The first round concluded swiftly. Aside from Shen Xiaoxiao, whom Fang Zhiyi had excluded from participating, everyone else took their turn—only to be instantly defeated.
Fang Zhiyi called them over and scolded them one by one.
"Master, may I... take my leave now?" Ren Xuan asked cautiously.
Fang Zhiyi waved him off. "Go on, but remember—no, wait, come back in a month. Sparring, you know."
"A month later?" Ren Xuan tensed. "This sparring business is..." He truly didn’t want to relive the feeling of being under the constant scrutiny of a Nascent Soul expert.
Fang Zhiyi grinned. "I think your suggestion for regular sparring is excellent. From now on, come every month. If you don’t, I’ll come find you."
"But, Master—"
"Scram!" With that single word, the crushing pressure of a Nascent Soul cultivator surged forth. Ren Xuan coughed up blood, clutching his chest as he staggered back.
"Senior Brother!" Shen Wanwan cried out in alarm, rushing forward with the others.
"Quit dawdling. Do you have any idea how busy I am?" Fang Zhiyi’s cheerful expression darkened in an instant.
Not daring to argue, Shen Wanwan and her group slunk away in defeat.
Fang Zhiyi then had his disciples change into matching uniforms. After inspecting them, he nodded in satisfaction.
"Now, it’s time for your second lesson."
"Master, we haven’t even had the first one yet," Jiang Leng pointed out.
Fang Zhiyi shot him a look. "The first lesson was just now—learning how pathetically weak you are."
The disciples fell silent.
"Did you cultivate immortality just to be trampled on by others?"
"No," Jiang Leng shook his head.
"Louder!"
"NO!"
"Good." Fang Zhiyi nodded approvingly. "Understanding your own limitations is a crucial lesson."
Jiang Leng nearly wept. Master, you didn’t have to let us get beaten up just to prove that. We already knew how weak we were.
Another disciple, however, perked up. "Master, does that mean we can become powerful cultivators too?" At those words, all the disciples turned hopeful eyes toward Fang Zhiyi.
Fang Zhiyi paused, then shook his head. "With your talent? Not a chance. The second lesson is about how to make the most of your weakness."
He stood up. "I’ll demonstrate now. Follow me."
Baffled, the disciples trailed behind him. Fang Zhiyi glanced back at them—bruised and battered, though thankfully without internal injuries, despite their opponents holding back.
Meanwhile, the Sect Leader was listening to Shen Wanwan’s report. Upon hearing that his disciple had been injured by Master Qingxu, he immediately prepared to demand an explanation—only for Fang Zhiyi to arrive first, leading a group of disciples.
Before the Sect Leader could react, Fang Zhiyi pointed at his disciples. "Sect Leader! Look at them! My disciples were beaten black and blue in a friendly spar. You must uphold justice for us!"
The Sect Leader’s gaze swept over the group—all bruised except for one young girl. His frown deepened as he glanced at Shen Wanwan.
Fang Zhiyi didn’t give her a chance to speak, instead demanding compensation outright.
"Compensation?" The Sect Leader gaped. Though unfamiliar with the term, he grasped its meaning.
"Ah, Sect Leader, you know how poor Qingxu Peak is. We can’t even afford medicine for these injuries. It breaks my heart as their master." Fang Zhiyi put on a pitiful expression.
The Sect Leader turned to Ren Xuan, who looked indignant—he hadn’t struck hard, nor dared to! And yet, he was the one who’d suffered internal injuries!
"About my second disciple..." the Sect Leader finally remembered.
"Oh heavens! What are we to do? My poor disciples, injured beyond my ability to heal!" Fang Zhiyi wailed, his Nascent Soul-level spiritual energy flaring erratically with his theatrics. He slammed a fist on the table. "This master has failed you!"
The millennia-old ebony table shattered into dust.
The Sect Leader was no fool, nor did he have the patience for Fang Zhiyi’s antics. Who would’ve thought that restoring his foundation would turn Master Qingxu into such a troublemaker—now extorting compensation with sheer seniority and power!
As Fang Zhiyi eyed a nearby vase, the Sect Leader hastily relented.
Once the spirit stones were handed over, Fang Zhiyi straightened up, gave a perfunctory bow, and swaggered out with his disciples in tow.
After they left, Ren Xuan couldn’t hold back. "Master, why let him act so shamelessly?"
The Sect Leader’s face darkened. "What else could I do? His current cultivation..." He paused, eyeing Ren Xuan. "And you—a core disciple, stooping to spar with those worthless outer disciples?"
