"Shh, don't say anything, someone's calling me!"
Jiang Che pulled Yu Wan'er close and tucked her under the blankets, raising a finger to his lips in a gesture for silence.
"Be gentle, you're messing up my hair..." The girl shook her arm and gritted her teeth in a hushed protest.
Still, she obediently clamped her mouth shut and nestled into Jiang Che's arms, ready to eavesdrop on his conversation.
Jiang Che made no effort to hide it from her and answered the call directly.
"Hey, my dear grandson..."
Even through the phone, Jiang Che could hear the sycophantic tone in Jiang Yunhuang's voice. That old bastard must be coming to him for another favor.
"Did another ancient martial artist appear behind the Gate?" Jiang Che frowned.
On the other end, Jiang Yunhuang paused briefly before his face lit up with delight and relief.
"Che'er, so it really was you who sent that black-robed expert on Mount Emei last time!"
"Ah... This old man is useless now, even starting to drag down the younger generation..."
Jiang Yunhuang let out a self-deprecating chuckle.
Jiang Che: "..."
Good, at least he knows. All Jiang Che wanted was to be a laid-back villain, occasionally dealing with the so-called "Chosen Ones" and preferably having a powerful backing to rely on.
But ever since the Association of the Destined appeared, things seemed to be spiraling in an unpredictable direction. The Jiang family, once a sturdy tree to lean on, now felt shaky.
With increasingly powerful figures bound to emerge in the future, was he really supposed to be the one standing at the forefront?
Damn it, what about his harem? So many girls were waiting eagerly for his attention every day.
"Che'er, let me tell you something—just now, our Jiang family's ancestral graves started smoking!"
Jiang Che: "..."
Wait, hadn't he already given Jiang Yunhuang a Life-Extending Pill? Why was the old man still spouting nonsense like a dementia patient?
"Ahem, I mean... our ancestors have manifested!"
Realizing how absurd his earlier statement sounded, Jiang Yunhuang quickly recounted everything that had just happened in the Jiang family ancestral hall.
He went on for a solid ten minutes, leaving Jiang Che utterly speechless.
The Jiang family had ancestors in the Upper Realm too? And something called the "Eastern Azure Heaven"? The ancestors weren’t dead—they had ascended?
This was beyond ridiculous. Honestly... Jiang Che suspected the old man had fallen victim to a phone scam.
The whole thing sounded like pure fantasy.
"Che'er, I may be the head of the Jiang family, but how could I possibly know about things that happened centuries ago?"
"You have that mysterious master of yours, right? Ask him—does this 'Eastern Azure Heaven' actually exist? Someone as all-knowing as your master must be aware of this, surely?"
Jiang Yunhuang wasn’t probing; he was genuinely seeking help. Ever since Jiang Che had produced the Life-Extending Pill, he’d been convinced of the existence of Jiang Che’s enigmatic master.
"Huh?"
Jiang Che’s lips twitched. He wanted to curse, but then he thought of his naive mother, probably still traveling the world with his father, and decided against it.
The "master" was nothing but a fabrication. How the hell would he know anything about some nonsense Upper Realm?
Still, judging by most cliché novel tropes, it wasn’t impossible for the Jiang family to have connections up there. After all, they were a millennia-old lineage guarding the "Gate." So that "Jiang Tiedan" guy might actually be real.
But Jiang Che wasn’t about to make claims he couldn’t back up.
If Jiang Yunhuang took it seriously and started boasting everywhere—"Careful, our Jiang ancestor might descend and beat you to death!"—he’d be digging his own grave.
The old bastard had been propping up the Jiang family for so long; he was probably just waiting for this moment.
"Grandfather, my master has long transcended the Nine Heavens. Right now, he’s wandering who-knows-where... Even I can’t contact him easily unless he chooses to appear."
Jiang Che might as well go all out with the lies.
Hmph, a master? As if! You’re such a bullshitter—even worse than me! Keep lying, why don’t you?
Yu Wan'er was already mentally roasting Jiang Che again.
His eye twitched. This girl... Clearly, he hadn’t disciplined her thoroughly enough. What a headache.
Jiang Yunhuang was stunned. Transcended the Nine Heavens? Holy shit... Che’er’s master is that powerful?!
