"Master, what's going on here?"
"How can there be such a peaceful place within the Forest of Life and Death?" Chen Chang'an asked curiously.
"Of course, it doesn't exist within the Forest of Life and Death. I created a temporary space here."
"Only someone with your unique constitution can enter. Others might see it, but they can't step inside," Mu Yunyao explained.
"Oh, I see."
Chen Chang'an nodded with a smile, then walked over to the unconscious Chen Yunxuan.
"How is he doing?" Chen Chang'an asked.
"With me here, he won't die, but he needs time to recover. The blood fiend energy has affected him too severely."
"The Purgegrass here should help, but I haven't found it yet."
Indeed, Purgegrass was crucial, but...
Chen Chang'an glanced at Chen Yunxuan and said lightly, "If we can't find it, then let's not bother."
Huh?
Not bother?
Mu Yunyao frowned. Knowing Chen Chang'an, he shouldn't be the type to abandon Chen Yunxuan.
"Do you have another solution?" Mu Yunyao asked.
"Of course."
"I can help him right now."
Before the words even settled, Chen Chang'an flicked his finger, sending a streak of sword energy straight into Chen Yunxuan's forehead.
"What are you doing?"
"Chen Chang'an, have you lost your mind? He’s a descendant of your Chen family!"
Mu Yunyao never expected Chen Chang'an to outright kill Chen Yunxuan.
This method of solving the problem was truly baffling.
"My Chen family has plenty of descendants. What’s one less?"
"He was suffering anyway, so I helped him out."
"Besides... is he really a descendant of my Chen family?"
Chen Chang'an turned to Mu Yunyao, his cold smirk making her frown deeper.
"Chen Chang'an, are you saying I lied to you?"
"What nonsense are you spouting?"
"You don’t even trust your own master?" Mu Yunyao said angrily.
"Of course I trust my master. Unfortunately... you’re not her."
Chen Chang'an’s icy gaze only infuriated Mu Yunyao further. She had already explained everything, yet this brat still dared to treat her like this?
Was he truly rebelling against his own master?
"Chen Chang'an, are you really going to betray your master and forsake your ancestors?"
"But don’t forget—just how powerful I am."
"You’re courting death," Mu Yunyao said coldly.
Hearing this, Chen Chang'an sneered. "Of course I know how strong my master is. But you? Let’s test that."
Without wasting another word, Chen Chang'an struck with full force, a blade of sword energy shooting toward Mu Yunyao.
Mu Yunyao’s expression changed as she dodged effortlessly.
"Oh, I almost forgot. This is your illusion. Killing you here won’t be easy," Chen Chang'an remarked with a smile when his attack missed.
"You..."
"How did you figure it out?"
The moment Chen Chang'an mentioned the word "illusion," Mu Yunyao knew he had seen through the deception.
Since the disguise was useless now, she cut to the chase. She was also curious—how had he spotted the flaw so quickly?
From her perspective, there had been no obvious slip-ups.
"Your explanations were plausible, not entirely impossible."
"But do you know where you went wrong?" Chen Chang'an asked with a smile.
"Where?"
"My master... never explains. She’d just kick me."
What?
Never explains?
Only then did the illusion realize—Chen Chang'an had noticed the flaw the moment it started explaining.
It had tried its best to avoid suspicious topics, yet it still slipped up.
"So what if you figured it out?"
"Do you really think you can escape from here?"
"Once you enter my illusion, the only way out is in death."
Death?
Chen Chang'an was also curious—when would that day come? But one thing was certain: it wasn’t today.
"You managed to pull me into your illusion. That’s impressive."
"But that’s all."
"Kill me? You’re not qualified."
"Break!"
"Ah!"
"This... this can’t be!"
"Your soul..."
Chen Chang'an’s soul was immensely powerful. When he decided to leave the illusion, there was no stopping him.
Instead, the illusion’s soul suffered severe damage.
As the illusion shattered, Chen Chang'an found himself standing before an enormous crimson tree.
This tree was likely the most terrifying existence in the Forest of Life and Death.
"Kill if you can, trap the rest in illusions to wear them down?"
"Not a bad plan. Too bad you met me." Chen Chang'an smirked at the crimson tree.
"P-please... don’t kill me."
"I don’t want to die."
This crimson tree had lived for countless years, evolving into a tree demon with intelligence and a formidable soul.
