The Roc Demon was caught in a rather humiliating manner.
...
As everyone knew, the human race was a species endowed with intelligence, capable of cooperation and division of labor. That was why they could defeat the inherently powerful demonic beasts, who were strengthened by their bloodline abilities.
In fact, the demonic beasts hadn’t even been called "demonic beasts" originally. It was only to resist the united front of humanity that the various beastly tribes banded together and collectively adopted the name.
The Roc Demon was a bird that loved freedom and unrestrained living.
Relying on its speed, it had escaped many times from the coordinated attacks of human military formations, sneering at their so-called "teamwork."
When it left its family, its grandmother had warned it—that was only because it hadn’t encountered a true genius yet.
Today, the Roc Demon finally saw one.
"How is that brat so fast?!"
The Roc Demon fled desperately, yet it could sense that Huang Donglai, wearing Cloud-Treading Boots, was faster than it even while carrying another person on his back.
The gap was closing!
This was absurd!
Even among avian demonic beasts, its speed was exceptional!
"If this keeps up, I’ll be caught sooner or later!" The Roc Demon quickly calculated and was horrified.
If it got caught, a fight would be unavoidable.
Once combat started, at its half-step sixth-rank strength—close to the human Inner Scenery realm—it could easily crush two at the Observation Divinity stage...
The Roc Demon suddenly paused.
Wait a minute.
It had the overwhelming advantage.
The Roc Demon screeched to a halt.
Why the hell was it running?!
"If I can’t outrun you, I can damn well beat you!"
...
A short while later.
In front of a nest on a cliff.
The Roc Demon, its bald head swollen with a large lump and tightly bound, was thrown to the ground, kicking up a cloud of dust.
"Huh? Brother Murong, what’s wrong with you?"
Li Mo suddenly froze, then grew alert again.
Murong Xiao lay there with his eyes rolled back, tongue lolling, drool dripping from his mouth—looking like a man who had failed years of abstinence.
"Brother Li, isn’t it possible that he inhaled more of the Muscle-Weakening Powder than the Roc Demon?"
"Good point."
Li Mo began rummaging through his antidote pills.
But with the recent purchases of new elixirs and heavenly treasures, plus the ones Huang Donglai had gathered along the way, he couldn’t find the right one immediately and had to take his time identifying them.
Fortunately, Huang Donglai was there to help him sort through them faster.
"This one is..."
"Brother Li, that’s Centipede Bone-Eroding Ash—used specifically for corpse disposal."
"Oh, what about this one?"
"That’s the Rainbow Poisonous Mushroom. Anyone who eats it will suffer severe hallucinations, unable to distinguish reality from dreams."
"This pill looks so pretty, surely it’s..."
"Brother Li! That’s Laughing Half-Step Madness! Don’t let its pleasant appearance fool you—it might even taste sweet, but it’s a must-have for travelers who want to die laughing!"
Li Mo searched for a long time.
At one point, he accidentally dropped his hammer with a loud clang.
"You... you people... are you from the Demon Sect?"
The dazed Roc Demon struggled to stay conscious, staring at them in terror.
It had heard that among humans, there were some utterly ruthless individuals, just like the calamity beasts among the demonic tribes.
"What kind of bird-brained nonsense is that? We’re proper, righteous sect disciples. Otherwise, how would you have ended up in our hands?"
"This is what they call ‘Evil Never Prevails’!"
Li Mo picked up the hammer and frowned.
"..."
The Roc Demon glanced at the tortoise-shell bindings on its body, the scattered bottles and jars of poison on the ground, and that hammer—gleaming with murderous sharpness, radiating a baleful aura.
Then it recalled the unorthodox way they had fought.
"I don’t wanna French-kiss a human..."
The Roc Demon wailed in an ugly, grating voice, convinced it was doomed—its tongue would surely be cut out and served as a snack.
Thunk—
Young Li gave it a sharp knock on the head, adding a smaller lump atop the existing one.
