"Don't worry, I know what I'm doing."
Ye Chuan raised his eyes nonchalantly, a smirk curving the corners of his lips.
"In a while, I even plan to pay a personal visit to the Wutong Sacred Land to see how much of a foundation they have left, and how many Ascension Realm patriarchs they can offer up as my nourishment."
At these words, Ji Lingxuan and the other two gasped in shock.
Pay a visit to the Wutong Sacred Land? And use Ascension Realm patriarchs as nourishment?
Only Ye Chuan would dare to say such a thing. If it were anyone else, they probably wouldn't even dare to approach the mountain gates of the Wutong Sacred Land.
Ultimately, Ji Lingxuan didn't try to persuade him further. She knew that although Ye Chuan appeared casual, he actually understood the pros and cons better than anyone else. Saying more would be useless.
She briefed Ye Chuan on a few more movements of the Wutong Sacred Land and the support the Taichu Sacred Land could provide. Then, she, along with Elder Ling and Elder Zhao, bowed in farewell, boarded their flying ship, and led the people of the Taichu Sacred Land away from the territory of the Yuxu Sect.
The flying ship pierced through the air and departed. On the mountain peak, only Ye Chuan remained, along with Su Yao, who was slumped on the ground with eyes full of venomous resentment.
Ye Chuan glanced down at her, raised his foot, and lightly kicked her arm. His tone was frivolous:
"Your Highness the Holy Maiden, everyone has left. Get up and shine my shoes. After fighting for so long just now, I'm actually a bit tired."
"In your dreams!"
Su Yao jerked her head up, her bloodshot eyes glaring fiercely at him. Even though the spiritual energy in her body had been devoured by the Chaos Mark until only a trace remained, she still stiffened her neck and gritted her teeth with every word,
"I, Su Yao, am the Holy Maiden of the Wutong Sacred Land! Even if I die, I will absolutely never do such a lowly thing for a demon like you! You'd better give up on that idea right now!"
"Oh? Still got a tough mouth, I see."
Ye Chuan let out a dark, sinister chuckle. He leaned down and grabbed her by the hair, forcing her to look up at him.
"It seems this Yuxu Sect has left you with too much dignity and failed to make you see reality, hasn't it? Fine, I'll take you to a nice place and properly teach you what it means to be someone who submits to circumstances."
As his voice fell, he didn't give Su Yao any chance to resist. After greeting Qian Shuang, he grabbed the back of her collar and flew into the air.
In merely the blink of an eye, the two of them went from the peak of the Yuxu Sect and appeared on the most bustling main street of Xuanjing City, right in front of Ye Chuan's blacksmith shop.
Inside the shop, the fox-eared young girl, Xiao Huli, was crouching behind the counter, taking inventory of the enhancement materials reserved by customers.
Hearing the commotion, she immediately looked up. Her fluffy fox ears twitched, and upon seeing Ye Chuan, her eyes instantly lit up. She bounded over to welcome him:
"Boss! You're back!"
Halfway through her sentence, she caught sight of Su Yao being dangled from Ye Chuan's hand. Seeing the woman's thin clothing, tear-stained face, and humiliated appearance, Xiao Huli froze instantly. Her fox ears stiffened atop her head as she asked in a small voice:
"Boss, who is this...?"
Did he pick up another one?
After all, Xiao Huli herself used to be a slave, so she assumed Su Yao was one too.
No... accurately speaking, Su Yao could indeed be considered a slave now.
"A disobedient ornament," Ye Chuan casually tossed Su Yao onto the ground and instructed Xiao Huli,
"Go to the backyard and bring over that black iron cage I casually made a while ago. Find a wooden board, too, and bring a brush and ink."
Although Xiao Huli was full of confusion, she obediently agreed and turned to run toward the backyard.
On the ground, Su Yao looked around and frowned. "Huang Haotian! What are you doing?! In broad daylight with everyone watching, what are you going to do to me?!"
"Doing what?" Ye Chuan crouched down and patted her pale cheek.
