"That stone tablet looks pretty good—cylindrical, gives off a sense of power."
An Yi said with a chuckle, pondering how to bring up the subject.
There was definitely something hidden inside that stone tablet.
Old Tao saw through An Yi's intention at a glance and snorted, "Don't even think about it. That tablet is the academy's treasured heirloom. There's no way I'd give it to you. If you took it, how would the students test their spiritual vein aptitude?"
"There are plenty of ways to test it. Using that stone tablet just for spiritual vein testing seems like overkill, doesn't it?"
"Don't worry about that. Don't even entertain the thought."
Old Tao shot him a glare, then pulled out a black scroll.
"What's this?"
Taking the scroll, An Yi glanced over it but couldn't make heads or tails of it.
"An invitation from the Eastern Mystic Academy's main campus. Originally, Wan Feng was very likely to represent our academy in the competition. Now that you've beaten him senseless, you'll be taking his place."
Old Tao explained.
He'd originally planned to swallow his pride and beg those old fossils at the main campus for an extra slot.
Now it turned out fine—Wan Feng was gravely injured, so a spot had opened up.
An Yi tucked the black scroll away and smirked, "Alright, I'll take it. I'll bring back a championship for you."
"Championship?"
Old Tao blew on the tea leaves floating in his cup, a look of disdain on his face. "Don't think that just because you're at middle-stage Heavenly Firmament, you can lord it over everyone. The ones who make it into the Hundred Academy Competition—none of them are weak. If you can crack the top ten, that alone would make your name known across the land."
In Old Tao's view, with An Yi currently at middle-stage Heavenly Firmament, reaching late-stage Heavenly Firmament within six months would already be a stroke of luck.
By then, even squeezing into the top ten would be a long shot.
"That hard, huh?"
An Yi raised an eyebrow.
He was pretty confident in his own strength.
Old Tao poured him some tea, then set down the pot with a grim expression. "Hard to say. In past years, a number of monsters at the Nirvana Realm have shown up."
Nirvana Realm!
An Yi was a bit taken aback.
He knew that participants in the Hundred Academy Competition couldn't be older than twenty-five.
Reaching the Nirvana Realm at that stage of cultivation was truly unimaginable.
"Don't underestimate the Hundred Academy Competition. Any spiritualist who shines there gets courted by the big shots from major factions, becoming key training prospects."
"This determines their future achievements, which is why so many geniuses fight tooth and nail for it."
"Similarly, every year, each academy spares no effort to recruit promising disciples, all for the sake of getting a good ranking in the competition."
Old Tao explained, worried that An Yi might not understand.
An Yi fell into thought.
So this meant he'd only obtained the entry ticket to represent the Eastern Mystic Academy's East Ling Empire branch.
Later, he'd have to compete with students from other branches and the main campus just to earn the right to represent Eastern Mystic Academy in the main competition... What a hassle.
An Yi took a sip of tea and said, "By the way, now that the name 'An Yi' has spread, has anyone come looking for An Yi?"
He'd gained a bit of fame by now, and he wondered if any members of the Shura Hall had caught wind of him.
"Ha! Plenty. The whole of East Ling is searching high and low for you."
Old Tao said with a chuckle.
Because the great demon An Yi had remained nowhere to be found.
The bounty on "An Yi's" head had now risen to one hundred fifty thousand gold coins!
What did one hundred fifty thousand mean?
Spending a night at a pleasure house with the finest girls would cost only a single silver coin.
One hundred fifty thousand gold coins meant he could... well, patronize every pleasure house in the Central Continent's girls!
Who could resist temptation like that!
An Yi's mouth twitched.
The negative side effects really were getting a bit out of hand.
"By the way, about that Divine Son from the Star Luo Sea Region—any news from your inquiries?"
An Yi asked.
Back then, he had a nagging feeling that the Divine Son was problematic.
But the Star Luo Sea Region was far too remote.
He had no reach there!
Old Tao shook his head and explained, "The man's already been brought to the Central Continent by the Divine Faith Sect. His information is sealed tight now—I couldn't dig up a single thing."
"Never mind, I was just curious."
An Yi smiled. "Come on, Old Tao, let's talk a bit more about that stone tablet."
"Scram!"
Outside, the night sky was scattered with stars.
After being kicked out by Old Tao, An Yi yawned and headed back to his quarters.
That stone tablet though... He had a feeling there was something to it.
But it was on Old Tao's turf. Taking it by force was out of the question.
Sneaking it out wasn't an option either—he wasn't that kind of person.
Really, he wasn't going to steal it.
He'd have to find another way.
...
The student dormitories.
In the dead of night.
Ye Tian sat cross-legged on his bed, sinking his consciousness into the bronze pagoda.
"Tian, why aren't you asleep yet?"
Zhang Qi looked up, seeing Ye Tian seated cross-legged on the bed, a bit surprised.
