"You and Xiaobao together?"
"Right."
"Jump into the cauldron?"
"Exactly."
Looking at Li Mo’s dead-serious expression, Elder Xue’s face gradually darkened.
He turned his head:
"Xiaobao, go fetch your Second Senior Sister. She specializes in treating mental and brain-related issues."
Old Xue was worried that Li Mo might be suffering from prolonged mental stress or perhaps a deviation in his cultivation.
What kind of mental state would make someone think of jumping into a cauldron to be refined alongside the elixir?
This skips the whole funeral banquet step—straight to cremation, huh?
"Oh, got it."
Tang Xiaobao wiped his face and was about to head out.
"Wait!"
Li Mo grabbed Tang Xiaobao’s head and spun him back around.
"Elder Xue, I’m serious."
"That makes it even worse!"
Xue Jing’s expression was grave:
"Us martial artists are prone to wild thoughts. Sometimes, we don’t even realize we’ve strayed down the wrong path."
"For example, when I was young, I always looked for shortcuts."
"Back then, I failed a few times trying to condense my Profound Core. So I thought, why not just forge a ‘Profound Core’ and shove it into my dantian? Wouldn’t that be the same as a real one?"
"Sounds pretty clever to me."
Li Mo thought Elder Xue’s idea was highly creative—fitting for a master alchemist.
A genius no less brilliant than himself.
But Xue Jing sighed deeply.
Clearly, his plan had failed.
"How did it fail?" Li Mo asked.
Xue Jing’s lips parted, but no words came out. After a moment, he sighed heavily again.
Tang Xiaobao smacked his forehead, remembering:
"Master flushed the Profound Core down the latrine and even searched for it with a lantern—"
"Shut your mouth, you little brat!"
Even at his age, being reminded of such an embarrassing incident made Xue Jing’s thick-skinned face flush slightly.
Li Mo: "........"
After a long silence, he looked up at the sky as if just snapping out of it:
"Wow, look, there’s a really pretty bird over there. Oh, Elder Xue, what were you saying earlier?"
Li Mo’s performative personality kicked in.
After hearing something like that, he’d better sleep lightly tonight.
"Hmm, it is quite pretty."
Xue Jing nodded.
"Where—"
Thwack!
Tang Xiaobao got a flick on the forehead from his master.
He pouted—there was clearly nothing in the sky.
"Ahem, back to the main topic."
Li Mo cleared his throat and straightened his expression:
"Elder Xue, my willingness to enter the cauldron isn’t some wild fantasy."
"First, my body-refining techniques are fairly solid."
With that, he casually pulled out a sharp weapon and flicked it with his finger.
The blade immediately chipped.
Xue Jing raised an eyebrow, impressed by his disciple’s body-refining prowess.
But that alone wasn’t enough.
Li Mo continued:
"I’ve also done some research on my own physique."
"I’ve found that I’m impervious to extreme heat and cold."
Xue Jing shook his head:
"Martial artists naturally withstand some degree of temperature extremes, but—"
"I slept with Ying Bing for a month," Li Mo added.
Silence fell over the courtyard.
"You..."
Xue Jing’s eyes widened in shock, as if a tidal wave had surged in his heart.
"Exactly."
Li Mo nodded firmly.
"You two have gone that far?"
"...Elder Xue, maybe focus more on the part about my physique."
A vein throbbed on Li Mo’s forehead.
"Well... if you can endure that level of heat and cold..."
Xue Jing collected himself.
After a long deliberation, he finally took a deep breath:
"Fine. Let’s give it a try."
"But the moment anything goes wrong, we stop immediately."
......
Meanwhile.
Qingyuan Main Peak.
"Your progress in the Inner Breath Realm has broken the sect’s records. And to slay a Perception cultivator while still in Inner Breath..."
"Even in Qingyuan’s long history, there’s never been a disciple like you."
Shangguan Wencang smiled with satisfaction.
"You flatter me, Sect Master."
Ying Bing gave a slight nod.
To this day, she had never called Shangguan Wencang "Master."
And he had never demanded it.
"Once you reach the Profound Core Realm, none of Qingyuan’s Perception-stage elders or disciples will likely be your match."
Shangguan Wencang spoke plainly.
