At the same time.
In the moonlit hotpot restaurant.
"You... are about to break through again?"
Li Mo quietly opened his eyes.
The swirling dual-colored inner energy cast an unusual glow over the girl's jade-like face, blending cold elegance with an eerie allure in perfect harmony.
Truth be told, he had sensed it coming these past few days—Ying Bing's inner energy had grown denser day by day.
He just hadn’t expected the breakthrough to arrive so soon.
Ying Bing opened her eyes and wordlessly gazed at him.
"......" Ying Bing.
"......" Li Mo.
Silence lingered between them.
The icy aura grew increasingly piercing.
In Li Mo’s perception, his inner energy could no longer maintain balance with Ying Bing’s.
Because the "ice block" had already begun condensing into liquid.
"Focus on your breakthrough."
Downstairs.
Zuo Qiuyang and Xiao Qin were startled by the commotion above.
"She..."
"Mn. Condensing into liquid."
Li Mo nodded.
"This..." Zuo Qiuyang’s lips parted slightly.
She’s only sixteen.
A bitter taste rose in Xiao Qin’s throat.
He had only just stabilized his inner energy at the Condensed Qi stage, still far from the threshold of the Jade Liquid stage.
And this was despite having a master’s guidance and consuming numerous energy-enhancing elixirs.
As for Junior Sister Ying Bing?
He’d barely even seen her train...
"Disciple, the gap between people can sometimes be wider than that between humans and dogs."
"The difference between you and the prodigies of Central Divine Province is the same as the difference between those prodigies and her."
Thousand Forms Martial Venerable seemed to have just snapped out of his thoughts, sighing with emotion.
Xiao Qin fell silent for a moment before turning his head:
"Brother Li... you..."
"I’ve also reached the peak of Condensed Qi."
Li Mo smiled faintly.
Since they cultivated together, their inner energies had to remain in balance—neither could lag too far behind.
So he had been deliberately holding back, accumulating investments.
Xiao Qin: "......"
Old Xiao was feeling a bit crushed.
When they first met, Junior Brother Li had only just opened his meridians. Now, he had already surpassed him.
Thousand Forms Martial Venerable comforted him in a solemn tone:
"When I first stepped onto the martial path, I too was no match for the prodigies of Central Divine Province."
"But if you can attain the supreme realm of the Thousand Forms Art after reaching the Observation Spirit stage, you may yet catch up to them."
"Mn!"
Xiao Qin shook off the frost gathering on his brows, his gaze firm once more.
He knew that the Thousand Forms Art his master spoke of was a divine technique.
Every divine technique held the power to seize the workings of heaven and earth.
Hum—
At that moment, a familiar energy field enveloped the area,
containing the surging cold tide within the hotpot restaurant.
It was Shang Wu.
With her intervention, Zuo Qiuyang and Xiao Qin finally found some relief.
The disturbances from the breakthrough were thus kept from leaking outside.
"At least the ingredients in the kitchen are safe now."
Zuo Qiuyang let out a sigh of relief.
Xiao Qin looked eastward and, after a moment of silence, said, "We probably won’t need to open tomorrow."
Li Mo nodded in agreement.
Zuo Qiuyang was puzzled at first,
but then, following Li Mo’s pointing finger, he saw fireworks erupting over the city, forming the iconic "Swallow Before the Hall"—the emblem of the Drizzle Pavilion.
The Endless Trial had concluded.
Tomorrow, they would head to Ling River Dock as agreed.
To kill the Laughing Maitreya.
With Ying Bing’s breakthrough, their swift assassination plan had gained another layer of assurance.
After discussing the specifics, the three dispersed to rest and make final preparations.
"Looks like I won’t be sleeping in my room tonight."
Li Mo shook his head and sat cross-legged on the floor.
His consciousness sank inward.
His dantian was now filled with crimson inner energy, its destructive aura reaching a critical point.
He attempted to liquefy his inner energy, just as Ying Bing had done.
A quarter of an hour later—
Boom—
Li Mo’s face flushed as he sucked in a sharp breath.
It had exploded.