Ren Xuan wilted under the reprimand. The Sect Leader scoffed. "The compensation will be deducted from your monthly allowance!" With that, he stormed off.
Shen Wanwan bowed apologetically. "I’m sorry, Second Senior Brother."
Ren Xuan forced a smile. "It’s fine." But inwardly, he was bleeding—the Sect Leader had given Fang Zhiyi a hefty sum. How many months would it take to repay that?
Rumors spread across Xuantian Sect that Qingxu Peak had been unusually busy. Yet when curious onlookers spied on them, they saw nothing extraordinary—just basic Foundation Establishment training and lectures from Master Qingxu.
Nothing noteworthy.
If only they’d dared to get closer, they might’ve heard Fang Zhiyi’s actual teachings.
"Forget the rest. What’s a sword cultivator? They pack a punch, sometimes enough to challenge those above their level. So when facing one, protect your vitals."
"Pill refiners? Excellent targets. Why? Because they’re weak. Perfect for greenhorns like you to practice on. Got it?"
A month passed in relative peace. The chores originally assigned to Qingxu Peak’s disciples were redistributed among other outer disciples.
Others occasionally crossed paths with Fang Zhiyi’s followers, now clad in uniforms reportedly designed by Master Qingxu himself—embroidered with the character "Qing." Though stylish, their cultivation remained pitifully low.
Whispers spread: Not even a powerhouse like Master Qingxu could change the fate of these hopeless cases.
Some even considered switching to his tutelage, only to be told he no longer accepted disciples—regardless of talent.
Two months later, Qingxu Peak’s disciples remained unchanged in strength, but their eyes had taken on a wolfish glint.
"Pill refining? Fine. By the rules, half the materials go to me," Lin Zhiyang, the head disciple of the Pill Refining Peak, said dismissively.
The disciple before him nodded. "Understood. I’ll prepare them, then?"
Lin Zhiyang waved him off. Once alone, he smirked. Pill refining is the life—no grueling cultivation, just concocting pills to ascend. And fools keep delivering materials to my doorstep.
Another disciple took the seat across from him.
"Pill refining? Wait six months. Can’t wait? Then scram."
But this one just smiled. "Senior Brother Lin, I’m not here for pills. I’m here to spar."
e bizarre and supernatural had descended. The previous emperor was a thoroughgoing tyrant; no longer satisfied with human women, he had set his sights on a stunningly beautiful supernatural entity. He met his end in his bedchamber, drained of all his vital essence. As the legitimate eldest son and crown prince, Wang Hao was thus hastily enthroned, becoming the young emperor of the Great Zhou Dynasty. No sooner had he awakened the "Imperial Sign-In Intelligence System" than he was assassinated by a Son of Destiny—a classic villain's opening. The Great Zhou, ravaged by the former emperor's excesses, was in national decline. The great families within its borders harbored their own treacherous schemes, martial sects began to defy the imperial court's decrees, and border armies, their pay and provisions in arrears, grumbled incessantly against the central government. Fortunately, the central capital was still held secure by the half-million Imperial Guards and fifty thousand Imperial Forest Army who obeyed the court's orders, along with the royal family's hidden reserves of power, barely managing to suppress the realm. As the Great Zhou's finances worsened and supernatural activities grew ever more frequent, the court sat atop a volcano. Ambitious plotters everywhere dreamed of overthrowing the dynasty, and even some reclusive ancient powers emerged, attempting to sway the tides of the world. At the first grand court assembly, the civil and military officials nearly came to blows, fighting tooth and nail over the allocation of fifty million taels of silver from the summer tax revenues. The spectacle opened Wang Hao's eyes—the Great Zhou's bureaucracy was not only corrupt but also martially proficient, a cabinet of all-rounders. Some officials even had the audacity to suggest the emperor release funds from the imperial privy purse to address the emergency. Wang Hao suddenly felt weary. Let it all burn.
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."
【Prologue: The Beginning of It All – Use holy water to heal the saintess tainted by demonic energy, then converse with her.】 Shen Nian stared at his older sister sipping yogurt, lost in thought. So you’re telling me my sister is the saintess, and yogurt is the holy water? 【Main Quest 1: Brave Youth, Become an Adventurer! Reward: Rookie Adventurer Title.】 【Side Quest 1: Find the Adorable Kitty! Reward: 1000 Gold Coins.】 Shen Nian: "Wait, I’m a high school senior here—did some guy who got isekai’d accidentally bind his system to me?" Hold on, completing quests gives gold rewards? Titles even boost stats? Is this for real? (A lighthearted, absurd campus comedy—not a revenge power fantasy.)
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.
