"The time has come—pay up~~~"
The voice was robust, yet carried an eerie undertone that sent chills down everyone's spine.
Upon hearing this familiar voice, Ye Qing's face instantly lit up with joy.
"Master, is that you?"
Ye Qing was overcome with excitement. In his subconscious, he had already begun regarding the Loan Hero as one of his masters.
The next moment, the space around Ye Qing twisted violently.
A middle-aged man in a blue suit emerged from the spatial distortion as if stepping through a doorway.
In an instant, the entire Destiny Association fell into stunned silence.
Even Vice President Xu Rong, standing at the podium, felt his breath hitch.
The Loan Hero... had arrived.
"Master... Master, you've come for me?" Ye Qing's shamelessness knew no bounds.
His declaration of "master" nearly short-circuited everyone's brains.
This guy... was Ye Qing's master???
What kind of joke was this?!
As members of the Destiny Association, they were well aware of the Loan Hero's infamous reputation. They had even spent considerable resources trying to negotiate with him in the past.
But this man was unyielding—interested only in loans!
His strength was unfathomable, appearing and vanishing without a trace. Even their Pavilion Master dared not make an enemy of him.
Vice Pavilion Master Xu Rong instinctively took two steps back. They had developed a psychological fear of the Loan Hero—this guy had already abducted seven or eight of their members, and their whereabouts remained unknown.
But what shocked him even more was that the Loan Hero was Ye Qing's master?
If only you'd said so earlier... I would've handed over my Vice Pavilion Master position to you without a second thought!
Xu Rong knew full well that despite possessing the "Super Divine Gene" golden finger, he was still no match for the Loan Hero.
"Master... You don't mind me calling you that, right?"
Ye Qing spoke with an ingratiating smile.
The Loan Hero, who had just completed his spatial teleportation, was utterly baffled. "Who the hell is your master?"
"You are! You've saved me in my darkest moments multiple times. Surely, you saw my cultivation talent and set these trials for me..."
"No need to explain—I understand."
With that, Ye Qing dropped to his knees and, with lightning speed, kowtowed three times before the Loan Hero.
"Master, please accept this disciple's bow!"
This shameless display left everyone dumbfounded.
"You... Who the hell said I'm your master? Stop making things up!"
The Loan Hero couldn't hold back. In all his years wandering the martial world, this was the first time someone had knelt and declared themselves his disciple out of nowhere.
Ye Qing froze. For someone as confident as him, this outcome had never crossed his mind.
"Listen, kid, kneeling won't get you out of debt."
The Loan Hero pulled out a yellowed IOU from his pocket, stamped with Ye Qing's fingerprint.
"Debtor: Ye Qing. Outstanding debt: 1 billion. Plus half of the antique treasure vault you promised..."
Ye Qing's jaw dropped. He was really here to collect?!
"I... I don't have the money!"
"You don't have the money???" The Loan Hero's smile vanished instantly, his voice rising several octaves.
Beside him, Xu Rong grew anxious and tugged at Ye Qing's sleeve.
"Did he actually loan you anything?"
Ye Qing nodded blankly. "Yeah, twice. Once when I was captured by the mortal world... he got me out."
Xu Rong facepalmed.
Game over.
Anyone who borrowed from him never ended well.
"Ye Qing, you're on your own now."
Panicked, Ye Qing turned back to the Loan Hero.
"Bro, I'm broke... but my cultivation is top-notch! I'm a Half-Step Grandmaster—I can work for you!"
"What does your grandma being a Half-Step Grandmaster have to do with me?"
"No money? Fine. You're coming with me..."
The middle-aged man opened a spatial portal, preparing to drag Ye Qing away.
But then—another figure descended from above.
Cloaked in black robes, sleeves fluttering, radiating an aura of undeniable power.
"Hold on, sir."
The speaker had a youthful face but utterly ordinary features—the kind you'd forget in a crowd.
The moment Xu Rong and the others saw him, they erupted with excitement.
"Pavilion Master! You're here?"
The Pavilion Master possessed a "Check-In System"—daily rewards for signing in at different locations. His strength was unfathomable, rumored to have deep ties with both the Earth Pavilion and Heaven Pavilion. He was the most enigmatic existence within the Destiny Association's "Human Pavilion."
Ignoring the others, the Pavilion Master locked eyes with the Loan Hero.
"Sir, how much does he owe? The Destiny Association will cover it."
The Loan Hero glanced at the IOU.
"Debtor: Ye Qing. Amount: 1 billion..."