No wonder he could refine Life-Extending Pills. His grandson’s master was on a whole other level!
The Jiang family had truly hit the jackpot this time.
"But you could ask Ruoxu. He also has a mysterious master. Maybe his master can give you answers."
Jiang Che smoothly shifted the blame to his younger cousin.
Mo Lianxing’s past-life cultivation must have been formidable, even if she was down on her luck now. Her insight should be reliable.
"What? Ruoxu has a master too?"
Jiang Yunhuang’s eyes nearly bulged out of his skull.
What was going on with the Jiang family?
Both Ruoxu and Che’er had unfathomably powerful masters—why didn’t he have one?!
For the first time, the old man felt like the world was conspiring against him.
"Yep, Ruoxu’s master is also a big deal. And she’s right by his side. She’ll clear things up for you."
"Oh... Well, in that case, Che’er, you go ahead with whatever you’re doing..."
Jiang Yunhuang’s tone with Jiang Che was infinitely warmer than with Jiang Ruoxu, careful not to say anything that might upset his precious grandson.
...
After hanging up, Jiang Che’s temple throbbed. His expression gradually smoothed into one of utter apathy, as if the entire world had lost all meaning.
"YU WAN'ER!!! WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?!"
He couldn’t hold it in anymore. This girl was the epitome of a brat—always stirring up trouble.
"Hehe... You big liar, spinning tales about some ‘master.’ I’ve been with you for over a year and never seen hide nor hair of one!"
The petite girl licked her lips, then smirked in disdain. She knew Jiang Che inside out—every word out of his mouth was a lie.
"Face it, you don’t have a master. But you do have a system, don’t you? And I bet it’s not some wholesome one either."
Jiang Che raised a brow. This little imp’s intuition was sharper than he thought.
"Oh? And how did you figure that out?" He propped his chin on one hand, grinning at her.
"You... You... You actually have a harem system?!"
"Yep, it’s a harem system. Got a problem with that?"
"I knew it! That so-called ‘cultivation technique’ of yours was just a reward from your sleazy system, wasn’t it?"
Yu Wan’er looked triumphant, as if she’d uncovered some grand conspiracy.
"Oh, so Shen Yu told you, huh?" Jiang Che smirked, though the smile didn't reach his eyes.
Yu Wan'er might seem sharp at first glance, but in reality, she was downright gullible—how else could he have tricked her so easily?
"Huh? How did you know?" Yu Wan'er gasped, covering her mouth in surprise, but her expression quickly cracked.
"You tricked me!!!"
lanned to earn money steadily and take life at a slower pace. But he never expected... his father's remarriage, and the stepmother bringing along a dependent, would completely disrupt his life's plans...
transmigrates into the world as the sect master of the Heavenly Yan Sect, which is on the verge of being wiped out. He binds a system that grants him cultivation power based on the number of disciples he has: for each disciple, he automatically gains a year's worth of cultivation every single day! Take one disciple: every day he gains 1 year of cultivation power. While others struggle through a year of bitter training, he gets the same just by sleeping through a single night. Take ten disciples: every day he gains 10 years of cultivation power. Foundation Establishment, Core Formation, Nascent Soul—he breezes through all bottlenecks without lifting a finger. Take one hundred disciples: every day he gains 100 years of cultivation power. Even a Soul Transformation Venerable before him can’t survive a single blow. Take ten thousand disciples: every day he gains 10,000 years of cultivation power! With a wave of his hand, he topples empires. With a single step, he crushes the sacred grounds of the universe. ... While others fight tooth and nail for secret techniques, Lin Yan casually hands out Nascent Soul-level cultivation manuals as beginner textbooks. While others strain to find talented recruits, Lin Yan opens his doors to anyone—so long as they’re human. In just three short years, the Heavenly Yan Sect went from a backwater sect made up of three crumbling huts to a sacred land that every cultivator under heaven would kill to enter. ... One day, otherworldly demon gods invade, with a million demon soldiers pressing down upon the realm. Lin Yan, yawning, rises from his lounge chair and glances at the system panel: [Current Disciples: 1.28 million] [Daily Cultivation Increase: 1.28 million years] He waves his hand casually, and the countless demon soldiers are reduced to ashes in an instant. “So noisy… interrupting my fishing.”
. 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.
