Within the Forbidden Zone of Monsters.
Before a black celestial pool formed by the gathering of the Power of Night.
Gu Yan stood there, his hands moving slightly as streams of dark energy flowed into it.
Inside the celestial pool, clusters of black cocoons trembled faintly, as if nurturing some terrifying life.
Shortly after, Old Gao appeared behind Gu Yan and reported, "Young Master, the industries of the three great families have all been taken over by the Gu Family."
"And the ancestors of the three families have discovered this situation. After meeting, the three of them... have vanished without a trace."
Hearing this, Gu Yan replied indifferently, "Good."
"Next, we can proceed with the next phase of the plan."
"Prepare to take over the experiments on anti-demon weaponry... to build a grander stage for the upcoming spectacle."
Old Gao nodded. "Understood, Young Master."
......
......
In a mysterious hidden chamber.
The ancestors of the three great families—Long Aotian of the Long Family, Situ Guan of the Situ Family, and Yuwen Tuo of the Yuwen Family—sat around a round table with grim expressions.
Long Aotian's face darkened. "Neither of you has any idea either?"
Situ Guan nodded and snorted coldly. "I never paid much attention to the affairs of the mortal world. If not for my servants failing to report these past few days, I would still be kept in the dark by that bastard Situ Yun."
At these words, Yuwen Tuo nodded in agreement, his eyes narrowing with murderous intent. "To think my own descendants would collude to deceive me."
"The loss of our family’s industries is insignificant—it doesn’t touch our foundations."
"But... this betrayal makes me feel utterly humiliated, as if I’ve been played for a fool."
"The Gu Family... what a bold move by Gu Yan. This must have been Leng Qingqiu’s idea."
"I just don’t understand why my descendants would sell us out to them."
At this point, Long Aotian interjected with a cold snort. "Isn’t it obvious? In the past, we still held some authority. But now that Leng Qingqiu has risen to power, she’s given our juniors a glimmer of hope."
His eyes gleamed with malice as he continued, "That’s why they’ve chosen to join Leng Qingqiu’s faction—to help her eliminate us three old monsters!"
Situ Guan frowned. "Ridiculous! What makes them think siding with Leng Qingqiu will allow them to kill us?"
"Rumors say Leng Qingqiu has broken through to a realm beyond the Grand Master level—something called the Post-Celestial Realm."
"Could that be the source of their confidence?"
Long Aotian shook his head. "The Post-Celestial Realm? More like a fabricated myth Leng Qingqiu invented to consolidate her power."
"Only fools would believe such nonsense."
"In my opinion..." His voice turned icy. "Since we’re already locked in open and covert conflict, why not... crush any hope our descendants have of escaping our control tonight?"
Situ Guan and Yuwen Tuo exchanged glances. "You mean... we kill Leng Qingqiu tonight?"
Long Aotian clenched his fist, his voice dripping with venom. "Exactly. Kill Leng Qingqiu, and all our troubles vanish."
"The alliance will be ours, the families will remain ours!"
"And when the Divine One descends upon this world... the world itself will belong to us!"
No scheme could compare to absolute power.
Kill Leng Qingqiu, reclaim the mortal industries, and use their influence to control the narrative.
That way, no one would ever know Leng Qingqiu’s death was an assassination!
The two men exchanged another glance.
All three of them had recently broken through to the Grand Master realm with the Divine One’s power.
With three Grand Masters striking together, how could Leng Qingqiu possibly stand a chance?
However.
Just as they grew more convinced of their plan’s feasibility—
[Fools.]
An arrogant voice, as if not of this world, echoed through the chamber.
The three men paled.
Abandoning their scheming, they immediately dropped to their knees, pressing their foreheads to the ground in trembling reverence.
"W-We greet the Divine One..."
The next moment—
BOOM!
A deathly aura flooded the chamber, coalescing into a swirling black mist.
In an instant, it formed a skeletal human skull devoid of flesh, hovering above them.
"The realm beyond Grand Master is indeed the Post-Celestial Realm."
"Leng Qingqiu is no opponent you fools can handle."
"Mortals’ industries are trivial. Once my descent is complete, I shall reclaim them and bestow them upon you."
"Your task now, you three imbeciles, is to find me a suitable vessel."
"As for Leng Qingqiu... Hmph. I shall deal with her personally after my descent."
The Divine One’s voice was laced with disdain, filling the three ancestors with dread.
It was hard to imagine—these patriarchs, who commanded fear and respect in the outside world, could only grovel before this entity.
"Yes, my lord!"
"We shall find you a vessel without delay!"
WHOOSH!
The aura dissipated.
The Divine One withdrew.
The three remained kneeling for a while longer before rising, their faces ashen.
They exchanged glances, each seeing the same shock in the others’ eyes.
So, there truly was a realm beyond Grand Master?!
"How did Leng Qingqiu reach the Post-Celestial Realm?"
"Just how monstrous is her talent?!"
With the Divine One’s confirmation, a wave of fear washed over them.
Leng Qingqiu was far stronger than they’d imagined—and they’d been planning to oppose her?
But it didn’t matter now.
The Divine One had made it clear: Leng Qingqiu would be dealt with after the descent.
"Long Aotian, you’ve been overseeing the anti-demon weapon project."
"When will it yield results?"
"If necessary, we can use Lin Yinyin’s body as the vessel!"
Situ Guan turned to Long Aotian.
The latter’s expression shifted subtly.
He had his own plans. Years ago, the Divine One had favored him for his unparalleled talent.
Now that Leng Qingqiu was marked for death, the only one left with greater potential was Leng Ling’er!
Truly sisters—each more terrifyingly gifted than the last.
If the Divine One took notice of Leng Ling’er’s talent and spared her after the descent...
His own status would plummet. Worse, given Leng Qingqiu’s fate, Leng Ling’er might even seek revenge.
Thus, he had to act before the Divine One’s descent—to turn Leng Ling’er into an anti-demon weapon.
If successful, he could beg the Divine One to let him possess her body.
If not, at least the Divine One’s descent into Leng Ling’er would eliminate a future threat.
Though... surely the Divine One wouldn’t settle for a mere Leng Ling’er as a vessel?
With this in mind, Long Aotian replied gravely, "We still have enough materials."
"There’s no need to resort to Lin Yinyin’s aged body unless absolutely necessary. I will expedite the creation of a more suitable vessel for our lord."
Situ Guan nodded at last. "In that case, I shall take my leave."
His expression darkened. "If I can't touch Leng Qingqiu, do I not still have power over my own clan?!"
Yuwen Tuo also snorted coldly. "Indeed. It's time these descendants learn who truly holds authority in this family!"
With that, the three figures vanished from the spot, and the mysterious chamber returned to its original silence.

] [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!"

tions: attribute allocation, analysis, proficiency, and simulation. Specializing in mechanical alchemy, from crafting sorcerous battle armor to handcrafting mechanical maidens, his mechanical legion conquers endless realms... Relying on his wits, he begins with a student-teacher romance, wins over a female director, enslaves a female assassin and a underworld queen, becoming the husband of a Grand Duchess... He enslaves the Goddess of Magic from the divine realm, developing his power simultaneously in both the Wizard World and the Realm of Gods...

. 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!"

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)