That night, not a single person in Xiushui City could sleep from sheer excitement.
Over the past few years, their lives had already changed so drastically that “earth-shaking” hardly seemed an exaggeration. Yet compared with everything they had witnessed during the city’s construction that day, those changes were nothing at all.
The villagers from the surrounding settlements were especially thrilled.
In the past, they had watched Xiushui Village grow more prosperous by the day. It was a lie to say they had not been envious.
Still, Xiushui Village’s prosperity had brought more and more travelers to their remote mountain hamlets, allowing them to benefit as well.
As they watched the money in their households accumulate at a speed they had never imagined possible, they had thought life could hardly get any better.
Who could have expected that, in a single day, they would rise straight to the heavens?
Look at all these marvelous things! They no longer even had to draw water from a well. Turn that thing called a faucet, and water would come gushing out. Was this not the sort of life only immortals enjoyed?
From this day onward, they were city folk!
Just thinking about it made them giddy with delight.
They had also heard the immortals of the Lingxian Sect say that more and more immortals from outside might come to Xiushui City to do business in the future, though the villagers had no idea why immortals would need to do business at all.
But after these past few years, they had formed an excellent impression of the Lingxian Sect. Upon hearing the news, every villager felt that it was a blessing from heaven.
After all, with more immortals around, perhaps one day one of them might catch an immortal’s eye and gain a great opportunity.
Nor were they afraid that these outsiders might harbor ill intentions. The immortals of the Lingxian Sect had told them that if they discovered anything suspicious about the immortals who came from elsewhere, they could go to the foot of Lingxian Mountain and strike the alarm bell.
Every village chief also possessed a divine artifact that could directly contact Immortal Liu. Moreover, within Xiushui City, those outsiders would be unable to use spells to harm anyone. The Lingxian Sect had taken every possible consideration into account for the sake of ordinary folk like them. Thus, the villagers of every settlement felt perfectly at ease.
These villagers, who knew nothing about cultivation, did not understand the intricacies of restrictions and formations. They had no idea how difficult it was to suppress every cultivator who entered the city.
Their sense of security came entirely from their trust in the Lingxian Sect.
Over the past several years, whenever a disaster beyond their ability to withstand had arisen, the Lingxian Sect had always stepped forward on their behalf.
In an age when the government provided almost no benefits to the countryside beyond collecting taxes, the Lingxian Sect was, to these common people, an absolutely steadfast and unrivaled pillar of support.
Now, it was not only the villages around Xiushui City that revered the sect. Throughout Hufang Province, any household that did not keep an ancestral tablet dedicated to the Lingxian Sect would be looked down upon by others.
To the people of Hufang Province, praying to the gods and worshiping the Buddha was not as useful as worshiping the Lingxian Sect.
They were the living immortals who protected them.
The commotion caused by Xiushui City’s arrival was enormous—so enormous that even the towns in the surrounding area heard it.
People everywhere, not knowing what was happening, rushed out of their homes in panic and looked toward the direction of the thunderous rumbling.
Those who lived nearby saw clouds of dust billowing into the clear sky in the distance.
At first, everyone thought some sort of natural disaster had struck.
It was not until government runners began hurrying through the streets, shouting at the tops of their voices that people finally understood.
“The Lingxian Sect is building a city! Citizens, do not panic!”
“The Lingxian Sect is building a city! Citizens, do not panic!”
“The Lingxian Sect is building a city! Citizens, do not panic!”
And so on.
When they learned that the commotion had been caused by the Lingxian Sect, the people’s panic instantly subsided.
Once they were reassured, their natural curiosity took over. They gathered in nearby teahouses, soup stalls, and other such places to gossip.
“Hey, hey, have you heard? The Lingxian Sect is building a city!”
“Sounds like it’s being built right where Xiushui Village is!”
“Wow! Then will all the villages nearby have to move?”
“No, apparently the Lingxian Sect is letting those villages remain inside the city. I’ve got a relative from neighboring Daniu Village. He came to visit us yesterday and wouldn’t stop bragging about it…”
The common folk watched the spectacle with great amusement, even discussing whether they should go over and take a look themselves.
Venerable Xunfang, who had arrived at Xiushui Village two days earlier and personally witnessed the Lingxian Sect’s feat of raising a city from flat ground, had been unable to calm his thoughts for a long time.
Because he had come early, he had carefully investigated the area. He knew very well that Xiushui Village had previously been surrounded by absolutely no defensive formations or restrictions.
Now, standing on Xiushui City’s broad, level streets and surveying the freshly completed city, Venerable Xunfang could not stop wondering how much he himself might have accomplished if he had made every preparation he could think of.
At the same time, he could feel the spiritual power within him being suppressed.
Inside this city, he could barely form a thin layer of spiritual power around his body. He could not even cast the simplest small fireball spell.
The instant the fireball left his hand, it vanished completely.
It was as though an invisible maw had silently swallowed it.
Venerable Xunfang stared at his fingertip, where he had cast the fireball, his expression grave.
The Lingxian Sect was likely no ordinary sect of the mortal world.
With such power, if the Lingxian Sect truly wished to wipe out every cultivator who entered the city…
A chill ran through him.
But then he gave a self-mocking smile.
If the other side really harbored some sinister scheme, then with this level of strength, taking down a group of cultivators from the mortal world like them would be effortless.
He raised his head and looked toward the towering mountain range in the distance, as well as the floating island suspended high above it—one that ordinary people would find difficult to perceive.
