Not far away on the dueling platform, the purple-robed eunuch seated at the judges' table announced the winner. Ying Bing withdrew her gaze, a faint smile playing at the corners of her lips.
At the same time, the raised Taibai Sword swung down—only to meet empty air.
This gave Tian Miao a moment to catch her breath.
Had this not been a sparring match, the narrow "gate of survival" in a near-death situation would have been right here.
Her entire aura suddenly became ethereal, her figure fading as if she no longer existed in this world. Whether observed by sight, sound, or even the heart’s perception, her presence was utterly undetectable.
If the Qinghai Remnant Sound Zither could manifest the intangible into form, then the martial arts of Tian Miao’s Yantian Sect specialized in dissolving the tangible into nothingness.
Tian Miao extended a single finger, carrying the intent of returning to obscurity—an attack without a trace.
"Did Miss Ying not notice?"
Before the thought could fully form in Tian Miao’s mind, Ying Bing’s ice-mirror-like eyes abruptly turned toward her, still calm and unreadable.
She can sense me?
Then why hasn’t she moved?
A surge of alarm shot through Tian Miao, and she retreated violently.
Yet halfway through her retreat, a sudden chill pierced her back.
Tian Miao’s expression froze in shock as realization struck her.
Ying Bing’s earlier sword strike had not landed on empty air—it had landed on the "future" moments later.
This revealed two things.
First, Ying Bing had predicted her movements perfectly.
Second, Ying Bing could wield a sword from "then and there" to strike a person "here and now."
"Was the narrow path of survival I saw... something you deliberately left for me?" Tian Miao asked, her voice tinged with urgency.
"You honor me," Ying Bing replied with a slight nod before stepping off the platform.
The absence of an answer was, in itself, an answer.
"Since ancient times, who on the Hidden Dragon Ranking could possibly defeat her...?" Tian Miao murmured to herself, rooted in place.
"..."
"How did the Cold Fairy win just now?"
"After that one missed strike, she didn’t even attack again. Why did the Yantian Mystic Fairy concede?"
"I’ve crossed paths with Tian Miao before. She once spouted cryptic nonsense at me too. Serves her right to have a taste of her own medicine."
"Even if we don’t understand how the Cold Fairy did it, one thing’s certain—she’s invincible."
"Ying Bing, Ying Bing, first on the Hidden Dragon Ranking! Fairy, soar high, your icy fans will never say goodbye!"
The crowd below had already begun to erupt with fervent admirers, most of them young women.
After all, it was rare for a woman to claim the top spot.
Of course, mixed among them were a few shippers, led by none other than the chief fangirl Shang Qinqing.
"Li Mo wins! Ying Bing wins!"
After announcing the results, the purple-robed eunuch at the judges' table turned to Xie Xuan and Du Wufeng.
“May I ask how Ying Bing secured her victory just now? This humble one has trained in the chaste arts and has long been confined to the palace. I truly couldn’t discern the details.”
Du Wufeng cleared his throat. "This old man is just a blacksmith. I was busy watching to see if Li Mo would pull out a hammer. For matters of swordsmanship, you’d best ask Old Xie."
The eunuch’s gaze shifted to Xie Yiding.
The amplifying conch was thrust—swiftly and without warning—right up to Xie Yiding’s mouth.
On the grand tapestry of the realm, the scene focused squarely on the master of the Heavenly Mountain Sword Manor.
All awaited his profound insight.
"......"
After a long pause, Xie Yiding spoke slowly, "If this swordplay isn’t lacking... then it must be a good sword."
"?"
The eunuch was baffled. The nobility was baffled. The martial artists and common folk in the crowd were equally baffled.
What kind of non-answer was that?
Old Xie was suffering inwardly. That wasn’t swordsmanship at all—just the profound mystery of divine intent.
But Ying Bing’s spiritual will was unlike anything seen before.
She made her move, ended it in one strike—what more was there to say?
"Ahem. I believe our focus should now shift to the upcoming matches," Xie Yiding said, deftly steering the conversation elsewhere.
