Li Shiyin stayed at home with Qin Ran for two or three days.
Qin Ran was researching battle formations in the study. She would grab the Fundamentals of Pharmacology book and run to the study to pretend to read. When Qin Ran was researching alchemy in the Refining Hall, she would run over to be his assistant and help pass ingredients to Qin Ran. When Qin Ran was at the lakeside... Oh, Qin Ran hadn't gone to the lakeside these days.
After that, Li Shiyin couldn't sit still anymore. She tidied up Chasing the Wind and the two of them, human and tiger, ran out of Dan Peak to wander around Master Peak.
The peerless white-clothed female swordsman of Dan Peak had a big white tiger. This was the consensus of all the current disciples of the Sword Sect. When they saw that big white tiger, they should think of that female swordsman.
A human and a tiger walking on the road, very few people came up to talk to them. Most kept their distance. Of those who did approach, they had all steeled their resolve to challenge Li Shiyin. As such, it added a lot of boredom.
Perhaps this was the price of becoming a genius.
They could no longer casually wander around like before.
"Sigh..." Li Shiyin let out a sigh.
She looked at the large empty space around her and Chasing the Wind and felt a little uncomfortable. She realized why all those famous people didn't like going out. It was probably always like this - people either stayed away in fear or swarmed in admiration. Either way, it wasn't much fun.
"Let's go to Butler Hall and see if there are any tasks!" She finally said to Chasing the Wind, "Next time we'll go out together to do a task, it'll be really fun."
So they went to Butler Hall.
Then, after circling around Butler Hall, Li Shiyin saw the "Purchase Dragon Pattern Carp at High Price" task.
Dragon Pattern Carp were ornamental fish that wealthy families in the mortal realms raised. They were ordinary fish, not demonic beasts, not even ferocious. You could catch a tub with a fishing rod in a afternoon at the Imperial Garden.
"A level 2 task!" Li Shiyin's eyes lit up and she patted Chasing the Wind's big head and laughed, "Who's the idiot? Using a level 2 task to offer a reward for Dragon Pattern Carp!?"
Chasing the Wind was also very happy and asked, "What are Dragon Pattern Carp? What is a level 2 task?"
Li Shiyin didn't explain to him, only said, "They're in Sword Washing Lake, I raised several Dragon Pattern Carp there! We can take some to turn in for the task..."
"Sword Washing Lake?" Chasing the Wind was surprised.
He remembered that Sword Washing Lake had been poisoned and all the fish had died. He was about to tell Li Shiyin, but suddenly reacted - the bad guy who poisoned the lake, he seemed to not have found them yet...
If he said it now, would he be mocked by Shiyin?
He was struggling with this when Li Shiyin had already gone up to accept the task.
It was very strange. Qin Ran's task had been posted for over a month and no one had taken it. No one knew if it was because it was too simple so no one wanted to take it, afraid it was fake, a scam.
Li Shiyin accepted the task and dashed back to Dan Peak with Chasing the Wind.
"Master, master, someone's buying Dragon Pattern Carp at a high price!" As soon as Li Shiyin got home, she shouted to Qin Ran.
Qin Ran was recovering under the old Linden Tree... He didn't dare go to the lakeside these days, afraid Li Shiyin would notice something off, but he never expected to suddenly hear Li Shiyin say this.
He was greatly shocked and hurriedly opened his eyes to look at Li Shiyin, only to see her head straight towards Sword Washing Lake.
Qin Ran shuddered and reflexively flew over to stop Li Shiyin, solemnly asking, "Shiyin, what are you going to do?"
Li Shiyin took out the task and showed Qin Ran, smiling, "Master, someone is using a level 2 task reward to buy a Dragon Pattern Carp. I raised Dragon Pattern Carp in Sword Washing Lake, I want to go take some to complete the task."
Qin Ran's expression kept changing as his mind raced. He forced a smile and said, "Your Dragon Pattern Carp are raised well, why not just go look at them yourself? Why sell them?"
"But... it's a level 2 task!" Li Shiyin said.
"Cough! Do you lack spirit stones?" Qin Ran looked at Li Shiyin, "If you need spirit stones, you can go get some from the study."
"I don't lack spirit stones..." Li Shiyin's martial arts, pills, artifacts, talismans, etc. were all completely taken care of by Qin Ran. With spirit stones in her hands, she only bought some idle little toys. Her own monthly allowance wasn't even fully spent. But, "It's a level 2 task!" She stared at Qin Ran with her lovely big eyes.
"The reward for this task is just spirit stones, useless. A level 2 task is just finding some Dragon Pattern Carp. It must be a prank by some senior brother. " Qin Ran's expression returned to normal as he earnestly said to Li Shiyin, "Maybe it's to test the mentality of inner sect disciples, to see who is petty, liking undeserved gain.
"Think about it, such a simple task has been there for so long with no one taking it, yet it just so happens to come to you?"
Li Shiyin thought about it, and it seemed he had a point. She anxiously asked, "I won't be that disciple who fails the test right?! Will there be some punishment?"
"There probably won't be..." Qin Ran pondered and said to Li Shiyin, "Most likely it's just a little prank by some senior brother."
"Then... Master, what should I do now?" Li Shiyin thought for a bit, then secretly glanced at Qin Ran and asked, "Master, do you think I'm that kind of petty person?"
"How could that be? Shiyin, you're the most generous, how could you be petty?" Qin Ran laughed and said, "Go cancel the task now! The senior brother will see your intent and know you're not that kind of person."
Seeing that her master didn't misunderstand her, Li Shiyin was relieved. She thought about it and still felt it'd be better to cancel the task.
