Since that New Year's Day, Qinghe County has sold more firecrackers than any other county to this day, because the townsfolk all say the Ying Family was visited by the Nian beast.
Some adults would scare their children by saying, "If you don’t behave, the Nian beast will come to eat you."
Zou Yongfeng had clearly been frightened by such warnings. He glanced around and lowered his voice:
"A few months ago, when I passed by the Ying Family’s old residence, I saw a huge, enormous shadow."
"It looked a bit like the Nian beast from the stories adults used to scare us with. Since the New Year was approaching, my family and I hurriedly moved away."
"The Nian beast?"
Li Mo frowned, feeling the small hand in his palm growing colder. He gently rubbed it, but no matter how much he tried, he couldn’t warm it up.
It was so cold that Li Mo shuddered.
His gaze flickered toward Ying Bing, only to find her eyes unfocused, her expression as pale as spring snow.
A distant memory suddenly assaulted Li Mo.
It was Little Ice Cube.
When she first arrived at the Li residence as a child, she would lock herself in her room all day, only coming out occasionally for meals. Whenever she heard loud noises, a trace of fear would flicker in her eyes—her expression back then was exactly the same as it was now.
Not just cold, but also hollow.
During that time, the Li residence was unusually chilly, and even the snow melted later than in other households.
"Ice Cube, let’s go home."
"...Mm. Okay."
Li Mo bid farewell to Zou Yongfeng with a smile, promising to visit for the baby’s full-month celebration, then turned to leave with Ice Cube.
Looking back, he saw the desolate ruins of the Ying Family’s riverside estate, its lifeless remnants standing in stark contrast to the festive New Year atmosphere.
......
Once home, Ying Bing ate dinner and retreated to her room without coming out again. Though she softly assured Li Mo that she was fine and just needed rest, he couldn’t help but sink into thought while eating.
What exactly happened to the Ying Family back then?
She remained silent, and he didn’t press further.
The unusual scene caught Gu Xueqin’s attention:
"Son, what’s going on with you two?"
Li Mo shook his head. "Nothing. We ran into Fengzi today."
"Did he say he saw something at the Ying Family’s old residence?" Li Dalong interjected.
"You knew about this, Dad?"
"What do you think your father does for a living? That day, he came to the county office to report it, reeking of alcohol—probably drunk."
Li Dalong scoffed. "Fengzi’s always been a bit of a madman. I took some men to check, and there wasn’t even a ghost there."
Had Fengzi just been drunk and mistaken what he saw? But even so, moving away seemed excessive...
In truth, Li Mo had already used his Heavenly Eye of Fate that afternoon and found nothing unusual in Zou Yongfeng’s recent experiences.
He didn’t ask his father whether he had seen anything that day—Li Dalong had recounted the incident over meals several times already. Besides, by the time his father arrived with the men, it was too late.
The only one who had truly witnessed everything was Ice Cube.
Li Mo glanced up at the opposite room. Tonight, not even a flicker of candlelight could be seen.
Was Ice Cube not cultivating?
......
Midnight.
The pitch-black bedroom door creaked open softly.
A certain young thief—Li Mo—slipped inside.
As soon as he entered, he saw Ying Bing lying on the bed, her sleeping face anything but peaceful. Her delicate brows were tightly knit, and fine beads of sweat dotted her forehead, her hair clinging to her snow-white neck.
Was she... having a nightmare?
Heavenly Eye of Fate, activate.
[Name: Ying Bing]
[Age: 17]
[Constitution: Lunar Phoenix Body of Supreme Yin]
[Cultivation: Observing Divinity—Five Apertures]
[Fate: Red (Bears the Emperor’s Bone, with ice as her destiny and autumn waters as her spirit. Possesses the bearing of a Heavenly Phoenix.)]
[Evaluation: A life fraught with calamities, yet always escaping unscathed. Though her wings are still tender, when the winds of change arrive, she will soar above the Nine Heavens and Ten Earths, a phoenix reigning over all realms.]
[Recent Experience: Haunted by nightmares.]
Li Mo attempted to channel Lunar Radiance, a soothing moonlight that could calm the mind, but even this failed to ease the furrow between her brows.
"What now?"
The young genius frowned, then suddenly recalled the second layer of the Phoenix’s Cry Over Heaven’s Marsh—Soul Resonance, where spirits intertwine.
Ice Cube had once used this method to help him break through a bottleneck.
If he used it now... could he enter her dream?
But it also meant sharing her nightmare. If Ice Cube couldn’t wake, neither would he...
"Bound by karma, life and death intertwined..."
Li Mo murmured, gripping her icy hand.
Phoenix’s Cry Over Heaven’s Marsh—activate!
The next moment, he fell asleep instantly, collapsing face-first into Ice Cube’s embrace. But he had no time to savor the softness or fragrance—his breathing had already steadied into deep slumber.
Li Mo’s consciousness cleared, and the scent of firecracker smoke filled the air.
He opened his eyes, taking in his surroundings, and froze.
A spacious ancestral hall. From its stone steps, he could see the rushing waters of Qinghe River, crowded with people coming and going.
But the sky was streaked with floating ash, casting a gray, snow-like haze over everything.
This was a place long reduced to ashes, a place that no longer existed—the ancestral hall of the Ying Family Estate.
"Little one, who might you be?"
The gatekeeper asked.
"I’m..."
Li Mo stared at his own small, childish hands and murmured,
"I’m Li Mo, son of County Captain Li..."
"And what brings you here?"
"I’m... I’m here to find... Ice Cu—to find Ying Bing!"
The confusion in Li Mo’s eyes vanished—he remembered everything now.
The gatekeeper didn’t think much of it, assuming the county captain’s child had simply come to visit a playmate for the New Year.
