The conference room was now packed with people.
Dozens of seats were occupied by martial artists from various regional departments—some exuding sharp, piercing auras from their very demeanor, while others remained as calm as still water.
Gu Yan and Old Gao sat in the section designated for the Jianghai Region, surrounded by familiar faces in their row.
Liu Jianxing, seated to Gu Yan’s right, glanced at the little girl on the stage who was dragging a small stool over and couldn’t help whispering to Gu Yan, “Whose kid is that? Some higher-up’s daughter?”
He had witnessed the same little girl throwing a tantrum earlier.
Gu Yan tilted his head slightly in response. “No, she is the higher-up.”
“...?”
Liu Jianxing froze.
Meanwhile, elsewhere—
Shangguan Miaoyin, Mei Xue, and the others joined their private communication channel.
[Murong Ci, do you sense it? That little girl… she’s strong!]
[Mmm… At least mid-level Grandmaster, if not higher…]
[Mid-level, huh… As expected of a century-old monster…]
[Why does she still look like this after all these years?]
[Oh? Mei Xue, you’re curious? Fine, I’ll tell you. Rumor has it that Lin Yinyin, the head of the Peace Faction, was an experimental subject for the Martial Arts Department when she was just a child. Her appearance is the result of those experiments.]
[E-Experiments… That’s terrifying… Will we be taken away as test subjects too…?]
[Shut up, newbie. Stop acting all pitiful. And don’t barge into our conversations, you worthless minnow.]
[Uu… S-Sorry…]
You Xingxue lowered her head, tears welling in her eyes.
S-So scary…
[Bai Lian, stop bullying the rookie.]
Shangguan Miaoyin gave Bai Lian a gentle yet firm look.
The latter scoffed.
[Fine.]
The conference room was equipped with the most advanced audio and visual systems, ensuring every sound was transmitted clearly and every image displayed in high definition.
On stage—
Lin Yinyin, her eyes still slightly red, placed a small stool behind the conference table and climbed onto it so she could reach the microphone.
She cleared her throat and addressed the crowd. “Now that everyone’s here, before we begin the meeting, please direct your attention to the projection.”
With that—
Bai Jun pressed a switch nearby, and an image of the current state of the ancient ruins materialized in the air above the conference room.
Instantly, a hellish landscape unfolded before them, eliciting a wave of hushed gasps.
The sky in the projection was dyed a deep crimson, as if the entire firmament were ablaze. Thick clouds churned like rolling fire, with lightning occasionally tearing through, leaving ghastly fissures in the blood-red expanse.
The ground was no less apocalyptic—cracked and sundered, rivers of magma spewing from the fissures, staining the earth a dark, bloody hue.
Ruins and debris littered the land, but most unsettling of all were the indistinct black shadows drifting through the air. Their forms shifted unpredictably, emitting eerie, otherworldly murmurs that clawed at the deepest recesses of one’s soul.
Amidst this nightmare stood a towering obsidian spire, its surface etched with bizarre sigils and totems that pulsed with an ominous, overwhelming power.
At the tower’s peak, a faint ring of light hovered, starkly contrasting the surrounding crimson and darkness.
The entire scene exuded an overwhelming sense of doom.
A chorus of sharp inhales filled the conference room.
Gu Yan stared, dumbfounded.
What the hell?
How did the Peach Blossom Gathering turn into this?
This…
This is way over the top—no, wait, over the limit, right?
His shoulders began to tremble as he watched, and he hastily covered his mouth.
Ah, no—
He was about to laugh out loud…
Liu Jianxing’s heart pounded, his pupils shaking.
A wasteland like this? He’d believe it if someone told him this was actual hell.
And yet—this was an ancient ruin?
Just how potent was that ancient aura supposed to be?!
“Gu—”
Liu Jianxing turned to Gu Yan, seeking comfort—
Only to freeze.
Because Gu Yan was literally covering his mouth in terror, his entire body trembling.
…Is that how it is? Even Gu Yan gets scared?
Liu Jianxing took a deep breath and forced himself to stare directly at the projection.
If that’s the case… then I can’t afford to be afraid. Last time, during the Night King incident, Gu Yan was the one who pulled us together.
This time… I won’t falter!
Shangguan Miaoyin was equally stunned.
This…
This ruin seemed to be mutating by the minute.
It had grown even more horrifying since the last update.
Even through the projection, she could almost feel the sinister energy radiating from it.
“You’ve got to be kidding me. This is an ancient ruin??”
“Yeah, just looking at it, the danger level already meets the criteria for a [Forbidden Zone]!”
“We’re supposed to explore this place?? No way, man—we’d die out there!”
“Tch. And here I thought you were martial artists. If we don’t go, who else can? This is clearly beyond what any mundane organization can handle.”
“What did you just say?”
“You heard me. Typical of the conservative faction—always cowering in the back when things get tough.”
“You—!”
As the conference room descended into chaos—
Lin Yinyin scanned the room and barked, “Silence!”
In the next instant—
BZZT!
