Inside the Mist Mystic Temple.
Yuyang's expression was calm as he gazed at Zhang Daotan.
At this moment, Zhang Daotan was enveloped in a surge of devotion power, his face cold as frost. When Yuyang had not yet made a move, Zhang Daotan had only sensed an extremely serene Dao rhythm emanating from him—like gentle water, the highest praise the Daoist tradition could bestow upon one's cultivation.
But the moment Yuyang stirred slightly, that Dao rhythm instantly transformed into raging waves, as if threatening to drown him in the next instant.
This was not a suppression born of spiritual power, but a sheer hierarchical domination.
The long-dormant Yuyang now revealed the brilliance of his former days.
Behind him, a swirling Tai Chi Yin-Yang symbol materialized, and his spiritual power spread throughout the hall, pressing down like a mountain upon Zhang Daotan.
Zhang Daotan could only sense the crushing weight of Yuyang’s spiritual energy—so heavy that even the air he breathed seemed to turn against him, assaulting his body. He chose to hold his breath, ceasing to inhale.
After reaching the Golden Core stage, breathing was no longer a necessity, merely a habit retained from mortal life.
Yuyang’s eyes lowered slightly as he raised a hand, sealing the surrounding space with intangible spiritual force. His voice was soft, almost a murmur:
"I wondered why… So you’ve abandoned your Dao heart in pursuit of external power."
Zhang Daotan took a deep breath, suppressing the turmoil in his heart. The moment Yuyang summoned him, he had immediately prepared for battle.
An outsider might assume Yuyang had uncovered some damning evidence.
But Zhang Daotan knew—this was nothing but a bluff.
He clasped his hands in feigned reverence, his tone laced with confusion:
"I’m afraid I don’t understand… what Daoist Yuyang means."
Yuyang asked no further questions. His figure flickered forward, and the Yin-Yang Tai Chi behind him instantly enclosed the entire hall.
He had given Zhang Daotan a chance. If he refused to speak, he would be dragged back to the Taidao Sect to answer.
If he resisted to the death, then he could explain himself to the underworld.
Yuyang had come alone to the Mist Mystic Temple precisely because he was prepared for this confrontation from the start.
He always planned for the worst.
Zhang Daotan’s spiritual senses screamed in alarm—Yuyang was serious!
Facing a man who had once shaken the Central Continent with his name, Zhang Daotan unleashed his full power immediately. The jade pendant at his waist flared with light, transforming into a pristine jade sword in an instant.
The world believed the Taidao Sect supported the Mist Mystic Temple.
But in truth, the Taidao Sect had not spent a single spirit stone, nor had they ever publicly declared their protection.
They had done only one thing—given the Mist Mystic Temple a set of techniques the Taidao Sect deemed mediocre.
No one could trace which elder had been charmed into handing it over.
Yet, armed with this single manual, the Mist Mystic Temple had carved its place in the Central Continent.
Zhang Daotan knew the techniques he had mastered were laughable in the eyes of Yuyang—but they were his strongest weapons.
His expression remained calm as he gripped the jade sword and swung his most confident strike.
Space itself seemed to freeze as a blade of light tore through the void. Before Zhang Daotan even completed his motion, a force capable of annihilating heaven and earth surged toward Yuyang.
Yet Yuyang simply reached out, as if caught off guard.
But Zhang Daotan knew—there was no way Yuyang hadn’t anticipated this.
Still… what did it matter?
His gaze remained steady. He had trained this technique for centuries.
To his eyes, it was perfection itself. The only thing left was endless refinement.
But the more he studied, the more he realized the genius behind its creation—how unimaginably gifted its inventor must have been.
And yet, to the Taidao Sect, such a technique was disposable.
So now, this was his only chance.
He wanted to see—just what kind of spectacle was the Taidao Sect’s core technique, the Great Taiyi Divine Art?
Zhang Daotan’s eyes widened, fixed intently on Yuyang.
A soft chuckle echoed through the hall.
Horror flashed across Zhang Daotan’s face—not because he had witnessed the Great Taiyi Divine Art, but because he hadn’t.
Yuyang’s only response to his centuries-honed strike was that faint laugh.
His bare hand seized the technique meant to obliterate all things.
