Dai Xingluo's expression grew increasingly grave as she realized Feng Yue made a compelling point.
Xu Mu was not only exceptionally powerful but also skilled in alchemy, which meant he wouldn’t just attract ordinary women.
There were bound to be women from hidden aristocratic families and sects vying for his attention.
Dai Xingluo herself came from a hidden family and had trained in a sect—she knew all too well the prestige of an alchemist.
"Is what you're saying true?"
Dai Xingluo turned to Feng Yue and asked.
"Of course."
Feng Yue couldn’t be bothered to compete for favor with these women.
She had never even considered the idea of seeking status or recognition.
"Fine! Feng Yue, if you can help me secure my position, I promise you’ll rank only below me and Ye Tong in the future."
Dai Xingluo sheathed her dagger, her expression haughty.
...
Meanwhile, Xu Mu was sorting medicinal herbs when he suddenly frowned, sensing something off about Dai Xingluo’s behavior today.
She had deliberately sought him out but left far too quickly.
Could she have gone after Feng Yue?
The thought prompted him to immediately call Feng Yue.
"What’s wrong, Young Master Xu?"
Feng Yue’s voice came through the phone.
"Did Dai Xingluo come looking for you?" Xu Mu asked urgently.
"She already did. Told me to stay away from you from now on—said she’d kill me if I ever showed up in front of you again."
Feng Yue recounted the encounter.
"She didn’t hurt you, did she?"
"No, I managed to defuse the situation."
Feng Yue briefly explained what had happened.
After listening, Xu Mu couldn’t help but shake his head. Feng Yue really knew how to spin a tale—and Dai Xingluo had actually bought it.
But upon reflection, in the original storyline, Dai Xingluo had targeted Shen Wanning precisely because Shen Wanning refused to back down.
As the heiress of the Shen family, she had been pampered all her life, accustomed to others yielding to her—when had she ever yielded to anyone?
Feng Yue was different. She was a master of survival, and submission came naturally to her.
That was why Dai Xingluo hadn’t harmed her.
"Glad you’re alright."
With that, Xu Mu hung up and returned to his alchemy.
No sooner had the call ended than his phone rang again. He glanced at the screen—it was Zhang Shuaikai.
Feng Kang’s illegitimate son.
He answered and asked, "What is it?"
"Young Master Xu, is the Feng family finished?"
Zhang Shuaikai’s voice came through.
"Forced sales, illegal demolitions, deaths caused by their actions, loan sharking, coercing women into illicit trades—after committing so many crimes, do you think they can still evade justice?"
Xu Mu’s tone was icy.
"I see. Then I’ll report them to the police," Zhang Shuaikai said calmly.
"What do you mean?" Xu Mu questioned.
"Just now, my father—no, Feng Kang called me. He said his current location might have been exposed and asked me to take them somewhere else."
Zhang Shuaikai explained.
Hearing this, Xu Mu immediately interjected, "Wait! Don’t call the police yet!"
"What are your orders, Young Master Xu?"
"Where does he want you to take them?"
"Some village outside Yang City. I don’t know the exact location."
Zhang Shuaikai replied.
"Take them there first. Once you arrive, send me the address. I’ll go myself."
Xu Mu instructed.
"Understood." Zhang Shuaikai agreed.
Xu Mu pocketed his phone and checked the furnace’s temperature.
It seemed Feng Kang was fully aware of his predicament.
Even in dire straits, he hadn’t turned to Feng Yue for help—proof that he never truly trusted her.
Zhang Shuaikai was obedient. If Xu Mu hadn’t uncovered his ties, he might have continued serving Feng Kang in secret.
That was why Feng Kang had chosen him for this task.
...
An hour later.
Xu Mu had finished refining the pills.
Since he was at it, he didn’t stop at just one—he used all the remaining materials to produce five in total.
After giving one to Dai Xingluo, he still had four left.
He planned to use them strategically, refining more in the future if possible.
Just then, Zhang Shuaikai sent the address.
Seeing it, Xu Mu prepared to take action.
...
Feng Kang and Feng Ruili were now in a rural courtyard.
Gone were their tailored suits—they now wore plain clothes, their faces weary.
Though little time had passed, it felt like an eternity of torment.
"Dad! Why are we here?"
Feng Ruili gnawed on a piece of bread—bought earlier by Zhang Shuaikai from a small grocery store.
The cheap taste and texture made it hard to swallow.
"I lived here years ago. It’s also where I met your mother."
Feng Kang sighed deeply. "But your mother’s family isn’t answering my calls. We’ll lay low here for a few days before paying them a visit in person."
Back then, he had hidden here to evade arrest after getting into trouble—his father’s doing.
Fate was ironic—he never imagined returning under these circumstances.
"Right. Given Mom’s ties, they might take us in."
Feng Ruili’s expression darkened. "The Dai family… Chen Cai… I’ll never let them get away with this!"
Feng Kang clenched his fist and slammed it onto the table. "If our funds weren’t frozen, I’d sell everything the Feng family owns just to put a hit on the Dai family!"
"Dad, stop talking. The instant noodles are ready."
Feng Ruili stared at the two cups of noodles on the table.
"Dammit! That 'Solo Dance Under the Moon' is absolute trash! Couldn’t even kill Xu Mu. If it weren’t for him ruining my reputation, things wouldn’t have come to this!"
Feng Kang cursed angrily as he peeled back the lid of his cup noodles.
"Maybe it’s because I’m just too strong. The hitman you hired was useless."
Xu Mu pushed the door open and walked in with a faint smile.
The sudden voice sent chills down their spines.
They rubbed their eyes, thinking they must be seeing things. Why was Xu Mu here?
"Xu Mu, you—"
Before Feng Kang could finish, Xu Mu appeared right in front of him in an instant.
Feng Kang stumbled backward and fell to the floor in terror.
Xu Mu picked up his phone and saw the screen open to the "Night Parade of a Hundred Demons" app.
He scrolled through the chat logs, his lips curling into a slight smirk.
"Xu Mu! I’m a wanted man now! You dare come here? Looking to die?!"
Feng Ruili clenched his fists and lunged at Xu Mu.
Xu Mu simply flicked his wrist. Feng Ruili’s body convulsed violently before he was sent flying backward, slamming into the wall.
"Guh—!"
A mouthful of blood sprayed from his lips.
Feng Kang watched in horror, his soul nearly leaving his body.
What the hell was going on?
That good-for-nothing playboy from the Xu family… was a martial artist?
No way.
He refused to believe it, but the evidence was right in front of him.
"What’s the password?"
Xu Mu turned his gaze to Feng Kang.
"If I tell you, I die. If I don’t, I still die. So why should I say anything?"
Feng Kang gritted his teeth, his face twisted in defiance.
"Tell me the password, and I’ll leave right now. If I kill you, may I die a horrible death."
Xu Mu raised his hand as if taking an oath. "If I call the cops to arrest you, may I die a horrible death too."
"You swear?"
Feng Kang stared at him intently.
"I already swore. If you still don’t believe me, then I’ll just have to kill you."
Xu Mu took slow, deliberate steps toward him.
"No! I believe you! I’ll tell you!"
Feng Kang quickly revealed his phone’s lock screen password and the login details for "Night Parade of a Hundred Demons."
Xu Mu tested the password and confirmed it worked.
"I keep my word."
With that, Xu Mu turned and walked out.
Feng Kang immediately rushed to help Feng Ruili up. "Let’s go, quick! We need to move!"
Just as Feng Ruili staggered to his feet, his eyes widened in disbelief.
Feng Kang spun around—only to see another woman stepping inside.
Chen Cai.
And behind her, a dozen masked, burly men filed into the room.

