Chen Chang'an wasn't entirely sure about the prices of the dishes at Tianjiao Pavilion, but today's meal was undoubtedly exorbitantly expensive.
No charge?
Chu Xiao was merely a waiter—did he have the authority to make such a decision?
If he did, then his true identity was likely far more than just a simple waiter. If not, then who exactly had made this call?
"I'd like to know—how much does this meal cost in Immortal Spirit Stones?" Chen Chang'an asked.
"Not much. Just 100,000 top-grade Immortal Spirit Stones."
100,000 top-grade Immortal Spirit Stones?
And that's considered "not much"?
Though Chen Chang'an could afford it, this amount was staggering even in the Xuantian Domain. Even the Huan Hua Immortal Sect, one of the Five Great Immortal Sects, would likely hesitate to splurge on such a meal.
100,000 top-grade Immortal Spirit Stones—enough for the Huan Hua Immortal Sect to accumulate over ten thousand years.
After all, these were top-grade stones, not mid-grade or low-grade.
"Are your prices always this steep?" Chen Chang'an asked, surprised.
"We have cheaper options—meals costing tens of thousands of low-grade or mid-grade stones," Chu Xiao replied with a smile. "But this particular meal was on the pricier side for you, sir."
No wonder this single meal had allowed Chen Chang'an's cultivation to break through—it was clearly no ordinary feast.
"Was it your Tianjiao Pavilion's owner who ordered it to be free?" Chen Chang'an pressed.
"My apologies, I’m not privy to that. I was merely following orders."
Chen Chang'an nodded and didn’t press further. Chu Xiao likely wouldn’t divulge anything even if he asked.
"They’ll probably need some time to cultivate. I’ll take them back first."
Back?
Moving someone while they’re deep in cultivation isn’t advisable, is it?
"Sir, the private room—"
Before Chu Xiao could finish, he froze in shock—Chen Chang'an and the others had vanished without a trace, even the big yellow dog was gone.
"This…"
Chu Xiao’s heart raced. He hadn’t expected Chen Chang'an to possess such unfathomable means.
After leaving the private room, Chu Xiao headed to the top floor of Tianjiao Pavilion.
"Enter."
"Yes."
Chu Xiao pushed the door open and stood respectfully to the side.
"Well?"
"Extraordinary. Though his cultivation is only at the first level of the True Immortal Realm, I can’t see through him."
Silence followed Chu Xiao’s words.
"Good. You may leave."
"Continue charging Chen Chang'an for all services at Tianjiao Pavilion as usual. Don’t let him feel he’s receiving special treatment."
Huh?
Wouldn’t he already suspect it? A meal like that—someone as sharp as Chen Chang'an must have noticed something was off.
Though he thought it, Chu Xiao didn’t dare say it aloud. He bowed respectfully and withdrew.
"Has he finally arrived?"
"Chen Chang'an… I’ve been waiting for you."
A month later—
The effects of that meal had kept Shen Yunfei and the others in deep cultivation for an entire month. Even Da Huang and Xiao Yao, as members of the demon race, had woken up three days earlier than Shen Yunfei’s group.
"What? It’s been a whole month?"
"Damn, how much did that cost in Immortal Spirit Stones?"
Upon learning how much time had passed, Shen Yunfei’s first concern was the expense.
After all, their lodgings cost 20,000 low-grade Immortal Spirit Stones per day—60,000 for a month.
"It’s nothing. That meal alone cost 100,000 top-grade stones. The lodging fee is pocket change," Chen Chang'an said with a faint smile.
"How much?!"
"100,000?!"
"Top-grade stones?!"
"Brother Chen, did they scam you?!"
"That’s insane! Should we… run for it?" Shen Yunfei whispered nervously.
"What happened to that bold attitude of yours? Why so timid now?"
"Big bro, this is the Ancient Immortal Domain, not the Tai Xuan Realm! I don’t have the right to be bold here."
Admittedly, since arriving in the Ancient Immortal Domain, Shen Yunfei had been tempered by reality—more polished, but also more cautious.
"Aren’t you going to check your cultivation first?"
"My cultivation?"
"I’ve reached… Golden Immortal Realm, third level?!"
"I actually broke through two levels?!"
Shen Yunfei was stunned to find his cultivation had advanced to the third level of the Golden Immortal Realm. The same went for the others—Da Huang and Xiao Yao had both reached the ninth level of the True Immortal Realm, while Qingluan had broken through to the first level of the Golden Immortal Realm.
"Alright, we’ve already wasted a month," Chen Chang'an said. "Time to see what this Heavenly Pride Ranking is all about."
"Right, right—almost forgot about that."
"By the way, did you find out more about the ranking?"
When Chen Chang'an had inquired earlier, Shen Yunfei and the others were already deep in cultivation and hadn’t heard his conversation with Chu Xiao.
"I’ll explain on the way."
"Got it."
As they walked, Chen Chang'an shared what he’d learned, and soon they arrived at the testing hall for the Heavenly Pride Ranking in Tianjiao City.
"So this is the testing hall?"
"There are so many people here?!"
Shen Yunfei was taken aback—the hall was packed with at least several hundred cultivators.
"Big bro, see that testing monument?"
"It’s identical to the one from the Earth Ranking back in the Tai Xuan Realm."
Da Huang noticed the monument in the hall looked exactly like the one they’d seen before.
"Seems that monument must have originated from the Ancient Immortal Domain."
"Da Huang, Xiao Yao, you two aren’t eligible, so don’t participate."
"But you two—Shen Yunfei, Qingluan—you should test first."
Chen Chang'an glanced at them. Both met the criteria and stood a good chance of qualifying.
"Alright, then we’ll—"
"Whoa!"
"Look at this guy’s results!"
"Damn, haven’t seen numbers like this in ages!"
"Yun Zhilan? From the Yun Clan?"
"Looks like someone in the top ten of the Heavenly Pride Ranking is about to get bumped."
"The last time results like this appeared was over five thousand years ago, wasn’t it?"
Just as Shen Yunfei and Qingluan were about to step forward, a wave of exclamations drew Chen Chang'an’s attention.
Yun Zhilan?
From the Yun Clan of the Xuantian Domain?
Chen Chang'an and the others moved closer to examine Yun Zhilan’s results—and immediately frowned.
"Name: Yun Zhilan | Age: 23,578 years | Cultivation: Golden Immortal Realm, ninth level | Combat Power: 99,999 stars | Qualification: Approved."
Yun Zhilan’s age and cultivation level didn’t surprise Chen Chang'an, but the combat power rating left him stunned.
99,999 stars?
What exactly did "stars" signify in combat power? Chen Chang'an realized he might have misunderstood the system entirely.
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!
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.”
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?!
pression Bureau] Transported to a fantasy world overrun by demons and monsters, Gu Qingfeng becomes a jailer in the Demon Suppression Prison of the Great Yan Dynasty's Demon Suppression Bureau. From this point on, bizarre cases frequently occur in the Demon Suppression Prison, once known as hell on earth and infamous for its gloomy, terrifying atmosphere! Why do the demons and monsters in the prison wail miserably every night? Why has the corpse demon, capable of transforming into various beauties, donned black stockings and switched careers to become a foot massage therapist? Why has the eye demon, expert in soul-snatching and illusions, turned into a VR headset? Why is the fox spirit performing otaku dances? Are all these occurrences a twisted expression of demonic nature, or a descent into moral depravity? After peeling away layer upon layer of mystery, all clues ultimately point to a jailer named Gu Qingfeng. Gu Qingfeng: "Hehehe... My dear demons and monsters, whose card shall we flip today?"
