Six hundred li was not a considerable distance for cultivators.
The two did not head directly to Anyang City.
Instead, they descended in a small town called Wang'an, dozens of li away from Anyang.
By the time they arrived, night had already fallen.
Wang'an Town, nestled against a canal, was brightly lit and bustling with noise and activity.
Su Jiu chose a rather grand-looking inn and stepped inside.
The sharp-eyed attendant, noticing their extraordinary attire and ethereal bearing, immediately greeted them with a beaming smile.
"Honored guests, will you be dining or staying the night?"
Su Jiu walked ahead, her aloof demeanor keeping the attendant from getting too close.
"Staying. Two upper-class rooms."
"Right away! Two upper-class rooms!"
The innkeeper behind the counter, hearing this, promptly echoed the order and reached for the ledger to record it.
However, his peripheral gaze inadvertently caught the seemingly carefree young man behind Su Jiu.
The young man was facing him, wearing a meaningful smile.
With his left hand, he raised a single finger and gave it a slight shake.
Meanwhile, his right hand casually tossed a half-piece of low-grade spirit stone, making it flicker in and out of sight.
The innkeeper's movements abruptly halted.
His shrewd eyes, honed from years of dealing with countless guests, instantly gleamed with greed.
If he couldn't understand this hint, decades of business would have been wasted!
Clearly, this young rogue wanted to share a room with the fairy-like maiden!
The innkeeper's mind raced as he fidgeted with the ledger in his hands.
When he looked up again, his face bore an exaggerated expression of distress, as if facing an insurmountable dilemma.
"Honored guests..."
He dragged out his words, oozing apology.
"Unfortunately, you've arrived a bit late today."
Su Jiu frowned slightly at his words.
"What do you mean?"
The innkeeper sighed, his wrinkles bunching up.
"You see, for some reason, several merchant caravans from the south arrived today and booked all our upper-class rooms."
As he spoke, he pointed conspicuously at the burly men drinking and rowdily playing finger-guessing games in a corner of the hall.
"Now, we only have one celestial-class room left."
Su Jiu followed his gesture and saw the men indeed wore matching attire, clearly part of the same group.
She glanced back at Su Ji, her eyes questioning.
Su Ji shrugged innocently. "I'm fine with anything. Should we try another inn?"
This statement sent the innkeeper into a panic.
Not only might he lose the half-piece of spirit stone, but even the payment for two rooms could slip away!
This brat wasn’t playing along!
Here he was, trying to help the guy out, and he wasn’t even cooperating!
"Wait, wait!"
"Honored guest, you might not know this."
"For some reason, merchant caravans have been flooding in these past few days. At this hour, other inns will be fully booked too."
"Only my place is lucky enough to have one room left."
"If you leave now and can’t find lodging elsewhere, even this last room might be gone by the time you return."
Su Jiu felt an inexplicable irritation but kept her composure.
"Fine. One upper-class room, and one ordinary room."
To her surprise, the innkeeper’s face twisted further in distress.
He shook his head mournfully.
"Honored guest, you really don’t understand."
"Those merchants were extremely generous—they not only took the upper-class rooms but also all the ordinary ones for their guards and servants."
"Right now, our inn truly has only one room left."
Su Jiu was at a loss for words.
She instinctively looked at Su Ji again.
Seizing the moment, Su Ji leaned in as if to whisper in her ear, but she dodged and shot him a glare.
Her expression clearly said, "There are people watching. What are you trying to pull?"
Su Ji had half a mind to say "Exactly what you think," but feared retaliation.
Instead, he lowered his voice and offered a plausible explanation:
"Junior Sister, do you think these merchants might have been heading to Anyang City, only to find it a dead town, and are now stuck here trying to offload their goods?"
"Let’s stay here."
"We might even gather some useful information from them."
Su Jiu listened to his seemingly logical reasoning and reluctantly suppressed her discomfort.
After all, gathering intelligence was their top priority.
With a cold hum, she gave a barely perceptible nod—her silent consent.
The innkeeper, sensing victory, broke into a grin so wide his wrinkles resembled a blooming chrysanthemum.
The next second, his expression turned stern as he barked at the attendant:
"What are you standing around for, useless fool? Where are your manners? Escort our honored guests to the celestial-class room at once!"
"Right away!"
The attendant scurried to lead the way, bowing obsequiously.
Su Jiu strode forward without sparing Su Ji another glance.
Su Ji, unhurried, lagged half a step behind.
The innkeeper, quick on the uptake, sidled up to him with an ingratiating smile.
"Honored guest, how did I do? Was my performance satisfactory?"
He whispered, clearly fishing for praise.
Su Ji glanced at him and nodded.
"Very."
Then, without another word, he moved to follow Su Jiu.
The innkeeper froze, then hurried after him, his voice dropping to a hiss:
"And... the half-piece of spirit stone?"
Su Ji paused and turned, his face the picture of innocent confusion.
"I was just tossing it around for fun. Why?"
The innkeeper: "..."
His smile stiffened, then his face flushed a deep, mottled red.
It felt like a punch to the gut—his chest tightened with frustration.
After decades of outsmarting others, today he’d been outsmarted by this brat!
Rage surged to the top of his skull—
But then his eyes landed on the black cloth-wrapped spear strapped to Su Ji’s back and the two conspicuously valuable swords at his waist.
The fury evaporated like a bucket of ice water dumped over his head.
Forcing a smile even uglier than a grimace, the innkeeper resigned himself to the loss.
Just as he was about to slink away—
A half-piece of low-grade spirit stone, glinting faintly, landed softly in his palm.
Su Ji’s voice followed:
"Prepare a good meal later."
"Keep the rest as a tip. Enough?"
The innkeeper clutched the spirit stone, utterly dumbfounded.
What... what kind of game was this?
He stammered, "Enough! More than enough, young master!"
This was an unexpected windfall indeed!
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."
ver to a world of cultivation and returned invincible. Modern medicine is child's play compared to elixirs; technological might crumbles before true cultivation. My name is Qin Ning, Earth's sole cultivator!
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?!
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.