The eunuch picked up the roster and began to read aloud:
"At present, three individuals remain undefeated: Li Mo, Ying Bing..."
"And the crown prince of Great Yu, a peerless genius born divine, destined to inherit the throne..."
......
The next round of matchups materialized on the grand tapestry.
"So, whoever wins between Brother Li and Jiang Yu will face Junior Sister Ying next?" Xiao Qin muttered, scanning the updated rankings.
Looking down, he saw Li Mo sitting cross-legged, deep in conversation with his Divine Sword of Heaven and Man.
"Don’t you dare mess this up later, understand?"
"Or I’ll have Hammer Baby come have a ‘chat’ with you."
"......"
Murong Xiao, Huang Donglai, and Xiao Qin exchanged glances.
Brother Li... seemed unusually serious this time.
A moment later, Ying Bing returned, her gaze softening as she stood behind him, watching him psych himself up. It was almost amusing.
He seemed unusually invested in winning this time.
And yet, he also appeared... slightly lacking in confidence?
"Li Mo, whether you win or lose—"
"Stop right there!"
Li Mo snapped back to attention, his expression grave.
One must never casually set up death flags...
"Really won’t listen?"
"......" Under her teasing gaze, Li Mo hesitated before leaning in.
After a few whispered words, his expression shifted from shock to blazing determination. He sprang to his feet.
"So what if it’s Jiang Yu? I’ll take him down!"
With that, he grabbed his Divine Sword of Heaven and Man and strode onto the platform.
"Oi, what did you just say to him?" Shang Qinqing, having missed the exchange, felt like she’d lost out on a fortune.
"...Nothing much."
Ying Bing pressed her lips together, her face impassive—but her fingers and toes curled slightly, and her downcast eyes betrayed a flicker of disarray.
What had she been thinking, saying something like that to him?
And giving him a choice between "black" and "white"?
And how had the ever-righteous Li Mo responded?
"Only children choose. I’m a gentleman—I’ll take both."
The words he’d blurted out echoed in his mind.
Truly, Li Mo!
What a genius you are!
Above, beneath the brooding clouds, Jiang Yu stood with his hands behind his back, his dual-pupiled gaze cold and detached—like the heavens themselves casting judgment. He watched Li Mo in silence.
Li Mo, equally wordless, grew calmer with each step upward.
At this moment, his opponent was the undisputed leader of the Hidden Dragon Ranking.
Any distraction could shatter his focus.
"You should have saved those words for now," Jiang Yu spoke first, his presence towering like an indomitable peak. He seemed even stronger than before.
"Now you’ve lost your only sliver of hope. I thought you wouldn’t dare step up."
From his tone, it seemed Li Mo’s earlier remark—during Jiang Yu’s duel with Jiang Chulong—had stirred an anomaly in the Sword Bone. Such a phenomenon couldn’t be replicated easily.
If anything, Jiang Yu had since gained even greater mastery over it.
But Li Mo showed no fear. Instead, he laughed boldly.
"No need for that."
"This just makes it more exciting."
pression Bureau] Transported to a fantasy world overrun by demons and monsters, Gu Qingfeng becomes a jailer in the Demon Suppression Prison of the Great Yan Dynasty's Demon Suppression Bureau. From this point on, bizarre cases frequently occur in the Demon Suppression Prison, once known as hell on earth and infamous for its gloomy, terrifying atmosphere! Why do the demons and monsters in the prison wail miserably every night? Why has the corpse demon, capable of transforming into various beauties, donned black stockings and switched careers to become a foot massage therapist? Why has the eye demon, expert in soul-snatching and illusions, turned into a VR headset? Why is the fox spirit performing otaku dances? Are all these occurrences a twisted expression of demonic nature, or a descent into moral depravity? After peeling away layer upon layer of mystery, all clues ultimately point to a jailer named Gu Qingfeng. Gu Qingfeng: "Hehehe... My dear demons and monsters, whose card shall we flip today?"
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.”
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
] [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!"
