The bearded middle-aged man moved with lightning speed, charging straight toward Xu Mu.
Fan Shiyu, who was standing beside Xu Mu, immediately unleashed her Gang Qi outward.
Boom!
The released Qi slammed into the bearded man with tremendous force.
The bearded man staggered back but steadied himself after just two steps.
He let out a loud laugh and said, "Was that what I drank earlier? It even has a sweet aftertaste!"
Boom!
The ground beneath his feet shattered as he lunged at Xu Mu once more.
Only then did the surrounding crowd realize the bearded man’s true intentions.
Earlier, he had dared to trade a seventh-grade Blue Sunflower—just to speed up his recovery.
Now, he intended to reclaim his treasure and snatch that half-empty bottle of mineral water as well.
Besides, what he drank earlier belonged to a beauty.
No psychological burden there.
Xu Mu quickly grabbed the half-empty bottle from the ground and bolted away.
The bearded man sneered and gave chase without hesitation.
Fan Shiyu and Dai Xingluo flanked him from both sides, attacking simultaneously.
Boom!
The bearded man expelled his Qi outward in an explosive burst.
The ground beneath him fractured violently, sending both Fan Shiyu and Dai Xingluo flying backward.
Fan Shiyu’s expression darkened—this level of power… was he at the mid-stage of Gang Qi, or even higher?
If that was the case, even if they joined forces, they wouldn’t be able to stop him from killing Xu Mu.
"Haha! Ladies, after I finish off this brat, I’ll drink again—but this time, straight from the source!" the bearded man roared with laughter.
Bang! Bang!
Two sharp cracks echoed through the air.
The bearded man was still mid-laugh when blood suddenly sprayed from his forehead and chest.
He stared at Xu Mu in disbelief. "You little bastard… you—"
Thud!
He collapsed to the ground, lifeless.
"Times have changed, old man."
Xu Mu walked back, carrying his backpack in one hand and gripping a Desert Eagle in the other.
He crouched down and rummaged through the bearded man’s bag, finding quite a few valuable items.
He stuffed them all into his own backpack.
The onlookers were stunned.
No one expected this kid to be carrying a firearm.
Many in the crowd were assassins, well-versed in handling guns—but those were for overseas missions.
Domestic security checks made it nearly impossible to carry such weapons here.
Yet, he had one.
At that moment, Dai Xiao spotted another bottle of "water" on the ground and rushed over, gulping it down without hesitation.
Right now, survival was all that mattered. He could settle the score with Xu Mu later.
He already had a plan—once they got out, he’d tie Xu Mu up and force him to drink his own piss.
That would be fair.
"You two did well."
Xu Mu opened his storage space, using his backpack to block the crowd’s view as he pulled out two fresh bottles of mineral water.
He tossed one each to Fan Shiyu and Dai Xingluo.
Their faces lit up with joy when they saw the unopened bottles.
[Affection +6]
[Affection +5]
They both drank half the bottle before their bodies finally relaxed.
"Xu Mu! You bastard! You had water all along? Why didn’t you say so earlier?" Dai Xiao nearly fainted from rage.
He had just chugged piss, and now Xu Mu was handing out fresh bottles like it was nothing.
"Dai Xiao, that’s where you’re wrong. Even if I have water, what’s it to you?" Xu Mu replied coolly. "Besides, you drank my piss for free. I didn’t even charge you."
Dai Xiao’s face twisted in fury before he turned to Dai Xingluo. "Xingluo, you still have half a bottle left, right? Let me have some."
"You’ve got some nerve! What happened to the three bottles I gave you earlier?" Dai Xingluo had no intention of sharing precious resources with him.
They were still trapped here with no way out in sight.
Survival supplies were not something she’d just hand over.
"That old bastard over there stole my water," Dai Xiao said, pointing at a bald man wearing sunglasses.
Dai Xingluo’s gaze turned icy as she strode toward the old man.
Dai Xiao smirked—he couldn’t take the old man on, but Dai Xingluo was a different story.
"Old man! Hand over my water, or I’ll kill you!" Dai Xiao shouted, stepping forward aggressively.
"Ant."
The sunglasses-wearing old man snorted and struck out with his palm.
Boom!
Dai Xiao’s body convulsed violently.
His front remained unharmed, but the back of his shirt exploded into shreds.
Blood mist sprayed from his back as if his flesh had split open.
Whoosh!
Dai Xiao was sent flying, crashing into a distant tree before going completely still.
Xu Mu’s heart pounded as he studied the old man’s palm.
In the dimming light, something was unmistakable—faint yellow radiance flickered at the center of his hand.
Divine Ability!
Dai Xingluo, who had been ready to fight, immediately halted.
She loved battle, thrived on the adrenaline of combat—but she wasn’t stupid.
As someone at the early stage of Gang Qi, challenging a Divine Ability expert was suicide.
Fan Shiyu also understood now—no wonder she had been no match earlier.
Looking around, she realized why no one dared touch the eighth-grade spiritual herb nearby.
Instead, they were all fixated on Xu Mu’s water.
Some of them must have already known about the old man’s true strength.
Fan Shiyu walked over to Dai Xiao and quickly snapped photos with her phone.
She needed video evidence to complete the mission.
Even if she wasn’t the one who killed him, Dai Xiao’s death still counted.
Xu Mu sighed inwardly—Dai Xiao had met his end in such a way.
But whether Dai Xiao lived or died made no difference to the Dai family.
As an early-game antagonist family, their influence ran far deeper.
Night had fallen, and the golden glow of the Divine Wheat grew more pronounced.
Yet, Xu Mu still hadn’t caught sight of Xu Ningbing.
A sense of unease crept into his heart.
Shaking his head, Xu Mu decided he couldn’t just wait around. He had to keep searching.
"Brother!" Dai Xingluo immediately followed him.
After witnessing the old man’s power, she wasn’t foolish enough to try reclaiming the water.
But Xu Mu seemed to have plenty—as long as she stuck with him, she’d survive.
Fan Shiyu also trailed behind Xu Mu.
Her mission was already complete. Now, the priority was finding an exit and escaping this hellhole.
"Your family member just died, and you don’t seem the least bit upset," Fan Shiyu remarked coolly to Dai Xingluo.
"I have no ties to the Dai family. People like him? Their deaths mean nothing to me," Dai Xingluo replied flatly. "Helping him was a favor. Not helping is just how things are."
Xu Mu didn’t ask for details—he already knew the story.
Dai Xingluo’s mother had originally been a servant in the Dai household.
Only after becoming pregnant with Dai Xingluo was she granted the status of a concubine.
But even then, she was still treated like a servant by Dai Xiao’s father’s two legitimate wives.
If even the mother suffered, how could Dai Xingluo have had a decent childhood?
At one point, Dai Xingluo, fed up with the abuse, ran away and disappeared for years—yet the Dai family didn’t even bother searching.
Later, when her mother fell seriously ill, the family only sent her to the hospital as a formality.
Once treatment failed, they simply gave up, leaving her to die.
About half a month later, Dai Xingluo returned to the Dai family.
Only then did the family learn that her disappearance was due to being taken away by a sect, where she had even become an outer disciple.
Dai Xingluo caused a scene in the Dai household, furiously berating her father.
The family clearly possessed rare healing treasures, yet they had refused to use them to save her mother.
She even attempted to kill her father’s two wives but was injured and stopped by her grandfather.
Once again, Dai Xingluo left the Dai family, vowing to avenge her mother.
"Brother, why do you keep letting her follow you?"
Dai Xingluo clung to Xu Mu’s arm, shaking it. "She’s only sticking around for your water."
"Aren’t you the same?"
Fan Shiyu retorted coolly.
"Xu Mu and I are a match made in heaven. What are you? I can bear his children—dare you?"
Dai Xingluo shot Fan Shiyu a disdainful glance.

