Western Bull Continent, Mount Wanqing.
A stretch of mountains covered only in parched rock and sparse patches of green, dotted with scattered, stunted trees.
A few bizarre creatures lurked there—six-armed, long-headed, tall and gaunt—their bodies coated in dried, mud-like armor that clung to their forms. They kept most of their bodies hidden in this lifeless, barren land.
They did not move a single inch. From a distance, nothing could be seen at all.
Sand flew light, wind blew heavy; gravel and stone scraped and clattered.
It seemed this was the only sound in the whole place—the most monotonous noise imaginable.
But in a single instant, a brilliant light descended from the heavens.
Pure white radiance fell, a thousand peaks standing below, and behind it, a terror of unimaginable might.
There was no time to react. One glance at the rainbow light and it came crashing down before anyone could even process what they were seeing.
This blow never even aimed. It was as if someone simply struck at random.
The supreme power of the Transcendence Tribulation realm revealed itself in that one casual strike. The continuous expanse of Mount Wanqing was slashed clean in half.
"Slashed in half" was not quite accurate, though—because the energy that scattered from the blow simply erased roughly half the mountain range from existence, carving out an extremely deep canyon in its place.
As the light faded.
Several golden Buddhist lights descended from the sky's edge, circling the ruined Mount Wanqing to search, beginning to handle whatever remnants had escaped the strike.
Above the clouds.
Chu Xingchen raised his hand slightly, and the myriad light converged in an instant, transforming back into a translucent longsword. The terrible pressure lingered without fading.
The aftershock cleared. Deep within the canyon carved into Mount Wanqing, an underground stream surged upward, beginning to fill the hollow.
"The Western Bull Continent lacks water," Chu Xingchen said calmly, his gaze turning toward the Huawu Buddha beside him. "Give it a few years and this place will turn out just fine. But with those demons lurking here doing who knows what, it's better to have this water source investigated."
Huawu Buddha nodded gently. "Leave the rest to us."
Chu Xingchen raised a hand and sheathed his sword, then turned his gaze toward Lizhi, who stood nearby, peeking around with wide-eyed shock.
This trip to the Western Bull Continent wasn't just a casual walk and sightseeing. He had to contribute—especially by leaving behind a lingering personal spiritual aura and the flavor of his divine technique in places like this.
Freedom-loving, bored cultivators would come to investigate later and say that Chu Xingchen and the Buddhist sect had joined forces to slay demons.
Or the Buddhist sect would promote it themselves, showing the world their true kindness and purity, proving they would never collude with the heavenly demons.
So this time, Chu Xingchen had to act. And he had to act big—even if it was all for trifling matters.
Lizhi also stood on the clouds, staring at the terrifying Dao resonance still rolling down below. She swallowed hard.
Holy shit.
Lizhi had seen with her own eyes how Chu Xingchen had only touched the sword with the tip of his finger upon arrival—no charging up, not even a second glance. And that was enough to unleash such a devastating strike.
That level of power was something Lizhi wouldn't even dare dream of.
Chu Xingchen glanced at Lizhi, then said in a soft voice:
"Let's go. Time to head back."
"Oh, oh." Lizhi nodded hurriedly.
Zhengyin Dharma Temple.
Returning to the temple, once no senior Buddhist figures were around, Lizhi slipped back into her usual manner and exclaimed:
"Boss! You're insane!"
"Just average. If you train hard, you can get there too."
"Really? You think that highly of me, Boss?"
"I think highly of your self-awareness. And judging by what you just said, I guess I overestimated you."
"Boss?!"
"I'm joking. You're the genius of the Western Bull Continent—Lizhi, the Golden Core Grand Cultivator. Of course I believe in you."
"Really, Boss? Don't mess with me just because I'm simple."
Chu Xingchen smiled. Using his reputation to get them in, he led Lizhi toward the Great Hall of the temple:
"I've brought you to Zhengyin Dharma Temple for nine days now. You've seen quite a few big scenes, right?"
Lizhi's expression instantly tensed:
"Boss, I think you're about to tell me something that's not good news for me."
Chu Xingchen nodded in satisfaction. "Good. Very sharp. My faith in you just went up. As you guessed, tomorrow I'm heading to the Eastern Divine Continent. From now on, you'll be taking over things here."
Lizhi's eyes went wide. Over the past few days, she had indeed met many great cultivators with Chu Xingchen and witnessed plenty of terrifying displays of power from both the Buddhist sect and Chu Xingchen.
She had even successfully upgraded her title for Chu Xingchen to "Boss."
But besides that, Lizhi truly had no idea what she was supposed to do. Chu Xingchen had never explained it to her.
