Another figure emerged from the darkness.
It was An Changsong.
His gaze swept over Su Yuehe, standing resolutely with her back to the entrance, before finally settling on Su Jin’s rigid silhouette. He let out a soft sigh.
“The child has grown up. Some things can no longer be kept from her.”
“Not being able to hide something and simply letting it happen are two different things.”
Her voice echoed through the spacious tent, devoid of emotion.
“What she needs is guidance, not indulgence.”
“Guidance?”
An Changsong walked in slowly and poured himself a cup of hot tea. The chill inside and outside the tent seemed to be shut out by that single cup.
“What you did just now wasn’t guidance. It was building a wall.”
He looked toward Su Jin.
“You used your authority as Chairwoman to suppress your daughter’s questions. For that child, the desire for knowledge is what drives her. Don’t tell me you failed to see that.”
Su Jin finally turned around, but she remained just as forceful.
“An Changsong, watch your words. She is my daughter.”
Holding the warm teacup in both hands, An Changsong looked past her toward the curtain that had not been fully drawn shut.
“You and I both know that Lu Ming’s actions can’t be written off as simple betrayal.”
“He ignored the ban, touched upon forbidden knowledge, and nearly caused an irreversible disaster. What more is there to understand? If he isn’t a traitor, then what is he?”
“If Yuehe meets him, who knows what that madman might—”
“But his original purpose was good.”
An Changsong looked at her.
“In this world, being ordinary is a crime.”
He and Lu Ming had been classmates and close friends since their student days.
That was why he knew Lu Ming had been researching this plan since his school years. Su Yuehe’s birth had merely provided the opportunity.
Unable to accept that his daughter would be nothing more than an ordinary person, Lu Ming had brazenly decided to put his theory into practice.
“What if it had failed?”
Su Jin had thought she could let go, but the moment she closed her eyes, her mind filled with scenes she could not bear to imagine.
What was wrong with being ordinary?
A normal job, earning a modest income, marrying someone who was neither handsome nor ugly, and living an ordinary, peaceful life to the end.
“But Yuehe succeeded, and Lu Ming’s theory succeeded as well.”
An Changsong raised his eyes to look at her.
“She harnessed that power. Wasn’t that within your expectations, Su Jin?”
“Don’t tell me you had no faith in that child.”
Su Jin’s lips pressed into a thin line. She did not answer.
“Whether he succeeded or failed cannot change the nature of Lu Ming’s actions.”
She emphasized the point again, refusing to mention her daughter’s success.
“He is a traitor to the council. That fact will not change.”
An Changsong set his teacup on the table with a faint clink.
“Then what do you intend to do? Continue using orders to keep her locked inside the academy?”
He gestured toward the entrance.
“Do you really think she’ll still obey your orders now?”
“Didn’t you hear what she said just now?”
Su Jin turned back toward the vast star map, her finger gliding lightly across the region representing the northern frontier.
“She’ll calm down.”
Her tone stated it as an inevitability, something confirmed countless times in the past.
“Emotions are temporary. Reason will return.”
Just as it had for her. She, too, had once acted on impulse, but in the end, she had returned to the role demanded by her identity.
An Changsong gave a low laugh, the sound tinged with helplessness.
“Reason? Su Jin, your biggest problem is that you put too much faith in reason.”
He walked to her side and looked at the twinkling points of light across the star map.
“You treat everything as a foregone conclusion, including your own daughter.”
“I once knew someone who was just like you—someone who liked to fit all things into calculations. Back then, even I was included in those calculations.”
As if recalling something, An Changsong’s face took on a foolish grin.
“But you underestimate the power of emotion.”
“Just like that child.”
His voice sank, and his expression turned serious in an instant.
“She has emotions. She has a will of her own. And now, she has the confidence to stand against you.”
Su Jin’s voice was cold and hard.
“That confidence was given to her by me.”
“No.”
An Changsong shook his head. Looking at Su Jin, he felt a headache coming on.
