Though it bears the name, the Qingluan Clan has only one true pure-blooded Qingluan—their elder, the clan's matriarch.
Legend says she was once one of the Great Shang's auspicious divine birds, bearing the dynasty's fortune and guarding the southern borders.
Though she no longer carries the dynasty's blessings, she retains the surname bestowed upon her by the Great Shang.
Deep within the ancient tree at the heart of the clan's territory,
Shang Qinqing appeared as a woman no older than thirty, draped in robes that seemed out of time, exuding an air of serene depth.
Her delicate fingers danced across the strings of a zither, its fluid melodies drawing flocks of exotic birds to flutter joyfully around her.
Then, the music ceased.
"Before meeting their destined one, the Qingluan cannot speak,"
"So most of us turn to music to express our hearts."
Shang Qinqing smiled, lifting her gaze to the young woman who had been listening nearby:
"If you don’t understand music, you might give yourself away when competing for the Celestial Jade."
"What was that tune just now?"
Ying Bing’s eyes flickered briefly toward a butterfly fluttering in the distance before returning.
"Phoenix Seeks Its Mate," Shang Qinqing replied, resting her chin on her hand. "I wonder what kind of man this 'Wife-Fortune Battle Soul' is, to have won the heart of someone like you—a Ten Extremes Physique wielder who observes the divine forms of a hundred birds."
"What makes you say that?"
Ying Bing lowered her lashes, extending a finger for the butterfly to alight upon.
Shang Qinqing tilted her head. "So it’s just rumors? Then you should teach him a lesson, stop the gossip."
"No!"
Ying Bing’s sudden intensity startled the butterfly into flight.
"Ah, so softhearted~" Shang Qinqing laughed brightly.
Ying Bing paused, then murmured,
"I thought the Qingluan Clan was known for being taciturn?"
"Exactly! Because we couldn’t speak before, now that we can, we make up for lost time."
Shang Qinqing leaned in with playful curiosity.
"Why didn’t you bring him to the southern borders? He’s supposed to bring you fortune—maybe his presence would make securing the Celestial Jade easier."
"He…"
Ying Bing had considered it.
Her rapid progress in this life was undeniably tied to him.
But… unlike her, he didn’t have the advantage of studying avian forms or possessing the Lunar Phoenix Physique. With Shang Qinqing’s help, she could pass as a true Qingluan.
The demon tribes would never allow a human to claim the Jade Phoenix Divine Stone.
Not when it could purify demonic bloodlines and carried fragments of the Nine-Colored Primordial Phoenix’s memories.
Shang Qinqing suddenly narrowed her eyes.
"Afraid to put him in danger? Or afraid you’ll rely on him too much?"
"I’m not…"
Afraid?
The word felt foreign, as if it had never existed in her vocabulary.
She hadn’t even feared the Path to Immortality…
"Here."
Shang Qinqing suddenly produced a mooncake—a lotus-seed paste one, stamped with a chibi version of Li Mo.
"You still have this?"
"I kept one from last time. I had a feeling you’d regret parting with it."
Ying Bing pressed her lips together, taking a small, deliberate bite.
The familiar taste.
The same flavor she’d savored every day before…
"Oho~ I knew it!"
Shang Qinqing grinned like a doting aunt, hugging her zither and rolling gleefully.
"……"
Ying Bing carefully wrapped the remaining mooncake, her voice clear and composed.
"Let’s focus on the Celestial Jade."
"You—give me a moment…"
After a few deep breaths, Shang Qinqing finally settled.
Straightening, she began:
"The Divine Jade appears once every sixty years, lingering for seven years each time before returning to the heavens. It won’t descend again until the next cycle, falling onto the Hanging Temple, where it becomes the prize for competition among the great clans."
"Perhaps the Great Era is approaching—this generation’s talents far surpass those of the past."
"The most formidable contenders include the Roc Clan, the Golden-Haired Hou Clan, the Qiongqi Clan..."
If the Jade Phoenix Divine Jade didn’t vanish after seven years each time, the clans’ elders would have long since fought over it, leaving no chance for their younger prodigies to compete.
