The night was bleak and cold.
It was April, yet a chill still lingered in the evening air.
Under the dim, yellow light of an old streetlamp, Xue Ming looked down at the fallen Xue Ruirui, a cold, indifferent smirk curling his lips.
Having been force-fed poison, Xue Ruirui lay curled up on the ground, shivering as if she were trapped in an ice cave. Her hands and feet were terrifyingly cold.
"Why don't you just kill me!" Xue Ruirui asked, her voice hoarse.
Her pretty face was pale and drained of all color, looking as though she was hanging by a thread, on the verge of death.
"Killing you would be effortless, but where is the fun in that?"
Xue Ming smiled, but the look in his eyes was terrifying and macabre. "Junior Sister, want to make a bet? Will your man die for you?"
Over a thousand types of poisonous herbs had been refined to create this poison, forming the Thousand Herb Poison Bead!
It could be said that apart from him, no one in this world could provide the cure.
"You animal!"
Xue Ruirui gritted her teeth, tears slowly spilling from the corners of her eyes.
She knew clearly that Xue Ming's true target was Zhang Fan!
"Just last year, that kid was merely an unremarkable intern doctor. To achieve what he has today in just one short year... the secret behind it is truly tempting," Xue Ming said indifferently.
His current strength was the result of decades of bitter cultivation, enduring the torture of various poisonous insects and herbs day after day.
Why should these guys be able to so easily obtain the power that remained out of his reach?
Xue Ruirui quietly pulled out a dagger and aimed it at her own throat.
Rather than being used as a hostage to threaten Zhang Fan, she would rather end her own life.
The moment she thrust the dagger downward, Xue Ming flicked his finger, shooting out a burst of energy that struck Xue Ruirui's wrist with precision.
The dagger slipped from her grasp and fell to the ground, where he immediately stepped on it.
"Want to die? It's not that easy. Your mission isn't finished yet!"
Xue Ming looked at her with a sinister gaze.
Just then, a cold glint appeared behind him.
A sharp dagger stabbed toward Xue Ming.
Clang!
Xue Ming spun around, holding a short blade horizontally to block the dagger's attack.
"Not bad!"
Xue Ming stared faintly at Zhang Fan and spoke slowly, "You finally came!"
Ghost Vine was very strong, but for some reason, Xue Ming had felt that Ghost Vine was not Zhang Fan's match.
It seemed his guess was correct.
"Ah Fan!"
The moment Xue Ruirui saw Zhang Fan, all her toughness collapsed in an instant, and tears overflowed.
Zhang Fan's heart ached. "I'm late."
His eyes stared coldly at Xue Ming. "Hand over the antidote!"
Xue Ming sneered. "Come and take it if you have the skill!"
Biting spiritual energy began to swirl around them.
A jade-green spiritual light emerged from Zhang Fan's body, and his form actually began to dissolve into a faint mist.
Then, his dagger thrust toward Xue Ming at a bizarre angle!
Xue Ming's eyes turned cold; this guy's weirdness exceeded his expectations!
Clang! Clang! Clang!
The short blade and the dagger collided madly!
Dazzling sparks flew in all directions as their figures moved through the night like ghosts.
After dozens of rounds, neither had gained the upper hand.
"Poison is useless against me!"
Xue Ming gripped his short blade and took a step back, looking at the poison mist swirling around them with a strange smile.
Zhang Fan's gaze was icy, a touch of jade-green light winding around his fingertips!
Suddenly, the sky-filling poison mist exploded. The green light surged, and Xue Ming, trapped within it, could not dodge and took the attack head-on.
"Argh!"
A shrill scream rang out.
Zhang Fan's agile figure, like a sharp blade, cut through the poison mist and stabbed toward Xue Ming!
Rip!
The dagger's edge sliced through, and blood sprayed.
A shocking wound was carved across Xue Ming's chest.
"Hand over the antidote!"
Zhang Fan's eyes were covered in red veins as he spoke with chilling killing intent, slowly closing in.
At this moment, he looked like a crazed, trapped beast!
Xue Ming grinned, revealing a ferocious smile. "Impressive. As expected of the Poison Doctor Zhang Fan. With such clean and efficient skills, it's a pity you aren't an assassin."
Zhang Fan attacked again!
