If Ye Tong remembered correctly, Xu Ningbing had never visited their home since she and Xu Mu got married.
"Sis, what brings you here?" Ye Tong asked with a smile.
"I need to talk to Xu Mu about something."
Xu Ningbing's tone toward Ye Tong was relatively gentle.
"You could've just called me. Why trouble yourself with a visit?" Xu Mu asked with a chuckle.
"It's not something to discuss over the phone."
Xu Ningbing parked her car by the roadside. "Why don’t you get in?"
Xu Mu gave a slight nod and glanced at Ye Tong. Before he could speak, the sound of an electric scooter’s horn echoed from a distance.
Moments later, Ye Yu pulled up in front of them. "Sis, brother-in-law, are you two waiting here just to greet me?"
"Because you’re so pretty."
Xu Mu playfully tapped Ye Yu’s head, then turned to Ye Tong. "Why don’t you and Ye Yu head home first?"
"Mm." Ye Tong nodded softly.
"Brother-in-law, planning another date with some woman… Oh? Sorry, sis, I didn’t see you there."
Ye Yu, mid-sentence, noticed Xu Ningbing standing nearby and hastily waved her hands.
They were siblings—hardly her competition.
"It’s fine."
Xu Ningbing motioned to Xu Mu. "Get in."
"Alright."
Xu Mu nodded and took the passenger seat.
Xu Ningbing didn’t drive off immediately, instead rolling up all the windows.
"What’s this about? So mysterious."
Xu Mu leaned back in the seat, hands behind his head.
Her car carried a faint, familiar fragrance.
"Remember those rare herbs you asked me to look for before?"
Xu Ningbing’s expression turned serious as she looked at Xu Mu.
"Yeah, but you’ve already become a martial artist. Why keep searching?"
Xu Mu was puzzled.
"I paid a hefty sum. They promised to search for a year, and if they found nothing, they’d refund half."
Xu Ningbing shook her head. "But that’s not the point. The point is, they told me two days ago they’d found traces of the herbs in a mysterious location—but since then, radio silence."
Xu Mu frowned. "Think they ran off with the money?"
"Impossible. I know their boss. He assured me if there’s no contact for a month, they’ll return the full amount."
Xu Ningbing speculated, "Do you think… there might actually be something valuable there?"
"What are you suggesting? You want to check it out yourself?" Xu Mu asked.
"That’s the idea. What if there’s really treasure?"
Xu Ningbing gave a slight nod.
"Wait a few more days. See if they respond. If not, we’ll make a plan."
If anyone else had said this, Xu Mu wouldn’t have believed it.
But Xu Ningbing was different—she possessed a Level 10 Destiny.
Destiny was a mysterious force. If she sensed something valuable there, it might just be true.
"Fine. I’ll wait a bit longer."
Xu Ningbing agreed, then changed the subject. "By the way, in a few days, the Feng Family is celebrating their company’s 29th anniversary. They’ve invited the Xu Family."
"Twenty-nine? Why not wait for the 30th?"
Xu Mu frowned, sensing something odd.
"Dad thought the same. But if they’re holding it now, they might be planning to unveil something."
Xu Ningbing kept her eyes on Xu Mu.
"True. Since they’ve invited us, we’ll go and see."
Xu Mu stroked his chin in thought.
……
After Xu Ningbing left, Xu Mu returned home.
Ye Yu was lounging on the couch, watching TV. She grinned when she saw him. "Brother-in-law!"
Ye Tong stepped out of the kitchen, glancing toward the door. "Isn’t sis staying for dinner?"
"No, she just dropped by to discuss some company matters."
Xu Mu sat down on the sofa.
"Oh."
Ye Tong retreated back into the kitchen.
Once dinner was ready, they gathered around the table.
Ye Yu mentioned that she’d run into Mu Qingying after school.
From Mu Qingying, she’d learned just how musically talented Xu Mu was.
"Brother-in-law, I listened to your piano compositions—they’re amazing!" Ye Yu beamed at him.
"Just the basics."
Xu Mu remained indifferent.
After Ye Tong finished washing the dishes, Xu Mu pulled her upstairs.
"Ye Yu, don’t stay up too late. You’ve got school tomorrow."
