It was Su Ji's turn.
He mimicked the nervous expressions of those before him, putting on a show of tension as he slowly stepped forward.
On the high platform, Elder Liu's oppressive aura swept over him like a tangible force.
Su Ji felt an icy probing energy ruthlessly coursing through his body.
The power lingered briefly in his dantian before plunging downward, heading straight for that critical area.
Outwardly, Su Ji trembled slightly, but inwardly, he remained utterly calm.
Meanwhile, in a corner of the crowd, Su Jiu subtly formed a hand seal within her sleeve.
A far more refined surge of spiritual energy silently intercepted Elder Liu's divine sense, wrapping Su Ji's vulnerable spot in flawless camouflage before the elder's probing could reach it.
A moment later, Elder Liu withdrew her divine sense.
With a bored wave of her hand, she dismissed him.
"Next."
It worked!
Su Ji's heart steadied, though he maintained the act of relief, hastily bowing before turning to leave.
In the crowd, Wang San glared at Su Ji's retreating figure, his face twisted with resentment.
How?
How could he pass unscathed too?
There's no way he also has [The Gentleman Sheathes His Sword]!
"Lady Bluefrost Grass!" Wang San roared inwardly. "That bastard is suspicious! Why did he slip through?"
"Even your presence was almost detected by that old hag!"
A cold voice echoed in his mind: "It's possible, but—"
Wang San's thoughts darkened. "No 'buts'! I'll double the plant essence I gather for you later!"
Wang San believed himself the chosen one of this world.
After dying in his previous life—caught sneaking photos of female classmates and subsequently flattened by a truck—he had reincarnated here, blessed by the heavens.
He awakened his golden finger, Destiny's Favor, and used his divine skill, [The Gentleman Sheathes His Sword], to escape the fate of having his spiritual roots severed.
Later, while tending the herb garden, he even gained the recognition of the ancient Bluefrost Grass, forming an equal contract.
Life had been smooth sailing.
Yet this Su Ji—how dare he live so comfortably?
And why was he so close to the ethereal Su Jiu?
Meanwhile, the female disciples barely spared Wang San a glance.
Just because Su Ji was better-looking?
Unacceptable.
"I want him dead!"
As Wang San's malice surged, the Bluefrost Grass released an imperceptible mental ripple, weaving toward Elder Liu on the platform.
Elder Liu, about to inspect the last disciple, suddenly frowned.
She sensed no external interference, yet an inexplicable intuition whispered that something was off about Su Ji.
"Wait. Something's wrong."
Her voice, though quiet, silenced the entire hall.
Su Ji halted mid-step, turning back with practiced confusion and unease.
All eyes locked onto him again.
Leaning in her chair, Elder Liu tapped the armrest lazily.
"I recall hearing something about you."
"Back when you learned your spiritual roots would be severed, you caused quite a scene in the Contribution Hall—wailing like a man condemned."
"So why did you accept it so calmly afterward?"
Su Jiu's heart plummeted.
Disaster.
This question had never crossed her contingency plans.
Her illusions could deceive Elder Liu's divine sense, but she couldn’t answer for Su Ji.
A single slip in his response would unravel everything.
Even her best illusions would fail if suspicion took root.
The Love-Longing Sect had experts who could see through her craft.
She simply hadn’t had enough time to grow stronger.
The air thickened.
Even the already-inspected disciples refocused on Su Ji.
The Contribution Hall incident had been infamous—a lowly servant disciple weeping over his spiritual roots.
Now, Elder Liu's question laid bare the glaring inconsistency.
Su Jiu's fingers trembled in her sleeves, her forehead damp with cold sweat.
This was beyond her control.
Su Ji was on his own.
Wang San smirked, relishing the impending downfall.
Yes. Corner him.
Make him choke on his lies!
Yet Su Ji didn’t panic.
Instead, his feigned nervousness melted into something resembling bashful enlightenment.
He bowed deeply.
"Elder, this disciple... was indeed misguided at first."
His voice carried clearly.
"Coming from the mortal world, my perspective was narrow. I believed the body was a parent’s gift, not to be harmed—hence my shameful outburst."
His gaze flickered toward Su Jiu.
"But then, thanks to Junior Sister Su Jiu’s guidance, I realized the... benefits of severing spiritual roots."
A ripple of murmurs spread.
Su Jiu stiffened.
Su Ji continued, undeterred.
"She taught me that we cultivators seek the Dao of immortality, not mortal desires."