"Alright, I'll go cancel the task now..." she said.
Qin Ran immediately relaxed.
"But Master, I want to go see my Dragon Pattern Carp!" Li Shiyin suddenly said again, "I haven't seen them in so long, don't know how they're doing."
Qin Ran's heart tightened again and he hurriedly said, "No need, cancel the task first! I'll go check on the Dragon Pattern Carp for you."
Of course Li Shiyin trusted her master to check on her Dragon Pattern Carp for her. She nodded and called for Chasing the Wind, "Let's go, Chasing the Wind, we need to cancel the task, can't let people think I'm that kind of petty person!"
Chasing the Wind followed Li Shiyin out, but as they walked, he looked back at Qin Ran. He felt something was off: "The Dragon Pattern Carp in Sword Washing Lake, didn't they all die? Why is Dad going to check on them?"
But ultimately he couldn't figure it out and was pulled away by Li Shiyin.
Qin Ran finally relaxed and wiped some sweat. He went to the lakeside and looked at the clear lake, deep in thought. Posting the task was unreliable after all, he'd have to go catch them himself.
"The fish in Sword Washing Lake all died, right!" Long Qiqi's voice suddenly sounded from the side.
Qin Ran was frightened again, nervously looking at Long Qiqi, awkwardly laughing, "How could that be? See, aren't those all fish?" He pointed at the fish swimming around in the lake.
"Then where are the Dragon Pattern Carp?" Long Qiqi asked. "You were focused on your disciple and didn't notice, apart from Shiyin's Dragon Pattern Carp, there were also my Tyrannosaurus Turtles in this lake. The Tyrannosaurus Turtles are gone too.
She turned around, looking up at Qin Ran, her deep, fathomless eyes looking at Qin Ran, "Speak, what happened at Dan Peak and Sword Washing Lake while Shiyin and I were away?"
7017 characters
his freshman year, Su Bai accidentally bound the "Indulgence Tycoon System." 【Sleeping in? Reward: +$1,000】 【Spent $288 at a street barbecue stall? Cashback: +$2,880】 【Dropped $14,396 on in-game skins? Special reward unlocked: A brand-new Porsche Panamera!】 Luxury cars, penthouses, corporate shares, financial empires… College life was all about living freely and doing whatever he pleased! … When the adorably naive academic genius faced family medical bills and financial struggles, Su Bai waved his hand dismissively: "Your future is on me." "Wuwu~ Big Brother is so good to me! I’ll become a scientist to repay you!" When the genius girl got bullied by a shady professor? Su Bai casually dropped a billion-dollar investment, forcing the university to grovel and beg for her return. A company’s funding chain collapsing? Su Bai smirked—cash was the one thing he’d never run out of. Years later, when people traced the rise of the AI prodigy beauty, who was the man behind her success? Not just that—Su Bai also became the tsundere campus belle’s unattainable dream, the contrast senior’s daily necessity, and the beautiful counselor’s emotional anchor…
close your eyes and open them again, only to find yourself transmigrated into the role of a villainous male supporting character. Readers familiar with urban wish-fulfillment novels know that it is only through the relentless antics of the villainous male supporting character that the plot between the male and female leads can progress. As the villainous male supporting character, Long Aotian not only has to bully the female lead, harass the second female lead, and flirt with the third female lead, but he also has to go all out to antagonize the male lead. In the end, when his body is discovered, he is still clutching half a moldy fried dough stick in his hand. Fully aware of the plot, Long Aotian is determined to change his fate, starting with the female lead! In the beginning, the female lead lacks confidence: "Big brother, I hope I didn't scare you?" In the middle, the female lead treads carefully: "Brother Long, please don't hit me, okay?" Later on, the female lead becomes coquettishly clingy: "Aotian, it's time to pay the 'public grain' tonight." Long Aotian's legs go weak, and he feels like crying: "I taught you to be thick-skinned, not shameless!"
nd fell into a coma while saving his younger sister from an out-of-control car. He became a vegetable. No one knew that his consciousness had crossed into a world of cultivation. Over the course of sixty years, he began as the lowest kind of mine slave, struggling to survive amid mountains of corpses and seas of blood. By sheer chance, he eventually obtained the complete memories of a fallen Immortal King. Alchemy, medicine, formations, feng shui, physiognomy, artifact forging… Every great inheritance of the cultivation world was now his. But when he opened his eyes again, he discovered that ten full years had passed in the modern world. To pay for his treatment, his father had sold the family’s shop and house, leaving himself covered in lasting injuries and illness. His mother had cared for him day and night, and more than half of her hair had already turned white. His younger sister, who had been only fifteen back then, was now twenty-five. To help repay the family’s debts, she had been forced to lower her head and put on a smiling face in places of glittering lights and endless revelry. Only then did Chen Xuan understand that what he had lost was not merely ten years. He had lost the life his entire family was meant to have. The good news was that he had brought back the memories of an Immortal King’s entire lifetime. The bad news was that his soul had returned alone—his cultivation had not come with him. Spiritual energy was scarce, resources were depleted, and the modern world still had firearms, surveillance, capital, and laws. If he wanted to protect his family, break free from everyone’s control, and become truly invincible beneath the heavens, he would have to start all over again.
to panic—he has a system. As long as an investment target dies, he can claim a reward. And since he is immortal, the one thing he has plenty of is time. ... Countless years later. “Immortal Emperor of Longevity? I invested in him.” “Supreme Celestial Venerable? I invested in him.” “Undying Empress? I invested in her.” “...” “Heh. Once they’ve all died, even the Heavenly Dao will have to kneel and call me Dad.”
