Fifteen minutes later.
Not far away, Jiang Chulong hugged a broken bowl, licking the bottom like a kitten, her grimy face finally relaxing slightly.
The delicious wild vegetable and meat porridge had warmed her numb body a little, and the pain in her chest had lessened.
She secretly raised her head, stealing a glance at the young man beside her with the corner of her eye.
The young man rested his chin on his hand, gazing toward the direction of Qingyuan Mountain with a worried expression, as if afraid that a certain "ice block" might poison herself while cooking.
Seeming to sense her gaze, he turned his head.
She immediately lowered hers again, as if startled by an electric shock, burying her face silently in the bowl.
"I... I'm... done eating."
"If it's not enough, I can make more."
Looking at Jiang Chulong, her eyes covered by a cloth strip, timid and withdrawn, Li Mo felt even more peculiar.
She may be down on her luck now, but just a year ago, she was still a princess of the Yu Dynasty.
Even if a mere county princess were to visit Purple Sun Prefecture, the entire manor would be decorated with lanterns and banners, and the leaders of the three major sects would personally come to greet her.
A princess, born of noble blood, was someone who stood above the clouds, her status beyond compare.
"N-no... no need..."
"The... the rice..."
Jiang Chulong shook her head vigorously like a rattle-drum.
"Save the rice for later?"
"Mm."
But seeing how Jiang Chulong treated a mere bag of rice as a priceless treasure, Li Mo felt a sense of absurdity, yet it didn’t seem out of place at all.
"Murong Manor has a charity kitchen. You can go there to get porridge and rice during this time."
Hearing this, Jiang Chulong lifted her head, and even through the cloth strip, one could see her eyes brighten.
"Then... save it for winter..."
"You’re really planning to save it for the New Year?"
Li Mo let out a helpless chuckle.
After a moment’s thought, he took out two small-denomination silver notes.
"If you run out of food, use this to buy more in the market."
"What... is this?"
Jiang Chulong’s dirty face was full of confusion.
She didn’t recognize the silver notes.
Young Li Mo fell into silence.
Meng Can, having eaten his fill, covered his little belly with a blissful expression and said:
"St-stuttering sister, that’s money! You can use it to buy food, roasted chicken, candied haws—it’s super useful!"
He took the silver notes and took a closer look, his eyes widening in shock:
"O-one... one hundred taels!"
"One hundred taels... how much is that?"
"One tael of silver can buy 140 pounds of rice!"
Jiang Chulong: "!"
She started counting on her grubby little fingers, but soon her fingers trembled, and she froze in place.
The princess was utterly stunned.
"T-too... too much..."
"We... just..."
Jiang Chulong bit her lip, not daring to look at the gleaming silver notes.
"You want to say that since we’re strangers, you can’t accept such a large sum, right?"
Li Mo once again finished her sentence for her.
Meng Can gave him a strange look—how did Brother Li know what the stuttering sister wanted to say?
"Mm."
Jiang Chulong nodded timidly, her face tense.
The other party had set up a charity kitchen to help the poor.
But even if he was kind-hearted, there was no reason for him to give her such a fortune.
Her mother had once told her that there might be senseless evil in this world, but there was no such thing as senseless kindness.
Pies didn’t fall from the sky—unless someone had ulterior motives...
Just as her guard began to rise, Li Mo spoke again:
"First, a hundred taels means nothing to me. It’s no different from a bag of rice—or even a single grain."
"Wow..."
The little kids all looked at him with admiration, especially Meng Can, whose eyes shone with longing.
Jiang Chulong was stunned, seemingly overwhelmed by Li Mo’s "extravagance."
Li Mo continued:
"Second, I was entrusted by someone to take care of you."
"Entrusted... by someone?"
Jiang Chulong murmured softly, her small hands suddenly gripping the hem of her clothes with unexpected strength:
"Is... is she still alive?"
The only person left in the world who still cared about her was Aunt Mei.
Aunt Mei had once been her mother’s sword attendant.
After her mother’s death, she had raised Jiang Chulong as her own.
To save her, Aunt Mei had lured away a large group of Sky Patrol Guards—her fate remained unknown.
Could it be... that Li Mo had been asked by Aunt Mei to look after her?
