Lifting Long Aotian's shirt, Li Qingxue saw a large red swelling on the right side of his back, with a faint scar across it—though it had stopped bleeding by now.
"Long Aotian, were you beaten up?" Li Qingxue's voice trembled as she took in the sight of the injury.
Long Aotian turned and lightly flicked her forehead with a scoff. "Do I look like someone who gets bullied easily?"
"You can't even see it yourself. It's so swollen—no wonder you were in so much pain."
Li Qingxue didn’t fully understand men’s resilience. For her, even a minor scrape could hurt for ages. Seeing such a large bruise on his back, she could only imagine how much it must ache...
"Hey, hey, don’t cry. It’s not what you think." Long Aotian then explained everything—how after registering for school, he’d gone out to eat with his roommates and ended up intervening when he saw someone being harassed.
"You idiot! Always sticking your nose where it doesn’t belong. But did you even stop to think? What if that lunatic had thrown a knife instead?..."
Li Qingxue huffed, though she knew this was just who Long Aotian was. Only he would do something so reckless.
Wasn’t that how they’d first met, after all?
Back when she was at her lowest, a meddlesome boy had said just one thing—and she’d remembered him ever since...
"I’ll go buy you some ointment. Wait here."
"Heh, look what I’ve got!" Long Aotian pulled a tube of cream from his pocket and waved it in front of her.
"You’re still laughing? I thought you’d been hurt, and here you are grinning like an idiot!"
Long Aotian’s smile faded as he lifted his shirt for her to apply the medicine.
"Qingxue, don’t tell Yuying about this, okay?"
"Ouch—be gentle!"
"Oh, so you *do* feel pain?" Despite her words, her touch softened, and she even blew lightly on the wound to help the ointment absorb.
"Yuying worries too much. If she found out, she’d cry—and I can’t stand seeing her cry. You have no idea how long that girl can go on sometimes." A faint smile tugged at his lips, as if recalling something.
"I know. The way you forced yourself to act normal at the restaurant—I could tell you didn’t want Yuying to notice."
"But I think Hu Yuying is stronger than you give her credit for." Li Qingxue said this based on how Yuying carried herself at school.
"That’s good."
"‘That’s good’? You’re always thinking of others—why can’t you care about yourself for once?"
"Pfft, it’s just a scratch. My skin’s thick. It’ll heal in a couple of days."
Li Qingxue jabbed a finger near the edge of the bruise. "Then why hide it from Yuying?"
"You’re the most stubborn person I know."
Long Aotian tugged his shirt back down. "It’s not stubbornness. There’s no point making a fuss over nothing. I’d just look weak."
"You’d rather suffer than swallow your pride."
"So you *want* to see Hu Yuying cry?"
"No."
"Exactly. Why worry her over nothing?"
"And you’re one to talk! The way you were earlier, anyone would think I’d done something terrible to you. So dramatic." Long Aotian laughed.
Li Qingxue rolled her eyes and sat beside him. "You’re really good to Yuying."
"Yeah, well, call me ‘Big Brother Long,’ and I’ll take you on as my second sidekick."
"As if!" She smoothed her clothes, stealing a sidelong glance at him. She opened her mouth as if to say something but hesitated.
A quiet moment passed.
“Let’s head back. Nothing else to do here, and we’ve got military training soon.” Sitting this close to Li Qingxue for so long, Long Aotian suddenly felt awkward.
In his memories, Li Qingxue was always bright and cheerful, as if all the world’s joy lived in her. Just being near her was enough to lift anyone’s spirits.
But now, arms crossed and lips pursed, she radiated an uncharacteristic tension.
Long Aotian turned to study her.
Noticing his gaze, Li Qingxue fidgeted. "Wh-what are you staring at?"
"Your makeup’s smudged."
"Huh? Really?" She touched her face—girls took these things seriously. "I only wore a tiny bit today, it shouldn’t be—"
Mid-sentence, she caught his smirk and pinched his waist. "Jerk! Making fun of me!"
She knew he was just trying to lighten the mood. What a fool...
Her laughter dissolved the tension.
"Let’s go."
Watching Long Aotian walk ahead, Li Qingxue felt both amused and exasperated. In many ways, he was wonderful—helping Hu Yuying grow, saying the words she’d needed to hear, stepping in when others were bullied.
Yet when it came to himself, he brushed everything off like it was nothing. A strange guy.
He seemed out of place in this world, yet he kept trying to belong.
He looked like any other eighteen-year-old, but there was something undeniably different about him...
---
**Room 301, 3rd Floor, Girls’ Dormitory 12**
Hu Yuying bit her lip hard, her clenched fists turning white at the knuckles.
