Time flowed backward, memories reversed.
Under the blue-purple night sky, the sea breeze blew and the moonlight was bright.
“So this is what the lighthouse looks like when it’s operating…”
Zhong Yi gazed at the brilliant light atop the lighthouse, cutting through the mist over the sea, muttering to himself.
In all the memories to come, this lighthouse would be abandoned, the strong-light stone at its peak never lit again.
At that moment, Gu Yun and Lin Xi were on a date on the bench beneath the lighthouse.
“So that’s why you approached me back then?”
“Yes.”
“And now?”
“Uh… it’s just a very small part of it now.”
“…”
The light in Lin Xi’s eyes dimmed again, and she remained silent for a long time.
Gu Yun quickly explained, “That was… a long, long time ago! I didn’t know anything back then… I don’t think that way anymore.”
He looked at Lin Xi, his gaze sincere.
“Zhang Peng and Wang Qiao said I should be honest with you about this too… I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have made our first meeting so trivial…”
When Gu Yun said “first,” Lin Xi suddenly lifted her head as if jolted by electricity, also looking at him.
Her gaze grew deep and unfathomable once more.
A brief silence hung in the air.
“Damn! Too late again?!”
Zhong Yi held his forehead, letting out a long sigh.
He was used to it by now—picking out clues from broken words in stories full of riddles.
Not long ago, in the memory from the tavern, Zhang Peng had asked Gu Yun, “Did you tell her about that thing?”
Clearly, “that thing” was the reason Gu Yun had first approached Lin Xi.
But they were too late. They still didn’t know what that reason was.
Zhong Yi shot a pleading look at Qin Li’en, who shook his head and said, “This is the earliest point in this memory.”
Zhong Yi had to let it go.
The brief silence ended.
Lin Xi pulled a patched little sandbag from her clothes and asked Gu Yun if he could toss it over to the lighthouse.
Long accustomed to Lin Xi’s inexplicable requests, Gu Yun took the sandbag without a second thought and hurled it with all his might toward the opposite cliff.
As expected, it didn’t make it—the little sandbag fell off the cliff into the void, gone without a trace.
What no one expected was that,
the moment Lin Xi saw the sandbag leave his hand, she rushed excitedly toward the cliff. If Gu Yun hadn’t held her back, it seemed she might have jumped.
The memory ended, and the space froze.
Before Zhong Yi could speak, the live-stream barrage erupted:
[Didn’t she ask Old Master Gu to throw it?!]
[Now it’s gone and she’s upset…]
[This Lin Xi is way too weird! It’s amazing that Old Master Gu could put up with her!]
[I really don’t get what Old Demon Lu was thinking, designing a character like that.]
[Even if she’s meant to set off the Senior Sister, this is too much, right?]
…
“I know you have a lot of questions… but that’s not our concern.”
Qin Li’en glanced at Zhong Yi, speaking first.
“What we need to do now is get to Old Master Gu’s childhood memories quickly and plant the cause for him to join the Nine Heavens Sect.”
“Alright…”
Caught off guard, Zhong Yi rubbed his nose sheepishly and began searching for memory fragments on the cliff.
This time, the memory fragment was a traveling pouch Lin Xi used.
As they left, Zhong Yi looked back at the couple and noticed for the first time that Lin Xi had waist-long hair.
In the years to come, Lin Xi would always wear her hair short, just above her shoulders.
“Long hair looked nice, didn’t it? Why did she cut it…”
Zhong Yi shook his head and didn’t dwell on the question.
After all, in the whole recollection, there were plenty more baffling mysteries than Lin Xi cutting her hair short.
…
…
Time reversed again.
“This place is novel… a library stitched together with a tea house? Huh, it’s actually quite practical!”
Zhong Yi looked around.
Gu Yun was chatting idly with Zhang Peng and Wang Qiao at a tea table.
Lin Xi was reading books alone in the adjacent library area.
Gu Yun was troubled by Lin Xi’s “Iceheart Bloodline.”
From the snippets of conversation, it was clear that Lin Xi’s quietness and strange behavior were caused by this “Iceheart Bloodline.”
Coincidentally, Zhang Peng’s wife, Wang Qiao, was also a rare possessor of the same bloodline.
Gu Yun was asking Wang Qiao many questions about the “Iceheart Bloodline.”
“Oh… so that’s why Wang Qiao spoke up for Lin Xi earlier and got along so well with her—they’re in the same boat?”
