Seeing Bai Qianshuang on the verge of tears, Ye Chuan realized he might have teased her a bit too much. He coughed awkwardly and said, "Just kidding."
Bai Qianshuang was still too serious—she blushed so easily now, a far cry from the aloof immortal she used to be.
"Qianshuang, let’s become cultivation partners from now on," Ye Chuan said, holding her small hand.
"..." Bai Qianshuang didn’t resist as he held her hand, merely lowering her head with a soft hum of acknowledgment.
Ye Chuan checked his phone and noticed that the personal quest—"Make Bai Qianshuang Fall in Love with You"—still hadn’t been completed. In fact, the progress bar hadn’t moved at all.
"Hiss..." He frowned, watching the girl in front of him who kept her head down in silence.
"Why hasn’t the quest been completed yet?" he wondered.
"Maybe it’s not enough?" Ye Chuan suddenly spoke up. "Qianshuang, look at me."
Bai Qianshuang raised her head, only to feel his lips press against hers the next second. Her eyes widened in shock.
Her hands pushed against him reflexively at first, but soon, her fingers clutched tightly at his clothes.
Half a minute later, Ye Chuan leaned back, amused by the way Bai Qianshuang buried her face like an embarrassed ostrich. "This is what cultivation partners do, right?"
"I... I wouldn’t know," she murmured, her voice barely above a whisper. Bai Qianshuang had no experience in such matters—her only knowledge came from the occasional gossip among her fellow sect sisters.
Most of it revolved around dual cultivation techniques to enhance their training.
Cultivation partners, as far as she understood, were simply companions who practiced together... with the occasional need for "harmonizing yin and yang."
"..."
Seeing Bai Qianshuang’s flustered expression, Ye Chuan discreetly checked his phone again. The quest still hadn’t been completed.
Her affection meter still wasn’t full.
"Maybe just kissing isn’t enough?"
Would filling her affection meter do the trick?
"What’s wrong, Ye Chuan?" Bai Qianshuang asked softly, having calmed down a little after noticing his thoughtful silence.
"Nothing. I was just thinking about how much time we have ahead of us. Weren’t you going to stay with me until my lifespan runs out?" He stroked the back of her hand.
Smooth. Nice texture.
Bai Qianshuang fell silent for a few seconds, recalling her earlier promise. "A long time."
Initially, she had only planned to stay with Ye Chuan for a century as repayment for taking her in. After all, an ordinary mortal’s lifespan rarely exceeded a hundred years—most didn’t even make it that far, succumbing to illness within mere decades.
But Ye Chuan’s cultivation level had skyrocketed as if he were drinking water, making lifespan seem like a trivial concern.
If nothing went wrong, he might even live as long as the heavens themselves.
And for some reason, the thought of being with Ye Chuan for so long filled her with inexplicable joy.
"Ye Chuan, I want to be with you for a very long time," she whispered.
Ye Chuan blinked in surprise but smiled. "Me too."
They stayed at the park until evening before returning home.
The entire way back, Ye Chuan kept puzzling over the affection meter. Bai Qianshuang clearly had feelings for him—so why wasn’t the quest completing?
"Maybe it won’t happen until after the revenge?" he mused. Perhaps Bai Qianshuang’s heart couldn’t fully open to him until the matter of her sect’s vengeance was settled.
Maybe he should try something tonight.
"What’s bothering you?" A familiar, childish voice echoed in his mind.
"Huh?" Ye Chuan was startled by Lilith’s rare initiative. "Lilith, you’re actually talking to me?"
She barely ever showed up. If not for the daily refresh of magical items, Ye Chuan might’ve forgotten she was even one of his tenants.
"Your emotions are affecting me."
"..."
"What’s on your mind?"
"Nothing much. Just figuring out how to win a girl’s heart."
"Am I being too impatient?" Ye Chuan sat on the sofa, chatting with Lilith while watching Bai Qianshuang cook in the kitchen. He couldn’t help but smile.
"I saw the whole thing. You... don’t actually like that girl, do you? What are you trying to do?"
