Lin Luoyu was naturally present as well. Compared to the others, whose trust was mixed with a hint of worry, she appeared much more composed.
It wasn't that she didn't care about Li Yingling, but rather that Lin Luoyu had absolute confidence in her eldest martial sister.
Li Yingling had polished her cultivation at the peak of the Nascent Soul realm for a long time. Her breakthrough to the Soul Formation realm this time was naturally a matter of course.
The one who felt Li Yingling's profound cultivation most intimately was not Chu Xingchen, but Lin Luoyu.
Besides cultivating, Li Yingling had also taken over some of the matters Chu Xingchen originally handled. At the same time, she was responsible for receiving updates on Li Junzi's current situation.
After all, the path of a Sub-Sage would inevitably encroach upon the interests of established groups.
Naturally, Lin Luoyu temporarily assisted Li Yingling in handling these matters. This allowed her to receive news about Li Junzi immediately and make the necessary arrangements.
After all, not only was Li Junzi familiar with Lin Luoyu, but Lin Luoyu also knew Li Junzi well and understood exactly what needed to be done.
During this period, Lin Luoyu had spent a lot of time with Li Yingling, personally witnessing how her senior sister's Nascent Soul cultivation had steadily improved step by step.
She sensed that Li Yingling's spiritual energy fluctuations were becoming increasingly faint; later on, if one didn't deliberately probe for it, it would almost be subconsciously ignored.
Then there was the Dao rhyme on Li Yingling's body...
Lin Luoyu found it hard to describe exactly what kind of elevation that was.
If she had to describe it...
It easily reminded Lin Luoyu of her own breakthrough to the Nascent Soul realm a few years ago.
At that time, almost everyone in the sect who could come had gathered. Her master hadn't shown much reaction back then, offering only ordinary instructions and praise, along with a grand celebratory banquet.
However, what deeply moved Lin Luoyu was the heart-to-heart talk her master had with her at the very end.
Five years ago, after Lin Luoyu broke through to the Nascent Soul realm, just as the sect-wide gathering was about to disperse.
"No, no! We've barely started! The sun isn't even up yet, why are we dispersing! Lingyu! Lingyu! Let's keep going... don't leave!"
Qinghe's reluctant pleas to stay were loud and full of attachment.
Lin Luoyu turned her head slightly, only to see Qinghe standing straight as a board, her feet wishing they could root into the dirt, while both of her hands tightly gripped Xie Lingyu's arm.
It was already common knowledge that Xie Lingyu was their master's wife. If the master's wife didn't want the party to end, the others naturally couldn't leave either.
But it was obvious that Xie Lingyu was not easily swayed. Not only was she not soft-hearted, but her methods were also quite tough.
"Wah! It hurts, it hurts! Qinghe's ears are going to fall off!"
Xie Lingyu's movements were crisp and clean. She reached back and pinched Qinghe's ear, grabbing Qinghe's horn with her other hand. With a synchronized pull, Qinghe's shameless stalling tactics naturally failed.
Naturally, Qinghe wasn't the only lively one.
Once the happy times were over, the time for settling scores naturally followed.
"Cui Hao! Have you been slacking off in your cultivation lately?"
Li Yingling's voice was only slightly softer than the reluctant Qinghe's. Her tone was filled with the frustration of iron failing to become steel. As for whether there was an intention to settle scores, perhaps only the eldest martial sister herself knew.
"How would I dare, Eldest Senior Sister! It's just that my talent is far inferior to yours, and my tasks are heavy. But I promise I spend all my remaining time cultivating! I haven't dared to delay at all! Eldest Senior Sister! You have to believe me!"
"Believe what! Luoyu has already reached the Nascent Soul realm. You joined the sect on the same day as her, so why are you still dawdling around the mid-to-late stages of the Golden Core realm! I think you really lack tempering! Let your Eldest Senior Sister teach you a good lesson!"
Faced with this interrogation, Cui Hao seemed to hear Li Yingling's underlying threat, so he unleashed his ultimate move:
"Master! Save me!"
Lin Luoyu then heard her master beside her speak in a somewhat helpless tone:
"That's enough, Yingling. Your junior brother is currently gaining worldly experience, so it's normal for his cultivation progress to be a bit slow. Hasn't his previously superficial aura become much more solid now?"
A master was a master, after all. Li Yingling's tone softened:
"For Master's sake, I'll spare you this time. But if Yun Li reaches the Nascent Soul realm and you still haven't, you won't have any more excuses!"
Watching Cui Hao give his profuse thanks and guarantee that there would be no problems, Lin Luoyu chuckled softly.
Chu Xingchen's voice was calm and gentle:
"Let's go."
"Alright." Lin Luoyu nodded lightly.
After the gathering dispersed, her master called her back alone, expressing that he had some things he wanted to discuss with her.
Lin Luoyu naturally had no reason to refuse.
She followed her master's footsteps. He didn't walk very far; they didn't even leave the Loving Family Peak.
He simply found a cliff illuminated by the moonlight.
