The old fisherman, holding Xiao Xue and Xiao Fang’s hands, stood behind Qin Hao like a stone statue struck by heavenly thunder, his mouth hanging open wide enough to fit an egg. He rubbed his eyes to make sure he wasn’t seeing things due to old age—
The man in the silver-white robe, followed by a retinue of high-ranking Golden Immortal attendants, was the newly appointed ruler of the Immortal Court. At this very moment, he was bowing at the waist, almost reverently, toward Qin Hao.
“Your Highness the Imperial Prince, I, Qin Buyu, newly appointed ruler of the Immortal Court, have come specially to pay my respects.”
Qin Hao waved his hand lightly. “I see. Rise, then.”
“You didn’t have to make a special trip to visit me. Instead of spending time on me, you’d do better to manage the Immortal Court well. There’s still plenty of work waiting for you.”
Qin Buyu straightened up and clasped his hands in Qin Hao’s direction.
“You are right, Lord Imperial Son. Then I will return to the Immortal Court to handle affairs. If there is anything at all, Lord Imperial Son, you may contact me.”
Qin Hao nodded. “Mm. Do a good job, and don’t end up like your predecessor, shirking all responsibilities.”
Qin Buyu’s expression tightened slightly. With solemn sincerity, he replied, “I swear I will never be negligent! Then I shall not disturb Lord Imperial Son any longer. I take my leave.”
He bowed a few steps back, then turned and led his retinue of Golden Immortal attendants back along the street.
Behind Qin Hao, the old fisherman and the two girls stood frozen in place, staring at him with eyes full of sheer disbelief.
Good heavens—what had they just witnessed? The ruler of the Immortal Court, bowing to Young Master with such deference.
Imperial Prince? He had called him Lord Imperial Son.
The ruler was a member of the legendary Qin family… which meant that this young man, who had been living among them for some time, was none other than the legendary Divine Son of the Qin clan?
The moment this realization hit, as Qin Hao walked toward them, all three instinctively stepped back half a pace, hesitant to draw close. It wasn’t that they feared Qin Hao might harm them—it was the chasm in status that inspired awe and left them instinctively distancing themselves.
Seeing this, Qin Hao frowned.
“Are you all all right?”
The old fisherman waved his hands frantically. “Fine, fine, fine. No need to trouble yourself, Lord Imperial Son.”
Xiao Xue and Xiao Fang also kept their heads bowed, not daring to meet his eyes again.
At that, Qin Hao could only sigh deeply.
“Don’t be like this. There’s no need. We’re still friends, aren’t we?”
“Yes, yes, yes!” the old fisherman agreed with a nod, yet the reverence in his eyes and the subconscious aloofness hadn’t diminished one bit.
It was only natural—what madness was this? Back then, they could treat him like an ordinary person because they hadn’t known his true identity. Now that they did, how could they possibly keep a level head and interact with him as before?
Qin Hao shook his head helplessly.
“You can continue to live in this city. If you ever run into trouble, you can also seek help from the Immortal Court.”
Having given these instructions to the old fisherman, Qin Hao returned to his own room.
“Ah Long, Ah Hu, you two take Chen Xiaoyun back to the Qin clan. I’ll manage alone outside.”
Hearing this, Ah Long immediately stepped forward.
“That won’t do, Lord Imperial Son! One of us escorting Miss Chen home is enough. At least one of us should stay to protect you.”
Ah Hu chimed in, “Yes, Lord Imperial Son! If anything happened to you, even killing the two of us a thousand times over wouldn’t be enough to make amends.”
Seeing their worried faces, Qin Hao gave a faint smile.
"I have my reasons for sending you back. Once you return, focus on secluded cultivation and strive to break through to the Immortal King realm as soon as possible."
"As for my safety, you need not worry at all—I still have others protecting me."
Hearing this, Ah Long and Ah Hu exchanged skeptical looks:
"Lord Imperial Son! Have you found another man out there?"
"Lord Imperial Son! Please don't send us away! Tell us what we did wrong, and we'll fix it. If nothing else works, just send Ah Long away and let me stay by your side!"
Qin Hao's vision went dark. What the hell did they mean by "found another man"? Couldn't they phrase that better?
Qin Hao took a deep breath, restraining the urge to give Ah Long and Ah Hu each a good kick.
He glared at the two, then raised his hand and gently traced a line in the air.
A golden spatial ripple spread outward from the tip of his finger.
When the ripple expanded to about the height of a person, it suddenly stopped, and a figure stepped out from within it.
As this figure appeared before them, everyone felt as though time itself had frozen.
An indescribable pressure radiated outward.
Ah Long and Ah Hu tensed up as if facing a great enemy. Their joking expressions vanished entirely, replaced by an instinctive wariness.
"Lord Imperial Son! Who is this? He's dangerous! The feeling he gives me—it's just like the Patriarch!" Ah Long's voice even began to tremble.
Their Patriarch, Qin Wuya, was the supreme being of the age. The pressure this person exuded was in no way inferior to the Patriarch's. Who on earth was he?
