On the way to the stone pillar with the three companions, Zhong Yi turned on his live stream.
For the past few days, he had been deeply engrossed in studying the villagers. Due to his extremely cruel and twisted methods, he had kept the stream offline.
Now, the moment he reopened it, countless cultivators flocked to watch.
[Finally, Senior Brother Zhong is streaming again!]
[So, how many more villagers have you tormented this time?]
[Ever since Zhong Yi started researching redstone, he’s been acting more and more like a demonic cultivator…]
[I actually enjoy watching him experiment on the villagers—it’s a pursuit of knowledge.]
[Curiosity is good, as long as you don’t lose your humanity.]
[What’s this stone pillar? Why is it built so high?]
……
"Old Zhong, stop keeping us in suspense… How much longer do we have to climb? Can this pillar really generate experience orbs?"
Zhou Yue had been climbing the ladder for a while and was growing impatient.
"Remember the dungeon challenge from a few days ago? I told you the mobs spawn within a 128-block radius."
Zhong Yi climbed onto the final wooden rung and grinned.
"This height from the ground? Exactly 128 blocks."
"You mean… preventing mobs from spawning?"
Zhou Yue caught on quickly, immediately looking up at the sky.
They stood on a small platform now.
Above it loomed an enormous diamond-shaped structure.
"So, you’re making monsters spawn up there? But how do you plan to clear out a whole crowd of mobs?"
Zhou Yue pointed at the diamond platform in realization.
"Simple—make them fall… and get critically injured from the drop."
With that, Zhong Yi pulled a nearby lever.
The torches flickered with a red glow as a beam of crimson energy surged upward.
"Once I pull this lever, the redstone signal transmits to the top, where a dispenser in the enclosed space receives it…"
"Upon activation, the dispenser releases a water bucket. The water spreads infinitely in the space, pushing the mobs into the channel…"
"After they’re funneled in, they’ll plummet and take massive fall damage—just like this."
No sooner had Zhong Yi finished speaking than mobs began raining down into the narrow passage before him.
At the bottom, a one-block gap revealed only their feet.
"Now that they’re all weakened, I just need to make my move, and the experience is mine."
Zhong Yi drew his diamond sword and swung horizontally. A chorus of death cries echoed as waves of mobs perished.
Large experience orbs burst forth, flying straight into Zhong Yi’s body.
The live chat exploded.
[Holy crap, you can farm XP like this?!]
[This feels like studying scriptures for a century and finally achieving enlightenment…]
[Damn, he actually cracked redstone mechanics.]
[This leveling efficiency is insane.]
[Honestly, you’d probably max out just by grinding mobs in the time it took to build this.]
……
After a few cycles, Zhong Yi’s cultivation level skyrocketed, reaching the peak of Qi Refining Ninth Layer in mere moments.
"So? Told you this wasn’t some shady shortcut," Zhong Yi boasted, straightening his posture.
"If you’re so brilliant, why not help me figure out how to swap my spiritual root?" Zhou Yue suggested.
After breaking through to Foundation Establishment, his spiritual root had upgraded from fifth-grade to fourth-grade—but it remained an Earth root.
The passive effect changed from doubling dirt drops to doubling stone drops.
In short, it was utterly useless.
He just wanted a combat-oriented one.
"Spiritual roots? Heh, as it happens, I’ve already been researching that."
Zhong Yi’s lips curled into an eerie smile.
"Among villagers, there’s a chance of encountering those born with spiritual roots. If ordinary villagers breed with them, there’s a fifty percent chance their offspring will inherit a root."
"The attribute and grade are randomized… With enough time, we could cultivate a villager with a supreme-grade root."
"All we need is to figure out how to exploit the rules and extract the root from them—"
Before he could finish, Zhou Yue and the other two lunged forward in horror, clamping their hands over his mouth.
"Stop! Stop!"
"Senior Brother Zhong, we’re live! The Tianxuan Sect is watching!!"
"At this rate, the Lingxiao Sect will be labeled a demonic faction by tomorrow!!"
……
……
Lingxiao Sect, Forbidden Grounds.
Ding Mingcang, clad in black robes, arrived alone at the entrance.
"Elder Ding Mingcang of Linxian Peak seeks an audience with the Sect Master on urgent matters!"
He knelt on one knee, presenting a violet token.
The orange crystal at its center flickered several times before a distant, ethereal voice echoed from the depths:
"Elder Ding, why disturb my seclusion?"
The speaker was the current Sect Master of the Lingxiao Sect, who had been in closed-door cultivation for nearly a decade, striving to break through to the next realm.
Ding Mingcang bowed his head respectfully.
"Esteemed Sect Master…"
"Recently, a vile influence has spread within our sect—a bewitching illusion that ensnares disciples, distracting them from cultivation…"
"The Enforcement Hall sought to rectify this, but Elders Zhao Wendao of Leigong Peak and Nangong Yuan of Lihuo Peak repeatedly obstructed us, indulging in the illusion alongside the disciples. Despite my efforts, I cannot defy the will of two elders alone."
"If this continues, our sect’s prosperity will surely decline!"
"I humbly request the Sect Master’s decree, that I may purge this scourge and restore order!"

