meditation."
Hu Jiao flicked his fingers, and the tribute items on the ground were all retrieved. He looked at Great Sage Chen Xi and shook his head contemptuously again.
"Closing the sect again? Do all Immortal Realm sects like to hide away to avoid trouble? But hiding away doesn't seem to work, does it? All these years, the Fuyao Immortal Sect has only managed to produce one Great Sage..."
"Oh, right..." Hu Jiao suddenly seemed to remember something, tapping his head lightly and then stroking his horned dragon headgear, sneering, "I heard your Fuyao Immortal Sect once had a Zhun Di as its sect leader. Where is he now? Did he run away at the mere mention of the Divine Realm's might? Tsk tsk, I can't blame her, the Divine Realm's reputation is indeed terrifying, so running away..."
“Don't spew nonsense! The sect leader is merely in *bi guan* (meditation), and when she returns, she will be a Da Di!” Great Sage Chen Xi suddenly raised her head, glaring fiercely at Hu Jiao.
"A Da Di? Da Di?" Hu Jiao repeated twice, then burst into laughter as if hearing something utterly ridiculous, bending over and slapping his knees hard.
The laughter abruptly stopped, and Hu Jiao straightened up, his eyes full of contempt as he taunted Great Sage Chen Xi, "Don't talk about 'when she returns.' That sect leader has long fled to another state to hide, while you poor unknowing fools still wait foolishly. How laughable."
And even if she didn't run and actually became a Da Di, so what? In the Treasure Ring Scale State today, a Da Di can't do much. The Divine Realm has plenty of Da Dis, and there are even true ultimate beings presiding. Even the great ancestor who founded a sect in the East Jia State was severely wounded by our ultimate being. Do you really think a common Da Di sect leader from the Fuyao Immortal Sect could make a difference?
"If she dared to cause trouble in the Treasure Ring Scale State, she would be instantly obliterated!" Hu Jiao coldly threatened.
Great Sage Chen Xi's face turned pale. She realized that the outcomes Hu Jiao described were indeed likely. The anger in her eyes faded, replaced by a deep, inescapable helplessness.
The worst thing in life is not suffering, but seeing no hope.
Hu Jiao adjusted his hair at the temple and casually added, "Today, I'll consider the Fuyao Immortal Sect cleared. Next time I come for the tribute, if it's still not a single bit missing, then it's your sect being ignorant. I can't guarantee what troubles the Fuyao Immortal Sect might face then, understand?"
Great Sage Chen Xi wearily nodded, her voice stiff and mechanical, devoid of emotion, "Yes."
Hu Jiao left with an air of arrogance, his presence weighing heavily on the Fuyao Immortal Sect.
Above Hu Jiao, the entire Divine Realm pressed down, making it hard for the Fuyao Immortal Sect to breathe.
The Fuyao Immortal Sect did not choose to close its doors to the outside world; in this chaotic era, they needed to survive, needed treasures and spirit stones to pay the tribute, and needed to maintain good relations with other sects and curry favor with Divine Realm cultivators.
Reaching the current level of cultivation was no longer about spiritual cultivation, but about navigating the complexities of human interactions.
It seemed to have strayed far from the essence of being a cultivator, but what could they do?
The myriad worldly affairs are beyond one's control.
Great Sage Chen Xi had also learned to greet the Divine Realm's Da Dis with a smile, even when she was humiliated, she remained composed, just relentlessly offering smiles. Each tribute was given a bit extra.
Her eyes no longer showed resentment or anger; all that remained was deep helplessness and numbness.
Sometimes Hu Jiao would bring a Divine Realm Da Di to the Fuyao Immortal Sect for inspection, which was essentially a form of intimidation.
Whenever this happened, Great Sage Chen Xi would stand smiling to the side, but never spoke a single sycophantic word.
The Da Di would point at her and make blunt, dismissive remarks.
"Can't even say a proper word, just keeps smiling. So stiff, no wonder you're just a Great Sage. Such a shallow intellect is only worthy of being a Great Sage, humph."
Great Sage Chen Xi just lowered her head, maintaining her wooden smile, as if completely unaffected—or perhaps already numb.
In the territory of the Divine Realm, Immortal Realm sects naturally struggled to survive.
Hu Jiao chimed in with a laugh, "You're absolutely right, Master. The entire Fuyao Immortal Sect seems so wooden, lacking any spirit. I can't fathom how such a sect has managed to survive this long without perishing. If placed in the Divine Realm, they would have long turned to dust."
Great Sage Chen Xi never refuted, only lowering her head and slightly curling her mouth as if smiling.
She wasn't even sure if that expression could still be considered a smile.
Perhaps sensing no reply and not seeing any change in Great Sage Chen Xi's expression, Hu Jiao and the Da Di found it boring and waved their hands dismissively.
"Your Fuyao Immortal Sect is destined to achieve nothing more than this. Pathetic. The next time you meet a bigwig from the Divine Realm, remember to be humble and speak pleasantly, or your Fuyao Immortal Sect won't last long."
"Good, good," Great Sage Chen Xi mechanically nodded.
Hu Jiao and the Da Di left, their figures disappearing.
Great Sage Chen Xi remained with her mouth curled in a smile.
"Deputy Sect Leader, they're gone... really gone," one of the elders finally couldn't help but remind her.
Great Sage Chen Xi seemed to come to her senses, using her fingers to pull down the stiff smile from her lips. Then she lowered her head, nodding woodenly, "Gone, yes... gone is good."
She was called Great Sage Chen Xi, but it seemed dawn no longer shone for her. No matter how hard she tried to see, no matter when she looked, all that greeted her was an endless, dark void.
Devoid of boundaries, only filled with dread.
Years passed.
Until one day, the ninth peak of the Immortal Realm stirred. A woman emerged from the ninth peak, claiming to have become a Da Di, descending the mountain atop resplendent white lotuses.
Xu Zhen emerged from her seclusion.
lanned to earn money steadily and take life at a slower pace. But he never expected... his father's remarriage, and the stepmother bringing along a dependent, would completely disrupt his life's plans...
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.
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.”
] This is a dark fantasy-themed dating simulation game. The main gameplay involves containing various monster girls and investigating the truth of a world shrouded in mist alongside your companions. However, due to his love for the dark and bizarre atmosphere, Luo Wei ended up turning a dating game into a detective mystery game. Women? Women only slow down his quickdraw! To Luo Wei, the female leads in the game are more like tools to perfectly clear levels and squeeze out rewards. For Luo Wei, flirting with every girl he meets and then discarding them is standard procedure. Worried about characters losing affection points? No need. With his maxed-out charm stat, Luo Wei is practically a "human incubus." A little psychological manipulation and those points come right back. It's a bit scummy, but the paper cutout heroines in the game won't actually come at him with real cleavers. However... Luo Wei has transmigrated. He's accidentally entered the second playthrough of this game. His past actions have caused all the girls to transform into terrifying yanderes. Due to the game's setting, most of the heroines he once contained are "troubled girls." Obsessive, twisted, mentally unstable, all aggressive yanderes... The type who will kill you if they can't have you... Luo Wei wants to cry but has no tears left. "I really just want to survive..." In short, this is a story of battling wits and engaging in a love-hate relationship with yanderes.
