Guan Jinyue turned and walked along the narrow alley between shipping containers toward Pier Number Three.
After about twenty or thirty meters, she stopped.
Not because someone was blocking her path, but because she sensed a very faint presence.
This presence wasn’t a supernatural ability or psychic energy. Ordinary people could never detect it, and most ability users couldn’t either.
But she could.
Because she carried something similar herself.
It was the presence of Baal.
Guan Jinyue stood still, her silver hair blown to one side by the night wind, her dark pupils fixed on the direction from which the presence emanated.
Northeast corner.
Based on her information, that area should be one of the outer casual workers’ positions tonight.
She waited in the shadows for a few seconds, then changed direction and headed northeast.
Her footsteps were swallowed by the sea breeze.
When she was about fifteen meters from a row of abandoned containers, she spotted a figure.
A man crouched beside a container. Next to him lay a purple-furred leopard.
A summoner?
She could sense it—Baal’s presence was coming from this person.
It was faint, as if something was suppressing it, but it was definitely there.
Guan Jinyue didn’t move closer. She stopped fifteen meters away and spoke.
“Hey...”
The man’s posture didn’t change. His crouched body made no extra movement; he merely slowly tilted his head.
The purple leopard beside him lifted its head, ears perked in her direction, emitting a low, barely audible growl from its throat.
But the man didn’t move. He didn’t even fully turn his head.
“You.” Guan Jinyue called out again.
“I heard you.”
The man’s voice came from near the containers, neither loud nor low, carrying a lazy weariness.
Judging by the voice alone, he sounded like a middle-aged man in his forties.
He slowly stood up and turned to face her.
Fifteen meters apart. The night was thick, and the dock lights didn’t reach this area. Guan Jinyue could only make out a vague silhouette.
Medium build. Neither thin nor fat. Wearing an ordinary jacket, with a cheap mask on his face—one of those ten-yuan plastic things sold at street stalls.
The face beneath the mask was completely invisible, not even the eyes were exposed.
But she wasn’t there to look at his face. Whatever was under the mask didn’t matter.
“You carry Baal’s presence,” Guan Jinyue said without preamble.
The other side didn’t answer.
The leopard’s tail brushed lightly across the ground, its purple pupils staring at her through the darkness like two cold, small lamps.
“I don’t know anything about Baal.” The man’s tone was flat, but his speech slowed down slightly.
Guan Jinyue didn’t move.
What she sensed couldn’t be wrong.
Baal’s presence was unique. It had left its mark inside this person’s body.
Most people could never come into contact with it.
“You have a contract with Baal,” Guan Jinyue said. There was no doubt in her voice—she was stating a fact.
“What are you talking about?” The man’s pitch rose slightly, feigning confusion.
But Guan Jinyue wasn’t buying it.
She had seen too many good actors.
“I mean you no harm.”
“But you just killed someone. Maybe two,” the man said.
Guan Jinyue’s brow twitched.
He knew.
He hadn’t guessed. The certainty in his tone was too strong—it wasn’t speculation after hearing the radio go silent.
This man had been watching the southeast corner’s activity all along. And his perception surpassed hers.
He reacted faster than that team leader.
A third- or fourth-tier casual worker shouldn’t have that level of perception.
Guan Jinyue re-evaluated the man before her.
The mask hid his face. His body was relaxed, but his center of gravity was firmly balanced between both feet.
He looked like he was just standing there, no different from an ordinary person.
“Right,” Guan Jinyue admitted. “I killed the man in the southeast corner and dealt with the leader. They got in my way.”
The man behind the mask said nothing.
“You’re not running?” Guan Jinyue asked.
“Would I get away?”
“You probably wouldn’t.”
Guan Jinyue’s tone was uncertain, though she was confident in herself. Still, this man was connected to Baal, meaning he had to have exceptional qualities.
The last contract holder she had met was that young man named Chen Guan. Like her, he had a sorrowful past and someone he couldn’t forget.
She had heard he was doing well now, having just outshone a host of prodigies.
She wondered if she’d ever have the chance to work with him.
“Then I won’t run.” The man pulled his hands out of his pockets, empty, spreading all ten fingers to show her—a gesture of surrender. “Ask whatever you want. But I really don’t know anything about Baal. You might have the wrong person.”
Guan Jinyue stepped closer, reducing the distance to about ten meters.
The presence was clearer now.
It was definitely Baal.
Suppressed by something, like a membrane wrapping that presence inside. Only a small fraction was leaking out, but its texture was identical to her own.
“I didn’t mistake you.”
She stopped walking, tilting her head slightly. Her silver hair slid over her shoulder.
“You don’t have to admit it, and you don’t need to deny it. I can sense it myself. You carry the same thing I do.”
Troublesome.
Chen Guan’s mind raced behind the mask. He wasn’t particularly concerned about Guan Jinyue’s motives—he just wanted to get rid of her.