The Pavilion Master chuckled. "A mere billion? Pocket change."
"Uh... that's just one loan. Ye Qing also promised us half of his inherited treasure vault. Our appraisal puts its total value at 1.2 trillion minimum—half is 600 billion."
If Jiang Che were here, he'd be laughing his head off. The treasure vault was in his hands, and he knew its true worth—about 120 billion at most, counting the hundred tons of gold. This Loan Hero had inflated it tenfold!
The Pavilion Master's composure cracked. "1.2 trillion?! You might as well rob us!"
The suited man shrugged. Since Ye Qing had already burned the original IOU, why not aim high?
After a moment's thought, the Pavilion Master sized up Ye Qing, then the Loan Hero.
"On second thought, Ye Qing has nothing to do with us. Take him."
Loan Hero: "..."
Ye Qing: "..."
Ye Qing was genuinely speechless. Sold out just like that?!
What infuriated him most was that a Half-Step Grandmaster like him wasn't even worth 600 billion?!
The Loan Hero shot Ye Qing a sidelong glance.
"Let's go. If you're truly broke, I’ll have to sell you to a... friend of mine."
For some reason, Ye Qing felt a sudden chill down his spine.
Sell... sell him?! This guy dealt in human trafficking too?!
Now Ye Qing saw the "Transcendent Realm Master" for what he truly was—no saint by any means.
A demonic cultivator, perhaps?
"Pavilion Master... save me!"
The next second, the Loan Hero hoisted Ye Qing under his arm and activated the spatial portal.
But then—a devastating gale erupted, carrying the faint roar of a dragon.
"Did I say you could leave? Today, I’ll test your limits."
Naturally, these words came from none other than the Destiny Association's Pavilion Master.
This "Dragon-Subduing Eighteen Palms," obtained through his check-in system, unleashed heaven-shaking force—nearly blowing the conference hall's roof clean off.
Vice Pavilion Master Xu Rong struggled to stay on his feet, while the other Chosen Ones were sent flying.
Yet, when such a terrifying attack struck Loan Hero and Ye Qing, it passed right through their bodies without stopping, as if both of them had turned into intangible, ghostly figures.
Loan Hero let out a cold laugh before swiftly escorting Ye Qing through the teleportation gate.
"Still trying to ambush me? Do you even understand the power of a conceptual deity?" As long as he was in the process of collecting debts, he was invincible!
shall grant"] ["Inscribing the glory of our race upon tombstones"] ["All that is threatened, I shall protect"] How his younger sister sees her brother: A brother who only makes eye contact once a day, mostly fading into the background as he tinkers with who-knows-what in his room all day. Their life paths should have remained largely separate. Until one day. Su Qi created an equipment card for his never-met "online girlfriend." His sister fell into silent contemplation upon receiving the "white stockings." [Card can be upgraded] [Upgrade by fulfilling any of the following conditions] [Condition ①: Consume one hundred higher-tier cards] [Condition ②: Complete one 'Heart-Pounding Adventure'] What constitutes a Heart-Pounding Adventure? [Heart-Pounding Adventure (Beginner Level): Equip the card and invite 'Su Qi' to admire it.] [Heart-Pounding Adventure (Easy Level): Equip the card, invite 'Su Qi' to touch it, and analyze the equipment's texture.] [Heart-Pounding Adventure (Entry Level): Equip the card and invite 'Su Qi' to...] [Heart-Pounding Adventure (Challenge Level): Freely combine the words 'Brother' 'Out' 'Brother' 'Me' 'Please' into a complete sentence...] "Please help me analyze both teams' mistakes in this match, brother..." His sister exhaled in relief—surely... surely there couldn't be anything more difficult? [Heart-Pounding Adventure (Suicide Mission Level): Sneak a peek at the names of the galgames in 'Su Qi's' hidden E-drive folder]
ing gift was a patch of barren land, and disciples were all picked up along the way. He spent fifty years diligently building three "ramshackle little sects," thinking he could finally live a carefree life relying on his disciples. But right at the fifty-year mark, he was suddenly swept away by a spatial rift and exiled to the Chaos Desolation, the Disorderly Ruins. There was no spiritual energy there, only slaughter. Relying on the cultivation feedback from his disciples, Gu Changyuan hacked his way through a sea of blood for eleven hundred years. When the system finally fished him back out, he discovered the ramshackle little sects he'd built back then had developed a rather... unusual style. Hold on... I vanished for a thousand years, so how did my ramshackle little sects become holy lands?!
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!
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.
