Earlier, Xu Mu had heard Zhong Qianqian talk about the hidden Zhong family of Yanjing.
Zhong Qianqian’s mother and Zhong Ci’s mother were both concubines.
Zhong Ci’s mother had entered the family first and had always been targeted by the principal wife.
However, this concubine had given birth to Zhong Ci, who possessed extraordinary talent and later became a disciple of the Artifact Sect.
The Artifact Sect was one of the five great sects, so the principal wife naturally understood the importance of the matter and did not dare to bully her openly.
But later, Zhong Ci saved Xiao Gui after he was poisoned by Spring Night Grass and became pregnant with his child. She temporarily left the sect and returned home.
To the Zhong family, this was a disgrace. With Zhong Ci’s talent and beauty, along with her status as a disciple of one of the five great sects, she could clearly have married one of the sect’s heavenly geniuses. Instead, she had become pregnant with an illegitimate child.
From then on, Zhong Ci and her mother were subjected to all kinds of humiliation. After Xiao Qiao was born, she too became a target.
That continued until Xiao Gui finally returned.
He slaughtered the principal wife’s entire faction, frightening the head of the Zhong family into silence and forcing him to make Zhong Ci’s mother the principal wife.
As for Xiao Qiao, Xiao Gui often kept the child by his side.
It could be said that, in the worldview of protagonist Xiao Gui, his return was all about becoming a father and taking care of Xiao Qiao, his daughter.
That also represented Zhong Ci’s status as the principal wife, so it made sense that she possessed a Destiny Level of ten.
Xu Mu then looked toward the woman in her forties. She had shoulder-length short hair, willow-shaped brows, and a few fine wrinkles at the corners of her eyes, but she still retained traces of the beauty she had possessed in her youth.
Name: Zhang Hongxia
Role: wife of the head of the Zhong family
Favorability: 0
Destiny Level: 2 (maximum level: 10)
Xu Mu nodded inwardly. If nothing unexpected happened, that woman was indeed Zhong Ci’s mother. There was still some resemblance between their brows and eyes.
He used the Eye of God to inspect the man on the other side and discovered that he came from a sect called the Bone-Shattering Sect.
The man had captured Zhong Ci’s mother in an attempt to threaten Zhong Ci. If nothing unexpected happened, they were probably seeking revenge against Xiao Gui.
“Hahaha! I thought Xiao Gui’s background was supposed to be impressive. Who would have thought he was nothing but trash?”
The mixed-race middle-aged man wantonly looked Zhong Ci up and down.
“But I have to admit, Xiao Gui’s wife is quite alluring. She’s clearly had a child, yet she still looks so young.”
“What are you planning to do? Come at me! Let my mother go!”
Zhong Ci covered the wound on her lower abdomen and used her long sword to support herself as she struggled to stand.
“Heh heh! I see your mother still has plenty of charm left, too!”
The black-robed man holding Zhang Hongxia leered lasciviously.
“Do you know how powerful my daughter’s husband is? You’d better release me right now, or he’ll kill every one of you!”
Although both of Zhang Hongxia’s legs were trembling, she still spoke fiercely.
She was afraid of Xiao Gui as well, especially since he had once killed the principal wife and three concubines right in front of her.
As the daughter of an ordinary merchant from Yanjing, when had she ever witnessed such a scene?
That was why she always felt terrified whenever she saw Xiao Gui.
Still, fear was one thing. Xiao Gui had indeed helped her secure her position within the Zhong family.
Her husband, the dignified head of the hidden family, now consulted her about everything he did.
“You still don’t know why we’re here? Then let me tell you! Xiao Gui provoked us, so we came looking for you!”
The mixed-race middle-aged man grabbed Zhang Hongxia by the front of her clothes and ripped them apart, exposing her upper body.
Then he took a flat metal flask from his person and tossed it toward Zhong Ci.
“I’ll say this only once. Drink the wine inside, and I’ll let your mother go. Otherwise, we’ll give you another little brother or sister right in front of you.”
“Hahaha!”
The black-robed men behind him burst into laughter as well.
Zhong Ci lowered her head and looked at the flask on the ground, her mind racing.
But no matter what, the woman before her was her mother.
Back when she had become pregnant by accident and everyone had turned against her, if her mother had not protected her, she might have taken her own life.
She gritted her teeth, bent down, and reached for the flask on the ground.
“Oh, what’s this? How did people from another race end up on our Dragon Nation’s territory?”
Xu Mu’s voice came from Zhong Ci’s side, drawing the attention of everyone present.
Zhong Ci’s pupils flickered.
“You’re… Xu Mu?”
As a disciple of the Artifact Sect, she naturally recognized the man standing before her.
This was the very man who had made a name for himself with a single battle at the Martial Arts Championship.
Because of her pregnancy, she had been unable to cultivate or carry out missions, and the sect had advised her to leave.
After giving birth to Xiao Qiao at home, she had rented a place by herself to raise the child and had never found the time to cultivate.
