The Association of the Chosen, The Earth Pavilion

For Jiang Che, Lin Yu was naturally someone who left a rather deep impression.

This guy had been utterly ruined by him, reduced to a pitiful state—one could say he was the most tragic "Chosen One" in existence.

Of course, by now, his destiny had long been severed.

"Heh... Don’t you hate me? Your downfall was entirely my doing!"

Jiang Che chuckled casually, showing not a trace of remorse. In fact, his tone carried a hint of schadenfreude.

Lin Yu’s expression flickered slightly as he bowed slightly and clasped his hands in deference.

"Of course I hate you. But what’s the use? Fate no longer favors me... I accept that the victor reigns while the loser suffers."

"‘Victors and losers’? You think you even qualify for such terms? Quite the self-aggrandizement."

Lin Yu: "......"

"Enough. Since you’ve enrolled in the Cultivator Academy, I won’t bother with you anymore. As long as you focus on cultivation and don’t stir trouble, you’ll be fine. Even without the blessings of destiny, your cultivation speed remains decent."

As for Lin Yu, Jiang Che couldn’t be bothered to lift a finger against him. So what if this guy harbored resentment?

The two of them were no longer on the same level. After all, would a mighty dragon care about the hatred of an ant?

"Master Jiang... C-could you... help me with something? With your vast abilities, surely you can assist me?"

With a thud, Lin Yu suddenly knelt before Jiang Che.

"???"

Honestly, with so many Chosen Ones watching in the Cultivator Academy, Lin Yu’s sudden prostration drew quite a few strange glances.

[Gasp... Little Yu actually knelt to Master Jiang? Is there some history between them?]

[Wuwuwu, I’ve been pursuing her... Seems like there’s some tangled love-hate drama between Little Yu and Master Jiang.]

[Master Jiang, you already have so many girls around you, why must you...]

Hearing these thoughts, Jiang Che’s temple twitched violently—he was tempted to kill someone.

The Cultivator Academy was almost entirely male. Even if there were female Chosen Ones, their looks were far from impressive. Lin Yu, however, had somehow become a hot commodity, with quite a few Chosen Ones chasing after "her."

Leaving aside the fact that Lin Yu was, in fact, a cross-dressing man, even if "she" were a real woman, Jiang Che wouldn’t spare "her" a second glance.

Sure, Jiang Che had a weakness for beauty, but he wasn’t so desperate as to lower his standards.

Ever since he’d laid eyes on that photo album gifted by the ancient dragon of the Dragon Clan, his tastes had shifted entirely.

Now, the mediocre charms of ordinary women on Earth no longer appealed to him—though the girls in his own harem were, of course, exceptions.

Under Jiang Che’s pampering, these girls had not only refined their temperaments but also maxed out their beauty stats.

In the future, Jiang Che’s ambitions lay solely in conquering the celestial maidens of the Nine Heavens.

...

"Oh? You want to ask about ‘Brother Qiang’s’ whereabouts, don’t you?"

Lin Yu nodded eagerly. "Master Jiang, with your vast knowledge, you must know, right?"

Jiang Che: "......"

According to Lin Yu, Brother Qiang had been rescued by that loan shark.

The loan shark... Jiang Che certainly knew of him. Though he’d never met the man in person, his legend had long reached Jiang Che’s ears.

This so-called "Loan Hero" possessed a system of extraordinarily high rank. By the Nine Heavens’ classification standards, his system was likely at the "Primordial" tier—possibly even "Heavenly Dao" level.

Of course, this was all just Jiang Che’s speculation.

Faced with Lin Yu’s plea, Jiang Che didn’t answer. Instead, he simply raised a finger and pointed upward.

"The Nine Heavens? Master Jiang, are you saying... they’ve gone to the realm above?" Lin Yu’s eyes flashed with hope.

Jiang Che: "......"

What he’d actually meant was: "Leave it to the heavens."

But since this guy was so good at jumping to conclusions, Jiang Che saw no reason to correct him.

"Thank you, Master Jiang!"

......

"What? Someone in the lower realm has produced a high-efficiency alchemy furnace? And its output is sixty times ours???"

In the Earth Pavilion of a certain Chosen Ones’ Association within the Nine Heavens, a blue-robed young man’s eyes widened in shock.

"Lin Chong, you’d better not be lying. You know the alchemy furnace was invented by a True Immortal-tier Alchemy God within our association. After its creation, tens of thousands of years were spent refining and upgrading it. Every furnace carries the karmic imprint of a True Immortal—who outside our association could replicate it?"

"Even if someone dared to counterfeit it, who would risk bearing the karmic backlash of a True Immortal? For the sake of some low-grade pills, who’d be that reckless?"

Indeed, this was the core reason the Chosen Ones’ Association never worried about imitation.

To forge one meant enduring the karmic weight of a True Immortal—not even an Emperor-tier cultivator could withstand it.

It was a unique form of intellectual property protection: piracy would be punished.

On the other end, Lin Chong sighed as he relayed the images transmitted from the lower realm.

"My lord, would I deceive you? You were the one who brought me into the association. This time, I saw it with my own eyes. That scion of the Jiang Clan from the Nine Heavens, Jiang Che, has a master behind him. This furnace was a gift from that master... I can’t verify its authenticity, but it truly produces a million pills per batch, with a refining time of just two hours."

The Chosen Ones’ Association was indeed formidable. Despite the separation between the mortal realm and the Nine Heavens, they could still communicate via advanced technology.

"Jiang Clan’s scion? His master? Have you seen this master? What does he look like? Any images?" the blue-robed man pressed.

"N-no images... But Jiang Che seemed utterly confident, as if he wasn’t lying! My lord, do you think... his master might be one of the elder figures from our Heaven Pavilion?"

The blue-robed man fell silent for a moment. "Possible. Our current rank is too low to access the high-tier alchemy furnaces of the Heaven Pavilion. And since Jiang Che didn’t kill any of you, his master is most likely a high-ranking figure from our Heaven Pavilion. We absolutely must not offend him."

"My lord, truly? But we’ve already crossed them... Should we apologize?"

Lin Chong gulped hard. Jiang Che’s background was even more formidable than he’d imagined!

"An apology is necessary. But based on your description... this Jiang Che seems particularly fond of beautiful women?"

"Exactly! Though barely past twenty, he’s already surrounded by countless female companions—a true fiend when it comes to lust..."

The blue-robed man burst into laughter. "What’s so strange about that? A young man in his prime, full of vigor—of course he’d chase after beauty!"

"As the saying goes: ‘A man’s love for beauty is the mark of a hero; a woman’s charm is the height of virtue. If a man isn’t a rogue, his growth is askew; if a woman isn’t alluring, even the sun won’t rise.’"

Lin Chong: "......"

"My lord, Jiang Che reportedly has over three hundred stunning women in his entourage. Rumor has it his palace doesn’t even allow male mosquitoes inside..."

Blue-robed man: "......"

Three... hundred?!

Damn it, he thought Jiang Che at most had a house full of wives and concubines, but who would’ve guessed the number exceeded three hundred? That’s almost two reinforced platoons—even an emperor’s kidneys wouldn’t survive that!

“Ahem, it seems this young master Jiang is quite the man of passion!”

A real man of passion, indeed.