Whether Guo Huaili ultimately agreed to the trade could be inferred from the mathematics books in his Universe Bag and the complicated smile on Qin Ran’s face.
Exchanging his foundational knowledge of mathematics and its application in formations for a vulnerability in the Boundless Sword Sect’s mountain-protecting array—was the deal worth it? Qin Ran’s answer was clear: he had lost so badly that even his underpants were gone.
With these treasures in hand, Guo Huaili returned to the Heavenly Secrets Sect. Within a decade, the sect’s strength would undoubtedly experience a surge—a sustained surge, in fact. As for its upper limit, even Qin Ran couldn’t predict.
Before this, formations had existed in this world as an empirical discipline. But now, with the introduction of mathematics, they became a theoretical science.
It was as if formations were being studied from a completely new angle, or as if mathematics had finally provided the key to unlocking their secrets.
Such foundational knowledge—something akin to a trump card, a golden finger, capable of revolutionizing the field of formations—was traded for a minor sect’s array vulnerability.
The most infuriating part? Given enough time, Qin Ran wouldn’t have needed that vulnerability to deal with the Boundless Sword Sect.
So, just how much had he lost? Qin Ran couldn’t bear to calculate it.
Of course, if he forced himself to look on the bright side, it was this: whether the Heavenly Secrets Sect grew powerful or not would have no impact on him. And if the sect did rise to legendary prominence, he, Qin Ran, would be remembered as the man behind its success—the father of the Heavenly Secrets Sect.
"After I’m gone, let the floods rage as they may," Qin Ran murmured to himself as he watched Guo Huaili’s figure disappear into the darkness.
By the time the Heavenly Secrets Sect grew strong, he would have already left the Land of Immortal Legacy. What did it matter to him then?
……Many years later, as Xuanqin expanded and its leaders scratched their heads in frustration at the formidable Heavenly Secrets Sect’s formations, one question lingered: Why did the enemy’s array logic seem so familiar?
"Master, are we leaving soon?" Li Shiyin approached, taking Qin Ran’s hand.
Before them, the misty passage of the mountain-protecting array slowly closed in the darkness.
"Soon," Qin Ran replied, turning to her and interlacing their fingers. He led her back slowly as he spoke. "We already planned not to take part in Xuanqin’s immortal dynasty scheme. Now that we don’t have to set up the mountain-protecting array for the Dao Sword Sect, the only task left is unifying the Hengduan Mountains."
"Originally, this would’ve taken a few more years. The Boundless Sword Sect isn’t strong enough yet, and their internal conflicts aren’t fully ripe. Forcing the issue prematurely wouldn’t yield the best results. But now, since the sect leader fears me, we might as well speed up the process."
After listening, Li Shiyin thought for a moment, then glanced furtively toward the main peak. Lowering her voice, she asked, "Master, why don’t you just…" She mimed slitting her throat.
Qin Ran understood—she was asking why he didn’t just eliminate the sect leader and take his place, or openly rebel and bring the Dao Sword Sect down with him.
……Li Shiyin clarified: "I was just asking why you don’t try to off the sect leader. I wasn’t thinking that far ahead."
"Why?" Qin Ran chuckled. "Because I can’t beat him! The sect leader is a god-transformation expert…"
But as he spoke, his gaze followed Li Shiyin’s toward the Dao Sword Sect, and he sighed. "I did grow up in the Dao Sword Sect, after all."
"Besides…" He squeezed her hand gently. "Those things are exhausting. I just want to be with you. That’s enough for me."
Li Shiyin’s eyes melted with tenderness, clinging to Qin Ran as she wrapped her other hand around his arm, calling sweetly, "Maaasteeer~"
The two walked leisurely through the grass, their footsteps lightly bending the blades beneath them. They passed under a phoenix tree and returned to the ancient spirit locust, where the dishes and wine cups from Qin Ran’s earlier drinking session with Guo Huaili still lay untouched.
Li Shiyin tried to pull away to clean up, but Qin Ran refused to let go. Instead, he wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her down onto a nearby rocking chair with him.
The combined weight made the chair creak in protest.
"We’ll wash the dishes later," he said, holding her tightly with a grin. His wife was soft and warm, like a ball of cotton candy—once he had her in his arms, he couldn’t bear to let go.
"Ugh, you’re really…" Li Shiyin feigned a half-hearted struggle before giving in, resting her head against his shoulder with a pout. "Leaving the dishes out like that—do you think it looks nice?!"
"Then don’t look at them," Qin Ran suggested, rolling over with her to face the other direction.
"Pfft! You’re so lazy!" She lightly smacked his chest before asking, "How did you even survive before me?"
"Think carefully," Qin Ran said, feigning surprise. "Who took care of you when you first came to Dan Peak? Remember when you blew up the kitchen?"