She'd thought he wasn't explaining because he wouldn't leave so soon—that these days were just to let her get used to the atmosphere. But she never imagined that if Chu Xingchen didn't explain, he simply wouldn't explain at all.
Lizhi quickly spoke up: "Boss, don't joke around. All I've seen these past days is you unleashing heaven-shattering power. Other than that, I haven't seen anything."
"I don't even know what I'm supposed to do now. I can't just sit around as a decorative ornament in front of the Buddha, right? Boss, you know I can't sit still."
Chu Xingchen looked at Lizhi's flustered face and chuckled:
"A decorative Lizhi? That does have a certain style."
"Boss... this isn't the time for jokes. Or are you actually still joking with me right now?"
"Do I joke around a lot?"
"That's not the point..."
Chu Xingchen reached out and patted Lizhi on the shoulder, speaking earnestly:
"I already told you what to do before this—just look into the flow of faith energy. If you see any Buddhist temples in the Western Bull Continent you don't like, go pick a fight with them and take a look around. It's basically the same job you had as a patrol officer."
"These past few days, I've been showing you the world so you wouldn't be scared of cultivators stronger than you—especially those Nascent Soul monks. Just remember: you're Lizhi, the one who dared to joke around with the Buddha himself."
Lizhi followed Chu Xingchen's footsteps but didn't dare to respond to that last remark.
No other reason.
In the middle of their banter, the two had already walked into the Great Hall, right up to the revered Buddha Runande.
Never mind whether Runande could hear their conversation from in front of the temple gate—right now, the two were standing right in front of him, and Chu Xingchen's words were already dangerous enough to bring trouble.
Lizhi met Runande's unreadable gaze, thought it over, and spoke with a guilty tone:
"I wasn't joking around... I was just disagreeing."
Runande turned his gaze to Chu Xingchen, deliberately not picking up the messy thread of conversation. He knew that if he dared to respond, Chu Xingchen would dare to continue the exchange. Better to avoid giving himself a headache.
"It's been a hassle for you these past days, fellow Daoist."
Chu Xingchen nodded lightly. "I am a bit tired. Will the Buddha reimburse travel expenses?"
"Of course."
"What about hazard pay?"
"Of course, that too."
Runande responded quickly—but at the same time, his gaze shifted to Xie Lingyu, who was holding a jade talisman and processing information, his look clearly conveying one message—do something about Chu Xingchen.
He was probably the first person in the world to try mooching off the Buddhist sect.
Xie Lingyu stood up, her gaze landing on Chu Xingchen as she said:
"Let's go. There's another matter to handle on the Eastern Divine Continent."
Chu Xingchen said nothing more upon hearing this, but simply cupped his fist toward Runan and said:
“Fellow Daoist, I’ll be on my way then.”
Runan replied just as quickly:
“Go on.”
] This is a dark fantasy-themed dating simulation game. The main gameplay involves containing various monster girls and investigating the truth of a world shrouded in mist alongside your companions. However, due to his love for the dark and bizarre atmosphere, Luo Wei ended up turning a dating game into a detective mystery game. Women? Women only slow down his quickdraw! To Luo Wei, the female leads in the game are more like tools to perfectly clear levels and squeeze out rewards. For Luo Wei, flirting with every girl he meets and then discarding them is standard procedure. Worried about characters losing affection points? No need. With his maxed-out charm stat, Luo Wei is practically a "human incubus." A little psychological manipulation and those points come right back. It's a bit scummy, but the paper cutout heroines in the game won't actually come at him with real cleavers. However... Luo Wei has transmigrated. He's accidentally entered the second playthrough of this game. His past actions have caused all the girls to transform into terrifying yanderes. Due to the game's setting, most of the heroines he once contained are "troubled girls." Obsessive, twisted, mentally unstable, all aggressive yanderes... The type who will kill you if they can't have you... Luo Wei wants to cry but has no tears left. "I really just want to survive..." In short, this is a story of battling wits and engaging in a love-hate relationship with yanderes.
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?!
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!
iemie, male, Race: Moon. Hobby: Collecting anomalies. At first, he thought he possessed two systems: the Crimson Rainbow Moon and the Clear Cold Frost Moon. One day, he discovered that he himself could also become a system for others, holding the chessboard of fate. The Eighth Epoch, also known as the Eternal Moon Epoch. Humans, witches, elves, bloodline descendants, specters, demons, and spirits together compose a new history. Walking the path on behalf of the moon, before he knew it, Chen Miemie's footsteps were followed by all manner of strange and wondrous anomalies. As time passed, many titles circulated about him—The King in Yellow, Lord of Anomalies, Heart of the Eternal Moon, and more. "Me? I'm just a traveler who enjoys collecting interesting creatures," Chen Miemie said.