Just now,
the condensed inner energy had detonated during compression, scattering back into its diffuse state.
His inner energy, bearing the purest essence of destruction, refused to coalesce into liquid.
Young Li fell into deep thought.
Ying Bing’s physique was fundamentally different from his—the path she took might not suit him.
There was no doubt that the martial art above divine techniques was anything but ordinary.
Yet ever since obtaining it, he had barely scratched the surface, only making the most rudimentary use of it.
This shouldn’t be the case.
[Twenty years of martial insights successfully injected.]
Having saved up for a long time, Young Li was now flush with resources.
He could afford to splurge.
[You recalled the vision the lotus petal had shown you. You pondered the origin of this martial art and finally realized: had it not been for dual cultivation with Ying Bing, you wouldn’t even have reached the peak of Condensed Qi.]
[Twenty years passed in an instant.]
[Yet the spark of enlightenment remained faint, only allowing you to vaguely discern the art’s name.]
[The Karmic Flame Red Lotus Sublime Art.]
"......Huh?"
"Twenty years for just this?"
Li Mo was speechless.
His comprehension of mental techniques wasn’t poor—certainly better than his swordsmanship.
Yet twenty years of effort, poured into this martial art, had only yielded its name.
This could only mean one thing:
The Karmic Flame Red Lotus Sublime Art was far too vast and profound.
Giving up halfway wasn’t an option.
He continued channeling martial insights like flowing water.
[Year 36: You finally understood that within that spark of enlightenment lay the principle of ‘extremity begets decline.’ Without a trace of vitality, how could the Karmic Flame Red Lotus ever take form?]
[Year 80: You exhausted your mental and physical strength, attempting to use absolute destruction to nurture that sliver of life.]
[Year 200: You succeeded at last. The lotus seed showed signs of sprouting.]
[Year 365: Your Karmic Flame Red Lotus Sublime Art reached the Entry level.]
Entry.
Li Mo’s remaining martial insights—a pitiful hundred years’ worth—had finally bought him entry into this art.
This could no longer be called a mere "martial art."
It was, without a doubt, an immortal technique.
Using absolute destruction to birth vitality and nurture the Karmic Flame Red Lotus.
"I wonder what it’ll be like when it reaches Perfection—or even the Transformed stage."
Young Li couldn’t help but feel a flicker of anticipation.
But reason told him not to push further. Any more insights poured in now would barely make a ripple.
Quietly closing his eyes, he began refining the lotus seeds within his thirty-six primary meridians.
The wondrous sight of Heaven-Man Unity once again manifested around him.
In his room, Xiao Qin couldn’t help but open his eyes and look outside.
Thousand Forms Martial Venerable sighed and said something to him. Xiao Qin took a deep breath and resumed his training with even greater focus.
Upstairs.
The fluctuations from the breakthrough gradually subsided.
Ying Bing seemed both changed and unchanged—still that same ice-jade beauty.
She walked to the window, and the sight of the young man training entered her gaze.
The words that surfaced in her heart were the same ones Thousand Forms Martial Venerable had once spoken:
One day, when Li Mo reached the Inner Landscape, he would be formidable.
Those who achieved Heaven-Man Unity were all exceptional within the Inner Landscape.
Of course, this also depended on his accumulation during the Observation Spirit stage.
As for her, she walked a path that supplemented the observation of avian forms with the primary observation of the Grand Yin.
This was a path even the elders of Qingyuan Sect—and Shangguan Wencang—hadn’t anticipated.
Using the Nine-Colored Yuan Phoenix Soul to converge the Lunar Phoenix Deity of Grand Yin.
Naturally, this wasn’t a path she could complete before the next rankings.
To reclaim the top spot, she would have to rely on her superior cultivation level for now.
With the stage rewards of Emperor's Flowing Nectar, this should be achievable.
Three vials... surely she wouldn’t need that many?
"Is there any dish that can be made with Emperor's Elixir..."
world slacker. But a genius female disciple just had to get clingy, insisting that he take her as a disciple. Not only that, she was always making advances on him, thoroughly disrupting his peaceful slacker life...
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.
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)
] [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!"