"Shut up. I’ll ask, you answer. If you’re honest, I might let you live."
Li Mo scowled intimidatingly.
His Heavenly Destiny Eye revealed that while the Roc Demon often harassed towns, it didn’t actually eat humans—preferring to steal livestock or raid granaries for feasts.
"Really?"
"Believing me is your only option."
"Fine, ask away."
The Roc Demon swallowed and obediently quieted down.
"You’ve seen this woman before, right?"
Li Mo took out a piece of red bean mooncake.
The Roc Demon’s eyes were bigger than the mooncake itself. Its desperate will to live nearly made it go cross-eyed trying to see clearly.
"That woman? Of course I’ve seen her!"
"She’s a living demoness—look at the feathers on my head! She’s the one who shaved them off!"
The Roc Demon poured out its grievances.
"Where did she go?"
Li Mo took a bite of the mooncake and asked.
"The Azure Phoenix territory." The Roc Demon wondered if this was the woman’s enemy.
Otherwise, why would he look like he wanted to devour her whole?
"If you want to hunt her down, you’ll have to wait until she leaves the Azure Phoenix territory."
"The Azure Phoenixes are few in number but incredibly powerful. They forbid humans from approaching—male demonic beasts aren’t allowed either."
"No idea why she was an exception. Not only did she enter, but she even got an audience with the clan leader..."
...
Azure Phoenix Territory.
Though it was autumn, the land brimmed with vitality.
The trees were exceptionally tall, their roots and leaves tinged with a faint, mesmerizing blue-green hue, making the already beautiful place seem like a paradise on earth.
Among the trees, pathways and treehouse structures intertwined like an aerial fortress.
A woman in blue robes walked slowly through the treetop settlement. Though her body was human-sized, her arms were wings, and her legs ended in talons.
She fluttered her wings and landed atop a treehouse at the canopy’s peak.
There stood a young woman in a cyan porcelain-like dress.
Her expression was as frosty as a moonlit night, her gaze clear yet distant, as if surrounded by an invisible barrier that kept the world at arm’s length.
Even a pure-blooded Azure Phoenix elder might not seem as cold and solitary as her.
When she had first arrived at the Azure Phoenix territory, she hadn’t been like this—especially when eating a certain type of pastry, her lips would even curl into a faint smile.
But lately, without the mooncakes, her frowns had grown more frequent.
Could it be that those mooncakes contained some magical joy-inducing power?
Ding-ling—
The blue-robed woman shook the bell on her wrist in a peculiar rhythm.
"The elder summoned me?"
Ying Bing spoke.
The blue-robed woman nodded.
The two traversed the azure canopy, stepping through dappled shadows, the occasional dust mote settling on the young woman’s clothes.
Ding-ling-ling~
The blue-robed woman shook her bell again, conveying:
"I envy you."
"Envy what?"
Ying Bing pulled herself from her thoughts.
The blue-robed woman continued with her bell:
"I envy that you can speak."
Those who bore the bloodline of the Azure Phoenix could never produce a single cry—not even after taking human form.
Unless they found their destined one.
But how easy was that?
An Azure Phoenix might live its entire life without ever making a sound.
The blue-robed woman couldn’t fathom how this young woman—whose bloodline was so noble it was almost unimaginable—could...
Her curiosity grew:
"Who is the person you’re thinking of?"
"Him..."
A ripple passed through Ying Bing’s icy gaze, her voice softening inexplicably. The sunlight caught on her crystalline lashes, painting them with a faint, trembling dusk.
"He’s a lucky charm for his wife."
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!"
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.
end. Thus one must continue to cultivate, and become a saint or great emperor, in order to prolong one's life. Chen Xia, however, completely reversed this. Since his transmigration, he has gained immortality, and also a system that awards him with attribute points for every year he lives. Thus between the myriad worlds, the legend of an unparalleled senior appeared. "A gentleman takes revenge; it is never too late even after ten thousand years." "When you were at your peak I yielded, now in your old age I shall trample on you." - Chen Xia
