"Hey-ho."
"Hey-ho, hey."
Early morning sunlight filtered through the tree branches, scattering across the path fragrant with the smell of steamed buns.
A ponytailed girl held a bun in one hand while the other gestured vaguely in the air.
"What are you doing?" Ye Chuan asked, eyeing Luo Xi’s swaying, lively ponytail.
Her hands had been moving in all sorts of gestures since morning—anyone else might’ve thought she was performing some mysterious ritual.
"The broadcasting club needs to prepare a performance. A few of us decided we’re doing a dance," Luo Xi said with a cheerful grin.
Dancing?
"You can dance?" Ye Chuan had no idea about this.
"I can learn, okay?" Luo Xi tilted her body playfully, raising a finger and cutely shaking it in front of her lips with confidence. "With my athletic talent, dancing’s a piece of cake."
"Dancing’s good," Ye Chuan agreed. "Sweating a little makes it more fun. Like in P.E. class, in the equipment room, wearing gym clothes—"
Before he could finish the second word, Luo Xi stuffed a bun into his mouth.
"Jerk, stop talking." Her cheeks puffed up slightly.
She didn’t even know why she’d agreed to Ye Chuan’s antics in the first place.
Ye Chuan silently chewed the bun before adding, "Actually, I can dance too."
"I don’t believe you."
"Back when I did livestreams, I had to dance to please my top donors. I was practically a veteran performer." Ye Chuan demonstrated with a few exaggerated hip thrusts, earning an exasperated eye-roll from Luo Xi.
"Chuan, here." Luo Xi rummaged in her pocket.
"What?"
Ye Chuan felt something slip onto his wrist—a hair tie, clearly one Luo Xi had used before.
"What’s this, marking your territory?" Ye Chuan smirked, well aware of her possessive little gesture.
"Hmph." Luo Xi hummed triumphantly before wrapping her arms around his.
---
At school, instead of diving straight into gaming or defending hooded radishes in EW, Ye Chuan opened the "Tenant of All Realms" app during class.
His inventory was packed with thousands of cultivation manuals, all scavenged from the Qingyun Sect’s treasury.
"Qingyun Sect should be thanking me for saving these from the heavenly tribulation," Ye Chuan muttered.
"Low-grade…"
"Mid-grade…"
"Hmm…"
He began sorting through them. Most were mediocre, so he dismissed them outright.
"Not many good ones here. Only the elders’ manuals are worth anything."
"Supreme-grade sword art—Qingyun Sword Technique?"
"Learn."
"Ten Thousand Methods of Utilizing a Furnace Cauldron?"
"Learn."
"Supreme-grade Breeze Movement Technique?"
"Learn."
Ye Chuan could master any technique without prerequisites, so he started combining them—sword arts as his main focus, movement techniques as support.
In one go, he learned over twenty supreme-grade sword techniques.
"Too bad they’re only supreme-grade," he sighed.
As he studied them, he noticed many similarities, allowing him to merge insights from different styles.
"Oh well, it’s still a big improvement. Before this, I barely had any moves." Previously, he’d only had one divine ability and a couple of techniques.
More skills were never a bad thing.
"As for these, I’ll sell them for spirit stones." He’d considered saving some for Bai Qianshuang, but she’d probably have a meltdown seeing Qingyun Sect’s techniques.
Plus, explaining their origin would be tricky.
["I found these!"]
Yeah, that wouldn’t fly—they weren’t even from the same world.
["Family heirlooms!"]
Qingyun Sect’s heirlooms? That’d probably tank Bai Qianshuang’s affection to rock bottom.
Forget it. Spirit stones it is.
He could always visit an auction house later—novels made it seem easy.
"Wish I had some god-tier techniques, though."
His phone buzzed.
[Recommended for You: Gacha Update! Now featuring Cultivation Manuals, Spells, and Magic Exchange (First Top-Up Bonus: $6 for 666 draws!)]
Ye Chuan: "…"
"If only I could just become an Immortal Emperor straight away," he said, raising his voice slightly.
The phone stayed silent.
"Trash algorithm." He scoffed.
[Recommended for You: Limited-Time Supreme Immortal Emperor Ascension Card! Special Price: 99999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999. Countdown: 59:59]
Ye Chuan: "…"
Not even Zimbabwe could afford that.
Ignoring the absurd offer, he focused on the gacha for techniques and spells.
The interface looked as barebones as ever, like it was slapped together last minute.
He half-suspected the app was laundering money through him.
"First draw for $6, then 10,000 per spin?" His eye twitched.
Even physique and spiritual root draws weren’t this expensive. Why were techniques priced like this?
Then again, top-tier techniques were as valuable as innate talents.
"Whatever, let’s try." It was just six bucks for the first draw.
Gacha time.
[Drawing in progress…]
[Congratulations! Obtained Passive: Mana Affinity. Added to inventory.]
Not from Tianxuan Continent?
Ye Chuan checked the details.
[Item: Mana Affinity (Passive)
Effect: Increases magic potency and reduces mana consumption.]
Not even supreme-grade, but passives were always useful.
Every bit counted.
Learn.
Immediately, his perception of his mana core sharpened.
"Might as well do a ten-pull." He’d already started—why not toss in 100,000 for a bigger splash?
The screen flashed gold!
[Congratulations! Obtained Mountain Crusher Technique. Added to inventory.]
[Congratulations! Obtained Magic Sword. Added to inventory.]
[Congratulations! Obtained Fireball Spell. Added to inventory.]
[Congratulations! Obtained Lightning Evasion. Added to inventory.]
[...]
Skimming through, the magic-based skills were decent—good for diversifying his arsenal.
But the real prize was the golden supreme-grade item.
[Item: Demon Light Beam
Effect: Unleashes a devastating mana ray. Duration and attributes scale with the user.]
A laser cannon?
Now that was useful.
Learn.
"Ugh, did I overdo it?" A dull ache pulsed in his head.
Probably mental overload from absorbing too much knowledge at once.
"Learned dozens today. Should take a break."
Besides, he still had to meet Wang Yanran for lunch later.
shall grant"] ["Inscribing the glory of our race upon tombstones"] ["All that is threatened, I shall protect"] How his younger sister sees her brother: A brother who only makes eye contact once a day, mostly fading into the background as he tinkers with who-knows-what in his room all day. Their life paths should have remained largely separate. Until one day. Su Qi created an equipment card for his never-met "online girlfriend." His sister fell into silent contemplation upon receiving the "white stockings." [Card can be upgraded] [Upgrade by fulfilling any of the following conditions] [Condition ①: Consume one hundred higher-tier cards] [Condition ②: Complete one 'Heart-Pounding Adventure'] What constitutes a Heart-Pounding Adventure? [Heart-Pounding Adventure (Beginner Level): Equip the card and invite 'Su Qi' to admire it.] [Heart-Pounding Adventure (Easy Level): Equip the card, invite 'Su Qi' to touch it, and analyze the equipment's texture.] [Heart-Pounding Adventure (Entry Level): Equip the card and invite 'Su Qi' to...] [Heart-Pounding Adventure (Challenge Level): Freely combine the words 'Brother' 'Out' 'Brother' 'Me' 'Please' into a complete sentence...] "Please help me analyze both teams' mistakes in this match, brother..." His sister exhaled in relief—surely... surely there couldn't be anything more difficult? [Heart-Pounding Adventure (Suicide Mission Level): Sneak a peek at the names of the galgames in 'Su Qi's' hidden E-drive folder]
lanned to earn money steadily and take life at a slower pace. But he never expected... his father's remarriage, and the stepmother bringing along a dependent, would completely disrupt his life's plans...
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.
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!