"Yes, she’s out of danger now."
Li Mo nodded firmly.
Sure, the "ice block" was terrifying at night, cold as a thousand-year-old glacier.
But no matter how cold she was, she wasn’t in any danger anymore.
"That’s good... that’s good..."
Under the cloth covering her eyes, two clear trails of tears fell.
Where the tears passed, it was as if a layer of dust had been wiped from a piece of flawless jade, revealing its pure, crystalline beauty.
She hurriedly wiped her face, smearing the dirt back over it.
"Th-thank you."
"But this money... it’s still... too much."
"Then how about this?"
Li Mo thought for a moment. "Why don’t you come with me to Qingyuan Sect? Once there, you’ll be able to see her, and you won’t have to worry about living hardships anymore."
After all, the "ice block" had told him to handle Jiang Chulong’s basic needs.
So why not just take her straight to Autumn Water Pavilion?
Problem solved, right?
Plus, he could add Jiang Chulong to his daily investment list—a win-win!
"St-stuttering sister..."
"Are you... leaving?"
The little kids exchanged uneasy glances, their lips trembling. Two of the girls had tears welling up in their eyes, on the verge of crying.
The slightly older boy, Dazhu, quickly spoke up: "Sister’s family has come for her. We should be happy for her!"
His words didn’t seem to help—even he looked lost.
"I... I won’t... go."
Jiang Chulong shook her head slowly.
"I can arrange for someone to take care of them," Li Mo said softly.
"No... I don’t want... to put her in danger."
As she spoke haltingly, Li Mo remembered.
Jiang Chulong was still being hunted by the Sky Patrol Guards.
This wasn’t on the level of someone like Cui Peng.
The Sky Patrol Guards were the Yu Dynasty’s strongest military force, the empire’s sharpest blade in maintaining its dominance across the realms.
She didn’t want to drag her friends into trouble.
"Alright. It’s getting late—I should head back."
She bore a golden destiny, but with it came an unimaginable burden of karma.
Li Mo nodded, deciding to think things through carefully.
Jiang Chulong’s current situation made it unsuitable to keep her by his side long-term, and she wouldn’t agree to it anyway.
How, then, could he "invest" in her?
Lost in thought, Li Mo waved goodbye to the little beggars and stepped out of the dilapidated house.
The young man’s figure vanished into the night.
"Goodbye, Brother Li!"
The children ran out, watching until he disappeared.
......
In a courtyard of Murong Manor.
"Strange. She doesn’t seem to have any martial arts cultivation at all. Has she never trained?"
"Or did losing her Sword Bone reduce her to a mere mortal?"
"If I can guide her back onto the martial path, the system’s rewards would be unimaginable."
Li Mo stood in the courtyard, deep in thought.
If he wanted to help Jiang Chulong cultivate, but couldn’t keep her with him...
How could that work?
Just as he pondered, a maidservant approached:
"Young Master Li, your bath is ready."
"Thank you."
"Would you like this servant to assist you—"
"No need, thanks."
The maid left, visibly disappointed.
Li Mo sank into the large bathtub and began claiming his rewards.
【Earth Vein Spirit Milk】: "Formed over millennia from the condensation of earth vein essence, each drop is a sacred treasure for tempering one's vital energy. Yet its most potent effect lies in prolonging life!"
"Extending lifespan isn't something I need right now."
"Let's use it to refine my vital energy instead."
Li Mo uncorked a vial brimming with Earth Vein Stone Milk and poured two drops into the bathing tub.
Had Elder Xue Jing been present, he would have surely let out a shrill scream.
This was a priceless ingredient for crafting longevity elixirs—and this brat was using it for a bath?!
Anything associated with life extension becomes immeasurably precious.
After all, this world never runs short of those clinging to the edge of death.
Drip—
The two drops dissolved into the water, instantly making it shimmer with crystalline radiance.
Li Mo settled into the tub and began circulating the Fire Heart Blooms Lotus technique without delay.
Hum—
In an instant, he achieved harmony between heaven and man.
This time, amplified by the Earth Vein Spirit Milk, the resonance with the natural world surged severalfold in intensity.
The vibrations rippled palpably across the entire Murong Manor.
