The bustling street suddenly fell silent.
Bai Jinghong, a prodigy of the Hidden Dragon Ranking and a true disciple of the Hengyun Sword City, could refuse to bow even to nobility. Yet here he was, kneeling in the middle of the street without the slightest hesitation.
Could it be the lord of the Sword City who had arrived?
The crowd turned to look, only to see two young women and a man standing there. The young man stood tall and straight, his handsome features calm and composed. Beside him, one girl wore ill-fitting clothes with a cloth strip covering her eyes, her delicate face exuding an aura of clever charm. The other girl carried an icy demeanor, like a snow lotus from the highest peaks, her every movement subtly radiating authority.
"Who are they?"
"They seem much younger than Young Master Bai."
"Could that girl have an extraordinary background, making Bai Jinghong kneel at the sight of her?"
"She looks even more breathtaking than the fairies on the Hundred Flowers Beauty Ranking..."
...
As everyone knew, those who roamed the martial world were only ever interested in three things: divine weapons, martial techniques, and beautiful women.
The ice-cold girl's presence was so overwhelming that it successfully diverted attention away from Little Li.
Bai Jinghong remained kneeling, first bewildered, then awkward.
It had been a reflex.
Now, standing up would be strange, but staying on his knees was even worse...
"Little Bai, just yesterday you were boasting about your unyielding sword spirit, vowing to test your blade against the world's heroes. How come you're kneeling the moment you step outside?"
Behind him, the green-robed Swordsman Wu curled his lips in a teasing smirk.
"Is that girl really that strong?"
Swordsman Cao narrowed his eyes, brimming with fighting spirit.
"I wasn’t kneeling to her!"
"Oh? I thought you were so awed by her sword intent that you couldn’t help but bow."
As swordsmen of the Observation Divine Realm, they were naturally sensitive to sword auras.
Jokes aside, both Swordsman Wu and Swordsman Cao were true disciples of Hengyun Sword City. They could sense the intimidating aura emanating from Ying Bing.
"Her sword intent is indeed formidable, but... never mind, you wouldn’t understand!"
Bai Jinghong shook his head.
His mind flashed back to the Blood Phoenix Secret Realm—to the figure who had swung a hammer like a god of war, smashing through the entire realm with a single strike...
That figure was now smiling and walking toward him.
"It was just a small favor I did for Brother Bai."
"I always said Brother Bai was a man of passion, but there’s no need to greet me with such a grand gesture."
Little Li noticed Bai Jinghong’s embarrassment and stepped forward to help him up.
"Ahem, right. I’m just a sentimental person."
"Brother Li speaks wisely."
Bai Jinghong stood up, awkwardly chuckling.
"By the way, I have a letter for you, Brother Bai."
"It concerns the safety of Yunzhou. Please take it seriously—best to deliver it to your sect’s elders."
Li Mo took out an envelope from his robes, containing information about the Fine Rain Tower.
The Fine Rain Tower’s ambitions were vast.
With just a stroke of his pen, he might alter countless destinies.
This wasn’t just for rewards. Even without any return, he would have done the same.
"Rest assured, Brother Li!"
Bai Jinghong accepted the letter solemnly.
Meanwhile, Swordsman Cao and Swordsman Wu frowned.
The Qingyuan Sect was passable in Purple Sun Prefecture, but to Hengyun Sword City, it was nothing more than a minor faction.
After Li Mo and the Qingyuan Sect disciples clasped their hands and left, Swordsman Wu finally spoke with a furrowed brow:
"Little Bai, your actions today have tarnished our sect’s prestige."
Swordsman Cao nodded in agreement.
"The sect has invested heavily in building our reputations."
A name carried weight, just as a tree’s shadow followed its form.
The more awe-inspiring a sect’s reputation, the firmer its control over the region.
And beyond the elders, the younger generation’s fame was crucial—it represented the sect’s future, its face to the world.
