"I'd rather lust after your grandma!"
Xu Mu scoffed coldly. "I can continue working with you, but we need to set three ground rules."
"Which are?"
Tantai Quan took out her phone and opened a notepad app. "Let me jot them down."
"I won't take advantage of you. First, from now on, any pills you ask me to refine, we split the results fifty-fifty."
Xu Mu walked over to the window and stood with his hands behind his back. "My master says my alchemy skills are close to the ninth tier. I'm already giving you a huge discount."
Tantai Quan nodded slightly. "I agree."
She could feel it herself; Xu Mu's alchemy skills were constantly improving. After all, she had consumed the pills herself.
She had great confidence in him.
He would definitely become a legendary ninth-tier alchemist in the future.
"Second, after you become the new Flood Dragon Queen, you cannot make a move against my people."
Xu Mu turned his head to look at her. "I'm not an unreasonable person. If someone bullies your side and you retaliate to get even, I won't say a word."
"Alright, I agree to that too."
Tantai Quan didn't even have to think about it.
"Finally, before you become the Flood Dragon Queen, you must agree to any and all of my requests."
Xu Mu leaned against the window, his arms crossed, and looked at her calmly. "Just as an example: even if I told you right now to give me all the heavenly materials and earthly treasures in Lumang Mountain, you would have to comply."
Hearing this, Tantai Quan's expression changed. "Isn't that going a bit too far? Any request, with no limit on the number of times? How would I be any different from a servant?"
"That will test your ability to weigh your options. As long as you feel that what I'm asking you to do far outweighs the value of our partnership, you can refuse. The choice is yours."
Xu Mu shrugged. "Going back to the previous example: if you feel that you've worked too hard to build up Lumang Mountain and don't want to just give it to me, then simply refuse."
"And if I refuse, what are the consequences?"
"No consequences. I just won't work with you anymore. It's that simple," Xu Mu said calmly.
His purpose in saying all this was simply an indirect way to get Tantai Quan to work for him.
To put it bluntly, it was about gaining another subordinate. He only stipulated that she must listen to him before she became the Flood Dragon Queen.
As for what happened after she became Queen, Xu Mu didn't care.
Because by then, his own strength would definitely far surpass hers.
At that point, he naturally wouldn't need her to do anything for him anyway.
"I understand. To put it bluntly, for everything you ask me to do from now on, you'll be using our partnership as a threat."
Tantai Quan looked at Xu Mu. "For example, if you wanted me to be your wife, I would have to consider which is more important: being your wife or partnering with you. If I felt the partnership was more important, I would have no choice but to agree."
"Exactly. That's what I mean. So the choice is yours. If you think my request is out of line, you are entirely free to terminate the partnership."
Xu Mu nodded.
"Alright. It sounds extreme, but thinking it over, it's not bad. All the power of choice rests with me. If your request upsets me, I can just turn around and walk away."
Tantai Quan nodded gently. "I agree."
In truth, she knew very well that this arrangement was ultimately a test of Xu Mu's character.
But Tantai Quan didn't mind. Just as Xu Mu said, she could end it at any time, so she had nothing to lose.
"Straightforward. But I hope you won't play any mind games with me. For example, if I ask you to provide a specific heavenly material and you clearly have it, but you deliberately claim you don't."
Xu Mu said expressionlessly, "If I find out, it won't be as simple as terminating our partnership. I'll have my master come over and seek justice for me."
Tantai Quan said softly, "Don't worry. At least with you, I wouldn't do that."
She could tell from Xu Mu's pills that he took every single one very seriously.
He was leagues above the alchemists she had worked with in the past.
The previous alchemists had agreed to a fifty-fifty split, and they did indeed follow through.
However, when refining the pills, the efficacy was highly inconsistent, and they always cherry-picked the most potent ones for themselves.
Xu Mu was different. He would take the initiative to let Tantai Quan choose, and there was almost no difference in the potency of his pills.
"Alright, let's leave it at that. I've brought you my two tons of spiritual stones. Bring me the three stalks of ninth-tier heavenly materials to boost my strength."
Xu Mu said, looking at her.
"I thought the first thing you'd ask me to do was sleep with you. I know you're absolutely dying for it."
As Tantai Quan spoke, she leaned forward slightly. Her voluptuous curves were on full display, almost giving the illusion they were about to burst free.
"Stop trying to seduce me. I'm a man of honor; I won't be bewitched by you!"
Xu Mu said with righteous indignation.
"I believe you. But since I'm yours now anyway, why bother paying with spiritual stones? Couldn't you just have me bring them to you directly?"
Tantai Quan asked with a smile.
Xu Mu waved his hand and said, "I'm a good-hearted person. I don't like taking advantage of others."
