After saying those two words, Xie Lingyu's gaze returned to what lay ahead.
Hearing her speak, Chu Xingchen turned to look at her.
He saw that her eyes were already fixed forward, her expression calm, as if the words she had just spoken were utterly ordinary.
But the Xie Lingyu of the past would never have said something so teasing.
Yet now was not the time for banter.
Chu Xingchen suppressed the urge to make a witty remark.
After all, Xie Lingyu was thin-skinned—if provoked, she really would strike, and he had no desire to end up like that tactless flood dragon, kicked halfway across the room.
Still, having grown accustomed to teasing his disciples, holding back his words now felt unnatural.
He lifted his gaze forward, pressing his lips together lightly.
Xie Lingyu watched the bustling crowd undeterred by the rain.
Life offered no respite, not even in the face of storms and calamity.
After walking for a while without hearing a word from Chu Xingchen beside her, she glanced at him again.
His expression was slightly solemn as he looked ahead, as if he hadn’t even heard her earlier remark.
In the past, he would have seized the opportunity to tease her with some infuriating comment.
Unable to resist, Xie Lingyu broke the silence. "What do you plan to do?"
Chu Xingchen raised an eyebrow and grinned. "Be a troublemaker."
"A troublemaker?!" Xie Lingyu shot him a dubious look.
Was there some hidden meaning to the term? Self-deprecation?
Chu Xingchen explained, "Achieving something is hard, but ruining it is as easy as drinking water."
"To put it simply, whatever our enemies want to accomplish, we just have to make sure they don’t."
"We’ll keep causing them problems—they’ll have to keep fixing them. Sooner or later, they’ll slip up."
"And since we have nothing to lose if we fail, while their failure could cost them everything, they’re the ones who should be worried."
Xie Lingyu frowned slightly, considering his words before realization dawned.
"You mean to start with the rebels in Xuanwu Kingdom?"
Chu Xingchen nodded. "More or less. No way we’re letting them have an easy time of it."
"I’ll split our forces—some will stay here to keep watch, so we don’t miss our chance if they try to flee. Meanwhile, I’ll lead a team to test their mettle."
Xie Lingyu quickly interjected, "You’re not thinking of intervening directly, are you? You know karma isn’t just an empty saying."
There was precedent—Bai Xuanling had once killed without hesitation, his bloodlust so overwhelming that now he spent more time suppressing his inner demons than cultivating.
Bai Xuanling’s will was unquestionably strong, yet even a cultivator of his caliber had succumbed to the consequences of excessive slaughter.
And despite the chaos in the heavens, the Tianyan Sect’s leader had divined Bai Xuanling’s tribulation with unwavering clarity: death and annihilation.
True, Bai Xuanling had killed many, some deserving, others casualties of sect conflicts.
The Tianyan Sect’s famed divination arts were, in essence, the study of cause and effect—karma was their foundation.
Yet knowing this didn’t stop them from defying fate when necessary. After all, what true cultivator would resign themselves to destiny?
Chu Xingchen shook his head lightly.
"I’m no demon. And how many of those rebels are just starving folk fighting for survival?"
"I’m only going to put my wits to work."
Xie Lingyu hesitated, suddenly unsure—compared to scheming, maybe direct action would be better.
Chu Xingchen glanced at her. "Good, since you agree, I’ll make arrangements. Before you arrived, we were short-handed—if I left, Li Xingtian and the others might not handle things well. But now it’s different."
"Qinghe’s a flood dragon at the Nascent Soul stage, and water veins are her domain. She’s perfect for guarding against sneak attacks."
"Though she doesn’t seem the brightest, and she’s a bit lazy."
"So I’ll have Li Xingtian stay too. He’s got a knack for ambushes and rarely makes mistakes—a good backup."
"I’ll take Li Yingling with me to Xuanwu Kingdom and look into the Xuanwu affair."
"As for you—stay in Cangzhou, or come with me?"
Over the great river, Li Yingling efficiently inspected the water veins while Li Xingtian meticulously mapped the terrain.
As for a certain flood dragon, she had long since vanished without a trace—likely napping somewhere in the depths.
Before disappearing, Qinghe had spouted nonsense so absurd it made Li Yingling want to laugh.
Excuses like "inspecting rare water veins" or "occasional underground currents," as if Li Yingling were too dim to see through the obvious lie.
Then she sank into the river and hadn’t resurfaced since.
But it didn’t matter. Li Yingling hadn’t expected Qinghe to actually help.
Two streaks of light approached swiftly from the distance.
Li Yingling and Li Xingtian glanced up before returning to their tasks.
It was Chu Xingchen and Xie Lingyu.
Chu Xingchen hovered above the river, scanning for a certain slacking flood dragon.
"Seen Qinghe?" he asked.
Li Yingling nodded. "She was here earlier. Probably deep underwater now."
Xie Lingyu’s expression remained unperturbed—if Qinghe had been working, that would’ve been the real surprise.
"Yingling, pack up. You’re coming with me," Chu Xingchen instructed before turning to Li Xingtian.
"Your ambush tactics are solid. Stay here with Qinghe—keep watch and finish the water vein maps."
"Master…" Li Xingtian sighed. "That flood dragon…"
He didn’t finish, but the meaning was clear—Qinghe was too unreliable.
He wasn’t skilled in water vein detection, and some ambush techniques required Nascent Soul-level power.
Chu Xingchen patted Xie Lingyu’s shoulder.
"I’ll leave Xie Lingyu’s token with you. That’ll make sure the flood dragon obeys—east, west, or even rolling in place if you order it."
Xie Lingyu responded with a sharp elbow to his ribs.
"Xie Lingyu’s token"? Really?
Li Xingtian watched as his master clutched his chest in exaggerated pain.
If only he’d mastered the art of dodging…
But with Xie Lingyu staying, he bowed.
"Please guide me, Senior Xie."
"Just mutual support," Xie Lingyu replied evenly before preparing to summon Qinghe.
Under the gaze of the crowd, Xie Lingyu retrieved a jade flute from her spatial ring and began to play a soft, melodious tune. The notes, amplified by spiritual energy, pierced effortlessly through the water's surface.
Within moments, Qinghe surged up from the riverbed and appeared before the group.
Just as Li Yingling and Li Xingtian were marveling at the flute's summoning power, Qinghe turned to Xie Lingyu with eager eyes and asked,
"Is it feeding time?"
Li Yingling gave a firm nod at Qinghe's words—now that was an impressive technique!
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!
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.
【Prologue: The Beginning of It All – Use holy water to heal the saintess tainted by demonic energy, then converse with her.】 Shen Nian stared at his older sister sipping yogurt, lost in thought. So you’re telling me my sister is the saintess, and yogurt is the holy water? 【Main Quest 1: Brave Youth, Become an Adventurer! Reward: Rookie Adventurer Title.】 【Side Quest 1: Find the Adorable Kitty! Reward: 1000 Gold Coins.】 Shen Nian: "Wait, I’m a high school senior here—did some guy who got isekai’d accidentally bind his system to me?" Hold on, completing quests gives gold rewards? Titles even boost stats? Is this for real? (A lighthearted, absurd campus comedy—not a revenge power fantasy.)
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?!
