Lan Xiaoke's revival took longer than Ye Chuan had anticipated, and with no progress bar to track it, he eventually left the room after waiting a while, seeing no signs of movement from her.
In the living room, Bai Qianshuang happened to step out to grab a snack. When she spotted Ye Chuan, her footsteps quickened slightly, as if she were about to turn back into her room.
"Qianshuang."
"..." Bai Qianshuang paused, her slender fingers fidgeting slightly before she turned gracefully toward him. "Ye Chuan, what is it?"
"Why have you been avoiding me lately?" Ye Chuan chuckled. Ever since that incident during her bath, the girl had seemed to be keeping her distance.
Bai Qianshuang’s face was still too easily flushed.
Cornered by Ye Chuan’s directness, her gaze began to wander—left, then right—before she finally muttered stubbornly, "No, you’re misunderstanding."
"Oh?" Seeing her denial, Ye Chuan simply smiled softly. "Want to go for a walk with me?"
"I... I still need to cultivate, to consolidate my cultivation base." Bai Qianshuang hesitated for a few seconds before ultimately retreating into her room like a startled rabbit.
"Guess she needs a bit more time."
Ye Chuan didn’t mind. There was no rush—once Bai Qianshuan figured things out, it would be easier to proceed.
Just as he was about to head out for a stroll, the sound of a door unlocking came from behind him. The gap in Bai Qianshuang’s door slowly widened, revealing half of her delicate face. "I... I’ll go with you?"
"Hm? Sure." Ye Chuan grinned at the sight of her actually opening the door to talk to him.
"Let me change first."
"Alright."
A short while later, Bai Qianshuang emerged again, smoothing out her clothes. Despite there being not a single wrinkle, she seemed unusually conscious of her appearance in front of Ye Chuan.
"You look great," Ye Chuan said.
"..." Bai Qianshuang averted her eyes, not daring to meet his gaze. "You bought this for me."
"Let’s go."
"Mm."
Stepping outside, Ye Chuan had only intended to get some fresh air. But since he now had Bai Qianshuang with him, he decided to head to the nearby park.
The weather was lovely—sunlight spilled across the asphalt, and the chirping of cicadas leaked through the rustling leaves.
The roads and buildings had mostly been repaired. Humanity had shown remarkable resilience in the face of disaster. On such a peaceful, beautiful afternoon, no one would guess that monsters had roamed these streets not long ago.
"Ha ha ha!"
"Don’t run!"
Children played along the roadside as Ye Chuan and Bai Qianshuang walked side by side. The girl kept her head slightly lowered the entire way, her gaze fixed on the trees lining the path—never once turning toward Ye Chuan.
Ye Chuan didn’t mind. After exchanging a few casual words, they arrived at the largest lakeside park in the area.
"Everyone... doesn’t seem afraid anymore," Bai Qianshuang murmured, observing the elderly men playing chess under the shade and the couples cuddling on benches.
"Life goes on, no matter what hardships come our way," Ye Chuan said, sitting beside her to enjoy the view. "Living optimistically is more important than anything."
His words carried a double meaning—one meant specifically for Bai Qianshuang.
Bai Qianshuang fell silent for a few seconds. A strand of hair slipped over her forehead, failing to hide the flicker in her beautiful eyes. "I don’t understand."
"What don’t you understand?" Ye Chuan asked.
"I... used to cultivate hard to repay my sect."
"Now, I cultivate for revenge."
"But I..." A trace of confusion surfaced on her face. The Tianxuan Continent seemed impossible to return to, and her Nascent Soul-level strength wasn’t enough for vengeance. Everything left Bai Qianshuang feeling utterly lost.
What was she supposed to do?
Like a castaway adrift at sea with no shore in sight, she had no sense of security at all.
"Live well. Be yourself." Ye Chuan’s words pulled her back from her thoughts.
"..."
"I’m not one for grand speeches, and at your age, I’m hardly some wise old man handing out life advice..." Ye Chuan suddenly grinned.
"But I think—if someone’s alive in this world, they shouldn’t live just for others, right?"
"Facing your own heart matters more than anything."
"Simply put, make yourself happy."
Bai Qianshuang gave a small nod.
"Sorry."
"Why apologize?" Ye Chuan blinked at her sudden words.
