While a fierce battle raged in the cavern, a completely different scene unfolded in the Snake-Person City.
Within the royal palace of the Holy City.
Armored snake-person warriors completely surrounded the twenty-three dancers. The gleam of their blades reflected the candlelight, radiating a chilling glint.
Although the city's elites had all gone to the underground cavern, and the guards left behind were mostly at the Foundation Establishment realm with a very small number of Golden Core snake-people, it was still more than enough to deal with this group of dancers who had not even reached the Qi Condensation realm.
Looking at the guards exuding murderous intent all around them.
The dancers huddled together in fear, their bodies trembling uncontrollably. Some of the more timid ones had even begun to cry.
Hemp rope always breaks at its thinnest point, and misfortune only seeks out the wretched.
At this moment, only Xiao Qingli remained standing in the center of the hall. She stood there in a daze, staring at the gleaming longswords, her little head completely blank.
She could not understand.
Why?
Why had things suddenly turned out like this when everything was fine? Why did they suddenly want to kill them?
Clearly... clearly she had worked so hard.
Clearly everyone had danced so well.
Clearly these past two months had been the happiest time of her life. Clearly they, these very guards holding longswords, had been so happy when watching the performance from below the stage, and had even applauded for them, had they not?
It should not be like this.
Reality should not be like this!!!
She had it all planned out. She was going to use the best dance, the best performance, to make everyone remember them, so that they could all stay and live a good life.
But now, with blades pressed against their necks.
What did all her hard work amount to?
"Why?"
Xiao Qingli clenched her small fists, her nails digging deeply into her flesh. Tears welled up in her large eyes as she questioned unwillingly, "You were the ones who invited us to perform, were you not?"
"We did not do anything wrong!"
"What gives you the right!!!"
"My mom, dad, and I were staying peacefully at home, but I was kidnapped into the dance troupe and abused. I finally had two months of a good life, and now you want to kill us!"
"On what grounds!"
"What did we ever do wrong! You bad people, why will you not just let us go!"
Xiao Qingli cried and shouted, scolding incoherently. The grievance in her heart clogged her throat, making her almost unable to speak, yet she still roared with all her might because she was afraid... afraid she would never have the chance to say it again... Her voice was hoarse, and her small body looked exceptionally frail in the grand hall.
However—
The blades were merciless, and the snake-people were ruthless.
"The Queen has decreed."
The leader's tone was icy and devoid of emotion.
"Anyone who has entered the Holy City within the past two months, whether snake-person or not, shall be killed without exception!"
"Just for that reason?"
Xiao Qingli was stunned.
How absurd, how utterly absurd. It was the snake-people who invited them to perform, yet now they were going to kill them because of it.
The leading snake-person warrior said no more.
He gestured to the other guards, and everyone took a unified step forward, tightening the encirclement a bit more. The dancers inside turned deathly pale and huddled together; some had already collapsed onto the floor.
An aura of despair spread among them all.
A silver-white longsword slashed downwards, but Xiao Qingli stood frozen in place, not dodging or hiding. There was no fear of death in her eyes, only a profound despair.
Fake... it was all fake...
Big brother was fake...
The performance was fake...
She thought she could exchange her performance for sympathy, thought she could lead everyone to a good life...
It turned out to be nothing but an illusion, an empty dream.
This world is too bitter, Mom, too bitter. Why must Xiao Qingli still die when she has worked so hard? Why is no one in this world reasonable...
Mom... Qingli is so tired...
Qingli wants to come and be with you...
Xiao Qingli closed her eyes. Two trails of clear tears slowly slid down from the corners of her eyes, splashing onto the ground.
However, the expected pain never arrived.
Instead, there was the sound of a flute.
Very familiar.
Very melodious.
Like a gentle breeze brushing over the hills, like a clear spring flowing, smoothing away all the pain and grievances in her heart.
The flute melody drifted for three thousand miles, and the entire city heard the sound of the wooden flute.
