Qin Hao's voice, wrapped in spiritual energy, echoed throughout the entire Heavenly Sword Sect.
Inside the mountain gate, countless disciples and elders raised their heads simultaneously at this moment, their faces revealing expressions of shock.
Who is it? Who dares to directly call out the Sect Master's name?
And what is this about a branch, an Emperor Son? What branch?
However, before the crowd could react, deep within the Heavenly Sword Sect, in the secluded chamber where the Sect Master was in closed-door cultivation, a figure in a green robe suddenly opened his eyes.
Qin Yuanqing's pupils shrank, the depths of his eyes filled with boundless shock and fear.
Em—Emperor Son? Why would the Emperor Son of the main family personally visit his insignificant Heavenly Sword Sect? Is it because of the awakener of the Seven-Aperture Exquisite Heart who joined the sect some time ago? Does the Emperor Son already know everything? I am doomed!
Qin Yuanqing's face turned deathly pale in an instant. He sprang up from his futon, not even bothering to conceal his chaotic aura. His entire body transformed into a streak of green light, rushing madly toward the mountain gate.
Along the way, some elders wanted to step forward and ask what was going on, only to see their Sect Master's panic-stricken face.
Sect Master? You...?
Get out of the way! Do not block me!
Qin Yuanqing shoved aside the elders blocking his path. His loss of composure left everyone dumbfounded.
Was this still the deeply dignified Sect Master who never showed his emotions on his face?
At the mountain gate, the two guardian disciples were still kneeling on the ground. Hearing Qin Hao's shout, they instinctively looked up, only to witness a scene they would never forget for the rest of their lives.
They saw an extremely disheveled figure stumbling down from the sky. Because he was in such a panic upon landing, he even lost his footing and staggered.
The two fixed their gazes, their eyes nearly popping out of their sockets. The newcomer was none other than their Sect Master, the invincible champion of the Southern Region.
A stormy sea of shock surged in their hearts. They truly could not connect this man, with his messy hair, pale face, and cold sweat dripping from his forehead, to the normally majestic Sect Master who seemed to have everything under control.
But what happened next made the two of them doubt life itself.
After landing, Qin Yuanqing did not even spare them a glance. Instead, he quickly walked up to the dark-robed young man. Then, under the disciples' incredulous gazes, Qin Yuanqing swept up his robe and dropped to one knee!
Qin Yuanqing of the branch family was unaware of the Emperor Son's arrival and failed to welcome you! Please punish me, Your Highness!
Qin Yuanqing's voice was loud, yet it carried a noticeable tremble.
He knelt on the ground, his back stiff. Beads of sweat fell from his forehead one by one, but he dared not reach up to wipe them away. He was also a member of the Desolate Ancient Qin Family, albeit just from a branch lineage.
Because the competitive pressure within the Qin Family was too intense, he had simply left the family and come to the outside world to establish his own faction. Although he now held the title of the number one expert in the Southern Region, and his Heavenly Sword Sect was the number one sect in the region, he knew very well that in the eyes of the Qin Family's direct lineage, he and the Heavenly Sword Sect were not even considered an anthill.
Why had this little ancestor come to the Southern Region? What could possibly be happening in his insignificant Heavenly Sword Sect to warrant a personal visit from the Emperor Son? The only possibility was the awakener of the Seven-Aperture Exquisite Heart from before.
At this thought, Qin Yuanqing's heart skipped a beat. He could have come earlier or later, but he just had to come at this exact moment. How was he supposed to explain this?
Seeing their Sect Master, who was invincible in the Southern Region, acting so subserviently before Qin Hao, the minds of the two mountain-guarding disciples completely short-circuited.
Lord Imperial Son? Across the Three Realms and Nine Heavens, anyone holding such a title was, without exception, the son of an Immortal Emperor. The Sect Master's name was Qin Yuanqing, bearing the surname Qin. So, was this overly handsome young man before them the legendary Imperial Son of the Desolate Ancient Qin Family?
