Meanwhile, on the other side.
Lin Qingxue, steering the Lotus Heavenly Skiff, had no idea she had just survived a life-and-death crisis.
She merely pushed the lotus platform to its limits, flying desperately into the distance.
Faster!
Even faster!
Master and the others are coming! The Snake-men are coming! Those coveting the spiritual fire are coming!
If only I can reach that place!
Spiritual energy was being consumed at a terrifying rate.
Gritting her teeth, Lin Qingxue had to take out spirit stones one by one from her storage bag. The stones shattered in her palms, and the spiritual energy was frantically absorbed into her body before being channeled into the lotus platform.
Finally!
At the cost of six hundred mid-grade spirit stones.
A massive flying ship faintly appeared at the distant edge of the desert. It was hundreds of feet tall and immeasurably wide, carved entirely from white jade. The hull was engraved with various complex flight and defense runes, emitting a faint fluorescence under the moonlight.
That was the sect flying ship of the Azure Profound Sect.
Upon it stood courtyards, pavilions, and even restaurants and taverns, looking just like a small town.
For this trial, it wasn't just the Purple Cloud Peak that came; under the influence of the system, it was a trial organized by the entire Azure Profound Sect. This flying ship could accommodate tens of thousands of people and was the Azure Profound Sect's mobile vessel for large-scale events.
Its construction cost was exorbitant, enough to rival the wealth of a third-rate sect.
"We're here!"
Lin Qingxue's eyes lit up, and her heart finally relaxed a little.
At least here, she wouldn't have to worry about other factions in the desert, like the Snake-men, coming to cause trouble.
"Heartless Man, you have to pay back these spirit stones."
Looking at the unconscious Ye Shu on the lotus platform, Lin Qingxue sighed and steered the platform toward the deck.
"Senior Sister Qingxue?"
As soon as she landed, the guarding disciples on the deck let out gasps of surprise. They looked at Lin Qingxue on the lotus platform, then at the ragged, bruised dancer girls behind her, and finally at the white-clad youth whose body was emitting fire. For a moment, they didn't know what to say.
It was a younger guarding disciple who finally stepped forward.
"Senior Sister, even though we came to the Dangul Desert to rob... uh, to find opportunities, isn't straight-up human trafficking a bit too much?"
He pointed at the dancers, his face filled with righteous indignation.
Lin Qingxue glared at him.
"If you don't know how to speak, then shut up. Who told you this is human trafficking? I rescued them from someone else's clutches! Rescued them, do you understand?!"
"Hurry up and take them down to settle them in."
"Also, you are not allowed to tell anyone that this person is with me. If I find out any of you blabbed..." Lin Qingxue pointed at the collapsed Ye Shu, her gaze sweeping over the guarding disciples present, making no secret of her threat.
The guarding disciples trembled and nodded hastily.
"Don't worry, Senior Sister, we didn't see anything."
A guarding disciple stepped forward, wanting to guide the dancers to the rest area, but they shrank together in unison, looking fearfully at the strangers before them.
"Don't be afraid."
Lin Qingxue's voice carried a rare gentleness as she said softly, "These are our Azure Profound Sect disciples; they won't hurt you. Everything is fine now. Once I settle Qingli and the Heartless Man, I will come find you."
After speaking, she glared at the disciple again.
"Treat them well. If you dare to bully them..."
"We wouldn't dare." The guarding disciple waved his hands repeatedly.
The dancers finally relaxed and, somewhat timidly, followed the guarding disciple away.
Seeing the dancers settled.
A heavy stone in Lin Qingxue's heart finally dropped.
Next, it was these two.
Looking at Ye Shu and Xiao Qingli on the lotus platform, Lin Qingxue beckoned to another guarding disciple and ordered, "Go arrange a small flying ship for me, the fastest one available. I am returning to the Azure Profound Sect today."
The Lotus Heavenly Skiff was fast, but it consumed too much spiritual energy.
Even if she exhausted all her spirit stones, it probably wouldn't be enough for her to fly back to the Hundred Thousand Mile Mountains.
It was better to switch to a small flying ship, which excelled in endurance.
Hearing this, the guarding disciple was taken aback.
"Senior Sister, if you go back alone, are you just going to leave the matters of Purple Cloud Peak unattended? Moreover, for this sect trial, leaving early might be a bit... against the rules."
"I don't have time to explain to you, just arrange it quickly."
Lin Qingxue's voice carried a hint of urgency. If they waited until her Master and the others returned, the Heartless Man would definitely be dead!
"But this..."
The guarding disciple was somewhat conflicted, but meeting Lin Qingxue's slightly reddened eyes, he swallowed the words that had reached his lips.
"A-alright, I'll go register it."
He nodded with difficulty, turned around, and ran off like a wisp of smoke.
Lin Qingxue watched his back at the registration desk, then looked in the direction of the Snake-man City, burning with anxiety.
She didn't know how long the battle in the Snake-man City would last.
But considering the spiritual fire was already lost, it definitely couldn't be too long. Her Master might already be on her way back.
By then, the Heartless Man would surely have only one path to take—death.
"Faster... Please be faster... Master is coming..."
She urged in a low voice, her eyes fixed intently on the distant registration desk. Just a few seconds felt as though hundreds of years had passed.
Finally, under Lin Qingxue's anxious, eye-bulging gaze.
The guarding disciple looked up, took out a stamped document, and waved at her.
"Senior Sister, it's done!"
Swoosh!
Before he could even react, Lin Qingxue appeared right in front of him and snatched the document away.
Great! There's hope!
Just as she breathed a sigh of relief, her pupils suddenly shrank.
Outside the deck, at the end of the desert.
Beyond the distant skyline, five blurry silhouettes were flying toward this location.
Lin Qingxue's heart skipped a beat.
It was too late.
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!
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...
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."
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.