An overwhelming pressure engulfed the entire room.
Every person’s ears rang as if thunder had exploded beside them.
Immediately, the room fell dead silent.
“Tsk tsk. So this is the power of that old monster? Shutting up a room full of Innate Realm martial artists in an instant?”
Gu Yan lowered his hands from his ears, musing silently.
Perhaps due to his training in the Pure Love Technique—
He could clearly see the countless minuscule particles of silver qi floating invisibly in the air around them.
Dense, imperceptible to the naked eye, these silver motes were all extensions of the monster on stage.
If even a single disguised demon lurked in this room, these silver particles would instantly reduce it to ashes.
Once order was restored—
Lin Yinyin nodded in satisfaction. “Good, good. No fighting—that’s how good children behave.”
She then looked at the assembly sternly. “Now, I’ll explain the specific plan.”
“……”
“……”
“……”
Several minutes passed.
The crowd blinked.
…Plan? Where was the plan?
“Um…”
Lin Yinyin’s expression stiffened before she teared up and turned to Bai Jun. “I forgot. You explain it.”
Bai Jun facepalmed. He’d known this would happen.
Since the microphone was still on, everyone heard her loud and clear.
The entire room: ？？
ive and Ruthless] Before his transmigration, Ye Xuan was playing a game called "Severing Emotions to Attain the Dao." The game's core wasn't about leveling up by fighting monsters, but about conquering various "bad women" with wicked personalities and cold, fickle natures. There was only one method to conquer them: stay unwaveringly by their side, then die at a critical moment, driving them to madness after losing the protagonist. The higher their level of regret, the higher the player's score. To dominate the server, Ye Xuan conquered all the bad women. In the early stages, he showered them with boundless tenderness, only to choose to sacrifice himself for them later, making them weep bitterly and drown in regret. Among them were: Xia Lengyue, the unfaithful immortal wife who chased after powerful men and discarded her husband like trash. Ye Qingcheng, the Demonic Venerable of the Joyous Union Sect, who appeared pure and innocent but was, in reality, promiscuous. Wu Lingxiao, the Empress of the Great Xia Dynasty, who lusted after men and loved maintaining a harem. Bai Qiangu of the Endless Demonic Sect: a bloodthirsty mass murderer. However, when the protagonist transmigrated into the game world, he made a horrifying discovery. Eight hundred years had already passed. The bad women he had conquered had now each become deities and revered ancestors. Faced with the endless stream of toxic women coming for him, Ye Xuan could only rely on his god-tier acting skills to carve a path of survival through this world of treacherous women.
grated, and just when he finally managed to get into an elite academy, he discovered that he actually had a system, and the way to earn rewards was extremely ridiculous. So for the sake of rewards, he had no choice but to start acting ridiculous as well. Su Cheng: "It's nothing but system quests after all." But later, what confused Su Cheng was that while he was already quite ridiculous, he never expected those serious characters to gradually become ridiculous too. And the way they looked at him became increasingly strange... (This synopsis doesn't do it justice, please read the full story)
ng to die together with you." Lin Xuan is dead, his body thrown into the river by his scumbag lover and her accomplice. She, the president of the Su Group, is decisive, ruthless, and ice-cold. For three days and three nights, she had his body fished out of the river, and without hesitation, she kissed the bloated corpse of Lin Xuan. She laid down beside him in a cold coffin, their fingers intertwined, a smile lingering on her lips as she closed her eyes. The noble and cold-hearted woman, only bending for one man—Lin Xuan. Lin Xuan, with his golden finger, is reborn and returns to the day of his wedding to the treacherous woman. Su Qiang comes to steal the bride. Lin Xuan's eyes light up, eager to pledge his loyalty on the spot, but instead, her kiss transfers a glass of drugged wine into his mouth, causing him to pass out... 【Male Protagonist with Single Female Lead】【Yandere Tycoon】【Action-Packed】【True vs. Fake Heir】
ut it can buy an entire year of absolutely perfect training results! Su Yu stared at his empty wallet and decisively opened up various online loan platforms. “Borrow a thousand bucks! Recharge my vitality!” Boom! His vitality broke a hundred points, shattering the limits of the human body! “Borrow ten thousand bucks! Recharge my combat skills!” Boom! A basic punching technique so common it was everywhere instantly maxed out, revealing the ultimate assassination technique of Five Elements Unity—Inner Force! When a rich kid hired assassins for a midnight ambush, aiming to break both of his legs, they instead ran headfirst into a monster—a human-shaped tyrannosaur, brimming with dragon-like vitality. With just two fingers, Su Yu snapped a steel staff reinforced with alloy. Staring at the killer’s stash of stolen cash—a staggering quarter-million dollars—he showed a corporate-sincere smile: “Thanks for the pre-exam gift pack, Mr. Zhao! I’m gonna go re-invest this!” Three days later, at the National Martial Arts College Entrance Exam, while everyone else struggled just to reach the passing line, Su Yu threw a single punch—and more than a thousand vitality points literally detonated the entire arena!
