The rabbit was served on the table. Fang Zhiyi took one bite and refused to eat more. "This trash isn’t flavorful enough!"
But Mei Ruoxue and the gatekeeper, Old Lan, ate with great enthusiasm. Old Lan was Fang Zhiyi’s longtime servant—skilled in martial arts, taciturn, and always following Fang Zhiyi around.
Mei Ruoxue had never tasted such a dish before. Between bites, she exclaimed, "It’s so spicy, but so delicious! The meat is so tender!"
Suddenly, she remembered something. "Father, where’s that injured rabbit?"
Old Lan stiffened at the question, glancing at Fang Zhiyi. He knew full well this was rabbit meat.
"Where is it?" Mei Ruoxue asked cheerfully, surprised at how quickly the wound had been treated today.
Fang Zhiyi looked at her. "It ran away."
Mei Ruoxue pouted unhappily. "What an ungrateful thing! We healed it, and it just ran off."
Fang Zhiyi repeated, "Yeah, what an ungrateful thing."
Old Lan kept his head down, eating silently, though he couldn’t help but think his master seemed a little different today.
Before afternoon, visitors arrived at their door. "Is this Fang Zhiyi’s home?"
Old Lan remained silent.
The newcomers were three young men and women, dressed in martial attire, each carrying swords or sabers.
"Tell that demon Fang Zhiyi to come out!"
To Old Lan’s surprise, Fang Zhiyi actually stepped out. He opened his mouth but said nothing. Usually, he’d be the one to shoo away these reckless youngsters—why was the Left Enforcer bothering with them today?
Fang Zhiyi glanced at him and patted his shoulder, leaving Old Lan even more bewildered.
"So you’re Fang Zhiyi? The Ghost-Faced Asura?" one of the youths asked boldly, pointing his saber directly at Fang Zhiyi.
Fang Zhiyi frowned. "I don’t like being pointed at with blades." In the next instant, his fingers clamped around the saber’s edge. With a slight flex of his fingertips, the blade shattered into pieces.
The saber-wielding youth gasped. "You—you!"
"Me what? Weren’t you here to vanquish evil and uphold justice?"
The three young warriors exchanged glances before assuming combat stances. But Fang Zhiyi suddenly raised a hand in a stopping gesture.
"Here’s the thing. As a retired master, I get challengers all the time. I can’t entertain every single one, can I?"
"Enough of your nonsense, demon!" A delicate-looking girl shouted, thrusting her sword forward. Fang Zhiyi sidestepped and caught the blade between two fingers. The girl’s face paled—her sword wouldn’t budge an inch!
"Impatient. Naughty," Fang Zhiyi chuckled. "I’ve decided to change the rules. From now on, challengers must pay silver."
"Silver?" The trio was stunned.
"Yes, silver. Ten taels per person. Think about it—you’re here to kill me, right?"
The only one still holding a weapon nodded.
"If I’m truly a demon, what if I strike too hard and you end up dead? That ten taels is buying your lives."
"Arrogant!" The young man swung his saber. Fang Zhiyi sighed, catching the blade mid-swing and halting its momentum effortlessly.
"Ten taels is a fair deal."
"You—!"
"Your saber technique is terrible. Who starts with a downward slash? Your intent is all wrong." Fang Zhiyi released the weapon, handing it back.
"Again," he said with a grin.
The two youths exchanged another glance before attacking once more.
"No, no. That sword thrust should’ve been an upward flick. What kind of master taught you?"
"Who shouts their moves during a sneak attack? Are you stupid?"
After several exchanges, Fang Zhiyi remained untouched, while the two young warriors were left panting. Under his relentless nitpicking, their movements grew hesitant, their eyes flickering to his expression like students sparring with a teacher.
The disarmed youth watched intently, gradually picking up on some techniques.
"Wrong!" Fang Zhiyi dodged another strike, closing the distance in a flash. The girl gasped, but he merely glanced at the sky. "Time’s up for today." He held out his hand. "That’ll be twenty taels." He eyed the unarmed one and shook his head.
"You—!" The saber-wielder fumed, but the girl stopped him. She stared at Fang Zhiyi. "We’re outmatched. We admit it." She emptied her purse, but it held only scattered coins—far from enough.
The three pooled their money, barely scraping together ten taels. Warily eyeing Fang Zhiyi and relieved he wasn’t stopping them, they turned and fled.
Fang Zhiyi watched them go, tossing the silver in his palm. "Carrying half a pound of silver around—must be nice having nothing better to do." He tossed it to Old Lan, who stood dumbfounded. "Buy some spices." He listed off what he needed, and Old Lan nodded repeatedly.
"I don’t think he’s as ruthless as the legends say," the unarmed youth muttered.
His saber-wielding companion was still fuming. "He humiliated us!"
"Zhao Yang, watch my sword!" A crisp voice called from behind. Zhao Yang instinctively turned to block, but Jiang Rou’s blade suddenly shifted, sliding along his saber and stopping at his throat from an odd angle.
