The moment the Wild Bull Demon saw that familiar thicket, the image of Old Pig’s head being lopped off by a single sword stroke flashed through his mind once more.
Like a nightmare, it flickered before his eyes again.
Now, which side was the dream?
Had he just been dreaming, or was he still trapped in one?
But whether it was a dream or not, the Wild Bull Demon still chose to reach out and grab the Weasel Demon, who was mid-sentence.
His tone was grave: “Captain! There’s an ambush ahead in that grass!”
The Weasel Demon, cut off mid-speech, stared blankly at the Wild Bull Demon, while the other lesser demons also turned to him with puzzled looks.
The Weasel Demon didn’t immediately dismiss him. It studied Bull Two for a moment.
Finally, it gave a slight nod and turned to the Rat Demon carrying the crossbow, barking an order: “Ready the crossbows!”
“No!” The Wild Bull Demon tightened his grip, making the Weasel Demon wince in pain.
His voice was urgent: “Run! We need to run now!”
The Weasel Demon gritted its teeth through the pain. “Bull Two! What’s gotten into you? Are the ambushers that strong?”
“There’s one who’s terrifying! Old Pig lost his head in a single strike!”
The Boar Demon’s eyes widened as it glared at the Wild Bull Demon.
“What nonsense are you spouting?! You think this brawn is just for show?”
Ignoring the Boar Demon’s protest, the Weasel Demon calmly asked,
“Bull Two, are you still half-asleep from a nightmare?”
The Wild Bull Demon insisted, “It’s not a nightmare. It’s real. Not only can’t we win, but if we engage, a ridiculously powerful Golden Core cultivator will swoop in and slaughter our entire outpost.”
After listening silently, the Dwarf Lizard finally spoke up:
“Bull Two, ever since you woke up, you’ve looked like you lost your parents. You’ve been spouting creepy nonsense during training, even going on about some ‘ridiculously strong Golden Core.’ If you’re not feeling well, just go back to sleep—”
“Enough!”
The Weasel Demon suddenly raised a hand, cutting off their argument. Its eyes locked onto the thicket as it hissed, “Trouble!”
“Fire?!”
“Volley!”
Before Bull Two could even try to stop them, the crossbow bolts were already loosed.
Two vaguely familiar figures darted out again.
Once more, a sword swept aside the bolts.
And once more, the Weasel Demon barked the same order: “Bull Two, Old Pig, Stinky Lizard, form the Triad Formation and charge!”
“Got it!”
The Boar Demon and the Dwarf Lizard charged forward as before—only this time, one of them stayed behind.
The Wild Bull Demon stood frozen in place.
This was exactly like the dream.
The man said the same line: “Told you. Why would there be an ambush here?”
The woman replied just as before: “Kill first, ask later!”
The Wild Bull Demon snapped back to reality and roared:
“Danger! Danger!”
But it was no use. He wasn’t the Weasel Demon, and the Boar Demon didn’t listen to him.
The Boar Demon’s head went flying once more!
“Danger!!”
The Weasel Demon’s furious shout echoed through the night again—its words carried weight.
The same escape route unfolded.
Though unharmed, the Wild Bull Demon felt agony wrack his body as if death were imminent. Gritting his teeth, he sprinted, bellowing:
“I told you! We can’t win against an ambush!”
The Weasel Demon didn’t dwell on it, snapping back:
“Fall back first! Warn the outpost—”
Remembering the terrifying Golden Core cultivator, the Wild Bull Demon shouted:
“We can’t go back! A Golden Core is tailing us! We can’t return!”
The Dwarf Lizard, though short-legged, ran on all fours and kept pace.
It shot the Wild Bull Demon a glare and snarled, “Cut the crap! If there really was a Golden Core, none of us would make it out alive!”
The Wild Bull Demon tried to argue, but nothing changed.
Maybe he was bad with words. Maybe he was powerless to change anything.
The patrol squad still dashed straight back to the outpost.