Xue Ming's expression turned cold, and he flung the short blade in his hand, turning it into a streak of light.
His target was Xue Ruirui!
At such a short distance, interception was impossible.
Xue Ruirui watched helplessly as the dagger drew closer, instinctively closing her eyes.
Drip!
Blood dripped onto the ground.
Zhang Fan's mist-like figure appeared in front of Xue Ruirui, hugging her and blocking the short blade with his back.
The blade pierced through his chest, blood flowing down the edge.
"Don't be afraid," Zhang Fan said softly, stroking her head.
"Idiot, do you want to die?!"
Xue Ruirui bit her lower lip, crying.
"Strange indeed!"
Xue Ming also clutched his wound and slowly climbed up, speaking mockingly, "Xue Ruirui has three days left to live. In three days, bring me the answer I want. Otherwise, you can collect your woman's corpse."
Zhang Fan stared coldly at Xue Ming.
He absolutely could not let this guy get away!
Clang!
Xue Ming seemed to have predicted Zhang Fan's attack, waving his blade to block it steadily.
The mist dispersed, revealing Zhang Fan's figure.
Both were heavily injured. If they continued to fight, it was uncertain who would die!
"Three days later, same place!"
Xue Ming swung his blade to force Zhang Fan back.
Zhang Fan stood unsteadily, blood spilling from his chest.
In terms of injuries, his were clearly more severe!
Xue Ming mocked, "Don't attempt to treat her. Of course, if you believe your medical skills are superior, feel free to try."
As he spoke, a swirling black vortex slowly appeared behind Xue Ming.
He leaped backward and was swallowed by the black hole.
At that moment, Zhang Fan's dagger slashed through the air, hitting nothing. He stumbled a few steps before coming to a stop.
"Ruirui..."
Zhang Fan walked back with difficulty.
Xue Ruirui had already fallen into a coma and collapsed on the ground.
...
Jiangbei City, inside a luxurious villa.
"Muxuan, help me bring the bowls over."
In the kitchen, Qin Yao stirred with a ladle as she spoke to Shen Muxuan.
Shen Muxuan picked up a large stack of bowls and walked over unsteadily. "Coming, coming."
Qin Yao quickly took them from her. "Be careful."
Shen Muxuan watched Qin Yao's skilled knife work with envy. "Yao Yao, you're really amazing."
Qin Yao chuckled softly. "This is nothing. Cooking is easy to learn. With such a well-equipped kitchen, it would be a waste not to use it."
In school, Qin Yao was known as the all-around campus queen. She won scholarships every year for her studies, held national awards for piano, played on the varsity volleyball team, and possessed computer skills that rivaled hackers. She was the quintessential perfect child every parent wished for.
In her view, cooking was also a simple task.
"Do you need any help?"
An Yi looked into the kitchen and asked curiously.
Seeing these two girls together gave him a strange feeling of maladjustment, as if they were plotting something bad.
However, seeing two graceful and curvaceous figures wearing aprons and busy in the kitchen was quite pleasing to the eye.
Qin Yao raised an eyebrow. "What can you make?"
Shen Muxuan smiled beamingly. "An Yi can cook instant noodles."
An Yi chuckled and added, "I can also make cup noodles."
Qin Yao: "..."
"Forget it, just go rest. Leave the cooking to the women."
Qin Yao laughed lightly and lifted the pot lid. Inside was a mass of pitch-black, indistinguishable stuff.
A gloom settled over An Yi's heart, and he felt a faint, ominous premonition.
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."
u Chenyuan transmigrated into a female-oriented novel about a real and fake heiress, becoming the CEO elder brother of both. Unfortunately, the entire Lu family—including himself, the CEO—were mere cannon fodder in the story. Determined to save himself, Lu Chenyuan took action. The spoiled, attention-seeking fake heiress? Thrown into the harsh realities of the working class to learn humility. The love-struck real heiress? Pushed toward academic excellence, so lofty goals would blind her to trivial romances. As for the betrayed, vengeful arranged marriage wife… the plot hadn’t even begun yet. There was still time—if he couldn’t handle her, he could at least avoid her. "CEO Lu, are you avoiding me?" Mo Qingli fixed her gaze on Lu Chenyuan. For the first time, the shrewd and calculating Lu Chenyuan felt a flicker of unease.
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.
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.”