"Jiang Rou, what are you doing?!" Zhao Yang cried, terrified she’d been bewitched by the demon’s dark arts.
Jiang Rou withdrew her sword, deep in thought.
Jin Yidao, now weaponless, brightened. "That’s what the demon meant by adapting to the situation?"
Though he hadn’t fought, he’d observed everything.
Jiang Rou nodded.
Zhao Yang scowled. "Adapting what? You’re actually listening to a demon?"
Jiang Rou said, "Think back. He had countless chances to kill us."
Zhao Yang’s voice wavered. "He just wanted money..."
Jiang Rou shook her head. "If he killed us, the money would still be his."
Zhao Yang fell silent, finally murmuring, "Then what does he want?"
Jiang Rou shrugged. "No idea. But I’ve learned something. Let’s gather more silver and come back in a few days!"
"Come back?!"
The two young men let her drag them away at a jog.
Meanwhile, Fang Zhiyi put Old Lan’s newly bought spices to good use. He marveled at Mei Ruoxue’s uncanny ability to stumble upon all sorts of animals—it certainly saved on grocery expenses.
At mealtime, Old Lan kept his head low, listening to Fang Zhiyi spin tales about deer prancing away or wild boars somersaulting out of the yard. He bit his lip to keep from laughing.
But the young mistress ate with relish.
When the three youths returned, they found two other groups already at the gate—three cloaked figures in straw raincoats and two staff-wielding lads. Before they could ask, Old Lan stepped out, holding a wooden sign:
"Challenge the former Demon Sect Left Enforcer—10 taels per person. Time limit: half an hour."
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.
young master of the Shen family—a figure of immense power and wealth beyond measure—and awakened the "Destined Ultimate Villain System"! His starting scenario? Running into his icy fiancée who shows up with a mountain-descending divine doctor to break off their engagement. The divine doctor arrogantly taunts: "What does your Shen family have besides a bit of stinking money? You're not even worthy of tying Qingxue's shoelaces!" Shen Fei just smiled. He completely defied the usual script: "Fine, I agree to break off the engagement. Also, notify the finance department to withdraw all investments from the Su family." Minutes later, with its capital chain severed, the Su Group teetered on the brink of bankruptcy! The once aloof and proud ice queen CEO was thrown into utter panic. That very night, she went to Shen Fei's villa, casting aside all dignity to beg and plead desperately... From then on, in this world teeming with Sons of Destiny, Shen Fei embarked on a path of extreme dimensional suppression! A mountain-descending divine doctor? Peerless medical skills? Shen Fei: "Reporting you for practicing medicine without a license! I'll gladly take your ancient medicinal cauldron and twin sister assassins." The Crooked-Smiling Dragon King? Commanding a hundred thousand soldiers with a single order? Shen Fei: "Illegal assembly and suspected treason! Let a fleet of attack helicopters sanitize the area and teach you what the state apparatus really means!" A reborn tycoon? Knows all the golden opportunities of the next decade? Shen Fei: "A trillion in capital to reverse and pump the stock market, making you blow your margin and jump on the very first day of your rebirth!" What Chosen Ones? What bearers of Heavenly Fortune? In Shen Fei's eyes, they're all just chives (i.e., suckers/marks) waiting to be harvested! Shen Fei: "Sorry, but as the Destined Ultimate Villain, I don't play by the rules of honor. I only play the game of dimensional suppression."
e, Immortal Body, Transmigration, System, Progression Fantasy, Academy Setting, Third-Person Perspective. Alternate Title: Transmigrating into a High Martial World and Reading Live Comments. Bad news: I transmigrated. This is a terrifying high-martial world, and my original, pathetically weak body fell into a coma and never woke up. Good news: I got a Popularity Points system upon arrival. I can see live comments and even create an unkillable alternate identity. Starting out, the alternate identity has all stats at 1. The system tells me that to grow stronger, I must participate in the plot, gain popularity points to allocate stats and grow stronger, and ultimately awaken my original body. And so, carrying my original body on my back, I officially entered Huaqing Academy, where the story's protagonist resides. From that moment on, Chen Guan kicked the original plot to pieces. Live Comments: [Doesn't anyone find this mysterious coffin guy creepy? He can summon indescribable grey misty hands.] [Is this guy a hero or a villain? What kind of onion became a spirit?] [By the way, does anyone know who's in the coffin? Shouldn't the debt for saving his life be repaid by now?] [According to unofficial histories, the person in the coffin was Chen Guan's first love. Their love was once passionate and earth-shattering, but they were separated by life and death due to worldly circumstances. What a star-crossed pair.] ... Years later, the world knew of a demon god born from a coffin, shrouded in grey mist, impossible to gaze upon directly. His foremost divine emissary often wielded a scythe, reaping lives like the god of death. As war approached, facing former friends and a boundless sea of enemies, Chen Guan merely raised his scythe. "Would you like to dance as well?"
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."
