Due to the anti-slip treatment, the carriage showed no noticeable skidding as it crossed the icy surface. Once back on solid ground, it resumed its journey.
The group boarded the carriages again, continuing their orderly advance toward the destination.
However, as they traversed a mountainous stretch, the lead carriage came to another abrupt halt. Torres frowned and stepped down, only to hear the adventurers ahead call out,
"The road’s blocked!"
Torres moved to the front and saw massive boulders piled high, completely obstructing the path. Though the height wasn’t insurmountable for a person to climb over, the carriages had no chance of passing.
One problem after another made Torres scratch his head in frustration. Could someone be sabotaging them?
"So, we have to detour again?" Torres muttered, eyeing the sturdy boulders before pulling out the map. According to it, bypassing this section would add significant time to their journey.
With no other choice, Torres returned to the carriages. This time, however, he didn’t consult Isabella. Instead, he turned to Ye Chuan. "Xi Xi, the path is blocked by these boulders. Do you have a way to clear them?"
Having witnessed Ye Chuan’s abilities, Torres believed dealing with the obstacle would be trivial for him.
"First a broken bridge, now a ruined road…" Ye Chuan rested his cheek on one hand, his eyes half-lidded.
"Someone’s definitely messing with us, aren’t they?"
"Perhaps, but we must reach Count Kangong’s territory," Torres explained. Seeing Ye Chuan’s indifferent expression, he quickly added, "Don’t worry, Xi Xi, your payment won’t be shortchanged. In fact, we’ll add a bonus."
"You make it sound like I’m some money-grubber," Ye Chuan said sternly—before tacking on,
"How much extra?"
Torres fell silent for a moment, then rubbed his hands awkwardly. "Uh… how much would you like?"
"Never mind. Consider this part of the job." With that, Ye Chuan vanished and reappeared before the boulders in an instant.
Spatial magic?!
"He used spatial magic?!" The other adventurers in the group had already been stunned by Ye Chuan’s abilities multiple times, but his teleportation left them utterly shaken.
Among all magical attributes, [Spatial] and [Temporal] magic were the rarest.
"Just a few worthless rocks." Ye Chuan glanced back at the adventurers. "You can’t even handle this?"
"It’d take too long to clear them," one admitted sheepishly. Most of them were warriors or guards, after all.
The boulders blocking the path numbered in the hundreds, each several meters tall—far too laborious to remove manually.
"Fine. Let’s just obliterate them." Ye Chuan raised a hand, preparing to unleash a magic beam.
But then he seemed to reconsider. With a casual wave, the hundreds of boulders vanished into his backpack.
Hmm. Much more convenient.
No need to risk spooking the horses with an explosion.
Watching the rocks disappear in an instant, the adventurers and Torres gaped in disbelief, some even rubbing their eyes.
Where did the boulders go?
"Xi Xi, how did the rocks just… vanish?"
"Oh, they missed their mommy and burrowed underground," Ye Chuan replied flippantly.
Torres understood Ye Chuan wasn’t interested in explaining further. Grateful, he motioned for the carriages to resume their journey.
With the obstacle cleared, they drew closer to their destination.
…
Night fell over the makeshift camp in the forest.
The adventurers cooked their rations, taking a brief rest to replenish their energy. The air carried the damp, slightly rotten scent of fallen leaves.
Seated on a fallen log, Ye Chuan ignored the waterskin Torres offered him. "Xi Xi, care for some wyvern milk? It’ll restore your stamina."
"Wyvern milk?"
"Yes, it’s revitalizing."
"Did you drink from that first?"
Torres stiffened, realizing his oversight. "Ah—my apologies, Xi Xi. Let me fetch a clean container—"
"Don’t bother." Ye Chuan waved him off.
His gaze swept over the chatting adventurers before settling on Torres. After a pause, he spoke again.
"Torres, you and that ‘Miss Yi’ aren’t ordinary, are you?"
Torres’s hand froze mid-air before he slowly lowered the waterskin. "I’m sorry, Xi Xi. I can’t discuss that."
"No matter. We’re just bound by a contract anyway." Ye Chuan had no intention of pressing further—truthfully, he wasn’t particularly interested.
But Isabella’s earlier mention of assassinating the king had left him pondering.
"How much farther to our destination?" Ye Chuan asked.
"Once we cross this forest, we’re nearly there," Torres replied.
Unlike open plains, forests at night were treacherous, so Torres planned to depart at dawn.
"Good." Ye Chuan yawned and closed his eyes, signaling the end of the conversation.
Assuming he wanted rest, Torres quietly stepped away to patrol the perimeter of the camp.
"Tap, tap."
The night deepened, the forest silent save for the chirping of insects and the occasional crackle of the campfire. Adventurers took turns keeping watch while the rest slept to regain their strength.
"…" Torres sat by the fire, absently feeding it more wood. Under his breath, he murmured,
"Father… Mother… Sister…"
Memories of recent events weighed heavily on him, stirring a deep sense of powerlessness.
"Everyone… isn’t the same anymore…"
Shaking off his thoughts, Torres stood to inspect the carriages—only to freeze in horror, cold sweat beading on his forehead.
His body refused to move.
Unnoticed by him, a peculiar scent lingered in the air.
"[Paralysis]?"
"Purifying Blessing!" Torres tried to activate a skill, but his weakened state made even summoning energy impossible.
"Save your breath."
Rustling came from the bushes as two gaunt, masked men emerged, daggers in hand. "Heh. The paralyzing mist finally took effect. Slow, but reliable…"
"Y-You’re—!" Torres’s eyes darted toward the nearby carriage.
"Your Highness!"
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."
lities. One day, Qi Yuan was buying groceries when he unfortunately came face-to-face with a monster. Just when he thought he was going to die on the spot, he suddenly heard the monster's thoughts... "This aura, he's definitely not an ordinary master!" "So terrifying, so terrifying." "A fight with my back against the wall, I can't take it anymore." Qi Yuan: Ah, no one told me that my awakened ability isn't telepathy, but rather the stronger my enemies imagine me to be, the stronger I truly become. PS: Zhou Hai in the first chapter is not the protagonist.
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?!
