Cui Hao sat obediently across from the Yunmeng Pavilion Leader, wearing a sycophantic smile.
“It was only a joke. A small sect like ours still knows its place.”
The Yunmeng Pavilion Leader raised his brows slightly at that. His tone made it impossible to tell whether he was angry.
“That remark… Are you implying that our Yunmeng Pavilion is a small sect with no self-awareness?”
Cui Hao silently rose to his feet. Then, under the Yunmeng Pavilion Leader’s gaze, he decisively bent at the waist and bowed deeply, his tone aggrieved.
“This junior is timid. Senior, you mustn’t joke with me like that.”
Seeing how readily Cui Hao backed down, the Yunmeng Pavilion Leader realized that showing weakness could sometimes be another way to break through an impasse. Regardless of his cultivation, Cui Hao possessed a calmness born of seeing through things, and that quality had its own unique value.
Cui Hao was a junior, so he could afford to have no shame. But the Yunmeng Pavilion Leader could not bully someone weaker than himself.
The Yunmeng Pavilion Leader waved his sleeve. “Sit down. If your master sees this, he’ll think I’m bullying you.”
Cui Hao sat down again, a smile appearing on his face.
“How could that be? Senior is merely teaching this junior how to conduct himself.”
“Quite the smooth talker.” The Yunmeng Pavilion Leader’s expression did not change. His gaze lowered to the swirling patterns on the tabletop. “To be honest, I don’t dislike you. Quite the opposite—I actually think highly of you.”
Cui Hao did not dare respond casually. After all, when someone began a conversation by saying something nice, it usually meant that nothing good was coming afterward.
He sat properly in his seat, still wearing that somewhat foolish-looking smile which, if one stared at it for too long, became rather silly.
Seeing Cui Hao’s reaction, the Yunmeng Pavilion Leader’s lips curled into a faint smile.
“Caution is one factor. But the true reason I’ve come to take you seriously is that, in this matter, you kept Zheng Zhaoling out of it. You should understand that if Zheng Zhaoling had entered the conflict among the incense gods, or had even merely expressed support for the reformists…”
“Then the initiative in this situation might no longer have been mine. It might have been yours.”
“You understood everything, yet you did nothing. Sometimes, being able to hold yourself back from acting is the real test of one’s character.”
Only then did Cui Hao dare to reply.
“This junior simply regards Daoist Zheng as a like-minded friend. Betraying a friend would be a matter of conscience.”
The Yunmeng Pavilion Leader smiled at that. He then took a jade token, shimmering with flowing light, from his spatial ring and gently pushed it across the table toward Cui Hao.
“In terms of character, you’re no weaker than your master.”
Cui Hao lowered his head and glanced at the jade token before him.
“This thing… I don’t think I’m qualified to look at it.”
The Yunmeng Pavilion Leader’s expression remained calm. “That was originally the case. But someone made the choice for me.”
Cui Hao raised his head in surprise and blurted out, “Zheng Zhaoling?”
The Yunmeng Pavilion Leader nodded. “The things she said today are the reason you’re allowed to see this jade token.”
Cui Hao scratched his head, his tone filled with confusion.
“Senior, you’re not making fun of me for being stupid, are you? Daoist Zheng is nominally a core disciple… But after all these years, never mind the treatment of a core disciple—she’s barely even received the treatment of an ordinary disciple. She’s probably spent more time in confinement than most ordinary disciples.”
“If Daoist Zheng were truly that important, she shouldn’t be so hesitant in everything she does. But she really is hesitant. I can tell.”
The Yunmeng Pavilion Leader gave a soft laugh, his gaze calm.
“You should understand what it means to be a core disciple. She will become the most important pillar of the sect in the future. The entire sect will be entrusted to her.”
“In your eyes, Zheng Zhaoling may not possess the bearing of a core disciple. But that doesn’t mean our Supreme Elders of the Yunmeng Pavilion see her the same way.”
“It isn’t that we have restricted her. Rather, she has yet to recognize her current identity.”
“She still hasn’t realized that every word she says now can change the direction of the Yunmeng Pavilion. Perhaps she still thinks that being a core disciple is merely a title.”
“A title that can be taken away and given to someone else tomorrow if she misbehaves today.”
“Zhaoling has yet to understand that this is a title I, along with a group of Tribulation Transcendence realm Supreme Elders, are willing to entrust our lives to her to wear.”
“The same applies to her confinement. As a core disciple, she should understand the privileges that come with that status. Unless she commits some unforgivable offense, she can refuse simply by saying that she doesn’t wish to go.”
