In the mystical continent of Xuanzhou, where spiritual power reigns supreme, all manner of tales unfold. Though it is a world of cultivators, it is no different from the martial world of rivers and lakes.
Li Wenyan secretly fled his home, tired of its tedious rules and brimming with curiosity about the outside world. The tales of the martial world from storytellers constantly captivated him, and those legendary stories ceaselessly stirred his heart.
He didn't carry much money, only a heart full of fervor. Perhaps by heaven's grace, although Li Wenyan encountered some setbacks, he passed through them safely. Along the way, he befriended two companions: Lin Wanqing and Zhao Jinglei. Lin Wanqing was always exquisitely dressed, yet no one knew her true skill lay in using poison. According to her, her talent came from her mother, though mentioning her mother always brought a shadow over Lin Wanqing's face.
Zhao Jinglei was skilled in the Thunderbolt Fist, his punches roaring like thunder. With a simple, honest laugh, he had known Lin Wanqing for a long time and often acted as her enforcer.
A particular case brought the three of them together. Being of similar age and sharing a deep curiosity about the martial world, they decided to travel together, their bond growing closer by the day.
Later, they met Chu Yao, who wielded a longbow. Lin Wanqing remarked that her bow was clearly no ordinary item, but Chu Yao was not one for conversation, and they couldn't pry any information from her.
Liu Yueya was skilled in mechanical traps and devices; even her personal accessories could be intricate mechanisms designed to take lives. A chatterbox, she latched onto them because Zhao Jinglei had damaged one of her meticulously laid traps. Insisting on compensation from Zhao Jinglei, she thus boarded their "ship."
Ye Qingzhou and Xiao Changfeng were met in another secret realm. The two were constantly at odds—one excelled in lightness skills and agile movement, the other in a domineering sword technique. Li Wenyan mediated and invited them to join their journey.
Shi Jian was Li Wenyan's childhood friend, a steadfast and honest fellow who practiced the Unmoving Rock Art, making his body as hard as steel. After being kidnapped, he was fortuitously rescued by Li Wenyan and the others. Overjoyed to see Li Wenyan, he ultimately chose to join their little group.
The last member was Hua Nongying, skilled in medicine and capable of creating shadow clones, yet always wore a worried expression. Faced with Ye Qingzhou's invitation, she finally nodded in agreement.
Thus, nine youths gathered. On Qingyun Mountain, they built their own "Qingyun Lodge" with their own hands, giving them a base of operations. They also gave themselves a name: "The Nine of Qingyun."
Of course, retirement was not the wish of these youths. Soon, they resumed their chivalrous deeds: capturing wanted criminals for the authorities, avenging wronged commoners, eliminating bandits on the roads, and punishing unscrupulous merchants who hoarded and inflated grain prices.
Yet, amidst these ordinary affairs, an extraordinary undercurrent began to surface. Gradually, they discovered some strange traces. Gathering together, the nine pieced together their individual clues and immediately uncovered a secret.
Every opponent they clashed with had a common name behind them: the Wanbao Pavilion!
The Wanbao Pavilion had branches all over Xuanzhou. On the surface, they dealt in grain, cloth, and restaurant businesses, but in the shadows, they controlled the largest assassin organization on the continent.
And they, by a twist of fate, had disrupted the Wanbao Pavilion's plans. Holding onto their desire to rid the world of evil, the youths did not retreat.
Each played to their strengths: some devised strategies and plans, others gathered intelligence, some provided cover for their spy companions, and others drew the Wanbao Pavilion's attention openly.
As they learned more, their conflict with the Wanbao Pavilion grew more pronounced. But heaven always stood on the side of justice. They slew the "Death Harbinger" hiding in Luoxia Town, then Xiao Changfeng, cooperating with Ye Qingzhou, destroyed the Wanbao Pavilion's stronghold in Heishi City.
After exposing the Wanbao Pavilion cloth shop's use of mind-altering dyes, they killed its leader, the Poisonous Seamstress. It was here they discovered a shocking conspiracy: the Wanbao Pavilion had been plotting a rebellion! They had even planned how to deal with the cultivators tasked with protecting the imperial family and how to seize military power.
Thus, the Nine of Qingyun sprang into action. One group went to deliver a warning, while another continued to investigate the identity of the mastermind behind the Wanbao Pavilion. The investigators encountered the Wanbao Pavilion's Sword Immortal of Wine. Out of respect for a senior, Xiao Changfeng requested a one-on-one duel. The Sword Immortal of Wine agreed and, naturally, fell to the sword of this exceptionally talented junior.
