Purple Sun Prefecture, the residence of the prefect.
The young man, still dressed in his moon-white Confucian robe, sat in the study flipping through county records, giving the impression of a scholar rather than the domineering Crown Prince of Great Yu.
He looked up at Dan Hong, who had entered with Qing Que, her face deathly pale, and remarked indifferently:
"You returned sooner than I expected."
Qing Que lowered her head and whispered:
"Something happened."
"Speak."
Jiang Yu resumed reading the records as Qing Que recounted the events that had just transpired. The sound of turning pages gradually slowed.
"You're saying Ying Bing shattered your combined attack with a single strike?" Jiang Yu frowned, lifting his gaze.
Qing Que nodded, glancing at the woman in the pink dress beside her. "Dan Hong's sword heart has likely been tainted by inner demons. Her swordsmanship will never progress further..."
Jiang Yu, however, seemed unbothered by this, murmuring instead:
"So, the fifth-ranked Hidden Dragon is actually stronger than the fourth?"
"Your Highness! I can never practice swordsmanship again!"
Dan Hong wept pitifully, hoping the Crown Prince would avenge her:
"She didn’t just cripple me—she also humiliated you."
Jiang Yu remained expressionless, his voice cold:
"Understood. Return to the Heavenly Mountain Sword Manor. There’s an open position compiling the Sword Codex."
"Leave."
Dan Hong stared in disbelief at the man she had served for six years, his indifference no different from how he treated the young princess.
Qing Que led her out of the courtyard. Only once they were outside did Dan Hong let out a bitter laugh:
"Of course. The royal family is heartless. What am I to them?"
"Dan Hong, compiling the Sword Codex at the manor isn’t a bad outcome. If not for prior arrangements, ordinary people wouldn’t even have this opportunity."
Qing Que’s words carried hidden meaning.
The positions for compiling the Sword Codex were limited and required advance planning—meaning His Highness had long foreseen Dan Hong’s recklessness and arrogance leading to this downfall.
Returning to the manor to focus on compiling the texts might allow her to rebuild herself in the future.
But Dan Hong failed to grasp the advice. Her unfocused eyes sharpened, burning with hatred.
"If I don’t purge these inner demons... I’ll remain a cripple forever..."
......
Autumn Water Pavilion.
The twilight lingered, the sky the color of tear-stained eyes, casting a faint glow over the small pavilion.
Dinner had just been served when Elder Qian arrived as if on cue.
Shang Wu asked warily, "Elder Qian, have you eaten?"
"Funny you ask—no, I haven’t."
"Then go eat first and come back later."
"???"
A question mark seemed to float above the short, stout Elder Qian’s head. In his years of mooching meals, the expected response to "Have you eaten?" was always "Join us," not dismissal.
Elder Qian huffed, looking at Ying Bing and Li Mo seated at the table:
"Eat? How could I eat these past two days? Look at these dark circles, look at my stomach!"
"With these two disciples in our Qingyuan Sect, I’ll lose ten years off my life!"
On the surface, the matter was settled.
But Elder Qian’s resentment was palpable, like a wronged maiden.
Li Mo, feeling guilty, quickly set out another pair of chopsticks.
Yet Elder Qian waved him off, pridefully declaring that delayed hospitality was worthless—he wouldn’t eat now even if begged!
"I’d rather starve to death, die outside, than take a single bite from you!"
"Alright."
The phrase sounded oddly familiar to Li Mo. He then asked:
"If you’re not here for food, then...?"
"Now that we can’t hitch a ride with the Crown Prince to Rotten Ke Mountain, what are you and Little Bing planning?"
"We’ll leave tomorrow as originally planned."
Li Mo and Ying Bing had never intended to travel with Jiang Yu anyway.
"The anomalies at Rotten Ke Mountain weakened today. I just returned from scouting."
Elder Qian wasn’t surprised, sighing before swallowing hard.
"There were still anomalies today?"
Li Mo raised an eyebrow, taking a bite of braised land fish.
