Su Jiu didn’t have time to ponder how much exaggeration lay in those words.
Her wrist was seized by an unyielding force.
The warmth of the touch made her heart skip a beat.
"Senior Brother, you—"
"Don’t speak. Stick to the plan. Your senior brother is barely holding on—help me back to the Love-Longing Sect."
Su Ji’s voice instantly turned frail, as if he were on the verge of collapsing.
"Once we enter the mountain gate, act as if I’m a dying waste. Just hold me steady."
"Remember, you must support me firmly with both hands."
Seeing how seriously he was acting, Su Jiu was filled with doubt. But recalling how eerily accurate Su Ji’s past predictions had been, she gritted her teeth and nodded.
"Fine."
...
At the mountain gate of the Love-Longing Sect.
The massive sect-protecting formation loomed like an inverted glass bowl, enveloping the entire sect in an aura of unsettling spiritual energy.
The gatekeepers, spotting the two, wore grave expressions and scrutinized them more strictly than usual.
Su Jiu presented her token.
Su Ji, meanwhile, leaned most of his weight on her, letting her drag him along step by step.
His face was ghastly pale, lips cracked, breath faint—the very picture of a man on death’s doorstep.
After verifying the token, one of the gatekeepers frowned at Su Ji.
But with Su Jiu, a newly promoted inner disciple, present, he dared not question further and waved them through.
The moment they crossed the gate—
A terrifying pressure, vast as a collapsing sky, crashed down without warning.
Though not directed at anyone, it was far from restrained.
The two nearest gatekeepers shuddered as if struck by lightning, their knees buckling.
At the source of the pressure, a figure in pristine white robes materialized silently.
At a glance, her bearing was elegant, her presence peerless.
But upon closer inspection, faint traces of age and weariness lingered beneath the surface.
This was the Love-Longing Sect’s Sect Master.
She had arrived.
Exactly as Su Ji had foreseen in his [Heaven’s Gaze] vision.
The only difference was Su Ji’s current posture.
Half his body hung limply over Su Jiu, head bowed as if he lacked even the strength to lift it, relying entirely on her as a "crutch."
The Sect Master’s gaze swept over them briefly before settling on Su Jiu. A flicker of surprise, barely noticeable, passed through her clouded eyes.
Yet she did not strike immediately, as Su Ji had foreseen.
Su Ji steadied himself inwardly.
Just as he’d predicted.
With great effort, he raised his head, trembling violently, voice hoarse.
"Outer disciple Su Ji… greets the Sect Master. Forgive this disciple… hiss… groan…"
He sucked in a sharp breath, as if the motion had aggravated a mortal wound, hunching slightly before continuing.
"Forgive this disciple for failing to bow… due to injuries…"
The Sect Master ignored his explanation, her voice cool and detached.
"What happened?"
Su Ji shivered again, seemingly cowed by her presence, stammering his reply.
"R-reporting to the Sect Master… This disciple… accepted a sect mission outside… but was ambushed by a Golden Core demon beast… nearly… nearly didn’t make it back…"
As he spoke, he feigned a fearful glance toward the north, though his "injuries" made even this small motion a struggle.
"Luckily… Su Jiu, my junior sister, happened upon me and lent her aid… barely scraped through with my life…"
The Sect Master’s brow furrowed almost imperceptibly.
Something felt off.
But she couldn’t pinpoint what.
Then it struck her.
Her frosty gaze bypassed Su Ji entirely. "Who asked you?"
Su Ji: "..."
She locked onto Su Jiu instead.
"Su Jiu. How are you already at the Golden Core realm?"
Her tone carried a sharp edge of scrutiny.
Her memory was flawless.
Talented disciples always caught her attention.
Su Jiu, with her outstanding aptitude, had naturally left an impression.
Yet not long ago, this very disciple had only been at the fifth layer of Foundation Establishment.
How long had it been since her last recollection?
The exact timeframe eluded her—for Golden Core cultivators, time was measured in years.
But by any count, it hadn’t even been a full year.
And now, she had ascended straight to Golden Core?
Such speed was unheard of.
Even the late Elder who had self-detonated above the sect not long ago—
Even he had taken thirty years to reach Golden Core!
And Su Jiu—how old was she now?
