“Boom—”
A deafening explosion echoed from outside.
It was a high-level fire magic spell, a firework soaring into the sky and bursting at a single point.
The dazzling flames even illuminated the night.
In Allenson City, the mages under the three great divine churches—the Fire God, the Blacksmith God, and the Harvest Goddess—were continuously unleashing various powerful spells to showcase the might of their deities.
Every year at this time, the divine churches would subtly compete with one another.
Whoever emerged victorious would gain more followers in the coming year.
“Boom! Boom!”
The intense sounds of magical bombardments in the distant sky interrupted Xu Xi’s memories.
He glanced beside him, where the young witch, Krisha, looked lost, clutching a necklace and a gold coin, her expression still empty and quiet.
The magic outside was too dazzling.
So dazzling that its light seeped into the room.
It illuminated half of Krisha’s fair cheek, her smooth silver-gray hair, and her delicate, softly curved nose.
As well as her hands, which unconsciously continued to fidget with the necklace.
Krisha seemed to want to wear the necklace, but she didn’t know how. In her tragic past, there had only been pain and torment, and her understanding of necklaces was limited to seeing them.
Her slender, pale fingers brushed over the necklace’s loop, clumsy and cautious, lightly touching it before quickly pulling back.
Afraid of accidentally damaging it.
Her movements were awkward, her fingers unsure, evoking a sense of pity in anyone who saw her.
“Krisha, let me help you.”
“…Okay.”
Xu Xi extended a helping hand, taking the sapphire necklace from the girl. He walked behind her, grasped the mithril chains at both ends, and gently draped it around her neck.
As he did so,
Xu Xi’s fingers brushed against the girl’s neck.
It was a strange sensation, making Krisha feel a little ticklish, a little warm, and… a little fond of it.
She instinctively rubbed her neck, causing the chains to jingle pleasantly.
But she quickly realized that this might cause unnecessary trouble for Xu Xi.
So she straightened up again.
Feeling his warm hands part her hair, he crossed the two mithril chains at the back of her neck, then pressed the silver clasp with a soft click, securing the sapphire necklace in place.
Outside, snow fell heavily, and the streets were alive with noise and excitement.
Under the man’s gentle care, the mithril necklace embedded with a sapphire rested securely around the slightly warm neck of the young witch.
Why was it warm?
Krisha didn’t understand.
This was an experience she had never had before.
“Not bad, not bad,” Xu Xi stepped back, looking Krisha up and down with satisfaction.
“Just as I imagined, this necklace suits you perfectly, Krisha.”
Xu Xi smiled.
His praise was sincere.
Winter was harsh and cold, and even on a lively New Year’s Eve, that didn’t change.
But at this moment, right now,
Xu Xi felt he had witnessed something beautiful enough to melt the winter’s chill.
Her silver-gray hair lightly covered her snow-white neck, the scars of the past now replaced by softness and smoothness. The emotionless witch lowered her head, her hands holding the sapphire necklace that hung from her neck.
Reflections.
Glimmers.
Mirrors.
As Krisha gazed at the sapphire necklace, the hazy, dreamy blue light swayed and reflected in her empty eyes.
At a glance, her eyes seemed to regain their sparkle.
Even if only for a fleeting moment.
It soon faded as the light became unstable.
But Xu Xi still felt that this moment was incredibly radiant.
He felt a sense of pride, a thought that filled his heart: My witch is truly beautiful.
Then, Xu Xi asked the expressionless girl, “Krisha, how does it feel? Do you like it?”
The girl nodded gently. “I like it.”
Then she added politely, “Thank you.”
…
The night deepened.
It was time to part on New Year’s Eve.
After giving her the New Year’s gift and some money, Xu Xi left the kitchen.
He headed toward the study, planning to meditate and break through his mental limits before going to bed.
After he left, Krisha sat alone, lost in thought for a long time.
A long time, longer than all the memories she had.
A chaotic time, more tangled than the turmoil in her heart.
When Krisha finally came back to her senses,
she realized she had unconsciously cleaned up the dishes and returned to her room.
She sat curled up in the corner of her bed, hugging her knees, and remained motionless, lost in thought for a long while.
“A gift…”
“I… also have my own… gift…”
Her faint voice echoed in the air.
Flat, without any emotion.
Even now, Krisha still felt that someone like her, who could be discarded at any moment, didn’t deserve to receive gifts or her master’s affection.
An object should know its place.
It shouldn’t crave things that don’t belong to it.
But.
Obeying her master was a must.
Since her master told her to accept it, she couldn’t refuse. Krisha held the deep blue necklace in her hand, her eyes filled with confusion but also a hint of something stirring.
I like it…
I really like it…
I love this gift.
The weight of emotions continued to build in her chest, growing heavier, more chaotic, but she couldn’t understand what it was.
For a witch who had lost her emotions, understanding these feelings was too difficult.
But it wasn’t a big problem.
Krisha had her own way of dealing with it. She didn’t need to understand or express it. She just needed to stay by Xu Xi’s side, listening to his words and following his instructions.
Rustle—
The sunlight streaming through the window caught Krisha’s attention.
Only then did she realize she had been sitting in her room, lost in thought, all night, unaware that the sun had risen.
The first day of the new year.
The sunlight was more intense than ever before.
It forcefully pierced through the curtains, landing on the motionless witch, much like the salvation the man had brought her two months ago.
“Praise the great Sun God.”
“May the Sun God forever protect us all.”
Outside,
the citizens of Allenson City gradually stepped out of their homes, praying to the Sun God on this first day of the new year, hoping for his protection.
The sun…
Krisha lowered her head, burying her face in her knees.
In a voice only she could hear, she whispered:
“Thank you, sun…”
Not thanking the gods.
But thanking the one who had burst into her world, pulled her out of the pit of despair, and brought her light and hope—the one and only ‘sun’ that belonged to her.
In the countless cries for help she had made, only he had heard her voice and extended a warm hand.
That warmth.
That affection.
Had been deeply engraved in the witch’s heart, impossible to forget.
From now on, the witch would live only for her “sun.” If she lost that gentle light, if she lost the gaze that watched over her, the witch would lose all meaning of existence.
And fall into an abyss even she herself would fear.
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!
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.
ing gift was a patch of barren land, and disciples were all picked up along the way. He spent fifty years diligently building three "ramshackle little sects," thinking he could finally live a carefree life relying on his disciples. But right at the fifty-year mark, he was suddenly swept away by a spatial rift and exiled to the Chaos Desolation, the Disorderly Ruins. There was no spiritual energy there, only slaughter. Relying on the cultivation feedback from his disciples, Gu Changyuan hacked his way through a sea of blood for eleven hundred years. When the system finally fished him back out, he discovered the ramshackle little sects he'd built back then had developed a rather... unusual style. Hold on... I vanished for a thousand years, so how did my ramshackle little sects become holy lands?!
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?"
