When Long Aotian woke up, two hours had already passed.
He glanced at the group chat, noticing the call had been disconnected at some point. Stretching, he got up from the bed, walked to the window, and pulled back the curtains. Outside, snowflakes continued to swirl without any sign of stopping.
This kind of weather truly felt like what Wan Ning had described—perfect for burrowing under the blankets, listening to music, and sleeping at home.
Suddenly, his phone rang. Seeing the caller ID, Long Aotian picked it up and answered.
"Long Aotian, are you awake yet? Come out and go shopping with me."
Hearing Li Qingxue's voice, a faint smile unconsciously tugged at the corners of his lips. "Where?"
Staying home alone was boring anyway; going out for a stroll sounded nice.
"I'm leaving home now. Let's meet at the place where we first met."
After hanging up, Li Qingxue slipped her phone into her pocket and studied her reflection in the mirror.
Her skin was smooth and radiant despite the winter dryness, her outfit neat and accessorized with small, deliberate touches. The sweet smile on her face completed the picture—this was about as lovely as a woman could look.
Tucking her short hair behind her ears, she put on a white knitted hat and pink knitted gloves before cheerfully stepping out of her room.
"Xue'er, you’re dressed so beautifully today. Are you meeting someone special?"
In the living room, Qingxue's mother couldn’t help but tease her daughter.
Li Qingxue froze for a moment.
She was going to meet someone—the first person she had ever truly liked after understanding what love meant.
But she still didn’t know how to explain her relationship with Long Aotian to her parents.
It was complicated.
Had she met him that summer?
Or was it because of him that she had experienced such an unforgettable summer?
Falling for someone might happen in just a moment—a moment she hadn’t even realized at the time. Yet, like a seed quietly taking root in her heart, it had grown without her noticing.
By the time she became aware of it, that seed had already become a towering tree.
Loving Long Aotian might be the bravest thing she had ever done.
But… but she didn’t regret it at all. Every time she thought of the moments they shared, an inexplicable joy bubbled up inside her.
She wasn’t a naive girl anymore. She was an adult now, fully aware of her choices.
A soft smile graced her delicate face—whether from thinking of Long Aotian or as an unspoken answer to her mother, only Li Qingxue knew what truly crossed her mind in that instant.
"I’m going out to have fun, Mom. Talk to you later!" With that, she left the house.
The moment she stepped out of the building, the cold wind hit her.
So cold.
Yet neither the biting wind nor the falling snow could slow her determined steps.
She walked along the riverbank, where the edges had already frozen, though the center still flowed relentlessly.
The familiar sound of the water instantly transported her back to that summer.
Their first meeting had been so… magical.
Her footsteps quickened slightly.
In the distance, she spotted a figure standing by the riverside.
"Long Aotian!"
Hearing her voice, Long Aotian looked up just as she threw herself into his arms amid the swirling snow.
"Aren’t you cold? Why run so fast?"
"Long Aotian, did you miss me?" Wrapped in his embrace, Li Qingxue felt an inexplicable sense of peace, as if nothing else mattered anymore.
"I did."
The hope and sincerity in her eyes remained as pure as ever. If there were a goddess in this world who brought joy and happiness, Long Aotian was certain—it had to be Li Qingxue.
His answer filled her heart with indescribable happiness.
Gazing at the riverbank, she said, "I want to go down there."
Long Aotian led her to the steps, carefully kicking aside the accumulated snow while holding her hand as they descended toward the river.
"Long Aotian, do you remember where you were lying when we first met?" The warmth from his palm seeped through even her thick gloves.
"Over there." He pointed in a direction.
"Nope! It was here." She tugged him to a specific spot. "You were lying right here."
"And then I met a little fool who was so upset she was about to cry, wasn’t she?"
"I’m not a fool! I was just… a little unhappy back then."
Looking back now, if she had known what kind of person Ye Liangchen would turn out to be, she would never have wasted her sadness on him.
"You should be grateful. If I hadn’t been upset, how would you have started a conversation with me? And if you hadn’t talked to me, how would you have gotten to know me? And if you hadn’t known me, how could a beauty like me have ended up with a grass-grabbing fiend like you?"
As she spoke, Li Qingxue pulled her hand out of her glove and pinched the soft flesh at Long Aotian’s waist. "Long Aotian, be honest—now that you’ve gotten all three of us sisters, you’re thrilled, aren’t you?"
"Do I have to answer?"
"Yes!"
"Of course I am. I must be the luckiest man in the world." With that, Long Aotian swiftly pinched her soft cheek and then darted away.
"Ugh, I knew it! You’ve had your eyes on us for ages, you fiend!" She chased after him.
"If you’ve figured it out, then I might as well go all out!"
"I’m not scared!" She leaped into his arms.
But then, her playful energy suddenly settled. "Long Aotian."
"Yeah?"
"I just… wanted to say your name. It still feels like a dream."
He leaned down and kissed her lightly. "How about now?"
She blinked up at him. "Still a little."
Another kiss. "And now?"
Li Qingxue grinned. "A bit more real now."
"Take me shopping. I don’t care about the future—I just want you today, right now."
"Okay."
"You didn’t even bring a hat. Your hair’s covered in snow—bend down so I can brush it off."
The moment he lowered his head, she wrapped her arms around his neck. "I’ve caught you. And once I’ve got you, I’m never letting go."
"You’re even more domineering than I am." Scooping her up, he carried her back up the riverbank...
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?"
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!
iemie, male, Race: Moon. Hobby: Collecting anomalies. At first, he thought he possessed two systems: the Crimson Rainbow Moon and the Clear Cold Frost Moon. One day, he discovered that he himself could also become a system for others, holding the chessboard of fate. The Eighth Epoch, also known as the Eternal Moon Epoch. Humans, witches, elves, bloodline descendants, specters, demons, and spirits together compose a new history. Walking the path on behalf of the moon, before he knew it, Chen Miemie's footsteps were followed by all manner of strange and wondrous anomalies. As time passed, many titles circulated about him—The King in Yellow, Lord of Anomalies, Heart of the Eternal Moon, and more. "Me? I'm just a traveler who enjoys collecting interesting creatures," Chen Miemie said.