Cheng's father told him he was getting remarried—to a wealthy woman. Cao Cheng realized his time had finally come: he was about to become a second-generation rich kid. Sure, it might be a watered-down version, but hey, at least he'd have status now, right? The wealthy woman also had four daughters!! Which meant, starting today, Cao Cheng gained four stunning older sisters?? But that wasn't even the whole story... "My name is Cao Cheng—'Cheng' as in 'honest, smooth-talking gentleman'!"

. As long as he maintains the villain image and follows the plot to the grand finale, he can obtain generous rewards and return to the real world. So Gu Chen'an entered the role and began to act as a scumbag villain, but who would have expected that the female leads could hear his inner thoughts. Miss Su from the Su family was shocked: "I originally thought Gu Chen'an was a scumbag, but I didn't expect he turned out to be a gentleman! What? You said I have to call off the engagement? I definitely won't, I'll piss you off!" Bai Yuan Tian was dumbfounded: "Young Master Gu is usually unreasonable and a complete brat, but he actually calls me little sweetie in his heart? What, Young Master Gu even said he likes me?" As the female leads' images collapsed more and more, the plot also collapsed with it. Gu Chen'an looked at all this chaos. "Ladies, don't aggro me, if you keep this up the male lead really will stab me, I still need to survive to the grand finale!"

+【Epic Battles!】 "Your Highness, they say Linxi Temple is miraculous. Won’t you make a wish?" "A wish? It should be making wishes to me." "That may be so, but since you’re already here..." "..." "Fine. Then grant this princess a consort to play with." "He must be obedient, devoted, and utterly infatuated with my body—so much so that he’d kneel and kiss my feet." "Your Highness, that’s not a consort. That’s a dog." "Then add clever, witty, heroic, ambitious yet pragmatic..." "Hmm, that’s enough for now. I’ll add more later." After tossing out these words half in jest, Princess Anle departed the temple—only to catch a fleeting glimpse of the Bodhisattva statue smiling at her. Meanwhile, Yang An, fresh out of university, was having a very bad day. Good news: He’d transmigrated into another world with a cheat granting tenfold combat power. Bad news: He’d immediately fallen into the clutches of a certain villainess. Good news: Said villainess possessed peerless beauty and royal status. Bad news: She was absolutely monstrous!!! In the frozen wilderness, Yang An knelt beneath Qin Guo’er’s feet, drenched in sweat despite the cold. Desperately clutching her porcelain-perfect foot—the very one poised to crush his throat—he could only think: How do I survive this?! Need answers NOW!

d intelligence to keep the plot moving, and sometimes even the protagonists are forced into absurdly dumb decisions. Why does the A-list celebrity heroine in urban romance novels ditch the top-tier movie star and become a lovestruck fool for a pockmarked male lead? Why do the leads in historical tragedy novels keep dancing between love and death, only for the blind healer to end up suffering the most? And Gu Wei never expected that after finally landing a villain role to stir up trouble, she’d pick the wrong gender! No choice now—she’ll just have to crush the protagonists as a girl!