But he hadn’t gone to Rotten Ke Mountain at all.
Meaning the anomalies were the mountain’s own doing.
"Yes, much weaker. After all the commotion before, today was a letdown."
Elder Qian smacked his lips, recounting the day’s events.
Today, Rotten Ke Mountain had shown signs of reversed elemental feng shui—still notable, but nothing like the earth-shaking phenomena before.
"By the way, it’s possible that what lies beneath Rotten Ke Mountain isn’t a hidden sanctuary."
"Then what is it?"
"It might be the tomb of a powerful figure."
Elder Qian’s expression turned grave.
Tomb?
Ying Bing’s slender fingers paused around her chopsticks, her eyes thoughtful.
The elder’s words reminded her of Rotten Ke Mountain’s layout.
The feng shui there was indeed exceptional—a prime location for burial.
"Tombs aren’t like legacies. Legacies are meant for trials, but tombs are far more dangerous. No expert wants their remains desecrated after death."
"So, I’ve decided to bring out some of my personal treasures."
Elder Qian opened his spatial pouch.
"They say Elder Qian’s knowledge is vast. What have you prepared?"
Though Li Mo was wealthy and well-equipped, even he couldn’t claim to possess every rare artifact under heaven.
Clatter—
A black hoof dropped onto the table.
"A black donkey’s hoof?"
"Indeed. Highly effective against corpse demons."
Elder Qian dumped the rest of his items unceremoniously.
Corpse-suppressing talismans...
Miasma-dispelling bells...
Senior Brother Ouyang’s illustrated book...
Huh?
"This..."
Li Mo picked up the book—a collector’s edition, no less. What use was this in a tomb?
Elder Qian coughed lightly. "Ouyang said it’d keep you entertained on the road, but indulgence leads to ruin, so I confiscated it."
With that, he tucked the book back into his spatial pouch.
Then, without further ado, he shoved the remaining items at Li Mo, turned, and left with a flourish.
"Senior Brother Ouyang gave this?"
Li Mo stared at the empty dishes on the table.
The words rang as hollow as Elder Qian’s earlier vow never to eat.
......
Nightfall.
After preparing another meal, Li Mo sat in the courtyard, contemplating the Divine Intent of the Lunar Goddess. Meanwhile, Ying Bing seemed absorbed in studying another avian spirit form.
Left to his own devices, Li Mo resumed his training.
Bathing in moonlight, he assessed his progress.
Before reaching the Inner Realm, both the Divine Intent of the Great Sage and the Lunar Goddess needed to be perfected.
But the former lagged far behind the latter.
Hours passed. The night deepened.
A ripple from his inner world summoned him back to his room. Lying down, he entered the pocket dimension.
On the Yin-Yang training grounds, Jiang Chulong stood waiting, clutching a peach blossom branch.
The young princess murmured softly:
"Teacher, today... I think I can defeat the Golden Crow senior."
"And... and... I’m about to break through."
ver to a world of cultivation and returned invincible. Modern medicine is child's play compared to elixirs; technological might crumbles before true cultivation. My name is Qin Ning, Earth's sole cultivator!
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!
ng to die together with you." Lin Xuan is dead, his body thrown into the river by his scumbag lover and her accomplice. She, the president of the Su Group, is decisive, ruthless, and ice-cold. For three days and three nights, she had his body fished out of the river, and without hesitation, she kissed the bloated corpse of Lin Xuan. She laid down beside him in a cold coffin, their fingers intertwined, a smile lingering on her lips as she closed her eyes. The noble and cold-hearted woman, only bending for one man—Lin Xuan. Lin Xuan, with his golden finger, is reborn and returns to the day of his wedding to the treacherous woman. Su Qiang comes to steal the bride. Lin Xuan's eyes light up, eager to pledge his loyalty on the spot, but instead, her kiss transfers a glass of drugged wine into his mouth, causing him to pass out... 【Male Protagonist with Single Female Lead】【Yandere Tycoon】【Action-Packed】【True vs. Fake Heir】
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.”
