“Sir...”
Li Xing had been waiting in the snow for quite some time. When Lu Gaosheng finally arrived, he immediately sensed something unusual.
As Lu Gaosheng approached, his head was lowered in an oddly somber manner.
"Send everyone away. No disturbances." Lu Gaosheng's voice was strangely low.
Li Xing hesitated for a moment. He bowed and tentatively asked, "Sir, about the grain and fodder..."
"Proceed as originally planned."
"Uh... Yes."
"You may leave."
Li Xing straightened up, but Lu Gaosheng had already shut his door. He had no chance to say anything more.
...
Everyone, including Li Xing, left the garden.
Inside the room.
Lu Gaosheng lay in bed, his handsome features as imposing as ever.
Moreover, this time he had no headaches or heard Bai Fang's voice.
Yet...
Lying on his back, his eyes were oddly... empty!
As if nothing existed.
The man seemed dead.
Perhaps only his thoughts still lived.
I should have realized.
I should have realized!!
How could she be interested in that useless fool? Of course there was a reason.
Why didn't I think more about it?
If I had pondered more, surely I could have figured it out!
No.
No!
Even if I had realized, what then?
Even the ghost doctor couldn't cure it. It was a hopeless disease, a hopeless situation!
Why?
Why did you want to get away from me? I was the one!
I was Xiao Yu's...
Why!!
Why!!
Something must have gone wrong!
Something must have gone terribly wrong!!
Suddenly.
Lu Gaosheng leapt up from the bed, disheveled and seemingly deranged!
Yes, something must have gone wrong.
"Was it you? Song Yanshi! It must have been you!"
"You wretched official! Ruining so many lives isn't enough? You want to ruin me and Bai Fang too!"
"It must be you! It must be you!!! Don't try to fool me, hahaha..."
"But you won't be happy for long. You'll be dead soon, hahaha..."
Jumping up from the bed, Lu Gaosheng danced around the room like a child, waving his arms and legs with no rhythm, all while laughing maniacally.
Yet mid-dance, he suddenly stopped.
And began sobbing...
He curled up like a helpless child in the corner.
Crying, he said:
"But what can I do? Bai Fang is going to die..."
"Why is this happening? Bai Fang, how can you die?"
"Do you know how miserable I was in that brothel back then?"
"Those prostitutes mocked me. Those clients trampled me. But I endured! I endured it all!!"
"Yet you're telling me now you're going to die?"
How can you die?
What more can I do for you...?
Lu Gaosheng suddenly stood up again and charged out of his room, destroying the garden's vegetation like a madman.
Then he started laughing once more.
Maniacally.
“What more can I do for you?"
"Aren't I already doing it? Hahaha... Aren't I already doing it?"
"I'm not Lu Qingming anymore. I'm Lu Gaosheng now! I have power, money."
"I will avenge you no matter what!"
"Tell me your wishes. Come, tell me your wishes!"
He paced around the garden.
In the dim, sparsely snowing garden, with fragrant scent adrift, he seemed to see a woman in white clothes slowly approaching.
He watched longingly.
The woman smiled at him.
The woman said, "You still remember I like flowers."
Lu Gaosheng nodded eagerly again and again, laughing loudly, "How could I forget! Look, every flower in my garden is grown for you. Here are chrysanthemums, gardenias..."
The woman smiled. "You really are good to me."
"It's only natural. You're my wife."
"But have you forgotten who I hate the most?"
"I haven't forgotten!" Lu Gaosheng yelled.
"How could I forget! It's Song Yanshi, isn't it? Just wait a little longer! I'll bring you his severed head!!"
In the hazy garden...
The woman slowly drew near, like a ghost, like a fairy.
She gently kissed Lu Gaosheng’s handsome face.
And whispered, "No... Have you forgotten? There is another person I hate..."
Lu Gaosheng muttered in confusion, "Who?"
She pronounced each word clearly, "Lu Gao-sheng."
Yet Lu Gaosheng laughed, seemingly lost in her kiss.
He said, "That's easy. I'll kill him for you right now."
"Where are you Lu Gaosheng!?" he bellowed.
Then he frantically searched the garden but couldn’t find the man he had volunteered to kill.
That’s right.
He seemed to remember something and rushed back to his room.
In front of Lu Gaosheng’s bedroom was a full-length mirror.
Staring into it, Lu Gaosheng pointed at the man in the mirror and cackled, "Lu Gaosheng, I've found you! Trying to escape? Die!"
Without hesitation, Lu Gaosheng charged at and smashed the mirror, reaching in with both hands, as if truly trying to strangle the man inside to death.
Yet when the mirror shattered, the man also vanished.
Exhausted, Lu Gaosheng collapsed to the floor, still wearing an excited expression. He exclaimed euphorically, "See that? As long as you want, I can kill anyone! I can do anything."
"So..."
"Can you please not die?"
"I'll do anything for you. I only ask that you don't die."
"Even if it means killing myself."
Lu Gaosheng was spent.
Lying motionless on the floor.
Yet one voice refused to leave him be.
