The female disciples of the Joyous Union Sect giggled so hard they trembled like flowering branches in the wind. The amorous glances they cast at Su Ji were so wet they practically dripped water.
Meanwhile, the cultivators who prided themselves on belonging to orthodox and righteous sects frowned, their faces plastered with undisguised disdain.
He was a sect master, and this was his inauguration ceremony. To act so frivolously during such a solemn occasion...
What a scandal!
Simply absurd!
Feeling the various gazes shooting over from all directions, Su Jiu's face burned hotly.
Truth be told, with her upbringing, she would never normally make any inappropriate little gestures at such a highly anticipated, formal occasion.
But the problem was, Su Ji was just so incredibly punchable!
She hesitated for a long time, but the small foot clad in a moon-white shoe ultimately couldn't hold back. She lifted it, then brought it stomping down hard.
"Hiss—"
Su Ji feigned pain, turning back to shoot her a bared-teeth glare.
In return, he only got Su Jiu's icy profile, as if that stomp just now had absolutely nothing to do with her.
The two walked one after the other, finally stepping onto the highest viewing platform prepared for the sect master.
Su Ji didn't stand on ceremony. He sat down heavily in the seat of honor with his legs spread wide, even shifting into a more comfortable posture by crossing his legs, lightly swinging his foot in a completely shameless and unruly manner.
This posture caused the eyes of many esteemed old men in the audience to twitch.
It was just... too improper.
Su Jiu stood quietly by his side, eyes on her nose, nose on her heart, trying her best to turn herself into an emotionless background prop.
Li Fan, on the other hand, stood like a silent iron tower. Holding a brand-new, heavy broadsword, he stood expressionlessly behind Su Ji. The faint, oppressive aura of the Golden Core realm emanated from him, warning off anyone harboring malicious intentions.
Su Ji lazily swept his gaze over the "guests" below the stage. He cleared his throat. His voice wasn't loud, but it echoed clearly across the entire plaza.
"Ahem. Thank you, fellow Daoists, for doing me the honor of attending the succession ceremony of my Yearning Sect."
"I won't waste time with nonsense. The previous sect master is gone. Now, I, Su Ji, am the new sect master."
He paused and grinned.
"Eat and drink to your heart's content. If you have any complaints, or if you feel I, Su Ji, have done something wrong, feel free to bring it up anytime."
"I've always been a very reasonable person."
"And very open to advice."
This brief and somewhat crude opening speech left the crowd looking at each other in dismay, entirely unsure of how to respond.
Normally, at a time like this, a long-winded speech was inevitable.
Something about ruling with diligence, leading the sect blah-blah to a blah-blah future.
After a brief silence, a burly, red-haired middle-aged man from the Blood Fiend Sect was the first to stand up, his voice booming like a bell.
"Congratulations to Sect Master Su on your succession! A small gift, to show our meager respect!"
He waved his hand, and a disciple behind him immediately stepped forward holding a blood-jade treasure box.
Li Fan stepped up to receive it. Opening it, he found a thousand-year-old blood ginseng inside, brimming with spiritual energy and of extraordinary quality.
For any individual cultivator, this gift would be considered a priceless treasure.
But for a grand ceremony between sects, it could only be described as... barely adequate.
Su Ji took a look but said nothing, merely waving his hand to signal Li Fan to accept it.
With the Blood Fiend Sect taking the lead, representatives of the other sects and families also stepped forward, offering various flowery words of congratulation alongside their gifts.
"The Azure Sword Sect congratulates Sect Master Su, wishing the Sect Master a smooth path to immortality and eternal youth! We present ten catties of refined profound iron!"
"The Joyous Union Sect wishes Sect Master Su and the Vice Sect Master a match made in heaven and perfect marital harmony! We present a pair of Joyous Union Warm Jades!"
"The Wang Family of the North..."
For a time, the atmosphere in the plaza grew lively. Various treasures flashed with light as rare materials, miraculous pills, and high-grade magical artifacts were presented one by one.
A small mountain soon piled up on the table behind Li Fan.
However, Su Ji's expression grew increasingly strange.
He picked up the gift ledger, flipping through it casually.
They spoke words of congratulation, but the items they sent were shabbier than the last.
Refined profound iron? It sounded impressive, but it was actually just leftover scrap from forging mid-grade magical artifacts.
Joyous Union Warm Jade?
That was even more of a joke. Aside from helping spear cultivators whose stamina was failing to get their 'spears' up faster and temporarily improving their 'spearmanship' by thirty to forty percent, it was completely useless.
His, Su Ji's, spearmanship had already reached the absolute pinnacle; he had absolutely no need for such a thing.
Even among cultivators, this kind of gift was usually given in secret. To present it so openly carried more than a hint of mockery.
As for those pills and artifacts, they were so poor that even Su Ji looked down on them.
