Chen Chang'an calmly looked at the group of monks before him. At the same time, they were also observing him. Though seething with anger, they hesitated to act rashly, unsure of his true strength.
"I can't see through his cultivation. We might not be a match for him."
"What should we do?"
"Should we retreat and report this to the abbot?"
"Good idea."
These monks were no fools. Unable to gauge Chen Chang'an's power, they dared not provoke him recklessly. However, leaving was no longer an option.
As they attempted to flee, Chen Chang'an merely willed it, and their bodies froze in place.
"What... what's happening? I can't move!"
"Neither can I!"
"What kind of demonic trick is this?"
"Damn it, we're in trouble now!"
The sudden paralysis sent waves of terror through the monks. Their restraint vanished, and their words grew unrestrained—any pretense of monastic discipline was discarded, leaving them on the verge of outright cursing.
Chen Chang'an stepped forward, effortlessly retrieving the infant from their grasp and returning it to the distraught mother.
"Thank you, benefactor! Thank you!"
"My child, my precious child!"
The woman clutched the swaddled baby tightly, kowtowing repeatedly in gratitude. Chen Chang'an shook his head helplessly. While he had intervened this time, he couldn't solve the root of their suffering.
"Foolish!"
"Utterly foolish!"
"What good does it do to take the child back now?"
"Can he protect you forever?"
"Once he leaves, will the Great Hidden Temple spare you? Spare me? Spare our child?"
"If they’ll take him eventually, why resist?"
Hearing her husband's words, the woman turned a frosty gaze toward him.
"Worthless!"
"You’re nothing but a coward!"
"You stood by and watched them take our son without uttering a word."
"What use are you to me?"
"Oh, you’re not foolish—you’re so clever! Yet you couldn’t even protect your own flesh and blood!"
"I refuse to believe there’s no place in this vast world for us."
"If I must, I’ll take him far from here."
"I won’t accept that they truly rule over everything," the woman declared coldly.
Her words stunned the man. Flee? But where could they possibly go? The monks of the Buddhist sects wielded formidable power—was escape even possible? Others had tried before. And what became of them?
Branded as sinners.
Their children were taken regardless, while their own fates remained unknown—vanished without a trace. No one knew where they had been taken or what torment they endured.
"Damn it all!"
"I’ll risk it!"
"I’ll sell everything we own, buy a carriage, and we’ll go somewhere without a single monk."
"I’m sick of living in fear every damn day!"
Seeing her husband finally show a spark of courage, the woman smiled in relief.
"That’s the man I married—a true warrior."
"Benefactor, we can never repay your kindness today."
"Please, grant us your name. In the future, we will craft a longevity tablet in your honor and offer prayers day and night."
A longevity tablet?
Did he need such a thing?
He was already eternal.
"It was a trivial effort. No need for formalities."
"Go, tend to your affairs," Chen Chang'an replied with a faint smile.
"But—"
"Go. I didn’t help you for repayment."
"Thank you, benefactor. Your grace is boundless."
As the couple departed with their child, Chen Chang'an turned his attention back to the immobilized monks.
"Look at the evil you’ve wrought."
"Tell me—why do you need so many children?" he demanded coldly.
"Naturally, it’s for—"
"Spare me the sanctimonious drivel. Speak or die—choose now."
Chen Chang'an had no patience for their sermons. He offered only two options: truth or death.
"Hmph!"
"You vile sinner! The Sacred Buddha will punish you!"
"Everything we do is for the sake of—"
Before the monk could finish, Chen Chang'an flicked a finger. A blade of sword energy pierced the man’s forehead.
"He chose death. What about the rest of you?" Chen Chang'an smiled as he regarded the remaining monks.
They hadn’t expected him to strike without hesitation.
"I’ll talk! Don’t kill me, I’ll tell you!"
"You—you traitor! How dare you betray—"
Thud!
Chen Chang'an silenced the objector with another swift strike, then nodded at the surviving monk.
"Now, speak."
"I... I don’t know the full purpose."
