Glasses clinked, laughter and cheerful banter filled the air.
The more beautiful something is, the more fleeting it tends to be—gone in the blink of an eye.
At the very least, Qinghe still felt unsatisfied and was subtly hinting to Cui Hao to suggest another round of games tonight.
Last night’s Monopoly session had been a losing streak for Qinghe… well, more accurately, Qinghe hadn’t won a single game.
The penalties were amusing, but Qinghe ended up bearing the brunt of them.
Say what you will about Qinghe, but they were a good sport. Though they might grumble a little when rolling a bad dice, they carried out the penalties without hesitation, putting in full effort.
The kind who could take a loss gracefully.
They were also a great hype person, contributing plenty of their own unique laughter to the atmosphere.
San Dong joined in for a round too, though they seemed a bit clueless while playing. But as the sect’s mascot, the others naturally cut them some slack.
And so, the grand sect gathering came to a perfect close.
The next day, at noon.
Sect Main Hall.
Chu Xingchen glanced sideways at Li Yingling. "Master has a question for you."
"Cultivation requires a balance of work and rest."
"...Do you really think that’s what I wanted to ask?"
Li Yingling shook her head calmly, a faint, carefree smile on her lips.
"Of course not. I just wanted to say that line."
No wonder Master loved preaching about balancing cultivation and leisure—once you reached a certain level, saying it really gave off an air of effortless superiority.
Like a top student claiming, "I just listen casually in class, play all day after school, and copy my homework."
My "casual" is a realm you could never hope to reach.
But before Li Yingling could bask in that feeling for long, Chu Xingchen abruptly reached out and flicked her forehead.
A crisp thwack—proof of a fine, solid skull.
Li Yingling clutched her forehead, eyes slightly aggrieved as she looked at Chu Xingchen. "Why’d you hit me?"
Chu Xingchen replied calmly, "Because you started talking nonsense."
"And Master, were you making sense?" Li Yingling retorted, shedding all dignity befitting a Nascent Soul cultivator, her tone equally aggrieved. "You asked, so of course I answered!"
"Shouldn’t I, as your master, respect my head disciple’s choices?"
"If I said ‘no,’ would you really drop it?"
"No. I’d flick you again so you understand just how heavy the virtue of respecting one’s master truly is."
Li Yingling fell silent for a moment. If "respecting one’s master" was described as "heavy"... then yes, it was indeed very heavy.
She quickly adapted, her tone so earnest it bordered on theatrical:
"Master, please ask away. This disciple will hold nothing back, sparing no detail."
Chu Xingchen ignored her exaggerated tone and instead pulled out a sheet of paper, writing down three words with his brush:
[Fortune’s Favor]
[Peerless Beauty]
[Keen Wit]
Li Yingling’s eyes followed the strokes of his brush, watching as her master finished writing. She lifted her gaze, a hint of pride in her voice.
"Is this Master’s summary of me? Quite fitting, I’d say."
Chu Xingchen ignored her self-praise and instead asked, "If you could upgrade one of these three, which would you choose?"
Li Yingling didn’t press further—perhaps wary of another lesson in the "weight" of respecting her master—and instead lowered her head, contemplating the three words.
First, "Peerless Beauty." Upgrading it wouldn’t change much. She was already stunning beyond compare; any further improvement would be negligible.
As her master would say, the cost-benefit ratio just wasn’t worth it.
As for "Keen Wit"...
Li Yingling prided herself on being second only to her master in intelligence. Most of the fools she encountered in the sect were so dim-witted that debating with them felt like lecturing pigs.
If her wit improved further, wouldn’t arguing with them feel like lecturing ants?
Leaving aside how much smarter she’d become, she wasn’t sure she could tolerate the sheer density of idiocy in the world.
Her gaze lingered on the final option—[Fortune’s Favor].
After all, who would ever complain about having too much luck?
Though Li Yingling already considered herself incredibly fortunate, wouldn’t a little extra be even better?