Another puzzle solved, Zhong Yi exclaimed in sudden understanding.
Every step back into memory untangled another knot.
At this moment, Zhong Yi eagerly looked forward to returning to where Gu Yun and Lin Xi had first met.
He felt that, once there, all the doubts would be resolved.
Just then, Gu Yun got up and walked over to Lin Xi, who was absorbed in a book.
“What are you reading?”
“Journey to the West… I loved this story when I was little.”
“You still love it now, right?”
“Of course…”
Lin Xi put the book back on the shelf, turned around, and her eyes grew a shade deeper.
“…But for a different reason.”
Perhaps remembering that Wang Qiao had just advised him to open up more to Lin Xi,
Gu Yun thought for a moment and said with a smile:
“When I was little, my favorite story was Battle Through the Heavens.”
“I know. Your mother gave you a copy of Battle Through the Heavens as a wedding gift on our wedding day.”
Lin Xi’s gaze flickered as she looked at Gu Yun.
“Yeah…” Gu Yun touched his head, sighing. “What a strange gift. How much must I have loved reading that book as a kid? Haha…”
“Then you…” Lin Xi hesitated. “Why did you stop reading it later? That copy of Battle Through the Heavens was in the storage room. When I saw it, it was covered in dust.”
“Maybe because…” Gu Yun frowned. “I grew up. I outgrew reading those kinds of stories.”
“Really?”
“Really.”
“…”
Lin Xi said nothing more. She picked up Journey to the West and walked to the counter to pay.
Gu Yun followed, considerately settling the bill for the book.
Just then, Lin Xi looked at him quietly and suddenly asked:
“Thirty years east of the river, thirty years west of the river… what’s the next line?”
Gu Yun was startled: “Huh? What is it?”
“Nothing.”
As if she had learned something, Lin Xi lowered her head, hiding all her thoughts deep in her eyes.
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!
ng to die together with you." Lin Xuan is dead, his body thrown into the river by his scumbag lover and her accomplice. She, the president of the Su Group, is decisive, ruthless, and ice-cold. For three days and three nights, she had his body fished out of the river, and without hesitation, she kissed the bloated corpse of Lin Xuan. She laid down beside him in a cold coffin, their fingers intertwined, a smile lingering on her lips as she closed her eyes. The noble and cold-hearted woman, only bending for one man—Lin Xuan. Lin Xuan, with his golden finger, is reborn and returns to the day of his wedding to the treacherous woman. Su Qiang comes to steal the bride. Lin Xuan's eyes light up, eager to pledge his loyalty on the spot, but instead, her kiss transfers a glass of drugged wine into his mouth, causing him to pass out... 【Male Protagonist with Single Female Lead】【Yandere Tycoon】【Action-Packed】【True vs. Fake Heir】
e bizarre and supernatural had descended. The previous emperor was a thoroughgoing tyrant; no longer satisfied with human women, he had set his sights on a stunningly beautiful supernatural entity. He met his end in his bedchamber, drained of all his vital essence. As the legitimate eldest son and crown prince, Wang Hao was thus hastily enthroned, becoming the young emperor of the Great Zhou Dynasty. No sooner had he awakened the "Imperial Sign-In Intelligence System" than he was assassinated by a Son of Destiny—a classic villain's opening. The Great Zhou, ravaged by the former emperor's excesses, was in national decline. The great families within its borders harbored their own treacherous schemes, martial sects began to defy the imperial court's decrees, and border armies, their pay and provisions in arrears, grumbled incessantly against the central government. Fortunately, the central capital was still held secure by the half-million Imperial Guards and fifty thousand Imperial Forest Army who obeyed the court's orders, along with the royal family's hidden reserves of power, barely managing to suppress the realm. As the Great Zhou's finances worsened and supernatural activities grew ever more frequent, the court sat atop a volcano. Ambitious plotters everywhere dreamed of overthrowing the dynasty, and even some reclusive ancient powers emerged, attempting to sway the tides of the world. At the first grand court assembly, the civil and military officials nearly came to blows, fighting tooth and nail over the allocation of fifty million taels of silver from the summer tax revenues. The spectacle opened Wang Hao's eyes—the Great Zhou's bureaucracy was not only corrupt but also martially proficient, a cabinet of all-rounders. Some officials even had the audacity to suggest the emperor release funds from the imperial privy purse to address the emergency. Wang Hao suddenly felt weary. Let it all burn.
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."
