Even as Lie Tao was killed, the Gourd Immortal remained unmoved, his benevolent smile unwavering. "That dagger is impressive. I didn’t even see where you pulled it from."
"Go to hell and think about it!"
An Yi charged forward, dual daggers in hand!
In terms of sheer height, the Gourd Immortal was already intimidating.
Three meters tall—no human in this world could reach such a height!
And with those crimson eyes, he looked less and less like a human.
The combat dagger sliced through the air like a shadow, striking the Gourd Immortal’s waist.
For an assassin, the throat was always the primary target.
If that wasn’t possible, the next best options were the heart or the brain—any vital spot.
But this monster was too tall. An Yi couldn’t reach any of them!
So he slashed at the fleshy mountain of the Gourd Immortal’s belly instead.
The dagger clashed against the exposed skin, leaving only faint white marks.
His hide was as tough as iron cloth!
An Yi’s razor-sharp combat dagger might as well have been a blunt weapon.
"Tickling me?"
The Gourd Immortal scoffed.
With a swing of his massive, fan-like hand, he reached for An Yi.
"An Yi, watch out!"
Nie Qinglan’s voice rang out in warning.
Sensing the shift in the air, An Yi reacted swiftly, rolling forward in a desperate escape.
Cold sweat drenched him as he regained his footing.
For a split second, it felt like his body had been paralyzed—forced to watch helplessly as the Gourd Immortal’s hand came crashing down.
"Not bad, kid!"
The Gourd Immortal sounded almost impressed.
His movements seemed unremarkable, but An Yi knew better. If that slap had landed, his bones would’ve been pulverized.
This level of terror was no joke.
For the first time, An Yi was on full alert.
Compared to the Gourd Immortal, the S-rank assassin Butcher was nothing more than a small fry.
An Yi had no doubt—even Butcher would’ve been crushed in two slaps by this monster. They weren’t even in the same league.
His own fragile body wouldn’t survive a single hit.
"Kid! Just submit and become my blood thrall! Not only will I spare your life, but I’ll give you everything you’ve never even dreamed of!"
The Gourd Immortal’s voice dripped with temptation. "Don’t you want to try it? Money, power, women—I can give you anything. All you have to do is let me draw a little blood now and then."
"Night Emperor, don’t listen to him!"
Zhou Jun’s weak voice strained to speak. "Once you’re his thrall, you’ll never escape. He’s literally sucking the life out of you."
"Shut your mouth!"
The Gourd Immortal’s crimson eyes locked onto Zhou Jun as a vine-like tendril lashed out, striking his body.
Crack!
The tendril split in two, blue blood spraying everywhere.
An Yi intercepted the attack with the demonic sword Dragon Fang.
The severed tendril oozed blue blood, but within moments, the grotesque flesh writhed and regenerated.
An Yi’s expression darkened.
This three-meter-tall monstrosity—was he even human?
No human could possess such abilities!
"Foolish brat! Do you know what they call me?"
The Gourd Immortal grinned, his kind facade twisting. "They call me an Immortal. In this pitiful world, I am the god of their myths! For three hundred years, no one has dared point a dagger at me!"
"A pitiful world?"
"Three hundred years?"
An Yi’s gaze turned icy. "You’re not from this world?"
"Become my thrall, and I’ll tell you everything!" The Gourd Immortal licked his lips.
He was practically salivating. Never in his wildest dreams had he expected to find someone with such potent life force in this world.
An Yi didn’t respond. Instead, he moved like the wind, leaping high and striking at the Gourd Immortal’s neck!
The Gourd Immortal blocked with ease.
Though these predictable attacks couldn’t harm him, he wasn’t foolish enough to let An Yi whittle him down.
His massive hand shot out, seizing An Yi.
An Yi’s face hardened. That overwhelming pressure again—he couldn’t dodge.
"Qi Control!"
As the hand closed in, An Yi blasted a surge of energy at the Gourd Immortal, using the recoil to flip over his towering form.
"Oh? Now this is interesting."
The Gourd Immortal watched An Yi somersault over him, unimpressed.
To him, An Yi was nothing more than a flea—utterly insignificant.
An Yi landed behind him, eyes sharp.
This was his chance!
Without hesitation, he spun, driving both daggers with all his strength into the Gourd Immortal’s nape!
Slash!
Slash!
Two full-powered strikes!
150% Sneak Attack damage triggered!
The force was devastating.
Blue blood gushed from the Gourd Immortal’s neck!
"ARGH!"
The pain twisted his benevolent face into something monstrous.
An Yi’s heart sank.
This thing—
Its weak spot wasn’t the neck!
Suddenly, dozens of tendrils lashed out, snatching An Yi mid-air.
Trapped with no room to maneuver, he could only watch as the Gourd Immortal’s appendages seized him.
His wrists, arms, legs—every limb was bound and hoisted into the air.
"What the hell is this? Disgusting!"
An Yi gritted his teeth, struggling, but the tendrils didn’t budge.
His arms screamed in agony, as if they’d snap any second.
"Brat! You’ve pissed me off!"
The Gourd Immortal’s voice was venomous, his crimson eyes burning with bloodlust.
BAM!
The tendrils whipped An Yi against the ground—then the walls—over and over!
The sickening cracks of bones echoed through the air.
Blood spilled from An Yi’s lips.
He’d underestimated this giant. Once caught, escape was nearly impossible.
"Damn it… I haven’t felt pain in over a century! And today, I let a runt like you wound me!"
The Gourd Immortal touched his bleeding neck.
This kid had been holding back. His attacks from behind were far deadlier—if he’d been human, that strike would’ve decapitated him.
An Yi was battered, his breathing ragged.
If this kept up, he’d die.
His eyes flicked to a new skill in his arsenal.
"Now then… let’s savor your life force, shall we?"
The Gourd Immortal’s eyes gleamed with greed as a spear-like tendril shot toward An Yi’s heart!
Clang!
An Yi’s dagger intercepted the strike, deflecting it at the last second.
"You broke free?!"
The Gourd Immortal stared in shock at the severed tendrils, blue blood pooling on the ground.
"Impossible! There’s no way you—"
"Want my blood? Then see if you can take it!"
An Yi grinned, his smile chilling.
His dark eyes burned crimson.
At the same time, his short black hair lengthened into flowing silver-white locks.
The air around him thickened with murderous intent.
Ding! System Alert: Host has entered [Berserk] state. All attributes increased by 200%!

