"FUCK!!!"
A thunderous roar erupted from a room in Fengyue Pavilion.
Guo Yunwen withdrew from the game "Cultivator Descends 100 Floors," drenched in sweat.
Earlier, at the Hall of Nurtured Spirits, he had learned from a Lingxiao Sect disciple that the Artifact Refining Pavilion sold miniature illusion towers and spirit stones. After purchasing a set, he returned to his quarters for some peace and quiet.
Wiping the sweat from his brow, he struggled to steady his breathing.
The cultivation methods of the Tianxuan Sect were notoriously rigorous, with an emphasis on mental fortitude above all else. Disciples of the sect were known to possess far greater composure than those of lesser sects.
Guo Yunwen was a true disciple—one of the elite. His mental resilience was supposed to be peerless.
Yet, against all expectations, he had been broken by an illusion tower—one crafted by a mere Foundation Establishment cultivator, no less.
"Why the hell does that tree move?! Damn it!!!"
Gritting his teeth, his face twisted in frustration, Guo Yunwen seethed.
He had died over a hundred times and still couldn’t fathom the twisted mind of the game’s creator, Lu Ze.
At every turn, in the most unexpected places, the game would throw some insane trap at him, leaving him drenched in cold sweat.
That morning, watching Yang Zhengxin struggle through the challenges in the Hall of Nurtured Spirits, he had found it amusing.
He had even thought to himself, "If it were me, I wouldn’t embarrass myself like that."
Now he knew better.
Anyone who could endure this illusion tower without breaking down had to be a god.
It took a long while for Guo Yunwen’s breathing to finally settle.
Just then, his communication jade slip buzzed with a message.
It was from a senior brother back in the Tianxuan Sect.
Guo Yunwen activated the jade slip, and the senior brother’s image materialized in the air before him.
"Junior Brother Guo, how’s it going? Give my regards to Zhong Yi and the others—Wait, what the hell?! Why do you look so pale?!"
"It’s nothing, nothing… Just had a rough time with today’s trial."
Guo Yunwen waved it off.
"Hah! Junior Brother, you’re really slacking. Back in my day, I aced every challenge!"
The senior brother’s teasing only deepened Guo Yunwen’s frustration.
What kind of training did your generation even go through?
Have you seen what we’re dealing with?!
Even the elders of the Qingshan Sect are getting wrecked!
He was about to explain when a sudden thought made him grin instead.
"Senior Brother, when I return to the sect, I’ll bring you some local specialties from the Lingxiao Sect."
"Local specialties? Hah! I’ve traveled to all five great sects—what could possibly impress me?"
"Oh, trust me… you’ve never seen anything like this."
Guo Yunwen laughed.
He laughed so hard his complexion even improved.
Tomorrow, he decided, he would buy a whole stack of these "local specialties" from the Artifact Refining Pavilion.
……
……
The night passed.
At the Hall of Nurtured Spirits on Thunderpeak, Nangong Yuan emerged from the elders’ resting quarters with a grim expression.
The night had been nothing short of humiliating.
He needed fresh air—and time to reflect on why he had been foolish enough to touch "Cultivator Descends 100 Floors."
As soon as he stepped out, he spotted Zhao Wendao exiting another room.
"Elder Zhao? Your eyes…"
Nangong Yuan pointed at his own face in shock.
Dark circles hung heavily under Zhao Wendao’s eyes.
As one of the sect’s most powerful figures, second only to the sect master, Zhao Wendao’s cultivation was such that even a month without sleep shouldn’t have left a mark.
"My eyes? Ah… just a little accident."
Zhao Wendao brushed it off absentmindedly.
Last night, after much deliberation, he had succumbed to temptation and started playing "Cultivator Descends 100 Floors."
One particular level, with its sadistic combination of spike traps, had nearly made him cough up blood in rage.
Several times, his fury had overwhelmed the illusion tower’s suppression, forcing him out.
In the end, so incensed he couldn’t stand it, he had punched himself in frustration—hence the current state of his face.
