As the saying goes, if the enemy doesn't move, I won't move either.
Ye Shu firmly believed that even the best disguise would have its flaws, and even if the other party had truly been reborn, he wouldn't be afraid.
He was no longer the version of himself from the system's script.
Whether it was his techniques, martial skills, or combat expertise, every bit of it had been painstakingly developed through his own trial and error, belonging to no one else.
"Why have you come to Cloud Soaring Sect now?" Li Qingran asked again when the other party remained silent.
"To settle some past grudges," Ye Shu said coolly.
"..."
Hearing this, Li Qingran was silent for a moment. She clearly realized what Ye Shu was referring to.
He couldn't wait any longer—he was eager to bring things to a final resolution.
"Fine."
She nodded and agreed. "Since that's what you want, we'll settle this today."
"Miss..."
Upon hearing this, the maid beside Li Qingran tugged at her sleeve, looking at her with concern, and lowered her voice, "But your cultivation..."
"It doesn't matter. This is what I owe him."
Li Qingran's expression remained unchanged. "If I were to back out because of that, what would be the point?"
"Well... alright then..."
"Miss, do your best."
Xiaocui hesitated for a moment, but recalling her mistress's stubborn temperament, she chose not to argue further.
"Qingran, you..."
Old Master Zhao, who had been knocked to the ground, struggled to his feet, but Li Qingran raised her hand to stop him. "Elder Zhao, my mind is made up. Don't try to persuade me. Since this was our agreement from back then, there's no reason to shirk it. I will honor it."
With that, she looked at Ye Shu and pointed to the ground beneath her feet.
"Let's settle it right here. How about that?"
"For something like this, don't you want to find some spectators or anything?" Ye Shu was taken aback, a strange expression crossing his face.
According to the usual formula, there should be a crowd of onlookers.
Then a few bystanders would chime in with commentary, and finally, a fierce battle would ensue, where he would stun everyone and emerge victorious.
Doing it so hastily left him completely unprepared.
"There's no need for that," Li Qingran shook her head. In truth, she was a bit worried. Her master was still in seclusion, unaware of the outside world. If she found out that Ye Shu was here right now, who knew what might happen? So it was better to finish this quickly.
No matter the outcome—win or lose—she didn't want a third party getting involved.
"Since that's the case, let's begin."
Seeing this, Ye Shu didn't dawdle. He slowly drew the Azure Black Sword, held it to one side, and said coldly, "Let me make it clear—I don't have a habit of going easy on anyone."
"Good, that's exactly what I want," Li Qingran replied coldly. Then she took out a round pill from her pocket and tossed it to him.
"What's this?"
Ye Shu caught the pill, a bit bewildered.
Could she be trying to poison me? But this was far too blatant, wasn't it? Did she think he was an idiot?
"A fourth-grade Essence Restoration Pill," Li Qingran said indifferently. "To make up for the spiritual energy you just expended. I don't want anyone saying I won unfairly."
She hits him and then hands him a healing item.
Ye Shu had never seen anything like this in his life.
He swallowed the pill in one gulp, feeling the surge of replenished spiritual power within him, and felt a peculiar sense of unease.
She really hadn't poisoned it.
What was wrong with this woman? Why couldn't he get a read on her intentions at all?
"Once you've recovered, let's start quickly," Li Qingran urged, holding her longsword. She was afraid that if her master found out, things would get complicated.
Miss......" Xiaocui, standing nearby, her big eyes full of worry, said, "You must not get into trouble, or else how will I explain to the master?"
Why does it feel like she's more anxious than I am?
Ye Shu grumbled in his heart.
Oh well, if worst comes to worst, I'll just go all out soon enough.
"Let's get one thing straight—I don't have a habit of holding back."
"Neither do I," Li Qingran said, gripping her sword hilt tightly, her voice cold. "Then let's begin."
"Good."
The instant the words fell, Ye Shu's figure vanished from where he stood. Every star within his body blazed brightly, linking into lines.
"Taichong—Divine Step!"
Whoosh!
It was almost teleportation: Ye Shu appeared right before Li Qingran, face to face, mere inches apart.
Li Qingran's pupils contracted, and she instinctively tried to step back.
"Ruoshui—Bind!"
Ye Shu formed a hand seal, and the stars within him wove another trapping formation, turning into a torrent of flowing water that enveloped her. Li Qingran's expression shifted as she felt the space around her freeze, becoming so viscous that she could barely lift her hand.
Seeing his opponent trapped so easily, a flicker of doubt passed through Ye Shu's eyes.