From then on, the fame of the Nine of Qingyun spread far and wide. Emperor Tianyan also received their secret report and immediately dispatched imperial experts to cooperate with the Nine. Multiple Wanbao Pavilion strongholds were destroyed, and the shadowy mastermind gradually revealed himself.
The final battle naturally involved the Nine of Qingyun surrounding that mastermind. By this point, almost everyone was wounded, but it did not stop them from condemning the mastermind's sinister and vile deeds. Knowing the situation was hopeless, the mastermind ultimately chose to perish together with them.
In that fierce battle, only two escaped. Xiao Changfeng and Chu Yao returned to Qingyun Lodge, sighing over life being but a dream.
Fang Zhiyi watched, utterly confused. "How stirring. Quite stirring indeed."
Little Hei held its head high. Fang Zhiyi noticed a stream of pure energy seemed to flow within its small body.
"Stirring? Let me show you the original protagonist's perspective then."
The Xuanzhou continent was abundant with spiritual energy. One would think cultivators would be everywhere, but that was not the case. Under Emperor Tianyan's rule, the path of advancement for commoners had long been blocked. The capital, Tiancheng, was filled with powerful families and sects, and the imperial court was rife with factional strife. This Xuanzhou belonged to the upper echelons; commoners here were merely fuel.
Fang Zhiyi's father also came from a prominent family, but he was an anomaly among the scions. Unlike forming cliques and befriending officials, Fang's father preferred to travel widely. The more he traveled, the more appalled he became. Behind this seemingly peaceful Xuanzhou lay the blood and tears of the common people.
Cultivators could kill without breaking the law. Scions of powerful families could crush one or two commoners like ants. Local officials added new taxes; failure to pay enough spirit herbs would bring punishment upon the local populace. Ordinary people bumping into a cultivator on the road could result in disability or even death.
Finally, he could bear it no longer. He stood up to seek justice for a family that had been completely wiped out. His intentions were good, but he overestimated his own strength. This ordinary case even implicated powerful families in Tiancheng. Consequently, due to Fang's father's actions, the Fang family was inexplicably charged with treason. Over a hundred members of the Fang family were slaughtered overnight.
All except Fang Zhiyi, who survived by playing dead.
He erased his name and vanished into the martial world, starting as a waiter in a tavern. Step by step, he founded the Wanbao Pavilion. Then he met Prince Xuan, Emperor Tianyan's younger brother, who had never accepted the Emperor's rule. With Prince Xuan's covert support, the Wanbao Pavilion's influence gradually solidified, and Fang Zhiyi steadily advanced toward his own goal.
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.
y came from. The chests contained supplies, currency, class-change scrolls, skills, talents… and even godhood! The laws of the world were completely rewritten. This became a world where everyone gambled with their fate! Some people, despite having nothing, opened a divine artifact and rose to the top, eventually ruling the world. Others went bankrupt, opened nothing but worthless junk, and leaped from skyscrapers in despair. Lin Ye arrived in this world from another reality, utterly bewildered. “What is going on? Why is everyone a gambling addict?!” “Opening chests? No way. I refuse to gamble. I’ll start with myself!” Until— On his first chest, he obtained a Mythic Talent: Void Incarnation! He could become completely intangible, pass through all things, and reduce everything to nothingness! … On his fiftieth chest, he obtained a Mythic Weapon: Blade of Karma! With a single slash, karma shattered, twisting the universe and overturning the myriad phenomena of creation! … On his ninety-ninth chest, he obtained a Mythic Divine Treasure: Primordial Purple Energy! It could split open the heavens and earth, create all things, and evolve countless worlds with a single thought! Lin Ye: “Now that I think about it… shouldn’t someone have told me that every chest is guaranteed to contain something Mythic?!”
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."
lities. One day, Qi Yuan was buying groceries when he unfortunately came face-to-face with a monster. Just when he thought he was going to die on the spot, he suddenly heard the monster's thoughts... "This aura, he's definitely not an ordinary master!" "So terrifying, so terrifying." "A fight with my back against the wall, I can't take it anymore." Qi Yuan: Ah, no one told me that my awakened ability isn't telepathy, but rather the stronger my enemies imagine me to be, the stronger I truly become. PS: Zhou Hai in the first chapter is not the protagonist.