“This Baal you’re talking about—what is it? Do you mean the demon lord I’m thinking of?” He spoke, his voice carrying just the right amount of bewilderment.
Guan Jinyue tilted her head. “You really don’t know?”
“I really don’t know.” Chen Guan took a half-step back, leaning against the container wall. “I’m just a casual worker playing for scraps. This is my first night at this dock. What you’re saying about presences and contracts—I don’t understand it.”
Guan Jinyue stared at him for a few seconds.
“Your heartbeat is very steady.”
“Because when I’m nervous, my heartbeat doesn’t speed up,” Chen Guan said. “It slows down.”
That was true.
Guan Jinyue pursed her lips, unsure if she found the answer interesting or was gauging its credibility.
“Then how do you explain the presence on you?”
“I can’t explain what I can’t feel.”
Chen Guan spread his hands, palms up, fingers open, continuing his harmless pose. “Are you sure you’re not mistaken? The smell of rust is so strong here—any presence would get mixed up.”
Guan Jinyue didn’t take the bait.
She took two more steps forward, reducing the distance to about seven meters.
Baobao’s growl grew louder. Its front paws pressed into the ground, half-rising.
Chen Guan pressed a hand on its head.
“Easy.”
Baobao glanced at him, reluctantly lying back down, but its muscles remained taut.
“That beast of yours has it too.” Guan Jinyue’s gaze fell on the leopard, her tone sounding like she was talking to herself. “Residual traces. Very faint, but present.”
Chen Guan silently cursed his luck.
Guan Jinyue’s perception exceeded his expectations.
The mask could block psychic probing, but it couldn’t block the resonance of their shared origin—like two frequencies vibrating on the same wavelength.
Baal’s mark on him was too deep, etched into his very bones. It couldn’t be hidden by mere disguise.
But he couldn’t admit it.
nd fell into a coma while saving his younger sister from an out-of-control car. He became a vegetable. No one knew that his consciousness had crossed into a world of cultivation. Over the course of sixty years, he began as the lowest kind of mine slave, struggling to survive amid mountains of corpses and seas of blood. By sheer chance, he eventually obtained the complete memories of a fallen Immortal King. Alchemy, medicine, formations, feng shui, physiognomy, artifact forging… Every great inheritance of the cultivation world was now his. But when he opened his eyes again, he discovered that ten full years had passed in the modern world. To pay for his treatment, his father had sold the family’s shop and house, leaving himself covered in lasting injuries and illness. His mother had cared for him day and night, and more than half of her hair had already turned white. His younger sister, who had been only fifteen back then, was now twenty-five. To help repay the family’s debts, she had been forced to lower her head and put on a smiling face in places of glittering lights and endless revelry. Only then did Chen Xuan understand that what he had lost was not merely ten years. He had lost the life his entire family was meant to have. The good news was that he had brought back the memories of an Immortal King’s entire lifetime. The bad news was that his soul had returned alone—his cultivation had not come with him. Spiritual energy was scarce, resources were depleted, and the modern world still had firearms, surveillance, capital, and laws. If he wanted to protect his family, break free from everyone’s control, and become truly invincible beneath the heavens, he would have to start all over again.
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!
s + Rent Collection Wealth】 At the start, he inherited a rundown house in the urban village from his grandfather. The house had no tenants, but the moment he was diagnosed with a terminal illness, a self-proclaimed empress from the Tianxuan Continent arrived as his first tenant. Ye Chuan soon discovered that with every new tenant moving in, not only did he receive massive daily payments, but he also obtained unique items related to their backgrounds. 【Acquired Bai Qianshuang’s related item: Tiger Strength Pill—dramatically enhances physical power!】 【Acquired Bai Qianshuang’s related item: Deer Blood Pill—significantly boosts vitality!】 …… From that day on, all sorts of bizarre tenants began appearing in the house: the empress from Tianxuan Continent, an apocalyptic sorceress from the Magic Realm, a mysterious scientific girl who fell through a spacetime rift… Every single day, he received strange, powerful items and endless money. Then one day, he suddenly realized—he had become invincible. Enough, enough! Stop giving me more!
+ Slow Paced + Main Character Thrives Together with His Disciples】 Transmigrated into a cultivation world, Chu Xingchen awakens a discipleship system that reveals the tags of his disciples! Starting from scratch, he builds the strongest sect. Disciple One: Li Yingling 【Gold Tag: Genius Cultivator】【Purple Tag: Extremely Lucky】【Blue Tag: Bewitchingly Beautiful】 Disciple Two: Li Hangtian 【Gold Tag: Reincarnated】【Purple Tag: Ruthless and Decisive】【Blue Tag: Loyal and Noble】 Disciple Three: ??? 【Orange Tag: Alluring Demoness】【???】【???】 Thus, in the cultivation world, an unremarkable little sect appears out of nowhere, but little do others know that each member of this sect is a powerhouse in their own right. The book is also known as: Cultivation? It's Exactly Like This!