The moment they stepped inside, before anyone could react,
the Wild Bull Demon roared in desperation: “Run! The Golden Core cultivator is coming!”
But the reply wasn’t from his comrades. Instead, a chilling voice filled the air.
“No need to run. I’m already here.”
The Wild Bull Demon whirled around to see the absurdly powerful Golden Core cultivator hovering mid-air, eyes icy, a radiant sword unsheathed in hand.
His vision blurred with rage as the Golden Core cultivator raised his blade.
A single, effortless swing.
A flash of azure spiritual energy.
Then—silence.
“Run!”
The Wild Bull Demon’s eyes snapped open again.
“Bull Two, bad dream?”
The teasing voice of the Weasel Demon reached his ears. He turned to see it smirking at him.
“Old Pig was sleeping just fine till you scared the hell out of me with that shout.”
The Wild Bull Demon shifted his gaze to the disgruntled Boar Demon.
Its head was still firmly attached.
What was this… a dream within a dream?!
The Wild Bull Demon was drenched in cold sweat. He’d now witnessed that human girl’s earth-shattering sword strike twice.
Each time, he was left with nothing but overwhelming helplessness.
The Weasel Demon stood up, hand resting on the hilt of its blade, and said calmly:
"Alright, it's about time to patrol the eastern plains."
The Wild Bull Demon shuddered violently. "No! You can't go! There's an ambush set up by humans there!"
The Dwarf Lizard sneered mockingly, "Second Bull, you're so useless. Look at you, scared by a nightmare."
"Enough!" The Weasel Demon's expression turned cold as he snapped, then his voice softened as he looked at the Wild Bull Demon.
"Lately, the pressure has been getting to you. Skip patrol tonight and get some proper rest."
The Wild Bull Demon grew frantic. "We really can't go! Our entire outpost camp should relocate!"
But none of the demons paid him any heed.
The Weasel Demon said nothing more, simply calling the others to prepare for the patrol.
After waking this time, the Wild Bull Demon felt the tearing pain in his body grow unbearable, yet he forced himself to follow the patrol squad.
Teahouse.
A watery screen displayed the Wild Bull Demon's every move in the dream in real time.
This was one of Chen Baiqing's mystical techniques—Mirror Blossom, Water Moon.
The abilities granted to Chen Baiqing by the system hardly sounded like mystical arts at first glance, nor did they carry the seductive, alluring names one might expect.
Chen Baiqing's technique was called—Veil of Heaven.
Its name boasted the highest grandeur so far.
And its effects, at times, were absurdly formidable.
Chu Xingchen didn’t possess Chen Baiqing’s [Heaven-Swaying Enchantress] trait, yet his execution of it was remarkably effective.
Those watching weren’t just Chu Xingchen and his companions—the surviving Weasel Demon and the skinned Snake Demon were also observing.
Chu Xingchen took a slow sip of tea.
"I know this dumb ox has already revealed everything in just one dream. It truly knows nothing."
"But the rest of you aren’t fools."
"Is it really just this dumb ox that’s trapped?"
Chu Xingchen lifted the silencing spell from the two demons’ throats.
A brief silence fell.
The Snake Demon glanced at the Mirror Blossom, Water Moon, where the Wild Bull Demon, now on its fourth cycle, was descending into madness. Its mental defenses crumbled instantly.
"I’ll talk! I’ll tell you everything I can!"
Damn it all, death would’ve been easier!
Chu Xingchen immediately re-silenced the Weasel Demon, who hadn’t spoken, then nodded lightly. "Yingling, take notes."
Setting down his teacup, Chu Xingchen walked to the window, gazing at the ordinary mortals still hauling supplies at the frontlines despite the heavy rain.
No matter the scale of the conflict, mortals were always dragged into it without a choice.
But sometimes, being dragged in was the choice they wanted to make.
He had no interest in listening closely to the interrogation behind him.
Leaning against the windowsill, he waited quietly.
After a while, Li Yingling finished the questioning and hurried to Chu Xingchen’s side to report.