"No, Lu Gaosheng isn't dead yet. Turn around and look, Lu Gaosheng isn't dead yet!"
Lu Gaosheng turned his head. In the shards of the broken mirror lay the haggard, handsome reflection of his face.
He stared blankly at the fragments.
Then he reached out both hands and clutched his own throat.
Gripping it tightly!
Tighter!!
Until he suffocated!
Until he lost consciousness!
...
At the same time.
In the capital of Dawu Country, within Song Manor.
In the dead of a beautifully ornate night, candlelight illuminated the manor.
An elderly man in black robes paced the corridors, sword-like eyebrows betraying his sharpness. His blood-red lips appeared almost frightening.
The wrinkles on the old man's forehead indicated his currently foul mood.
And rightly so. After Wang Jue had snatched the grain and fodder for Hanwu Commandery, one incident after another, almost everything had gone against his wishes.
Even Heitian Gate and Dark Building, originally cooperative partners, had resolutely refused further collaboration because of that "Baijun Marquis."
The old man even somewhat doubted himself.
Could I, Song Yanshi, really be getting old?
"Report," said a black-clothed man who had appeared unknowingly behind Song Yanshi.
Song Yanshi was unsurprised. "Speak," he said evenly.
"Liu Hu has sent word... Failure."
"Hmph... But that was to be expected."
Song Yanshi was angry but not especially shocked.
Tang Li, Baijun Marquis and Xu Guo - if they were easy to deal with, that would be strange.
But he couldn't be called flustered either.
Even if the grain entered the Northlands, as long as it hadn't reached Hanwu Commandery, he, Song Yanshi, still had other methods.
Resolve] Gu Yang was once a true disciple of the Falling Cloud Sect, but after failing to break through to the Foundation Establishment stage, his cultivation regressed, his foundation was damaged, his lifespan was nearing its end, and he was about to be demoted to a menial servant. At his moment of despair, he awakened the [Daily Intelligence System]. By refreshing it daily, he could learn about countless hidden opportunities and secrets within the cultivation world! [Today's intelligence has been refreshed] [White Intelligence: One month ago, the Foundation Establishment spiritual item "Profound Ice Spirit Marrow" used by the host to attempt his breakthrough contained a trace of the poison "Bone-Corrobing Spirit-Dissolving Powder".] [Purple Intelligence: Tonight during the Yin hour (3-5 AM), a wisp of "Golden Crow Primordial Flame" will overflow... If this flame is devoured, it can recast the shattered cultivation foundation, fully restore cultivation, and awaken the one-in-ten-thousand—Primordial Supreme Yang Body. [Click to view coordinates]] [Golden Intelligence: Shen Qingyue, a Golden Core elder of the Falling Cloud Sect who possesses the Nine Yin Body, suffers from backlash of cold energy every full moon night, causing her strength to plummet and excruciating pain. Grand Elder Zhao Wuji has secretly bribed Shen Qingyue's personal maid, Hongxiu, and learned the rear gate array node of the protective formation "Clouds and Mist Veiling the Sun Array". Tomorrow late at night, he intends to take advantage of Shen Qingyue's flare-up of the cold poison, when she is weak and unable to resist, to use a secret technique to refine her into a cauldron and force her into a Daoist partnership. [Click to view coordinates]] The cultivation world is a jungle where the strong prey on the weak, and human hearts are as treacherous as ghosts? Sorry, but I can read the script! From then on, relying on his informational advantage, Gu Yang proceeded step by step with careful planning. Seizing opportunities, plundering fortunes. Selling intelligence. Playing rivals against each other. Step by step, he ultimately became the Immortal Emperor!
igrating to the cultivation world for two hundred years, I've managed to lie low and reach the Nascent Soul stage. Only now does my golden finger arrive? ...
grated, and just when he finally managed to get into an elite academy, he discovered that he actually had a system, and the way to earn rewards was extremely ridiculous. So for the sake of rewards, he had no choice but to start acting ridiculous as well. Su Cheng: "It's nothing but system quests after all." But later, what confused Su Cheng was that while he was already quite ridiculous, he never expected those serious characters to gradually become ridiculous too. And the way they looked at him became increasingly strange... (This synopsis doesn't do it justice, please read the full story)
ine. During your journey, you save an abandoned baby girl and become her elder brother】 【You rely on each other, becoming each other's support】 【At the end of the simulation, you shield the now-grown girl with your life, sacrificing yourself to block numerous demonic cultivators. You die, and the light in the girl's eyes fades】 …… 【Second Simulation: You are transported to a world where steam and magic coexist】 【You immerse yourself in the study of magic, obsessed with its research. One day, while out, you encounter a half-blooded demon girl wandering the streets. You take her in as your student】 【You teach the demoness what it means to be human, show her the beauty of the world, and nurture her into a miracle that surpasses even the gods】 【At the end of the simulation, you die of old age in front of the nearly immortal demoness due to your mortal lifespan】 …… One simulation after another, one encounter after another. Xu Xi suddenly felt something was off: "Wait, you said you're coming to the real world to find me?"