Originally, he had planned to conquer the game, flaunt his high ranking in front of the other elders, and maybe rub it in Yang Zhengxin’s face.
But reality had other plans.
Just when he thought it couldn’t get worse, the game proved him wrong.
There were moments he wanted to crack open Lu Ze’s skull and see what kind of twisted mind lay inside.
How could anyone come up with something so diabolical?!
If not for Lu Ze’s unmistakable aura of righteous energy, Zhao Wendao might have suspected the boy was a demonic cultivator.
His ideas were just too cruel, too evil!
"Elder Nangong…"
Zhao Wendao sighed and patted Nangong Yuan’s shoulder.
"Yes?"
"Didn’t you say your disciple was pure-hearted and simple-minded? Then why…"
He trailed off, unable to continue.
He recalled yesterday’s argument between Nangong Yuan and Yang Zhengxin, where Nangong Yuan had insisted Lu Ze was "pure-hearted and simple-minded," claiming that designing traps would be too difficult for him.
Now, it was clear the boy hadn’t been struggling at all—he had been enjoying himself.
Nangong Yuan’s eyes widened. "What? My disciple? What disciple?"
"…"
nd fell into a coma while saving his younger sister from an out-of-control car. He became a vegetable. No one knew that his consciousness had crossed into a world of cultivation. Over the course of sixty years, he began as the lowest kind of mine slave, struggling to survive amid mountains of corpses and seas of blood. By sheer chance, he eventually obtained the complete memories of a fallen Immortal King. Alchemy, medicine, formations, feng shui, physiognomy, artifact forging… Every great inheritance of the cultivation world was now his. But when he opened his eyes again, he discovered that ten full years had passed in the modern world. To pay for his treatment, his father had sold the family’s shop and house, leaving himself covered in lasting injuries and illness. His mother had cared for him day and night, and more than half of her hair had already turned white. His younger sister, who had been only fifteen back then, was now twenty-five. To help repay the family’s debts, she had been forced to lower her head and put on a smiling face in places of glittering lights and endless revelry. Only then did Chen Xuan understand that what he had lost was not merely ten years. He had lost the life his entire family was meant to have. The good news was that he had brought back the memories of an Immortal King’s entire lifetime. The bad news was that his soul had returned alone—his cultivation had not come with him. Spiritual energy was scarce, resources were depleted, and the modern world still had firearms, surveillance, capital, and laws. If he wanted to protect his family, break free from everyone’s control, and become truly invincible beneath the heavens, he would have to start all over again.
ts me of treason?" "Correct. The host must return to the capital and gradually build up influence." "Wait—I have half a million soldiers, and you want me to go back to the capital to 'build influence'?" "Host, you are currently the Northern Garrison General, loyal to the Great Xia Dynasty." "Of course I am loyal to Great Xia! Absolutely loyal!" "But you keep referring to yourself as 'We'..." "Never mind the details! Summon all the regional commanders and military officers! We suspect treacherous officials are manipulating the court! They shall march with Us to the capital and purge the corrupt!" "......"
s the Eldest Princess, renowned for her cold and aloof detachment, became the most docile of lambs, obeying his every command without question. But when the final move was played on the chessboard, as Gu Chenghan seized everything and ascended on the verge of apotheosis, that very Princess suddenly embraced him from behind, her tone carrying a dependence never heard before: "Wait... you haven't yet... commanded me to love you forever." Gu Chenghan froze abruptly. She... hadn't been hypnotized?! ... [The Eldest Princess's Diary] [When my soul was extracted, becoming the sole spectator outside my own shell] [At first, there was overwhelming fury, until I saw] [How he used my sword to effortlessly shatter my inescapable doom] [How he wielded my authority to eradicate fatal conspiracies I had never even detected] [Like a deity, he rescued me from the deep mire I was trapped in] [If not for those annoying vixens, he and I would be a match made in heaven] [I think I am ill, gravely ill] [My deity should belong to me alone] ... "Hypnosis? Oh, it succeeded, my dear Master." "Only this time, it's my turn to hypnotize you."
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.
