Li Mo gathered all the rare herbs and treasures and placed them inside the hollowed-out tree root bathtub. Then, he called out to the attendant outside, asking him to prepare hot water.
Before long, the chamber was filled with steam, the air thick with the sweet, fragrant scent of flowers and herbs.
Li Mo glanced at the bathtub, now adorned with floating petals, and tested the water temperature. Satisfied that it was similar to the Mistflower Immortal Spring, he turned to the side and said,
"Ice block, the 'soup' is ready. Come in."
Ying Bing pressed her lips together, her beautiful eyes flickering with complicated emotions.
"Is this today's four dishes and one 'soup'?"
"Huh?"
Li Mo was momentarily stunned.
He hadn’t prepared any soup during dinner—mainly because they had returned late, and he was exhausted.
This "soup" wasn’t meant for drinking anyway...
"In the southern borderlands, hot springs are called 'soup.' Oh~ You didn’t think..."
"I didn’t."
Ying Bing stared at him coolly.
"...Right."
Li Mo had initially wanted to explain, but as silence fell, he recalled the scenery he had glimpsed during their last massage session.
As everyone knew, Li Tianjiao possessed an incredibly robust physique, capable of bearing the weight of four thousand soldiers and armor, even smashing disaster beasts’ skulls with his bare hands.
Yet, there were things even an indestructible body couldn’t withstand.
Some things could make him bleed in an instant.
How terrifying.
Searching his conscience, Young Li considered himself a gentleman. But if he were to scoop a bowl of water from the bathtub she had just soaked in, he feared his mouth might have ideas of its own.
With utmost seriousness, Li Mo said, "Go ahead and soak. The 'soup' will cool soon, and that wouldn’t be... good. It wouldn’t feel comfortable."
Ying Bing pinched the head of a large doll in her hands, her tone faintly mocking. "Young Hero Li, truly a paragon of virtue..."
"Naturally."
Li Mo maintained an utterly solemn expression.
Splash—
A wisp of rosy light materialized into a tiny hand, pulling a folding screen across the room.
It divided the chamber in two, turning one side into a makeshift bathing area.
"?"
Young Gentleman Li’s expression stiffened.
What? Even a gentleman must be guarded against?
Thus, the most beautiful scenery in the world might be separated from you by nothing more than a screen.
She was inside. He was outside.
The glow of the night pearl illuminated the chamber, casting a soft, radiant light far gentler and brighter than candle flames. The woven screen appeared pristine, like a blank canvas.
The silhouette of the young maiden projected onto it, giving form to the interplay of light and shadow—a sight that stirred the heart.
Rustling sounds emerged.
"Hm? What’s that noise?"
Gentleman Li sat at the table, maintaining an air of solemnity as he analyzed the situation calmly.
Indeed.
That must be the sound of silk stockings being removed...
Young Li took a deep breath and pinched his own waist hard.
The system had issued so many rewards today, and he hadn’t even had the chance to claim and sort through them yet!
The Seventy-Two Transformations had reached perfection, and he still needed to study the Somersault Cloud from the "Monkey Seeks the Dao" painting!
Li Mo, oh Li Mo, how could you be so depraved?
"I can’t afford to be distracted like this!"
Summoning the system, Li Mo inhaled deeply and began reviewing the long list of rewards.
[Investment Return: Rongyuan Military Crossbow ×10.]
[Rongyuan Seven-Kill Crossbow: Crafted in the early years by the military artificer Gongsun Buqi. Can be charged with true essence, boasting extraordinary penetrative power. Even the defensive fields of ordinary Inner Realm experts cannot withstand it. A true killing weapon among military equipment.]
"Military gear?"
Li Mo’s eyes widened slightly in surprise.
Though this item was valuable, it clearly couldn’t compare to the rewards obtained from Ying Bing or Princess Xiao Jiang.
But similar items had never appeared as returns before—he had rarely even seen them.
The Great Yu did not prohibit swords, blades, or even bows and armor. Sects could even maintain private militias.
However, anyone caught hoarding military-grade weaponry would be treated as a rebel.
Thus, Li Mo had never encountered such items even in Yunzhou’s bustling markets.
The Rongyuan Seven-Kill Crossbow was a bronze-colored ballista, exuding a chilling aura of lethality—undoubtedly falling into this category.
[Investment Return: Thunderfire Pills ×50 crates.]
[Thunderfire Pills]: "A certain alchemy prodigy, gifted by nature, found that no matter what pill he refined, the cauldron would not only explode with alarming frequency but also with extraordinary force. It turned out there had been a mistake during his initial aptitude test—he did not possess a fire-wood spiritual root but a fire-thunder one.
Mocked and humiliated by his sect, he eventually left in fury and joined the Great Yu’s Divine Machinery Battalion, becoming a master of military explosives. In the end, he used Thunderfire Pills to blast his former sect into the sky."
"..."
Li Mo now had a rough idea of this item’s potency.
It was probably as volatile as the temperament of that 'misguided' explosives expert.
So... did this thing even count as a pill?
Elder Xue, the genius alchemist who had once refined external mystic pills, might be able to provide a definitive answer...
"What kind of rewards are these?"
"It’s not like I plan to blow up my own sect."
