A few days later...
"I'm off to the club, Chuan. The anniversary celebration is coming up, and as the host, I need to rehearse." Luo Xi, as usual, was heading to her club activities. After all, Silver Mountain Academy's 70th-anniversary celebration was approaching, and she had a lot to prepare for.
The anniversary was the academy's biggest event, with numerous activities planned across the campus.
"Alright, go ahead. But give me a kiss before you leave."
"We're in the classroom! No way~ I'll do it when no one's around." Luo Xi giggled, pinching Ye Chuan's cheek before skipping out of the room.
Watching her ponytail bounce away with light, cheerful steps, Ye Chuan slowly withdrew his gaze.
Pulling out his phone, he opened WeChat and messaged Wang Yanran.
Ye Chuan: I'm ready.
Wang Yanran: [Location] Hilton Hotel
Wang Yanran: I'll be waiting for you here, Senior~
Today was the day he had promised to help Wang Yanran capture a "Ghost King." According to her, though, it was just a fifth-tier Transcendent—roughly around the early to mid Qi Refinement stage in strength.
This time, Ye Chuan had brought Lan Xiaoke along.
"Let's go. We're hunting a Ghost King." Ye Chuan glanced up to see Lan Xiaoke peeking out from the ventilation duct, only half her face visible.
With just half her pale, ghostly face pressed against the duct, the sight was unsettling—especially since Lan Xiaoke was already a ghost, her ghastly white complexion adding to the eerie vibe.
But as the timid ghost herself put it, this place felt like home. She used to hide here every day, spying on people playing with their phones.
Hearing Ye Chuan's voice, Lan Xiaoke floated down. She had already reached the mid-stage of Qi Refinement. While breaking through to the initial stage had only taken minutes, advancing to mid-stage had taken days. Still, her cultivation speed was astonishingly fast.
At the very least, Bai Qianshuang had remarked that the Jade Void Sect had a successor—well, a ghost successor.
"Ghost King... sounds terrifying." Lan Xiaoke shrank back, her cowardly demeanor making Ye Chuan twitch his lips. "You're a Qi Refinement expert now. Can’t you at least act a little braver?"
"I don’t really feel any different." Lan Xiaoke knew she had grown stronger and no longer feared sunlight, but she still didn’t have a clear grasp of her own power.
And now Ye Chuan wanted her to face a Ghost King?
A Ghost King!
That sounded ridiculously powerful—way beyond what a little ghost like her could handle.
"Enough. Let’s move." Ye Chuan grabbed Lan Xiaoke and left the classroom.
After hailing a cab, he arrived at the designated hotel—where Wang Yanran was already waiting downstairs. When Ye Chuan got there, he noticed another man standing beside her.
He vaguely remembered him—the guy who had chased Lan Xiaoke with Wang Yanran last time.
His name, though, escaped him.
"I want to come too." Zhang Chao grinned.
"Why is there someone else?" Ye Chuan asked, eyeing Zhang Chao. Meanwhile, Lan Xiaoke, spotting both Wang Yanran and Zhang Chao, immediately hid behind Ye Chuan. She hadn’t forgotten how they’d hunted her down last time.
"Sorry, Senior. Zhang Chao followed me on his own. I couldn’t get rid of him." Wang Yanran rubbed her temples in frustration. She’d warned Zhang Chao, but it was useless—he did whatever he wanted.
Especially after hearing Ye Chuan was coming, his interest had only grown.
"Hey, how’d you knock me out with one punch last time? What’s your actual strength?" Zhang Chao smirked, studying Ye Chuan curiously.
"Why should I tell you?" Ye Chuan shot back, though he didn’t particularly dislike Zhang Chao. After all, the guy had been one-punched.
"Come on, you’re already buddy-buddy with Wang Yanran. Take me along!" Zhang Chao, ever the extrovert, slung an arm over Ye Chuan’s shoulder. "No hard feelings, right? We’re all pals now."
"No~ hard~ feelings~? You almost killed me last time!" Lan Xiaoke muttered from behind Ye Chuan, glaring at Zhang Chao with deep resentment.
Ye Chuan didn’t mind Zhang Chao’s attempt to befriend him—anyone who could cough up benefits was fine by him.
But Lan Xiaoke wasn’t having it. She started rolling around in the air behind Ye Chuan, whining,
"Ye Chuan, he bullied me! He bullied me! Say something!"
Since Zhang Chao hadn’t drunk the spirit-seeing talisman water yet, he couldn’t see Lan Xiaoke’s dramatic performance. Ye Chuan turned to Wang Yanran, about to speak, but she seemed to already know what he wanted. She handed Zhang Chao a bottle of the concoction.
"Here. Drink up."
Zhang Chao grimaced at the foul-tasting liquid. They hadn’t even left to hunt the Ghost King yet—why did he have to drink this crap?
Still, since he’d need it eventually, he pinched his nose and downed it in one go.
"Bleh—ugh—cough—" Zhang Chao’s face twisted, his eyes rolling back as he gagged, his whole body trembling like he was about to keel over.
"That bad?" Ye Chuan raised an eyebrow.
He didn’t need the talisman water to see Lan Xiaoke.
Wang Yanran explained, "It’s not that bad, actually. The talisman water itself is tasteless—just a bit like ink."
"Then why’s he like this?" Ye Chuan pointed at Zhang Chao, who looked like he was on the verge of death.
"Oh, I’ve been annoyed with him lately. I added some bittering agent to it."
"Wait, WHAT?! You made it disgusting on purpose?!" Zhang Chao gaped.
Wiping his mouth, he finally noticed Lan Xiaoke behind Ye Chuan.
"You?"
"You attempted murderer!" Lan Xiaoke huffed. "You owe me compensation! Emotional damages!"
Zhang Chao looked baffled. He shrugged with a grin,
"Hey, little ghost, I was just hired by Wang Yanran to exterminate a stray. What’s wrong with that?"
"I’m not a stray!"
Seeing Lan Xiaoke so worked up, Ye Chuan stroked his chin and said to Zhang Chao, "Tell you what—if you can beat her in a fight, I’ll let you tag along."
Zhang Chao blinked. He pointed at Lan Xiaoke as if to ask—
This tiny thing?
You’re serious?
To him, she was just a one-punch knockout.
"Yeah." Ye Chuan nodded with a smile. Meanwhile, Lan Xiaoke panicked, still traumatized from last time. "I can’t do it!"
"Relax. Give it a shot. Have some confidence." Ye Chuan patted her head.
"So, when do we start?" Zhang Chao cracked his knuckles, eager.
Beating up Lan Xiaoke?
Easy.
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)
with countless casualties. As a top-tier gamer, Liu Xuan volunteered to join the fight, intending to dominate with his skills, but instead he obtained the hidden class: [Pacifist]. Unable to attack. Unable to use active skills. Fortunately, with each level gained, he acquired a new passive skill. And so, armed with a body full of passives, Liu Xuan slaughtered his way through the battlefield of ten thousand races! [You attacked Liu Xuan] [You gained the debuffs: 'Poison', 'Fear', 'Burning', 'Bleeding', 'Freeze', 'Silence', etc.] [Your attack speed has been reduced by 99%] [Your armor and magic resistance have been reduced by 99%] Warriors of the Ten Thousand Races: How the hell am I supposed to fight this?!
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...
