Right at this moment, the crowd saw Yuan Zhiyun, who had already reached the center of the Seven Star Street Square, lightly leap from the white peacock and land steadily, walking gracefully toward the crowd.
Dressed in an exquisite pale yellow dress, she arrived before the dense crowd. Her every movement was captivating. With no attendants following behind her, she stood alone among the dense crowd of cultivators like a fluttering breeze, aloof from the world.
"Because of a bet I made today with my clan brother Yuan Shangpu, I, Yuan Zhiyun, wish to form a five-person squad to head to the Icefield Mystic Realm that will open in five days to capture an Icefield Spirit Essence. Of course, after the matter is accomplished, I will offer a heavy reward."
As soon as these words were spoken, the entire square was in an uproar.
The surrounding cultivators were all somewhat in disbelief.
What was she talking about?
That was the Icefield Spirit Essence! For a hundred years, no one had ever heard of anyone being able to catch one from the Icefield Mystic Realm again! To think that Yuan Zhiyun would come out and announce such an outrageous piece of news right off the bat.
Many people shook their heads and began to discuss in low voices with those around them.
"Are you going to join?"
"Not me. I heard that the Icefield Spirit Essence appears and disappears unpredictably in the mystic realm. Let alone catching it, just seeing it once is considered lucky! If I actually agreed to help her find this thing, wouldn't that be a total waste of time? If I went in to collect Ice Stone Grass, I could get quite a lot."
"Exactly. The opening time of the Icefield Mystic Realm is very short, only fifteen days in total. It would be better to use this time to fish for some Silver-tail Fish; they go for fifty spirit stones each!"
"But don't you guys want Yuan Zhiyun's heavy reward?"
"Heavy reward? Didn't you hear her say 'after the matter is accomplished'? Doesn't that mean if we fail, there won't be any reward?"
...
For a time, discussions buzzed all around, yet not a single person stepped forward to join Yuan Zhiyun's squad.
Yuan Zhiyun wasn't the least bit anxious. She stood calmly in place with her hands behind her back, her eyes leisurely scanning the bustling crowd. The white peacock standing straight beside her was currently craning its long neck, holding its head high with its eyes half-closed as if dozing off.
Lin Xiao figured he had gathered about as much information as he could here, and there was nothing new going on for the moment, so he followed the flow of the crowd and left the area.
No one paid any attention to this twelve-year-old boy with absolutely no cultivation base.
After leaving Seven Star Street, he headed straight for the Jiang Family Livestock Market.
Spirit pig, spirit pig, roast suckling pig, roast suckling pig!
Under Liao Pantu's guidance, Lin Xiao quickly arrived at the Jiang Family Livestock Market. Among the various spiritual fowls and beasts, he spotted the spirit pig stall at a glance. There were a few people buying in front of it, so he hurriedly walked over.
"Greetings, guest. Our market's spirit pigs are two hundred and fifty spirit stones each, no bargaining. Are you looking to buy?"
A shop assistant came over to greet him.
Lin Xiao turned his head and glanced at a customer nearby who had just paid spirit stones for a spirit pig. He saw a shop assistant carry out a spirit pig, which the customer then skillfully took, slinging the pale and tender piglet over his own shoulder before turning to leave.
So he said to the shop assistant greeting him,
"I'll give you five extra spirit stones. Could your shop please deliver one to the Xianxiang Restaurant for me?"
Obviously, it wasn't uncommon for customers to make such requests, as the assistant nodded familiarly and said,
"Alrighty, guest. That will be two hundred and fifty-five spirit stones in total!"
Lin Xiao felt a bit of a pinch as he paid the spirit stones, but thinking of the deliciousness Senior Liao had described, and realizing he hadn't eaten roast suckling pig in years, he swallowed a mouthful of saliva. He instantly forgot about the over two hundred spirit stones he had just spent, his heart filled only with anticipation for the delicacy he was about to eat.
After leaving the Jiang Family Livestock Market, he hurriedly headed to the Xianxiang Restaurant.
At this time, the Xianxiang Restaurant was bustling with people coming and going, as the Wu family was hosting a banquet there to recruit talents for their clan.
The Xianxiang Restaurant was an antique-style establishment with a total of six floors.
Today, the Wu family had booked the top two floors, leaving only a few attendants on the first floor to receive arriving cultivators.
Seeing this boy with no spiritual energy fluctuations around him walk over, those attendants didn't spare him a second glance.
Lin Xiao bypassed them and entered the Xianxiang Restaurant.
As soon as he entered the lobby, a shop assistant at the first level of Qi Condensation came up to greet him. Following what Liao Pantu had just taught him on the way, Lin Xiao kept a plain expression as he instructed the assistant about the spirit pig he had ordered to be delivered shortly, and then asked for a private room to be arranged for him.
The shop assistant quickly guided him upstairs,
"Guest, please come this way."
Lin Xiao gave a slight nod and followed him upstairs. He seemingly casually glanced at the bustling lobby on the first floor and asked,
"Where is Chef Luo?"
The shop assistant was taken aback by his words, but after pausing for just a second or two, he immediately replied,
"Chef Luo passed away the year before last. Now, the head chef in charge of our Xianxiang Restaurant's kitchen is Chef Luo's eldest disciple, Chef Qian. Chef Qian has perfectly inherited Chef Luo's culinary skills. Back when Chef Luo was still alive, he used to say that Chef Qian had long since surpassed his master. Please rest assured, guest, the taste of our Xianxiang Restaurant is absolutely top-notch!"
As he spoke, he walked sideways in front to lead the way, freeing a hand to give Lin Xiao a thumbs-up.
Hearing this, Lin Xiao softly replied with an "Oh" and said no more.
