"The Guild President challenges you to a warrior's duel. Do you accept?"
"No! No, no!!!" Ye Cheng frantically refused.
"Accepted!"
Ye Cheng: "???"
Damn it!!!
Forced acceptance, not even giving a chance to kneel and beg, right?
The moment he heard the words "darling" come from the Guild President's mouth, Ye Cheng sensed great danger. He wished he had two more legs, or that he could just pick up the young lady and run right now, finally performing a "Wild Boar Charge" to break through the surrounding crowd of onlookers!
Ideals are beautiful, reality is cruel.
In Ye Cheng's imagination, he should have already exerted force, successfully escaped the encirclement of the huge crowd of onlookers, returned to the classroom, sat in the last row—the domain of kings—and continued yesterday's unfinished task of delivering "Lady Eraser" and collecting the fee...
But the reality was that he was about to be pounded into beef meatballs.
Damn!!!
Stupid legs, run faster!
Ye Cheng dragged the young lady, running towards the outside. The process went surprisingly smoothly. At this speed, they could be back in at most a minute. That's how it should have been... if not for the words the Guild President said next.
"Didn't you say you liked me the most? That you'd give me flowers every day for 99 days, and on the hundredth day, I would..."
At this point, Dongfang Zhixia's voice became much softer, the "shyness" in it not hard to hear. Similarly, the young lady's footsteps came to an abrupt halt.
She stopped.
No matter how hard Ye Cheng pulled, the young lady wouldn't move.
Ye Cheng's heart sank, his body stiffening slightly. He turned to look at the young lady, stepped forward quickly, and started whispering rapidly, audible only to the two of them.
"Young lady, don't fall for it. This arrogant woman is just trying to drive a wedge between us. Don't fall for her tricks..."
Ye Cheng frantically began his salvage operation to avoid the tragic fate of being chopped into mincemeat.
Shen Qinghan looked at Ye Cheng calmly. "Drive a wedge about what? What is there about our classmate relationship that needs to be driven apart?"
Ye Cheng: "..."
Great, she's already fallen for it.
But... what Ye Cheng couldn't understand was why the young lady was so easily taken in this time. They had encountered similar situations before, so why could she see through it then but not now?
Ye Cheng's most powerful brain spun at high speed, but unfortunately, he failed to notice that the young lady's peripheral vision kept glancing, seemingly unintentionally yet intentionally, at the Guild President beside them—more precisely, at the bouquet of flowers in the Guild President's hand.
She naturally knew that what Dongfang Zhixia was saying now was complete nonsense. That idiot might say something like "like you the most," but he would absolutely never promise to give flowers every day... because it costs money.
Although she hadn't known Ye Cheng for very long, the young lady had already figured him out for the most part.
Ye Cheng might yield under certain factors and say things like he likes Dongfang Zhixia, but he would definitely not take the initiative to propose something like giving flowers daily. Therefore, the young lady concluded that Dongfang Zhixia was lying now.
It was a simple and clear matter, but... she felt inexplicably irritated, an indescribable feeling in her heart.
Especially when she saw the bouquet in the Guild President's hand, that indescribable feeling grew stronger. That... should have been hers.
But it was snatched away by a certain deceitful, shameless, and despicable woman...
The young lady narrowed her eyes, staring motionlessly at Dongfang Zhixia, who was putting on a "bashful" act like a girl in love, and then...
"Tsk, full of lies, how childish..."
Can you imagine? The young lady, with an expressionless face, uttering such words of extreme disdain—the sheer lethality and vividness of that scene?
The surrounding onlookers were already reaching a climax of excitement. The crowd didn't speak, only relentlessly taking photos, posting on trending topics. Today... no, for the next week, the top trending spot could only be this!
The smile on Dongfang Zhixia's face stiffened briefly but quickly vanished, along with the previous "bashful" act. This time, however, the Guild President directly ignored the young lady and instead focused on Ye Cheng, who was trying to blend into the crowd to reduce his presence.
