"Little Mouse, you might not be human, but you sure as hell aren't a ghost either. This is no time for showing off—listen to me, we run in separate directions!" Wang Qianyue's gaze was resolute.
If Little Mouse didn't know him so well, he might have actually believed it.
"Master, ever since you told me to run, you've been slipping these evil-attracting charms onto my back every time you patted my shoulder. Isn't that going a bit far?"
Wang Qianyue saw that Little Mouse had caught him red-handed and looked a little awkward.
"Hey, I thought maybe you two could count as half-relatives or something..."
The ghost's laughter crept closer, a blood-red figure taking shape in the fog.
"What do you mean, half-relatives? At best I'm a living corpse—she's a ghost!"
"A living corpse means sometimes dead, sometimes alive, so when you spell it out, isn't that just a ghost?"
"You stinking Taoist, all you ever think about is scheming against me!"
"If I hadn't picked you up off the street, you'd have been caught long ago!"
"Who would catch me?"
"You don't believe me? Go ask around. There aren't many genuine monks or Taoists out there these days, but the Imperial Preceptor doesn't mess around."
"What's the Imperial Preceptor got to do with me? Can he reach me here?"
Their argument grew louder and louder.
The ghost was baffled.
It was the first time she'd ever seen two idiots bickering while a spectral bride closed in on them with certain death.
"Fine, let's just go our separate ways! But I'm telling you now, half of every coin you swindle is mine!"
"Half? Are you insane? Who ate all those dishes you ordered? Who wore those clothes? Who stayed in those inns?"
"What inns? Every time you just hole up in some broken-down temple, and you even made me sleep in beggar dens a few times!"
"Hey, how dare this little brat be so ungrateful! Be thankful we had a roof at all!"
"You—"
"Since you two love to argue so much, you can keep arguing after you're dead!" The Ghost Bride had had enough. She was close enough now, yet the two of them completely ignored her—and because of that, her illusions couldn't take hold.
For a vengeful spirit to cast illusions, she needed human fear, to dredge up the deepest terrors from their hearts.
But these two were both too fired up with anger, and there wasn't a trace of fear in the air.
She decided not to wait any longer. She lunged forward, both hands reaching for their throats.
But Wang Qianyue suddenly shouted: "Now!"
The Ghost Bride had no time to react before a handful of cinnabar powder hit her square in the face. The fine, gritty particles, laced with righteous energy, slammed into her and sent her reeling with a piercing, miserable shriek.
Then came a flurry of talismans—but these charms held not a shred of mystical power and did nothing but enrage the Ghost Bride even further.
"You two—you're asking for death!"
"Hey."
She had just lowered her hands from her face when she saw the boy holding a gourd. Without a word, he splashed its contents all over her.
Black dog blood!
The moment it touched her body, steam rose from her flesh. The searing pain was agonizing—but it faded in an instant.
"You're kidding me. You diluted it again?" Little Mouse stared at Wang Qianyue in exasperation.
Wang Qianyue looked embarrassed: "Puppies are so cute—how could I drain one dry? I borrowed just a little from each dog, and barely scraped together enough for a life-saving dose..."
But this time, the Ghost Bride didn't wait for them to start arguing again. She lunged like a madwoman and wrapped her hands around Wang Qianyue's throat. Little Mouse rolled to the ground, using his short stature to escape.
"Hey! Hey! It wasn't my idea!" Wang Qianyue was terrified.
"Quit yelling! She's touching you!" Little Mouse suddenly shouted.
Wang Qianyue froze. The Ghost Bride froze too.
Wang Qianyue slowly raised his hand and gently brushed the Ghost Bride's cheek. Cold. Slippery.
The Ghost Bride was furious—but then Wang Qianyue started grinning, a lecherous grin.
"Little Mouse, I touched her too."
The Ghost Bride looked at his smiling face and a bad feeling crept over her. Then—thud! A kick landed square in her gut.
Wang Qianyue didn't look like any Taoist priest. He rolled up his sleeves: "Scaring your Daoist master, huh? Think you're tough? I've never caught a ghost before, but I've never backed down from a fight either!"
Little Mouse silently gave him a thumbs-up.
Outside the mansion, the official guards on watch scanned the surroundings.
"Captain, you think this one can actually catch that ghost?" one guard asked.
"Who knows. The last two had some skill too, but they never came out. I'd say this one's hanging by a thread."
"Shame. He managed to pray for rain—that takes real talent."
"Just a blind squirrel finding a nut every now and then. Talent, my foot."
As they chatted, they suddenly heard loud crashing from inside the mansion—like someone chasing something around and cursing up a storm.
"That sound... we've never heard that before," one guard said after a pause.
Another nodded: "Before, it was always screams for help, or weeping with laughter. But this..."
They exchanged glances and clamped their mouths shut. Heaven only knew what was going on in there. They sure as hell weren't going in to check.
Wang Qianyue chased the ghost to the door of a study. The door slammed shut as if blown by the wind. He didn't stop in time and crashed right into it, the impact stinging his nose and sending him into an even greater rage.
"Open up! You've got the guts to scare me, so have the guts to open this door!"
Inside the room, the Ghost Bride was trembling with fear. Something was wrong. The diluted black dog blood had lost its effect by now—so why could this Taoist still touch her? And this Taoist had no restraint at all. Who uses a "strength through heart" claw move on a female ghost?!
Disgusting!
For the first time, Wang Qianyue felt like a true master. He sat down cross-legged right in front of the door.
"Not coming out? Fine! I swear, I'm not leaving until you do! Come sunrise, I'll burn this rotten house to the ground! See where you can hide! I—"
Before he could finish, the door burst open and nearly smacked him in the face again.
Fuming, Wang Qianyue opened his mouth to curse—then shut it instantly.
In front of him stood a neat row of ghosts, all staring at him with pale, chilling eyes.
"Captain, did you hear that?" One of the guards outside cupped his ear. "That cursing went back and forth. Now it sounds like it's heading the other way?"
"Sounds like someone yelling for their mother?"
"What in the world is going on in there?"
"Enough speculation. We'll know when dawn comes." The captain snapped at them.
Little Mouse watched Wang Qianyue come scrambling back in a panic, and behind him—over a dozen fierce ghosts chasing close behind. Without a second thought, Little Mouse turned and ran.
"Wasn't there just one?! Where did you go and wake up a whole pack of them?"
"How was I supposed to know? I thought she was running away—turns out she was calling for backup! No—for ghosts!"
] [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!"
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?!
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!
end. Thus one must continue to cultivate, and become a saint or great emperor, in order to prolong one's life. Chen Xia, however, completely reversed this. Since his transmigration, he has gained immortality, and also a system that awards him with attribute points for every year he lives. Thus between the myriad worlds, the legend of an unparalleled senior appeared. "A gentleman takes revenge; it is never too late even after ten thousand years." "When you were at your peak I yielded, now in your old age I shall trample on you." - Chen Xia