“The Lingxian Sect…”
He hoped they were not villains.
Otherwise, it was doubtful that the Nascent Soul cultivators of the mortal world would survive.
There was an old saying that applied perfectly to high-level cultivators like them:
When the sky falls, the tallest must bear the weight.
If something happened to the mortal world, they were the strongest people there. Whether they stepped forward or hid like cowards, the difference was only whether they died sooner or later.
If they stood together with others, they might still carve out a chance to survive.
Retreating would ultimately leave them with nothing but despair.
This was an admonition passed down in their sect ever since their founding patriarch’s time.
It was also why, when the Jishi incident occurred in the Huanyou Kingdom, their sects had immediately organized an allied army.
They might not interfere in the affairs of ordinary mortals, but the Jishi was something they absolutely had to deal with.
Venerable Xunfang took out the invitation from the Lingxian Sect, his heart filled with conflicting emotions.
They would see what happened tomorrow.
Many others who had arrived at Xiushui Village early to investigate shared his thoughts, including people from various sects and the imperial family.
Even Li Clan Ancestor Li Zhanying, who had dealt with the Lingxian Sect from the very beginning, felt the same way.
Compared with the others, however, he had watched everything the Lingxian Sect had done over the past few years with his own eyes, so he did not believe they were likely to commit evil.
A single person might be able to deceive others.
But the principles of an entire sect could not be faked.
He had spoken with Lin Xiao and interacted with the other disciples. Besides, the Lingxian Sect possessed the Path of Questioning the Heart. A sect with such a trial could not possibly be a wicked one.
It was just that…
Li Zhanying sat in a small courtyard in Xiushui Village and took a shallow sip of spiritual tea.
It was one of the congratulatory gifts the Lingxian Sect had sent him when he came out of seclusion.
“From now on, we in the mortal world can only follow the Lingxian Sect,” Li Zhanying said with a sigh.
Across from him, Li Yuanze gazed silently at the towering city outside and drank his tea.
nd fell into a coma while saving his younger sister from an out-of-control car. He became a vegetable. No one knew that his consciousness had crossed into a world of cultivation. Over the course of sixty years, he began as the lowest kind of mine slave, struggling to survive amid mountains of corpses and seas of blood. By sheer chance, he eventually obtained the complete memories of a fallen Immortal King. Alchemy, medicine, formations, feng shui, physiognomy, artifact forging… Every great inheritance of the cultivation world was now his. But when he opened his eyes again, he discovered that ten full years had passed in the modern world. To pay for his treatment, his father had sold the family’s shop and house, leaving himself covered in lasting injuries and illness. His mother had cared for him day and night, and more than half of her hair had already turned white. His younger sister, who had been only fifteen back then, was now twenty-five. To help repay the family’s debts, she had been forced to lower her head and put on a smiling face in places of glittering lights and endless revelry. Only then did Chen Xuan understand that what he had lost was not merely ten years. He had lost the life his entire family was meant to have. The good news was that he had brought back the memories of an Immortal King’s entire lifetime. The bad news was that his soul had returned alone—his cultivation had not come with him. Spiritual energy was scarce, resources were depleted, and the modern world still had firearms, surveillance, capital, and laws. If he wanted to protect his family, break free from everyone’s control, and become truly invincible beneath the heavens, he would have to start all over again.
s the Eldest Princess, renowned for her cold and aloof detachment, became the most docile of lambs, obeying his every command without question. But when the final move was played on the chessboard, as Gu Chenghan seized everything and ascended on the verge of apotheosis, that very Princess suddenly embraced him from behind, her tone carrying a dependence never heard before: "Wait... you haven't yet... commanded me to love you forever." Gu Chenghan froze abruptly. She... hadn't been hypnotized?! ... [The Eldest Princess's Diary] [When my soul was extracted, becoming the sole spectator outside my own shell] [At first, there was overwhelming fury, until I saw] [How he used my sword to effortlessly shatter my inescapable doom] [How he wielded my authority to eradicate fatal conspiracies I had never even detected] [Like a deity, he rescued me from the deep mire I was trapped in] [If not for those annoying vixens, he and I would be a match made in heaven] [I think I am ill, gravely ill] [My deity should belong to me alone] ... "Hypnosis? Oh, it succeeded, my dear Master." "Only this time, it's my turn to hypnotize you."
] 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.
e vast world of cultivation, where he becomes the master of the Heavenly Ruins Sacred Hall, a dying old man with barely a tenth of his former cultivation remaining. He is immediately confronted with a deadly crisis: his subordinates have rebelled, and his protectors are forcing him to abdicate. At the critical moment, the system descends from the heavens: [Ding! The host has been detected facing a life-or-death crisis. The system is now officially activated!] [As a gift, you have received the Supreme Beginner’s Pack and awakened the ultimate cheat: ten thousand years of pure cultivation essence every second!] Yin Tianjue: “Wait… ten thousand years of cultivation every second? That’s six hundred thousand years a minute, and in one day… I can’t even calculate it. Either way, I’m already invincible!” You’re a peerless prodigy rarely seen in ten thousand years? Sorry, I gain ten thousand years of cultivation every second. You’re an undying ancestor who has guarded a sacred land for countless ages? Sorry, I gain ten thousand years of cultivation every second. You’re the strongest chosen one, blessed with heaven-defying destiny? Sorry, I gain ten thousand years of cultivation every second. From this day forth, I have only one thing to say: “I gain ten thousand years of cultivation every second. Now, how exactly are you supposed to deal with that?”