close your eyes and open them again, only to find yourself transmigrated into the role of a villainous male supporting character. Readers familiar with urban wish-fulfillment novels know that it is only through the relentless antics of the villainous male supporting character that the plot between the male and female leads can progress. As the villainous male supporting character, Long Aotian not only has to bully the female lead, harass the second female lead, and flirt with the third female lead, but he also has to go all out to antagonize the male lead. In the end, when his body is discovered, he is still clutching half a moldy fried dough stick in his hand. Fully aware of the plot, Long Aotian is determined to change his fate, starting with the female lead! In the beginning, the female lead lacks confidence: "Big brother, I hope I didn't scare you?" In the middle, the female lead treads carefully: "Brother Long, please don't hit me, okay?" Later on, the female lead becomes coquettishly clingy: "Aotian, it's time to pay the 'public grain' tonight." Long Aotian's legs go weak, and he feels like crying: "I taught you to be thick-skinned, not shameless!"

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?"

ing gift was a patch of barren land, and disciples were all picked up along the way. He spent fifty years diligently building three "ramshackle little sects," thinking he could finally live a carefree life relying on his disciples. But right at the fifty-year mark, he was suddenly swept away by a spatial rift and exiled to the Chaos Desolation, the Disorderly Ruins. There was no spiritual energy there, only slaughter. Relying on the cultivation feedback from his disciples, Gu Changyuan hacked his way through a sea of blood for eleven hundred years. When the system finally fished him back out, he discovered the ramshackle little sects he'd built back then had developed a rather... unusual style. Hold on... I vanished for a thousand years, so how did my ramshackle little sects become holy lands?!

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.”