The soul cultivator woman beside Li Fan was just about to speak, seemingly having a bellyful of grievances to pour out, but was stopped by a look from Li Fan.
"Senior, the sect is fine."
Li Fan spoke respectfully, condensing the turbulent changes of the past four months into these four simple words.
In his view, as long as Su Ji had returned, everything that happened before was no big deal.
Hearing this, Su Ji finally shifted his gaze away from the complex array and landed on Li Fan.
He nodded and did not ask further.
This Old Six looked more reliable than he had imagined.
"Where is Su Jiu?"
"The Vice Sect Master said she had important matters to handle. As for exactly where she went, this junior also does not know."
Li Fan answered truthfully, and then, as if afraid Su Ji would misunderstand, hastily added, "For the past month or so, all matters within the sect, big and small, have been temporarily handled by this junior."
"Now that Senior has returned, this junior can hand over the matters at hand..."
"Don't."
The moment Su Ji heard he was supposed to handle sect affairs, he shook his head like a rattle drum and waved his hand to interrupt.
"You keep at it."
"I'm just a figurehead. You can handle the sect's affairs as you see fit from now on."
"Work hard, and the sect will not treat you poorly."
"When the time comes, I'll give you a share of the debt owed by the Puppet Heaven Holy Land."
He paused, then added a sentence.
"I'm going to find the Vice Sect Master to discuss some major matters."
After saying that, he didn't care about Li Fan's overwhelmed and tearfully grateful expression, turned around, and left.
The Second Elder, who had been following behind Su Ji and trying hard to minimize her presence, hurriedly followed suit upon seeing this.
However, Su Ji did not take the main entrance.
He paused at the entrance of the main hall, looked left and right, and after confirming no one was around, his figure flickered. He actually went straight over the mountains and ridges, disappearing into the night after a few leaps.
The Second Elder stood there, dumbfounded.
She was somewhat speechless.
It was clearly his own sect, and he was clearly the Sect Master.
Why did he act like a guilty thief whether he was returning or looking for someone?
This new master's actions were truly... unpredictable.
...
Su Jiu's courtyard remained as cold and elegant as ever.
It was just that there seemed to be a faint, lingering fragrance of vegetation in the air.
Su Ji familiarly scaled the wall and entered without alarming anyone.
He walked straight to that familiar door and, without thinking, reached out to push it open.
"Creak—"
The door opened in response.
There were no lamps lit inside. Only the cold moonlight spilled in through the window, coating everything in a hazy silver glow.
Su Ji's footsteps halted the moment he stepped into the room.
He had envisioned many possibilities.
Su Jiu might be sitting cross-legged cultivating, she might be wiping her magical artifacts, or she might even be staring blankly at a portrait of him she had secretly drawn.
But the only thing he hadn't expected was the scene before him.
On the bed, that familiar figure was lying quietly on her side.
Her long hair cascaded over the pillow like a waterfall. Her breathing was steady and long, and her peerlessly beautiful face carried a serenity she never showed normally.
She was actually... sleeping?
This wasn't right.
For a cultivator at the Golden Core stage, their divine soul was strong and their energy abundant; they had long since grown out of the mortal need for sleep.
Meditating and cultivating was the best form of rest.
How could she fall into a deep sleep like a mortal woman?
Whenever things are abnormal, there must be a demon at work.
Su Ji concealed all his aura and walked toward the bed step by step, completely silent.
He walked very slowly, every step landing in the shadows cast by the moonlight.
As the distance closed.
Su Ji's footsteps stopped half a foot away from the bed.
He looked down at the figure on the bed.
Under the moonlight, Su Jiu's sleeping face was tranquil and beautiful. Her long eyelashes cast a shallow shadow on her eyelids, and her cherry lips were slightly parted as if breathing unconsciously.
However, her beautiful dark eyebrows were slightly furrowed, as if she had encountered something troubling even in her dreams.
Su Ji's gaze slowly moved down from her gorgeous face.
It landed on her small, tightly clenched hand resting over her chest.
She seemed to be holding something in her hand.
Curious, Su Ji felt compelled by some unseen force to reach out, wanting to gently pry her fingers apart to see what it was.
However, before his fingertips even touched the back of Su Jiu's hand...
The person on the bed suddenly let out a soft, somewhat aggrieved murmur.
"Su Ji..."
"Bastard..."
Su Ji's outstretched hand froze in midair.
That murmur was as light as a feather brushing against the tip of his heart, yet so heavy that it made his fingertips tremble slightly.
He slowly retracted his hand, preparing to quietly back out and let her sleep a little longer.
The long eyelashes of the person on the bed suddenly fluttered.
Sensing someone had entered the room, Su Jiu opened her eyes.
In the hazy moonlight, her clear eyes first carried a bit of grogginess from just waking up.
When her vision slowly focused and she clearly saw the familiar figure in front of the bed, that confusion was instantly replaced by extreme astonishment.
Following immediately was anger like an erupting volcano.
"Su Ji?!"
She abruptly sat up from the bed.
Su Ji raised his hands in a posture of surrender, squeezing out what he thought was a very friendly smile on his face.
"Junior Sister, I..."
"You still know how to come back?!"
Su Jiu didn't give him a chance to explain at all. She threw off the thin blanket, jumped out of bed barefoot, and stood in front of Su Ji.
Her exceptionally beautiful face was written all over with the grievances accumulated over the past four months.
Her voice choked, and her eye sockets reddened at a visible speed, misting over with a thin layer of tears.
She wanted to say, do you know how worried I was about you?
But the words reached her lips and she just couldn't say them.
Finally, all her emotions turned into a small fist that used up all its strength to pound against Su Ji's chest, neither light nor heavy.
"You bastard!"
Su Ji let her hit him. Not only did he not dodge, but he took the opportunity to reach out and pull her into his arms, holding her tightly.
The person in his arms suddenly stiffened.
The familiar cold body fragrance mixed with a trace of vegetation scent drifted into his nose. Su Ji rested his chin on her small head, his voice carrying a bit of helpless doting: "I was wrong."
"I'm back now, aren't I?"
Su Jiu's struggles gradually ceased under his soft words.
She buried her face in Su Ji's chest, greedily breathing in that scent that made her feel at ease. Her muffled voice came from his embrace, carrying a thick nasal tone.
"You make it sound so easy..."
It was as if she wanted to pour out all the grievances she had suffered over the past few months at once.
Su Ji listened quietly, his palm gently stroking her back rhythmically, as if comforting a little fox with its fur standing on end.
"Do you know..."
However, right when Su Jiu was halfway through her complaining...
Her voice abruptly stopped.
She suddenly lifted her head from Su Ji's embrace, a trace of vigilance flashing through her reddened eyes.
Because she saw that behind Su Ji, quietly standing in the shadow of the room's corner, was another person.
A woman with an enchanting figure and highly swollen cheeks, looking completely disheveled, yet still unable to hide her charming and alluring demeanor.
Su Jiu's body instantly tensed up.
She abruptly pushed Su Ji away, putting some distance between them. Her cold eyes locked onto the Second Elder in the corner, her voice laced with undisguised hostility.
"Who is she?"
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)
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?!
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.
