The warm sun rose higher as a faint floral fragrance drifted through the air.
Cui Hao pushed open the window and leaned out, gazing at the fiery-red clouds of dawn.
Last night, after his master saw him shake his head, he did not press the matter any further. He merely patted Cui Hao on the shoulder and then acted as though he had never mentioned making him sect master—as if it had only been a joke.
However…
Cui Hao understood that his master had probably not been joking.
At the same time, he knew this was not something he could discuss with the others. Otherwise, his master would not have spoken to him through voice transmission. Yet while some matters could not be brought up with everyone, he was also worried that his master might do something foolish for the sake of what he called “everyone’s well-being.”
If he spoke about it openly, everything would truly become a tangled mess.
Why did everyone else get to rest while his master insisted on giving him an extra question on the examination?
Still… the fact that his master was willing to entrust him with the position of sect master was also a sign of immense trust.
At this thought, Cui Hao’s brow furrowed again.
But even if he became sect master, Cui Hao did not believe he could truly command his senior sister and third senior sister. The only ones who might genuinely obey him were probably his second senior brother and fourth senior sister. That dragon might behave as well, but his senior sister and third senior sister alone were enough to give him a headache.
“Rare to see you up so early.”
Li Xingtian was seated in a chair in the small courtyard, a book cradled in his hands.
Cui Hao’s thoughts were interrupted. He turned toward the voice and was rather startled to see Li Xingtian reading. Reading in the morning was something his third senior sister did. This was the first time he had ever seen his second senior brother with a book:
“Senior Brother, have you picked up Third Senior Sister’s bad habit? Why are you reading so early in the morning?”
Li Xingtian shook his head helplessly.
“Though Master spoke as casually as if it were nothing, that enormous five-colored lotus is still hanging in the sky. Sometimes, we can’t take everything Master says at face value.”
“What? Are you really my second senior brother?” Cui Hao walked over and carefully examined Li Xingtian, suspicion evident in his voice. “Did Third Senior Sister cast an illusion to fool me? If you have some task for me, just say so. There’s no way your junior brother can outplay you.”
Li Xingtian lowered the book in his hands. After thinking for a moment, he said, “One day, you got drunk and teased me for not being interested in women and for lacking your natural charm. You said that, when you were young, you were already gifted at writing, but your family kept such a tight rein on you that they wouldn’t even give you money for little odds and ends. So you pretended to be a talented poet and wrote poems to the women in brothels, tricking them into giving you their personal handkerchiefs, which you then sold privately…”
“Wait…” Cui Hao repeatedly raised his hand. “That’s enough. I believe you’re my second senior brother.”
Cui Hao shook his head and sat down in the chair, muttering to himself, “I didn’t drink last night, and I didn’t stay up either. How is it that after only one night, everything feels wrong?”
“Second Senior Brother, you wouldn’t actually doubt Master, would you?”
Li Xingtian did not know what expression to make.
“I merely act with integrity. That doesn’t mean I’m stupid.”
“I didn’t say you were stupid…” Cui Hao explained. “I just didn’t think you would doubt Master.”
Li Xingtian lowered his head to the book and turned another page.
“I wasn’t planning to start looking through books so soon, but Bai Qing came to see me. She said she felt Master had something on his mind that he hadn’t told us. She asked me to keep an eye on him. After thinking it over, I decided that the only thing likely to be troubling Master was the great calamity, so I thought I’d look into the records a little more.”
“Third Senior Sister?” Cui Hao murmured.
Sure enough, when it came to reading Master’s thoughts, Third Senior Sister was probably unrivaled. Nor would she blindly believe that Master was truly omnipotent.
Li Xingtian asked, “Do you also feel that Master has something on his mind?”
Cui Hao rubbed his head, considered how to phrase it, and said, “Perhaps?”
Li Xingtian continued, “Though Senior Sister appears capable of standing on her own, Master is still her pillar. Without him, she might completely lose her bearings. Third Junior Sister is even more so. If something happened to Master, she might not even remain in the sect.”
“Fourth Junior Sister’s heart is filled with righteousness, which means she often cannot choose the most practical solution. As for me… I’m simply not someone capable of leading a sect. Other than you, there’s no one else qualified to inherit the sect.”
The more Cui Hao listened, the more something felt wrong. He looked at Li Xingtian and quietly interrupted him:
“You’re not Third Senior Sister. You’re Master, aren’t you?”
Li Xingtian let out another soft sigh. “The last time you got drunk…”
“Wait!” Cui Hao cut him off at once, his expression aggrieved. “It’s just that what you said a moment ago didn’t sound like something Second Senior Brother would say. And suddenly saying things like that is strange, all right? It makes it sound as if something is bound to happen to Master.”
“I never said anything was certain to happen to him.” Li Xingtian closed the book. “I was merely making a casual guess. But why do you look as though you’re taking it seriously?”
Cui Hao’s throat bobbed, but he had no way to tell Li Xingtian about what his master had said the night before. He had not even figured out how to deal with it himself. In the end, he could only brush the matter aside.
“Because you’re the one saying it, Second Senior Brother. Of course I’ll take it seriously.”
“Is that so?” Li Xingtian looked at Cui Hao, his tone softening somewhat. “In any case, I hope Third Junior Sister is mistaken. I haven’t noticed anything unusual about Master.”
Cui Hao could only smile, though he grumbled inwardly.
Third Junior Sister wasn’t mistaken. Master really was acting strange.
