"The elders have impure hearts and cannot learn the immortal arts," the immortal said. "Go again, and this time bring back younger children, preferably child servants."
"And those people..."
The immortal glanced at the dozen or so kneeling young people and sighed. "Since you have brought them, I will take care of them. You may go."
Gousheng did not even pause to catch his breath before setting off again.
This time, he traveled farther, showing the villagers his magic tricks and bringing back those who wished to seek immortality.
But each time, the immortal said it was not enough.
Gousheng could only continue his errand-running. The immortal warned him not to go to the cities, because city folk had already been corrupted by worldly desires and were unfit for cultivation.
Gousheng took the immortal's teachings to heart. But gradually, he noticed something wrong. He had brought back several dozen people, yet he never saw them again.
But Gousheng did not dare to ask. He knew the immortal had boundless power and must have settled those people somewhere.
Yet his growing anxiety made him restless. Finally, when he heard the immortal say "not enough" once more, Gousheng became cunning. Instead of leaving hurriedly, he secretly used his wall-passing spell under cover of night to enter the immortal's gate.
He saw the child servant who had first let him in giving some kind of Body-Forging Pill to the new seekers. He recognized the pill, but had never taken one himself.
Disappointment only lasted a moment, however. He remembered well the purpose of his quest for immortality.
But after taking the pills, those people's expressions gradually turned dull.
Gousheng watched them line up and walk deeper inside. Without much thought, he silently apologized to the immortal and followed them. He wanted to find the immortal, kneel before him again, and beg for guidance.
But these people crossed the garden, passed the altar, and finally headed toward the mountain behind. Gousheng had never been to the back mountain. The child servant had told him he was only a menial worker and was not allowed to wander.
From a distance, Gousheng saw two yellow lanterns.
He crept behind the seekers, thinking how he would beg the immortal when he saw him. But the stench of rot in the wind made him frown. As he drew closer, Gousheng finally saw clearly what lay before him.
Those were no yellow lanterns. They were two eyes with vertical pupils!
The seekers, dazed and dull, lined up and walked straight into its mouth. Gousheng could not tell what kind of monster it was. He screamed in fear, but none of the people he had brought paid him any attention. Even when he tried to block them, they acted as if he did not exist.
Frantic, Gousheng called out to the immortal. He knew the immortal could surely defeat this beast.
But what he did not expect was a deep, rumbling voice from the monster's mouth. He turned to see a ball of flesh writhing in the smoke rising from the creature's maw. A moment later, the immortal appeared.
Gousheng finally understood. There was no immortal here. Only a monster!
He turned and ran. But the immortal did not chase him.
Desperate to escape, Gousheng crossed the altar, crossed the garden, crossed the corridors. He even felt as if he were flying. No, not a feeling—he was indeed flying.
Gousheng stared blankly as his legs grew faint and blurred.
"Master, this stupid wight has finally caught on," the child servant said, teasing.
Gousheng looked down. His eyes passed over the "immortal" and the child servant, then stopped on a skeleton in the corner. The ragged clothes on those bones looked very familiar.
"Now that he's awake, it's time to get a new one," the immortal’s voice echoed.
Gousheng's consciousness slowly faded away.
Fang Zhiyi frowned. "Me, then?"
Xiaoxiaohei only stared back at him with wide, innocent eyes.
"Gousheng! Go chop firewood, now! Lazing around all day!" a woman's sharp voice came from behind Fang Zhiyi.
Fang Zhiyi slowly turned around. Li the Widow bustled past him, her heavy perfume making him wrinkle his nose.
"Get out now! If you delay my business, I'll skin you alive!"
"All this with no context... Where's the time traveler?" Fang Zhiyi muttered. Xiaoxiaohei just blinked at him. Fang Zhiyi sighed. He couldn't rely on the defective product Xiaoxiaohei had cooked up to be of any real use.
But that was fine. At least now his whereabouts would not be detected.
He casually grabbed a firewood knife and walked out. Not to chop wood, but to have something for self-defense.