"Severing roots seems a loss, but it’s truly a gain."
"Consider this: freed from base urges, we conserve energy, avoid depleting our kidneys, and achieve spiritual fulfillment."
"That alone extends lifespan by twenty percent!"
"Even a fool like me understands what an extra twenty percent means when striving for the Golden Core realm."
"Petty desires? They’re laughable compared to the Great Dao!"
His speech was impassioned, his expression flawlessly earnest.
The hall fell dead silent.
Even Elder Liu looked intrigued.
In her centuries of life, she’d never heard castration framed so poetically—and even tied to Golden Core ascension.
The logic was absurd... yet weirdly compelling.
It might even help legitimize the sect’s root-severing doctrine.
Her aura softened slightly.
Her intuition still nagged, but Su Ji’s argument was airtight.
Pressing further would seem like bullying.
"Enough."
Elder Liu finally waved his hand impatiently.
"Since you've come to your senses, you may leave."
Wang San's face instantly turned ashen.
This actually worked?
Su Ji bowed once more, then turned and retreated into the crowd, his composure unshaken throughout the entire process.
He exchanged a subtle glance with Su Jiu before following the flow of people out of the Personnel Hall.
The two walked one after the other in silence, heading straight for Su Jiu's elegant private courtyard.
Only after casting a soundproofing array did Su Jiu finally turn around.
She looked at Su Ji, her expression complicated.
"Thank you for your assistance, Junior Sister," Su Ji spoke first.
"No need for thanks. This was what I promised you, and in truth, I didn’t help much this time."
Su Jiu's voice remained cool and detached.
After a brief silence, she continued.
"Su Ji… you are well-suited for cultivation."
"But I don’t wish to see you stray too far from the path."
"I don’t want to face you as an enemy one day."
Su Ji smiled but didn’t respond to her words.
Seeing his indifferent expression, Su Jiu felt an inexplicable sense of helplessness rise within her.
She sighed softly.
"After today, there should be no further need for our paths to cross."
"The favor I owe you—you may come to collect it anytime."
As she spoke, she felt an emptiness in her heart, a reluctant ache, yet she forced out the final words.
"The path of immortality is long, Senior Brother. Farewell, and may we never meet again."
"I intend to bathe now. You should leave."
The eight words—"The path of immortality is long, farewell, and may we never meet again"—exploded in Su Ji’s mind like thunder.
Damn it!
Not this again!
This is the third time now!
My dear junior sister…
Haven’t you realized yet how cursed this line of yours is?
Was his tribulation with his spiritual root destined to be this tumultuous?
And it still wasn’t over?
The smile vanished from Su Ji’s face, replaced by icy detachment.
The cooldown for [Fate’s Gaze] had just ended.
Su Ji was determined to find out exactly who the bastard was, hell-bent on driving his sworn brother to ruin.
This grudge… would not go unsettled.
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.”
world slacker. But a genius female disciple just had to get clingy, insisting that he take her as a disciple. Not only that, she was always making advances on him, thoroughly disrupting his peaceful slacker life...
【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.)
ive and Ruthless] Before his transmigration, Ye Xuan was playing a game called "Severing Emotions to Attain the Dao." The game's core wasn't about leveling up by fighting monsters, but about conquering various "bad women" with wicked personalities and cold, fickle natures. There was only one method to conquer them: stay unwaveringly by their side, then die at a critical moment, driving them to madness after losing the protagonist. The higher their level of regret, the higher the player's score. To dominate the server, Ye Xuan conquered all the bad women. In the early stages, he showered them with boundless tenderness, only to choose to sacrifice himself for them later, making them weep bitterly and drown in regret. Among them were: Xia Lengyue, the unfaithful immortal wife who chased after powerful men and discarded her husband like trash. Ye Qingcheng, the Demonic Venerable of the Joyous Union Sect, who appeared pure and innocent but was, in reality, promiscuous. Wu Lingxiao, the Empress of the Great Xia Dynasty, who lusted after men and loved maintaining a harem. Bai Qiangu of the Endless Demonic Sect: a bloodthirsty mass murderer. However, when the protagonist transmigrated into the game world, he made a horrifying discovery. Eight hundred years had already passed. The bad women he had conquered had now each become deities and revered ancestors. Faced with the endless stream of toxic women coming for him, Ye Xuan could only rely on his god-tier acting skills to carve a path of survival through this world of treacherous women.