With that, he and Ye Tong disappeared into their room.
Ye Yu had finally had enough. These two were getting worse.
Before, they’d at least wait until after 8 p.m. to retreat.
Now, barely past seven, right after dinner, they were at it again.
It left Ye Yu feeling like she was guarding an empty house. Every day, she’d come home, eat, barely exchange a few words, and then they’d vanish to enjoy themselves.
She stormed up the stairs and barged into Xu Mu’s bedroom.
"What are you doing here? We’re about to sleep."
Xu Mu was already reaching to lock the door.
"Liar. I can still hear noises past midnight."
Ye Yu scoffed and flopped onto the bed.
Her face pressed against Xu Mu’s pillow, the distinct masculine scent sending her thoughts into disarray.
"Ye Yu, that’s my pillow."
Xu Mu reminded her.
"Huh? No wonder it smells weird!"
Even as she spoke, Ye Yu inhaled deeply a few more times before reluctantly pulling away.
Still, she showed no intention of leaving, lying there and scrolling through her phone.
Ye Tong wouldn’t mind a break.
She sat beside Ye Yu and asked, "What are you watching?"
"Funny videos."
Ye Yu tilted the screen toward her.
Soon, the sisters were laughing together.
Xu Mu, now relegated to a chair, dared not make a move with this third wheel in the room.
He pulled out his phone and logged into the cloud storage Meng Wanyue had provided.
Through his phone, he confirmed the surveillance camera was now operational.
However, the study room was pitch black at the moment.
He could only hope to obtain Chen Cai’s footage soon. Just as he was about to shut off the feed, the study’s lights flickered on.
Xu Mu’s eyes locked onto the screen as Feng Kang entered.
Behind him was a man in a baseball cap.
When he stepped further inside, Xu Mu recognized him—Lin Yang!
Xu Mu’s expression darkened. So Lin Yang was connected to Feng Kang.
He turned up the volume. Meng Wanyue’s camera had audio recording capabilities.
"My goal is simple—bankrupt the Xu Family and send Xu Mu to hell. That’s all I need."
Lin Yang’s voice came through clearly.
"I’d love nothing more than to see the Xu Family destroyed. We share a common enemy."
Feng Kang leaned against a bookshelf, his gaze icy. "That old fox Xu Shou is back in full force. He’ll come after us, so I’m striking first."
"Good. Whatever you need, I’ll cooperate." Lin Yang smiled.
"Perfect. Because I do need your help."
Feng Kang smirked. "This time, I’ll be inviting the Dai Family and the Nangong Family."
……
【Prologue: The Beginning of It All – Use holy water to heal the saintess tainted by demonic energy, then converse with her.】 Shen Nian stared at his older sister sipping yogurt, lost in thought. So you’re telling me my sister is the saintess, and yogurt is the holy water? 【Main Quest 1: Brave Youth, Become an Adventurer! Reward: Rookie Adventurer Title.】 【Side Quest 1: Find the Adorable Kitty! Reward: 1000 Gold Coins.】 Shen Nian: "Wait, I’m a high school senior here—did some guy who got isekai’d accidentally bind his system to me?" Hold on, completing quests gives gold rewards? Titles even boost stats? Is this for real? (A lighthearted, absurd campus comedy—not a revenge power fantasy.)
pression Bureau] Transported to a fantasy world overrun by demons and monsters, Gu Qingfeng becomes a jailer in the Demon Suppression Prison of the Great Yan Dynasty's Demon Suppression Bureau. From this point on, bizarre cases frequently occur in the Demon Suppression Prison, once known as hell on earth and infamous for its gloomy, terrifying atmosphere! Why do the demons and monsters in the prison wail miserably every night? Why has the corpse demon, capable of transforming into various beauties, donned black stockings and switched careers to become a foot massage therapist? Why has the eye demon, expert in soul-snatching and illusions, turned into a VR headset? Why is the fox spirit performing otaku dances? Are all these occurrences a twisted expression of demonic nature, or a descent into moral depravity? After peeling away layer upon layer of mystery, all clues ultimately point to a jailer named Gu Qingfeng. Gu Qingfeng: "Hehehe... My dear demons and monsters, whose card shall we flip today?"
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.”
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.
