Any gift in life has long been secretly marked with a price... and free gifts are the most expensive.
Qin Ran understood these principles very well.
As he looked at the book in Bai Ruoxi’s hand, he understood in an instant. At first, he thought Bai Ruoxi and Su Changqing wanted to fight, and then he suggested letting Li Shiyin accompany them to fight. He thought he had done them a small favor.
Now it looks like this was not about Li Shiyin accompanying Bai Ruoxi in a fight, but rather Bai Ruoxi accompanying Li Shiyin in a fight. This was a teaching session that Bai Ruoxi gave to Li Shiyin.
This teaching session was originally supposed to be between Su Changqing and Qin Ran.
He had naively thought they were genuinely excited to see him... Now that he thought about it, they were from the Lingnan Immortal Sect. What hadn't they seen before?
Their purpose in coming here was simply to have him be their guide through the Hengduan Mountains.
In exchange for one lesson and one mystical art.
Of course, Qin Ran could pretend he didn't know anything and accept the mystical art in good conscience. Or he could sternly refuse this art.
But if he refused...
That was a complete mystical art from the Lingnan Immortal Sect!
And if he feigned ignorance and accepted the art in good conscience, then...
That would be the most expensive free gift!
This one mystical art would become more and more valuable as Li Shiyin progressed further on her path of cultivation. One day, when Li Shiyin had progressed far enough relying on this art, if Su Changqing came to ask for help, no matter how outrageous the request, they would be unable to refuse.
Qin Ran wanted this mystical art, so he agreed to Su Changqing's request.
Because the cost of paying for this gift was lowest when compensation had just emerged.
At this point, it was an equal transaction not involving the future.
The transaction was that Bai Ruoxi would teach Li Shiyin one lesson, along with one mystical art, in exchange for Qin Ran serving as their guide.
Seeing Qin Ran nod, Su Changqing smiled and cupped his fists, "Many thanks to Brother Qin then."
Li Shiyin still didn't know what was happening. Seeing her master nod, she took the War Spirit Art. She was oblivious to the formidable relationships underlying everything.
"Although the War Spirit Art is just a mystical art created by a Harmonization Stage senior, it is exceptionally profound..."
Seeing Li Shiyin accept the art, Bai Ruoxi began to explain, "When my master passed it on to me, he said it was the strongest battle technique before the Divinization Stage, with unparalleled expositions on techniques, strength, and arts."
Harmonization Stage? What kind of realm was that? Li Shiyin hadn't even heard of it before, so it must be very powerful. And it was the strongest battle technique? The strongest?! How could she possibly accept something so valuable?
Li Shiyin panicked and quickly looked at Qin Ran.
"They gave it to you, so take it!" Qin Ran shook his head.
What was there to panic about? What was there to fret about deserving it or not? They used this art to buy your master's life!
"Time is tight now, I don't know when the Devouring Demon Willow will start harmonizing, so we will be heading to the Hengduan Mountains in the next few days. I hope Brother Qin can prepare in advance."
Su Changqing got up and bid Qin Ran farewell, "We also need to make some preparations. We will take our leave now."
Qin Ran held Chasing the Wind and saw them off politely, "You haven't even had tea yet and Brother Su is leaving already. I really must apologize."
"No no, next time I'll come to have tea," Su Changqing subtly glanced at the sobering tea on Qin Ran's table and laughed, "When this matter is over, I will have tea and wine with Brother Qin again and discuss the mysteries of cultivation."
"For sure, for sure..." Qin Ran replied.
After a few more polite exchanges, Su Changqing left with Bai Ruoxi.
Qin Ran sat down and watched Su Changqing and Bai Ruoxi's backs as they departed. The smile on his face gradually disappeared.
"Master, what about this mystical art?" Li Shiyin asked Qin Ran.
"Cultivate it!" Qin Ran sighed. Seeing Li Shiyin's bewildered expression, he shook his head and told her directly, "You really think it was a gift from others? I bought it with my life!"
"Ah?" Li Shiyin exclaimed in shock, and quickly said, "Then I won't cultivate it anymore. I'll return the mystical art to them right away!"
