Outside the arena.
The massive water screen mirror nearly captured all of Yanyun's movements.
At the very least, she was holding her own against ten opponents without losing ground.
She keenly pinpointed her opponents' weaknesses.
Such top-tier combat strategy and meticulous execution undoubtedly showcased Yanyun's skill.
There was no commentary, but the spectators were all experts—their silent awe was the highest praise for Yanyun.
Lv Xuan, clearly pleased with his disciple's performance, tilted his head slightly upward, though his expression feigned dissatisfaction as he theatrically shook his head.
Bai Xuanling glanced sideways at Lv Xuan's smug demeanor and gave a faint shake of her head.
Yanyun's current performance was passable—if she hadn’t even reached this level, Bai Xuanling would have had to subject her to another round of her rigorous training regimen.
Otherwise, any future embarrassment would reflect poorly on Bai Xuanling herself.
Over at the Taidao Sect’s side.
The Taidao Sect’s leader observed Yanyun’s dazzling display, then glanced at Lv Xuan’s gloating expression before turning his gaze to his own disciple.
Yuyang’s eyes remained calm as he watched the events unfolding on the water screen.
The Taidao Sect leader smiled and asked, “Well? Confident?”
Yuyang looked at his master. “You mean about Yanyun?”
The Taidao Sect leader studied the water screen. “That bold, aggressive style—it does resemble Bai Xuanling’s flair from back in the day.”
Yuyang replied evenly, “Yanyun is skilled, but if we truly fought, the difference would be marginal. What concerns me is Chu Xingchen. Back at Mist Mystic Temple… I suspect he hasn’t revealed his full strength yet.”
“Yanyun may have gained a momentary upper hand with tactics, but it’s fleeting. The fact that Chu Xingchen hasn’t made a move yet—that’s likely Tianyan Sect’s real trump card.”
The Taidao Sect leader hesitated, then asked, “Did he pressure you that much during your last fight?”
They had reviewed the battle afterward, of course—after all, a sudden emergence of a top-tier prodigy warranted thorough documentation. But the conclusion was that the gap between him and Yuyang wasn’t significant, merely at the level of a core disciple.
Besides, Tianyan Sect had later claimed him. Given their reputation, such prowess wasn’t entirely unexpected.
Especially since it was Bai Xuanling who had acknowledged him.
Yuyang thought for a moment before answering, “The pressure wasn’t overwhelming… but during the fight, there was something… unsettling about him.”
Just as the Taidao Sect leader was about to press further, the water screen’s focus shifted to Chu Xingchen.
There he stood, unmoving, holding a slightly translucent spear, his expression as detached as the spectators’ as he watched Yanyun’s elegant maneuvers—as if none of it concerned him.
The screen lingered on him briefly, but Chu Xingchen remained still.
After a pause, the water screen returned to Yanyun.
But now, Yanyun was no longer the picture of grace.
The colossal phoenix that had once blotted out the sky had shattered. The ten Xiaoyun Hall disciples, wielding their spiritual treasures, began forming a formation. One of them swiftly dealt with Chen Wei, reducing it to ashes in moments.
Yanyun’s room to maneuver was shrinking.
In one-on-one exchanges, she could dominate any Xiaoyun Hall disciple, but she couldn’t press her advantage—she couldn’t even attack at full strength.
The moment she tried, supporting strikes would come from all sides, forcing her to block and retreat.
If she hesitated even slightly, breaking free from the encirclement would become nearly impossible.
And this was with three of the ten disciples keeping a vigilant watch on Chu Xingchen, who still hadn’t moved.
Yanyun’s movements occasionally grew erratic, her spiritual energy fluctuating wildly before settling again.
Clearly, she wasn’t yet accustomed to battling at suppressed cultivation levels under such intense pressure.
The battlefield had transformed into a sea of flames, the Xiaoyun Hall disciples darting through it, their figures becoming harder to track.
