"Yaoyao, would you be my cultivation partner?"
The quiet scene erupted as countless heads lifted in shock.
Yue Anyao stared blankly at the person before her, her mind echoing words she had only ever dreamed of hearing. After reaching out to touch Fang Zhiyi's face to confirm this wasn’t a dream, she nodded vigorously!
At that very moment, the bottleneck in her cultivation that had long resisted breakthrough showed the slightest sign of loosening.
Noticing this, Fang Zhiyi said, "Break through here. I’ll guard you."
Without hesitation, Yue Anyao sat cross-legged. The aura of her breakthrough rippled through the entire Cloud Sky Palace. When she opened her eyes again, the pressure of the Void Refinement stage emanated from her.
"Holy—! The Palace Master wasn’t lying! Finding a cultivation partner really helps with cultivation!"
"You’re wrong—you have to find the right partner!"
"Right, right!"
Ahem.
The gossiping disciples turned to see several elders standing behind them and immediately scattered.
Overjoyed, Yue Anyao threw herself into Fang Zhiyi’s arms. He simply held her and patted her gently.
"I’m slow-witted. You’ve suffered because of me."
"Don’t you all have anything better to do?" The Law Enforcement Elder barked, sending the lingering onlookers fleeing. The elders exchanged odd glances at the affectionate pair.
"Elder Kong, is it true that finding a cultivation partner aids cultivation?"
"Uh... I’ve never heard of it, but the Palace Master’s Soul Formation cultivation seems to have advanced again. Before, I could still sense his level, but now it’s completely beyond me."
"Tsk... I just remembered I have something to attend to. Excuse me."
A frenzy swept through Cloud Sky Palace. First, the outer disciples were mobilized—those skilled in cooking prepared meals, while the swiftest were sent down the mountain to gather ingredients. The kitchen disciples, originally responsible only for feeding the outer disciples, now had to cater to the entire palace. More outer disciples were eventually recruited to ease the burden.
Second, disciples who had once buried themselves in solitary cultivation now practiced in pairs. Those without partners grew frantic.
Fang Zhiyi was delighted. Every day, outer disciples delivered meals to him, and even some inner disciples joined in, inventing new dishes.
"What in the world is this? Watermelon stewed with beef?" Fang Zhiyi stared at the blood-red concoction before him.
The outer disciple delivering the meal explained, "Palace Master, this dish was invented by Elder Kong’s personal disciple. We thought you should be the first to try it, so we brought it here."
"......" Fang Zhiyi suppressed his reaction, eyeing the earnest disciple.
From that day onward, Cloud Sky Palace established a new rule:
"Dishes can be unconventional, but not outright bizarre. Anyone who wastes ingredients will spend a year in penitence at the Law Enforcement Hall!"
Yue Anyao’s mental state gradually stabilized, and cooking became her passion. She even built a small kitchen next to Fang Zhiyi’s residence to experiment—though the frequent explosions were unnerving.
"That’s the third time today, right?" Two patrolling disciples flinched at the latest blast.
"Fourth. There was one before your shift."
"Elder Yue isn’t cooking—she’s refining pills!"
"Hey! You two!" Yue Anyao appeared, her hair disheveled and face smudged with soot.
The disciples froze. "E-Elder Yue."
"Come. Taste this."
They nearly wept at the sight of the unidentifiable dish in her hands. To avoid wasting ingredients, Yue Anyao insisted on having someone sample her creations, calling it "taste-testing."
But who dared refuse? She was the Palace Master’s cultivation partner!
No one in Cloud Sky Palace escaped her culinary experiments—even the Law Enforcement Elder was once cornered into trying her food. Rumor had it he nearly lost a cultivation realm because of it.
Finally, protests arose. While Yue Anyao was away, six elders confronted Fang Zhiyi, who had been napping.
Hearing their grievances, Fang Zhiyi only grinned foolishly, refusing to say a word. No way am I interfering. Yue Anyao’s current obsession stemmed from her insecurity about not cooking as well as Zhong Ling'er. Who knew what might happen if she were stopped? He had no intention of letting her repeat past mistakes.
"Everyone, calm down." Seeing the elders grow agitated, Fang Zhiyi resorted to spinning a tale. He released a hint of his aura, instantly paling their faces.
"This... this..."
"Palace Master, you’ve reached mid-stage Soul Formation?"
Fang Zhiyi now resembled a cult leader. "As you can see, I’ve advanced swiftly to mid-stage Soul Formation. Why?" He cast a soundproof barrier and whispered conspiratorially, "Though Yue Anyao’s dishes may not taste good, they’re infused with passion. During one tasting, I glimpsed an indescribable truth—a revelation that propelled my breakthrough."
The elders looked skeptical.
"Ordinary disciples need worldly experiences to temper their hearts. As elders, your comprehension runs deeper. Embracing all flavors—sweet, sour, bitter, spicy—is the path to the Great Dao."
When doubt still lingered, Fang Zhiyi nearly lost his composure.
Suddenly, Elder Kong smacked his thigh. "I understand! The other day, she made me try that charred meat—it was salty and bitter. But now I realize, I’ve only accepted the delicious dishes from disciples, ignoring the natural flavors that should exist!"
"Just as the world has tall and short, kind and wicked people! This is akin to ascetic training! I’ve attained enlightenment!"
Elder Kong was ecstatic, and the others seemed similarly inspired.
Fang Zhiyi exhaled in relief. Thank goodness these old-timers only know how to cultivate. They’ll overthink anything I say. His rapid advancement was actually due to no longer needing to transfer cultivation to Zhong Ling'er—plus his protagonist halo.
As the elders departed, Fang Zhiyi decided to advise Yue Anyao to add more rare ingredients to her dishes.
Rumors spread—from elders to personal disciples, then to inner disciples. Though some still recoiled, many now voluntarily sought Yue Anyao to "taste-test."
Though puzzled, Yue Anyao assumed her cooking had improved and was delighted.
With the food situation settled, Fang Zhiyi turned his attention to another matter: business.
Even Cloud Sky Palace was poor. As a cultivation sect, they cared little for mortal luxuries, so their funds were limited. Most income came from renting land and buildings to mortals for silver, used to recruit disciples and sustain the outer disciples’ livelihoods. Now, with a thousand mouths to feed, the treasury was running low.
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!"
m back to his original world. In the end, he realized he had overthought things. [Hey, why is Shen Manni, the female lead, acting strange? Shouldn't she be fawning over the male lead at this point?] [Zhou Qiaoqiao, are you sick? Weren't you supposed to break off your engagement today?] [Damn it! An Youyi, please do your job as an undercover agent and sell my information to the protagonist, you idiot!] ... At this moment, Xu Mo himself didn't know that these female leads had already heard his inner thoughts. Then they decided not to play by the rules. Xu Mo: Please respect my profession as the big villain!
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!
