In the past, he used to find He Yuling incredibly charming and beautiful. However, having now seen the wider world of the provincial capital and met a lively young girl like Qiu Qing, He Chusheng felt nothing but utter annoyance when he looked at He Yuling.
What a lady from a prominent family—she was just a village woman!
He Yuling was clearly oblivious to this. Instead, she was busy preparing for her wedding. She even ordered the tenants of her family's shops to keep her return a secret, determined to finalize everything before her father found out.
Watching her joy, He Chusheng could not feel happy at all. He remembered the time he had agreed upon with Qiu Qing. After pondering it over and over, a venomous scheme surfaced in his mind.
The night in Jiang Town was much quieter. The night watchman, Lao Tang, was still doing his usual job.
However, he was much bolder now. After all, he had a yellow talisman his wife had sought out to protect him; he had heard that the young Taoist priest was quite formidable.
But tonight seemed a bit unusual. As Lao Tang finished his rounds and prepared to head home, he saw a small stall with a lit oil lamp appear on the previously empty street. His heart skipped a beat, and he could not help but think of that legend.
Lao Tang tried to pretend he hadn't seen it and hurry home, silently chanting Buddhist mantras in his heart. But after taking just a few steps, he felt his body was no longer under his control, and he stumbled toward the small stall.
Lao Tang's face was filled with terror. He felt the yellow talisman worn on his chest grow somewhat hot, but it did nothing to stop his movements.
It wasn't until he walked right up to the stall that Lao Tang felt his heart was about to leap out of his chest. Standing behind the crude stall was a paper figure!
It had a pale complexion, with pink paint daubed in circles on its cheeks, and a bright red mouth.
The paper figure slightly turned its head, bearing a very happy expression, but to Lao Tang, this smile was incredibly terrifying.
Many foods were laid out on the stall: glistening fatty meat, a whole chicken, and a large pot beside them, with rice porridge boiling and tumbling inside.
Lao Tang's eyes gradually lost focus, and the yellow talisman on his chest slowly lost its heat.
Just as he reached out to grab that bowl of meat, a voice from behind jolted Lao Tang awake.
"Get lost."
His sanity instantly returned. He abruptly turned his head and saw two people standing behind him, one tall and one short. The tall one was a young man, and the short one was dressed as a Taoist acolyte. When he turned his head back, a wet sensation came from his hand. Lao Tang looked closely and saw that the fatty meat in his hand had somehow turned into sticky mud, with bugs wriggling around inside it.
He let out a loud scream, threw down the mud, and ran for his life.
The paper figure looked at Fang Zhiyi, who had ruined its good deed, its pale face full of venomous resentment.
Unexpectedly, Fang Zhiyi didn't waste any words. He directly pulled open his clothes, looking exactly like a pirate DVD peddler. Underneath his robe were all kinds of talismans, emitting a golden light that stung the paper figure's eyes so much it could barely keep them open.
"What are you standing there for? Today is your internship."
Little Bai nodded repeatedly, mustered up its courage, and shouted loudly, "You, you, you bad guy!"
Fang Zhiyi was stunned, and the paper figure was stunned too.
"No, who the hell taught you to talk like that?"
Little Bai felt a bit embarrassed. It wasn't until Fang Zhiyi kicked it in the butt that Little Bai took a deep breath.
Come on! Master said that if it could take down this ghost today, it could graduate! Even though it didn't quite understand what graduating meant.
There was no chaotic flying of talismans as imagined, nor was there any exchange of punches and kicks. Little Bai had perfectly learned Fang Zhiyi's combat style. It scattered talisman papers as if they cost nothing, and then threw out a chicken blood rope. The paper figure was dumbfounded by this fighting method. If it were just one or two talismans, it could still dodge, but how the hell could it dodge now? There were talismans everywhere!
Several yellow talismans stuck firmly onto its body the moment they touched it. The spots where the yellow talismans adhered soon emitted a burnt stench, followed closely by the appearance of large holes.
"Die! Die!" The paper figure was enraged.
Little Bai's face was full of reluctance, but its hands did not stop. It pulled out two wooden plaques from its waist and swung them at the paper figure as if wielding two precious swords. The paper figure's anger was fully maxed out at this moment, and it didn't even think about dodging. It wasn't until the wooden plaques smashed into its face that it realized something was wrong.
What kind of fake Taoist actually used a deity's spirit tablet as a weapon for a brawl?
Fang Zhiyi wrapped his clothes back up, frowning as he watched the paper figure being chased and slashed by Little Bai. "This black bear spirit's level isn't that great either. It even borrowed a deity's title, yet it still struggles to beat up a paper figure."
"You should be content," Little Hei shrank its neck. "If those up in heaven knew you were doing this, they would definitely come down and whip you to death."
"Is it my fault? What other choice do I have?"