"Master—"
Before she could speak, a letter appeared in Chu Xingchen’s hand. He cut her off.
"Read this first."
Puzzled, Li Yingling took the letter and unfolded it.
Soon… she realized that the intelligence she had painstakingly extracted through interrogation was already written in far greater detail within this letter.
And in this letter, those details were but a trivial fraction of the information provided.
Chu Xingchen chuckled softly.
"Let me teach you another lesson—leave specialized tasks to the professionals."
"Even if you're a genius."
world slacker. But a genius female disciple just had to get clingy, insisting that he take her as a disciple. Not only that, she was always making advances on him, thoroughly disrupting his peaceful slacker life...
ave】 Shen Qingling was a man with peerless looks, a cunning mind, and the ability to play both the aloof noble and the innocent sweetheart—a master of seduction who could outplay any player. But after an untimely death, he found himself bound to a system and transmigrated into the tragic "true young master" of a melodramatic novel. In the original story, his childhood sweetheart treated him as a backup plan, his fiancée swore to break off their engagement for the sake of the "fake young master," and his own sister saw him as the family's disgrace. He was nothing more than a rat everyone wanted to stomp on. System 077: "Your mission is to change the original fate and conquer the goddesses." Shen Qingling: "Thanks for the invite. If seduction had tiers, I’d be max level." His childhood sweetheart knelt, begging for forgiveness: "Qingling, I was wrong. Please give me another chance." His ex-fiancée refused to marry anyone else: "Shen Qingling, I was blind before. In this life, I’ll marry no one but you." A yandere CEO went mad for love: "Shen Qingling, you can only like me. I’ll stop at nothing to make you mine!" His green-tea sister clung to him daily: "Brother, look at me, won’t you? I’m more obedient than them—I love you the most~" At first, they scorned and trampled on him. Later, they burned themselves like moths to a flame, all for his sake. His looks were his weapon, his sweet words the bait—heroines obsessed over him, villains turned to madness for him. Shen Qingling became a true male siren, igniting battlefield after battlefield of women fighting for his affection. Years later, when System 077—now one of the elites—was asked how to become as outstanding as it, it lazily exhaled a smoke ring and replied: "Just know how to cheer ‘666’ at the right time."
his freshman year, Su Bai accidentally bound the "Indulgence Tycoon System." 【Sleeping in? Reward: +$1,000】 【Spent $288 at a street barbecue stall? Cashback: +$2,880】 【Dropped $14,396 on in-game skins? Special reward unlocked: A brand-new Porsche Panamera!】 Luxury cars, penthouses, corporate shares, financial empires… College life was all about living freely and doing whatever he pleased! … When the adorably naive academic genius faced family medical bills and financial struggles, Su Bai waved his hand dismissively: "Your future is on me." "Wuwu~ Big Brother is so good to me! I’ll become a scientist to repay you!" When the genius girl got bullied by a shady professor? Su Bai casually dropped a billion-dollar investment, forcing the university to grovel and beg for her return. A company’s funding chain collapsing? Su Bai smirked—cash was the one thing he’d never run out of. Years later, when people traced the rise of the AI prodigy beauty, who was the man behind her success? Not just that—Su Bai also became the tsundere campus belle’s unattainable dream, the contrast senior’s daily necessity, and the beautiful counselor’s emotional anchor…
e school belle recognized by the whole school, a genius girl from the kendo club. She also has a hidden identity, the youngest legendary demon hunter. Chen Shuo just transmigrated and found himself turned into a weak, helpless little vampire. He was caught by Su Xiyen and taken home at the very beginning. Since then, Chen Shuo's life creed only had two items. "First, classmate Su Xiyen is always right." "Second, if classmate Su Xiyen is wrong, please refer back to item one." Many years later, Chen Shuo, who had turned back into a human, led a pair of twins to appear in front of all the vampires to share the secret of how he turned back into a human. "It's simple, I tricked a female demon hunter into becoming my wife!"