"Darling, you tell her, am I telling lies now?" Dongfang Zhixia looked at Ye Cheng with a "gentle" expression.
Not only did Dongfang Zhixia look over, but the young lady beside him also turned her gaze. Once again, their eyes converged on Ye Cheng. This time, Ye Cheng truly understood how difficult it must have been for that pressured brother from before.
Another life-or-death multiple-choice question. If he agreed with the Guild President now, he would be indirectly slapping the young lady in the face, and vice versa.
A sure-death situation...
Cerebellum: So it seems, it's time for the Azure Wild Beast slumbering within my body to... Ow!
The cerebellum was violently elbowed by the cerebrum, ultimately rendering it nonexistent.
Cerebrum: Go herd horses! If you want to sleep, sleep properly! Is this your job to take over?!
Cerebrum: Take that! And that! Get lost!
Cerebellum OUT!
The cerebrum violently elbowed the cerebellum, finally successfully regaining control of thought. What kind of time is this? In front of everyone, if he did another rapid side-to-side switch now, he'd really get pounded into beef meatballs later.
With the control struggle over, normal personality Ye Cheng logged back in.
Ye Cheng first wiped the cold sweat from his forehead, then looked around at the huge crowd of curious onlookers, their necks craned longer than the next.
"Ahem, it's almost time for class. How about everyone goes back to class first? While gossip is important, studying is the true priority in life. Why don't we all return to the classroom for some lessons, relax and let go a bit, treat it as a commercial break? I'll update you on the follow-up later..."
After Ye Cheng finished speaking, the corridor fell silent. Both the young lady and the Guild President simultaneously flashed a look of helplessness in their eyes, sharing the same thought... this idiot.
Ye Cheng had spoken, but no one cooperated. The number of people in the corridor didn't decrease; instead, it increased.
Ye Cheng: "..."
Alright, it seems nobody likes commercial breaks...
Ye Cheng wiped the cold sweat from his forehead again. "Ahem, regarding the explanation of this true-or-false issue, it's not that I won't say it, but that I will say it slowly, in an orderly manner, with adjustments, starting with a few people..."
Everyone: "..."
Did they come to the wrong place? When did this turn into a leadership meeting?
"That's roughly the situation. I hope everyone can understand and cooperate. Well, time's getting late. Let's all go back to class." Ye Cheng clapped his hands, adopting a leadership stance to organize the surrounding people to continue with their lessons.
Everyone: "..."
I was all ready for that, and you tell me you're giving me this?
Refund! Damn it, you... oh wait, Ye Cheng, how can you do this to us? Refund!!!
We listened, yet it feels like we didn't. Ye Cheng spoke, yet it feels like he said nothing. This is the charm of language... It was at this moment that the young lady finally realized Ye Cheng's earlier statement about wanting to be a parasite within the system wasn't just something said offhand.
With Ye Cheng's skills, he could at least start as a team leader, with no upper limit!
Although Ye Cheng didn't explicitly state whether it was true or false, his indirect refusal was, in a sense, showing favoritism towards the young lady. Dongfang Zhixia narrowed her eyes, her displeasure written plainly on her face.
Good news: this time, she didn't choose some self-righteous guy. Bad news... she still didn't choose her.
Dongfang Zhixia narrowed her eyes, her chest heaving as she stared at a certain someone not far away who was still giving a "leadership speech"... She clenched her fist and walked over.
Tap, tap, tap. Dongfang Zhixia walked up to Ye Cheng, grabbed his tie with one hand, and pulled him right in front of her!
Ye Cheng was still there putting on an air of seniority, "a pig's snout stuffed with green onions trying to look like an elephant," and hadn't noticed the president approaching at all. Being yanked over, he was now somewhat dazed, looking at the president before him.
Only... the president didn't seem too happy?
Gulp.