Ordinary people wouldn’t have escaped its illusion so easily.
"Don’t want to die?"
"Fine. I didn’t come here to kill you anyway."
"Where’s the Purgegrass? I need it."
"I know! I know everything in the Forest of Life and Death!"
"I’ll find it for you right now!"
"Good. You’re smart."
Communicating with intelligent creatures was efficient—at least they feared death and knew how to cooperate.
This saved Chen Chang'an a lot of time.
Soon, a blood corpse scurried over with several stalks of Purgegrass, placed them before Chen Chang'an, and hurried away.
"Can you command everything in this forest?" Chen Chang'an asked curiously.
"Y-yes! The blood corpses obey me, and the other crimson trees follow my orders."
Clearly, this tree was the ruler of the Forest of Life and Death—though its power lay solely in its soul.
It could only control blood corpses and other crimson trees to harm intruders. The illusion was its last resort.
But against someone like Chen Chang'an, with an even stronger soul, it was helpless.
The Crimson Tree King was puzzled—the real threat here was the blood fiend energy, so why was Chen Chang'an completely unaffected?
"How long was I in the illusion?" Chen Chang'an asked.
Time in illusions often differed from reality.
"Less than a day."
Huh? That long?
Chen Chang'an was pressed for time. He quickly stored the Purgegrass and said to the Crimson Tree King, "I’m leaving now. Clear a path for me—don’t waste my time."
Leave?
"Leaving already?"
The Crimson Tree King couldn't wait for Chen Chang'an to leave this place—otherwise, it would remain on edge.
"Very well, very well! I’ll arrange it right away."
With a mere thought from the Crimson Tree King, all obstacles before Chen Chang'an vanished.
"I’m off. We likely... won’t meet again."
"Good, good, good!"
"Hmm?"
"Ah, no no no! I’ll miss you dearly."
Chen Chang'an chuckled, deciding not to tease the Crimson Tree King further. In a flash, his figure darted toward the direction of the City of No Return.
] [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!"
lan, the Luo family, tracked him down - along with the babies in their arms. Mo Xuan stared pensively at the paternity test results from over a dozen top institutions, both domestic and international, showing a 99.99% match between himself and the two baby girls. At 23, Mo Xuan, a doctoral student, had become the father of two three-year-old children. The kicker? The mothers weren't even the same person! He gradually realized he was being lured step by step into an elaborate trap designed by these two yandere sisters. "Be good, little Xuan. Sister's life belongs to you entirely." "Brother, if you try to run away, I'll have no choice but to tie you up." Mo Xuan: "Do whatever you want, ladies. I give up."
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.”
young master of the Shen family—a figure of immense power and wealth beyond measure—and awakened the "Destined Ultimate Villain System"! His starting scenario? Running into his icy fiancée who shows up with a mountain-descending divine doctor to break off their engagement. The divine doctor arrogantly taunts: "What does your Shen family have besides a bit of stinking money? You're not even worthy of tying Qingxue's shoelaces!" Shen Fei just smiled. He completely defied the usual script: "Fine, I agree to break off the engagement. Also, notify the finance department to withdraw all investments from the Su family." Minutes later, with its capital chain severed, the Su Group teetered on the brink of bankruptcy! The once aloof and proud ice queen CEO was thrown into utter panic. That very night, she went to Shen Fei's villa, casting aside all dignity to beg and plead desperately... From then on, in this world teeming with Sons of Destiny, Shen Fei embarked on a path of extreme dimensional suppression! A mountain-descending divine doctor? Peerless medical skills? Shen Fei: "Reporting you for practicing medicine without a license! I'll gladly take your ancient medicinal cauldron and twin sister assassins." The Crooked-Smiling Dragon King? Commanding a hundred thousand soldiers with a single order? Shen Fei: "Illegal assembly and suspected treason! Let a fleet of attack helicopters sanitize the area and teach you what the state apparatus really means!" A reborn tycoon? Knows all the golden opportunities of the next decade? Shen Fei: "A trillion in capital to reverse and pump the stock market, making you blow your margin and jump on the very first day of your rebirth!" What Chosen Ones? What bearers of Heavenly Fortune? In Shen Fei's eyes, they're all just chives (i.e., suckers/marks) waiting to be harvested! Shen Fei: "Sorry, but as the Destined Ultimate Villain, I don't play by the rules of honor. I only play the game of dimensional suppression."