As she spoke, she wanted to chase after Senior Sister and Brother Su on her flying sword.
"That's enough!" Qin Ran promptly stopped her with a wave of his hand, "Show it to me."
Li Shiyin stopped hesitantly at his words. After a moment of hesitation, she still brought the War Spirit Art over to hand it to Qin Ran.
"Go do what you should be doing. I'll take a look to see if there are any issues with this art," Qin Ran said. "If there are no issues, then keep cultivating it."
"I'm exhausted," Li Shiyin put away her sword and said.
"If you're exhausted then rest," Qin Ran said, placing the spirit array reference on the table. He put the War Spirit Art on the soft and fluffy Chase Wind, and opened the first page.
Li Shiyin thought for a bit before sitting down across from Qin Ran. She reached out and picked up the spirit array reference to read as well.
The War Spirit Art was not any specific metaphysical or mystical technique. Its essence was actually a theoretical study of the fundamental nature of spiritual power. It could be described as a kind of "mystical art" for studying mystical arts...
To use an appropriate example, it was a bit like the Nine Swords of Dugu from Jin Yong's novel The Smiling, Proud Wanderer. Ostensibly it was a metaphysical art, but in actuality it was a theory on how to employ spiritual power in battle.
The War Spirit Art fought with spirit. Something like that.
The most formidable thing about this art was probably that after cultivating it to greater depths, it could make every strand of spiritual power unleash power equivalent to unleashing one's entire spiritual power.
In short, it was surprisingly an art well-suited to Qin Ran's taste.
No one knew where Long Qiqi had gone to boil hot water. Su Changqing and Bai Ruoxi had asked her to boil water when they arrived, and now after they had left, Qin Ran had sat back down to read two more pages while Li Shiyin had nearly fallen asleep reading her book, yet Long Qiqi had only just run back over with a kettle balanced on her head.
"Elder, did you have to go all the way to the Land of Mystery and Vastness to draw that water?" Qin Ran looked over with a laugh.
Long Qiqi's face was a little red. She defended herself cleverly, "Who told you your stove was so hard to use? I spent a long time figuring out how to start a fire."
"You've been here this long and still don't even know how to start a fire?" Qin Ran said in astonishment. His later words were left unsaid, but she was after all a monster beast, nothing to be ashamed of.
Long Qiqi felt ashamed inside, and started to panic a little. In her flustered state, she wasn't paying attention and tripped, falling forward in a dog-eating-shit pose.
Fortunately, Qin Ran reacted swiftly, waving his hand to control the water inside Long Qiqi's kettle on her head. He took hold of the kettle.
"Be careful, the water's hot!" he added.
Long Qiqi had faceplanted on the ground in a dog-eating-shit posture. Looking up to see Qin Ran's actions, she couldn't help but feel wronged. Unable to hold it in, she cried out.
"Waaaah..." Sprawled on the ground, she pouted with an aggrieved and pitiful look.
Li Shiyin was woken up by their noise. Seeing Long Qiqi fallen on the ground while her master was seizing the hot water to make tea, she roughly grasped what happened and couldn't help but admonish Qin Ran, "Master, you're too excessive!"
As she spoke, she went over to help Long Qiqi up and brought Long Qiqi over to sit down.
"Cough..." Not daring to meet Long Qiqi's aggrieved gaze, Qin Ran looked at the War Spirit Art and said, "Can't you see I'm holding Chase Wind? My hands were full..."
"Meow..." Chase Wind let out a soft cry.
