"Heh... heheh..."
Looking at the bracelet in Zhao Zhixia's hand, Ye Shu, who was half-kneeling on the ground, let out a suppressed chuckle from his throat.
Zhao Zhixia furrowed her delicate brows, not understanding the meaning behind it.
Was this... reluctance to part with it?
In fact, if she were to lie down right now and look up, she would find that on Ye Shu's lowered head, the corners of his mouth were slowly curling into a smile.
The moment he thought about what he was going to do next.
He couldn't quite control the corners of his mouth.
No, I can't.
I can't smile just yet.
Wait, wait a few more minutes before smiling.
Ye Shu took a deep breath, took the bracelet from Zhao Zhixia's hand, carefully placed it in his sleeve, and then raised his head, his expression returning to its previous unruffled calm.
"Miss Zhao, I came here for one thing."
"What is it?"
"Very simple. A trade."
"A trade?" Zhao Zhixia's eyes flickered, already faintly guessing his meaning. She walked over to the table, pulled out a chair, and sat down.
"Tell me, what kind of trade."
Ye Shu did not sit down; he remained standing.
"The token."
"Haven't you all been wasting your time here just to find my Ye family's token? A long time ago, my deadbeat old man gave the token to me. Today, what it looks like and exactly how to unseal it, only I know."
"And today, I will use this token to make a trade."
As soon as these words came out, everyone present was shocked.
The Shadow Guard's pupils shrank.
To think that the token they had been searching so hard for was actually in the hands of this callow youth.
No wonder the Miss never abandoned this kid.
He had thought his Miss had actually taken a liking to this brat, but thinking about it now, the Miss had long discovered that the secret of the token was in his hands.
As expected of the Miss!
On the other side, Xiaobai jumped up anxiously upon hearing this.
"Hey! You're just handing it over like that?"
"This is a very important item, one of the tokens to enter the Eight Immortals Ruins! The other ancient families are all looking for it! There are countless treasures inside, and this is something passed down through generations in your Ye family. You're just handing it over?!"
Ye Shu, however, remained completely unmoved.
"If there is no present, how can we speak of the future?"
Zhao Zhixia also didn't expect him to be so straightforward, but on second thought, this was indeed this guy's style.
"Speak, how do we trade."
"Whether it's cultivation manuals or divine weapons, as long as I can bring it out, I can give it to you."
Anything that can be solved with money is not a problem at all.
"I don't need those."
"I only need you to promise me to protect the Ye family for a hundred years."
"Protect the Ye family for a hundred years..." Xiaobai, who was sitting on Ye Shu's shoulder, suddenly froze.
Because she suddenly understood why Ye Shu was doing this.
This world was no longer that step-by-step world that destined him to reach the absolute summit.
Feng Mengli wanted to kill him.
The late-stage villains wanted to kill him.
Certain female leads also wanted to kill him.
In the future, the Ye family would also face a calamity.
But at that time, Zhao Zhixia had used the Zhao family's influence to secretly protect the Ye clan.
But now, Zhao Zhixia had obviously been reborn as well.
Therefore, Ye Shu didn't dare to gamble.
He couldn't bet the lives of everyone in the Ye family on whether Zhao Zhixia would secretly help like before. So he had to use the token to exchange for a tangible guarantee for the Ye family.
A guarantee backed by a Heavenly Dao Oath.
"You guy..."
Xiaobai looked at Ye Shu with a complex gaze.
So this guy had been thinking about the future all along? That was why he came here in the middle of the night.
Faced with this trade, Zhao Zhixia pondered for a moment.
"Alright."
"Wait."
Ye Shu suddenly seemed to remember something. He glanced at the Shadow Guard hiding in the shadows and smiled. "Originally, I wanted to trade the token with you directly, but now I've changed my mind."
"I want to make a bet with you."
"A bet?"
Zhao Zhixia was a bit stunned by his fickleness.
"That's right," Ye Shu nodded. "A bet. I want this guy..."
He pointed at the Shadow Guard and enunciated every word clearly:
"I want him to have a Dao Duel with me!"
"A Dao Duel?!"
The Shadow Guard hidden in the darkness was taken aback. Did he hear that right? This callow youth wanted a Dao Duel with him?
A Dao Duel.
Dao as in the Heavenly Dao.
Duel as in a battle.
An absolutely fair method of dueling where both parties make an oath, witnessed by the Heavenly Dao.
Ye Shu looked at Zhao Zhixia and said indifferently, "I will fight him at the same cultivation realm. If I win, I will give the token to you, but you must make a Heavenly Dao Oath that after accepting the token, you will protect my Ye clan for a hundred years."
"If I lose, I will just give the token directly to you."