+【Epic Battles!】 "Your Highness, they say Linxi Temple is miraculous. Won’t you make a wish?" "A wish? It should be making wishes to me." "That may be so, but since you’re already here..." "..." "Fine. Then grant this princess a consort to play with." "He must be obedient, devoted, and utterly infatuated with my body—so much so that he’d kneel and kiss my feet." "Your Highness, that’s not a consort. That’s a dog." "Then add clever, witty, heroic, ambitious yet pragmatic..." "Hmm, that’s enough for now. I’ll add more later." After tossing out these words half in jest, Princess Anle departed the temple—only to catch a fleeting glimpse of the Bodhisattva statue smiling at her. Meanwhile, Yang An, fresh out of university, was having a very bad day. Good news: He’d transmigrated into another world with a cheat granting tenfold combat power. Bad news: He’d immediately fallen into the clutches of a certain villainess. Good news: Said villainess possessed peerless beauty and royal status. Bad news: She was absolutely monstrous!!! In the frozen wilderness, Yang An knelt beneath Qin Guo’er’s feet, drenched in sweat despite the cold. Desperately clutching her porcelain-perfect foot—the very one poised to crush his throat—he could only think: How do I survive this?! Need answers NOW!
] This is a dark fantasy-themed dating simulation game. The main gameplay involves containing various monster girls and investigating the truth of a world shrouded in mist alongside your companions. However, due to his love for the dark and bizarre atmosphere, Luo Wei ended up turning a dating game into a detective mystery game. Women? Women only slow down his quickdraw! To Luo Wei, the female leads in the game are more like tools to perfectly clear levels and squeeze out rewards. For Luo Wei, flirting with every girl he meets and then discarding them is standard procedure. Worried about characters losing affection points? No need. With his maxed-out charm stat, Luo Wei is practically a "human incubus." A little psychological manipulation and those points come right back. It's a bit scummy, but the paper cutout heroines in the game won't actually come at him with real cleavers. However... Luo Wei has transmigrated. He's accidentally entered the second playthrough of this game. His past actions have caused all the girls to transform into terrifying yanderes. Due to the game's setting, most of the heroines he once contained are "troubled girls." Obsessive, twisted, mentally unstable, all aggressive yanderes... The type who will kill you if they can't have you... Luo Wei wants to cry but has no tears left. "I really just want to survive..." In short, this is a story of battling wits and engaging in a love-hate relationship with yanderes.
reezy rom-com) Good news: Jiang Liu is quite the ladies' man. Bad news: He’s lost his memory. Lying in a hospital bed, Jiang Liu listens to a parade of goddesses spouting "absurd claims," feeling like the world is one giant game of Werewolf. "Jiang Liu, I’m your first love." "Jiang Liu, you’re my boyfriend—she’s your ex." "Jiang Liu, we’re close friends who’ve shared a bed, remember?" "Jiang Liu, I want to have your baby." The now-lucid Jiang Liu is convinced this must be some elaborate scam... until someone drops the bombshell: "The day before you lost your memory, you confessed your feelings—and got into a relationship." Jiang Liu is utterly baffled. So... who the hell is his actual girlfriend?! ... Before recovering his memories, Jiang Liu must navigate this minefield of lies and sincerity, fighting to protect himself from these women’s schemes. But things spiral even further out of control as more people show up at his doorstep—each with increasingly unhinged antics. On the bright side, the memories he lost due to overwhelming trauma seem to be resurfacing. Great news, right? So why are they all panicking now?
u Chenyuan transmigrated into a female-oriented novel about a real and fake heiress, becoming the CEO elder brother of both. Unfortunately, the entire Lu family—including himself, the CEO—were mere cannon fodder in the story. Determined to save himself, Lu Chenyuan took action. The spoiled, attention-seeking fake heiress? Thrown into the harsh realities of the working class to learn humility. The love-struck real heiress? Pushed toward academic excellence, so lofty goals would blind her to trivial romances. As for the betrayed, vengeful arranged marriage wife… the plot hadn’t even begun yet. There was still time—if he couldn’t handle her, he could at least avoid her. "CEO Lu, are you avoiding me?" Mo Qingli fixed her gaze on Lu Chenyuan. For the first time, the shrewd and calculating Lu Chenyuan felt a flicker of unease.