Cui Hao rose and said, “Second Senior Brother, you keep reading. I’m going to take a walk. It’s been a while since I returned, and I’m not familiar with the place anymore. I’ll go look around and get reacquainted.”
“Mm.”
Li Xingtian opened the book again and began reading intently.
Cui Hao’s gaze fell on the cover. He could just make out the title: On the Heavenly Dao.
After committing the title to memory, Cui Hao left without hesitation.
In any case, his second senior brother today was even stranger than Master.
Myriad Flowers Ridge was still the same as before.
Nothing had changed, and nothing seemed amiss.
Cui Hao made his way toward the main courtyard. After passing through the corridor, he looked toward the deep pool. There, just as usual, Chen Baiqing sat beside it with a book in her hands, a plate of candied fruit placed at her side as she read attentively.
He did not see anyone else.
Third Senior Sister would never be bored enough to run back and forth just to mess with him.
So the second senior brother he had encountered earlier really had been the genuine article?
Carrying his doubts, Cui Hao walked over.
“Senior Sister, have you seen Master?”
“No.”
Chen Baiqing did not even look up.
Cui Hao thought for a moment before probing, “Do you feel that Master is acting strangely?”
At this, Chen Baiqing raised her head. She stared at Cui Hao, considered the question for a moment, and only then spoke.
“A little. What? What did Master say to you?”
“Nothing. I just ran into Second Senior Brother after getting up.” Cui Hao hurriedly explained, though he felt that his third senior sister was simply too perceptive.
“You ran into Second Senior Brother? Did he say Master was acting strangely? What did Master say to him? Or what did Second Senior Brother say to you?”
Chen Baiqing’s expression grew even more serious.
Cui Hao laughed awkwardly.
“Second Senior Brother only said that Master might get injured but would force himself to act fine so we wouldn’t worry. He felt that Master’s complexion hasn’t been very good lately. I told him that I’m practically catching up to Master in looks and bearing.”
Chen Baiqing lowered her eyes back to the book and muttered, “I’ll have to take Second Senior Brother to get his eyes checked when I have time.”
“Third Senior Sister, I’ll tell you a secret.”
“Mm?”
“Your thoughts can actually stay inside your head.”
s + Rent Collection Wealth】 At the start, he inherited a rundown house in the urban village from his grandfather. The house had no tenants, but the moment he was diagnosed with a terminal illness, a self-proclaimed empress from the Tianxuan Continent arrived as his first tenant. Ye Chuan soon discovered that with every new tenant moving in, not only did he receive massive daily payments, but he also obtained unique items related to their backgrounds. 【Acquired Bai Qianshuang’s related item: Tiger Strength Pill—dramatically enhances physical power!】 【Acquired Bai Qianshuang’s related item: Deer Blood Pill—significantly boosts vitality!】 …… From that day on, all sorts of bizarre tenants began appearing in the house: the empress from Tianxuan Continent, an apocalyptic sorceress from the Magic Realm, a mysterious scientific girl who fell through a spacetime rift… Every single day, he received strange, powerful items and endless money. Then one day, he suddenly realized—he had become invincible. Enough, enough! Stop giving me more!
nd fell into a coma while saving his younger sister from an out-of-control car. He became a vegetable. No one knew that his consciousness had crossed into a world of cultivation. Over the course of sixty years, he began as the lowest kind of mine slave, struggling to survive amid mountains of corpses and seas of blood. By sheer chance, he eventually obtained the complete memories of a fallen Immortal King. Alchemy, medicine, formations, feng shui, physiognomy, artifact forging… Every great inheritance of the cultivation world was now his. But when he opened his eyes again, he discovered that ten full years had passed in the modern world. To pay for his treatment, his father had sold the family’s shop and house, leaving himself covered in lasting injuries and illness. His mother had cared for him day and night, and more than half of her hair had already turned white. His younger sister, who had been only fifteen back then, was now twenty-five. To help repay the family’s debts, she had been forced to lower her head and put on a smiling face in places of glittering lights and endless revelry. Only then did Chen Xuan understand that what he had lost was not merely ten years. He had lost the life his entire family was meant to have. The good news was that he had brought back the memories of an Immortal King’s entire lifetime. The bad news was that his soul had returned alone—his cultivation had not come with him. Spiritual energy was scarce, resources were depleted, and the modern world still had firearms, surveillance, capital, and laws. If he wanted to protect his family, break free from everyone’s control, and become truly invincible beneath the heavens, he would have to start all over again.
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?"
ng to die together with you." Lin Xuan is dead, his body thrown into the river by his scumbag lover and her accomplice. She, the president of the Su Group, is decisive, ruthless, and ice-cold. For three days and three nights, she had his body fished out of the river, and without hesitation, she kissed the bloated corpse of Lin Xuan. She laid down beside him in a cold coffin, their fingers intertwined, a smile lingering on her lips as she closed her eyes. The noble and cold-hearted woman, only bending for one man—Lin Xuan. Lin Xuan, with his golden finger, is reborn and returns to the day of his wedding to the treacherous woman. Su Qiang comes to steal the bride. Lin Xuan's eyes light up, eager to pledge his loyalty on the spot, but instead, her kiss transfers a glass of drugged wine into his mouth, causing him to pass out... 【Male Protagonist with Single Female Lead】【Yandere Tycoon】【Action-Packed】【True vs. Fake Heir】
