Qin Ran brought Li Shiyin down the mountain. Halfway down, he asked Li Shiyin, "Who is Zhao Yaqing?"
"She is the legitimate daughter of the Zhao family in Xuanqin," Li Shiyin replied.
"And what is the Zhao family in Xuanqin?"
"Zhao Yaqing's grandfather..." Li Shiyin thought carefully. She wasn't very sure about this. "I think her grandfather was the Prime Minister of Xuanqin... or was it the Imperial Tutor? I can't remember clearly."
"The Imperial Tutor..." Qin Ran understood. He fell silent in thought for a moment. Zhao Yaqing was the legitimate daughter of an official family, an inner disciple of the Cloud Heaven Sect, with a guardian by her side. On top of that, she was very scheming. No matter how you looked at it, she did not seem like the kind of person who would reminisce with the silly Li Shiyin for no reason.
Well, actually, if you look at Li Shiyin's background, she's not worse off than Zhao Yaqing.
The daughter of a prestigious family, personal disciple of the Dao Sword Sect, master an alchemist... Her resume wasn't any worse than Zhao Yaqing's.
Without saying anything more, Qin Ran felt wary and vigilant in his heart about Zhao Yaqing's ulterior motives.
Having finalized the sword forging arrangements, the main purpose of this trip was already half accomplished. As long as he could exchange the medicinal pills for the treasured sword in five days, the trip would be perfectly successful.
So Qin Ran relaxed a little and took Li Shiyin to appreciate some of the unique natural scenery around the volcano and experience the peculiar culture of the sword forging town for a bit.
The sky here was red, the land was black-brown lava, and the air was scorching hot currents.
Yet the flora here was as lush as a primeval forest, mostly shrubs, with the occasional coniferous or leafless tree...though none grew very tall. The fauna was mostly insects, with the occasional small mammals like foxes and rats.
Master and disciple walked slowly, chatting about random things. Li Shiyin picked flowers, chased snakes, and picked up one oddly shaped piece of lava rock after another.
After they returned to the sword forging town, they wandered around taking in the sights.
The unique natural landscape here existed because of the volcano, while the strange culture of the town relied on Xu Zhiye.
It was because many people came looking for Xu Zhiye to forge swords that this town appeared at all.
The "sword forging" in the name referred to the sword forging of master Xu Zhiye.
The sword and forging cultures were very prosperous in the town, with sword emblems and weapon shops everywhere, whether or not they had anything to do with Xu Zhiye. But they all used Xu Zhiye's name. There were also shops selling sword techniques and forging methods. In short, it was a lively place.
In particular, there were no locals here. Everyone had come from all over, each speaking in their own accent, which was quite amusing.
As master and disciple walked along eating, when it was evening and time to return to the inn, they didn't need to eat at the inn anymore and went straight back to their rooms.
Qin Ran went to check Li Shiyin's room again to make sure there were no strange magic arrays, tools, or medicines that had mysteriously appeared. Confirming there was nothing suspicious, he returned to his room to fetch Long Qiqi and brought her to Li Shiyin, telling her, "Starting tonight, I will be refining pills, so the less time spent on that, the more preparation I can make. It will probably take me three days. During this time, keep an eye on Long Qiqi... No, keep an eye on your own safety. Don't get into any trouble!"
Li Shiyin looked at Long Qiqi. She didn't like Long Qiqi, so she was very reluctant, but still replied, "Yes, Master!"
"Remember what I said. The immortal cultivation world is dangerous and unpredictable. No one can be trusted. When you're outside, always be extremely cautious!" Qin Ran gave Li Shiyin a final meaningful look and exhorted, "Protect yourself!!"
"I will," Li Shiyin nodded.
Qin Ran took a deep breath, seeming to want to say more, but in the end said nothing. He turned and walked straight out the door. He lingered for a moment outside before leaving without going back in.
These three days would be a test for Li Shiyin. In fact, the purpose of this trip to forge a sword was to forge Li Shiyin's personal sword, and at the same time, forge her heart sword!
The immortal cultivation world was never short of geniuses, even top talents like Li Shiyin. But there were few geniuses who could survive and reach the peak.
As Li Shiyin watched Qin Ran walk out the door, she could sense the deeper meaning behind her master's words, but...
"Master is too cautious. He lives too prudently. That's not good," she thought, shaking her head slightly. "He's overly cautious."
Qin Ran had left Long Qiqi sitting limply in a chair, still unable to move her whole body, only her facial features.
This snake demon was no ordinary snake demon. Putting everything else aside, just her depth of mind already set her apart. At least she was on a completely different level from Li Shiyin.
Seeing the casual look on Li Shiyin's face, her long, thin snake eyes immediately lit up. She knew this was a chance for revenge...for escape!
Well, it wasn't that she didn't want revenge, just that this silly girl...
She would probably never forget in her whole life the experience of being held by the tail and spun around wildly by Li Shiyin in a frenzy.
But why not try other methods, since she clearly couldn't win in a test of strength?
After all, raw power was never what her snake clan prided themselves on!
"People often talk about snakes and scorpions, speaking of their extreme venom..." she opened her mouth to speak. "But from my understanding, neither snakes nor scorpions are poisonous. Only the human heart is the true poison."
Li Shiyin was sitting on the bed fiddling with the clothes she had bought today when she heard Long Qiqi's words. She gave a mocking laugh. "You, a mere snake spirit, commenting on humans?"
"You humans, precisely because you are human, do not understand humans. That is called not seeing the forest for the trees. It is exactly because I am a snake that I understand humans more clearly," Long Qiqi retorted.
"Humans don't understand humans, but snakes understand humans?" Li Shiyin curled her lip disdainfully. "What kind of nonsense logic is that?"
"I am a snake, but now I am a demon—demons take human form. So although I was once a snake, now I am human. Having been both snake and human, I understand humans well enough," Long Qiqi explained smoothly.
"What? What are you talking about?" Long Qiqi's rhetorical twist left Li Shiyin confused. She suddenly felt Long Qiqi's words made some sense.
"Humans are the most poisonous creatures in the world!" Long Qiqi stated her thesis again. "Even more poisonous than I am!"
"Hmm..." Li Shiyin frowned in thought. She didn't know where she had lost the thread, but they had ended up here somehow.
She put the clothes down and stood up, wanting to refute Long Qiqi but not knowing how. She looked at Long Qiqi, then realized—this was just the defeated captive talking!
"So what if humans are the most poisonous?" she asked coldly with a mocking smile.
"Oh, nothing much..." Long Qiqi also smiled. "I just hope you bear in mind what your master said—to be careful and stay safe!"
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.)
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.
u Chenyuan transmigrated into a female-oriented novel about a real and fake heiress, becoming the CEO elder brother of both. Unfortunately, the entire Lu family—including himself, the CEO—were mere cannon fodder in the story. Determined to save himself, Lu Chenyuan took action. The spoiled, attention-seeking fake heiress? Thrown into the harsh realities of the working class to learn humility. The love-struck real heiress? Pushed toward academic excellence, so lofty goals would blind her to trivial romances. As for the betrayed, vengeful arranged marriage wife… the plot hadn’t even begun yet. There was still time—if he couldn’t handle her, he could at least avoid her. "CEO Lu, are you avoiding me?" Mo Qingli fixed her gaze on Lu Chenyuan. For the first time, the shrewd and calculating Lu Chenyuan felt a flicker of unease.
