Jiang Che initially thought Zhou Fan was just a typical protagonist seeking revenge for his mother and taking over the family business. But now... Zhou Fan was clearly far more complicated than that!
Though the threshold for spiritual energy resurgence was approaching, and the Dragon Country had seen a surge in ancient martial artists, the high-tier power structure hadn’t collapsed. At least on the surface, Grandmasters remained extremely rare—no more than ten. As for those lurking in the shadows... Jiang Che alone had several Grandmasters among the girls around him! There were even three Shattering Heaven-level experts.
Protagonists who debuted with peak Grandmaster cultivation were exceedingly rare. Take Ye Qing, for example—backed by eighteen Shattering Heaven-level masters, trained for over twenty years in a spiritual-rich pocket dimension, yet he barely reached peak Grandmaster.
But how did Zhou Fan manage it?
Jiang Che pieced it together like unraveling a cocoon: Zhou Fan must have bound himself to a system. Only a system could elevate an ordinary person to peak Grandmaster in such a short time! And Zhou Fan’s system had to be high-tier.
A faint smirk crept onto Jiang Che’s face. High-tier was good... He’d long grown tired of low-tier protagonists. Those random "little miracle doctors" or "fortune-telling prodigies" popping up on the streets? He couldn’t even be bothered to glance at them. Such weaklings weren’t even fit to be his pawns.
"But why would I make an enemy of a peak Grandmaster?" Jiang Che raised an eyebrow.
Zhou Kai was instantly speechless. Right... Even if he’d helped Jiang Che pursue Ji Ningxue, why would Jiang Che risk offending a peak Grandmaster over it?
"J-Jiang... Young Master Jiang, my apologies..."
Zhou Kai left, dejected.
Watching his retreating figure, Jiang Che chuckled.
Honestly, if it had been a stunningly beautiful girl begging him, he’d have taken her hand without hesitation, swept away all her obstacles, and maybe even soothed her troubles in more... personal ways. But Zhou Kai was a damn man. Jiang Che was a straight arrow—no interest in men whatsoever.
Still, he’d have to meet Zhou Fan.
The guy was too much of a wild card. Debuting as a peak Grandmaster? Jiang Che needed to see him in person to figure out what kind of monster he was dealing with.
Jiang Che liked to keep everything under his thumb.
Take the Chosen Ones Association, for example. He’d never interacted with them, yet he knew the organization inside out. Zhou Fan would be no exception.
"Come, Dong'er. Let’s go meet a new friend."
Jiang Che rose from the couch, and Dong'er obediently handed him his coat.
Dong'er had always been his personal maid. Unless other girls were around, Jiang Che always brought her along. A silver-haired, docile beauty by his side? That was a flex.
...
At the Xiao Family estate.
"This world was once devoid of spiritual energy, yet now I can sense faint traces of it... Could the spiritual resurgence be near?"
"Heh, what perfect timing. With Blue Star’s spiritual revival, I might just forge the King’s Martial Mark, surpassing even the Martial God and achieving true rebirth!"
A somewhat delicate-looking youth sat cross-legged under a bamboo tree, dark energy swirling around him. Spectral skulls orbited his body, marking him unmistakably as a demonic cultivator.
The bamboo beside him was pitch-black, with seven segments and countless leaves—each seemingly imprisoning a vengeful spirit.
"Ten Thousand Souls Demonic Bamboo... You truly are a treasure, following me through reincarnation. Once this world’s spiritual energy fully awakens, I’ll take you to every cursed land and let you evolve into Nine-Segment Demonic Bamboo. Keh keh keh—"
Zhou Fan’s laughter was downright sinister.
"Pity this body’s only at half-step Grandmaster. Breaking through to Divine Transformation will have to wait for the full resurgence."
"In this life, I’ll prove my Dao through slaughter... and forge the King’s Mark."
His muttering seemed to stir the demonic bamboo, its leaves rustling.
Then, a knock came at the door.
"Family Head, you have a visitor."
Zhou Fan was now the head of the Zhou Family, controlling its entire financial lifeline.
A visitor?
The demonic aura vanished instantly, and Zhou Fan reverted to an unassuming teenager.
"Who is it?" He opened the door to find a servant.
Who’d come to see him? His fool of an older brother? Or that idiot father of his?
"Um... It’s Young Master Jiang Che of the Jiang Family—the shadow owner of Yuanche Pharmaceutical and Hangcheng’s richest man..."
Zhou Fan frowned. Never heard of him!
He’d only reincarnated two or three months ago, spending most of that time cultivating and the rest on revenge. When would he have had time to research this nonsense?
"Send them away," Zhou Fan said coldly.
"W-what?! Family Head, Yuanche Pharmaceutical has critical ties to our family’s businesses! If Young Master Jiang withdraws his investments, we’ll suffer massive losses..."
The servant’s words grated on Zhou Fan. Managing a family business? What a waste of time!
He’d reincarnated to surpass the Martial God realm and attain true immortality—
"Fine. Let them in." Every word dripped with the arrogance of a supreme ruler.
What else could he do? He was the Demon God Zhou Fan—the only one in the Profound Heaven Realm to reach Martial God through demonic cultivation. His pride was absolute.
"Young Master, you—" The servant was at a loss.
Family Head, this is the Jiang Family we’re talking about... We can’t afford to offend them! Youth truly breeds recklessness, to dismiss the Jiangs so casually.
As the servant hesitated, applause echoed from outside.
"The new Zhou Family Head is as bold as he is young. I’ve never seen such a youthful patriarch before."
Everyone turned to see a handsome young man in a white shirt, clapping slowly. A silver-haired girl stood behind him.
Jiang Che looked at Zhou Fan, a smile playing on his lips—though a flicker of shock flashed in his eyes.
Damn.
Just damn.
This guy had just broken Jiang Che’s record. Never before had he seen a Chosen One with such absurdly heaven-defying luck!
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?!
end. Thus one must continue to cultivate, and become a saint or great emperor, in order to prolong one's life. Chen Xia, however, completely reversed this. Since his transmigration, he has gained immortality, and also a system that awards him with attribute points for every year he lives. Thus between the myriad worlds, the legend of an unparalleled senior appeared. "A gentleman takes revenge; it is never too late even after ten thousand years." "When you were at your peak I yielded, now in your old age I shall trample on you." - Chen Xia
iaobai: "Councilor Dad, front me some funds. I want to hire ten thousand professional miners for a project!" [Five-Star Mission Issued: Capture the leader of the Blood Heaven Pirate Gang, who is on the run in the Radiant Star Sector. It is said the gang has over a hundred members. Proceed with caution.] Lu Xiaobai: "Councilor Dad, lend me the family's hundred-thousand-strong Lu Army!" [Seven-Star Mission Issued: Subdue a juvenile Void Dragon Beast.] Lu Xiaobai: "Councilor Dad, I'm taking your tamed Void Dragon Beast King out for a family reunion!" I said, System, don't you have any slightly more challenging missions? You're just not up to par! [Nine-Star Mission Issued: Become the Human Councilor.] Lu Xiaobai: "Dad, there's a small matter I'd like to discuss with you..."
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!
