"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.
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?!
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!
] [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!"
] 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.