[Affection +5]
Holding her jade smoking pipe, Tantai Quan stood up from the sofa with a smile. This Xu Mu was indeed quite interesting.
Led by Tantai Quan, Xu Mu accompanied her deep into the ruins.
Through his perception, Xu Mu sensed an old man, who was the nominal boss of Lumang Mountain.
However, this old man was clearly under Tantai Quan's orders.
Tantai Quan brought Xu Mu to the front of a cave. Xu Mu was surprised to find a weighbridge here, the kind typically used to weigh heavy trucks.
"Put your spiritual stones on it. You don't need to step off; your hundred-plus pounds of body weight can count as a discount."
Tantai Quan took out a match and lit her jade pipe.
Xu Mu nodded. He took out several spatial rings from his person, extracted all the spiritual stones, and stacked them neatly on the scale.
He kept his eyes on the monitor to the side, only stopping when it hit exactly two tons.
"Alright, step down. What kind of heavenly materials do you need?"
A wisp of blue smoke escaped Tantai Quan's lips.
"Like we discussed: three ninth-tier stalks that boost strength. As for exactly what you give me, that's up to you."
Xu Mu walked over to her.
"Okay, I'll have someone bring them over right now."
Tantai Quan took out her phone, sent a message, and then put it away. "Xu Mu, I've bet my entire fortune on you. I hope we have a bright future ahead."
"The more you bet on me, the greater your returns will be."
Xu Mu looked at her. "If you are completely sincere with me, you will reap the benefits within half a year."
"Then I'll just wait for my good fortune to arrive."
Tantai Quan smiled.
A short while later, a middle-aged man in a suit walked over from a distance.
"Sister Quan."
He handed a dark red wooden briefcase to Tantai Quan and then retreated.
Tantai Quan opened the wooden case, revealing three stalks of heavenly materials resting inside.
Xu Mu glanced at them and smiled. "Ancient Wood Ginseng? You really went all out. This ninth-tier heavenly material is much stronger than ordinary ninth-tier ones."
"It's a treasure I acquired recently. It cost me quite a bit."
Tantai Quan closed the box and handed it to Xu Mu.
"I'll refine these heavenly materials into pills to boost my strength, and I'll give some to you when the time comes."
Xu Mu stored the wooden box into his spatial storage. "Don't worry, they'll be free of charge."
[Affection +6]
Tantai Quan flashed a smile. "Xu Mu, if I become your wife and give you a son, does that mean you'll work for me for free?"
his freshman year, Su Bai accidentally bound the "Indulgence Tycoon System." 【Sleeping in? Reward: +$1,000】 【Spent $288 at a street barbecue stall? Cashback: +$2,880】 【Dropped $14,396 on in-game skins? Special reward unlocked: A brand-new Porsche Panamera!】 Luxury cars, penthouses, corporate shares, financial empires… College life was all about living freely and doing whatever he pleased! … When the adorably naive academic genius faced family medical bills and financial struggles, Su Bai waved his hand dismissively: "Your future is on me." "Wuwu~ Big Brother is so good to me! I’ll become a scientist to repay you!" When the genius girl got bullied by a shady professor? Su Bai casually dropped a billion-dollar investment, forcing the university to grovel and beg for her return. A company’s funding chain collapsing? Su Bai smirked—cash was the one thing he’d never run out of. Years later, when people traced the rise of the AI prodigy beauty, who was the man behind her success? Not just that—Su Bai also became the tsundere campus belle’s unattainable dream, the contrast senior’s daily necessity, and the beautiful counselor’s emotional anchor…
. As long as he maintains the villain image and follows the plot to the grand finale, he can obtain generous rewards and return to the real world. So Gu Chen'an entered the role and began to act as a scumbag villain, but who would have expected that the female leads could hear his inner thoughts. Miss Su from the Su family was shocked: "I originally thought Gu Chen'an was a scumbag, but I didn't expect he turned out to be a gentleman! What? You said I have to call off the engagement? I definitely won't, I'll piss you off!" Bai Yuan Tian was dumbfounded: "Young Master Gu is usually unreasonable and a complete brat, but he actually calls me little sweetie in his heart? What, Young Master Gu even said he likes me?" As the female leads' images collapsed more and more, the plot also collapsed with it. Gu Chen'an looked at all this chaos. "Ladies, don't aggro me, if you keep this up the male lead really will stab me, I still need to survive to the grand finale!"
to panic—he has a system. As long as an investment target dies, he can claim a reward. And since he is immortal, the one thing he has plenty of is time. ... Countless years later. “Immortal Emperor of Longevity? I invested in him.” “Supreme Celestial Venerable? I invested in him.” “Undying Empress? I invested in her.” “...” “Heh. Once they’ve all died, even the Heavenly Dao will have to kneel and call me Dad.”
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.
