Before the voice even faded, Xuanyangzi was seen walking over briskly, the hem of his Daoist robe catching the wind, his face beaming with a bright smile.
Behind him, Shi Wanshan was walking with even larger strides, while Li Xuanfeng, Shen Jinghong, and several other disciples followed closely.
Xuanyangzi hurried forward, his gaze sweeping anxiously over Xiao Ruobai and Fang Hanyu, his tone carrying genuine concern.
"Ruobai, Hanyu, are you two alright? I heard you clashed with the people from the Demon Heaven Sect in the secret realm? Are you hurt?"
Shi Wanshan also caught up with large strides, his copper-bell-like eyes staring wide, his voice booming.
"And what about the Great Yan Dynasty! The royal family was uprooted overnight, their entire clan wiped out! I heard the ones who did it were two young cultivators, ruthless and decisive in their killing! Was it you two brats?!"
His gaze was burning with undisguised approval and a certainty of "it must be you." He even gave Xiao Ruobai's shoulder a forceful pat, shaking the young man's body slightly.
Xiao Ruobai and Fang Hanyu exchanged a glance. They didn't admit it directly, but the calmness in their eyes and the lingering trace of sharpness explained everything.
Seeing this, Xuanyangzi let out a long sigh of relief, his face revealing an expression of both gratification and emotion.
He looked at Xiao Ruobai, his tone much gentler. "Ruobai, although you have only been in the sect for half a year, us old folks all know about your background. The blood feud of the General's Manor... has always been a massive boulder weighing on your heart."
He paused, his voice carrying a hint of relieved lightness. "Now that your great vengeance has been exacted, the spirits of the General's Manor can rest in heaven, and you have finally laid down a heavy burden. Good! This is great! Congratulations, child!"
Shi Wanshan also nodded heavily. His large hand patted Xiao Ruobai's back again, this time with a lighter force, his tone carrying a gruff sincerity.
"That's right! Congratulations are in order! If General Xiao Zhan's spirit is watching from heaven and sees how accomplished you've become, personally settling the grudges, he would surely be deeply comforted!"
Li Xuanfeng, Shen Jinghong, and the other disciples also cast gazes of admiration and congratulation.
They all knew what Xiao Ruobai had been shouldering, and seeing his vengeance fulfilled at this moment, they were all happy for him.
Xiao Ruobai took a deep breath and bowed solemnly to Xuanyangzi and Shi Wanshan.
"Thank you for your concern, Sect Master Martial Uncle and Martial Uncle Shi. With this matter resolved, your disciple no longer has any burdens in his heart. From now on, I will devote myself to cultivation and will not disappoint the high expectations of the sect."
His voice was steady, carrying the firmness of someone who had just unloaded a heavy burden.
Right at this moment, Xuanyangzi's gaze inadvertently swept over the unfamiliar figure who had been standing quietly beside Gu Changge—Ling Xi.
The smile on his face paused slightly, and the gratification in his eyes turned into fresh curiosity.
He pointed at Ling Xi and looked at Gu Changge, his tone inquiring. "Junior Brother Changge, who is this young lady...? I was too caught up in the joy just now to ask."
Shi Wanshan also followed his gaze.
Gu Changge introduced her, "Oh, this is Ling Xi. My newly accepted disciple. She just joined the sect yesterday."
A flash of astonishment couldn't help but cross Xuanyangzi and Shi Wanshan's faces; Junior Brother Gu had actually taken in another disciple.
"So it is Martial Niece Ling Xi. I am the Sect Master of the Qingxuan Sect, Xuanyangzi, and this is the Peak Master of Qingyue Peak, Martial Uncle Shi Wanshan. Welcome to the Qingxuan Sect."
His gaze lingered on Ling Xi for a moment longer, trying to discern some clues, but he found that the young girl's aura was tranquil. Her eyes were clear yet carried a composure unfitting for her age; he surprisingly couldn't see through her.
To be favored by Junior Brother Changge, she was indeed extraordinary.
Shi Wanshan also laughed heartily, his voice as booming as ever. "Right, right! Welcome, welcome! We're all family from now on! If you run into any trouble in the sect, just come find your Martial Uncle!"
Ling Xi stepped forward and, following proper etiquette, bowed deeply to the two of them again. Her voice was clear and steady. "Disciple Ling Xi greets the Sect Master and Martial Uncle Shi."
Xuanyangzi stroked his beard and nodded, feeling more and more that this girl possessed an extraordinary bearing.
He pondered for a moment, and with a flash of light in his hand, a warm, smooth jade pendant carved with profound cloud patterns appeared. Spiritual light was contained within the jade, and the faint sound of flowing breezes could be heard from it.
"For our first meeting, your Martial Uncle doesn't have anything too incredible," Xuanyangzi said as he handed the jade pendant to Ling Xi.
"Although this Soul-Calming Clear-Heart Pendant isn't some supreme treasure, wearing it year-round has the effect of focusing the mind, calming the spirit, and nourishing the soul. It should be of some help to your daily cultivation and enlightenment. Consider it a greeting gift."
Seeing this, Shi Wanshan beside him also flipped his large hand. A small cauldron, merely the size of a palm yet unusually heavy and gleaming with a dark golden luster, appeared in his grasp. The body of the cauldron was carved with patterns of a wild bull trampling a mountain, exuding a thick and steady aura.
"I, Old Shi, am a rough man, I don't have that many formalities!"
Shi Wanshan's voice boomed as he handed the small cauldron over as well.
"Take this Mountain Suppressing Cauldron! Injecting spiritual energy into it can enlarge it to about ten feet. Its defensive power is decent, and at a critical moment, smashing people... uh, protecting yourself with it is also pretty good! It's a Heaven-grade low-tier gadget, just make do with it!"