Xiao Qingli opened her eyes in bewilderment.
The snake-person guard holding the longsword was frozen in place. The blade had stopped a mere inch from her, yet it could not be slashed down no matter what.
The clear and bright flute melody still echoed within the great hall.
Xiao Qingli turned her head and looked in the direction the sound was coming from.
She saw a figure slowly walking over.
It was Qingyuan.
She held a bamboo flute, playing with her eyes closed. Her feather-light rainbow garments fluttered in the wind as she walked step by step towards Xiao Qingli, moving through the hall full of armored, sword-wielding guards as if there was no one there.
With every step she took, a cluster of flames rose beneath her feet.
The flames were the color of colored glaze, burning along the edges of her clothes and blooming into lotus flowers.
She walked unhurriedly, advancing step by step.
Amidst the hall full of guards.
Amidst the panic-stricken dancers.
Following her footsteps, the surrounding guards fell down one after another, as if they had fallen into the deepest of dreams.
Under the burning of the flames, her feathered garments gradually transformed into a white robe, her smooth throat grew an Adam's apple, and her full chest flattened out.
Finally, when she arrived in front of Xiao Qingli.
Xiao Qingli saw clearly.
It was a man.
He had a delicate appearance, not particularly handsome, but he carried an aura as warm and gentle as a spring breeze. A faint smile lingered at the corners of his mouth, just like a boy-next-door. His clothes were whiter than snow, as white as the snow-capped mountains described in storybooks.
His flute music was more pleasant than a clear spring.
The bad people fell asleep upon hearing it.
He stood in front of her, and behind him were the fallen bad people who had wanted to hurt her.
The melody finally came to an end.
Ye Shu lowered the bamboo flute and looked down at the teary-eyed little girl looking up at him. He reached out a hand to her and smiled faintly:
"Do not be afraid, I am here."
ng to die together with you." Lin Xuan is dead, his body thrown into the river by his scumbag lover and her accomplice. She, the president of the Su Group, is decisive, ruthless, and ice-cold. For three days and three nights, she had his body fished out of the river, and without hesitation, she kissed the bloated corpse of Lin Xuan. She laid down beside him in a cold coffin, their fingers intertwined, a smile lingering on her lips as she closed her eyes. The noble and cold-hearted woman, only bending for one man—Lin Xuan. Lin Xuan, with his golden finger, is reborn and returns to the day of his wedding to the treacherous woman. Su Qiang comes to steal the bride. Lin Xuan's eyes light up, eager to pledge his loyalty on the spot, but instead, her kiss transfers a glass of drugged wine into his mouth, causing him to pass out... 【Male Protagonist with Single Female Lead】【Yandere Tycoon】【Action-Packed】【True vs. Fake Heir】
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.
ut it can buy an entire year of absolutely perfect training results! Su Yu stared at his empty wallet and decisively opened up various online loan platforms. “Borrow a thousand bucks! Recharge my vitality!” Boom! His vitality broke a hundred points, shattering the limits of the human body! “Borrow ten thousand bucks! Recharge my combat skills!” Boom! A basic punching technique so common it was everywhere instantly maxed out, revealing the ultimate assassination technique of Five Elements Unity—Inner Force! When a rich kid hired assassins for a midnight ambush, aiming to break both of his legs, they instead ran headfirst into a monster—a human-shaped tyrannosaur, brimming with dragon-like vitality. With just two fingers, Su Yu snapped a steel staff reinforced with alloy. Staring at the killer’s stash of stolen cash—a staggering quarter-million dollars—he showed a corporate-sincere smile: “Thanks for the pre-exam gift pack, Mr. Zhao! I’m gonna go re-invest this!” Three days later, at the National Martial Arts College Entrance Exam, while everyone else struggled just to reach the passing line, Su Yu threw a single punch—and more than a thousand vitality points literally detonated the entire arena!
