Before the shattered statue of the mountain deity, a ghostly envoy exuding a chilling aura stood with its back to us. It was unlike any malevolent spirit I had seen before—no, even the most fearsome ghosts I’d encountered couldn’t compare to a tenth of its presence. The overwhelming pressure it radiated was incomparable to the ordinary fiends outside.
It had no head—or rather, its neck lacked the part that should have been there. Instead, it cradled its own severed head at its waist.
I noticed my master secretly drawing a talisman in his palm. I couldn’t help but admire him—he actually intended to fight a ghostly envoy? But never mind that. If he made a move, I’d follow suit. What kind of punishment would I face in the afterlife for assaulting an envoy? Probably something legendary. The thought even made me a little eager.
The envoy slowly turned around, its waist-held head contorted in a grotesque snarl.
"Was it you who detained the malevolent spirits, Xuanqing Division?" Its upturned eyes glared viciously at my master.
Someone stepped forward from beside me—Master Liao.
He forced a smile. "Envoy, this is all a misunderstanding."
The envoy’s tone turned mocking. "A misunderstanding? Someone reported that your Xuanqing Division abuses its power. I don’t care about your living world affairs, but forcibly seizing evil spirits and obstructing their judgment—that’s another matter."
It let out a low, threatening hum.
I agreed with my master—this wasn’t right. Others might not know, but at the very least, my master owed them nothing.
Yet, to my surprise, my master suddenly relaxed and turned to us. "Go outside. I’ll talk to it alone."
Second Brother stood frozen until Master kicked him, sending him grumbling out the door. The rest of us followed.
We waited outside the temple, straining to hear the commotion within—first the envoy’s accusations, then… the sound of a beating? Amidst the startled cries of the spirits, we all rushed back toward the entrance. But when we pushed the door open, all we saw was the envoy fleeing in panic and Master dusting off his hands.
"Fang Zhiyi, have you lost your mind?" A square-faced man stepped forward, disbelief written across his face. "You just attacked a ghostly envoy?"
The woman with a high ponytail, however, scrutinized Master. "I never realized you were this strong. You actually drove it off?"
Old Yan’s hands trembled slightly before he finally spoke. "Master Liao, take them and leave. I’ll stay."
The girl supporting him protested, "Grandfather—"
Old Yan raised a hand to silence her. "I, Yan Zhenghe, have spent my life subduing ghosts and accumulating virtue. My time is already short. Let me bear the consequences for you." His voice carried resolve.
Master chuckled, clapping his hands. "Old Yan, don’t worry. If they come again, I’ll beat them again."
"Fang, I know what you’re trying to do, but it’s impossible. To outsiders, the Xuanqing Division is formidable, but we know the truth—it’s no different from a curse. You…" Old Yan glanced at us, "You even have disciples now. Don’t act recklessly."
But before he could finish, the temple filled with swirling black mist. A dark fissure split the wall, and a ghost clad in ancient scholar’s robes stepped out, followed by the headless envoy from before.
Old Yan paled. "Judge of the Underworld… Today’s incident was entirely my—"
The Judge ignored him, instantly appearing inches from Master’s face.
Tension thickened the air. Eldest Sister brandished her coin sword, Second Brother’s fingertips crackled with electricity, Third Brother cracked his knuckles and pulled out a command flag from his back pocket. I fumbled around my person, embarrassed—I didn’t have anything particularly impressive.
"All of you, leave," Master said, unflinching before the Judge.
"Master, not this time," Eldest Sister refused for the first time.
The others from Xuanqing Division hesitated only briefly before adopting a defiant stance.
"Tch. I wanted to spare you some dignity, but fine." Master smirked at the Judge.
A flicker of surprise crossed the Judge’s face—right before Master kicked him.
"Think being a Judge makes you untouchable? Bai Jingtian, have you grown tired of living?"
I froze. Everyone froze. The headless envoy clutched its own head, watching from the sidelines, ducking occasionally as if afraid Master’s blows might land on it. Its expression was a mix of grimacing and gleeful schadenfreude.
"Ahem, let’s go." Eldest Sister nudged me. I snapped out of it—Master seemed to know this Judge, and they were… familiar? But standing around watching him get beaten felt wrong. What if the guy held a grudge later?
We waited outside with the Xuanqing Division elders all night, listening to the sounds of shouting, hushed arguments, and unfamiliar voices repeating the same cycle.
Even through the door, we could feel the oppressive aura radiating from the underworld deities inside.
Just who was Master? The question gnawed at me again.
At dawn, Master emerged, dusting off his robes, looking more at ease than when we’d arrived. He sent us to a town dozens of miles away to buy groceries, then cook upon our return.
No matter who asked, he only smiled and said nothing.
We stayed on the mountain until dusk, when the temple doors swung open from within. Two ghostly envoys stepped out, ushering the waiting spirits inside like foot-massage parlor attendants.
The spirits hesitated, looking to Master first. The envoys weren’t surprised—only when Master nodded did they file in. I spotted Jing Tian and Sister Hong among them, a pang of melancholy hitting me.
"Without reincarnation, they’ll fade into wandering souls, then vanish entirely," Second Brother consoled me.
Third Brother teased, "What, did you fall for one of them?"
I stayed silent.
Truthfully, I’d considered it—Sister Hong or Jing Tian—but ultimately decided my backside was more important. Master had a fondness for kicking people there.
Once the spirits were taken away, Master gestured to a female ghost with a floral hairpin standing by the door, then led us away—dragging along Old Yan, who wheezed after just a few steps.
But we weren’t heading home. We went north instead.
Three days later, I took part in the most significant battle of my life. Master brought us before an imposing high-rise, then proceeded to beat up the security guards.
"Don’t worry. Old Yan’s already set up the formation," he said.
Master Liao revealed his true skills for the first time, effortlessly subduing the zombie guards. Though he mentioned they’d need proper disposal back at headquarters.
We advanced floor by floor, like levels in a video game. With the Xuanqing Division veterans leading, we barely had to lift a finger.
ap a wealthy young lady? Or else I'll be eliminated by the system? Ye Feng, who awakened the Kidnapper System, originally wanted to live a peaceful life but never imagined he would become a kidnapper of young women. However, after some time, he discovered that all the girls the system ordered him to kidnap were far from ordinary. "Big brother Ye Feng~ You've kidnapped my heart, and now you're not allowed to leave me ever again~" "Ye Feng~ You kidnapped me back then, now it's my turn to capture you♡" "Little Feng, you're mine! You can only be mine!" "Ye Feng, none of them deserve you. Only I love you the most♡" ... This is madness, they've all gone mad! Wait, what? Why are all the girls I kidnapped yanderes?!
lity and could only live as an ordinary mortal. He only wished to live a peaceful life. Yet he didn't know— The dog he adopted, because it ate his food, became a legendary demon king. The kitchen knife he casually forged became a peerless divine weapon, causing numerous experts to fight desperately for it. The young disciple he took in became an immortal lord that led an era, due to cultivating the techniques Ye Feng taught him. Even the skeletons he looked down on the most were ominous demon kings that suppressed countless worlds. Many years later, looking at the void shattered with a punch, Ye Feng murmured to himself: It turns out the peerless kings were myself all along...
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!
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.
