Inside, the sound of reading had not ceased for an entire night. Yet, it seemed steady, without any major fluctuations—nothing to suggest something was wrong.
So Yuan Bi and Yuan Qing could only wait patiently outside.
Unbeknownst to them, within the cave, Liao Pantu, who was observing through the Soul-Nurturing Pendant, stared in shock and worry at Lin Xiao, who hadn’t stopped reading, and at the Yuan Family Ancestor, whose body was already clearing away nearly half of the dark aura.
Jiang Youfu, however, remained unaware that anything was amiss.
All he knew was that he had been reading all night, to the point his mouth felt numb and dry. If it weren’t for his constant use of spiritual power to relieve the pressure on his lips, they might have peeled.
Fortunately, the Yuan Family Ancestor seemed to be improving, which meant Brother Xiao’s spell was definitely working.
So Jiang Youfu, who had been numbed from reading for so long, suddenly perked up again.
Nearby, Lin Xiao, still with his eyes closed, was fully immersed in his spellwork, steadily erasing the dark aura as he purified the Yuan Family Ancestor’s heart demons.
Suddenly, a voice filled with anger shot directly into his consciousness:
“Who dares ruin my good work?!”
Lin Xiao’s mind was shaken.
The heart demon of a Nascent Soul cultivator was indeed extraordinary—strong enough to suppress its host.
Lin Xiao almost lost control, his mind on the verge of collapsing.
Thankfully, Jiang Youfu’s steady voice reading aloud never faltered. Just as Lin Xiao’s mind began to waver, the clear, crisp sound of reading reached his ears, instantly pulling his scattered focus back together.
With renewed concentration, he intensified his purification spell.
The Yuan Family Ancestor’s heart demon was powerless against this.
It was only the Ancestor’s heart demon—it couldn’t affect others. Its ability to intimidate Lin Xiao came solely from the fact that Lin Xiao was actively engaging it with his spell, giving the demon a fleeting opportunity.
But it hadn’t expected such resilience. Despite its overwhelming pressure, Lin Xiao remained steadfast.
So the heart demon could only watch as it was slowly eradicated, helpless.
In a fit of rage, it turned its full fury to tormenting the Yuan Family Ancestor even more brutally.
Its goal was clear: before it was completely wiped out, it would drag its host into the abyss...
Yet now, the demon had already lost a third of its strength to Lin Xiao’s efforts.
Perhaps sensing its diminishing power, the Yuan Family Ancestor’s will to survive flared fiercely. He fought back desperately against the heart demon.
Faced with such internal and external pressure, and having lost much of its hard-earned power over the years, the demon grew weaker by the moment.
Jiang Youfu watched as the dark aura around the Yuan Family Ancestor dissipated greatly, revealing the old man beneath the black mist.
Only then did Jiang Youfu see clearly: the old man’s face and body were covered in festering sores.
Thick, black blood oozed from them like viscous ink—an unsettling sight.
His heart trembled at the thought.
If they ever suffered from cultivation gone wrong, would they end up like this old man?
But as the dark aura around the Yuan Family Ancestor faded, the sores and black patches on his body seemed to stop spreading.
The flow of the black blood also slowed considerably.
Seeing this, Jiang Youfu muttered silently in his heart, "Brother Xiao is really amazing!"
Suddenly, he heard a "plop" beside him. Turning his head, he saw Lin Xiao had fainted and collapsed to the ground.
"Brother Xiao!"
Liao Pantu, no longer caring whether Yuan’s family would discover him being out, quickly extended a hand from his Soul-Nurturing Pendant. After tossing two items onto the ground, he immediately withdrew his hand back inside.
Then he said to Jiang Youfu, who had rushed over to help Lin Xiao up:
"He’s fine, just overexerted his spiritual power and is a bit exhausted. Little Fatty, use the mini spirit boat and the invisibility talisman on the ground when you leave later."
Jiang Youfu didn’t ask any more questions. He picked up the palm-sized mini spirit boat and invisibility talisman, tucked them into his bosom, then half-carried, half-supported the unconscious Lin Xiao off the ground.
The sound of reading suddenly stopped. Coupled with Jiang Youfu’s anxious shout of "Brother Xiao" just now, Yuan Bi and Yuan Qing outside immediately knew something was wrong inside.
Without hesitation, Yuan Bi formed a hand seal and opened the massive stone door. Before stepping inside, he saw Jiang Youfu carrying Lin Xiao out.
"Fellow Daoist Lin, what happened to you?" Yuan Bi asked hurriedly.
Jiang Youfu shook his head, worry evident in his voice:
"Maybe he overexerted his spiritual power. Uncle Yuan, I have to take him back to rest first. We’ll talk about everything else later."