"Of course, we can also just trade directly. You can choose however you like."
"Arrogant!"
The Shadow Guard couldn't help but shout angrily.
This bet only had benefits for them. If they won, they wouldn't have to give anything; if they lost, they only needed to protect the Ye family for a hundred years.
But that was exactly where the problem lay.
When the other party gave up all the advantages.
The bet itself became the greatest humiliation to him, as if Ye Shu were saying to him, "Look, regardless of winning or losing, it only benefits you. If you don't even dare to accept this, then you might as well roll back to the countryside and find a plot of land to farm."
This kid just wanted to fight him!
How dare he?
It's a trap. There must be a trap.
But the Shadow Guard couldn't figure it out. Even if he fought Ye Shu at the same realm, a Soul Formation stage cultivator's combat experience was not something a callow youth could compare to. Where did this guy get his confidence?
But even knowing it was a trap, he had no way to back down.
This was the pride of a cultivator!
"Miss, please let me fight this kid." The Shadow Guard cupped his hands and requested of Zhao Zhixia.
Zhao Zhixia didn't look at the Shadow Guard, but looked at Ye Shu.
Or rather, from the very beginning, her gaze had seemingly never left the man in front of her.
"Are you sure?"
"I'm sure."
"Alright, I accept." Zhao Zhixia nodded without any hesitation and raised four fingers. "I, Zhao Zhixia, hereby swear an oath. Regardless of victory or defeat in the same-realm battle between Ye Shu and the Shadow Guard, I, Zhao Zhixia, will protect the Ye family for a hundred years. If I break this oath, may heaven and earth destroy me."
After saying that, she withdrew her hand.
As if unwilling to be misunderstood, she added a few more words. "Uncle Ye has treated me well all these years. No matter what is said, the Ye family is my second home. Protecting this place is something I ought to do anyway."
"..."
Danxia and Xiaobai were both speechless.
They looked at Zhao Zhixia, and then looked at Ye Shu.
On the left was a stubborn mule, and on the right was another stubborn mule.
Meanwhile, on the other side, the Shadow Guard had already taken his stance.
"Kid, today I will let you know what it means that there is always someone better, and a sky beyond the sky."
"Then let us make the oath," Ye Shu smiled faintly.
The two stood in place, then raised four fingers and swore the Dao Oath.
As the Heavenly Dao, Xiaobai naturally received their Dao Duel request. With a gentle wave of her small hand, the Shadow Guard's overall aura instantly plummeted level by level, all the way down to the Foundation Establishment stage.
From then on, the two were at the same realm.
Under the moonlight.
The Shadow Guard and Ye Shu stood facing each other.
"Begin," Zhao Zhixia said indifferently.
Swish—
Just as her voice fell, Ye Shu, who was originally in their line of sight, vanished in an instant.
Where did this kid go?
The Shadow Guard was startled.
This was simply not a speed someone at the Foundation Establishment realm could achieve. This kid must have used some kind of secret technique.
Sure enough, to dare challenge him to a fight, the boy must have had something to rely on.
While inwardly alarmed, he raised his guard even higher.
But in the next second, he suddenly noticed a tall back appearing in his line of sight. At the same time, he realized he seemed to have grown shorter, and he had completely lost control of his own body.
Just as the Shadow Guard was feeling confused, he suddenly realized that the back... looked so familiar...
It seemed to be... my own?

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!

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."

. As long as he maintains the villain image and follows the plot to the grand finale, he can obtain generous rewards and return to the real world. So Gu Chen'an entered the role and began to act as a scumbag villain, but who would have expected that the female leads could hear his inner thoughts. Miss Su from the Su family was shocked: "I originally thought Gu Chen'an was a scumbag, but I didn't expect he turned out to be a gentleman! What? You said I have to call off the engagement? I definitely won't, I'll piss you off!" Bai Yuan Tian was dumbfounded: "Young Master Gu is usually unreasonable and a complete brat, but he actually calls me little sweetie in his heart? What, Young Master Gu even said he likes me?" As the female leads' images collapsed more and more, the plot also collapsed with it. Gu Chen'an looked at all this chaos. "Ladies, don't aggro me, if you keep this up the male lead really will stab me, I still need to survive to the grand finale!"

ver to a world of cultivation and returned invincible. Modern medicine is child's play compared to elixirs; technological might crumbles before true cultivation. My name is Qin Ning, Earth's sole cultivator!