They suddenly recalled what they had just said to him: "Are you sure you want to cause trouble on the Heavenly Sword Sect's turf?"
For a moment, the two felt the world spin around them, wishing they could just faint on the spot. With a status like his, let alone causing trouble, even if he flipped the entire Heavenly Sword Sect upside down, the Sect Master would probably have to ask if he had enjoyed doing it.
Qin Hao looked down at Qin Yuanqing kneeling before him with a faint expression. He neither asked him to rise nor showed any anger; he simply watched him quietly.
Under Qin Hao's gaze, Qin Yuanqing felt a deep panic in his heart, but he did not dare make a single movement.
After a long while, Qin Hao finally spoke slowly:
"Stand up."
Qin Yuanqing felt as if he had received a grand pardon. He quickly stood up, but he did not dare to stand straight in front of Qin Hao. He maintained a bowed posture, forcing an apologetic smile:
"Lord Imperial Son has traveled a long way, and I failed to welcome you properly. I truly deserve death. May I ask what orders Lord Imperial Son has for coming here?"
Qin Hao glanced at Qin Yuanqing and frowned slightly. Why am I here? Could he really not guess?
Qin Hao did not play along with Qin Yuanqing's words and instead asked:
"Where is Xia Lingxi, the girl I recommended to cultivate in your sect previously? Take me to see her."
Qin Yuanqing's heart tightened, but he did not dare let any abnormality show on his face:
"Reporting to the Imperial Son, I am afraid you will not be able to see her for the time being. Xia Lingxi... is currently in secluded cultivation."
"Secluded cultivation?"
Hearing this, Qin Hao's frown deepened. If she was in secluded cultivation, why had he not received any divine ability feedback? Although the little fool was a bit silly, possessing the Seven-Aperture Exquisite Heart meant she should not be stupid when it came to cultivation.
Thinking of this, Qin Hao rested his hand on Qin Yuanqing's shoulder, a chilling smile forming at the corner of his mouth:
"Qin Yuanqing, I think I do not need to tell you the consequences of lying to me. You should know it very well yourself."
Qin Hao's voice was very soft, but falling into Qin Yuanqing's ears, it was like a thunderclap from the Nine Heavens exploding in his mind.
His body stiffened. He felt as if the hand resting on his shoulder weighed tens of millions of pounds, pressing down so hard that his spine was creaking.
What was even more terrifying was Qin Hao's eyes, calm and indifferent. Yet, the more they were like this, the greater the pressure Qin Yuanqing felt.
At this moment, he no longer harbored any illusions. Lord Imperial Son definitely knew something, which was why he had specifically come to the Heavenly Sword Sect.
Qin Yuanqing gritted his teeth, finally made a ruthless decision in his heart, and let his knees give way, kneeling down once again. However, this time, he was not kneeling on one knee, but both.
"Lord Imperial Son, please forgive me! I dare not hide anything! It is all due to my incompetence. That Xia Lingxi you recommended... she, she has gone missing."
"Missing?" Qin Hao's eyes instantly turned freezing cold.
"Explain it to me. What do you mean by missing?"
Qin Yuanqing did not dare to look up and could only bite the bullet and explain:
"Reporting to Lord Imperial Son, a month ago, Xia Lingxi mistakenly entered the Soul-Severing Cliff in the back mountain, and then all traces of her vanished. I have already ordered people to search for her with all our might. We must see her alive, or see her dead..."
Qin Hao stared deeply at Qin Yuanqing. "So, she has been missing for a month, and you still haven't found her, is that right?"
Qin Yuanqing was left speechless, only able to bury his head even lower.
"I implore the Imperial Son for forgiveness."
nto another world, I bought a slave for the first time, never expecting the silver wolf girl to be so cute... Lin Feng: I know it's cold, but you don't have to sneak into my bed! Yuna: Just sharing body warmth, if you dare do anything naughty, I'll definitely...
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."
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.