These old foxes all spoke sweeter than a song, but their petty calculations were practically written on their faces.
They wanted to probe the depths of this new sect master, yet feared drawing trouble upon themselves. They didn't dare send anything too valuable, afraid of throwing meat buns at a dog.
They really wanted to act like whores while erecting a monument to their chastity.
"Heh."
Su Ji suddenly let out a soft chuckle.
The laugh wasn't loud, but like a needle, it instantly pierced the hypocritical liveliness of the plaza.
Everyone stopped what they were doing and cast inquiring glances toward the seat of honor.
Su Ji casually tossed the gift ledger onto the table, producing a light smack.
He picked up his wine cup, swirled it gently, and stared at the clear liquid inside, speaking at a leisurely pace.
"I, Su Ji, appreciate everyone's intentions."
"It's just that..."
He raised his head and swept his gaze across the crowd below. His eyes, which usually carried a hint of mockery, were now completely calm.
"You took this pile of garbage and actually had the nerve to come congratulate my Yearning Sect?"
"Are you looking down on me, Su Ji, or... looking down on the Yearning Sect?"
As his words fell, the entire venue plunged into a dead silence.
You could hear a pin drop.
The smiles on most people's faces froze.
There was a saying: see through it, but don't say it.
No one expected this seemingly cynical young man to so directly tear right through this layer of hypocritical window paper in front of everyone.
The expressions of many Golden Core elders turned extremely ugly.
This was practically slapping the face of the entire Great Xia cultivation world!
The reason they had uniformly sent these inexpensive gifts was, of course, because they had colluded with each other beforehand.
As far as they knew.
The Great Elder of the Heavenly Puppet Holy Land had indeed been beaten into signing an IOU for a million spirit stones.
But also as far as they knew, the Yearning Sect didn't have the guts to go to their door and collect the debt.
This million-spirit-stone IOU had seemingly become a joke.
Therefore, this new sect master's strength was roughly higher than a Holy Land Elder's, but lower than a Holy Land Lord's.
Very strong.
At the very least, he was a figure who counted for something within Great Xia.
But...
Of all the things he shouldn't have done, he shouldn't have used the Heavenly Puppet Holy Land to establish his dominance...
As far as they knew... the Yearning Sect had practically hollowed out its foundation these past few days, tinkering with numerous formations...
Did they really think they could resist the Heavenly Puppet Holy Land just like that?
Did they even know what the 'foundation of a Holy Land' meant?
This kid was calm on the surface, but he was probably already sweating buckets in reality.
He shouldn't underestimate their intelligence networks.
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.
transmigrates into the world as the sect master of the Heavenly Yan Sect, which is on the verge of being wiped out. He binds a system that grants him cultivation power based on the number of disciples he has: for each disciple, he automatically gains a year's worth of cultivation every single day! Take one disciple: every day he gains 1 year of cultivation power. While others struggle through a year of bitter training, he gets the same just by sleeping through a single night. Take ten disciples: every day he gains 10 years of cultivation power. Foundation Establishment, Core Formation, Nascent Soul—he breezes through all bottlenecks without lifting a finger. Take one hundred disciples: every day he gains 100 years of cultivation power. Even a Soul Transformation Venerable before him can’t survive a single blow. Take ten thousand disciples: every day he gains 10,000 years of cultivation power! With a wave of his hand, he topples empires. With a single step, he crushes the sacred grounds of the universe. ... While others fight tooth and nail for secret techniques, Lin Yan casually hands out Nascent Soul-level cultivation manuals as beginner textbooks. While others strain to find talented recruits, Lin Yan opens his doors to anyone—so long as they’re human. In just three short years, the Heavenly Yan Sect went from a backwater sect made up of three crumbling huts to a sacred land that every cultivator under heaven would kill to enter. ... One day, otherworldly demon gods invade, with a million demon soldiers pressing down upon the realm. Lin Yan, yawning, rises from his lounge chair and glances at the system panel: [Current Disciples: 1.28 million] [Daily Cultivation Increase: 1.28 million years] He waves his hand casually, and the countless demon soldiers are reduced to ashes in an instant. “So noisy… interrupting my fishing.”
【Prologue: The Beginning of It All – Use holy water to heal the saintess tainted by demonic energy, then converse with her.】 Shen Nian stared at his older sister sipping yogurt, lost in thought. So you’re telling me my sister is the saintess, and yogurt is the holy water? 【Main Quest 1: Brave Youth, Become an Adventurer! Reward: Rookie Adventurer Title.】 【Side Quest 1: Find the Adorable Kitty! Reward: 1000 Gold Coins.】 Shen Nian: "Wait, I’m a high school senior here—did some guy who got isekai’d accidentally bind his system to me?" Hold on, completing quests gives gold rewards? Titles even boost stats? Is this for real? (A lighthearted, absurd campus comedy—not a revenge power fantasy.)
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."
