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."
] [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!"
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."
. As long as he maintains the villain image and follows the plot to the grand finale, he can obtain generous rewards and return to the real world. So Gu Chen'an entered the role and began to act as a scumbag villain, but who would have expected that the female leads could hear his inner thoughts. Miss Su from the Su family was shocked: "I originally thought Gu Chen'an was a scumbag, but I didn't expect he turned out to be a gentleman! What? You said I have to call off the engagement? I definitely won't, I'll piss you off!" Bai Yuan Tian was dumbfounded: "Young Master Gu is usually unreasonable and a complete brat, but he actually calls me little sweetie in his heart? What, Young Master Gu even said he likes me?" As the female leads' images collapsed more and more, the plot also collapsed with it. Gu Chen'an looked at all this chaos. "Ladies, don't aggro me, if you keep this up the male lead really will stab me, I still need to survive to the grand finale!"
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?!
