The southern region, at the site of the secret realm.
Absolute silence. The atmosphere was so solemn and suffocating that the students, who had been brimming with excitement only moments ago, instantly fell quiet. Even their breathing grew instinctively lighter.
This place and the academy were two entirely different worlds.
“Stay close to me. No wandering off, and don’t look around.”
Sima Ming kept his voice low as he led everyone through several checkpoints requiring both iris and genetic verification.
At last, a heavy alloy gate, thick as a city wall, slid open before them.
Beyond it lay a vast, circular command center, far larger than anyone could have imagined.
Hundreds of staff members dressed in identical black uniforms busily worked at their respective consoles. Streams of data cascaded across the holographic screens before them like waterfalls.
At the center of the hall, a colossal holographic projection simulated a dark-purple nebula that was constantly twisting and collapsing.
Standing with his hands clasped behind his back before the projection was a broad, imposing figure whose back was as massive as a mountain.
He wore a crisp black general’s uniform. His broad shoulders gave the fabric razor-sharp lines, while the stars on his shoulders gleamed with a metallic luster beneath the lights, lending him an air of immense authority.
Though he merely stood there in silence, every staff member passing by instinctively slowed their steps and held their breath, as if even breathing too loudly would be an act of sacrilege.
Sima Ming straightened his collar and strode forward. He stopped three meters behind the man, brought his legs together, and gave a flawless military salute.
“Reporting to the general. The Huaqing Academy reinforcement team, all sixteen members, has arrived. Awaiting your orders.”
The figure turned around.
The lights illuminated his face.
An Changqing’s breath caught sharply.
On the other side, Long Ao froze in place, his eyes wide as saucers, as if he had seen a ghost.
Even Chen Guan raised an eyebrow.
It was a face they knew all too well—a rugged visage with features that seemed carved by knives and axes. Beneath his bronze-colored skin, his surging vitality roiled like magma flowing deep beneath the earth.
His bell-like eyes were even more restrained and profound than they had been in their memories.
“T-Teacher Li?!”
An Changqing’s voice trembled with uncontrollable joy as the words escaped his lips.
It was none other than their physical arts teacher, Teacher Li, who had burned through his life force to protect his students and ultimately suffered injuries that left him on the brink of death—Li Yan.
At this moment, Li Yan showed not the slightest trace of his former weakness. The custom-tailored general’s uniform accentuated his massive, bear-like frame, making him look like a war god who had returned to the mortal world.
“You should call me General now.”
Li Yan spoke in a booming voice, loud as a bell, causing the entire command center to hum.
He strode toward them with the bearing of a dragon and a tiger, his gaze sweeping across each familiar face.
“And, Dean, when there’s no one else around, just call me by my name like you used to.”
Li Yan’s eyes settled on An Changqing, and a smile tugged at his face.
He extended a hand twice as thick as an ordinary person’s and gave An Changqing’s shoulder a heavy slap.
Thump!
The muffled impact nearly knocked An Changqing off his feet, but his face was filled with irrepressible joy.
“Teacher, you—you really…”
“I heard you’ve become quite a bit stronger since I left.”
Li Yan grinned, revealing a row of white teeth. That familiar, bold spirit instantly dispelled the distance imposed by his status as a general.
An Changqing’s eyes reddened at once.
Li Yan’s massive hand moved to the other side and landed on Long Ao’s shoulder, who had been standing rigidly frozen ever since the beginning.
“And you, Long Ao. Not bad. You haven’t disgraced me.”
Long Ao opened and closed his mouth several times before finally managing to speak.
“Long time no see, Teacher.”
“Hahaha! Good, good. Everything’s good.”
Li Yan’s laughter was hearty. His gaze swept over the crowd before finally locking onto Chen Guan.
“I heard you won the championship this time?”
“Just luck.”
Chen Guan was brief, as modest as ever.