Upon hearing this, Yuan Bi took a closer look and found that Lin Xiao was indeed fine—just drained and faint from using too much spiritual energy.
He had no reason to refuse. After all, Lin Xiao had exhausted himself to help their patriarch. Yuan Bi immediately nodded:
"I’ll escort you back."
Without waiting for Jiang Youfu to respond, he pulled out his flying artifact—a spirit boat.
Then he added:
"Don’t worry, Jiang Daoist, I’ll use the spirit boat to send you out. No one will know you’re on board."
Hearing this, Jiang Youfu silently swallowed the thought, "We could have gone back on our own."
If someone else was sending them, then Senior Liao’s invisibility talisman could be saved, right?
These talismans were painstakingly made by Elder Liu and, as Senior Liao had mentioned before, there weren’t many left.
So when Jiang Youfu heard Yuan Bi offer to send them, he thought it would save a talisman.
He had no choice. Baldy and Brother Xiao often discussed sect matters in front of him, even calculating how to economize and make the best use of disciples without affecting everyone’s cultivation.
He didn’t know much about other things, but when it came to talismans, Elder Liu was currently the only one in their sect capable of making such high-level ones. So Jiang Youfu knew it was best to save them whenever possible.
Yuan Bi then turned to close the massive stone door.
Since Lin Xiao had exhausted himself helping their patriarch, Yuan Bi didn’t feel it was right to enter first and inspect before escorting them out while Lin Xiao was unconscious.
He only gave a quick scan with his divine sense, confirming their patriarch seemed fine, then immediately shut the stone door, opened his spirit boat, and set off with Jiang Youfu and Lin Xiao toward their lodging place.
However, after the Spirit Vessel had taken off, Yuan Bi suddenly realized something—when the massive stone door was opened just now, it seemed... there wasn’t the usual overwhelming aura of Heart Demons spilling out?
Moreover, when he scanned with his divine sense, the dark energy surrounding the ancestor appeared to have diminished significantly...
With this in mind, Yuan Bi was utterly astonished.
The dark aura enveloping their ancestor had dissipated by more than just a little!
Could it be that this was the result of these two young disciples?
At first, he had thought what Lin Xiao said would only help to slightly ease the burden—maybe just offset a tiny bit. But judging from the brief glance at their ancestor just now, it seemed far from being merely ‘a little’!
If that’s truly the case, then this is... incredibly impressive!
ng to die together with you." Lin Xuan is dead, his body thrown into the river by his scumbag lover and her accomplice. She, the president of the Su Group, is decisive, ruthless, and ice-cold. For three days and three nights, she had his body fished out of the river, and without hesitation, she kissed the bloated corpse of Lin Xuan. She laid down beside him in a cold coffin, their fingers intertwined, a smile lingering on her lips as she closed her eyes. The noble and cold-hearted woman, only bending for one man—Lin Xuan. Lin Xuan, with his golden finger, is reborn and returns to the day of his wedding to the treacherous woman. Su Qiang comes to steal the bride. Lin Xuan's eyes light up, eager to pledge his loyalty on the spot, but instead, her kiss transfers a glass of drugged wine into his mouth, causing him to pass out... 【Male Protagonist with Single Female Lead】【Yandere Tycoon】【Action-Packed】【True vs. Fake Heir】
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!
] [Lone Wolf, No Male Gaze] [Protagonist is pursued early on; extreme protagonist-stans, stay away!] The "Carnival Paradise" descends and slowly devours the real world in the form of a game. By chance, Zhu Yan awakens the talent [Roleplay], becoming one of the first beta players. He thought he could develop safely, but after clearing the first instance, he is branded by humanity as the chief culprit behind the game's spread—a traitorous villain. A villain? Who would ever... become one! He'll be the villain! From then on, Zhu Yan is not only a player but also a lackey for the Carnival Paradise. Between the straight path and the crooked path, he chooses the con. With his left hand, he dons the villain's mantle, staging scenes within instances, infuriating players who decry him as a despicable traitor, all while the game happily promotes him. With his right hand, he joins the non-human organization "Fangcun Mountain," which opposes the Carnival Paradise, transforming into a mysterious player who slaughters game bosses, earning cheers of "Long live the expert!" from fellow players. Gradually, Zhu Yan rises to become an S-rank human player in Fangcun Mountain's archives, while also being the Carnival Paradise's certified top game Boss. But when the final war erupts and both major factions place their hopes in him— Players tag his various aliases: "Experts, this offensive depends on you." The Carnival Paradise's supreme Boss throws an arm around his neck: "Bro, you're the iron, I'm the steel; you can't let me down again!"