In just moments, Yanyun—who had been fighting with such finesse—suddenly found herself on the back foot.
At a glance, it seemed she was being relentlessly pummeled, unable to counterattack.
Several swift figures pursued her relentlessly, each gesture summoning waves of fire to assault her.
The Taidao Sect leader watched for a while before murmuring, “There really is something off about him. And he’s holding back so well.”
The situation had grown perilous—one misstep, and Yanyun could be completely overwhelmed.
But just as the Taidao Sect leader finished speaking—
Amid Yanyun’s desperate dodging and blocking, a translucent spear suddenly shot through the fiery waves, piercing straight toward one of the Xiaoyun Hall disciples.
Boom!
The flames surged violently as the disciple was sent flying.
The spear retracted just as swiftly, its form shifting mid-flight—with a mere twist, it transformed into a sword.
Yanyun’s gaze followed the blade.
A colossal Nascent Soul hand rose, summoning countless enlarged swords before gathering them into its grasp.
On the water screen—
Chu Xingchen’s Nascent Soul avatar stood tall, its icy gaze sweeping across the battlefield. Raising the sword named “Myriad Forms,” water materialized from thin air, coiling around the blade as a terrifying sword intent surged forth like a tidal wave.
The Nascent Soul’s motion was simple.
Lift the sword—
And slash down.
The three Xiaoyun Hall disciples who had been watching Chu Xingchen rushed forward, their own Nascent Souls manifesting behind them.
Working in unison, they conjured a massive wall of flames—seemingly ignited from the heavens—to block the descending sword.
The roiling sea of fire now seemed like mere embers, snuffed out in an instant.
The fiery barrier melted away like tofu, barely slowing the strike.
The sword intent obliterated everything in its path, dispersing the boiling flames.
Yanyun retreated at breakneck speed, sensing the overwhelming sword intent ruthlessly surging forward. Her eyes widened slightly as she stared at Chu Xingchen, standing at the center of his Nascent Soul avatar.
This was—
“Karma Nascent Soul?!”
The Taidao Sect leader’s brow furrowed, disbelief flickering across his face. “Someone actually managed to cultivate such a Nascent Soul? To be this audacious… No wonder he doesn’t train within Tianyan Sect.”
“Those who blindly submit to fate could never forge a self like this.”
“Still… what a bold move. What vision! Tianyan Sect… Lv Xuan… Bai Xuanling—none of them can be underestimated in the slightest.”
His gaze returned to the water screen, where the Nascent Soul phantom raised its sword for another slash before lifting a massive foot and stomping down without hesitation.
A terrifying shockwave rippled outward.
The ten Xiaoyun Hall disciples scrambled backward, evading Chu Xingchen’s assault—but one was still struck by the Nascent Soul’s blade.
Though “struck” wasn’t entirely accurate.
Before the sword even made contact, the disciple’s protective artifact activated.
The sword’s energy blasted through, sending both the disciple and his shield flying before he was teleported out of the arena.
The Taidao Sect's sect master instinctively stroked his beard, then turned his gaze to Yuyang and declared with certainty,
"Truly sinister... How could this power belong to a mere Nascent Soul cultivator?!"
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.”
u Chenyuan transmigrated into a female-oriented novel about a real and fake heiress, becoming the CEO elder brother of both. Unfortunately, the entire Lu family—including himself, the CEO—were mere cannon fodder in the story. Determined to save himself, Lu Chenyuan took action. The spoiled, attention-seeking fake heiress? Thrown into the harsh realities of the working class to learn humility. The love-struck real heiress? Pushed toward academic excellence, so lofty goals would blind her to trivial romances. As for the betrayed, vengeful arranged marriage wife… the plot hadn’t even begun yet. There was still time—if he couldn’t handle her, he could at least avoid her. "CEO Lu, are you avoiding me?" Mo Qingli fixed her gaze on Lu Chenyuan. For the first time, the shrewd and calculating Lu Chenyuan felt a flicker of unease.
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.