"Go on in, then. Miss Bing’s whereabouts are unknown at the moment, but you’re welcome to look around."
"Thank you, uncle."
Little Li Mo nodded obediently and stepped into the Ying Family’s ancestral hall.
The fact that they owned an entire estate on the outskirts of the city spoke to their prominence as an influential clan. Even their ancestral hall was grand.
At the moment, a lively banquet was underway before the hall, with cups clinking and laughter ringing—yet the pervasive gray haze lent a hollow quality to the vibrant scene.
Li Mo scanned the crowd but didn’t spot Little Ice Cube.
Instead, he saw a couple seated at the head table, chatting with those around them.
"Uncle Ying, Auntie, Happy New Year."
Li Mo stepped forward to greet them.
These were Ying Bing’s parents.
"Ah, Brother Li’s child?"
Ying Xuliang looked down and smiled, pulling a red envelope from his sleeve.
"Happy New Year. Are your parents here as well?"
"They’re at home. I came to play with Sister Bing."
Li Mo’s voice was bright and cheerful, pleasing to the ear.
Beside Ying Xuliang, a woman with delicate features said,
"Bing’er is unwell. Once she recovers, Auntie will bring her to visit."
This must have been the year Ice Cube’s constitution first manifested, subjecting her to relentless icy torment.
Li Mo thought for a moment and said,
"Then can I go see Sister Bing? I promise I won’t disturb her."
A scholarly elder nearby, resembling a tutor, immediately scolded:
"You... you little troublemaker! Up to no good again, aren’t you?"
"?"
Li Mo was taken aback when he spotted the person who had spoken.
It was that schoolteacher—the very same one whose face had been covered in tally marks during his afternoon nap just "a few days ago"...
Never had he imagined that memories long buried could come back to haunt him like this.
......
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.
. As long as he maintains the villain image and follows the plot to the grand finale, he can obtain generous rewards and return to the real world. So Gu Chen'an entered the role and began to act as a scumbag villain, but who would have expected that the female leads could hear his inner thoughts. Miss Su from the Su family was shocked: "I originally thought Gu Chen'an was a scumbag, but I didn't expect he turned out to be a gentleman! What? You said I have to call off the engagement? I definitely won't, I'll piss you off!" Bai Yuan Tian was dumbfounded: "Young Master Gu is usually unreasonable and a complete brat, but he actually calls me little sweetie in his heart? What, Young Master Gu even said he likes me?" As the female leads' images collapsed more and more, the plot also collapsed with it. Gu Chen'an looked at all this chaos. "Ladies, don't aggro me, if you keep this up the male lead really will stab me, I still need to survive to the grand finale!"
young master of the Shen family—a figure of immense power and wealth beyond measure—and awakened the "Destined Ultimate Villain System"! His starting scenario? Running into his icy fiancée who shows up with a mountain-descending divine doctor to break off their engagement. The divine doctor arrogantly taunts: "What does your Shen family have besides a bit of stinking money? You're not even worthy of tying Qingxue's shoelaces!" Shen Fei just smiled. He completely defied the usual script: "Fine, I agree to break off the engagement. Also, notify the finance department to withdraw all investments from the Su family." Minutes later, with its capital chain severed, the Su Group teetered on the brink of bankruptcy! The once aloof and proud ice queen CEO was thrown into utter panic. That very night, she went to Shen Fei's villa, casting aside all dignity to beg and plead desperately... From then on, in this world teeming with Sons of Destiny, Shen Fei embarked on a path of extreme dimensional suppression! A mountain-descending divine doctor? Peerless medical skills? Shen Fei: "Reporting you for practicing medicine without a license! I'll gladly take your ancient medicinal cauldron and twin sister assassins." The Crooked-Smiling Dragon King? Commanding a hundred thousand soldiers with a single order? Shen Fei: "Illegal assembly and suspected treason! Let a fleet of attack helicopters sanitize the area and teach you what the state apparatus really means!" A reborn tycoon? Knows all the golden opportunities of the next decade? Shen Fei: "A trillion in capital to reverse and pump the stock market, making you blow your margin and jump on the very first day of your rebirth!" What Chosen Ones? What bearers of Heavenly Fortune? In Shen Fei's eyes, they're all just chives (i.e., suckers/marks) waiting to be harvested! Shen Fei: "Sorry, but as the Destined Ultimate Villain, I don't play by the rules of honor. I only play the game of dimensional suppression."
rowess are unmatched, commanding a million-strong army! Yet, the Emperor wants to depose him for the sake of a false prince? Hold on, are you throwing me into some female-oriented romance plot? How can I tolerate this? With a grand wave of his hand—the Nine Clan Extraction Technique! Slander the Emperor? Very well, all of you shall die! ... The False Prince: "Although I am not the biological son, Father and Mother love me more. The throne should be mine!" The Female Lead: "Qin Xiao, you are the Emperor, and I am a commoner. If you wish to marry me, you must abdicate. Otherwise, you will never have me!" The Empress: "After we divorce, you must give me half the empire!" The Transmigrator Consort: "You worthless Emperor, why should I kneel to you? All men are equal—I advise you to be kind!" The Great General: "The enemy general is my childhood sweetheart. For her sake, I willingly abandon the frontier defenses!" The Retired Emperor: "Although Yu'er was adopted, I prefer him. Qin Xiao, you should abdicate and let him become Emperor!" ... Very well! So this is how you want to play? Facing this twisted world of female-oriented tropes, Qin Xiao grins and raises his hand to unleash—the Nine Clan Extraction Technique! I am the Emperor. Why would I bother reasoning with you? Seal the gates! Leave none alive!