"Jerk!" Long Qiqi quietly scolded.
e, Immortal Body, Transmigration, System, Progression Fantasy, Academy Setting, Third-Person Perspective. Alternate Title: Transmigrating into a High Martial World and Reading Live Comments. Bad news: I transmigrated. This is a terrifying high-martial world, and my original, pathetically weak body fell into a coma and never woke up. Good news: I got a Popularity Points system upon arrival. I can see live comments and even create an unkillable alternate identity. Starting out, the alternate identity has all stats at 1. The system tells me that to grow stronger, I must participate in the plot, gain popularity points to allocate stats and grow stronger, and ultimately awaken my original body. And so, carrying my original body on my back, I officially entered Huaqing Academy, where the story's protagonist resides. From that moment on, Chen Guan kicked the original plot to pieces. Live Comments: [Doesn't anyone find this mysterious coffin guy creepy? He can summon indescribable grey misty hands.] [Is this guy a hero or a villain? What kind of onion became a spirit?] [By the way, does anyone know who's in the coffin? Shouldn't the debt for saving his life be repaid by now?] [According to unofficial histories, the person in the coffin was Chen Guan's first love. Their love was once passionate and earth-shattering, but they were separated by life and death due to worldly circumstances. What a star-crossed pair.] ... Years later, the world knew of a demon god born from a coffin, shrouded in grey mist, impossible to gaze upon directly. His foremost divine emissary often wielded a scythe, reaping lives like the god of death. As war approached, facing former friends and a boundless sea of enemies, Chen Guan merely raised his scythe. "Would you like to dance as well?"
ing gift was a patch of barren land, and disciples were all picked up along the way. He spent fifty years diligently building three "ramshackle little sects," thinking he could finally live a carefree life relying on his disciples. But right at the fifty-year mark, he was suddenly swept away by a spatial rift and exiled to the Chaos Desolation, the Disorderly Ruins. There was no spiritual energy there, only slaughter. Relying on the cultivation feedback from his disciples, Gu Changyuan hacked his way through a sea of blood for eleven hundred years. When the system finally fished him back out, he discovered the ramshackle little sects he'd built back then had developed a rather... unusual style. Hold on... I vanished for a thousand years, so how did my ramshackle little sects become holy lands?!
ut it can buy an entire year of absolutely perfect training results! Su Yu stared at his empty wallet and decisively opened up various online loan platforms. “Borrow a thousand bucks! Recharge my vitality!” Boom! His vitality broke a hundred points, shattering the limits of the human body! “Borrow ten thousand bucks! Recharge my combat skills!” Boom! A basic punching technique so common it was everywhere instantly maxed out, revealing the ultimate assassination technique of Five Elements Unity—Inner Force! When a rich kid hired assassins for a midnight ambush, aiming to break both of his legs, they instead ran headfirst into a monster—a human-shaped tyrannosaur, brimming with dragon-like vitality. With just two fingers, Su Yu snapped a steel staff reinforced with alloy. Staring at the killer’s stash of stolen cash—a staggering quarter-million dollars—he showed a corporate-sincere smile: “Thanks for the pre-exam gift pack, Mr. Zhao! I’m gonna go re-invest this!” Three days later, at the National Martial Arts College Entrance Exam, while everyone else struggled just to reach the passing line, Su Yu threw a single punch—and more than a thousand vitality points literally detonated the entire arena!
] This is a dark fantasy-themed dating simulation game. The main gameplay involves containing various monster girls and investigating the truth of a world shrouded in mist alongside your companions. However, due to his love for the dark and bizarre atmosphere, Luo Wei ended up turning a dating game into a detective mystery game. Women? Women only slow down his quickdraw! To Luo Wei, the female leads in the game are more like tools to perfectly clear levels and squeeze out rewards. For Luo Wei, flirting with every girl he meets and then discarding them is standard procedure. Worried about characters losing affection points? No need. With his maxed-out charm stat, Luo Wei is practically a "human incubus." A little psychological manipulation and those points come right back. It's a bit scummy, but the paper cutout heroines in the game won't actually come at him with real cleavers. However... Luo Wei has transmigrated. He's accidentally entered the second playthrough of this game. His past actions have caused all the girls to transform into terrifying yanderes. Due to the game's setting, most of the heroines he once contained are "troubled girls." Obsessive, twisted, mentally unstable, all aggressive yanderes... The type who will kill you if they can't have you... Luo Wei wants to cry but has no tears left. "I really just want to survive..." In short, this is a story of battling wits and engaging in a love-hate relationship with yanderes.