Li Yan studied Chen Guan deeply, trying to discern something from his calm expression, but eventually gave up.
He withdrew his gaze, and the smile vanished from his face. The warmth of a teacher disappeared without a trace, leaving behind only the seriousness of official business.
“All right. The personal reunion ends here.”
Li Yan raised his voice. It rang out like thunder across a clear sky, making every student’s heart jolt.
“For those who don’t know me, allow me to introduce myself. My name is Li Yan. I currently serve under the Great Wall Military Department as the commanding officer of the Southern Fourth Theater. My rank is major general.”
Looks like those two hundred and eighty thousand points were well spent.
Chen Guan was secretly astonished by Li Yan’s current position. As he looked at that figure, he silently calculated to himself.
Back then, he had used a dewdrop from the World Tree to save Li Yan’s life. The system had deducted two hundred and eighty thousand Popularity Points from him, and the loss had pained him for quite some time.
Now, it seemed that those two hundred and eighty thousand points had probably broken through the limits of Li Yan’s innate potential. That was why he had risen rapidly through the ranks, going from a schoolteacher to a major general after being recalled into service.
Li Yan’s eyes swept across the group.
“Dean Situ should have already explained the nature of this mission.”
“I’ll say it again.”
Li Yan’s voice was not loud, but each word struck everyone’s nerves like a hammer.
“This is a battlefield, not some playground where you can play house. Once you enter the Void Secret Realm, Dean Situ and I will accompany you.”
He paused, his gaze turning as sharp as a blade.
“But we are your final safeguard, not your babysitters.”
“Unless you encounter a danger you cannot handle, we will not intervene.”
“Your prey, your battles, your glory, and your gains—you must claim them all with your own hands.”
“You will be facing genuine void creatures. They won’t go easy on you just because you’re geniuses. The slightest carelessness could cost you your lives.”
“Is that understood?”
“Understood!”
The fifteen students, pressed onward by the iron-blooded atmosphere, shouted in unison. Their voices were filled with barely suppressed battle spirit.
“Good.”
Li Yan nodded. Without looking at them again, he turned to Sima Ming.
“Dean, it’s almost time. Take them over.”
“Understood.”
Sima Ming replied and led everyone behind Li Yan. They passed through the enormous command center and headed deeper into the facility.
At the end of the passage was an even more spacious circular hall.
The domed ceiling rose so high that its top could not be seen. Researchers in white lab coats moved about soundlessly, accompanied only by the faint hum of machinery.
Everyone’s attention was drawn to the object in the center of the hall.
There was no door—only a colossal circular metal frame more than fifty meters in diameter.
Within the frame was a slowly rotating dark-purple nebula, so deep and profound that it seemed capable of sucking in the gaze of anyone who looked at it.
Countless thick energy conduits connected to the metal frame from every direction, forcibly pinning this sight that did not belong to their world in place.
This was the entrance to the Void Secret Realm.
Standing there, Chen Guan felt something scratching at his soul. Behind the nebula, it seemed as though countless eyes were greedily watching the students who were about to enter their domain.
. As long as he maintains the villain image and follows the plot to the grand finale, he can obtain generous rewards and return to the real world. So Gu Chen'an entered the role and began to act as a scumbag villain, but who would have expected that the female leads could hear his inner thoughts. Miss Su from the Su family was shocked: "I originally thought Gu Chen'an was a scumbag, but I didn't expect he turned out to be a gentleman! What? You said I have to call off the engagement? I definitely won't, I'll piss you off!" Bai Yuan Tian was dumbfounded: "Young Master Gu is usually unreasonable and a complete brat, but he actually calls me little sweetie in his heart? What, Young Master Gu even said he likes me?" As the female leads' images collapsed more and more, the plot also collapsed with it. Gu Chen'an looked at all this chaos. "Ladies, don't aggro me, if you keep this up the male lead really will stab me, I still need to survive to the grand finale!"
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.
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!