] [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!"

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!

shall grant"] ["Inscribing the glory of our race upon tombstones"] ["All that is threatened, I shall protect"] How his younger sister sees her brother: A brother who only makes eye contact once a day, mostly fading into the background as he tinkers with who-knows-what in his room all day. Their life paths should have remained largely separate. Until one day. Su Qi created an equipment card for his never-met "online girlfriend." His sister fell into silent contemplation upon receiving the "white stockings." [Card can be upgraded] [Upgrade by fulfilling any of the following conditions] [Condition ①: Consume one hundred higher-tier cards] [Condition ②: Complete one 'Heart-Pounding Adventure'] What constitutes a Heart-Pounding Adventure? [Heart-Pounding Adventure (Beginner Level): Equip the card and invite 'Su Qi' to admire it.] [Heart-Pounding Adventure (Easy Level): Equip the card, invite 'Su Qi' to touch it, and analyze the equipment's texture.] [Heart-Pounding Adventure (Entry Level): Equip the card and invite 'Su Qi' to...] [Heart-Pounding Adventure (Challenge Level): Freely combine the words 'Brother' 'Out' 'Brother' 'Me' 'Please' into a complete sentence...] "Please help me analyze both teams' mistakes in this match, brother..." His sister exhaled in relief—surely... surely there couldn't be anything more difficult? [Heart-Pounding Adventure (Suicide Mission Level): Sneak a peek at the names of the galgames in 'Su Qi's' hidden E-drive folder]