To establish their reputations, the three of them had spent months eliminating evildoers, even hiring storytellers to spread their deeds day and night.
Only then had they earned the title of the "Three Heroes of Hengyun."
"You two understand nothing."
Bai Jinghong sneered.
Didn’t they see Brother Li already reaching for his hammer?
He turned and left to deliver the letter.
...
Yunzhou City was now a gathering place for heroes, with countless young warriors arriving daily, eager to carve their names into legend.
Storytellers had become the hottest profession overnight.
But today, the most explosive news was Bai Jinghong’s kneel.
Some said it was gratitude toward a benefactor, others claimed his legs had given out from the cold. The most plausible theory was that the trio were true geniuses from a hidden sect.
Many began investigating the identities of those three youths.
Seizing the opportunity, a picture book titled The Tyrannical Empress Falls for Me suddenly appeared on the market.
The characters’ looks couldn’t just be compared to Li Mo and Ying Bing—they were identical.
Truly the work of a marketing genius...
...
Hengyun Sword City.
Elder Zeng’s residence.
A lean, stern-faced elder sipped tea, displeasure written across his brow.
Bai Jinghong and the other two stood in the hall.
"Elder Zeng, I have something important to show you—"
"Other matters can wait."
Elder Zeng cut him off sharply.
"Why did you humiliate our sect in public today?"
"I—"
"I don’t want excuses."
Elder Zeng’s face was cold. His meticulously arranged, immaculate robes spoke volumes about his obsession with face.
"Wu Chushu, Cao Mu, Bai Jinghong."
"During the Sword Testing Assembly, the three of you must challenge those Qingyuan Sect disciples."
Wu Chushu and Cao Mu accepted confidently.
Bai Jinghong forced a bitter smile.
"Then... I’ll challenge the girl with the cloth over her eyes..."
"The girl with the cloth?"
A woman’s puzzled voice suddenly came from the doorway.
Elder Zeng immediately rose and bowed respectfully.
"Honored Traveler, what brings you here?"
A pair of jade-like bare feet stepped inside, golden bells chiming softly at the ankles. A jade disc hung at her waist.
Her face was serene, but her eyes were like deep, unfathomable pools, filled with countless intersecting lines.
The Traveler of the Yantian Sect.
Her gaze fixed on Bai Jinghong.
"Those Qingyuan disciples you mentioned—describe them."
.........
As the Martial Arts Summit drew nearer, Yunzhou City grew livelier by the day.
Shen Yunfei, Xu Zhiqing, and the others felt the mounting pressure, spending every moment honing their skills and testing their techniques.
Li Mo, meanwhile, spent his days with the ice-cold Ying Bing and his nights with Princess Little Jiang.
In his spare time, he meditated on the divine.
At the break of dawn, Li Mo sheathed his sword and stood still.
After consuming vast amounts of martial insights, his Nine Swords of Dugu had reached the threshold of initial mastery.
The final deduction of his training was:
[Nine Swords of Dugu—to conquer all heroes, you can no longer train in isolation. Point your blade at the world’s talents, using their swords as whetstones to forge an unrivaled edge within your heart!]
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)
u Chenyuan transmigrated into a female-oriented novel about a real and fake heiress, becoming the CEO elder brother of both. Unfortunately, the entire Lu family—including himself, the CEO—were mere cannon fodder in the story. Determined to save himself, Lu Chenyuan took action. The spoiled, attention-seeking fake heiress? Thrown into the harsh realities of the working class to learn humility. The love-struck real heiress? Pushed toward academic excellence, so lofty goals would blind her to trivial romances. As for the betrayed, vengeful arranged marriage wife… the plot hadn’t even begun yet. There was still time—if he couldn’t handle her, he could at least avoid her. "CEO Lu, are you avoiding me?" Mo Qingli fixed her gaze on Lu Chenyuan. For the first time, the shrewd and calculating Lu Chenyuan felt a flicker of unease.
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.
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.
