The body of Jing Qingbai began to tremble violently—not from fear, but from suppressed rage.
He glared at Chen Guan’s utterly emotionless eyes. After a long moment, Jing Qingbai forced several words through clenched teeth.
“You barbaric bastard!”
Chen Guan’s wrist shifted slightly, and the black flames on his scythe leaped in response. The threat was unmistakable.
Jing Qingbai closed his eyes. When he opened them again, the anger in them had turned to ashes. He raised his trembling left hand, and the identification terminal on his wrist gave off a ghostly blue glow.
Crack.
The crisp sound of shattering was especially jarring in the silent forest.
Wrapped in blue light, Jing Qingbai’s figure gradually turned transparent. He cast one last look at Chen Guan, the venom in his eyes almost tangible.
“I’ll remember you.”
The light faded, leaving behind only a few fallen leaves stirred by the wind.
Silence returned to the forest.
Chen Guan withdrew his scythe, and the black flames quietly went out. He turned around, his gaze falling on Ross, who was still sprawled on the ground some distance away.
Ross jolted, then scrambled to his feet on all fours, forcing a smile onto his face that looked worse than crying.
“Nicely done, Chen! I knew you could do it!” he said, edging backward without making it too obvious.
Chen Guan said nothing. He calmly wiped the blade of his scythe, removing the trace of Jing Qingbai’s blood.
Ross’s heart skipped a beat at the sight.
“Um… where are we going next?” Ross ventured, trying to ease the tension.
“We?” Chen Guan finally spoke, repeating the word back to him.
The smile on Ross’s face froze completely.
“Chen, we’re allies, aren’t we?” He pointed at his own tattered combat uniform and spoke earnestly. “I took a fatal blow for you just now. Look, I’m injured.”
“That’s right. You’re injured.” Chen Guan repeated the statement.
“Yes, yes!” Ross nodded repeatedly, as though he had seized a lifeline.
“So, my friend, you should go back and recuperate.” Chen Guan calmly stated another fact, his eyes level as he looked at him.
All the color drained from Ross’s face.
He looked at Chen Guan, then at the pitch-black scythe in Chen Guan’s hand—the same scythe that had just sent one genius packing. His throat bobbed with difficulty.
“I…I can walk on my own,” Ross said, his voice trembling as he made one last desperate attempt. “I promise I won’t hold you back.”
Chen Guan remained silent. He simply picked up his scythe and patted Baobao on the head.
Baobao cooperated perfectly. It padded over to Ross’s feet, raised its head, and stared up at him with purple eyes full of innocent curiosity. A purring rumble came from its throat.
Ross, however, stumbled back two steps in fright. Afraid that this starving leopard might suddenly decide to eat him, he nearly dropped back onto the ground.
By now, he finally understood. This student from Huaqing Academy was no hot-blooded youth. He was a thoroughgoing pragmatist—nothing like Dragon.
Ross’s chest rose and fell several times before he put that stiff smile back on his face. He raised his left hand and gave the terminal on his wrist an elegant little display.
“All right, Chen. Looks like our cooperation ends here.” He shrugged. “Good luck. I hope you don’t run into our captain, Captain Charles. He’s a lot tougher to deal with than I am.”
“I eliminated you once last year, and you eliminated me once this year. I guess that makes us even, Chen.”
With that, he hesitated no longer. He pressed down hard with his thumb and cleanly crushed the terminal.
Blue light flared, and Ross’s figure vanished from the forest.
The entire battlefield was left with only Chen Guan and Baobao.
“Awoo.”
Baobao rubbed its head against his trouser leg, breaking the silence.
“Hungry.”
Chen Guan wore an exasperated expression. How was it hungry again?
This leopard was impossibly difficult to keep fed. If only he had known, he would have made his good friend Ross feed it before going back to recuperate.
After getting rid of the two nuisances, Chen Guan rested in place for a while.
He checked his condition. That slash imbued with black flames had indeed consumed a considerable amount of his strength.
The power was satisfying to use, but the consequences were just as deadly. It was far too conspicuous, making him an easy target.
With so many eyes watching, he could no longer display his strength as freely as he had before.
“Hungry.”
Baobao’s cry pulled him back from his thoughts. It nudged Chen Guan’s hand with its head, its purple eyes filled with grievance.
Chen Guan sighed. After rummaging around for quite some time, he managed to find only a demon core of exceedingly ordinary quality.
“Make do with this. Tonight’s budget is already way over.”
Baobao flicked out its tongue, and the demon core vanished. It smacked its lips a few times, clearly unable to taste much of anything. Its hunger had not eased in the slightest.
It pawed at the ground, tracing circles in the dirt, looking utterly world-weary.
Seeing this, Chen Guan lightly nudged its rear with the tip of his foot, annoyed. White Tiger had spoiled its palate rotten.
It was all White Tiger’s fault!
“All right, stop acting.”
He rose to his feet and hoisted the heavy black coffin onto his back once more, then determined his direction.
“As planned, we’ll head to the central district and meet up with the others.”
The central area was a deserted city. With its many buildings and complicated terrain, it was the best place to regroup and hide.
Chen Guan patted Baobao on the head and soothed it. “Come on. Once we’re out, I’ll find you something to eat.”
Baobao’s ears immediately perked up. Its tail began to wag as well, and it trotted after Chen Guan on all fours, looking as cheerful as could be.
The figures of man and leopard soon disappeared into the dim depths of the forest.
…
After traveling for roughly half an hour, the surroundings grew increasingly eerie.
Chen Guan stopped and listened carefully.
Amid the wind moving through the forest, he heard the faint clashing of metal and restrained gasps.
Someone was fighting.
Chen Guan made a hand signal. Baobao understood at once, lowering its body without a sound and blending into the bushes nearby.
Chen Guan himself concealed his presence and used the cover of a thick tree trunk as he crept toward the source of the noise.
He pushed aside the final broad fern leaf, and the scene ahead came into view.
In a small clearing, a thin figure leaned against a boulder, panting raggedly.
He wore black-rimmed glasses. The brand-new academy combat uniform he had on was already torn in several places, and his face was smeared with mud.
It was Shan Heng.
Opposite him, three modified creatures resembling metal hounds advanced slowly, surrounding him.
Red electronic lights flickered in the hounds’ eye sockets, while corrosive lubricant dripped from the corners of their mouths.
Shan Heng pushed up his slipping glasses. There was little fear in his eyes behind the lenses.
He gripped a strangely shaped short staff. The rays fired from its tip struck the metal hounds, leaving behind nothing more than patches of charred black. They could not penetrate the creatures’ armor at all.
“Physical resistance is too high. Attacks ineffective… This is troublesome.”
Shan Heng muttered to himself. He glanced at the perfectly intact terminal on his wrist, seemingly debating whether he should simply forfeit.
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.
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!
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.