It was only a little over half a year ago that Xiao Gui returned. By then, several years had already passed.
After Xiao Gui dealt with the matters surrounding her and said he would help take care of the child, she returned to the Artifact Sect.
However, after going several years without cultivating, she had fallen far behind the many disciples who had once ranked below her.
It happened to be the period when the contestants for the Martial Arts Championship were being selected, so she did not participate.
However, she had watched the entire recording of the battles from beginning to end. Naturally, she knew exactly who Xu Mu was.
Moreover, with the pills Xiao Gui had sent her, her strength had advanced by leaps and bounds. In such a short time, she had already successfully broken through to the early Transcendent Stage.
Among the younger disciples of the Artifact Sect, she was already renowned. As long as she had not exceeded the age limit by then, she would certainly be one of the contenders for the title at the next Martial Arts Tournament.
The Xu Mu before her could also be considered a potential opponent.
“Have you heard my story?”
Xu Mu smiled as he approached Zhong Ci.
Given the situation, it was obvious that this scene was being set up for Xiao Gui.
Perhaps Xiao Gui would return at any moment and play the hero, making Zhong Ci even more loyal to him.
Or perhaps Zhong Ci would drink the poisoned wine, prompting Xiao Gui to learn of it and set off to find an antidote—only to encounter some other opportunity along the way.
However, since Xu Mu had witnessed it, he naturally had to settle the matter and interrupt the storyline Xiao Gui was about to act out.
“Of course. I’m a disciple of the Artifact Sect. My name is Zhong Ci.”
“So you’re a disciple of the Artifact Sect.”
Xu Mu glanced at the bloodstained area around her lower abdomen and casually took out a healing pill. “Then we’re on the same side.”
“I’ve already taken medicine.”
Zhong Ci raised her hand, declining Xu Mu’s offer.
“But the wound doesn’t seem to have stopped bleeding. Take this—mine is of a higher grade.”
Xu Mu smiled.
Zhong Ci hesitated for a moment before accepting the pill and swallowing it.
In the blink of an eye, a surge of energy filled her body before flowing toward the wound in her lower abdomen.
The occasional stabbing pain gradually faded. In just a few seconds, the wound had stopped bleeding completely.
She couldn’t help widening her eyes. It was obvious that the pill was of an extremely high grade. She had never expected Xu Mu to give something so precious to a complete stranger.
[Affection +2]
Xu Mu picked up the wine bottle, opened it, and took a sniff. Sure enough, it was just as he had guessed.
This was probably wine from the Eternal Life Research Institute. It seemed that the people before him had some connection to Wang Hun.
In other words, Xiao Gui had most likely provoked the Eternal Life Research Institute.
“You little punk! Who the hell do you think you are? If you don’t want to die, get lost!”
The mixed-blood man shouted from the other side. “Zhong Ci, do you still want your mother to live?”
“What exactly is going on?”
Xu Mu glanced at Zhong Ci and asked, pretending not to know.
“They said Xiao Gui provoked them, so they came after us!”
Zhong Ci quickly explained.
“Xiao Gui? So that’s who it is?”
Xu Mu put on an enlightened expression.
s + Rent Collection Wealth】 At the start, he inherited a rundown house in the urban village from his grandfather. The house had no tenants, but the moment he was diagnosed with a terminal illness, a self-proclaimed empress from the Tianxuan Continent arrived as his first tenant. Ye Chuan soon discovered that with every new tenant moving in, not only did he receive massive daily payments, but he also obtained unique items related to their backgrounds. 【Acquired Bai Qianshuang’s related item: Tiger Strength Pill—dramatically enhances physical power!】 【Acquired Bai Qianshuang’s related item: Deer Blood Pill—significantly boosts vitality!】 …… From that day on, all sorts of bizarre tenants began appearing in the house: the empress from Tianxuan Continent, an apocalyptic sorceress from the Magic Realm, a mysterious scientific girl who fell through a spacetime rift… Every single day, he received strange, powerful items and endless money. Then one day, he suddenly realized—he had become invincible. Enough, enough! Stop giving me more!
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!
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.
uld barely embark on the path to immortality. Just as he was on the verge of death, his golden finger awakened. No matter whether it was poison, drained blood and vital energy, diminished lifespan, or any other physical debuff caused by paying a price—once midnight passed, everything would be refreshed. From then on, whenever someone asked what kind of person Chu Ran was, the answer was simple: Forbidden arts that other cultivators dared not learn? Chu Ran would learn them. Prices that even demonic cultivators dared not pay? Chu Ran would pay them. Lifespan that even righteous cultivators dared not burn? Chu Ran would burn it. All the blood essence in his body? Take it. Want both his hands and feet? He would cut them off and send them to you. You say he’s finished? He wasn’t built to sit idle. You think he’s gone mad? No—he was simply waiting for midnight. From that day onward, Chu Ran would respect neither Heaven nor Earth, bow to neither gods nor ghosts. He had only one wish: For midnight to arrive a little sooner.