Ye Tian kept his eyes closed and brushed him off. "In a bit."
"Get some rest soon. Word is, starting next week, we're heading to the Dragon Bone Mountain Range. Can't believe it's happening this fast..."
A glimmer of excitement flashed in Zhang Qi's eyes.
In the Dragon Bone Mountain Range, fighting and killing demonic beasts was the fastest way to grow and temper oneself.
Every guy had an adventurous streak in his bones, and there was an innate allure to intense, bloody combat.
Ye Tian couldn't stand Zhang Qi's chatter. He opened his eyes and stared at him until he finished talking, then closed his eyes again and delved back into the world of the bronze pagoda.
"Master, I'm here."
Ye Tian looked at the mysterious woman in the blue dress, Tianxuan, and spoke with reverence.
"Nan Tian, you've arrived."
A faint smile curled at the corners of Tianxuan's lips as she gave Ye Tian an appraising look, surprise coloring her expression. "You've broken through already."
"Yes, I just broke through yesterday."
A smile spread across Ye Tian's lips as well.
In a matter of months, going from having no foundation at all to mid-stage Spirit Gathering—if word of that got out, it would shake the entire Ancient Continent.
Tianxuan nodded. "Not bad. With both the Profound Nether Spirit Vein and the Nine Yang Spirit Vein in you, you might even break straight through to the Spirit Transformation Realm."
"The bastards of the Nine Heavens—one day, I'll take my revenge with my own hands!"
Ye Tian's expression turned fierce.
Betrayed by a woman, shattered to pieces and slain!
Everything he had lost before—he would take it all back himself.
After the fusion of Ye Tian's and Ye Nan Tian's souls...
Whether it was the grudge of the Ye family or the heinous crime of being killed in the Nine Heavens, he would need strength to back it up. He had to grow stronger, and fast.
Tianxuan said slowly, "Unfortunately, I'm just a spirit now. I can't leave this tower to help you."
Ye Tian chuckled lightly. "Everything I have today is thanks to your guidance, Master. I'm endlessly grateful, and one day, I'll reshape your true form and free you from this little tower!"
Tianxuan smiled. "It's enough that you have that intention."
Suddenly, a thought struck Tianxuan, and her voice turned indifferent. "A few days ago, did you happen to come across any strange person? A woman."
Ye Tian asked, puzzled, "What's she look like?"
Tianxuan thought for a moment, then said seriously, "Plain-looking, cheap and phony, with a smelly fox spirit vibe. Likes to flaunt herself, sharp-tongued and spiteful. By today's standards, she'd be at least five thousand years old—probably a hideous old hag."
Ye Tian was completely thrown off by this description.
He shook his head and said, "I don't think so."
Whether he'd met her or not, he couldn't be sure—but that five-thousand-year-old woman definitely had some vendetta against his master!
he colors of other people’s emotions. Light red meant anxiety. Gray meant exhaustion. Orange meant excitement. Yellow... meant repression. At the same time, he could gain unlimited control over one of those colors. Pale cyan: relaxation. Using this ability, he started offering “two-yuan hugs,” spending an afternoon exchanging emotional-color experiences with others. Then came his final female customer of the day— a girl whose emotional color was pure black... —— A week later, Xu Chuan had become skilled at using pale cyan—Relaxation—treating it like a bottle of menthol balm whenever he needed it. That was when he discovered he had unlocked another unlimited emotional color: Purple, the color of fear. So these emotional colors refresh every week? Fine, I take it back—I’ll never call you useless again... —— Much later, after Xu Chuan had accumulated countless emotional abilities, one night, he suddenly found himself inside someone else’s dream. There, he could use the emotional colors he possessed to paint. And in her dream, he painted her a shower of pink shooting stars, spreading across the depths of the night sky...
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 + Rent Collection Wealth】 At the start, he inherited a rundown house in the urban village from his grandfather. The house had no tenants, but the moment he was diagnosed with a terminal illness, a self-proclaimed empress from the Tianxuan Continent arrived as his first tenant. Ye Chuan soon discovered that with every new tenant moving in, not only did he receive massive daily payments, but he also obtained unique items related to their backgrounds. 【Acquired Bai Qianshuang’s related item: Tiger Strength Pill—dramatically enhances physical power!】 【Acquired Bai Qianshuang’s related item: Deer Blood Pill—significantly boosts vitality!】 …… From that day on, all sorts of bizarre tenants began appearing in the house: the empress from Tianxuan Continent, an apocalyptic sorceress from the Magic Realm, a mysterious scientific girl who fell through a spacetime rift… Every single day, he received strange, powerful items and endless money. Then one day, he suddenly realized—he had become invincible. Enough, enough! Stop giving me more!
lanned to earn money steadily and take life at a slower pace. But he never expected... his father's remarriage, and the stepmother bringing along a dependent, would completely disrupt his life's plans...