Qin Hao smiled and patted the puppet on the shoulder, grinning widely.
"Don't worry. This is a puppet I crafted. As for its strength... I'd say it's about evenly matched with my father."
Upon hearing this, Ah Long and Ah Hu's eyes went wide.
"L-Lord Imperial Son, are you joking? A mere puppet has strength comparable to the Patriarch?"
"The Patriarch is the supreme being of the age! Across the entire Three Realms and Nine Heavens, aside from your wife, the most powerful is the Patriarch himself. And you're saying a mere puppet equals the Patriarch's strength?"
Qin Hao chuckled lightly. "Why would I lie to you? What, you don't believe me? Want to spar with this puppet?"
At that, Ah Long and Ah Hu quickly waved their hands. "No, no, no need to prove its power like that."
With that, they grabbed Chen Xiaoyun and made a run for it, completely ignoring Chen Xiaoyun's reluctant expression.
Watching the trio disappear into the distance, Qin Hao let out a soft laugh.
"Perfect timing. I want to see just how this puppet stacks up against the old man."
"The old man's side is still in the middle of a war. Since the system says this puppet is no weaker than my father, if I bring it over, maybe it can turn the tide."
With that thought, Qin Hao took out his jade pendant and teleported himself and the puppet to the Nether Hall.
Above the Nether Hall
The battle had been raging for a month. The entire sky was riddled with scars.
Broken spatial fractures hung like black lightning bolts frozen midair, tearing the once azure canopy of the Imperial Heaven Realm into a shattered mosaic.
Suddenly, a rift split the sky, and a young figure stepped out from within it.
The moment he saw Qin Hao, Qin Wuya froze for an instant.
This kid, didn't he run away? Why is he back now? What the hell is he up to? He better not mess things up.
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!
ive and Ruthless] Before his transmigration, Ye Xuan was playing a game called "Severing Emotions to Attain the Dao." The game's core wasn't about leveling up by fighting monsters, but about conquering various "bad women" with wicked personalities and cold, fickle natures. There was only one method to conquer them: stay unwaveringly by their side, then die at a critical moment, driving them to madness after losing the protagonist. The higher their level of regret, the higher the player's score. To dominate the server, Ye Xuan conquered all the bad women. In the early stages, he showered them with boundless tenderness, only to choose to sacrifice himself for them later, making them weep bitterly and drown in regret. Among them were: Xia Lengyue, the unfaithful immortal wife who chased after powerful men and discarded her husband like trash. Ye Qingcheng, the Demonic Venerable of the Joyous Union Sect, who appeared pure and innocent but was, in reality, promiscuous. Wu Lingxiao, the Empress of the Great Xia Dynasty, who lusted after men and loved maintaining a harem. Bai Qiangu of the Endless Demonic Sect: a bloodthirsty mass murderer. However, when the protagonist transmigrated into the game world, he made a horrifying discovery. Eight hundred years had already passed. The bad women he had conquered had now each become deities and revered ancestors. Faced with the endless stream of toxic women coming for him, Ye Xuan could only rely on his god-tier acting skills to carve a path of survival through this world of treacherous women.
rowess are unmatched, commanding a million-strong army! Yet, the Emperor wants to depose him for the sake of a false prince? Hold on, are you throwing me into some female-oriented romance plot? How can I tolerate this? With a grand wave of his hand—the Nine Clan Extraction Technique! Slander the Emperor? Very well, all of you shall die! ... The False Prince: "Although I am not the biological son, Father and Mother love me more. The throne should be mine!" The Female Lead: "Qin Xiao, you are the Emperor, and I am a commoner. If you wish to marry me, you must abdicate. Otherwise, you will never have me!" The Empress: "After we divorce, you must give me half the empire!" The Transmigrator Consort: "You worthless Emperor, why should I kneel to you? All men are equal—I advise you to be kind!" The Great General: "The enemy general is my childhood sweetheart. For her sake, I willingly abandon the frontier defenses!" The Retired Emperor: "Although Yu'er was adopted, I prefer him. Qin Xiao, you should abdicate and let him become Emperor!" ... Very well! So this is how you want to play? Facing this twisted world of female-oriented tropes, Qin Xiao grins and raises his hand to unleash—the Nine Clan Extraction Technique! I am the Emperor. Why would I bother reasoning with you? Seal the gates! Leave none alive!
lity and could only live as an ordinary mortal. He only wished to live a peaceful life. Yet he didn't know— The dog he adopted, because it ate his food, became a legendary demon king. The kitchen knife he casually forged became a peerless divine weapon, causing numerous experts to fight desperately for it. The young disciple he took in became an immortal lord that led an era, due to cultivating the techniques Ye Feng taught him. Even the skeletons he looked down on the most were ominous demon kings that suppressed countless worlds. Many years later, looking at the void shattered with a punch, Ye Feng murmured to himself: It turns out the peerless kings were myself all along...