Elder Su of Luoxia Peak, Qian Bufan, and Han He—none of the elders objected.
Even in the Central Divine Continent, Ying Bing would shine brilliantly.
"You’ve always forged your own path in cultivation."
"Today, I called you here to ask."
"What do you intend to use as your Perception?"
Shangguan Wencang’s tone was solemn.
"The Moon."
Ying Bing answered without hesitation.
By perceiving the Moon, she could further control the lunar power within her.
Shangguan Wencang wasn’t surprised by her answer.
As if prepared, he said:
"If you succeed, the Moon would indeed be a divine form. But it hangs high in the heavens—forever distant and untouchable for us."
Perception wasn’t just about seeing.
The Moon, the Sun, the stars—observing them was naturally superior to observing mere birds or beasts.
But those who could grasp their essence and truly imprint them into their ‘hearts’ were vanishingly rare across history.
After a pause, seeing no change in Ying Bing’s expression, Shangguan Wencang continued:
"Qingyuan has another path to Perception—one no lesser than the Moon."
"It suits you just as well, and it’s far easier to walk."
"Gather the forms of a hundred birds and condense the Phoenix Spirit!"
"Would you... consider it?"
As he spoke, a fierce light flickered in Shangguan Wencang’s eyes.
The elders seemed to hold their breaths.
This was Qingyuan’s greatest secret, known only to each generation’s sect master.
"I won’t abandon the Moon as my Perception."
Ying Bing’s voice was soft but firm.
The light in Shangguan Wencang’s eyes dimmed slightly.
"In that case, I won’t force you..."
"But the Phoenix Spirit—I will condense it as well."
Ying Bing added.
Huh?
The elders exchanged confused glances.
What did she mean?
The next moment.
Twin radiances burst forth simultaneously.
One, born of lunar essence, freezing all in its wake; the other, shimmering like illusion, rippling with iridescence.
They framed Ying Bing’s flowing black hair, making her seem almost otherworldly.
"Two types of inner breath?"
Qian Bufan was the first to realize.
"You plan to... condense two Profound Cores? Perceive both the Moon and the hundred birds, manifest dual divine forms, and possess two realms?"
Han He asked quietly, as if afraid his heart might leap out if he spoke too loudly.
"Yes."
Ying Bing nodded.
The elders couldn’t help but laugh bitterly.
After several encounters with Ying Bing, their shock tolerance had improved.
Who could gasp in amazement every single day?
Yet today, even their wildest imaginations fell short.
This path was difficult.
But looking into the girl’s serene, fathomless eyes, they found no urge to dissuade her.
Instead, they felt she knew exactly what she was doing—and had every confidence in success.
If she succeeded...
The Moon and the hundred birds, both as divine forms.
Perception forms were ranked by complexity and profundity:
Lower Form, Middle Form, Upper Form, Supreme Form, and the Great Dao Divine Form.
Dual Divine Forms?
They’d never even heard of such a thing.
"Very well. Since you possess such boldness, it would make me seem petty to refuse."
Shangguan Wencang set his pipe down on the table with a decisive tap:
"If you can refine two Mystic Pills, I will take you to the ancestral hall on Qingyuan Main Peak."
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.
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.
villain is the number one simp for the book's leading female protagonist, Shen Wan'er. As expected, he later becomes a tool for the main character to show off and slap faces, ultimately meeting a tragic end with his family ruined and his life in shambles. Fortunately, he awakens the [Universal Pure Love System], which allows him to earn points by performing acts of pure love. To change his fate, Gu Yan makes a decisive choice to seek warmth and companionship with the book's biggest villain—Cold Qingqiu. ........... My name is Leng Qingqiu. To find the murderer who killed my parents years ago, I deliberately blinded myself so that everyone would lower their guard around me. Just as I was secretly accumulating power and capital according to my initial plan, a man walked into my world. "Lengleng, Qingqing, Qiuqiu, which nickname do you prefer?" I don't like any of them. You'd better leave quickly! "Why aren't you saying anything? How about I call you my baby wife?" Leng Qingqiu thinks to herself, this man is truly annoying! (Stubborn pure love warrior + single female lead + true pure love + 1v1)
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)
