"A modest gift for our first meeting. What do you all think?"
Sun Gui straightened up, stroking his chin with a faint smile.
The Qingyuan Sect was considered a major sect within a single prefecture, but Yunzhou comprised three domains and twenty-seven prefectures, each no less prosperous than Purple Sun Prefecture. The financial accounts he handled annually could easily fund the establishment of several sects of Qingyuan Sect's scale.
His calculations were precise.
The items displayed outside were roughly equivalent to the treasury of a mid-sized sect.
Yet, the hall remained silent.
Qian Bufan: "..."
Ouyang: "..."
He scratched his head, mentally tallying how many sets of Li Mo's calligraphy supplies those gifts could buy.
Xue Jing: "..."
Recalling the sight of young Li Mo casually pouring out medicinal herbs, Old Xue remained utterly unfazed.
The room was dead silent.
So silent it grew awkward.
Sun Gui was at a loss. Could the Qingyuan Sect's wealth far exceed his expectations?
Or were they simply too worldly to show any reaction?
Li Mo, young as he was, surely hadn’t seen such extravagance before...
"Young Hero Li, what do you think?"
"I’ve always regarded wealth as dirt and have never been interested in gold or treasures."
Li Mo smiled politely.
He sensed a gaze boring into his back.
As everyone knew, Li Mo didn’t have eyes on the back of his head.
But had his training with his beautiful master been for nothing?
Now it proved useful.
"Please take these gifts back, Manager Sun."
Sun Gui’s expression shifted. Skilled in reading people, he detected not a trace of greed or reluctance in Li Mo’s demeanor.
Was this young man truly noble, free from base desires?
But... everyone in this world sought something.
Be it fame, fortune, or personal transcendence.
Sun Gui narrowed his eyes and chuckled.
"In that case, I’ve been presumptuous."
"However, Young Hero Li, you should know that our Hengtong Trading Company has branches across the land. We possess every manner of rare treasure, miraculous elixirs, divine weapons, and secret manuals. Even if we don’t have something in stock, we can procure it through our connections."
"Divine weapons?"
"Uh..."
"Do you have any divine-grade swords?"
Sun Gui’s smile froze.
Divine weapons were typically in the hands of Heaven Ranking experts—treasures even they hesitated to wield, often enshrined in ancestral halls.
"The company could acquire one, but that would exceed my authority..."
"So it was just an exaggeration. What about divine techniques?"
"..."
Sun Gui himself only practiced a top-tier martial art, far from divine.
"Do you have any pills like the Nine-Aperture Dragon-Tiger Golden Elixir?" Li Mo asked.
"Ah? What’s that?"
Sun Gui had reached the limits of his knowledge.
For the first time, he felt... constrained by his own lack of imagination.
Tang Xiaobao scratched his head. "Junior Brother Li, it seems everything he mentioned was just hyperbole."
Sun Gui suddenly felt the weather grow unbearably warm, sweat beading on his forehead.
After an awkward pause, he cleared his throat.
"Let’s order first."
"We can discuss further over dinner... Waiter!"
Li Mo said, "The waiter’s asleep in the firewood shed."
"Huh?" Sun Gui blinked, then forced a smile. "Actually, I’m quite close with the owner here. I’ll invite him to join us."
"You mean Manager Zhang? He’s... probably halfway back to his hometown by now," Li Mo mused.
"He left? Why so suddenly..."
"Naturally, because he sold the tavern for a good price."
"Old Zhang once said this tavern was his life’s work. What sum could make him abandon it and retire in peace..."
Sun Gui took a sip of tea.
Li Mo replied, "A chest of banknotes—about the size of yours."
"A chest... of banknotes? What kind of fool would..." Sun Gui glanced around, then frowned.
"Young Hero Li, how do you know this so clearly?"
Li Mo pointed at himself expressionlessly.
"Because that fool was me."
"??"
Sun Gui suddenly understood why Li Mo had no interest in money.
He coughed lightly, his voice shrinking.
"Well... my eldest daughter is quite beautiful, refined, gentle, and deeply admires you. She should meet your standards for a partner."
"A rich, beautiful noblewoman, dear disciple," Shang Wu teased, nudging Li Mo with her elbow.
Li Mo waved his hand emphatically. "I have no interest in well-bred ladies."
Sun Gui pressed on. "Then my second daughter—though a bit spoiled, she’s lively and loves chivalry..."
"Same for the spoiled heiress."
"My third daughter serves in the magistrate’s office as a constable. She despises evil and fights injustice relentlessly."
"...Can she help me wipe out the Drizzle Tower?"
Li Mo’s forehead creased with exasperation.
Just how many daughters did Manager Sun have?
This was getting ridiculous. If he weren’t careful, Sun Gui might offer him the whole lot.
But his stance was clear!
Why was this man so determined to make him a son-in-law?
Blame Tian Miao—whether the "prosperous spouse" rumor was true or not, why did the Hidden Dragon Ranking have to include such nonsense?
"I have no plans to marry anytime soon," Li Mo said firmly.
Sun Gui pondered, then suggested, "Then perhaps... Young Hero Li could spend time with my daughters individually? Feelings might blossom over time..."
Li Mo’s gaze was unwavering. "Impossible. Absolutely impossible!"
As he spoke, someone sat down beside him.
Ying Bing sipped tea as if no one else existed, her jade-like complexion radiating an untouchable nobility.
When her eyes swept over him, Sun Gui no longer felt hot.
Yet his sweat poured even more uncontrollably.
"Manager Sun, I appreciate your kindness, but please take these gifts back."
Li Mo picked up his teacup.
Sun Gui, ever the diplomat, conceded gracefully.
"A gift once given cannot be taken back."
"Just having made your acquaintance makes this trip worthwhile."
He clapped his hands.
Servants carried in another chest—this one far more ornate, its material alone worth its weight in gold.
"What’s this?" Li Mo asked.
Sun Gui strode to the chest in the center of the hall and patted it.
"Though it may not be precious to you, Young Hero Li, it’s something you’ll find useful."
Just as he moved to open it—
A sudden chill gripped his heart.
Across the room, the Qingyuan Sect elders stiffened in unison, sensing an abrupt shift.
No—not abrupt.
The chest exploded the next instant.
A domain of inner vision descended.
Pitch-black darkness swallowed the tavern, so absolute that not a sliver of light remained.
"Altering Heaven and Earth"?
Wasn’t this the signature technique of the Malevolent Bright King?
A name flashed through their minds:
Disciple of the Malevolent Bright King, ranked 73rd on the Human Ranking—
Ten Thousand Horses Silenced Blade, Peng Keshan.
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.”
pression Bureau] Transported to a fantasy world overrun by demons and monsters, Gu Qingfeng becomes a jailer in the Demon Suppression Prison of the Great Yan Dynasty's Demon Suppression Bureau. From this point on, bizarre cases frequently occur in the Demon Suppression Prison, once known as hell on earth and infamous for its gloomy, terrifying atmosphere! Why do the demons and monsters in the prison wail miserably every night? Why has the corpse demon, capable of transforming into various beauties, donned black stockings and switched careers to become a foot massage therapist? Why has the eye demon, expert in soul-snatching and illusions, turned into a VR headset? Why is the fox spirit performing otaku dances? Are all these occurrences a twisted expression of demonic nature, or a descent into moral depravity? After peeling away layer upon layer of mystery, all clues ultimately point to a jailer named Gu Qingfeng. Gu Qingfeng: "Hehehe... My dear demons and monsters, whose card shall we flip today?"
] [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!"
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)
