This was no coincidence, but the result of the All-Heavens Scan performed by the system back when it still had the power.
Although the probability of supreme aptitude appearing was extremely low, the Nine Heavens Realm was vast, with billions of living beings flourishing and multiplying.
Geniuses with grade-ten talent were not completely non-existent; if not thousands, there were at least hundreds scattered across various regions.
The thirty disciples of Gu Changyuan's generation came from various backgrounds.
A portion of them were unpolished jades he had discovered in small sects and minor families.
Those factions had limited vision or lacked resources. They simply could not recognize such peerless aptitude, treating them as merely slightly above-average seedlings, or failed to cultivate them properly. Some were even marginalized due to their aloof personalities or incompatible cultivation paths.
Under various pretexts such as making trades or offering guidance, Gu Changyuan took these dust-covered pearls away.
Another portion consisted of bitter, orphaned individuals with tragic fates.
There were beggars who had lost their parents at a young age and wandered the streets; orphans carrying blood feuds after their entire families were wiped out; children driven out by villagers who viewed them as monsters due to their unique physiques...
When Gu Changyuan met them, it was often at their most desperate and miserable moments. A bowl of hot rice, a helping hand, or a simple "Are you willing to cultivate with me?" completely changed their lives.
As for those supreme prodigies born into top-tier factions and ancient families...
Back then, Gu Changyuan's cultivation was still shallow. He had neither the ability nor the need to make contact with them.
Going to those dragon pools and tiger dens to demand people?
That would practically be asking for death.
......
The city gates of Vast Ocean City were much more magnificent than those of South China City. The city walls, dozens of fathoms high, were built with hard dark-cyan rock and covered in defensive runes, exuding a heavy and imposing aura.
At the city gate, over a dozen guards in silver armor were patrolling vigilantly. Their cultivation bases ranged mostly from the peak of the Nascent Soul realm to the early Soul Formation realm, a tier far stronger than the guards of South China City.
But when they saw the massive immortal boat hovering mid-air, blotting out the sun, everyone froze in place.
They stood dumbstruck, stormy waves surging in their hearts, while also filled with inner struggle.
To stop it? Or not to stop it?
If they stopped it... this was the first time in their lives they had seen an immortal boat of such scale up close. The flying boats they usually saw were at most a fraction of its size.
It was obvious this boat belonged to no ordinary faction, and the people aboard must be unfathomable bigwigs.
If they angered the other party, let alone a few guards like them, perhaps the entire Vast Ocean City would suffer.
If they did not stop it... as city gate guards, their duty was to inspect cultivators and flying vessels entering the city. If they just let it pass and the City Lord's Estate found out, they would be in deep trouble.
Just as the guards were hesitating and breaking out in cold sweat, Gu Changyuan had already stopped the immortal boat, making it hover steadily hundreds of meters above the city gate.
His gaze swept through the jade windows of the immortal boat over the dumbstruck guards below, quickly locking onto a tall middle-aged cultivator whose armor style differed from the rest.
By the looks of it, he should be the captain of the guards.
Gu Changyuan gently waved his right hand. Without using any majestic spiritual energy, just a minuscule trace of spatial power quietly surged out, instantly crossing hundreds of meters to accurately envelop the guard captain.
The next second, the guard captain felt his vision blur, and his surroundings instantly changed.
The originally noisy city gate disappeared, replaced by a spacious, elegant room. In the center of the room sat a tall and straight figure, looking at him calmly.
The guard captain's heart skipped a beat. He instantly became alert, his right hand subconsciously pressing on the sword at his waist.
But just as he tried to channel his spiritual energy, he keenly realized that his body seemed to be confined by an invisible force; he could not mobilize even a trace of spiritual energy.
Only then did he realize that the strength of the person before him had reached a realm beyond his imagination.
For the other party to bring him here from the city gate without him noticing at all, against such power, he probably would not last even a single breath of resistance.
Gu Changyuan ignored his vigilance and asked in a flat tone:
"Which is the largest family or faction in your Vast Ocean City?"
Following his voice, the scenery outside the portholes began to change.
The view of Vast Ocean City rapidly zoomed in and unfolded, revealing every minute detail.
The City Lord's Estate, major markets, towering sect pagodas, grand family manors...
The layout and core areas of the entire city were completely taken in with just this single glance.
The guard captain was horrified. What kind of divine ability was this?
Despite his horror, he still answered with the utmost respect:
"R-replying to My Lord! The faction with the greatest power and deepest foundation in Vast Ocean City right now is undeniably the Meng Family."
As he spoke, he pointed toward the scenery outside the porthole, at a vast complex of continuous pavilions and towers in the northern part of the city.
In the center of that area stood a giant cyan pagoda a hundred fathoms tall. The tip of the pagoda was wreathed in dense spiritual light, presenting an extraordinary sight.
"The Meng Family..."
Gu Changyuan nodded slightly.
"Good, you may go back."
Before the guard captain could react, Gu Changyuan gently waved his right hand again.
There was another spell of dizziness.
The guard captain's vision blurred, and his feet were already stepping back on the solid, cold ground of the city gate tower.
Around him were the bewildered and uncertain gazes of his colleagues, while the silver immortal boat in the distance remained quietly suspended.
Just as he was in a daze, a piece of flawlessly white jade marrow exuding dense spiritual energy suddenly fell into his hands.
He looked down, and wild joy instantly filled his eyes. This was a piece of Gengjin Spiritual Marrow, containing incomparably pure spiritual energy.
For a Nascent Soul cultivator like him, it was an extremely precious cultivation resource.
At this moment, Gu Changyuan had already withdrawn his gaze and issued a command to the immortal boat's array core.
The immortal boat started up again, slowly changing direction, and flew toward the Meng Family manor in the center of Vast Ocean City.
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.
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.”
] This is a dark fantasy-themed dating simulation game. The main gameplay involves containing various monster girls and investigating the truth of a world shrouded in mist alongside your companions. However, due to his love for the dark and bizarre atmosphere, Luo Wei ended up turning a dating game into a detective mystery game. Women? Women only slow down his quickdraw! To Luo Wei, the female leads in the game are more like tools to perfectly clear levels and squeeze out rewards. For Luo Wei, flirting with every girl he meets and then discarding them is standard procedure. Worried about characters losing affection points? No need. With his maxed-out charm stat, Luo Wei is practically a "human incubus." A little psychological manipulation and those points come right back. It's a bit scummy, but the paper cutout heroines in the game won't actually come at him with real cleavers. However... Luo Wei has transmigrated. He's accidentally entered the second playthrough of this game. His past actions have caused all the girls to transform into terrifying yanderes. Due to the game's setting, most of the heroines he once contained are "troubled girls." Obsessive, twisted, mentally unstable, all aggressive yanderes... The type who will kill you if they can't have you... Luo Wei wants to cry but has no tears left. "I really just want to survive..." In short, this is a story of battling wits and engaging in a love-hate relationship with yanderes.
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?"
