"The elevator's out too."
As for jumping—the straightforward option—he didn't even consider it this time. Leaping from this height to elbow-drop concrete? That would take a special kind of desperation.
Thud.
The third heartbeat.
Yin Chen's Frostbone Wolf lay sprawled on the ground, its limbs trembling, its head tilted toward the crack beneath its paws. It let out a sharp, drawn-out howl, completely abandoning its usual aloof composure.
From within the tower's structural frame came screeching sounds of metal snapping—several points at once, one after another, spreading from underfoot all the way to the roof. The entire tower was disintegrating inch by inch within its own skeleton.
"The seal is at about thirty to forty percent strength. At this rate, it won't hold for more than ten minutes."
An Changqing held his sword horizontally before him, starlight coating the entire blade.
"And after ten minutes?"
Yin Tianzheng didn't answer. Chen Guan answered for him.
"It comes straight out."
Thud. Thud. Thud.
The heartbeat quickened, intervals shrinking from a few seconds to two or three, one pounding after another. Something that had been imprisoned for who knew how long had finally pried open a crack and was fiercely forcing its way out.
Black mist began seeping through the tower's cracked seams.
One wisp, two wisps, three wisps.
Slowly, it emerged from the gaps in the metal plates, crawling across the ground and spreading outward. The temperature dropped another notch.
When the black mist passed by Hong Yuan's feet, she stepped back and looked down at the trace it left on the metal surface.
Long black corrosion marks. The metal had been dissolved into a thin layer.
Chen Guan stood in the center of the platform, watching the black mist coil around his feet, circle once, then wrap back up—as if trying to identify the scent on him.
The black dot in his palm was burning hot.
Baal's voice surfaced again, this time without the usual joking opener.
"Kid, this mess—how are you planning to clean it up?"
Even Baal couldn't force a laugh now.
He knew his comrade's strength too well. Revival was not good news for him either.
Chen Guan didn't reply. He had another reckless idea forming.
He looked up at the collapsing metal plates beneath his feet. The black mist was gushing from every crack at an accelerating pace.
Thud. Thud. Thud. Thud.
The heartbeat grew denser.
The black mist spread faster than anyone had anticipated.
Long Ao threw a punch. The air blast scattered a patch of the mist before him, but within two seconds, the dispersed part regrouped, even thicker than before.
"Can't break it apart."
Long Ao pulled back his fist and retreated two steps. Physical attacks were useless, it seemed.
Hong Yuan held her axe in front of her, watching the black mist crawl past the tips of her shoes. The metal beneath her feet had visibly thinned.
"Old Yin, how much longer can that seal of yours actually hold?"
Even Hong Yuan had shed all pretense of politeness.
Yin Tianzheng knelt on the ground, unable to rise. Both hands braced against the fractured surface, his fingers bleeding into the black mist—a stark contrast.
"Seven minutes. Maybe less."
"There's another way."
Chen Guan's voice wasn't loud, but the wind carried it to everyone's ears, silencing them all.
"Since we can't suppress it—"
He raised his head. His eyes were terrifyingly clear.
"—then don't. Open the seal. I'll devour it."
Silence hung for about two seconds.
"Have you lost your mind?"
Long Ao was the first to speak, his voice louder than he'd intended.
Hong Yuan's mouth opened, then closed, then opened again.
"Hold on. You were just hit so hard you got a nosebleed from that thing, and now you're saying you want to eat it?"
An Changqing stepped over to Chen Guan in two strides and grabbed him by the shoulder, his grip tight.
"Chen Guan, you touched it for just a few seconds, and you already suffered irreversible changes."
He kept his voice outwardly calm, but the suppressed tension in it betrayed his real emotions.
"If you dive headfirst into this, it won't just be a matter of getting hurt. You'll become another version of it."
Chen Guan didn't shake off his hand. He just tilted his head slightly.
"Let go. Trust me."
An Changqing didn't let go.
"Give me one reason."
Chen Guan held his gaze for a moment, seeing the persistence in his eyes.
"Let go, and I'll tell you."
An Changqing's fingers loosened, but he didn't step back. He stood half a stride away from Chen Guan.
Chen Guan raised his right hand and showed them—letting everyone see the black dot in his palm.
"This thing was left behind when I linked with it earlier. It hasn't disappeared, and it hasn't spread."
"Know why?"
No one answered.
"Because my body accepted it."
Long Ao frowned deeply.
"Accepted?"
"Yes. Accepted."
Chen Guan lowered his hand and looked at Yin Tianzheng. "Sir, when you sealed this thing, did you ever wonder why every seal eventually fails?"
Yin Tianzheng's gaze darkened.
He didn't speak, but his silence was answer enough.
"Because sealing only delays the explosion."
Chen Guan continued. "If we keep blocking it, it'll still wake up in ten years. Same in a hundred years."
Yin Tianzheng finally spoke. "I know all that. But refining the remnants of a demon god—that's not something a human can do."
"Humans really can't."
Chen Guan glanced at the iron coffin beside him.
"But I can."
"I used a mortal body to borrow the power of a god. That means I can do more."
As he said this, the hint of darkness swimming in his eyes briefly came alive.
Baal's voice echoed in his mind.
"I can't support you on this one either. Letting a shard of divine essence attract its attention is one thing. Throwing yourself in as a furnace is another. Understand the difference, kid."
Chen Guan replied mentally.
"Since when did you start worrying about me?"
"I'm not worried. It's just that if you die, where would I find such an interesting contractee?"
An interesting human—it would be far too boring to let his story end too soon.
Besides, Chen Guan still carried too many things Baal was curious about.
Chen Guan ignored him.
An Changqing stepped back half a pace, holding his sword horizontally across his chest, thumb pressed against the guard. His expression was more serious than Chen Guan had ever seen.
"Even if your constitution is special, devouring a demon god's remnant takes more than just a vessel. It requires enough mental strength to suppress its instinct. Do you have it?"
"Not enough."
Chen Guan's answer was blunt.
An Changqing's brow furrowed even tighter.
"But I don't need to suppress it. I'll let it devour me, then—inside its stomach—I'll digest it from within."
Chen Guan had studied demonology carefully. In the demon world, kindred spirits consumed one another.
For a demon god like Baal to reach his level, he'd devoured countless of his own kind.
Facing an unconscious remnant, Chen Guan believed his odds were decent.
He could tap into the power of the divine essence from his own body. And besides that, he also carried the power of that nameless demon within him.
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!
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.
