In the grand hall.
Chu Xingchen sat in the seat of honor, with about twenty people currently standing before him.
The illusion array designed by Li Yingling was actually quite impressive, effectively filtering out most of those with ill intentions.
It seemed Li Yingling had indeed put in considerable effort.
Chu Xingchen mused that perhaps he should have arbitrarily kept one or two more candidates—after all, there was no way he would follow Li Yingling’s submitted plan to the letter.
Not to mention the personal biases embedded within it, just going through the formal procedures would take a month.
Chu Xingchen had no patience for such tediousness.
His gaze swept over the crowd standing in the hall. A couple of undesirables had slipped through the cracks, but he’d find some excuse to dismiss them later.
After counting the attendees, Li Yingling spoke softly, "Master, only one person hasn’t arrived yet."
Chu Xingchen shook his head slightly, signaling his indifference.
"No matter. Your master has the patience to wait a little longer."
Li Yingling believed him—his master had the temperament for it.
Before long, Zhao Wanqing led in a well-dressed young man.
Chu Xingchen glanced up as the youth stepped into the hall.
The moment the young man bent forward in a bow, before he could even straighten up, Chu Xingchen’s calm but unyielding voice rang out:
"You’re disqualified. You may leave now."
The young man looked up in shock, disbelief in his voice as he asked, "May I ask, Immortal, why?"
"Because you were the last to arrive. What did you think this opportunity was?" Chu Xingchen’s gaze was steady but carried an overwhelming pressure. "Did you think fate would wait for everyone to gather before deciding who gets what?"
"On the path of cultivation, urgency is paramount. Since you weren’t in a hurry for this chance, try again next time."
With that, Chu Xingchen waved his hand, and a surge of spiritual energy sent the young man flying out of the hall, the doors slamming shut behind him.
He had hoped the latecomer might be something special, but this?
Not only was his talent lacking, but the black-marked trait [Pyromaniac] alone made him a liability.
His sect couldn’t afford to deal with such a troublemaker—better let him wreak havoc elsewhere.
Li Yingling stole a glance at her master.
So much for patience.
He hadn’t even pretended to tolerate it.
Still, her master’s reasoning made sense, reminding her of the time he took her to steal spirit herbs…
The memory felt as fresh as yesterday.
Amusing, when she thought about it.
As the doors closed, the remaining candidates in the hall instinctively straightened their postures further.
Even Cui Hao felt a twinge of tension under the suddenly solemn atmosphere.
Chu Xingchen stood, his eyes sweeping over the group before him, then spoke in a relaxed tone:
"No need to be nervous. This second round is simple—just answer a few questions and chat with me."
With that, he leisurely walked up to Lin Luoyu, his tone noticeably gentler.
"I heard you scored full marks in the first round?"
Lin Luoyu quickly clasped her hands in response. "Yes, full marks!"
Chu Xingchen nodded approvingly.
"Good. What do you think is most important on the path of cultivation?"
Lin Luoyu pondered briefly before answering earnestly, "Perseverance and staying true to one’s heart."
"Not a bad answer. It hasn’t been easy for you, has it? I see your robes have been mended more than once." Chu Xingchen pointed at the two patches on her sleeves.
Lin Luoyu’s voice was firm. "Difficult or not, I will walk this path!"
Chu Xingchen smiled and moved to the next candidate—a short-haired girl—asking in the same tone:
"Using the Discourse on the Great Dao as a foundation, briefly explain your understanding of cultivation."
The girl froze, staring at Chu Xingchen in bewilderment.
Wait, wasn’t the difficulty spike a bit extreme here?
Why did the others get simple questions about hardships, while she was hit with Discourse on the Great Dao?
After a long pause, she gritted her teeth. "I… haven’t read Discourse on the Great Dao..."
Chu Xingchen shook his head regretfully and moved on to the next candidate—a visibly nervous young man.
"Discuss the inevitable connection between the cycle of the Great Dao and cultivators."
The man gave a bitter laugh. "I… I never studied…"
With another sigh, Chu Xingchen proceeded to the next.
