"Xi Xi."
"Xi Xi—"
"What do you want?" Having been called several times, Ye Chuan looked speechlessly at Count Kan Gong—this guy, Kaiaolen.
Does this little dragon man want a beating?
"Can I ask you for a favor?" Kaiaolen found Ye Chuan. It was only then that Ye Chuan noticed a blue-haired girl standing beside Kaiaolen. She looked about Ye Chuan's age, with a bit of baby fat on her cheeks.
Ye Chuan sized up the girl in front of him. After observing for a few seconds, he said to Kaiaolen,
"Not my type. Get one with bigger tits."
"Do you think this is a matchmaking session?!"
"I don't want a pet either."
"Y-you guy, why is your thought process completely different from everyone else's!" Kaiaolen seemed rendered speechless by Ye Chuan. He took a deep breath to calm himself down.
"She is my granddaughter, Elara. If possible, I hope you can teach her some magic."
The young girl named Elara seemed very shy. She hugged the magic staff in her hands and bowed her head, "P-please look after me!"
"Teach her?" Ye Chuan stared at the blue-haired girl. A few seconds later, he glanced at Kaiaolen. "Are you two related by blood?"
"What else?"
"Your hair isn't even the same color."
"She is my genuine granddaughter! She has a bit of Blue Dragon bloodline in her!"
"Oh." Ye Chuan didn't care if this granddaughter was a Blue Dragon or a Smurf. He just waved his hand. "Not interested. I'm very busy. Do you know how many things I have to do in a day?"
"Of course, I wouldn't ask you to teach for free. How about one gold coin a day?" Kaiaolen said.
"Hah? Is this a question of money?"
"Five gold coins."
"I told you, it's absolutely not about money. I'm busy," Ye Chuan said.
"Ten gold coins a day."
"One thousand succubus sessions a day? Alright, that works." Ye Chuan calculated the price and looked at the little girl named Elara again; she suddenly looked much more pleasing to the eye.
"Just how short of money are you?" Kaiaolen couldn't quite stand Ye Chuan's greedy nature.
However, thinking about it carefully, a mage with mysterious powers would be harder to deal with if he had absolutely no desires.
If things could be settled with just money, then looking at it from another angle, it wasn't a bad thing.
After giving Ye Chuan a few instructions, Kaiaolen left Elara there and turned to leave.
After all, he had things to do; preparing military forces and uniting with other territories to march on the Royal City would take some time.
"Elara... right?" Ye Chuan's gaze fell upon the little blue-haired girl in front of him. In contrast to his casual look, Elara shyly used her staff to hide her face.
"H-hello, Sir Teacher."
"What's your strength level?"
"Second-tier Water Mage."
"Chanting water magic?" Ye Chuan thought for a moment, but he couldn't immediately think of how to teach a girl magic.
He had already taken the money, though.
But there was no rush. Even if he really couldn't teach her magic, Ye Chuan decided he could just enhance her staff a few times.
That would count as an improvement anyway.
"Elara."
"Here!" The little girl responded nervously.
She had actually heard about Ye Chuan. It was said that a mage named Xi Xi was incredibly powerful, had caught many of those disguised human-skin monsters, and even taught appraisal magic to the mages of Miral.
Elara had always been very curious about the man before her.
"No need to be nervous. How about this: use all your strength and cast your strongest spell at me." Ye Chuan pointed at himself.
"Eh? Eh? Wouldn't that be inappropriate? Casting attack magic at my teacher," Elara said.
"Why? Do you think you can hurt me?"
"O-of course not. I understand."
Elara took a few steps back, took a deep breath, and raised her staff. She began to chant, and mana constructed a magic circle in front of her—
Finally, after ten seconds, Elara pointed her staff at Ye Chuan.
"Balala, Water Cannon!"
The magic circle erupted with blue light, and a jet of water shot towards Ye Chuan!
Ye Chuan felt the oncoming water magic. He didn't even bother to dodge; relying solely on the Power of Chaos, he completely swallowed up the water jet.
"Huh?" Seeing that Ye Chuan had blocked her magic without even chanting, Elara looked visibly surprised, and she unconsciously lowered her staff.
"The power is average. Even compared to ordinary Crystal... uh, Second-tier mages, the lethality of your move is too low," Ye Chuan said.