Ye Cheng swallowed, his eyes shifting nervously under the president's angry gaze. He... was probably about to become minced meat?
Unexpectedly, Dongfang Zhixia suddenly leaned forward, her red lips charging straight for Ye Cheng's!
At the same time, she pulled harder on the tie she was gripping, drawing Ye Cheng closer to her. At the very least... this would make it look to those around them like Ye Cheng was kissing her!
Mwah~
A soft sensation transmitted. A look of triumph flashed in Dongfang Zhixia's eyes as she eagerly glanced toward the young lady to the side. She wanted to witness the other girl's composure shatter with her own eyes!
But... it was strange. Why did it feel different from last time?
Shen Qinghan, however, was looking at Dongfang Zhixia with an expression reserved for idiots...
The young lady's hand was wedged between the two of them, forcibly interrupting the spell. The young lady had predicted the president's prediction!
She wouldn't make the same mistake twice!
Dongfang Zhixia: "???"
transmigrates into the world as the sect master of the Heavenly Yan Sect, which is on the verge of being wiped out. He binds a system that grants him cultivation power based on the number of disciples he has: for each disciple, he automatically gains a year's worth of cultivation every single day! Take one disciple: every day he gains 1 year of cultivation power. While others struggle through a year of bitter training, he gets the same just by sleeping through a single night. Take ten disciples: every day he gains 10 years of cultivation power. Foundation Establishment, Core Formation, Nascent Soul—he breezes through all bottlenecks without lifting a finger. Take one hundred disciples: every day he gains 100 years of cultivation power. Even a Soul Transformation Venerable before him can’t survive a single blow. Take ten thousand disciples: every day he gains 10,000 years of cultivation power! With a wave of his hand, he topples empires. With a single step, he crushes the sacred grounds of the universe. ... While others fight tooth and nail for secret techniques, Lin Yan casually hands out Nascent Soul-level cultivation manuals as beginner textbooks. While others strain to find talented recruits, Lin Yan opens his doors to anyone—so long as they’re human. In just three short years, the Heavenly Yan Sect went from a backwater sect made up of three crumbling huts to a sacred land that every cultivator under heaven would kill to enter. ... One day, otherworldly demon gods invade, with a million demon soldiers pressing down upon the realm. Lin Yan, yawning, rises from his lounge chair and glances at the system panel: [Current Disciples: 1.28 million] [Daily Cultivation Increase: 1.28 million years] He waves his hand casually, and the countless demon soldiers are reduced to ashes in an instant. “So noisy… interrupting my fishing.”
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!
ine. During your journey, you save an abandoned baby girl and become her elder brother】 【You rely on each other, becoming each other's support】 【At the end of the simulation, you shield the now-grown girl with your life, sacrificing yourself to block numerous demonic cultivators. You die, and the light in the girl's eyes fades】 …… 【Second Simulation: You are transported to a world where steam and magic coexist】 【You immerse yourself in the study of magic, obsessed with its research. One day, while out, you encounter a half-blooded demon girl wandering the streets. You take her in as your student】 【You teach the demoness what it means to be human, show her the beauty of the world, and nurture her into a miracle that surpasses even the gods】 【At the end of the simulation, you die of old age in front of the nearly immortal demoness due to your mortal lifespan】 …… One simulation after another, one encounter after another. Xu Xi suddenly felt something was off: "Wait, you said you're coming to the real world to find me?"
lity and could only live as an ordinary mortal. He only wished to live a peaceful life. Yet he didn't know— The dog he adopted, because it ate his food, became a legendary demon king. The kitchen knife he casually forged became a peerless divine weapon, causing numerous experts to fight desperately for it. The young disciple he took in became an immortal lord that led an era, due to cultivating the techniques Ye Feng taught him. Even the skeletons he looked down on the most were ominous demon kings that suppressed countless worlds. Many years later, looking at the void shattered with a punch, Ye Feng murmured to himself: It turns out the peerless kings were myself all along...