"Explain..."
"I don’t know..."
"Please answer..."
"I’m not familiar with this..."
After several similarly abstract questions went unanswered, Chu Xingchen finally stopped before Cui Hao.
Studying the scholarly-looking young man, he took a moment to observe him before speaking:
"Discuss the relationship between the mortal market economy and cultivation sects."
Cui Hao blinked, then after a moment of thought, answered earnestly:
"The mortal market is the foundation. Only a stable mortal economy can sustain a cultivation sect."
"While cultivation sects aren’t entirely dependent on the mortal market, a prosperous one provides immense support."
"After all, the essence of a cultivation sect is the pursuit of the Great Dao. Often, they lack the bandwidth for mundane production. Though the mortal market has limited direct impact on cultivation resources..."
"A thriving mortal economy offers significant convenience. Repetitive and trivial tasks can be delegated to mortals."
"This allows cultivation sects to allocate their resources more efficiently, focusing on endeavors beyond mortal capability—thus enhancing the sect’s overall productivity."
"Therefore, I believe any cultivation sect aiming for long-term stability must foster a prosperous and stable mortal market."
Chu Xingchen’s eyes flickered with surprise. Though the answer was straightforward, it wasn’t wrong.
Well, well. You actually knew this one?
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!
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?!
] This is a dark fantasy-themed dating simulation game. The main gameplay involves containing various monster girls and investigating the truth of a world shrouded in mist alongside your companions. However, due to his love for the dark and bizarre atmosphere, Luo Wei ended up turning a dating game into a detective mystery game. Women? Women only slow down his quickdraw! To Luo Wei, the female leads in the game are more like tools to perfectly clear levels and squeeze out rewards. For Luo Wei, flirting with every girl he meets and then discarding them is standard procedure. Worried about characters losing affection points? No need. With his maxed-out charm stat, Luo Wei is practically a "human incubus." A little psychological manipulation and those points come right back. It's a bit scummy, but the paper cutout heroines in the game won't actually come at him with real cleavers. However... Luo Wei has transmigrated. He's accidentally entered the second playthrough of this game. His past actions have caused all the girls to transform into terrifying yanderes. Due to the game's setting, most of the heroines he once contained are "troubled girls." Obsessive, twisted, mentally unstable, all aggressive yanderes... The type who will kill you if they can't have you... Luo Wei wants to cry but has no tears left. "I really just want to survive..." In short, this is a story of battling wits and engaging in a love-hate relationship with yanderes.
e, Immortal Body, Transmigration, System, Progression Fantasy, Academy Setting, Third-Person Perspective. Alternate Title: Transmigrating into a High Martial World and Reading Live Comments. Bad news: I transmigrated. This is a terrifying high-martial world, and my original, pathetically weak body fell into a coma and never woke up. Good news: I got a Popularity Points system upon arrival. I can see live comments and even create an unkillable alternate identity. Starting out, the alternate identity has all stats at 1. The system tells me that to grow stronger, I must participate in the plot, gain popularity points to allocate stats and grow stronger, and ultimately awaken my original body. And so, carrying my original body on my back, I officially entered Huaqing Academy, where the story's protagonist resides. From that moment on, Chen Guan kicked the original plot to pieces. Live Comments: [Doesn't anyone find this mysterious coffin guy creepy? He can summon indescribable grey misty hands.] [Is this guy a hero or a villain? What kind of onion became a spirit?] [By the way, does anyone know who's in the coffin? Shouldn't the debt for saving his life be repaid by now?] [According to unofficial histories, the person in the coffin was Chen Guan's first love. Their love was once passionate and earth-shattering, but they were separated by life and death due to worldly circumstances. What a star-crossed pair.] ... Years later, the world knew of a demon god born from a coffin, shrouded in grey mist, impossible to gaze upon directly. His foremost divine emissary often wielded a scythe, reaping lives like the god of death. As war approached, facing former friends and a boundless sea of enemies, Chen Guan merely raised his scythe. "Would you like to dance as well?"
