【As expected of my father-in-law. He’s got some real tricks up his sleeve—way more ruthless than Liu Xiao.】
【Bullshit, you old geezer. That’s my father-in-law you’re talking about.】
【That’s not ruthlessness. That’s suicide. Has anyone who’s ever made a deal with a Demon God ended up well?】
【To the guy up front: did you forget that Brother Coffin did the same thing himself?】
【Brother Coffin wasn’t locked up. How can you compare the two?】
“Knowledge.”
Baal’s eerie voice rang out, cutting through the barrage of comments.
“And Astaroth, that wicked creature, possesses a great deal of marvelous forbidden knowledge.”
Black mist churned within Chen Guan’s consciousness, piecing together a blurry image: the back of a man frantically calculating amid countless scrolls.
“That old bastard wanted to create a god—an Esper manufactured by human hands.”
“A crazy idea, isn’t it?”
“He was missing the most crucial theory: how to perfectly implant a conceptual power into a mortal body.”
“So he found one of Astaroth’s devotees.”
“Yes. The devotees hunted by everyone are merely cannon fodder. Some, like you, are devotees hiding within ordinary society.”
Chen Guan pondered, and at that moment, all the clues fell into place.
“Keheh heh heh…”
Before he could think it through, Baal let out his trademark cackle, the laughter brimming with schadenfreude.
“Foolish humans are always so naïve.”
“Astaroth gave him the knowledge he wanted, but the knowledge itself was a fishhook.”
“From the moment he accepted it, he became an anchor Astaroth drove into this world.”
“The deeper he delved into his research, the tighter his connection with Astaroth became. His very existence was constantly being eroded and assimilated by Astaroth’s authority, just like that Liu Xiao.”
“He thought he was creating a god. In reality, he was merely opening the door for another god’s descent.”
【I get it now. Confirmed: he’s a tool.】
【So the power in the Northern Frontier wasn’t left behind by Astaroth. It was radiating from Lu Ming himself? Because he’s basically a clone of Astaroth, that bastard?】
【Damn, that’s even worse than becoming a regular devotee.】
【Then what about our Little Su…】
“So the power I sensed in the Northern Frontier wasn’t some remnant of power at all.”
Baal’s voice dripped with mockery. “It was Lu Ming’s own aura.”
Chen Guan finally understood why Su Jin had sealed away everything related to Lu Ming, even going so far as to announce his death to the outside world.
That man himself had become a mobile source of contamination—a bomb that could explode at any moment.
“Where did he go afterward?”
“Who knows?”
Baal’s tone was breezy, utterly unconcerned.
Indeed, Baal didn’t know. Astaroth didn’t know either. According to Astaroth, the deity could no longer sense that human’s existence, though it could sense his daughter.
To Astaroth, Lu Ming had merely been a minor interlude. Not being able to sense him was of no consequence, and the deity had never bothered searching for him. If Baal hadn’t asked, Astaroth would have almost forgotten about that audacious human.
“Perhaps the councilor sealed him away. Perhaps he went into hiding on his own. Or maybe… he’s already become an insignificant trinket among Astaroth’s spoils of war.”
“None of that matters.”
The black mist roiling around Baal suddenly drew closer to the core of Chen Guan’s consciousness.
“Kid, do you know what matters most?”
Chen Guan didn’t answer.
“What matters is that this family drama has suddenly become interesting.”
The voice dropped low, thick with temptation—the very trick demons favored.
“Care to guess what your friend, little Su Yuehe, has been up to?”
“I’m not guessing.”
Chen Guan answered instinctively. Refusing to play the guessing game had become second nature to him.
Baal: “…”
After a long pause, Baal decided to ignore his cold response and continued sharing the gossip.
“That girl just had a fight with her own mother.”
“She’s going to look for her father.”
After saying that, Baal fell silent and offered no further explanation. Chen Guan wasn’t surprised by Su Yuehe’s decision. Given her personality, it would have been stranger if she hadn’t gone to find her biological father and demand answers.
There was no need for him to worry about it. Even after her recent power-up, Su Yuehe couldn’t simply teleport over to find her father, and Su Jin was no pushover either.
This was a family dispute. As an outsider, he shouldn’t get involved… right?
Besides, the matter in the Northern Frontier still hadn’t been resolved. How could Su Yuehe possibly take off on a spur-of-the-moment trip?
He moved his left arm slightly. A fine, deep pain immediately shot out from the marrow of his bones, making him suck in a sharp breath and contribute directly to global warming.
As expected, Doctor Zhou’s medicine had only suppressed the problem temporarily. It hadn’t eliminated it.
The remnant power originating from Astaroth still coiled around inside his arm like a venomous snake. Just as Baal had said, it would be extremely difficult to eradicate.
While he was considering how to deal with it going forward, a small shadow appeared over the entrance to the tent.
At the same time, a set of footsteps stopped outside.
Was it a medical worker coming to check on him, or had Long Ao followed him over again because he was worried?
Before he could sit up, someone gently lifted the tent flap from outside.
A face wearing a perfectly measured smile peered inside. Its black hair remained utterly unmoved by the frigid winds of the Northern Frontier.
It was Liu Feiyu.
Chen Guan froze.
What was he doing here?
Liu Feiyu’s gentle voice floated in as he walked in without waiting for an invitation.
“Classmate Chen Guan, I heard you were injured, so I came especially to see how you’re doing.”
As he spoke, he casually pulled over a folding stool and sat down beside Chen Guan’s bed.
His expensive, custom-made combat uniform looked completely out of place in the plain medical tent, yet Liu Feiyu himself appeared perfectly at ease.
Chen Guan’s gaze swept across Liu Feiyu’s face. Bracing himself with one hand against the bed, he sat up.
“You’re too kind. It’s nothing serious,” Chen Guan said. He knew Liu Feiyu definitely hadn’t come merely to show concern.
“This is hardly a minor matter.”
Liu Feiyu’s smile remained unchanged, but his eyes discreetly swept over every corner of the tent, as if afraid someone might be hiding there and eavesdropping on their conversation.
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.
u Chenyuan transmigrated into a female-oriented novel about a real and fake heiress, becoming the CEO elder brother of both. Unfortunately, the entire Lu family—including himself, the CEO—were mere cannon fodder in the story. Determined to save himself, Lu Chenyuan took action. The spoiled, attention-seeking fake heiress? Thrown into the harsh realities of the working class to learn humility. The love-struck real heiress? Pushed toward academic excellence, so lofty goals would blind her to trivial romances. As for the betrayed, vengeful arranged marriage wife… the plot hadn’t even begun yet. There was still time—if he couldn’t handle her, he could at least avoid her. "CEO Lu, are you avoiding me?" Mo Qingli fixed her gaze on Lu Chenyuan. For the first time, the shrewd and calculating Lu Chenyuan felt a flicker of unease.
ts me of treason?" "Correct. The host must return to the capital and gradually build up influence." "Wait—I have half a million soldiers, and you want me to go back to the capital to 'build influence'?" "Host, you are currently the Northern Garrison General, loyal to the Great Xia Dynasty." "Of course I am loyal to Great Xia! Absolutely loyal!" "But you keep referring to yourself as 'We'..." "Never mind the details! Summon all the regional commanders and military officers! We suspect treacherous officials are manipulating the court! They shall march with Us to the capital and purge the corrupt!" "......"
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!
