Divine Pill Peak.
A heavy atmosphere permeated the side hall, where flickering candlelight cast the shadows of Elder Ziyun and another elder onto the mottled walls, alternating between light and darkness.
"Senior Brother Ziyun, how are your injuries?" the elder asked softly, concern lacing her voice.
She was Su Yun, an elder of Divine Pill Peak, and shared a close relationship with Elder Ziyun.
Elder Ziyun sat in a chair within the hall, slowly raising his head. His once youthful, crane-like appearance now seemed as though he had aged a hundred years.
His posture, once as straight as a pine tree, was now slightly hunched. His once plump and rosy face had withered like dry wood, his eyes sunken and filled with exhaustion and worry.
"Cough... It's nothing. I've recovered about forty percent. Heavenly thunder is the power of the heavens and earth. For us to resist it is like a mayfly shaking a tree," he sighed deeply, his voice brimming with resignation and sorrow.
Had the Flying Sword Peak's scripture repository not been so invaluable, he wouldn’t have even dared to oppose the heavenly tribulation.
Because once he intervened, he feared provoking the wrath of the heavens.
Elder Su Yun frowned slightly, a trace of worry flashing in her eyes. She sighed softly before changing the subject. "It's just a shame that the thief who infiltrated the scripture repository wasn’t caught."
Her tone was calm, but the regret in her words was unmistakable.
Elder Ziyun tightened his grip on the armrest, a cold glint flashing in his eyes. "That brat was quite peculiar—he could conceal his own aura."
Then, as if recalling something, he added in a low voice, "But at the time, there was another disciple inside the scripture repository when the thunder struck."
Elder Su Yun’s expression shifted. "Senior Brother, are you suggesting that disciple is connected to the heavenly thunder?"
Elder Ziyun remained silent for a moment before answering.
Images of that moment replayed in his mind—Ye Chuan’s seemingly ordinary face appearing before him. After a long pause, he finally spoke, "Perhaps..."
His voice carried a hint of uncertainty.
"Perhaps you’re overthinking it, Senior Brother. That newly recruited disciple is only at the Foundation Establishment stage. How could he possibly summon heavenly thunder and, in such a short time, spirit away all those cultivation techniques without anyone noticing?" Elder Su Yun shook her head, her tone dismissive.
Elder Ziyun nodded slightly. He understood his junior sister’s reasoning. After all, when he had scanned Ye Chuan with his divine sense, he hadn’t detected any storage-type treasures.
Yet his instincts kept telling him that Ye Chuan was not as simple as he appeared.
The night before, under the cover of darkness, he had secretly set up an array outside Ye Chuan’s cave dwelling. If there was anything unusual, the array would surely record it.
"With my Nascent Soul cultivation, divining the will of heaven is still too difficult. I can only hope I’m overthinking this," Elder Ziyun murmured before closing his eyes, as if trying to calm his doubts.
Seeing this, Elder Su Yun knew her senior brother needed rest, but she still had important news to share. Clearing her throat, she said, "Senior Brother, the Nine Revolutions Divine Marrow Pill you entrusted me to refine ten years ago—it can finally be prepared now."
Elder Ziyun’s eyes snapped open, instantly alight with joy. "Oh? You’ve found the last few immortal herbs?"
Elder Su Yun nodded, a faint smile of relief appearing on her face. "This pill will purify Ning'er’s spiritual roots, ensuring her path of cultivation is smoother."
She continued, "Those herbs were discovered by chance at an auction. Additionally, the Jade Void Demon Sect had a few suitable for refining the Nine Revolutions Divine Marrow Pill. For now, they’re being kept in the herb garden."
"Good! Good! Good!" Elder Ziyun exclaimed excitedly, laughing heartily. His earlier despondency vanished, replaced by renewed vitality.
"When Ning'er returns from the assembly, I’ll be sure to share this wonderful news with her."
His heart swelled with affection for his granddaughter. The thought of Ning'er’s spiritual roots being purified, ensuring her future cultivation would proceed without hindrance, filled him with delight.