But if all-out battles erupted every sixty years, the Southern Frontier would soon be reduced to a wasteland.
Shang Qinqing had been speaking quite reasonably at first.
Yet somehow, the conversation took an unexpected turn:
"No clan has ever truly possessed the Celestial Divine Jade. I believe it’s because the jade has yet to meet its true master."
"Your talent is unparalleled across the ages. With the support of your wife’s Battle Soul, which brings prosperity, you might just stand a chance..."
"Oh, and within the Hanging Ancient Temple, there’s a mystical Marriage Tree—rumored to be incredibly potent."
Her gaze grew distant, as if recalling her own youth.
"You’re a Qingluan—why don’t you believe in yourself?" Ying Bing couldn’t quite follow her logic.
A Qingluan can only speak after meeting their destined partner.
To this day, they remain a symbol of love in the eyes of many.
"Who says I don’t? Every morning, I bow three times to my reflection in the mirror."
Shang Qinqing laughed.
Then she watched as Ying Bing, after a brief moment of thought, clasped her delicate hands together and bowed to her three times.
Her serene jade-like face held a trace of solemnity.
"?"
Shang Qinqing was momentarily speechless.
This girl wasn’t just cold on the outside—she had an unshakable pride. During their first meeting, Shang Qinqing had tried to assert her seniority, but Ying Bing had stood tall and unmoved, leaving her the one to break composure first.
"Two people bowing together makes it even more auspicious, you know~"
"...That tree."
"Same principle."
Shang Qinqing was half-joking, but mostly, she just hadn’t gotten her fill of witnessing the moment firsthand.
"..."
The ice block of a woman gently patted the big-headed doll’s head and stayed silent for a long while, her lips pressed lightly together.
He wasn’t here.
Ah well... His absence was for the best. That was what she had wanted, after all...
"You’ve always been sparing with words—fitting for a Qingluan Clan member."
"As for music... I’ll teach you."
Shang Qinqing smiled.
Fate is the most enigmatic thing in the world, and love is even more unpredictable.
Who’s to say someone who shouldn’t appear before you won’t suddenly show up?
...
"Achoo!"
High in the sky, a bald Roc streaked across the horizon.
Li Mo rubbed his nose, puzzled.
Seriously, he’d already reached the Observation Divine Realm—his physique was tougher than any beast’s. How could he possibly catch a cold?
Well, it wasn’t exactly a cold, just these relentless sneezes.
Murong Xiao spoke gravely, "Brother Li, when you transform into your Howling Dragon form, you absolutely must not sneeze carelessly."
"Why?"
Li Mo was baffled. Was it because beasts never fell ill?
"Rumor has it that one of the Howling Dragon Clan’s ancestors once sneezed by accident and triggered a torrential downpour, causing a flood."
Murong Xiao’s words were slightly slurred:
"After that, he was hunted down by the divine sword of the Heavenly Mountain Sword Manor, pursued all the way to the Southern Frontier before they gave up. To this day, he still doesn’t dare show his face outside."
"..."
Li Mo wondered if the Calamity Beast moniker of the Mingjiao clan came from something like this—
being synonymous with floods just because they sneeze too much.
"Exactly! When a Mingjiao sneezes, it rains. So annoying!"
The Pengyao's voice was low, dripping with resentment.
"...So that’s how your generational feud started."
Five days had passed since they learned Ying Bing had gone to the Qingluan Clan's territory. Now, riding the Pengyao, they had been flying nonstop toward the Mingjiao lands.
As they traveled, the swamps stretching below grew more and more numerous.
They were almost there.
.....
We humbly beg for your support, dear audience. OrZ.
lities. One day, Qi Yuan was buying groceries when he unfortunately came face-to-face with a monster. Just when he thought he was going to die on the spot, he suddenly heard the monster's thoughts... "This aura, he's definitely not an ordinary master!" "So terrifying, so terrifying." "A fight with my back against the wall, I can't take it anymore." Qi Yuan: Ah, no one told me that my awakened ability isn't telepathy, but rather the stronger my enemies imagine me to be, the stronger I truly become. PS: Zhou Hai in the first chapter is not the protagonist.
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.