"Oh…" Having been with Qin Ran for so long, Li Shiyin had long mastered the art of deflection. Her eyes darted playfully. "Back when I couldn’t do anything, you were so diligent. Now that I can do everything, you’ve gotten lazy! Fine, I’ll be lazy too from now on!"
Qin Ran smirked. "Let’s see who’s lazier!"
"Sure, sure, you win," Li Shiyin deadpanned.
The rocking chair creaked gently as the couple nestled together, gazing at the starry sky.
After a while, Li Shiyin suddenly giggled. "Master, earlier when you made that deal with that formation master, did you get the short end of the stick? You looked like you were in physical pain—your nose and eyebrows were all scrunched up!"
"Who said I got the short end?" Qin Ran denied, spinning his own logic. "Among scholars, it’s not a loss—it’s called magnanimity, righteousness, the sharing of knowledge and technology!"
He even adopted a righteous tone. "As I said, if techniques aren’t exchanged, they’ll regress and eventually vanish. If every master keeps their best tricks hidden, sooner or later, the art itself will disappear. So we must be generous in spreading knowledge."
Li Shiyin pressed a hand to his chest, feigning concern. "Master, your heart doesn’t even race when you lie now."
"I’ve always been able to lie with a straight face," Qin Ran said solemnly.
"But Master…" Li Shiyin pressed, "that Guo guy was a cultivator from outside the Land of Immortal Legacy. Why did you pass your formations to him? Wouldn’t it have been better to leave them for the Dao Sword Sect?"
"What’s this ‘inside’ or ‘outside’ nonsense?" Qin Ran chided. "Knowledge knows no borders."
"Ha!" Li Shiyin scoffed. "You just helped the Dao Sword Sect wipe out Zhican Valley, and you’ve always identified as one of them. Knowledge may have no borders, but you do."
"Ah…" Qin Ran hugged her tighter. "My silly disciple has gotten too clever. You’re not so easy to fool anymore."
"I've always been smart, okay?" Li Shiyin said. "I was just going easy on you before."
"Yeah, yeah, sure!" Qin Ran replied. "A small loss is still a gain—consider it a blessing. Right now, we need to deal with the Boundless Sword Sect quickly and then make our exit as fast as possible. We can’t wait until the sect leader takes action and things turn ugly."
"Ah..." Li Shiyin sighed. Over a decade in the Dao Sword Sect had been joyful, but the thought of it ending so bitterly saddened her.
"We’re just leaving the Dao Sword Sect, not the Land of Immortal Legacy," Qin Ran reassured her. "We can hide out in Danyang City, cultivate until we reach the Nascent Soul stage, refine the Longevity Pill, maybe even have a child... and when the time’s right, we can always come back to visit..."
Mid-sentence, his expression suddenly shifted. He sat up from the rocking chair and gazed into the distant night sky beyond the Dao Sword Sect.
Li Shiyin, lost in sweet thoughts of their future, noticed his movement and turned to him. "What now?" she asked, puzzled.
Wait—had she just said "now" with a hint of exasperation?
Qin Ran looked back at her, his face a mix of emotions, though joy seemed to outweigh the rest. After a brief hesitation, he finally spoke: "Someone’s come to clean up our mess and pave the way for us."
"Who?" Li Shiyin asked.
"Me," Qin Ran answered.
"Huh?"
"Yep."
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)
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!
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?!
] [Lone Wolf, No Male Gaze] [Protagonist is pursued early on; extreme protagonist-stans, stay away!] The "Carnival Paradise" descends and slowly devours the real world in the form of a game. By chance, Zhu Yan awakens the talent [Roleplay], becoming one of the first beta players. He thought he could develop safely, but after clearing the first instance, he is branded by humanity as the chief culprit behind the game's spread—a traitorous villain. A villain? Who would ever... become one! He'll be the villain! From then on, Zhu Yan is not only a player but also a lackey for the Carnival Paradise. Between the straight path and the crooked path, he chooses the con. With his left hand, he dons the villain's mantle, staging scenes within instances, infuriating players who decry him as a despicable traitor, all while the game happily promotes him. With his right hand, he joins the non-human organization "Fangcun Mountain," which opposes the Carnival Paradise, transforming into a mysterious player who slaughters game bosses, earning cheers of "Long live the expert!" from fellow players. Gradually, Zhu Yan rises to become an S-rank human player in Fangcun Mountain's archives, while also being the Carnival Paradise's certified top game Boss. But when the final war erupts and both major factions place their hopes in him— Players tag his various aliases: "Experts, this offensive depends on you." The Carnival Paradise's supreme Boss throws an arm around his neck: "Bro, you're the iron, I'm the steel; you can't let me down again!"
