"The old well's moss locks crimson sleeves, embroidered shoes half-damp reveal bony feet, white candles weep in the empty hall, rouge centipedes crawl beneath the bridal veil~"
A mournful opera tune suddenly echoed through the air.
Butcher Zheng, who had mustered his courage, now felt his hair stand on end. If it had been that wretched Xiulian, he wouldn’t have been afraid—but Xiulian couldn’t sing opera.
Had he provoked something else?
The lights in the room abruptly went out. Gritting his teeth, Butcher Zheng roared, "What kind of ghost dares mess with your grandpa?!" He charged inside, brandishing his butcher knife, only to find the spot where the red-clad woman had been sitting now empty.
He searched around but found nothing. Butcher Zheng was dumbfounded—had he drunk too much?
He relit the oil lamp, and as soon as the flame flickered to life, he saw a pair of feet right in front of him. His gaze traveled upward to a woman with disheveled hair, her head hanging low as she stared back at him—her eyes entirely white, devoid of pupils.
"Ah!" Butcher Zheng fell onto his backside, terrified. But he quickly steadied himself, reaching for his knife. "I’ll chop you dead!"
As the blade swung, the woman vanished.
Then, sobbing came from the side. Slowly turning his head, he saw, in the dim light, a woman in a dark blue jacket sitting with her back to him. She clutched a comb, weeping as she ran it through her hair before a bronze mirror. With each stroke, clumps of hair and flesh fell to the floor.
Butcher Zheng pointed his knife at her. "Y-you—who are you?! I’ve done nothing to you!"
The woman suddenly paused, as if receiving a new command, and began to laugh—a laugh that chilled the soul.
A gust of wind burst through, flinging open every window in the room.
Butcher Zheng’s last shred of courage shattered. He curled up under the table, clutching his head and begging for mercy.
Hidden in the shadows, Yu Zhaodi pouted. "Boss, do I not get to make an entrance?"
Fang Zhiyi waved her off. "You’ll go next time."
They came and left swiftly. Butcher Zheng’s screams drew the neighbors, who pushed open the door to find him cowering like a piglet beneath the table, flinching at every outstretched hand.
Soon, Yu Zhaodi got her moment. Her eerie entrance sent Xiulian’s father—fresh from smoking opium—collapsing to the ground in terror. Meanwhile, the hanged ghost visited Xiulian’s home, joining her in frightening her mother.
Fang Zhiyi led the ghosts toward Wang Village. Along the way, they saw Xiulian laughing and crying. Fang Zhiyi reassured her, "We can’t kill him yet. You’ll understand later."
Xiulian shook her head. "I just feel like I wasn’t truly alive before. Now that I’m dead, I’m finally living."
"What kind of ghostly philosophy is that?" Fang Zhiyi muttered.
"Bai Jingtian, Wang Village is yours. And take the main attraction with you!" Fang Zhiyi shoved the drowned ghost into Bai Jingtian’s hands.
"Boss, where are you going?"
"Where am I going? I’m going to find a future for all of you! Damn it, what kind of question is that?" Fang Zhiyi grumbled as he left with a few presentable-looking ghosts.
"Sometimes, the boss really doesn’t seem like an opera singer. So crude," Bai Jingtian sighed, watching him go.
The drowned ghost tilted its head at him. "Mama."
"I’m not your mama."
"Mama." It pointed at him.
Bai Jingtian finally understood. "You’re the one who’s a mama!"
"Bai Jingtian, who are you calling a mama?" a female ghost snapped.
"Alright, alright, my bad. I talk too much."
Fang Zhiyi arrived with Xiulian and the others at a ritual site.
A vicious ghost had been lurking here—first feeding on resentment, then killing to consume life force. The local clan leader had summoned monks to suppress it.
They arrived just in time. The ghost broke free from the monks’ reincarnation array and was chasing a man, nearly upon him. It lunged, eager to feast—after this meal, it would slaughter every monk here.
But instead of grabbing the man, it collided with another icy figure.
The ghost looked up into the painted face of an opera-singer-turned-ghost.
"Thirteen Guardians on duty! Clear the area!" Xiulian shouted on Fang Zhiyi’s orders. The chaotic scene fell silent as people scrambled back, peering cautiously from a distance.
"More ghosts?!" a senior monk gasped. One was trouble enough—now a whole group?
Fang Zhiyi turned. "Monk, watch your words. The Thirteen Guardians hunt evil ghosts!"
The monk gaped. A ghost that could speak? Claiming to hunt other ghosts?
Before he could process it, Fang Zhiyi struck. With practiced ease, the ghosts swarmed the evil spirit, pinning it down as Fang Zhiyi dispersed it into nothingness.
"You fools! Helping the living? Without life force, you’ll fade too! Hahahaha!"
Its dying words made the restraining ghosts hesitate.
Only after it vanished completely did Fang Zhiyi turn back, offering a theatrical bow. "The Thirteen Guardians have fulfilled their duty." Then he levitated, leading the ghosts away.
The crowd stood stunned.
"Was that a god?"
"That was a ghost! Didn’t you hear the master say they’re vicious spirits?"
"Even if they’re ghosts, they’re good ones!"
"Wait—I remember now! A town nearby had rumors of these Thirteen Guardians killing evil ghosts!"
"That’s why the name sounded familiar!"
"Damn, are they really divine?"
Ma Xiuyun had been overwhelmed lately. Reports of ghost sightings in multiple places sent her and He Wei rushing from one location to another. If they didn’t go, no one would seek their help—and without fame, her father’s disdain for her grew daily.
Yet each time they arrived, they found nothing but terrified witnesses.
"Something’s off," He Wei muttered, counting on his fingers.
"What is it?" Ma Xiuyun asked.
"According to them, there were hanged ghosts, drowned ghosts, headless ghosts... Impossible. How could so many gather?"
Ma Xiuyun guessed, "Maybe fear made them imagine things."
"And one witness described a ghost crawling on all fours, belly-up? What?" He Wei frowned.
Ma Xiuyun bit her lip. "Something feels different, like the world’s shifted."
Meanwhile, the ghosts stood outside an herbal shop.
"Go on, Jingtian," Yu Zhaodi cheered.
Bai Jingtian waved, about to speak, when a kick landed on his backside. "This isn’t an exam—get moving!"
] [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?!
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.
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!
