Ling River Dock.
The sky was darkening, caught between the lingering sunset and the rising crescent moon.
The temple fair at the dock was just coming to an end.
With a casual flick of his hand, the temple’s abbot plucked the smiling head of the flower-holding Buddha statue and placed it atop his own.
He turned to face the three figures behind him.
“Are you here to offer incense, or to pray for blessings?”
Upon hearing this, the one wearing a dragon-headed mask among the three stepped forward and spoke:
“Better to rely on oneself than to beg for divine favor.”
“Well said.”
The Laughing Buddha nodded slightly, the smile on his borrowed head widening, as though pleased by the answer.
“You three have given me quite the pleasant surprise.”
“From today onward, you are members of the Drizzle Tower. You may take on assignments from the Shadow Hall.”
“Succeed in this task, and you’ll be promoted to Human Butchers as an exception.”
He stretched out his palm, revealing three copper Swallows of the Hall, resting in his massive hand.
For a fleeting moment, the swallows seemed alive, their wings fluttering as if imbued with a will of their own.
“No need to rush. Complete the task, and these Swallows will be yours.”
“May we ask what the task entails?”
The Three Evils of Huai Mountain exchanged glances before the dragon-masked man asked in a muffled voice.
The Laughing Buddha replied calmly:
“Escort a shipment downstream with me.”
“Remember, this is confidential. Not a word to anyone, lest the Qingyuan Sect catches wind and interferes.”
“If word leaks, no one can save you.”
A shipment?
And the Qingyuan Sect must never know?
Or face utter ruin?
The trio—Tiger, Dragon, and Leopard—exchanged glances and fell silent.
The Laughing Buddha mistook their hesitation for fear of the risks, unwilling to cross the Qingyuan Sect.
With another chuckle, he added:
“I’ve been the abbot of this dock temple for over a decade, watching fishermen haul in their catch every day. I’ve learned one thing.”
“The fiercer the waves, the more valuable the fish!”
“If you three aren’t willing to take risks, how will you ever rise to greatness?”
After a long silence, Li Mo concealed his surprise and pressed further:
“If you want us to take such a risk, at least tell us what we’re transporting.”
“Just delivering some children to a summoning outpost of the Demon Calling Sect.”
The Laughing Buddha answered patiently before asking again:
“You’re smart men. What’s your decision?”
As his words faded, faint Buddhist chants echoed through the small temple, soothing the mind and body.
The message was clear:
Now that you know the truth, this ship isn’t one you can simply step off.
The dragon-masked man clasped his hands in salute:
“We are at your service.”
The Laughing Buddha had barely relaxed when a dagger, hidden in the shadows, shot toward his back.
The strike was silent until the last moment, when a surge of killing intent erupted.
The Laughing Buddha, a Perception Realm cultivator, reacted with unnatural speed.
His body twisted like a slippery serpent, evading the fatal blow.
He spun around and caught the blade between his fingers.
Had he not trained in Buddhist arts, sharpening his awareness to break free from the killing aura, the strike might have wounded him gravely.
“What is the meaning of this!?”
The smile on his borrowed head twisted into the wrathful visage of a Ming King.
No answer came.
Instead, he was met with a mist of clouds, thick as an impending storm, filling every inch of space around him.
A domain?
He quickly realized it only resembled one, lacking the pressure of an Inner Landscape martial artist.
Yet the icy chill seeped into his bones.
“Ying Bing!?”
A gust of wind howled—
Pale cyan sword light and the silent dagger’s killing aura swirled together, shaking the bloody glow around him.
He thrust his palms forward, and two phantom handprints shattered the incoming blades.
But what followed were two gleaming swords—
One red, one blue, entwined like twin dragons of ice and fire.
Crack—
The dazzling slash struck as if hitting metal.
“Cough!”
He spat out a mouthful of burning ice shards.
That strike had nearly killed him. Had he been slower…
Strangely, his body bore no wounds, but the headless golden Buddha statue in the temple dimmed noticeably.
“Had I not spent over a decade building my foundation here, I’d have capsized in a ditch today!”
“Li Mo, you’ve delivered yourself to me—”
Before he could finish—
“No need to reason with demonic heretics. Attack together!”
“I’ll smash the statue—you cut him down!”
Li Mo summoned a hammer and barked orders.
He had seen through it: without destroying the Buddha statue, they couldn’t kill their foe quickly.
A mere Perception Realm cultivator, yet so troublesome.
The Laughing Buddha: “......”
He wanted to stop them—
But he couldn’t fight the other three at once.
Ying Bing was the real threat. The other two were little more than annoying flies he could swat aside with ease.
But this girl… she was terrifying.
Even one-on-one, with over a decade’s worth of accumulated prayer power, he’d likely be forced onto the defensive.
And now there was Li Mo too.
The intel he’d received said Li Mo used a sword—since when did he wield a hammer?!
Boom—
Third Form of Settling Heaven and Earth: Thunder’s Judgment.
The hammer descended like a rolling storm, thunderous as the first strike of spring, shaking the world!
This was an Inner Breath cultivator?!
In sheer terror, the Laughing Buddha hurled a string of black prayer beads, hoping to block the blow.
But the beads shattered mid-air, their trapped souls wailing before dispersing into nothingness.
The decade’s worth of prayer power—
Under the true wrath of heaven, it crumbled like rotten wood.
Clang—
A bell’s toll pierced metal and stone.
The golden statue cracked like a spider’s web, its layers peeling away to reveal bleached bones beneath.
At last, he could no longer resist the icy sword energy.
The frigid wind pierced through him—
The sword energy, sharp as needles through leaves, riddled his body with holes. Blood froze before it could even drip.
......
Meanwhile—
Boom—
At Ling River Dock, a finely dressed young man paused mid-step as he questioned the locals.
“That came from…”
“That’d be the Laughing Buddha Temple. We fishermen always pray there before setting sail.”
The old fisherman’s words struck Luo Yu like lightning.
The Laughing Buddha Temple?
Wasn’t that where children had vanished during the temple fair?
Without another thought, he shot toward the source of the disturbance like a startled swan.
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.
ts me of treason?" "Correct. The host must return to the capital and gradually build up influence." "Wait—I have half a million soldiers, and you want me to go back to the capital to 'build influence'?" "Host, you are currently the Northern Garrison General, loyal to the Great Xia Dynasty." "Of course I am loyal to Great Xia! Absolutely loyal!" "But you keep referring to yourself as 'We'..." "Never mind the details! Summon all the regional commanders and military officers! We suspect treacherous officials are manipulating the court! They shall march with Us to the capital and purge the corrupt!" "......"
ap a wealthy young lady? Or else I'll be eliminated by the system? Ye Feng, who awakened the Kidnapper System, originally wanted to live a peaceful life but never imagined he would become a kidnapper of young women. However, after some time, he discovered that all the girls the system ordered him to kidnap were far from ordinary. "Big brother Ye Feng~ You've kidnapped my heart, and now you're not allowed to leave me ever again~" "Ye Feng~ You kidnapped me back then, now it's my turn to capture you♡" "Little Feng, you're mine! You can only be mine!" "Ye Feng, none of them deserve you. Only I love you the most♡" ... This is madness, they've all gone mad! Wait, what? Why are all the girls I kidnapped yanderes?!
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!
