The next day.
On a street in Jianghai.
A figure who seemed out of place with the surrounding crowd walked down the street.
She curiously observed her surroundings, occasionally stopping to marvel at things that were entirely new to her.
For example, at this moment, she was completely captivated by a pristine white wedding dress displayed in a transparent shop window.
Ning Qian seemed to recall a memory from her childhood, when her senior brother, Xiao Lin, had draped a white cloth over her head and told her he would come to marry her someday.
Unable to resist, she reached out and pressed her hand against the window, staring intently at the wedding dress.
Senior brother... where are you now?
Do you still remember our promise? As she thought about it, the corners of her lips curved into a slight smile, and her eyes took on a shy, dreamy expression.
Just then.
A familiar voice reached her ears: "Huh... I remember you... Ning Qian?"
Ning Qian snapped out of her reverie, quickly hiding her smile as she turned toward the source of the voice.
There stood Gu Yan, holding a shopping bag filled with groceries, with Old Gao trailing behind him.
The two seemed to be out shopping for food.
Gu Yan stood there, a hint of surprise in his eyes.
The young master of the Gu Family had left quite an impression on her that night.
So she nodded in response: "What a coincidence."
As she spoke, her gaze fell on the grocery bag in Gu Yan's hand, her eyes filled with curiosity.
Her expression seemed to ask—why would a young master from a prominent family need to buy groceries himself?
As if reading her thoughts, Gu Yan chuckled and said, "Are you wondering why I'm out buying groceries?"
"Haha... it's because I haven't cooked for my dear wife in a while, so I'm planning to make her a meal tonight."
"But as for you, Miss Ning..."
He glanced at the wedding dress in the window and asked with a meaningful tone, "Do you like that dress?"
"I never expected the esteemed Ning Qian from Dragon King Mountain to be curious about such things..."
"Wait a minute, I recall that the young master of Dragon King Palace, Xiao Lin, also trained on Dragon King Mountain."
"Could it be that you, Miss Ning..."
Upon hearing this, Ning Qian's eyes flickered with panic. She instinctively retorted, "Young Master Gu, don't read too much into it."
"I'm just curious about these beautiful things because it's my first time coming down the mountain."
"I don't have those kinds of feelings for my senior brother, so please don't misunderstand!"
Ning Qian spoke quickly, as if trying to dismiss Gu Yan's strange assumptions.
However, her unnatural expression betrayed her true feelings.
Hearing her response, Gu Yan's eyes flickered with a hint of something unspoken, though he outwardly sighed in relief and replied, "Phew~ That's a relief."
"I was worried you really had feelings for your senior brother."
As he spoke, the corners of his lips curled slightly, and he casually added, "After all... Brother Xiao Lin seems to be getting along quite well with Miss Shen Wan'er of the Shen Family~"
Ning Qian thought she had successfully deflected the conversation.
But Gu Yan's latter words immediately froze her expression.
Wh... what?
Miss Shen Wan'er of the Shen Family?
Who is she?
Is Senior Brother Xiao Lin... dating her?
Why? How could that be? Didn't Senior Brother promise to come marry me in the future? How could he be with another woman?
No! That's impossible! Absolutely impossible!
Seeing that his goal had been achieved, Gu Yan deliberately waved his hand and prepared to leave: "Well, in that case, I'll see you next time~"
However...
Whoosh!!
"Wait! Hold on!"
Ning Qian suddenly reached out and grabbed Gu Yan's wrist. He looked at her with a puzzled expression: "Miss Ning, what's wrong?"
Ning Qian herself didn't know why she had suddenly grabbed Gu Yan.
Perhaps it was because his words had left her utterly shocked.
But...
No, how could she not trust her senior brother?
Young Master Gu had no evidence...
She couldn't just take his words at face value. She had to find her senior brother and see for herself!
She released Gu Yan's wrist, her expression gradually calming as she apologized, "I'm sorry... it's nothing."
Ning Qian clasped her hands in a polite gesture and then quickly walked away.
Gu Yan watched her retreating figure, a glint of something unreadable in his eyes.
Perfect, now all that's left is to wait for things to unfold.
Hehehe~~~~~ I can't wait to see your reaction when the time comes~
Gu Yan couldn't help but smirk: "Let's go, Old Gao."
Shopping for groceries while setting up a trap—what could be more satisfying than that?
Next up... hmm, it's time for the Jianghai High School arc.
Gu Yan recalled the original plot.
[The Night] might be the world's nightmare, but it wasn't without its fervent followers.
Among them was an organization called [Black Flame].
They were fanatical devotees of the Night King, and their leader urged all who wished to follow the Night King to join them in bringing chaos and disaster to the world.
And so... the original plot's [Jianghai High School Demonic Cultivator Invasion Incident] was born.
At that time, the story's turning point came after Leng Ling'er's death, which caused the Night Organization to act more frequently.
[Black Flame] noticed that the Night King had finally returned after five years.
And so... these fanatics began launching demonic attacks across the world, hoping to draw the Night King's attention by carrying out large-scale atrocities.
Soon, Jianghai High School became their target.
In the original story, the demonic cultivators from Black Flame infiltrated the school and, one morning, launched an attack on Jianghai High School, intending to kill everyone in the building and ignite a wave of crime in Jianghai City.
Then, the plot followed a familiar pattern. Since Xiao Lin happened to know a beautiful teacher at Jianghai High School, he disguised himself as a security guard and snuck in.
In the process, he got caught up in the incident and met Deng Feng, the heir to the Black Tortoise Gate. The two became brothers.
Together, they thwarted the evil plans of these madmen.
From then on, Deng Feng became Xiao Lin's most reliable shield!
However, because Leng Qingqiu discovered that Deng Feng had become associated with Xiao Lin, she decided to torment both of them and make them experience the pain of losing loved ones one by one.
So, she first killed the other members of the Black Tortoise Gate.
Later, before each of the villains controlled by Leng Qingqiu were killed, their most frequent last words were...
[Someday, everyone around you will die one by one. This is the curse that the great one has placed upon you... hahahaha!!!]
And indeed, the later plot confirmed this.
Whether it was the female lead, the second female lead, the third female lead, or the second and third male leads, once they became involved with Xiao Lin, their family members, loved ones, and friends were killed one by one before their eyes, all orchestrated by Leng Qingqiu's subordinates.
Truly, Leng Qingqiu in her dark form was terrifying. No wonder the protagonists could only achieve a mutual destruction with her after exhausting all their efforts.
But in this lifetime, Leng Ling'er was still alive, so how the plot would unfold was something Gu Yan couldn't predict.
After finishing his thoughts, Gu Yan had a rough plan in mind.
Now, all that was left was to wait for the story to begin!

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.”

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.”

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…

lities. One day, Qi Yuan was buying groceries when he unfortunately came face-to-face with a monster. Just when he thought he was going to die on the spot, he suddenly heard the monster's thoughts... "This aura, he's definitely not an ordinary master!" "So terrifying, so terrifying." "A fight with my back against the wall, I can't take it anymore." Qi Yuan: Ah, no one told me that my awakened ability isn't telepathy, but rather the stronger my enemies imagine me to be, the stronger I truly become. PS: Zhou Hai in the first chapter is not the protagonist.