Is there anything else you'd like to ask?
Oh, far too many things!
"Master, do you know everything about the Tai Xuan Realm?" Chen Chang'an asked.
"Pretty much."
"What do you want to ask?" Mu Yunyao replied.
"Well, first, I’d like to ask about the Heaven, Earth, and Mortal Rankings."
"Is it really as Feng Xiu said—that they’re controlled by the rulers?" Chen Chang'an inquired.
Hearing this, Mu Yunyao pondered for a moment before answering, "Yes and no."
"The Zhou Family, as the rulers of the Tai Xuan Realm, naturally hopes to recruit true geniuses."
"Though the Tai Xuan Realm is just a lower realm, these prodigies, if properly nurtured, have immense potential."
"But geniuses are proud. The Zhou Family wouldn’t selflessly pave the way for others, so they employ some minor tricks."
"However, it’s not as extreme as Feng Xiu made it out to be."
"The cultivation techniques rewarded by the Heaven, Earth, and Mortal Rankings are incredibly powerful, luring recipients to practice them."
"But if these individuals refuse to serve the Zhou Family, the Zhou Family will reclaim all the benefits they gained from the rankings—including the cultivation progress derived from those techniques."
"In essence, once they ascend to the Primordial Immortal Domain, their strength will be drastically diminished."
"The brutality of the Primordial Immortal Domain is incomparable to the Tai Xuan Realm. Those who stand at the peak here are nothing there."
After Mu Yunyao’s explanation, Chen Chang'an had a clearer understanding.
The rankings were designed to cultivate talent, but if those talents couldn’t be controlled, the Zhou Family wouldn’t outright eliminate them—just leave them to fend for themselves while crippling their power.
There’s no such thing as a free lunch. This approach wasn’t entirely unreasonable.
Gaining benefits without reciprocation? Having them revoked was only fair.
"So, the Zhou Family is essentially the 'Heavenly Dao' of the Tai Xuan Realm?" Chen Chang'an asked.
"The Heavenly Dao is merely the embodiment of rules."
"Every world has its own rules. The Zhou Family simply sets them, so calling them the Heavenly Dao isn’t entirely wrong."
"But under these rules, each world operates independently. The Zhou Family rarely interferes excessively, as too much meddling would violate the natural order itself."
"You wanted to ask why heavenly tribulations and punishments fear you, didn’t you?" Mu Yunyao smirked.
This had once puzzled Chen Chang'an. He’d assumed it was because he was exceptional—only to realize it was his master’s influence.
"I used to wonder, but now I understand."
"Master, it’s all because of your face that I have any face at all, right?" Chen Chang'an grinned.
"Nonsense. You’re my disciple. They wouldn’t dare." Mu Yunyao’s tone radiated domineering confidence.
Such overwhelming reassurance!
"But about my situation… is there really no clue at all?"
Chen Chang'an’s unique physique remained a mystery, as did the existence of his natal beads—an anomaly even in this world.
"None whatsoever."
"Your constitution isn’t just rare in the Tai Xuan Realm—even in the Primordial Immortal Domain, it’s unprecedented."
"I’ve never heard of anyone born with their cultivation talent left behind in the womb, crystallizing into natal beads."
"Sometimes I suspect you don’t belong to this realm at all."
"Yet your Chen Family is undeniably native to the Tai Xuan Realm."
Mu Yunyao, too, was baffled. Chen Chang'an’s case would shock even the denizens of the Primordial Immortal Domain.
"Oh, Master, you mentioned knowing the whereabouts of my last natal bead… Could it be in the Zhou Family’s possession?" Chen Chang'an frowned.
"Yes. They intended to use it as leverage."
Leverage?
"Because of Chen Yunxuan and the others?"
"Correct. When the rankings reappeared, I initially thought they targeted you."
"But Chen Yunxuan and the other juniors’ rapid rise caught the Zhou Family’s attention."
"Yet these youths share close ties with you, and none practiced the Zhou Family’s gifted techniques."
"So, they sought negotiations—a gesture of recruitment."
"And recruitment requires sincerity. The bead is their bargaining chip."
Something felt off to Chen Chang'an.
Five thousand years ago, the Zhou Family had sent envoys to the Nine Nether Emperor—back when neither he nor Mu Yunyao knew of the beads’ locations.
Had the Zhou Family known all along? Even prepared in advance?
If so, why not seize all the beads for greater leverage?
"Master, doesn’t this seem… questionable?" Chen Chang'an pressed.
"There are inconsistencies."
"But the Zhou Family wouldn’t dare deceive me."
"Perhaps their initial goal was solely to recruit you—as my disciple."
"Imagine exhausting yourself to collect eight beads, only for the last to elude you. Offering it then would maximize its perceived value."
"Chen Yunxuan’s emergence might’ve been unforeseen."
"Hence the rushed, haphazard rules of this ranking cycle."
Compared to past iterations, this one reeked of improvisation.
Yet the Zhou Family couldn’t have predicted Chen Yunxuan’s meteoric rise.
Against Mu Yunyao’s generation—barring her and Feng Xiu, who hailed from the Primordial Immortal Domain—these newcomers outshone all.
"Never mind their motives. What matters is knowing who holds the bead." Chen Chang'an shrugged off further speculation.
"Done asking?"
"No more questions this time?" Mu Yunyao arched a brow.
Questions?
Plenty remained—just none as pressing.
Except one.
"Master, why did you settle in a minor realm controlled by the Zhou Family? Doesn’t the Mu Clan have vaster territories?"
"Some questions shouldn’t be asked."
"Fine, fine. Then—Master, is your cultivation truly just at the Great Emperor’s peak?"
"Great Emperor peak?"
"In realm, yes. In power… no."
] 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.
] [Lone Wolf, No Male Gaze] [Protagonist is pursued early on; extreme protagonist-stans, stay away!] The "Carnival Paradise" descends and slowly devours the real world in the form of a game. By chance, Zhu Yan awakens the talent [Roleplay], becoming one of the first beta players. He thought he could develop safely, but after clearing the first instance, he is branded by humanity as the chief culprit behind the game's spread—a traitorous villain. A villain? Who would ever... become one! He'll be the villain! From then on, Zhu Yan is not only a player but also a lackey for the Carnival Paradise. Between the straight path and the crooked path, he chooses the con. With his left hand, he dons the villain's mantle, staging scenes within instances, infuriating players who decry him as a despicable traitor, all while the game happily promotes him. With his right hand, he joins the non-human organization "Fangcun Mountain," which opposes the Carnival Paradise, transforming into a mysterious player who slaughters game bosses, earning cheers of "Long live the expert!" from fellow players. Gradually, Zhu Yan rises to become an S-rank human player in Fangcun Mountain's archives, while also being the Carnival Paradise's certified top game Boss. But when the final war erupts and both major factions place their hopes in him— Players tag his various aliases: "Experts, this offensive depends on you." The Carnival Paradise's supreme Boss throws an arm around his neck: "Bro, you're the iron, I'm the steel; you can't let me down again!"
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!
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?!