Frowning, Li Mo continued scrolling.
[Investment Return: Heavenly Tribulation Warding Banners ×4.]
[Heavenly Tribulation Warding Banners]: "When embedded into mountain walls or city fortifications, they can multiply defensive capabilities. Their sturdiness depends on the strength of the wielder maintaining the formations and the ambient spiritual energy."
......
[Investment Return: Thunder-Patterned War Drum.]
[Thunder-Patterned War Drum]: "A master craftsman used the hide of a thunder beast, said to carry a trace of the Kui Bull’s bloodline, and inscribed thunder patterns upon it to create this war drum. Its sound shakes the heavens, bolstering allies’ morale and striking fear into formidable foes."
......
[Investment Return: One Mystic Crystal.]
[Investment Return: 10,000 Demon-Slaying Arrows.]
[Investment Return: One Peace Golden Lock.]
[Investment Return: A pair of patchwork shoes sewn by mother.]
......
Among the subsequent rewards, aside from miscellaneous items, the valuable ones were either Mystic Crystals or military equipment. The crystals numbered in the thousands, while the military gear amounted to seventeen or eighteen types, all in considerable quantities.
Staring at the system’s storage space, now packed with enough Mystic Crystals and military supplies to sustain a small-scale war, Young Li fell into deep thought.
"System, you’ve been getting a little too 'criminal' lately."
Under normal circumstances, these rewards were practically unusable, weren’t they?
They couldn’t even be sold—even if he dared to offer them in bulk, who would dare buy them? Discovery would mean certain execution for the entire family.
He already had military funds.
If the system were to toss him a yellow robe next, it might as well be urging him to raise the banner of rebellion.
Hah, he absolutely couldn’t let his master find out.
She’d probably declare herself the Grand Imperial Emperor and immediately appoint Elder Hanhe as the Crown Imperial Grandson.
"Hopefully, these things will never see the light of day. Best if they rot in the system’s storage."
Shaking his head, Li Mo dispelled the mental image.
Better to focus on mastering the Somersault Cloud for now...
He swallowed a Seven-Lined Clarity Pill, then retrieved the "Monkey Seeks the Dao" painting.
"Only Brother Monkey can calm my mind."
Just as Gentleman Li was about to immerse himself in meditation—
Splash—
The sound of water came from beside him.
Inside the shimmering bathtub, Ying Bing had been about to rise when she suddenly froze, a flush creeping up her snow-white neck.
She had forgotten something.
Her birthday was approaching—she would soon turn seventeen, and her body had been growing quickly.
Her undergarments no longer fit properly. While the Jade Phoenix Form allowed her to alter her appearance and attire, it didn’t extend to the most intimate layers.
She had meant to buy new ones on the way back today.
But after slipping her hand into the young man’s pocket, she had completely forgotten.
She couldn’t very well step out with nothing underneath...
"......"
Ying Bing grabbed the floating bobblehead doll and searched through it.
A few seconds later.
Plop—
The chibi version of Li Mo plopped back onto the water's surface against her chest, splashing lightly.
Ying Bing pressed her jade-like lips together, hugging her slender legs as she sat in the wooden tub.
Nothing.
After a pause, her voice—cool, calm, and utterly 'composed'—drifted from behind the folding screen:
"Li Mo, I forgot something."
"What?"
"My clothes."
nto another world, I bought a slave for the first time, never expecting the silver wolf girl to be so cute... Lin Feng: I know it's cold, but you don't have to sneak into my bed! Yuna: Just sharing body warmth, if you dare do anything naughty, I'll definitely...
ut it can buy an entire year of absolutely perfect training results! Su Yu stared at his empty wallet and decisively opened up various online loan platforms. “Borrow a thousand bucks! Recharge my vitality!” Boom! His vitality broke a hundred points, shattering the limits of the human body! “Borrow ten thousand bucks! Recharge my combat skills!” Boom! A basic punching technique so common it was everywhere instantly maxed out, revealing the ultimate assassination technique of Five Elements Unity—Inner Force! When a rich kid hired assassins for a midnight ambush, aiming to break both of his legs, they instead ran headfirst into a monster—a human-shaped tyrannosaur, brimming with dragon-like vitality. With just two fingers, Su Yu snapped a steel staff reinforced with alloy. Staring at the killer’s stash of stolen cash—a staggering quarter-million dollars—he showed a corporate-sincere smile: “Thanks for the pre-exam gift pack, Mr. Zhao! I’m gonna go re-invest this!” Three days later, at the National Martial Arts College Entrance Exam, while everyone else struggled just to reach the passing line, Su Yu threw a single punch—and more than a thousand vitality points literally detonated the entire arena!
ts me of treason?" "Correct. The host must return to the capital and gradually build up influence." "Wait—I have half a million soldiers, and you want me to go back to the capital to 'build influence'?" "Host, you are currently the Northern Garrison General, loyal to the Great Xia Dynasty." "Of course I am loyal to Great Xia! Absolutely loyal!" "But you keep referring to yourself as 'We'..." "Never mind the details! Summon all the regional commanders and military officers! We suspect treacherous officials are manipulating the court! They shall march with Us to the capital and purge the corrupt!" "......"
] [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!"