"Senior Brother, you once did me a great kindness. It’s only natural I give my all in return," Elder Su Yun said softly.
"Back then, it was you who procured the materials for my Gender Transformation Pill."
"Heh, that was merely a small matter," Elder Ziyun replied eagerly. "Junior Sister, if it’s not too much trouble, may I see those herbs?"
"Of course, Senior Brother. This way." Elder Su Yun smiled and gestured for him to follow. The two rose and slowly exited the side hall.
Under the quiet night sky of Divine Pill Peak, they walked leisurely along the corridor toward the herb garden.
"Elder Su Yun, Elder Ziyun, good evening," two gatekeeping disciples greeted respectfully upon their arrival at the garden’s entrance.
"Mm. Have the herbs been watered today?"
"Yes, we’ve already used immortal liquid to irrigate them..." The disciple paused. "Elder, the supply of immortal liquid may be running low."
"How is that possible? We’ve captured so many demonic cultivators from the Jade Void Demon Sect. The spiritual liquid extracted from their bodies should last five hundred years," Elder Su Yun said indifferently.
"Well... Elder, you also brought back many immortal herbs from the Jade Void Sect, so..."
Only then did Elder Su Yun recall she hadn’t accounted for the herbs taken from the sect.
"Never mind. Once those demonic cultivators have been drained of their spiritual liquid, dispose of the remaining corpses by feeding them to the spirit beasts of the Spirit Beast Peak." She waved a hand dismissively. A cultivator’s body was still a valuable resource—feeding them to spirit beasts would enhance their cultivation.
"Yes." The gatekeeping disciple bowed.
After the exchange, Elder Su Yun turned to Elder Ziyun. "Senior Brother, please."
"Very well."
As they stepped into the herb garden, a refreshing medicinal fragrance enveloped them.
"Junior Sister, your herb garden is truly enviable," Elder Ziyun remarked as he surveyed the neatly arranged plots. "Has a new section been cleared here? What do you plan to plant?"
"Here... I distinctly remember planting quite a few Fire Spirit Herbs. It seems another elder must have harvested them for alchemy," Elder Su Yun mused before adding, "Due to the heavenly thunder incident, the garden’s resources have been heavily depleted."
"I see." Elder Ziyun nodded. Many disciples and elders had been injured, requiring vast quantities of medicinal pills.
They continued forward, but the plots before them were all empty.
"This..." Elder Ziyun glanced at his junior sister in confusion. Why were the herb plots so barren today?
"Senior Brother, there’s no need for concern. Once the herbs mature, they’re naturally harvested for alchemy. It’s not unusual for entire batches to be cleared at once," Elder Su Yun explained.
"The truly exceptional immortal herbs are kept in the deepest part of the garden."
"Ah, I see." Elder Ziyun nodded.
But when they reached the innermost section, it, too, was completely empty.
"Junior Sister, where are those herbs meant for Ning'er’s pill?" Elder Ziyun looked around.
"Oh, I understand—are they stored in a separate secret realm?"
When he turned back, however, he found Elder Su Yun frozen in place, staring at the emptiness in disbelief.
Where were the herbs?

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]

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."

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.”

ing gift was a patch of barren land, and disciples were all picked up along the way. He spent fifty years diligently building three "ramshackle little sects," thinking he could finally live a carefree life relying on his disciples. But right at the fifty-year mark, he was suddenly swept away by a spatial rift and exiled to the Chaos Desolation, the Disorderly Ruins. There was no spiritual energy there, only slaughter. Relying on the cultivation feedback from his disciples, Gu Changyuan hacked his way through a sea of blood for eleven hundred years. When the system finally fished him back out, he discovered the ramshackle little sects he'd built back then had developed a rather... unusual style. Hold on... I vanished for a thousand years, so how did my ramshackle little sects become holy lands?!