"If I had to pick, I’d upgrade Fortune’s Favor."
She didn’t know why her master was asking about such abstract things, but after careful consideration, she gave her answer.
Chu Xingchen nodded lightly. "You’re sure?"
"Why wouldn’t I be?" Li Yingling looked up curiously. "Master, what’s the point of this?"
"None. I was just curious if you were vain or arrogant." Chu Xingchen shrugged. "Turns out you just like dumb luck."
Li Yingling huffed. "Who doesn’t like dumb luck? Most people would kill for it. Don’t tell me you don’t, Master?"
Chu Xingchen leisurely rose to his feet, heading for the door.
"As long as you’re happy. Even though you’ve reached the Nascent Soul realm, as your master, I must remind you to keep practicing and strive for greater heights."
Li Yingling watched him go, sensing something oddly off about her master today.
Was this… some roundabout way of warning her not to get complacent?
Her eyes fell on the note left on the table, lost in thought.
Chu Xingchen stepped outside, greeted by the gentle noon sunlight.
[Target: Li Yingling]
[Cultivation: Early Nascent Soul]
[Golden Trait: Genius of Cultivation]
[Orange Trait: Heaven’s Fortune]
[Blue Trait: Peerless Beauty]
[Blue Trait: Keen Wit]
[White Trait: Confidence]
Though blessed by heaven’s fortune, caution was never amiss. Nothing in this world was absolute—there was always room for the unexpected.
Chu Xingchen glanced back, seeing Li Yingling still staring at the note on the table.
He chuckled softly, then turned and walked away without another word.
[Quest Complete]
[Reward: Mountain and River Diagram has been placed in the system inventory.]
Chu Xingchen’s carefree stride faltered. He silently opened his system inventory and examined the so-called reward—the Mountain and River Diagram.
Well…
How to put it? At first glance, the diagram was clearly no ordinary artifact. Chu Xingchen could roughly discern the flow of spiritual veins, with faint shifts visible now and then.
This meant it was, at the very least, a reliable real-time map of spiritual energy currents.
But that was likely just its most basic function—its true potential would require further study.
However… the thing looked like a child had torn a piece of paper in a tantrum. The diagram was visibly ripped, with many spiritual vein paths abruptly cut off at the jagged edges.
What was this?
Such a lofty name—Mountain and River Diagram—only to be a half-finished, torn scrap?
But then—
[Main Quest Issued]
[Have any disciple break through to the Divine Transformation realm]
[Reward: Mountain and Sea Diagram]
Chu Xingchen instantly understood.
Mountain and Sea Diagram? No—this was clearly Mountain and River Diagram: Part Two!
Was the system really so starved for rewards that it had to split one into two?
Would there be an Earth and Sea Diagram waiting for him after this?
Tch.
Li Yingling raised her head just in time to catch sight of her master’s slightly displeased and brooding figure walking away.
What…?
Had she been too smug? Or was her talent still somewhat lacking in her master’s eyes?
If you can’t find the book by its title, try searching for the author—it might have just been renamed!
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?!
ine. During your journey, you save an abandoned baby girl and become her elder brother】 【You rely on each other, becoming each other's support】 【At the end of the simulation, you shield the now-grown girl with your life, sacrificing yourself to block numerous demonic cultivators. You die, and the light in the girl's eyes fades】 …… 【Second Simulation: You are transported to a world where steam and magic coexist】 【You immerse yourself in the study of magic, obsessed with its research. One day, while out, you encounter a half-blooded demon girl wandering the streets. You take her in as your student】 【You teach the demoness what it means to be human, show her the beauty of the world, and nurture her into a miracle that surpasses even the gods】 【At the end of the simulation, you die of old age in front of the nearly immortal demoness due to your mortal lifespan】 …… One simulation after another, one encounter after another. Xu Xi suddenly felt something was off: "Wait, you said you're coming to the real world to find me?"
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, 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?"