Wait—this is Li Qingran we're talking about!
One of the most gifted female protagonists, an early-stage boss. With the system's enhancement, she should at least be stronger than her original self, right?
How could she have been caught so easily?
She's definitely still holding back.
Fine, I'll make you show your hand!
Ye Shu gritted his teeth and hardened his resolve.
No matter what tricks she pulled, he would crush them all with raw power.
With that thought, he held nothing back. All his spiritual energy converged onto the Qingxuan Sword. The sword hummed loudly, its runes swirling frantically like chains of gold.
"Slash!!!"
Ye Shu swung his sword with all his might.
The sword light was like a rainbow, dazzling as the sun; heaven and earth dimmed before its brilliance.
"Miss! Dodge!"
Xiaocui's desperate cry echoed across the square.
Ye Shu kept his eyes locked on Li Qingran, waiting to see what she would do next—would she finally counterattack, or had she prepared some secret technique to deflect the blow?
But—Li Qingran did not dodge.
"Is she that cocky?" Ye Shu marveled inwardly. Even he would have had to retreat from this strike, yet she didn't even flinch.
In the next second, he understood why.
Mid-stage Golden Core?!
The moment his sword light made contact, the sensation beneath it made Ye Shu's face contort.
What—what the hell?
Wasn't Li Qingran at the peak of Golden Core a year ago? Why was she now only at the mid stage?
This strike of his, at full power, could kill an Nascent Soul cultivator. By the normal script, Li Qingran—at early Nascent Soul stage, as the female lead—would at most be severely injured even if she couldn't fully block it. But now, she was only at early Golden Core.
That meant...
He might have just become a wife-killer.
e, Immortal Body, Transmigration, System, Progression Fantasy, Academy Setting, Third-Person Perspective. Alternate Title: Transmigrating into a High Martial World and Reading Live Comments. Bad news: I transmigrated. This is a terrifying high-martial world, and my original, pathetically weak body fell into a coma and never woke up. Good news: I got a Popularity Points system upon arrival. I can see live comments and even create an unkillable alternate identity. Starting out, the alternate identity has all stats at 1. The system tells me that to grow stronger, I must participate in the plot, gain popularity points to allocate stats and grow stronger, and ultimately awaken my original body. And so, carrying my original body on my back, I officially entered Huaqing Academy, where the story's protagonist resides. From that moment on, Chen Guan kicked the original plot to pieces. Live Comments: [Doesn't anyone find this mysterious coffin guy creepy? He can summon indescribable grey misty hands.] [Is this guy a hero or a villain? What kind of onion became a spirit?] [By the way, does anyone know who's in the coffin? Shouldn't the debt for saving his life be repaid by now?] [According to unofficial histories, the person in the coffin was Chen Guan's first love. Their love was once passionate and earth-shattering, but they were separated by life and death due to worldly circumstances. What a star-crossed pair.] ... Years later, the world knew of a demon god born from a coffin, shrouded in grey mist, impossible to gaze upon directly. His foremost divine emissary often wielded a scythe, reaping lives like the god of death. As war approached, facing former friends and a boundless sea of enemies, Chen Guan merely raised his scythe. "Would you like to dance as well?"
pression Bureau] Transported to a fantasy world overrun by demons and monsters, Gu Qingfeng becomes a jailer in the Demon Suppression Prison of the Great Yan Dynasty's Demon Suppression Bureau. From this point on, bizarre cases frequently occur in the Demon Suppression Prison, once known as hell on earth and infamous for its gloomy, terrifying atmosphere! Why do the demons and monsters in the prison wail miserably every night? Why has the corpse demon, capable of transforming into various beauties, donned black stockings and switched careers to become a foot massage therapist? Why has the eye demon, expert in soul-snatching and illusions, turned into a VR headset? Why is the fox spirit performing otaku dances? Are all these occurrences a twisted expression of demonic nature, or a descent into moral depravity? After peeling away layer upon layer of mystery, all clues ultimately point to a jailer named Gu Qingfeng. Gu Qingfeng: "Hehehe... My dear demons and monsters, whose card shall we flip today?"
end. Thus one must continue to cultivate, and become a saint or great emperor, in order to prolong one's life. Chen Xia, however, completely reversed this. Since his transmigration, he has gained immortality, and also a system that awards him with attribute points for every year he lives. Thus between the myriad worlds, the legend of an unparalleled senior appeared. "A gentleman takes revenge; it is never too late even after ten thousand years." "When you were at your peak I yielded, now in your old age I shall trample on you." - Chen Xia
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.”