He often felt that this old friend of his had a split personality, forever caught in a battle between the left and right sides of her brain.
But in truth, reason and emotion were simply at war within her, leading her to make all sorts of strange decisions.
That was a good thing, because at least her humanity had not been erased.
“She earned that confidence herself. In that spacetime ruin, in the instant when everything went out of control and was reforged, she earned it.”
“You saw the power she gained, but you didn’t see the pain she endured to obtain it. She already possesses the heart of a strong warrior. She didn’t merely pick up a peerless imperial weapon left behind by one.”
Su Jin’s finger, resting on the star map, came to a stop.
“You can’t keep using the old methods.”
An Changsong spoke like a patient old friend persuading a stubborn companion.
“The more tightly you try to restrain her, the harder she’ll struggle to break free.”
“That child has been trapped in lies for long enough.”
At last, Su Jin took her eyes off the star map. Deep within them, a fleeting weariness appeared.
“Then… what should I do?”
For once, she asked with a rare air of seeking advice.
An Changsong’s voice was firm and clear as it echoed through the tent.
“Let go.”
He said only two words.
Then he turned and walked away.
If saying this much was still not enough to change Su Jin’s mind, then anything more would be pointless.
…
Elsewhere.
Long Ao walked beside Chen Guan, carrying two cans of self-heating hot drinks. He shoved one of them over.
“Here.”
The warm can dispelled some of the chill from Chen Guan’s fingertips.
Chen Guan took it and thanked him.
[It’s been ages since we last heard Bro Coffin say thank you.]
[The most ungrateful man alive.]
[Bro Coffin is practically a saint now if he isn’t making me eat beef.]
“Your arm really is fine?”
Long Ao shot him a glance, his brows tightly furrowed.
“I could tell something was wrong with you earlier. Your complexion’s even worse now.”
“It’s nothing serious.”
Chen Guan’s voice sounded a little airy, mostly because he felt guilty.
“I’ll have Doctor Zhou take a look later. Probably just a bit of an aftereffect from overexerting it.”
He really did plan to find Doctor Zhou—not just because of his arm, but also because he needed a quiet, private place.
It was time to bother—no, pay a visit to—the all-purpose caretaker left behind at base.
Long Ao asked no further questions. He simply slowed his pace to match Chen Guan’s.
[What a thoughtful sweetheart.]
[Long Ao still doesn’t know that Chen Guan is also adjusting his pace to match him.]
[LOL, just let the two of them keep accommodating each other.]
Chen Guan: “…”
Long Ao really was a pretty decent guy.
To avoid continuing to make a fool of himself, Chen Guan suddenly quickened his pace. Long Ao had been fine all along, so why did he need to walk so slowly?
Unaware of the reason, Long Ao was baffled, but he sped up as well.
For a moment, the two of them looked exactly like they were competing in a speed-walking race.
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.
uld barely embark on the path to immortality. Just as he was on the verge of death, his golden finger awakened. No matter whether it was poison, drained blood and vital energy, diminished lifespan, or any other physical debuff caused by paying a price—once midnight passed, everything would be refreshed. From then on, whenever someone asked what kind of person Chu Ran was, the answer was simple: Forbidden arts that other cultivators dared not learn? Chu Ran would learn them. Prices that even demonic cultivators dared not pay? Chu Ran would pay them. Lifespan that even righteous cultivators dared not burn? Chu Ran would burn it. All the blood essence in his body? Take it. Want both his hands and feet? He would cut them off and send them to you. You say he’s finished? He wasn’t built to sit idle. You think he’s gone mad? No—he was simply waiting for midnight. From that day onward, Chu Ran would respect neither Heaven nor Earth, bow to neither gods nor ghosts. He had only one wish: For midnight to arrive a little sooner.
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!
g Yu was preparing for retirement when her organization decided to eliminate her. She transmigrated to a zombie apocalypse world. However, a tiny unexpected situation occurred: She somehow transformed into an adorable little girl?!
