The crowd held their breath as they descended the ancient stone steps, layer by layer, for their destination lay deep beneath the Hall of Heaven and Earth.
After walking for a full half-hour, they finally entered a stone chamber.
Inside the chamber, an elder sat cross-legged.
Though referred to as an elder, he did not appear aged. On the contrary, his complexion was radiant, his gaze sharp, and his demeanor vigorous.
Beside him sat several other elders.
The foremost among them was none other than Qin Lan, the only Saint in the Heavenly Domain.
The remaining elders were no ordinary figures either—each was a Half-Saint.
Such was the foundation of the Heavenly Domain's foremost power!
Those meeting Qin Lan for the first time were utterly astonished to see their revered ancestor in such peak condition.
Truly, a Saint was a Saint indeed!
"We pay our respects to the Ancestor," they chorused.
Even Qin Yi, the Island Master, knelt reverently before the elder.
"Rise, all of you," Qin Lan said with a wave of his hand, a gentle force lifting Qin Yi and the others to their feet.
"I imagine you are all curious as to why I have summoned you here," Qin Lan remarked warmly, without a trace of condescension despite his venerable status.
"Follow me."
With a smile, he clasped his hands behind his back and pushed open a side door in the chamber.
The group followed him inside.
Beyond the door lay another stone chamber.
Its walls were carved with intricate runes, and at the intersections of these patterns flickered several dim soul lamps.
At the center of the room, atop a stone table, stood a single lamp—distinct and solitary.
Qin Lan's eyes burned with excitement as he fixed his gaze upon it.
"Behold," he said.
With a sweep of his hand, the faintly glowing soul lamps on the walls extinguished, plunging the chamber into darkness.
But not complete darkness.
As the other lamps dimmed, a faint, flickering glow could barely be discerned from the lamp on the stone table.
The light was incredibly faint—imperceptible under normal conditions—visible only in this utter blackness.
At the sight of this faint glimmer, Qin Lan trembled with emotion. The great Saint’s eyes even reddened slightly.
To the shock of all present, he dropped to his knees before the lamp in reverence.
The Ancestor’s sudden prostration left the others stunned and uneasy. None knew what the lamp signified, leaving them frozen in uncertainty, their hands and feet restless with nervous energy.
Only Qin Yi, the Island Master, had some inkling of its significance.
The moment he saw Qin Lan kneel, realization dawned on him.
"Ancestor... Ancestor, could this be—?"
His voice trembled as he spoke, his body shaking uncontrollably before he, too, fell to his knees.
"Indeed. It represents that one!" Qin Lan affirmed, his voice thick with emotion.
Even with prior expectations, Qin Yi’s pupils constricted at the confirmation.
"What are the rest of you waiting for? Kneel at once!" Qin Yi barked at Qin Zhiyu and the others behind him.
Though they still did not grasp the lamp’s full significance, the sheer reverence shown by Qin Lan and Qin Yi made it clear that its origins were extraordinary. Without hesitation, the group dropped to their knees.
All knelt in unison, their gazes fixed upon the faintly glowing lamp.
"An unextinguished flame... This means that one is currently within the Heavenly Domain!"
Old Man Qin Lan asked excitedly.
"Yes!"
Qin Yi, who was in the know, trembled all over, his face filled with tension.
"Ancestor, Island Master, could you tell Nan'er what this lantern truly represents?" At this moment, Qin Nan, who was kneeling on the ground, couldn't hold back his curiosity any longer.
"Silence! Is this something you're qualified to know?"
Qin Yi immediately scolded in a stern voice.
"Now, now, Yi'er, don't be like that," Qin Lan said disapprovingly. "The reason I called these youngsters back is precisely to share these matters with them. After all, the future belongs to them."
"Yes, Yi'er was wrong."
Qin Yi lowered his head and sighed before adopting a solemn expression. "Do you all remember that exceptional ancestral decree of our Qin family?"
Everyone nodded gravely.
This decree was instilled in every Qin family member from birth.
It was rather peculiar—every Qin clansman had to learn how to cook.
In fact, if you lacked talent in cultivation within the Qin family, it wasn't a big deal. But if you didn't know how to cook? You'd be kicked out in an instant.
Under such circumstances, every member of the Qin family, including the younger generation like Qin Nan and Qin Zhiyu, had become masterful cooks—especially when it came to preparing wild game, which they elevated to an art form.
In short, when it came to power in the Heavenly Domain, the Qin family of Heaven-Earth Island might humbly downplay their status as the foremost force.
But when it came to cooking? Well, no apologies—the Qin family was undeniably number one!
e bizarre and supernatural had descended. The previous emperor was a thoroughgoing tyrant; no longer satisfied with human women, he had set his sights on a stunningly beautiful supernatural entity. He met his end in his bedchamber, drained of all his vital essence. As the legitimate eldest son and crown prince, Wang Hao was thus hastily enthroned, becoming the young emperor of the Great Zhou Dynasty. No sooner had he awakened the "Imperial Sign-In Intelligence System" than he was assassinated by a Son of Destiny—a classic villain's opening. The Great Zhou, ravaged by the former emperor's excesses, was in national decline. The great families within its borders harbored their own treacherous schemes, martial sects began to defy the imperial court's decrees, and border armies, their pay and provisions in arrears, grumbled incessantly against the central government. Fortunately, the central capital was still held secure by the half-million Imperial Guards and fifty thousand Imperial Forest Army who obeyed the court's orders, along with the royal family's hidden reserves of power, barely managing to suppress the realm. As the Great Zhou's finances worsened and supernatural activities grew ever more frequent, the court sat atop a volcano. Ambitious plotters everywhere dreamed of overthrowing the dynasty, and even some reclusive ancient powers emerged, attempting to sway the tides of the world. At the first grand court assembly, the civil and military officials nearly came to blows, fighting tooth and nail over the allocation of fifty million taels of silver from the summer tax revenues. The spectacle opened Wang Hao's eyes—the Great Zhou's bureaucracy was not only corrupt but also martially proficient, a cabinet of all-rounders. Some officials even had the audacity to suggest the emperor release funds from the imperial privy purse to address the emergency. Wang Hao suddenly felt weary. Let it all burn.
【Prologue: The Beginning of It All – Use holy water to heal the saintess tainted by demonic energy, then converse with her.】 Shen Nian stared at his older sister sipping yogurt, lost in thought. So you’re telling me my sister is the saintess, and yogurt is the holy water? 【Main Quest 1: Brave Youth, Become an Adventurer! Reward: Rookie Adventurer Title.】 【Side Quest 1: Find the Adorable Kitty! Reward: 1000 Gold Coins.】 Shen Nian: "Wait, I’m a high school senior here—did some guy who got isekai’d accidentally bind his system to me?" Hold on, completing quests gives gold rewards? Titles even boost stats? Is this for real? (A lighthearted, absurd campus comedy—not a revenge power fantasy.)
saw a female celebrity tied up and stuffed in the trunk! Little did he know, countless cameras were aimed at him at this moment - this was a new type of reality show. The first randomly selected passerby was caught in less than an hour. But when Xu Moru was selected, things started to take an unexpected turn. "Damn, this isn't how the script goes. This Xu Moru is too bold, he's not following the rules at all." "Crap, is this guy taking it seriously?" "The female celebrity has been scared to tears!"
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.”