An eighteen-year-old Golden Core cultivator?
Since when did the Love-Longing Sect harbor such a prodigy?
Though…
What was this unseemly display of clinging to some random outer disciple?
The Sect Master’s spiritual sense swept over Su Ji discreetly.
This time, her frown deepened.
The outer disciple was indeed unremarkable.
His spiritual roots had been severed.
Focused solely on the Dao.
Unlikely to stir trouble over romantic entanglements.
But…
The wounds where his roots had been severed—why were they so crude?
The torn edges didn’t resemble clean cuts from a blade. More like… they’d been crushed by a hand?
She could almost make out the imprint of fingers in the jagged breaks.
Were the disciples nowadays this reckless?
Did they not fear sowing resentment that might fester into future vengeance?
Her gaze returned to Su Jiu, now laced with even sharper suspicion.
"Care to explain how you forged your Golden Core?"
"And what grade it is?"
Su Ji, feeling thoroughly ignored, began amusing himself on the side.
Su Jiu’s brows knitted tightly.
The Sect Master mistook her reaction for offense. "If your method is sound, the sect will spare no resources to nurture you."
"The next Love-Longing Sect Master could very well be you."
"Don’t misunderstand my caution. Just yesterday, spies from another sect used illusions to fake the death of our Elder."
close your eyes and open them again, only to find yourself transmigrated into the role of a villainous male supporting character. Readers familiar with urban wish-fulfillment novels know that it is only through the relentless antics of the villainous male supporting character that the plot between the male and female leads can progress. As the villainous male supporting character, Long Aotian not only has to bully the female lead, harass the second female lead, and flirt with the third female lead, but he also has to go all out to antagonize the male lead. In the end, when his body is discovered, he is still clutching half a moldy fried dough stick in his hand. Fully aware of the plot, Long Aotian is determined to change his fate, starting with the female lead! In the beginning, the female lead lacks confidence: "Big brother, I hope I didn't scare you?" In the middle, the female lead treads carefully: "Brother Long, please don't hit me, okay?" Later on, the female lead becomes coquettishly clingy: "Aotian, it's time to pay the 'public grain' tonight." Long Aotian's legs go weak, and he feels like crying: "I taught you to be thick-skinned, not shameless!"
host is extracting the Celestial Bone of the Destiny's Female Lead! The Destiny's Great Villain System has successfully bound!] Mo Tianxiao: "Destiny's Great Villain? Me?" Looking at the radiant Celestial Bone in his hand and the beautiful woman lying on the bed, Mo Tianxiao felt somewhat confused. How could he, a law-abiding citizen, become a villain? Mo Tianxiao: "Fine, villain it is then. With the system here, even a Chosen One isn't unbeatable." [Ding! Detected 18,653 Chosen Ones in this world. Please seize the destiny of all protagonists to become the true Destiny's Great Villain!] Mo Tianxiao: "Seize how many?! What kind of lousy great villain is this? I'm a perfectly good citizen!"
iaobai: "Councilor Dad, front me some funds. I want to hire ten thousand professional miners for a project!" [Five-Star Mission Issued: Capture the leader of the Blood Heaven Pirate Gang, who is on the run in the Radiant Star Sector. It is said the gang has over a hundred members. Proceed with caution.] Lu Xiaobai: "Councilor Dad, lend me the family's hundred-thousand-strong Lu Army!" [Seven-Star Mission Issued: Subdue a juvenile Void Dragon Beast.] Lu Xiaobai: "Councilor Dad, I'm taking your tamed Void Dragon Beast King out for a family reunion!" I said, System, don't you have any slightly more challenging missions? You're just not up to par! [Nine-Star Mission Issued: Become the Human Councilor.] Lu Xiaobai: "Dad, there's a small matter I'd like to discuss with you..."
grated, and just when he finally managed to get into an elite academy, he discovered that he actually had a system, and the way to earn rewards was extremely ridiculous. So for the sake of rewards, he had no choice but to start acting ridiculous as well. Su Cheng: "It's nothing but system quests after all." But later, what confused Su Cheng was that while he was already quite ridiculous, he never expected those serious characters to gradually become ridiculous too. And the way they looked at him became increasingly strange... (This synopsis doesn't do it justice, please read the full story)
