Western Ox Continent, Huangliang City.
This once-prosperous city now teeters on the brink of collapse under the relentless assault of bloodthirsty, fearless demonic beasts.
The beasts are savage, and all communication has been cut off. Even when scraps of news manage to slip through, the most common response is—"Hold on, there's hope. Rescue efforts are being organized."
Which is basically just useless lip service.
Lizhi leans wearily against the city wall. To her left, a section of the wall is already half-collapsed. She absently traces the protective artifact in her hand, sensing its nearly depleted spiritual energy.
She hadn’t hoarded the life-saving pills Xu Jin gave her last time, distributing them instead to other gravely injured cultivators.
They had fought just as fiercely for this city. Lizhi had no reason—nor could she bear—to watch them die without lifting a finger.
Now, the remaining pills are almost gone.
Some questioned the origin of these miraculous pills, but Lizhi brushed them off with vague answers.
A few might have guessed the truth; others remained puzzled. But Lizhi’s actions up to now had earned everyone’s trust.
In the end, they could only accept it as a stroke of divine mercy—two extra chances at life.
Lately, the demonic beasts prowling the outskirts have multiplied. It’s as if someone has deliberately targeted this stubborn, inconvenient city, aiming to wipe it off the map.
"Feels like we’re damn well about to break," a rough male voice grumbles behind her.
Lizhi glances up to see a burly, scar-covered man hauling himself onto the wall. His gaze lingers on the civilians below, scavenging demonic beast carcasses for food.
A faint smile tugs at Lizhi’s lips.
"A fortune-teller once said I’m hard to kill. And some mighty cultivator promised I’d taste lychees one day. Haven’t had any yet."
The man lets out a dry chuckle, gripping the wall. After a long silence, he finally speaks.
"Lizhi, I’m no good with words—just honesty. Strictly speaking, you’ve already died once for Huangliang City. You’ve given everything. With that artifact, you could leave. Find a way to survive. Your talent’s too good to waste. Not all of us need to die here."
Lizhi shakes her head. "I don’t want to spend the rest of my life sleepless, regretting that I ran."
The man turns to her, conflicted. He opens his mouth, but no words come out. In the end, he just gives a heavy nod.
Her words strike deep.
He doesn’t want to leave either. That’s why he’s still here.
The two stand in silence until a sudden disturbance snaps them to attention.
Lizhi springs to her feet, eyes locked on the horizon.
Beyond the flat plains surrounding Huangliang City, a massive dust cloud rises, stretching for miles.
The man’s face pales.
"How many beasts is that?"
Even at the city’s peak strength, they’d never faced an onslaught like this. Now? It’s hopeless.
Lizhi presses her lips into a thin line. "Tell everyone to prepare."
The man doesn’t move. "This time, we won’t hold. No one would blame you for leaving."
Lizhi doesn’t answer, tightening her grip on the artifact.
"I’ll hold the first wave."
The man starts to protest—
Then a terrifying surge of Dao essence erupts from the sky behind them.
They whirl around.
A streak of rainbow light hurtles toward them.
At the same time, a brilliant azure beam shoots past, streaking straight for the approaching dust cloud.
Their eyes barely track it—
Then, an earth-shattering explosion.
The azure pillar pierces the heavens, its shockwave rippling across the land even from miles away.
Lizhi and the man gape as the wind howls around them, their clothes whipping violently.
When the light fades, the dust settles.
A sword scar cleaves the earth miles away, a canyon-like gash left in its wake.
Lizhi stands frozen, barely registering that she—and the city—have just been spared annihilation.
Only shock remains.
"Am I... dreaming?" she murmurs.
"Don’t think so."
The rainbow light lands behind them. Chu Xingchen steps forward, answering her whisper.
Lizhi spins around at the familiar voice, her face lighting up.
"Senior Chu!"
He smiles. "Long time no see. You’ve had it rough, huh?"
Lizhi nearly throws her arms around him before catching herself—Western Ox customs might not mesh with Central Continent restraint. Awkwardly, she lowers her hands.
Chu Xingchen notices and gives her shoulder a reassuring pat. "You’ve done well."
"Our home. Our fight. Can’t call that hardship." Her grin mirrors her old guide self. "If you hadn’t come, we’d have been done for."
He nods. "Timing worked out."
Gratitude swells in her chest—for the artifact that saved her, for Chu Xingchen’s last-minute rescue. Words fail her.
Then, mischief flickers in her eyes. She gives him a once-over.
"Knew you were lying before. No Core Formation cultivator could’ve cut like that."
Chu Xingchen arches a brow. "Can’t a man improve? I’m a Nascent Soul cultivator now."
Lizhi squints. "That power... Nascent Soul?"
"Ever met one?"
"...No."
"Then there you go. Central Continent Nascent Souls are built different. Visit someday—you’ll see."
Something still feels off, but with no frame of reference, she lets it slide with a laugh. Then, remembering:
"You’re here for Senior Xu, right? He went to Bodhisattva Barbarian territory—left a while ago. If it’s urgent, don’t linger on our account. Your mission matters more."
She gestures at the city. "We Western Ox folk can handle ourselves."
Chu Xingchen’s smile deepens. "This time, you—all of Western Ox—are the mission."
Lizhi blinks.
Without explaining, he motions behind him.
She follows his gaze—
And gasps.
The sky darkens under an endless tide of cultivators’ rainbow lights.
More than the beast horde.
More than she’s ever seen.
All here, today, for Western Ox.
As the sea of light descends, Chu Xingchen says:
"We are all human, no different whether from the Central Plains or the Western Ox-Horn Continent."
"Since we are human, it is only natural that we stand together against our foes."
"This world may have those who turn a blind eye, but there will always be those who step forward."
"Do not lose heart—now it is our turn to act."
Lizhi nodded firmly, her large eyes glistening with tears, her face radiant with a bright smile.
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!
tions: attribute allocation, analysis, proficiency, and simulation. Specializing in mechanical alchemy, from crafting sorcerous battle armor to handcrafting mechanical maidens, his mechanical legion conquers endless realms... Relying on his wits, he begins with a student-teacher romance, wins over a female director, enslaves a female assassin and a underworld queen, becoming the husband of a Grand Duchess... He enslaves the Goddess of Magic from the divine realm, developing his power simultaneously in both the Wizard World and the Realm of Gods...
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?!
close your eyes and open them again, only to find yourself transmigrated into the role of a villainous male supporting character. Readers familiar with urban wish-fulfillment novels know that it is only through the relentless antics of the villainous male supporting character that the plot between the male and female leads can progress. As the villainous male supporting character, Long Aotian not only has to bully the female lead, harass the second female lead, and flirt with the third female lead, but he also has to go all out to antagonize the male lead. In the end, when his body is discovered, he is still clutching half a moldy fried dough stick in his hand. Fully aware of the plot, Long Aotian is determined to change his fate, starting with the female lead! In the beginning, the female lead lacks confidence: "Big brother, I hope I didn't scare you?" In the middle, the female lead treads carefully: "Brother Long, please don't hit me, okay?" Later on, the female lead becomes coquettishly clingy: "Aotian, it's time to pay the 'public grain' tonight." Long Aotian's legs go weak, and he feels like crying: "I taught you to be thick-skinned, not shameless!"