Ye Chuan froze at Lilith’s words. After a pause, he let out a self-deprecating chuckle.
"It’s a long story."
"If you’re just toying with her, you should stop now," Lilith’s voice dripped with disdain, as if she were picturing him with an arrogant, leg-crossed pose in some void.
"You can’t receive true affection without giving it first."
"..." Her words struck a chord.
In the past, he’d had many girlfriends—but aside from Luo Xi, whom he genuinely loved, the rest were all for personal gain.
And the way he was treating Bai Qianshuang wasn’t any different.
It was all just for the quest rewards.
"You’re right, Lilith, my dear."
"...Disgusting nickname."
"Hahaha." Ye Chuan laughed, but the frustration in his heart had already dissipated, replaced by calm clarity. "Thanks, Lilith."
Lilith didn’t respond.
"True feelings for true feelings," Ye Chuan muttered, standing up.
Once he recognized his own problem, he stopped obsessing over the quest rewards and walked straight into the kitchen.
"I can handle this," Bai Qianshuang said when she noticed him entering.
"It’s fine. Cooking together is better, isn’t it?" Seeing her chopping ingredients on the cutting board, Ye Chuan added, "I’ll prep the garlic, ginger, and scallions. You handle the rest."
Bai Qianshuang nodded lightly. She wasn’t using a kitchen knife—instead, she wielded her own sword.
Mainly because she found it more comfortable. A few precise slashes achieved the desired results, and even tougher ingredients like pork bones were no match for her blade.
Thud, thud. Ye Chuan smashed garlic cloves with the flat of his knife before peeling them.
The sound drew Bai Qianshuang’s attention, and she glanced sideways.
She watched his focused expression, the slight sway of his bangs, and the golden evening light spilling across the floor, casting their intertwined shadows.
Without a word, Bai Qianshuang noticed her own shadow and subtly inched closer to Ye Chuan—until their silhouettes overlapped.
Like a secret she couldn’t voice, she kept her head down, a faint smile tugging at her lips as she continued chopping.
ive and Ruthless] Before his transmigration, Ye Xuan was playing a game called "Severing Emotions to Attain the Dao." The game's core wasn't about leveling up by fighting monsters, but about conquering various "bad women" with wicked personalities and cold, fickle natures. There was only one method to conquer them: stay unwaveringly by their side, then die at a critical moment, driving them to madness after losing the protagonist. The higher their level of regret, the higher the player's score. To dominate the server, Ye Xuan conquered all the bad women. In the early stages, he showered them with boundless tenderness, only to choose to sacrifice himself for them later, making them weep bitterly and drown in regret. Among them were: Xia Lengyue, the unfaithful immortal wife who chased after powerful men and discarded her husband like trash. Ye Qingcheng, the Demonic Venerable of the Joyous Union Sect, who appeared pure and innocent but was, in reality, promiscuous. Wu Lingxiao, the Empress of the Great Xia Dynasty, who lusted after men and loved maintaining a harem. Bai Qiangu of the Endless Demonic Sect: a bloodthirsty mass murderer. However, when the protagonist transmigrated into the game world, he made a horrifying discovery. Eight hundred years had already passed. The bad women he had conquered had now each become deities and revered ancestors. Faced with the endless stream of toxic women coming for him, Ye Xuan could only rely on his god-tier acting skills to carve a path of survival through this world of treacherous women.
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!
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...
ap a wealthy young lady? Or else I'll be eliminated by the system? Ye Feng, who awakened the Kidnapper System, originally wanted to live a peaceful life but never imagined he would become a kidnapper of young women. However, after some time, he discovered that all the girls the system ordered him to kidnap were far from ordinary. "Big brother Ye Feng~ You've kidnapped my heart, and now you're not allowed to leave me ever again~" "Ye Feng~ You kidnapped me back then, now it's my turn to capture you♡" "Little Feng, you're mine! You can only be mine!" "Ye Feng, none of them deserve you. Only I love you the most♡" ... This is madness, they've all gone mad! Wait, what? Why are all the girls I kidnapped yanderes?!
