At the same time.
Across Great Xia, those ancient Golden Core experts who had just awakened from their self-imposed seals—
before they could even fully step back into their coffins—
once again turned their shocked and suspicious gazes toward the direction of Qihuang Gorge.
Again?
That aura of heavenly tribulation has reappeared?!
Could it be... that the path of Dao in Great Xia has truly reopened?
Ultimately, some could no longer suppress the greed and longing in their hearts.
Love-Longing Sect.
The withered, white-haired Grand Elder stood above the sect, forcibly halting his retreat to the forbidden mountains in the rear.
His eyes burned with struggle and fervor.
Qihuang Gorge was guarded by a true dragon—if he went again, he would only humiliate himself. There was no other outcome.
But this once-in-a-thousand-years opportunity...
Should he order his subordinates to investigate?
To track down that duo who had left as Foundation Establishment and Qi Condensation cultivators but returned as Foundation Establishment and Golden Core?
He shook his head almost immediately.
Male disciples of the Love-Longing Sect were required to undergo castration upon entry—a rule established five hundred years ago.
He had been in seclusion when it was enacted, but he knew the reason behind it.
So how could there possibly be a "well-endowed" Foundation Establishment cultivator in the sect?
Utterly spear-less nonsense.
Investigating would be a waste of effort.
And yet...
To return to his coffin and sleep again...
He couldn’t bear it.
Not only had breaking free from the coffin already cost him dearly...
Even if he went back, he had only a few years left to live.
What if the path forward for Great Xia had truly opened?
He had been trapped at the peak of Golden Core for too long—so long that his lifespan was nearly exhausted.
Rather than withering away here... why not gamble?
"Boom!"
A surge of spiritual energy, far surpassing that of an ordinary Golden Core great perfection cultivator, erupted from his withered body.
The skies above the Love-Longing Sect churned violently.
"Unworthy disciples! Activate the sect-protecting formation at once!" he roared toward the sect master’s location.
In moments, beams of light shot up from the peaks of the Love-Longing Sect, weaving into a vast, radiant net in the sky. The formation exuded an overwhelming pressure as it enveloped the entire sect.
The Grand Elder took a deep breath, savoring the unprecedented power surging within him. He focused his entire being into his dantian, channeling all his strength to break through the invisible barrier that had confined him for nearly a thousand years.
Back in the day...
He had been a peerless genius...
Unrivaled since his debut, forging a seventh-grade Golden Core in just thirty years!
Yet the path to Nascent Soul had been severed...
Break!
Break for me!
The spiritual energy within the Grand Elder cycled at an unprecedented speed. His Golden Core buzzed violently in his dantian, radiating a blinding light—brighter than ever before, like a miniature sun.
He could feel it—the barrier was loosening!
Just a little more!
Just a little more!
And yet...
"The Grand Elder is breaking through!"
"Heaven blesses the Love-Longing Sect! Our sect will soon have a Nascent Soul mighty one!"
Countless disciples and elders rushed out of their caves, gazing up at the figure atop the mountain peak, stirring the heavens. Their faces were alight with excitement and reverence.
And then...
There was no "then."
The dazzling Golden Core, upon reaching its limit, suddenly dimmed.
No heavenly tribulation descended to temper his body.
The rampaging spiritual energy, like wild horses freed from their reins, surged chaotically through his meridians in reverse.
"No..."
"Why?!"
A desperate roar tore from the Grand Elder’s throat.
His shriveled skin cracked inch by inch, blood seeping from every pore.
Under the horrified gazes of the Love-Longing Sect’s disciples, the once-indomitable figure atop the peak swelled like an overinflated balloon—
"Pop!"
A muffled explosion.
A brilliant mist of blood blossomed under the midday sun.
Body and soul—annihilated.
The Love-Longing Sect fell into dead silence.
After what felt like an eternity, a heart-wrenching wail shattered the stillness.
"Sect Master! The Grand Elder... he exploded!"
——
Su Jiu felt like she was about to explode.
Her Dao Platform, tempered by the heavenly lightning, did not shatter. Instead, it grew more solid and translucent, gleaming like polished crystal.
Then, the red-haired little girl gave another soft command.
"Fire!"
"Come!"
The earthfire of Qihuang Gorge was forcibly ripped from the ground against its nature.
A strand of pure, condensed flame pierced through space, landing precisely on Su Jiu’s Dao Platform.
Thunder and fire intertwined—yin and yang in harmony.
Su Jiu’s Dao Platform began undergoing an unimaginable transformation.
Within her dantian, the phantom of an exquisitely crafted celestial palace slowly took form.
Above it, mist swirled, and cranes cried, as if a miniature world had been born.
Heavenly Palace Golden Core!
As the last wisp of thunderfire merged into the palace, Su Jiu’s aura peaked.
Her eyes snapped open—a flash of golden light flickered in their depths.
Golden Core—success.
Su Jiu savored the unprecedented power surging within her.
Suppressing the excitement in her heart, she rose slowly and bowed deeply toward the red-haired figure lounging lazily on a rock.
"Many thanks for your guardianship, Senior."
The red-haired little girl merely waved a hand dismissively, not even bothering to lift her eyelids.
"Unnecessary."
"If you have time, go to Qingqiu and ask Jiu Yue for me."
She paused, her tone laced with unmistakable disdain.
"Ask her if this is how she treats her descendants now?"
"Did she forget about her clan after running off with that bastard? Too busy rolling around to care?"
"Tch. Even I’m more generous than her."
Su Jiu hesitated, then spoke carefully.
"Senior... I am not a direct descendant of Ancestor Jiu Yue."
"And... Ancestor Jiu Yue... she passed away long ago."
The air froze.
A deafening explosion.
The red-haired girl’s lazy posture stiffened violently.
The chains that had bound her for countless millennia—unchained even by heavenly punishment—shattered under her force.
In the next instant, she leaped down from the rock.
Her golden draconic pupils locked onto Su Jiu, her voice trembling faintly with something even she didn’t recognize.
"What did you say?"
The broken chains crashed to the ground with earth-shaking force, causing the entire space to quake.
"She’s dead?"
Her voice was soft, yet carried a bone-chilling coldness.
"That vixen... died well."
She murmured, yet there was no joy on her face.
"No..."
Her head snapped up, golden pupils blazing with madness.
"Who allowed her to die?!"
"If she’s dead, why hasn’t Feng come to see me?"
"Have you met him?"
"A man who loves wearing green robes, pretentious to the core—you’d remember if you’d seen him."
"That heartless bastard."
"He actually asked me if I liked sleeping with women!"
"Wanted me and Jiu Yue to share a bed and serve him together? Dream on. I told him I’d rather die than sleep with a woman, so he locked me here. And now, after all these years..."
"Did he forget about me?"
g Yu was preparing for retirement when her organization decided to eliminate her. She transmigrated to a zombie apocalypse world. However, a tiny unexpected situation occurred: She somehow transformed into an adorable little girl?!
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."
ap a wealthy young lady? Or else I'll be eliminated by the system? Ye Feng, who awakened the Kidnapper System, originally wanted to live a peaceful life but never imagined he would become a kidnapper of young women. However, after some time, he discovered that all the girls the system ordered him to kidnap were far from ordinary. "Big brother Ye Feng~ You've kidnapped my heart, and now you're not allowed to leave me ever again~" "Ye Feng~ You kidnapped me back then, now it's my turn to capture you♡" "Little Feng, you're mine! You can only be mine!" "Ye Feng, none of them deserve you. Only I love you the most♡" ... This is madness, they've all gone mad! Wait, what? Why are all the girls I kidnapped yanderes?!
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?!
