"Don't look at me, don't you look at me."
"It wasn't me who broke it—it was him!"
Seeing Yun Zhilan's gaze, Shen Yunfei hurriedly distanced himself from the blame.
Him?
Yun Zhilan turned her attention to Chen Chang'an once more, her expression growing serious.
Though the testing stele in Skypride City was only of the basic level, it wasn't something just anyone could shatter.
As a member of the Yun family, Yun Zhilan knew more about the testing steles than most.
To break the limits of a basic testing stele at an age under thirty thousand years?
Just what kind of background did this man have?
How could someone like him have remained unheard of until now?
Yun Zhilan wasn’t one to be overly proud, but she did hold a quiet confidence in her own talent and strength. Yet, standing before Chen Chang'an now, she felt herself shrinking in comparison.
So this man was truly a monster? No wonder he could nurture a disciple like Yun Qingluan.
A monstrous disciple, and an equally monstrous master!
Was her knowledge of the Profound Heaven Domain lacking, or were they simply not from this domain at all?
"Are you here for the Skypride Rankings as well?" Yun Zhilan noticed, to her own surprise, a hint of nervousness in her voice.
"Mm. My cultivation is a bit low, my resources a bit scarce—just looking to secure some investments," Chen Chang'an replied with a faint smile.
Yun Zhilan didn’t believe a word of it. Someone who could shatter a testing stele couldn’t possibly have low cultivation.
He was playing the fool, hiding his true strength. His real power had to be at least at the peak of the Celestial Immortal realm.
And that was a conservative estimate—after all, breaking the limits of a basic testing stele required nothing less.
He might even be a… Immortal King!
At the thought, Yun Zhilan felt her breath hitch.
An Immortal King under thirty thousand years old? Could he be one of the top-ranked geniuses on the Skypride Grand List?
"You must be joking, brother."
"With your strength, how could your cultivation be low or your resources scarce?"
"If I had to guess, you’re here mainly to accompany your disciple for the Skypride Rankings, aren’t you?" Yun Zhilan said with a smile.
Seeing she didn’t believe him, Chen Chang'an didn’t bother explaining further. Instead, he asked, "You know who those people outside are, don’t you?"
"And which factions have decent reputations and conduct—you’d know that too, right?"
Yun Zhilan nodded. That much, she did know.
"Good. Stay here for a while longer—I need a small favor from you."
A small favor?
What did he mean?
Though confused, Yun Zhilan agreed. But what happened next made everything clear.
Chen Chang'an welcomed every faction that came to "invest" in Yun Qingluan, accepting them all without hesitation.
But Yun Zhilan noticed he treated them differently—for those with questionable morals, he demanded exorbitant prices.
One after another, over a dozen factions came seeking to ally with Yun Qingluan, and by the end, each had paid a hefty price.
After all, with Yun Qingluan’s limitless potential, they believed the greater the investment, the greater the future returns.
"Did you write it all down?"
Once the others had left, Chen Chang'an turned to Yun Zhilan.
"I did. But why did you want me to record it?" she asked, puzzled.
"No reason. Just keeping a list."
"Qingluan, remember these names. You don’t owe them anything in return."
"Since their conduct is questionable anyway, might as well take advantage of them."
"Consider it helping them accumulate virtue. Doing good deeds shouldn’t come with expectations of repayment, right?"
Yun Qingluan was stunned. This was a thing?
"Master, isn’t this… a little inappropriate?" she asked hesitantly.
"It is. But your master isn’t exactly a good person either."
"Just so you know, I won’t teach you anything virtuous. Scared?" Chen Chang'an grinned.
"Not at all!" Yun Qingluan shook her head. She knew Chen Chang'an wasn’t truly wicked at heart—otherwise, he wouldn’t have saved her back then, even offering up the Dragon Source.
Meanwhile, Yun Zhilan stood there, utterly dumbfounded. She’d never imagined such a tactic.
Geniuses on the Skypride Rankings had always rejected factions with poor reputations or ill intentions.
But taking resources and then ghosting them? This was her first time seeing it.
At that moment, Yun Zhilan felt like she’d glimpsed a whole new world. Damn, this move… was brilliant!
Free resources, zero obligations—after all, before these geniuses grew strong, the investors would be more worried about their survival than anything else.
And once they did grow powerful? What could those factions even do? Would they dare speak up?
Sure, it wasn’t the most honorable approach, but against dishonorable people, it was downright poetic.
"Feels like I’ve missed out on so many resources."
"Ugh, why didn’t I think of this before?"
Due to her Yun family status, Yun Zhilan had rarely accepted outside investments, and even then, only after discussions with her elders.
"By the way, why haven’t the Wu and Meng families shown up?"
Chen Chang'an had some history with the Meng family and had been looking forward to squeezing them dry. Yet, they hadn’t even appeared.
"I’m not sure about the Wu family, but as for the Mengs…"
"Miss Yun’s surname alone is reason enough for them to stay away," Yun Zhilan said coldly.
So the rift between the Meng and Yun families ran that deep? They’d pass up a genius just because of her name?
"If they’re not trying to recruit her, they’re probably planning to eliminate her before she grows."
Chen Chang'an understood perfectly—the Mengs wouldn’t tolerate Yun Qingluan’s rise, especially if they assumed she was a Yun family descendant.
Otherwise, their own standing would be at risk.
"The Mengs wouldn’t dare go too far within Skypride City."
"But once outside? That’s another story," Yun Zhilan muttered, frowning.
Fighting was allowed in Skypride City, but one rule was absolute—no harming Skypride Rankings members.
But that protection ended at the city gates.
"So they won’t make a move inside the city?"
"How boring."
"Seems like no one else is coming."
"Tomorrow, let’s head to the Skypride Tower and see what’s happening."
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...
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.”
lanned to earn money steadily and take life at a slower pace. But he never expected... his father's remarriage, and the stepmother bringing along a dependent, would completely disrupt his life's plans...
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?"