Her master sat down on the cliff first. As he calmly looked up at the bright moon, he gently patted the spot next to him.
Lin Luoyu sat down beside him.
Her master spoke in a teasing tone:
"You've reached the Nascent Soul realm. Back in the Southern Zhanbu Continent, you could already be an ancestor founding your own sect."
"Indeed." Lin Luoyu also smiled and nodded. "It's all thanks to Master's nurturing."
"I didn't nurture much. Your journey here has relied on your own talent and hard work."
Lin Luoyu looked at the bright moon and softly exhaled, saying:
"Master, at first I was worried that I was an idiot when it came to cultivation, and that I would never have the chance to step onto the immortal path in this life. That was before I met you, Master. Before I met Teacher Li, I was just a child who wanted a full meal."
"Meeting the people you are meant to meet is actually very difficult, so... I am also very lucky."
"I met Teacher Li, and I met you, Master."
"You both treated me incredibly well and guided me through my most confusing times."
Hearing this, Chu Xingchen shifted his gaze to Lin Luoyu, who wore a nostalgic expression:
"Do you miss your Teacher Li?"
Lin Luoyu nodded straightforwardly and replied:
"Although I know she is doing well, I still worry that her path might not be smooth."
"The path of a Sub-Sage... Teacher Li originally hoped that I would be the one to try walking it."
Chu Xingchen neither agreed nor denied it, but instead asked:
"I spoke with Teacher Li before. She already has an answer in her heart; right now, she is merely verifying that answer."
"As for the path of the Sub-Sage, your Teacher Li naturally hoped she could be the one to fully understand it, rather than you. She just felt her abilities were insufficient. But facts have proven that she underestimated herself."
"Besides this, I also talked with Teacher Li about your childhood."
"Linjiagou... It seems your parents were not originally from Linjiagou, so you had no relatives there. That's why you were bullied as a child, with no one to stand up for you."
Lin Luoyu paused upon hearing this, staring blankly at the bright moon. After a moment, she slowly said:
"Mhm... But I've forgotten what my father and mother looked like."
"All I can remember is that the wind was very cold, the rain was very heavy, I was very hungry, and we had to go to a different place every day."
"My mother always told me to be quiet, sometimes gently, sometimes urgently."
"Thinking about it carefully, we were probably fleeing from a famine, or perhaps something had happened."
"The thing my mother said most often was—no matter what happens in the future, don't steal, don't rob, and try your best not to do bad things."
"It seemed like there was a reason my mother specifically instructed me this way, but I can't remember what that reason was anymore."
"Later on, I didn't know how I ended up in Linjiagou, nor did I know how my mother came to leave me."
"As for my father..."
Lin Luoyu paused. After a long moment, she ultimately couldn't bring herself to say anything more, though her eyes grew slightly red.
Chu Xingchen asked gently, "Do you dream about them?"
Lin Luoyu gave a slight nod. "I do."
"Nightmares?"
"They are nightmares, which is why I didn't retain such deep memories of that time," Lin Luoyu said with a soft smile. "Even though I sometimes realize I am a cultivator in those dreams, I still can't change a single thing."
"But dream after dream, they keep reminding me."
"Reminding me to do my utmost to do what is right."
"I don't hate these nightmares, even if they can be truly frightening at times."
"Perhaps it's because my mother is in them."
"Perhaps she still worries that I'm not doing well, which is why she always visits me in my dreams."
"Or perhaps it's just me wanting to tell her that I am strong enough not to be bullied anymore."
Hearing this, Chu Xingchen fell silent for a moment, as if he too had been swept up in his own memories.
Together, the two of them gazed silently at the bright moon.
ive and Ruthless] Before his transmigration, Ye Xuan was playing a game called "Severing Emotions to Attain the Dao." The game's core wasn't about leveling up by fighting monsters, but about conquering various "bad women" with wicked personalities and cold, fickle natures. There was only one method to conquer them: stay unwaveringly by their side, then die at a critical moment, driving them to madness after losing the protagonist. The higher their level of regret, the higher the player's score. To dominate the server, Ye Xuan conquered all the bad women. In the early stages, he showered them with boundless tenderness, only to choose to sacrifice himself for them later, making them weep bitterly and drown in regret. Among them were: Xia Lengyue, the unfaithful immortal wife who chased after powerful men and discarded her husband like trash. Ye Qingcheng, the Demonic Venerable of the Joyous Union Sect, who appeared pure and innocent but was, in reality, promiscuous. Wu Lingxiao, the Empress of the Great Xia Dynasty, who lusted after men and loved maintaining a harem. Bai Qiangu of the Endless Demonic Sect: a bloodthirsty mass murderer. However, when the protagonist transmigrated into the game world, he made a horrifying discovery. Eight hundred years had already passed. The bad women he had conquered had now each become deities and revered ancestors. Faced with the endless stream of toxic women coming for him, Ye Xuan could only rely on his god-tier acting skills to carve a path of survival through this world of treacherous women.
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!"
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."
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?!
