"Staying here forever... doesn’t that mean...?"
"No, it doesn’t."
Ye Chuan noticed Bai Qianshuang’s misunderstanding and added, "Haven’t we only just met?"
Bai Qianshuang shook her head.
She wasn’t being impulsive. Ye Chuan was her savior—he’d taken her in and even forgiven her mistakes. When he said, "As long as you’re okay, you can stay here as long as you like," she thought he was proposing a deeper bond.
Nothing in life came without reason, and Bai Qianshuang couldn’t fathom why Ye Chuan was so kind to her.
After careful consideration, she had concluded that becoming cultivation partners was a viable option.
Even if he was just a mortal.
But when she saw the strange look in Ye Chuan’s eyes, she realized she’d misunderstood. Her ears burned red, and she nearly buried her face in her chest.
She’d mustered her courage only to be left mortified for life.
Bai Qianshuang, usually so aloof, had never spoken like this to a man before.
"Go take a bath," Ye Chuan waved her off.
Wait a minute—if he married Bai Qianshuang, would she stay with him forever?
And then he’d have two thousand a day...
"Mm." Bai Qianshuang’s voice was barely louder than a mosquito’s as she clutched her towel and hurried into the bathroom.
Once she was gone, Ye Chuan let out a relieved sigh. He glanced at the shattered remains of the TV on the floor and bent down to pick them up, muttering,
"Rest in peace, old TV."
"Your eyesore-level resolution should’ve retired ages ago."
"I’ll burn you a paper tablet—consider it your loli wife."
...
When Bai Qianshuang emerged from her bath, she was still wearing her usual white robe. The black semi-sheer silk nightgown was apparently too much for her—it might as well have been lingerie.
Yeah, she wasn’t ready for that yet.
"Was the water temperature okay?" Ye Chuan asked as she stepped out.
"It was fine." A faint pink tint colored Bai Qianshuang’s snow-white cheeks—whether from the steam or something else was unclear.
She couldn’t meet his eyes, her gaze instead fixed on the blank wall beside them.
Though she tried to act composed, the way she slowly turned her head to avoid looking at him was oddly endearing.
"Good. My turn then." Ye Chuan headed into the bathroom, where the air was still thick with steam and a subtle fragrance—definitely not from any shampoo. It was purely Bai Qianshuang’s own scent.
"Do cultivators wear perfume? Or is that just her natural smell?"
As he pondered, he noticed half a bucket of water still left. He added more and started washing up.
Outside, Bai Qianshuang stood frozen by the door. A realization had struck her: she hadn’t drained her bathwater.
The thought of someone else using it gave her a strange feeling. She hesitated, unsure whether to tell Ye Chuan to dump it. But just as she leaned closer to the door, she heard—
"Time to give up~~~"
"..."
"How did it come to this~~~"
"Withering in your hands~~~"
The off-key singing, combined with the sound of running water, left Bai Qianshuang stunned. Her raised hand hovered mid-air before she finally lowered it and retreated to her room.
"Whew." When Ye Chuan finished his bath, he saw Bai Qianshuang had already gone to bed. Not that he minded.
As long as she was fed.
Earlier, he’d seen a chibi version of Bai Qianshuang rolling around hungrily in his phone’s log. He’d been half-afraid she’d starve to death in his room—though, realistically, could cultivators even die from lack of food?
"What’s the plan for tomorrow? Should I take Bai Qianshuang out? Gotta buy her some clothes first." He glanced back at the ruined TV. "And a new TV. And fix the bathroom faucet."
But if he took her outside, would she freak out and slash a passing car? Even without spiritual power, that sword strike had cleaved the TV with surgical precision—something no ordinary person could do.
Ye Chuan sighed. His weekend was shaping up to be busier than expected.
He picked up his phone and saw several new notifications.
[Obtained Bai Qianshuang-related item. Retrieve now?]
Another item?
The drop rate surprised him. Was this some kind of newbie bonus?
He’d expected days between rewards, but today he’d gotten two.
Checking his inventory, he grinned at the sight of another pill—this one a different color from the Tiger Strength Pill.
[Item: Deer Blood Pill
Low-grade elixir. Permanently boosts vitality. Effects diminish with repeated use.]
"Whoa, a blood tonic!" Ye Chuan didn’t know if it could cure his condition, but his pallor had always been terrible. Without hesitation, he popped it into his mouth.
"Bleh—!" The overwhelming bitterness made him spit it onto the table.
But for the sake of his health, he picked it back up, grimaced, and forced it down dry.
Heat surged through his body. Ye Chuan immediately sat cross-legged and formed a mudra.
Not that he knew anything about cultivation techniques—he’d just seen it on TV. Figured it couldn’t hurt.
Half an hour later, he opened his eyes. His whole body felt warm, the usual fatigue gone.
His once-ghostly palms now had a healthy flush.
"Damn, that’s unexpected." The exhaustion had lifted significantly. Even his shortness of breath wasn’t as bad.
The pill worked better than he’d imagined.
"Too bad I don’t have a whole bottle."
Still, things were looking up. His illness might actually be treatable.
After a short break, he checked his phone again. The other messages weren’t from his landlord app—they were from Luo Xi.
Luo Xi: Son, you free? Come help Dad with the skewers.
Luo Xi: Aaaah, drowning here!!! SOS!!!
Luo Xi: (?ω?
Ye Chuan checked the time. Weekend crowds must’ve hit the food street hard.
He occasionally helped Luo Xi at the stall—the family couldn’t afford extra staff.
Ye Chuan: Daddy’s coming.
"Alright, let’s go." The food street wasn’t far. After replying, he towel-dried his hair and headed out.
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.
grated, and just when he finally managed to get into an elite academy, he discovered that he actually had a system, and the way to earn rewards was extremely ridiculous. So for the sake of rewards, he had no choice but to start acting ridiculous as well. Su Cheng: "It's nothing but system quests after all." But later, what confused Su Cheng was that while he was already quite ridiculous, he never expected those serious characters to gradually become ridiculous too. And the way they looked at him became increasingly strange... (This synopsis doesn't do it justice, please read the full story)
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."
d intelligence to keep the plot moving, and sometimes even the protagonists are forced into absurdly dumb decisions. Why does the A-list celebrity heroine in urban romance novels ditch the top-tier movie star and become a lovestruck fool for a pockmarked male lead? Why do the leads in historical tragedy novels keep dancing between love and death, only for the blind healer to end up suffering the most? And Gu Wei never expected that after finally landing a villain role to stir up trouble, she’d pick the wrong gender! No choice now—she’ll just have to crush the protagonists as a girl!