While they were talking, Little Bai had already cornered the paper figure. The originally gloomy and terrifying paper figure was now torn and tattered, lying on the ground shivering.
"Master..." Little Bai stopped its hands, looking back at Fang Zhiyi with some hesitation.
Fang Zhiyi sighed. "It is a ghost entity, not a normal ghost or a demon. If you don't destroy it, it will definitely become a disaster in the future." This rat spirit was good at everything, except he didn't know why it was always so soft-hearted.
"But, didn't you say that all things have a spirit... Wouldn't it be fine if we just let it turn over a new leaf?" Little Bai said.
Fang Zhiyi shook his head. "If it were other ghost entities, maybe. But not this one. For a paper figure to gain sentience, first, some idiot has to paint its eyes, and then it absorbs a lot of resentment. It's not like you guys. If it wants to be indistinguishable from a living person, it must kill people, skin them, and drain their blood. Look at it, doesn't it already have the features of a living person?"
Hearing this, Little Bai turned to look at the paper figure, only to see that some parts of the paper figure's body were clearly human skin, which were also the spots that hadn't been broken.
"Paper figures have extreme obsessions. It only thinks about how to become a living person, but to do so, it will cost at least a dozen human lives. Make your own decision." Fang Zhiyi turned around and walked away.
After walking for a moment, he suddenly heard a miserable shriek from behind. A moment later, Little Bai trotted up to catch up with him.
"Master, I'm sorry."
"Hmm?"
"I... I shouldn't have questioned you."
"Questioning me is a good thing. I'm not necessarily always right. Since you want to be a demon spirit that cultivates the Dao, you at least need to know what actions are right and what actions are wrong." Fang Zhiyi reached out and patted Little Bai's shoulder. "No one is always right. The process of seeking the Dao is also a complex process of correction. Only by constantly discovering errors and correcting them in time can your Dao continue forward."
Little Bai looked thoughtful, and Fang Zhiyi noticed once again that a white light was radiating from its body, a bit more dazzling than before.
"This fool doesn't even know that you are pushing it onto the path of immortality." Little Hei's mouth was sometimes even more venomous than Fang Zhiyi's.
"If a black bear can defend the Dao, it's not unusual for a rat to become an immortal." Fang Zhiyi looked up at the sky. "If they won't let me borrow their power, can't I just cultivate a deity myself?"
transmigrates into the world as the sect master of the Heavenly Yan Sect, which is on the verge of being wiped out. He binds a system that grants him cultivation power based on the number of disciples he has: for each disciple, he automatically gains a year's worth of cultivation every single day! Take one disciple: every day he gains 1 year of cultivation power. While others struggle through a year of bitter training, he gets the same just by sleeping through a single night. Take ten disciples: every day he gains 10 years of cultivation power. Foundation Establishment, Core Formation, Nascent Soul—he breezes through all bottlenecks without lifting a finger. Take one hundred disciples: every day he gains 100 years of cultivation power. Even a Soul Transformation Venerable before him can’t survive a single blow. Take ten thousand disciples: every day he gains 10,000 years of cultivation power! With a wave of his hand, he topples empires. With a single step, he crushes the sacred grounds of the universe. ... While others fight tooth and nail for secret techniques, Lin Yan casually hands out Nascent Soul-level cultivation manuals as beginner textbooks. While others strain to find talented recruits, Lin Yan opens his doors to anyone—so long as they’re human. In just three short years, the Heavenly Yan Sect went from a backwater sect made up of three crumbling huts to a sacred land that every cultivator under heaven would kill to enter. ... One day, otherworldly demon gods invade, with a million demon soldiers pressing down upon the realm. Lin Yan, yawning, rises from his lounge chair and glances at the system panel: [Current Disciples: 1.28 million] [Daily Cultivation Increase: 1.28 million years] He waves his hand casually, and the countless demon soldiers are reduced to ashes in an instant. “So noisy… interrupting my fishing.”
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.
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."
close your eyes and open them again, only to find yourself transmigrated into the role of a villainous male supporting character. Readers familiar with urban wish-fulfillment novels know that it is only through the relentless antics of the villainous male supporting character that the plot between the male and female leads can progress. As the villainous male supporting character, Long Aotian not only has to bully the female lead, harass the second female lead, and flirt with the third female lead, but he also has to go all out to antagonize the male lead. In the end, when his body is discovered, he is still clutching half a moldy fried dough stick in his hand. Fully aware of the plot, Long Aotian is determined to change his fate, starting with the female lead! In the beginning, the female lead lacks confidence: "Big brother, I hope I didn't scare you?" In the middle, the female lead treads carefully: "Brother Long, please don't hit me, okay?" Later on, the female lead becomes coquettishly clingy: "Aotian, it's time to pay the 'public grain' tonight." Long Aotian's legs go weak, and he feels like crying: "I taught you to be thick-skinned, not shameless!"