“Zhaoling appears constrained within the Yunmeng Pavilion because she has yet to understand her position and has yet to shoulder the responsibility of guiding the sect’s future.”
The Yunmeng Pavilion Leader’s gaze was frighteningly calm, and his tone remained steady as he continued.
“Zhaoling should have been just as she was today—not afraid or timid, but willing to voice what she truly thinks.”
“Even if her ideas are childish and laughable, even if they are riddled with mistakes, even if hearing them makes people want to laugh…”
“We will still seriously examine every word she says and offer our own interpretations and plans. Even if we believe something should not be done, as long as Zhaoling wishes to do it, and as long as the losses fall within what the Yunmeng Pavilion can accept, we will carry it out.”
“After all, we understand that a qualified helmsman must be shaped through waste and loss.”
“Today, Zheng Zhaoling, as a core disciple of the Yunmeng Pavilion, chose what she wanted to do.”
“This jade token is the result we reached after discussing the matter and deciding that we should trust Zhaoling’s choice.”
“So, the one we trust is not you, nor is it your master. We trust the core disciple of our Yunmeng Pavilion.”
Hearing this, Cui Hao silently swallowed. He felt deeply shaken inside as well. After considering the matter for a moment, he still reached out and took the jade token before him.
Since Zheng Zhaoling had said those things, Cui Hao naturally could not retreat now and allow her words to come to nothing.
Holding the jade token in his hand, Cui Hao looked at the Yunmeng Pavilion Leader and asked a question he could not understand.
“You could have told Daoist Zheng all of this directly.”
The Yunmeng Pavilion Leader slightly raised his chin and gazed toward the starry sky.
“For some things, it is better to let her realize them for herself than to spell them out.”
“Zhaoling still lacks confidence and has yet to prepare herself to shoulder this great responsibility.”
“When she is ready, she will naturally express her views, and the Yunmeng Pavilion will naturally fall under her control.”
“Before that happens, everything we do is part of her cultivation. What I’m doing now is merely supporting her and helping her bear the weight.”
“So when your Supreme Elder extended an invitation and received a reply of ‘get lost,’ that was only to be expected, wasn’t it?”
“We have given far more than you could ever offer.”
Cui Hao nodded in understanding.
He had originally thought that the treatment received by the core disciples of different sects would vary considerably. But after hearing what had just been said, it seemed that the treatment of each sect’s core disciples was better than the last.
Without hesitation, Cui Hao sent his divine sense into the jade token.
He quickly finished reading its contents.
The contents were quite simple: Several immortal sects intended to form an alliance and join forces to stir up a wave of public condemnation against Chu Xingchen throughout the Eastern Victorious Divine Continent, working together to suppress Chu Xingchen’s reputation.
The reason given was also written with remarkable precision:
Heaven’s mandate was upon him, and he possessed the true dragon bearing the grace of countless blessings. Nothing could prevail against him.
He had not demanded his master’s life, but he did demand that his master could no longer, as he did now, use the moral high ground and the support of the three great sects to pressure the other immortal sects into forced cooperation.
He wanted to grant every sect the right to refuse and say no.
The Eighteen Immortal Sects belonged to themselves; they were by no means entities that Chu Xingchen could command at will.
Through this matter, he also hoped to prevent a future in which, after the great calamity had been quelled, Chu Xingchen would truly gain sole dominion throughout the ages.
After reading it, Cui Hao could only laugh bitterly.
He had not even truly won yet, and he was already thinking about what to do after victory.
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 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.
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?!
orn and Humiliation】【Forced Love】 In his past life, Lin Ran was betrayed and murdered by his girlfriend and family, while the yandere female aristocrat, who had treated him as a mere plaything, avenged him by doing in his enemies. Upon seeing the yandere female aristocrat lying in the same coffin, ready to die with him, Lin Ran realized how profoundly mistaken he had been. Reborn, he abandoned the fickle campus beauty and wholeheartedly embraced the yandere female aristocrat's arms. "Ran! If I dig out your eyes and turn them into a specimen, you'll only be able to look at me!" Lin Ran: "Darling, kiss me!" "Ran! If I break your legs, you won't run away anymore, right?" Lin Ran: "Love, hold me tight!" "Ran! If..." Lin Ran: "Hush now! Love me more!" Luo Yao: ... Seeing his scumbag dad: "Take him out!" Seeing his stepmother: "Get rid of her!" Seeing his brother: "Eliminate him!" Seeing his white moonlight: "Send that to Southeast Asia!"