"Since you aren't willing to serve me, you should at least have some other use. My blacksmith shop happens to be lacking a living signboard. Your title as the Holy Maiden of the Wutong Sacred Land is still quite valuable here in Xuanjing City."
"Are you crazy?!" Su Yao shrieked involuntarily.
"I am the Holy Maiden of the Wutong Sacred Land! You dare lock me up for public display?! My patriarch will never let you off! Not a single sacred land in the entire Profound Sky Continent will tolerate you!"
"Hehehehehe, so what?" Ye Chuan laughed with unbridled arrogance.
"By the time your patriarch arrives, you might already be willingly warming my bed. What's the rush?"
Right then, Xiao Huli came huffing and puffing, dragging a half-person-tall black iron cage over. She was also holding a wooden board, a brush, and ink.
This cage wasn't exactly indestructible; it was even quite ordinary. But for Su Yao, whose spiritual energy was sealed, it was utterly impossible to break.
Ye Chuan waved his hand, his spiritual energy sweeping Su Yao up and tossing her directly into the cage. With a click, the lock snapped shut.
Then, he picked up the brush and wrote a few lines of flamboyant calligraphy on the wooden board, casually propping it up right in front of the cage.
The board conspicuously read:
[Exhibit: Su Yao, Holy Maiden of the Wutong Sacred Land]
Su Yao slumped against the bars of the cage. Upon clearly seeing the words on the board, her vision went dark, and she nearly fainted from anger on the spot.
Bastard!
What are you doing?!
Is this some kind of joke?!
Her entire body was trembling. She pointed at Ye Chuan, her voice cracking:
"Huang Haotian! You animal! You will die a horrible death! My Wutong Sacred Land will definitely grind your bones to dust and scatter your ashes! You will never be reincarnated! Even if I die, I will never let you humiliate me!"
She slammed into the bars of the cage like a madwoman, but the black iron cage didn't budge an inch. Instead, the impact made her own arms ache. Sensing her agitation, the Chaos Mark inside her body once again began to frantically devour her spiritual energy. The pain caused her to let out a muffled groan as she curled up in the cage, cold sweat pouring down her body.
Ye Chuan couldn't be bothered to listen to her incompetent rage. He waved a hand at Xiao Huli:
"Open the doors and welcome the customers. We're doing business as usual. We'll take orders for equipment enhancement and artifact forging."
"Ah? Oh... o-okay, Boss!" Xiao Huli gulped. Looking at the Holy Maiden in the cage, and then at her own boss's indifferent face, she felt that her boss had truly gone mad.
He actually dared to lock up a Sacred Land's Holy Maiden as an exhibit! Still, she obediently ran over, pulled open the main doors of the blacksmith shop, and hung up the "Open for Business" sign.
The cultivators of Xuanjing City had long been keeping an eye on the activity at the blacksmith shop.
The Master was a legend in Xuanjing City. Any equipment enhanced by his hands would see at least a ten percent improvement. Countless people would fight tooth and nail just to beg him to take action once.
At this moment, seeing the shop doors open, a crowd instantly surrounded it, swarming into the blacksmith shop in a massive throng.
"Master! You've finally opened your doors! I've been waiting for you for days! Please help me enhance this spirit sword!"
"Master! I have a piece of extraterrestrial meteorite iron here, and I'd like to ask you to forge a saber for me! Money is no object!"
The crowd surged in clamoring and shouting, but after taking only two steps, everyone froze in place. Their eyes widened into perfect circles, and their mouths hung open wide enough to fit a fist. The excitement on their faces instantly transformed into extreme shock and utter disbelief.
Right in the center of the shop's main hall sat a black iron cage. Locked inside the cage was a breathtakingly beautiful woman in a red dress. Although her clothes were thin and she looked thoroughly disheveled, that innate, noble arrogance of hers could not be concealed, even when locked in a cage.
And the wooden board in front of the cage made everyone gasp in horror.
Holy Maiden of the Wutong Sacred Land? Su Yao?!