Arriving at a private room on the second floor, the shop assistant poured him some tea.
"Guest, aside from the roast suckling pig, do you need any side dishes or drinks? Our Xianxiang Restaurant's Pinhui Spirit Wine is renowned throughout the entire Southern Spirit Realm, and as for our side dishes,"
He pulled out a menu from the storage bag at his waist, flipped it open, and handed it to Lin Xiao.
"Look here, guest. This Eight-Crisp Silver-tail Fish is the number one signature side dish of our Xianxiang Restaurant. These Silver-tail Fish are hard to come by; they can only be found in the Icefield Mystic Realm, which opens for only fifteen days a year. It's a rare delicacy. Right now, our Xianxiang Restaurant's stock is also extremely scarce. At most, we'll sell out in a few days and they'll be completely gone. We'll have to wait for the Icefield Mystic Realm to open in five days."
Lin Xiao recalled seemingly hearing someone mention the name of this Silver-tail Fish just now, so feeling a bit curious, he ordered a serving.
As for the Pinhui Spirit Wine that the assistant highly recommended, Lin Xiao originally didn't want it, but Liao Pantu, who was inside the Soul-Nourishing Pendant, sent him a sound transmission telling him to order a jug. Thus, he asked the shop assistant to bring a jug of this Pinhui Spirit Wine.
These two items, plus the processing fee for the roast suckling pig, came to a total of fifty-five spirit stones. Although Lin Xiao's heart was bleeding a little, he took out the spirit stones with a very indifferent expression.
Taking the spirit stones handed to him, the shop assistant received them very excitedly and said to him,
"Alrighty! Please wait a moment, guest. Your food and wine will be served right up!"
After the shop assistant left, Lin Xiao finally sent a sound transmission to ask Liao Pantu,
"I'm only twelve years old, what kind of wine should I be drinking?"
Liao Pantu didn't answer him, but instead told him to hurry up and take out the isolation array he had inscribed back in the sect and set it up.
Lin Xiao did as he was told, taking out the isolation array and setting it up properly.
young master of the Shen family—a figure of immense power and wealth beyond measure—and awakened the "Destined Ultimate Villain System"! His starting scenario? Running into his icy fiancée who shows up with a mountain-descending divine doctor to break off their engagement. The divine doctor arrogantly taunts: "What does your Shen family have besides a bit of stinking money? You're not even worthy of tying Qingxue's shoelaces!" Shen Fei just smiled. He completely defied the usual script: "Fine, I agree to break off the engagement. Also, notify the finance department to withdraw all investments from the Su family." Minutes later, with its capital chain severed, the Su Group teetered on the brink of bankruptcy! The once aloof and proud ice queen CEO was thrown into utter panic. That very night, she went to Shen Fei's villa, casting aside all dignity to beg and plead desperately... From then on, in this world teeming with Sons of Destiny, Shen Fei embarked on a path of extreme dimensional suppression! A mountain-descending divine doctor? Peerless medical skills? Shen Fei: "Reporting you for practicing medicine without a license! I'll gladly take your ancient medicinal cauldron and twin sister assassins." The Crooked-Smiling Dragon King? Commanding a hundred thousand soldiers with a single order? Shen Fei: "Illegal assembly and suspected treason! Let a fleet of attack helicopters sanitize the area and teach you what the state apparatus really means!" A reborn tycoon? Knows all the golden opportunities of the next decade? Shen Fei: "A trillion in capital to reverse and pump the stock market, making you blow your margin and jump on the very first day of your rebirth!" What Chosen Ones? What bearers of Heavenly Fortune? In Shen Fei's eyes, they're all just chives (i.e., suckers/marks) waiting to be harvested! Shen Fei: "Sorry, but as the Destined Ultimate Villain, I don't play by the rules of honor. I only play the game of dimensional suppression."
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.”
with countless casualties. As a top-tier gamer, Liu Xuan volunteered to join the fight, intending to dominate with his skills, but instead he obtained the hidden class: [Pacifist]. Unable to attack. Unable to use active skills. Fortunately, with each level gained, he acquired a new passive skill. And so, armed with a body full of passives, Liu Xuan slaughtered his way through the battlefield of ten thousand races! [You attacked Liu Xuan] [You gained the debuffs: 'Poison', 'Fear', 'Burning', 'Bleeding', 'Freeze', 'Silence', etc.] [Your attack speed has been reduced by 99%] [Your armor and magic resistance have been reduced by 99%] Warriors of the Ten Thousand Races: How the hell am I supposed to fight this?!
] This is a dark fantasy-themed dating simulation game. The main gameplay involves containing various monster girls and investigating the truth of a world shrouded in mist alongside your companions. However, due to his love for the dark and bizarre atmosphere, Luo Wei ended up turning a dating game into a detective mystery game. Women? Women only slow down his quickdraw! To Luo Wei, the female leads in the game are more like tools to perfectly clear levels and squeeze out rewards. For Luo Wei, flirting with every girl he meets and then discarding them is standard procedure. Worried about characters losing affection points? No need. With his maxed-out charm stat, Luo Wei is practically a "human incubus." A little psychological manipulation and those points come right back. It's a bit scummy, but the paper cutout heroines in the game won't actually come at him with real cleavers. However... Luo Wei has transmigrated. He's accidentally entered the second playthrough of this game. His past actions have caused all the girls to transform into terrifying yanderes. Due to the game's setting, most of the heroines he once contained are "troubled girls." Obsessive, twisted, mentally unstable, all aggressive yanderes... The type who will kill you if they can't have you... Luo Wei wants to cry but has no tears left. "I really just want to survive..." In short, this is a story of battling wits and engaging in a love-hate relationship with yanderes.
