Ding Mingcang was struck by the sudden bolt of lightning, blood gushing from his seven orifices as his body was sent flying backward, tumbling several times before coming to a stop.
"Who... who was that?!"
With trembling hands, Ding Mingcang wiped away the blood pouring from his mouth and nose. His eyes were filled with terror.
For some reason, that crimson lightning carried the aura of a heavenly tribulation...
‘Could it be the Heavenly Dao?... No, impossible! I mustn’t fall for this brat’s trick!’
Ding Mingcang quickly dismissed the absurd thought.
Though the lightning strike had left him severely injured and in a wretched state, it was still far from the true might of a heavenly tribulation.
His thoughts then turned to Zhao Wendao.
Zhao Wendao was the Lingxiao Sect’s foremost master of thunder techniques.
But Ding Mingcang knew him well—Zhao Wendao would never lurk in the shadows.
Besides, even if it were Zhao Wendao, so what?
With the Sect Master’s decree in hand, Zhao Wendao couldn’t touch him!
"What cowardly rat dares skulk in the shadows?! Show yourself!!!"
Suppressing his injuries, Ding Mingcang warily scanned his surroundings.
His divine sense expanded, yet he detected no trace of any suspicious movement.
Everyone present was stunned.
Zhong Yi knew his master’s thunder techniques best—that crimson lightning was definitely not Zhao Wendao’s doing.
The Lingxiao Sect Master frowned imperceptibly.
Even in his divine sense state, he felt a faint, inexplicable familiarity.
That thunder technique just now...
It was no ordinary strike!
Only Lu Ze wore a faint smirk.
He knew—the remnant spirit of the Heavenly Dao had made its move.
But based on his understanding, the remnant spirit was still sealed within the great formation, its power severely restricted.
It would need time to recover before striking again.
"Ding Mingcang, mind your words... I’ve already told you—‘it’ is the spirit of the Heavenly Dao. How dare you insult the Heavenly Dao?"
Lu Ze raised his voice once more.
"Hmph! You wretched fool, look at yourself—what status do you have to claim ties with the Heavenly Dao? A mere thunder technique tainted with tribulation karma, and you think you can pass it off as the Heavenly Dao to scare me?"
Ding Mingcang wasn’t fooled by Lu Ze’s act.
What was the Heavenly Dao? And what was Lu Ze?
Even a wisp of the Heavenly Dao’s spirit was beyond the reach of an ant like him!
"Well... those are your own words. Don’t blame me if the Heavenly Dao gets angry later."
Lu Ze shrugged, grinning as he warned.
"Ridiculous! With such pitiful power, you dare claim to be the Heavenly Dao? Let’s see who’s the real ant here!"
The more Lu Ze insisted, the more Ding Mingcang believed he was bluffing.
Gathering his energy, he prepared to strike again.
"Elder Ding, hold."
The Sect Master spoke.
Ding Mingcang froze but dared not disobey, reluctantly halting his attack.
"Sect Master, this brat is cunning! Don’t listen to his lies!"
Ding Mingcang urged hastily.
"That thunder technique just now carried a trace of the Heavenly Dao’s power... Stand down. I will investigate further!"
The Sect Master’s voice was icy.
A Core Formation disciple claimed his illusion realm could aid cultivation.
A Golden Core disciple said his illusion realm had the Heavenly Dao’s spirit as its core.
Both sounded absurd at first—but after that crimson lightning, they suddenly seemed plausible!
As a late-stage Unity Realm cultivator, the Sect Master’s sensitivity to the Heavenly Dao’s power far surpassed Ding Mingcang’s.
"S-Sect Master! We cannot let this brat continue to deceive the sect!!"
Ding Mingcang panicked, itching to kill Lu Ze on the spot.
"Elder Ding."
The Sect Master’s voice turned frigid.
"Why are you so desperate to silence him... Do you have ulterior motives?"
"N-No, I wouldn’t dare..."
Crushed by the Sect Master’s divine sense, Ding Mingcang immediately lowered his head.
"Sect Master, this old fool does have ulterior motives—he wants me dead."
Lu Ze spoke bluntly.
"Oh?"
The Sect Master raised an eyebrow, intrigued.
"Then let’s settle it this way."
"If you cannot prove that this illusion realm enhances cultivation and aids breakthroughs, then as its creator, you will bear the punishment for disrupting the sect and misleading disciples."
"But if you can prove it..."
"Then Elder Ding sought to deceive me for personal gain, nearly costing our sect a chance at ascension."
"The penalty for such a crime is the stripping of cultivation and expulsion from the sect. Agreed?"
Without hesitation, Lu Ze nodded. "I agree. But I doubt this old fool will."
"Who wouldn’t dare? You really think the Heavenly Dao protects you?"
After a moment’s hesitation, Ding Mingcang sneered and nodded as well.
He refused to believe Lu Ze had the Heavenly Dao’s favor.
Even less did he believe an illusion realm could enhance cultivation!
The issue now was—
Zhong Yi and Zhou Yue claimed the illusion realm felt like a spiritual sanctuary, immensely beneficial to cultivators.
Ding Mingcang insisted they were Lu Ze’s allies, lying to deceive the Sect Master.
As the standoff continued—
A surge of icy energy erupted from the distant Sword Inquiry Peak.
Zhong Yi and the others exchanged glances, their eyes alight with joy:
"True Disciple Li has broken through!"
Ding Mingcang scoffed. "Hmph... What does True Disciple Li’s breakthrough have to do with the illusion realm? From now on, will every disciple’s breakthrough be credited to it?"
But before his words faded—
Li Moran’s figure arrived at Blazing Glaze Peak.
The ice-faced maiden bowed slightly to the Sect Master.
"Disciple Li Moran, having comprehended the Sword Dao within the illusion realm, has achieved a breakthrough in cultivation... I seek the Sect Master’s judgment!"
......
......
When Zhong Yi learned of Lu Ze’s predicament, he sent messages to Li Moran, Zhao Wendao, and Nangong Yuan.
Thus, Li Moran withdrew from the illusion realm at once to lend her support.
Upon hearing that Li Moran had inadvertently grasped the Sword Dao while creating a sword technique module in "My World," the Sect Master frowned, pondering the validity of the claim.
If the illusion realm truly provided pure spiritual energy, gradual cultivation improvement was plausible.
But comprehending the Dao within an illusion?
That sounded absurd!
Yet, Li Moran had undeniably broken through.
The surge of energy from early to mid-Nascent Soul stage was unmistakable.
"Sect Master, please reconsider! These disciples have always been close to Lu Ze—they’re speaking for him! No one can possibly comprehend the..."
Before he could finish—
The sky darkened abruptly.
From the direction of Thunder Lord Peak, storm clouds churned.
Eight violet lightning bolts, carrying overwhelming force, descended upon the peak!
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."
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.”
m back to his original world. In the end, he realized he had overthought things. [Hey, why is Shen Manni, the female lead, acting strange? Shouldn't she be fawning over the male lead at this point?] [Zhou Qiaoqiao, are you sick? Weren't you supposed to break off your engagement today?] [Damn it! An Youyi, please do your job as an undercover agent and sell my information to the protagonist, you idiot!] ... At this moment, Xu Mo himself didn't know that these female leads had already heard his inner thoughts. Then they decided not to play by the rules. Xu Mo: Please respect my profession as the big villain!
] [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!"