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.”

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?"

] [Lone Wolf, No Male Gaze] [Protagonist is pursued early on; extreme protagonist-stans, stay away!] The "Carnival Paradise" descends and slowly devours the real world in the form of a game. By chance, Zhu Yan awakens the talent [Roleplay], becoming one of the first beta players. He thought he could develop safely, but after clearing the first instance, he is branded by humanity as the chief culprit behind the game's spread—a traitorous villain. A villain? Who would ever... become one! He'll be the villain! From then on, Zhu Yan is not only a player but also a lackey for the Carnival Paradise. Between the straight path and the crooked path, he chooses the con. With his left hand, he dons the villain's mantle, staging scenes within instances, infuriating players who decry him as a despicable traitor, all while the game happily promotes him. With his right hand, he joins the non-human organization "Fangcun Mountain," which opposes the Carnival Paradise, transforming into a mysterious player who slaughters game bosses, earning cheers of "Long live the expert!" from fellow players. Gradually, Zhu Yan rises to become an S-rank human player in Fangcun Mountain's archives, while also being the Carnival Paradise's certified top game Boss. But when the final war erupts and both major factions place their hopes in him— Players tag his various aliases: "Experts, this offensive depends on you." The Carnival Paradise's supreme Boss throws an arm around his neck: "Bro, you're the iron, I'm the steel; you can't let me down again!"