"Yuying, you’re back?" a roommate called.
Forcing a smile, Hu Yuying murmured a quiet "Mm" and retreated to her bed.
She tried to steady her breathing, but tears spilled over anyway.
As Long Aotian’s most devoted follower, no one understood him better than she did.
If Li Qingxue had noticed, how could *she* have missed it?
The instant his body had stiffened, she’d known.
But Long-ge had kept smiling, pretending everything was fine—so she pretended, too.
If he didn’t want her to know, she wouldn’t let him know she knew.
She’d seen Li Qingxue texting him secretly.
Even if Li Qingxue hadn’t, *she* would have.
So she’d overheard his words.
Seeing that bruise on his back—her heart ached more than she could bear.
But Long-ge knew her too well. He feared her worry, her tears, so he played it off like it was nothing.
He was always looking out for her. When Li Qingxue mentioned she was doing well at school, he’d just smiled and said, ["That’s good."]
One thing he’d said was true: her heart *was* small.
Too small...
"Brother Long, before I met you, I thought life was just like that—nothing special. But after meeting you, I’ve forgiven all the hardships the world has thrown at me."
Gazing at the photo of herself and Brother Long happily linking pinky fingers, Hu Yuying carefully pressed the picture against her chest.
"Meeting you felt like... I just really, really like you..."
"You wanted to see me grow stronger, become better—so I will. I’ll grow stronger, become better. One day, I’ll climb over that wall in your heart..."
ine. During your journey, you save an abandoned baby girl and become her elder brother】 【You rely on each other, becoming each other's support】 【At the end of the simulation, you shield the now-grown girl with your life, sacrificing yourself to block numerous demonic cultivators. You die, and the light in the girl's eyes fades】 …… 【Second Simulation: You are transported to a world where steam and magic coexist】 【You immerse yourself in the study of magic, obsessed with its research. One day, while out, you encounter a half-blooded demon girl wandering the streets. You take her in as your student】 【You teach the demoness what it means to be human, show her the beauty of the world, and nurture her into a miracle that surpasses even the gods】 【At the end of the simulation, you die of old age in front of the nearly immortal demoness due to your mortal lifespan】 …… One simulation after another, one encounter after another. Xu Xi suddenly felt something was off: "Wait, you said you're coming to the real world to find me?"
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.”
e bizarre and supernatural had descended. The previous emperor was a thoroughgoing tyrant; no longer satisfied with human women, he had set his sights on a stunningly beautiful supernatural entity. He met his end in his bedchamber, drained of all his vital essence. As the legitimate eldest son and crown prince, Wang Hao was thus hastily enthroned, becoming the young emperor of the Great Zhou Dynasty. No sooner had he awakened the "Imperial Sign-In Intelligence System" than he was assassinated by a Son of Destiny—a classic villain's opening. The Great Zhou, ravaged by the former emperor's excesses, was in national decline. The great families within its borders harbored their own treacherous schemes, martial sects began to defy the imperial court's decrees, and border armies, their pay and provisions in arrears, grumbled incessantly against the central government. Fortunately, the central capital was still held secure by the half-million Imperial Guards and fifty thousand Imperial Forest Army who obeyed the court's orders, along with the royal family's hidden reserves of power, barely managing to suppress the realm. As the Great Zhou's finances worsened and supernatural activities grew ever more frequent, the court sat atop a volcano. Ambitious plotters everywhere dreamed of overthrowing the dynasty, and even some reclusive ancient powers emerged, attempting to sway the tides of the world. At the first grand court assembly, the civil and military officials nearly came to blows, fighting tooth and nail over the allocation of fifty million taels of silver from the summer tax revenues. The spectacle opened Wang Hao's eyes—the Great Zhou's bureaucracy was not only corrupt but also martially proficient, a cabinet of all-rounders. Some officials even had the audacity to suggest the emperor release funds from the imperial privy purse to address the emergency. Wang Hao suddenly felt weary. Let it all burn.
【Prologue: The Beginning of It All – Use holy water to heal the saintess tainted by demonic energy, then converse with her.】 Shen Nian stared at his older sister sipping yogurt, lost in thought. So you’re telling me my sister is the saintess, and yogurt is the holy water? 【Main Quest 1: Brave Youth, Become an Adventurer! Reward: Rookie Adventurer Title.】 【Side Quest 1: Find the Adorable Kitty! Reward: 1000 Gold Coins.】 Shen Nian: "Wait, I’m a high school senior here—did some guy who got isekai’d accidentally bind his system to me?" Hold on, completing quests gives gold rewards? Titles even boost stats? Is this for real? (A lighthearted, absurd campus comedy—not a revenge power fantasy.)