A surge of spiritual power erupted from Yuyang’s grasp, shattering the great hall. Unrestrained, the terrifying force crashed into the mountain-protecting formation.
Zhang Daotan, standing close, felt only a ripple of ordinary spiritual energy.
The strike that could have leveled mountains was effortlessly neutralized by Yuyang’s raw power and some unfathomable method.
Zhang Daotan finally completed his swing—but silence followed.
The blade had been intercepted before it even descended.
A bitter laugh nearly escaped him.
Had he spent his whole life cultivating honestly, he would never have earned a glance from someone like Yuyang.
Even as the sect master of Mist Mystic Temple, even as a genius who had defeated countless cultivators.
Truly… the path of immortality was meaningless.
Zhang Daotan inhaled deeply, listening to the tolling of the mountain bell as the protective formation activated.
There was no turning back now.
To survive, he at least had to escape the grasp of Yuyang—a man once unrivaled in his own generation.
With his own strength, it was impossible.
So…
The diamond-shaped fragment in his divine consciousness blazed brighter, and the boundless devotion power in his spiritual sea began to boil.
Though the erosion of the divine fragment remained unresolved, this was his last hope.
Even if he still failed in the end.
Zhang Daotan wanted to see—just what was the Great Taiyi Divine Art?
Boom!
A section of the Mist Mystic Temple’s mountain-protecting formation was suddenly struck. Yuyang’s divine sense swiftly traced the source—only to find a mere Nascent Soul cultivator.
Was this Zhang Daotan’s backup?
Finally, a contingency plan. But what could a Nascent Soul cultivator accomplish?
At that level, they couldn’t even breach the formation.
Yuyang’s expression remained indifferent as he prepared to subdue Zhang Daotan first.
Then his head snapped toward the mountain gate.
His gaze locked onto a small, unassuming sword of flowing water.
The sword emitted no sound, no violent spiritual fluctuations, not even a glimmer of light—as if it were nothing more than a basic water-condensing technique conjured by a Foundation Establishment cultivator.
Yet the moment this water sword touched the mountain-protecting formation…
It sliced through like tofu, blasting a gaping hole in the barrier.
A pillar of radiant spiritual light shot into the sky.
Yuyang’s eyes narrowed. His divine sense probed deeper, quickly detecting a figure—a white-robed man hovering mid-air, his face hidden behind a comical monkey mask.
The spiritual energy radiating from him was unmistakable.
That was... the spiritual essence and Dao rhythm of an opponent!
A faint smile crept onto Yuyang Daoist's face.
This... was more like it!
Though he had no idea where Mist Mystic Temple had found such a person...
At last, he had encountered someone worthy of drawing his sword against.
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.
ap a wealthy young lady? Or else I'll be eliminated by the system? Ye Feng, who awakened the Kidnapper System, originally wanted to live a peaceful life but never imagined he would become a kidnapper of young women. However, after some time, he discovered that all the girls the system ordered him to kidnap were far from ordinary. "Big brother Ye Feng~ You've kidnapped my heart, and now you're not allowed to leave me ever again~" "Ye Feng~ You kidnapped me back then, now it's my turn to capture you♡" "Little Feng, you're mine! You can only be mine!" "Ye Feng, none of them deserve you. Only I love you the most♡" ... This is madness, they've all gone mad! Wait, what? Why are all the girls I kidnapped yanderes?!
. As long as he maintains the villain image and follows the plot to the grand finale, he can obtain generous rewards and return to the real world. So Gu Chen'an entered the role and began to act as a scumbag villain, but who would have expected that the female leads could hear his inner thoughts. Miss Su from the Su family was shocked: "I originally thought Gu Chen'an was a scumbag, but I didn't expect he turned out to be a gentleman! What? You said I have to call off the engagement? I definitely won't, I'll piss you off!" Bai Yuan Tian was dumbfounded: "Young Master Gu is usually unreasonable and a complete brat, but he actually calls me little sweetie in his heart? What, Young Master Gu even said he likes me?" As the female leads' images collapsed more and more, the plot also collapsed with it. Gu Chen'an looked at all this chaos. "Ladies, don't aggro me, if you keep this up the male lead really will stab me, I still need to survive to the grand finale!"
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."