Looking at the two treasures handed to her, Ling Xi felt the undisguised, powerful spiritual energy fluctuations and the charm of their laws, and her heart trembled once again.
Heaven-grade treasures!
Even though in her past life, magical artifacts and pills of this grade were nothing to her, this was the Profound State!
Even in a first-rate sect, Heaven-grade treasures were enough to serve as sect-defining treasures or core inheritances.
Yet now, having just joined the sect, these two Martial Uncles were casually gifting her such precious items?
She subconsciously looked at her master, Gu Changge, her eyes carrying a hint of inquiry and the hesitation of "this is too precious."
Feeling Ling Xi's gaze, Gu Changge merely waved his hand casually and said flatly, "Since they are greeting gifts from your Martial Uncles, just accept them."
She bowed deeply to Xuanyangzi and Shi Wanshan once more. "Disciple... thanks Sect Master Martial Uncle and Martial Uncle Shi for these generous gifts! These items are truly too precious. I will definitely cultivate diligently to not let down my Martial Uncles' high expectations."
Her heart was filled with emotion. This Purple Bamboo Peak, along with this Qingxuan Sect, was refreshing her understanding time and time again.
The atmosphere, resources, and the care the elders showed for the younger generation here were completely different from the cruel path of cultivation she had experienced in her past life.
Seeing her accept them, Xuanyangzi's smile grew a bit warmer. "No need to be so polite. Just focus on your cultivation."
Shi Wanshan also nodded in satisfaction. "Right! Cultivate hard, and if you lack anything, just speak up!"
As Ling Xi received the two treasures brimming with spiritual energy, her heart suddenly stirred when her fingertips touched the warm jade pendant and the heavy small cauldron.
She sent out a wisp of divine sense, silently sweeping it over Xuanyangzi and Shi Wanshan in front of her.
Early stage of the Cave Heaven Realm? Middle stage of the Cave Heaven Realm?
The results she sensed made her slightly taken aback.
This cultivation level...
Placed in the Profound State, it would certainly be considered that of a regional powerhouse, but for a Sect Master and a Peak Master, it seemed... a bit ordinary?
Especially when compared to their lavishness in casually giving away Heaven-grade treasures just now, it revealed a subtle incongruity.
However, just as her mind stirred and she attempted to probe a layer deeper, she acutely detected that the two of them were faintly shrouded by an extremely brilliant, barely discernible breath-concealing barrier.
Again?
The corner of Ling Xi's eye couldn't help but twitch slightly, forcibly suppressing the urge to roll her eyes.
A tremendously absurd urge to complain roared up from the bottom of her heart: Just what is going on with this Qingxuan Sect?
From the master to the disciple, and then to the sect master and the elders, why were they all like nesting dolls? They looked perfectly ordinary on the outside, but just how many layers were hidden inside?
Was hiding one's cultivation base a traditional art form passed down from top to bottom in this sect?
Did they learn this breath-concealing technique wholesale? How come everyone had it?!
She quietly shifted her gaze, sweeping over the core disciples standing respectfully behind Xuanyangzi and Shi Wanshan, such as Li Xuanfeng, Shen Jinghong, and the others.
Mid-stage Core Formation Realm, mid-stage Foundation Establishment Realm...
As expected! It was exactly the same!
Her Emperor Soul sensed that every single person carried that familiar, deliberately concealed and suppressed aura fluctuation!
Although they were not as unfathomable as Xuanyangzi and the elders, they were absolutely not as simple as they appeared on the surface!
Ling Xi quickly withdrew her probing divine sense, her mind reeling as if ten thousand horses were stampeding through it.
She completely abandoned the idea of looking any deeper into it.
In this place, anyone who actually believed the cultivation bases displayed on the surface would be a total fool.
Just what kind of sect was this...
She secretly drew in a breath of cold air. From top to bottom, there was not a single honest person! They were all faking it!
A bizarre sense of security, like thinking she might have boarded a pirate ship but finding the ship to be absurdly sturdy, mixed with an overwhelming feeling of speechlessness and quietly spread through her heart.
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.”
e, Immortal Body, Transmigration, System, Progression Fantasy, Academy Setting, Third-Person Perspective. Alternate Title: Transmigrating into a High Martial World and Reading Live Comments. Bad news: I transmigrated. This is a terrifying high-martial world, and my original, pathetically weak body fell into a coma and never woke up. Good news: I got a Popularity Points system upon arrival. I can see live comments and even create an unkillable alternate identity. Starting out, the alternate identity has all stats at 1. The system tells me that to grow stronger, I must participate in the plot, gain popularity points to allocate stats and grow stronger, and ultimately awaken my original body. And so, carrying my original body on my back, I officially entered Huaqing Academy, where the story's protagonist resides. From that moment on, Chen Guan kicked the original plot to pieces. Live Comments: [Doesn't anyone find this mysterious coffin guy creepy? He can summon indescribable grey misty hands.] [Is this guy a hero or a villain? What kind of onion became a spirit?] [By the way, does anyone know who's in the coffin? Shouldn't the debt for saving his life be repaid by now?] [According to unofficial histories, the person in the coffin was Chen Guan's first love. Their love was once passionate and earth-shattering, but they were separated by life and death due to worldly circumstances. What a star-crossed pair.] ... Years later, the world knew of a demon god born from a coffin, shrouded in grey mist, impossible to gaze upon directly. His foremost divine emissary often wielded a scythe, reaping lives like the god of death. As war approached, facing former friends and a boundless sea of enemies, Chen Guan merely raised his scythe. "Would you like to dance as well?"
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."
. 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!"