That youngest Tribulation Transcendence Realm expert of the Profound Sky Continent, the Holy Maiden held in the palm of the Wutong Sacred Land's hand?!
She was just locked in a cage like this by Master Ye, treated as an exhibit to collect viewing fees?!
"A-Am I seeing things? Is that really Holy Maiden Su Yao?!"
"Crazy! This is crazy! The Master actually locked up the Saintess of the Holy Land?! The Wutong Holy Land is guarded by an Ascension Realm patriarch!"
"No way, is this real?"
The crowd instantly exploded into an uproar. Everyone gathered around the cage, pointing at Su Yao inside and whispering among themselves. Their eyes were filled with shock, curiosity, and a trace of incredulous amusement.
Su Yao was born a favored daughter of heaven. Wherever she went, she was always surrounded by an entourage and revered like a goddess. When had she ever been surrounded and pointed at by so many common mortals, gawked at like some rare novelty?
Countless pairs of eyes landed on her, sweeping over her thin clothes and her wretched, disheveled state. The murmurs pierced her ears like needles, and a tidal wave of humiliation completely engulfed her.
She buried her face in her hands, curling up in the corner of the cage. Her shoulders trembled uncontrollably as tears streamed down her face. Overwhelmed by shame and indignation, she wished she were dead.
Her proud status as a Saintess, the dignity she had upheld her entire life—at this very moment, Ye Chuan had mercilessly crushed it into the dirt and trampled it to pieces.
Finally, unable to endure it any longer, she abruptly raised her head. With tear-blurred eyes, she looked at Ye Chuan, who was leisurely sipping tea behind the counter. Her voice choked with utter despair and pleading:
"I... I am willing to give you a massage! Please, stop this!"
Ye Chuan, however, acted as if he hadn't heard her at all. He said nonchalantly, "You should have thought of that earlier. Stay on display for a day, and then we'll talk."
"What?!!!"
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.
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."
Cheng's father told him he was getting remarried—to a wealthy woman. Cao Cheng realized his time had finally come: he was about to become a second-generation rich kid. Sure, it might be a watered-down version, but hey, at least he'd have status now, right? The wealthy woman also had four daughters!! Which meant, starting today, Cao Cheng gained four stunning older sisters?? But that wasn't even the whole story... "My name is Cao Cheng—'Cheng' as in 'honest, smooth-talking gentleman'!"
transmigrates into the world as the sect master of the Heavenly Yan Sect, which is on the verge of being wiped out. He binds a system that grants him cultivation power based on the number of disciples he has: for each disciple, he automatically gains a year's worth of cultivation every single day! Take one disciple: every day he gains 1 year of cultivation power. While others struggle through a year of bitter training, he gets the same just by sleeping through a single night. Take ten disciples: every day he gains 10 years of cultivation power. Foundation Establishment, Core Formation, Nascent Soul—he breezes through all bottlenecks without lifting a finger. Take one hundred disciples: every day he gains 100 years of cultivation power. Even a Soul Transformation Venerable before him can’t survive a single blow. Take ten thousand disciples: every day he gains 10,000 years of cultivation power! With a wave of his hand, he topples empires. With a single step, he crushes the sacred grounds of the universe. ... While others fight tooth and nail for secret techniques, Lin Yan casually hands out Nascent Soul-level cultivation manuals as beginner textbooks. While others strain to find talented recruits, Lin Yan opens his doors to anyone—so long as they’re human. In just three short years, the Heavenly Yan Sect went from a backwater sect made up of three crumbling huts to a sacred land that every cultivator under heaven would kill to enter. ... One day, otherworldly demon gods invade, with a million demon soldiers pressing down upon the realm. Lin Yan, yawning, rises from his lounge chair and glances at the system panel: [Current Disciples: 1.28 million] [Daily Cultivation Increase: 1.28 million years] He waves his hand casually, and the countless demon soldiers are reduced to ashes in an instant. “So noisy… interrupting my fishing.”
