"Then just beat me to death," Lan Xiaoke declared, flopping onto the couch and hugging a pillow, utterly refusing to cultivate.
"Or Ye Chuan can stab me to death."
"..."
Lan Xiaoke's whimpers caught Bai Qianshuang's attention from inside the room. She opened the door and stepped out, immediately spotting Ye Chuan holding a whip and Lan Xiaoke sprawled on the sofa.
"What are you two doing?" Bai Qianshuang asked.
Though she had seen them engage in roleplay before, Ye Chuan had never brought out such a large whip—usually, it was just a short, soft one for light teasing.
"Supervising Xiaoke's cultivation," Ye Chuan said, crossing his arms.
Lan Xiaoke had been slacking off too much lately. The junk loot she collected was only useful against Qi Condensation realm enemies, and it was just taking up space in her inventory.
"Cultivation...?" Bai Qianshuang was puzzled. Ye Chuan had never cared about Lan Xiaoke's cultivation before—why the sudden strictness?
"Qianshuang, save me," Lan Xiaoke pleaded, crawling to Bai Qianshuang's feet and clinging to her leg like a lifeline.
"If she doesn’t want to, let it be. There’s no need to force her," Bai Qianshuang said to Ye Chuan.
Lan Xiaoke’s laziness wasn’t new—Bai Qianshuang had long grown accustomed to it. Besides, as long as her own cultivation advanced, she could protect Lan Xiaoke herself.
"Exactly! I don’t need to cultivate," Lan Xiaoke agreed, nodding vigorously and pressing her cheek against Bai Qianshuang’s smooth calf like a stubborn sticker.
"Qianshuang, Xiaoke is a member of the Jade Void Sect. Since she joined, shouldn’t she contribute to its revival?" Ye Chuan argued.
"Well..." Bai Qianshuang had to admit he had a point. She looked down and saw Lan Xiaoke’s teary, pleading eyes, softening her resolve.
"But Xiaoke really has no talent for cultivation."
"She does. Her potential is far from low," Ye Chuan retorted, side-eyeing her.
An S-grade growth rate—that was anything but untalented.
The problem was, she never cultivated at all. The only time she had bothered was when Ye Chuan had promised her allowance for breaking through a realm—and once she got the money, she stopped entirely.
"In that case, why not dedicate some time daily to cultivation?" Bai Qianshuang suggested, turning to Lan Xiaoke. Even with others protecting her, her own strength mattered.
"Mm..."
"If it’s too hard, I can share my allowance with you as a reward," Bai Qianshuang offered.
Lan Xiaoke’s eyes sparkled. "Really? For me?"
"Mn." Bai Qianshuang nodded.
The earnings from her occasional livestreams reached hundreds of thousands—sharing a bit with Lan Xiaoke was nothing, especially since Bai Qianshuang didn’t care much about money.
"Yoooooo~ I’ll start cultivating right now!" Lan Xiaoke immediately sat up straight on the sofa, assuming a meditative pose. "I’m starting!"
Ye Chuan and Bai Qianshuang watched silently.
Half a minute later, Lan Xiaoke cracked one eye open. "I’m really cultivating, y’know~"
Ye Chuan and Bai Qianshuang nodded.
"Mm." Lan Xiaoke began circulating her cultivation technique, but after a moment, she opened her eyes again.
"Ehehe, can I clear my daily quests in the game first?"
"Can you focus?" Ye Chuan pinched her cheeks and pulled them apart.
"Ow, got it," Lan Xiaoke whimpered, tears welling up.
Finally, Lan Xiaoke began cultivating seriously. The spiritual energy in the room stirred, flowing into her body.
Sensing her rising aura, Ye Chuan took out his phone to refine a high-grade Crystal Condensation Pill for her.
Opening the alchemy interface, his top-tier, 15th-grade Heavenly Origin Cauldron made refining a mere first-grade Crystal Condensation Pill laughably easy—like using endgame gear to farm low-level dungeons.
Plus, his herb garden had all the necessary materials, saving him the cost.
[Refining Crystal Condensation Pill: 100% success rate, 20% chance to upgrade, 0% chance of explosion (Success depends on pill quality, cauldron quality, and pill tier).]
As Ye Chuan tapped away on his phone, Bai Qianshuang noticed something odd.
She stared in confusion as a translucent, dark-hued cauldron materialized in his hands—constructed entirely of spiritual energy.
Was this... alchemy?
To her, it looked like Ye Chuan was holding a miniature cauldron, yet he seemed completely unaware, still focused on his phone.
Bai Qianshuang stayed silent, and Ye Chuan remained oblivious as he continued pressing buttons.
"Hmm..."
He tossed in the ingredients, and the virtual cauldron on his screen wobbled.
[Pill refining in progress. Time remaining: 59 minutes.]
[Spend 10,000 to speed up?]
Yes.
[Congratulations! You obtained a third-grade Crystal Condensation Pill. It has been added to your inventory.]
As expected, the results were random—but with his cauldron’s quality, the pills consistently landed in the top three grades.
"Again." Ye Chuan glanced at his herb garden. Plenty of materials left.
Rich. So damn rich.
[Congratulations! You obtained a third-grade Crystal Condensation Pill...]
[Congratulations! You obtained a second-grade Crystal Condensation Pill...]
[Congratulations! You obtained a third-grade Crystal Condensation Pill...]
[Congratulations! You obtained a first-grade Crystal Condensation Pill...]
...
Seeing the first-grade pill, Ye Chuan didn’t stop. He kept feeding materials, hoping to trigger the upgrade chance.
After dozens of attempts, his herbs ran out.
"Still no proc? A 20% chance, damn it."
Now he’d have to spend money—100,000 per attempt. But with his current fortune, it was pocket change.
He checked his balance: a casual 500-600 million, all from pill sales while waiting for corporate profits.
"Continue."
Like an unfeeling alchemy machine, Ye Chuan churned out pill after pill. Around the 100th attempt, he finally heard the coveted critical sound effect.
[Congratulations! You obtained a first-grade Crystal Condensation Pill...]
[Congratulations! Your Heavenly Origin Cauldron triggered a quality upgrade. First-grade pill has evolved into Heavenly Origin Condensation Elixir (Supreme Grade).]
[Item: Heavenly Origin Condensation Elixir (Supreme Grade)
Effect: Breakthrough to the Crystal Condensation realm and gain a wisp of Heavenly Origin Qi, accelerating cultivation speed.]
"Not bad."
Ye Chuan glanced at his balance. A few million spent for a supreme-grade pill.
He turned to Lan Xiaoke, now deep in meditation.
If she knew he’d just blown millions on a pill for her, she’d definitely whine:
"Could’ve just given me half that money instead."
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...
. As long as he maintains the villain image and follows the plot to the grand finale, he can obtain generous rewards and return to the real world. So Gu Chen'an entered the role and began to act as a scumbag villain, but who would have expected that the female leads could hear his inner thoughts. Miss Su from the Su family was shocked: "I originally thought Gu Chen'an was a scumbag, but I didn't expect he turned out to be a gentleman! What? You said I have to call off the engagement? I definitely won't, I'll piss you off!" Bai Yuan Tian was dumbfounded: "Young Master Gu is usually unreasonable and a complete brat, but he actually calls me little sweetie in his heart? What, Young Master Gu even said he likes me?" As the female leads' images collapsed more and more, the plot also collapsed with it. Gu Chen'an looked at all this chaos. "Ladies, don't aggro me, if you keep this up the male lead really will stab me, I still need to survive to the grand finale!"
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!
] [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!"