According to Xiaoxiaohei's arrangement, the original owner must have some connection to the overall world plot. For now, he would just have to take things step by step. But if there was cultivation... Fang Zhiyi closed his eyes to sense the surroundings. To his surprise, he felt no spiritual energy.
"Old man, I've seen it with my own eyes! That dragon's body was enormous—bigger than the Blue Hua Mountain..."
"Old Cripple, you've had too much to drink again, always bragging about seeing a dragon," a villager teased. "Maybe that limp of yours is from the dragon itself."
The old man ignored the jibe. "You mortals, how could you ever see a dragon? But dragons are not benevolent celestial beings..."
"Spit, spit, spit! Everyone, go home!" A middle-aged woman shooed the surrounding children away, then frowned at the old man. "Uncle Cripple, don't just spout nonsense. If you offend the Dragon King, none of us can bear the consequences."
The old man grunted and muttered a few words under his breath before falling silent.
Fang Zhiyi studied him with interest. Someone noticed Fang Zhiyi standing there.
"Oh, Gousheng, you're out? Hasn't Li the Widow called you to serve her?"
Laughter rang out.
The middle-aged woman scolded them. "Are your fields all plowed? Talking dirty to a child!"
"Sister Zhang, everyone knows about Li the Widow. She's nothing but a madam! People are just saying what's true!"
"Pah!" Sister Zhang spat. "Enough, all of you, go!" She glanced at Fang Zhiyi with a hint of pity, then quickly left.
Fang Zhiyi narrowed his eyes. Sometimes, gossip corners in the village were the best places to pick up clues.
He had only suspected before, but now it seemed confirmed.
A widow who adopted a girl and strutted around all dolled up—any fool could guess how she made a living. Only the original addle-brained Gousheng never thought twice about it.
No wonder he never found the girl named Mengdie.
With that in mind, Fang Zhiyi narrowed his eyes and sneaked back to Li the Widow's house. As he climbed over the wall, he heard voices from the inner courtyard.
"Dear sir, I was planning to come and welcome you myself! Please, come in, come in."
] [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!"
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.
s + Rent Collection Wealth】 At the start, he inherited a rundown house in the urban village from his grandfather. The house had no tenants, but the moment he was diagnosed with a terminal illness, a self-proclaimed empress from the Tianxuan Continent arrived as his first tenant. Ye Chuan soon discovered that with every new tenant moving in, not only did he receive massive daily payments, but he also obtained unique items related to their backgrounds. 【Acquired Bai Qianshuang’s related item: Tiger Strength Pill—dramatically enhances physical power!】 【Acquired Bai Qianshuang’s related item: Deer Blood Pill—significantly boosts vitality!】 …… From that day on, all sorts of bizarre tenants began appearing in the house: the empress from Tianxuan Continent, an apocalyptic sorceress from the Magic Realm, a mysterious scientific girl who fell through a spacetime rift… Every single day, he received strange, powerful items and endless money. Then one day, he suddenly realized—he had become invincible. Enough, enough! Stop giving me more!
s the Eldest Princess, renowned for her cold and aloof detachment, became the most docile of lambs, obeying his every command without question. But when the final move was played on the chessboard, as Gu Chenghan seized everything and ascended on the verge of apotheosis, that very Princess suddenly embraced him from behind, her tone carrying a dependence never heard before: "Wait... you haven't yet... commanded me to love you forever." Gu Chenghan froze abruptly. She... hadn't been hypnotized?! ... [The Eldest Princess's Diary] [When my soul was extracted, becoming the sole spectator outside my own shell] [At first, there was overwhelming fury, until I saw] [How he used my sword to effortlessly shatter my inescapable doom] [How he wielded my authority to eradicate fatal conspiracies I had never even detected] [Like a deity, he rescued me from the deep mire I was trapped in] [If not for those annoying vixens, he and I would be a match made in heaven] [I think I am ill, gravely ill] [My deity should belong to me alone] ... "Hypnosis? Oh, it succeeded, my dear Master." "Only this time, it's my turn to hypnotize you."