"I only know it’s by order of the Sacred Buddha of the Heavenly Sound Temple."
"We deliver the children there. Beyond that, we’re kept in the dark."
The Sacred Buddha of the Heavenly Sound Temple?
What could he possibly want with countless infants?
A sense of dread coiled in Chen Chang'an’s chest. He prayed his instincts were wrong.
Because if they weren’t...
Chen Chang'an never claimed to be virtuous. His hands were stained with blood. But the thought of the Heavenly Sound Temple preying on innocent children filled him with revulsion.
"You!"
"What did you do to my child at the Heavenly Sound Temple?"
"Answer me! What did you do?"
A frail woman pushed through the crowd, her face twisted with hatred as she lunged at the monk. Her eyes burned with a desire to tear him apart.
"I told you, I don’t know!"
Trapped under Chen Chang'an’s control, the monk couldn’t even shove her away. He could only endure her furious glare.
"You don’t know?"
"Is this what you told us when you took them?"
"You lied to us from the start!"
"You said our children would become monks. Instead, you handed them to your Sacred Buddha!"
"Why deceive us?"
"Why?"
"What have you done to them?" she shrieked.
Her outburst ignited the crowd. Though they had once submitted, a sliver of hope had lingered—that their children, at least, lived safely within the temple’s walls.
But now?
If the monks had nothing to hide, why the lies?
Deceit could only mean something unspeakable.
"We’ve been tricked!"
"All of us—betrayed!"
"Damn these bald-headed devils! I’ll kill them myself!"
. As long as he maintains the villain image and follows the plot to the grand finale, he can obtain generous rewards and return to the real world. So Gu Chen'an entered the role and began to act as a scumbag villain, but who would have expected that the female leads could hear his inner thoughts. Miss Su from the Su family was shocked: "I originally thought Gu Chen'an was a scumbag, but I didn't expect he turned out to be a gentleman! What? You said I have to call off the engagement? I definitely won't, I'll piss you off!" Bai Yuan Tian was dumbfounded: "Young Master Gu is usually unreasonable and a complete brat, but he actually calls me little sweetie in his heart? What, Young Master Gu even said he likes me?" As the female leads' images collapsed more and more, the plot also collapsed with it. Gu Chen'an looked at all this chaos. "Ladies, don't aggro me, if you keep this up the male lead really will stab me, I still need to survive to the grand finale!"
he colors of other people’s emotions. Light red meant anxiety. Gray meant exhaustion. Orange meant excitement. Yellow... meant repression. At the same time, he could gain unlimited control over one of those colors. Pale cyan: relaxation. Using this ability, he started offering “two-yuan hugs,” spending an afternoon exchanging emotional-color experiences with others. Then came his final female customer of the day— a girl whose emotional color was pure black... —— A week later, Xu Chuan had become skilled at using pale cyan—Relaxation—treating it like a bottle of menthol balm whenever he needed it. That was when he discovered he had unlocked another unlimited emotional color: Purple, the color of fear. So these emotional colors refresh every week? Fine, I take it back—I’ll never call you useless again... —— Much later, after Xu Chuan had accumulated countless emotional abilities, one night, he suddenly found himself inside someone else’s dream. There, he could use the emotional colors he possessed to paint. And in her dream, he painted her a shower of pink shooting stars, spreading across the depths of the night sky...
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?"
ions, keeping it grounded and realistic】 After quitting his job, office worker Su Yang accidentally binds with the "Enjoy Life System." As the name suggests, simply by indulging in life's pleasures, he can earn random rewards from the system—no need to spend money on beautiful women or grovel before anyone. Just enjoy, and the money follows, making it all about effortless fun. The system comes with a scanning feature, allowing him to establish a favorability bond with women rated 85 points or above. Every 20-point increase in favorability unlocks additional rewards. After suffering through over twenty years of hardship, Su Yang trembles with excitement, his dull eyes suddenly gleaming with newfound hope. "Enjoy life? How hard could that be?"