"Is this really the only level you're at?"
"I'm sorry, Teacher..." That single sentence made Elara's face turn red with shame. She hugged her staff and buried her head, not daring to talk back.
"Come here."
"Oh..."
"Take off your clothes first," Ye Chuan said.
"Eh? EHHH?!!" Elara's eyes widened, and she subconsciously hugged herself tight.
Although she had heard this man was improper, wasn't this a bit too improper?
"B-but we are outside. A-at the very least, shouldn't we be in a room?"
"I'm just checking your mana core."
"Oh... oh, is that so?" Elara relaxed. She lifted her clothes. Even though she understood what Ye Chuan was doing, doing something like this in front of a practically strange man made Elara's face turn as red as an apple.
Ye Chuan reached his hand in. "Hmm..."
"Oh, wrong spot. No wonder it felt different."
A few seconds later, Ye Chuan found the location of the mana core and did a simple check—
"Your mana core is decent. Logically speaking, your magic shouldn't be that weak."
Ye Chuan withdrew his hand. Elara seemed to lose all strength, collapsing onto the ground in a W-sitting position, clutching her staff.
Her disheveled appearance made it look as if she had just finished doing the deed with Ye Chuan.
"I... I don't know either..."
"Then circulate your mana. Let me look at your magic circuits."
"Y-yes..." Elara struggled to stand up. Seeing that Ye Chuan was genuinely checking her for issues, she began to gather the mana within her body.
Ye Chuan sensed it again, and finally discovered what was different inside this little girl's body.
Deep within Elara's body, there seemed to be a red force forcibly blocking several magic circuits.
A curse?
"Do you know what is inside your body?" Ye Chuan asked Elara.
Upon hearing this, Elara subconsciously shook her head. "I don't know... Everyone says they can't find anything wrong."
"I see." Ye Chuan wasn't in a hurry to lift the curse. He chose to go ask Kaiaolen first.
"You stay here. I'm going to find your grandfather. Don't wander off."
"Oh... oh?"
e bizarre and supernatural had descended. The previous emperor was a thoroughgoing tyrant; no longer satisfied with human women, he had set his sights on a stunningly beautiful supernatural entity. He met his end in his bedchamber, drained of all his vital essence. As the legitimate eldest son and crown prince, Wang Hao was thus hastily enthroned, becoming the young emperor of the Great Zhou Dynasty. No sooner had he awakened the "Imperial Sign-In Intelligence System" than he was assassinated by a Son of Destiny—a classic villain's opening. The Great Zhou, ravaged by the former emperor's excesses, was in national decline. The great families within its borders harbored their own treacherous schemes, martial sects began to defy the imperial court's decrees, and border armies, their pay and provisions in arrears, grumbled incessantly against the central government. Fortunately, the central capital was still held secure by the half-million Imperial Guards and fifty thousand Imperial Forest Army who obeyed the court's orders, along with the royal family's hidden reserves of power, barely managing to suppress the realm. As the Great Zhou's finances worsened and supernatural activities grew ever more frequent, the court sat atop a volcano. Ambitious plotters everywhere dreamed of overthrowing the dynasty, and even some reclusive ancient powers emerged, attempting to sway the tides of the world. At the first grand court assembly, the civil and military officials nearly came to blows, fighting tooth and nail over the allocation of fifty million taels of silver from the summer tax revenues. The spectacle opened Wang Hao's eyes—the Great Zhou's bureaucracy was not only corrupt but also martially proficient, a cabinet of all-rounders. Some officials even had the audacity to suggest the emperor release funds from the imperial privy purse to address the emergency. Wang Hao suddenly felt weary. Let it all burn.
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...
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!
d intelligence to keep the plot moving, and sometimes even the protagonists are forced into absurdly dumb decisions. Why does the A-list celebrity heroine in urban romance novels ditch the top-tier movie star and become a lovestruck fool for a pockmarked male lead? Why do the leads in historical tragedy novels keep dancing between love and death, only for the blind healer to end up suffering the most? And Gu Wei never expected that after finally landing a villain role to stir up trouble, she’d pick the wrong gender! No choice now—she’ll just have to crush the protagonists as a girl!