"I really have been avoiding you lately." Bai Qianshuang met his gaze earnestly. "I’m sorry."
"Ha ha ha..." Ye Chuan couldn’t help but laugh.
His abrupt laughter left Bai Qianshuang frozen for a moment, as if she couldn’t fathom why he found it so amusing.
But the next second, she felt warm hands cupping her face.
"..." Her eyes flickered slightly.
"You’re adorable when you’re serious—even when apologizing."
Bai Qianshuang’s usually expressionless, snow-pale face finally reacted, flushing pink. Yet she didn’t pull away, simply staring back at Ye Chuan.
"Close your eyes," he said.
Her lashes trembled, but she slowly obeyed.
A moment later, she felt something being pressed into her hands.
Baffled, she opened her eyes to find a bouquet of white flowers.
"Flowers...?"
"Spirit-Calming Blossoms. You should recognize them, right?" Ye Chuan said. "They have a soothing effect on cultivators. I figured you overthink things sometimes—don’t strain yourself so much."
"Flowers..." Bai Qianshuang held them silently against her chest.
Noticing the way she was looking at him, Ye Chuan smirked, amusement crinkling the corners of his eyes. "What? Did you think I was going to kiss you?"
Caught off guard, Bai Qianshuang stiffened like a robot before mechanically turning her back to him. "I thought... you were going to teach me a cultivation technique."
"Terrible excuse."
"..." She turned back around, clutching the flowers before finally meeting his gaze. "Ye Chuan... do you want to become my Dao Companion?"
"The kind with feelings, or without?" Ye Chuan knew Bai Qianshuang’s understanding of Dao Companions differed from others—or perhaps he himself wasn’t entirely clear on how things worked in the Tianxuan Continent.
"I want..." She hesitated. "The kind with feelings."
"Then you wouldn’t take another Dao Companion, would you?"
"No." Bai Qianshuang shook her head. "Only you, Ye Chuan."
"I see..." Ye Chuan grinned.
"Let me think about it. Or—how about you kiss me now? Then I’ll say yes."
The blush on Bai Qianshuang’s face deepened. Gripping the bouquet tightly, her voice trembled slightly.
"You’re terrible."
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?!
u Chenyuan transmigrated into a female-oriented novel about a real and fake heiress, becoming the CEO elder brother of both. Unfortunately, the entire Lu family—including himself, the CEO—were mere cannon fodder in the story. Determined to save himself, Lu Chenyuan took action. The spoiled, attention-seeking fake heiress? Thrown into the harsh realities of the working class to learn humility. The love-struck real heiress? Pushed toward academic excellence, so lofty goals would blind her to trivial romances. As for the betrayed, vengeful arranged marriage wife… the plot hadn’t even begun yet. There was still time—if he couldn’t handle her, he could at least avoid her. "CEO Lu, are you avoiding me?" Mo Qingli fixed her gaze on Lu Chenyuan. For the first time, the shrewd and calculating Lu Chenyuan felt a flicker of unease.
] [Lone Wolf, No Male Gaze] [Protagonist is pursued early on; extreme protagonist-stans, stay away!] The "Carnival Paradise" descends and slowly devours the real world in the form of a game. By chance, Zhu Yan awakens the talent [Roleplay], becoming one of the first beta players. He thought he could develop safely, but after clearing the first instance, he is branded by humanity as the chief culprit behind the game's spread—a traitorous villain. A villain? Who would ever... become one! He'll be the villain! From then on, Zhu Yan is not only a player but also a lackey for the Carnival Paradise. Between the straight path and the crooked path, he chooses the con. With his left hand, he dons the villain's mantle, staging scenes within instances, infuriating players who decry him as a despicable traitor, all while the game happily promotes him. With his right hand, he joins the non-human organization "Fangcun Mountain," which opposes the Carnival Paradise, transforming into a mysterious player who slaughters game bosses, earning cheers of "Long live the expert!" from fellow players. Gradually, Zhu Yan rises to become an S-rank human player in Fangcun Mountain's archives, while also being the Carnival Paradise's certified top game Boss. But when the final war erupts and both major factions place their hopes in him— Players tag his various aliases: "Experts, this offensive depends on you." The Carnival Paradise's supreme Boss throws an arm around his neck: "Bro, you're the iron, I'm the steel; you can't let me down again!"
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!
