"Decent willpower, but your strength is lacking."
Hu Yirong offered her assessment.
Still, for her age, it was passable. Though Hu Yirong looked young, her true age was far older.
"It is lacking," Li Siyi admitted, knowing her own shortcomings, but she wasn’t ready to give up yet.
"I see the hunger for power in your eyes. How about it? Come with me to the Heavenly Demon Sect. I’ll make you stronger."
Suddenly, Hu Yirong found herself intrigued by Li Siyi. The girl’s potential was undeniable.
"Go on," Li Siyi said.
"Ever heard of the Dual Cultivation Art? You grow stronger through intimacy—pleasure and power entwined. As a member of the Heavenly Demon Sect, I practice it. The beneficiary would be you alone—draining men of their cultivation to fuel your own, with immense gains. Interested?"
Li Siyi fell silent.
"Oh? So you are tempted by power. Come, I’ll teach you." Hu Yirong’s voice dripped with enchantment, laced with a subtle spell to sway the will.
"Listen to me, and within a year, you’ll reach the Nascent Soul stage."
Hu Yirong pressed further.
Li Siyi finally spoke. "If there’s a technique to take from men… is there one to give to them?"
"Of course there is. But what are you implying?"
Battered and bruised, Li Siyi forced herself to stand, raising her sword again in defiance.
"If I ever fall so far—forsaking everything for power—I’d sooner give my cultivation away and throw myself off a cliff."
Her gaze never wavered. Not even a flicker of temptation remained.
She might steal opportunities using her diary, but Li Siyi didn’t consider that true wickedness. To commit evil for strength? That was unforgivable.
And unnoticed by anyone, a faint glimmer flickered within the rust of the iron sword in her hand.
Hu Yirong stiffened.
This answer? This was her answer?
"Hahaha! Fascinating. I’ve never heard such a reply before."
"What’s so funny?"
"Because I don’t believe you’ll hold to it."
"That’s none of your concern."
"Fine, fine. Let’s see what choices you make. No one refuses power forever. When the day comes that you fall, I’ll be there to celebrate you."
Hu Yirong tossed two jade slips to Li Siyi.
[Dual Cultivation Art]—Absorb the cultivation of men or women to empower yourself.
[Sacrificial Robe Art]—Transfer your own cultivation to another.
People change. And watching that transformation? Now that would be entertaining.
Li Siyi crushed the [Dual Cultivation Art] slip without hesitation, keeping only the [Sacrificial Robe Art].
Hu Yirong merely smirked. "I’ll remember your defiance now. But that hunger in your eyes? I know regret will find you. When it does, seek me out."
"Never."
Just then, Su Luo and the others sensed the disturbance and rushed toward them.
Hu Yirong moved to kill the rest—sparing only Li Siyi—before making her escape.
But Li Siyi wouldn’t allow it. She raised her sword to block.
In her current state, though, stopping Hu Yirong was impossible.
Enter Su Luo.
His arrival froze Hu Yirong mid-action. She hadn’t expected to see him here. "Su Luo? What are you doing here?"
Li Siyi was equally stunned. She’d been about to use her master’s life-saving treasure against Hu Yirong. "Su Luo! Why are you here?"
"We’ll talk later. First, we handle this."
Hu Yirong chuckled. "Right, right. I’ll deal with the others. Your little lover is all yours."
A test—probing for reactions, hoping to uncover the nature of Su Luo and Li Siyi’s relationship.
Su Luo frowned at the term "little lover," but priorities came first. "What I meant was—handling you."
He drew his sword and advanced.
Hu Yirong paled. "Su Luo, don’t joke. We’re both of the Heavenly Demon Sect."
"I know. And I’m not joking."
With every step he took, terror coiled tighter around her.
Watching him from afar before, she hadn’t grasped his true strength. Now? The disparity was crushing.
I’ll die.
Desperate, she lashed out with illusion magic.
Useless. Such petty tricks couldn’t touch him.
Her eyes darted to Jiang Ningshu—the one who’d arrived with Su Luo. If she could take her hostage, there might still be a chance.
Hu Yirong unleashed a ranged spell, then lunged.
Jiang Ningshu met her with a single glance.
An overwhelming pressure crashed down.
This… will also kill me.
Regret flooded Hu Yirong. She should’ve fled sooner.
But there was no undoing it now.
Su Luo’s blade flashed.
And she was gone.
It was over.
"Good thing you showed up, Su Luo."
"This isn’t the place to talk."
Su Luo dispelled the illusions on the others, ensuring they’d sleep safely within a protective formation.
After briefly tending to Li Siyi’s wounds, he led her away to a quieter spot.
Relief and joy lit Li Siyi’s face—especially at seeing Su Luo.
"Su Luo, how did you get here? Are we just that in sync?"
"Passing by coincidence. But I’m glad you’re alright. By the way, why did Hu Yirong call you my ‘little lover’?"
"Pfft. She’s just foul-mouthed."
Li Siyi’s cheeks warmed. She couldn’t very well admit that under the illusion’s influence, she’d been screaming his name and confessing her feelings.
Too embarrassing.
And with others present, no less.
…Others?
The figure in the oversized black robe—gender unclear, but knowing Su Luo? Ninety percent chance it was a woman.
(If Su Luo knew she thought that, he’d be furious. Why not one hundred?!)
"Are you… Xiao Yu?" Li Siyi ventured.
Jiang Ningshu shook her head.
Li Siyi turned back to Su Luo, sweetness laced with lethal intent. "Dearest Heavenly Demon, would you care to introduce her?"
"Just a friend. Introduce yourself," Su Luo deflected, leaving it to Jiang Ningshu.
Her current identity was… complicated. Best to let the Demon Monarch decide her own cover.
"I’m Shu."
That was it?
"And your relationship with Su Luo?" Li Siyi pressed.
"Traveling companions."
Jiang Ningshu had questions of her own for Su Luo, but now wasn’t the time. Those could wait.
Seeing Jiang Ningshu’s reticence, Li Siyi backed off. Pushing further would seem like picking a fight.
Fine. Probably nothing major anyway. I’m overthinking it.
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】
s the Eldest Princess, renowned for her cold and aloof detachment, became the most docile of lambs, obeying his every command without question. But when the final move was played on the chessboard, as Gu Chenghan seized everything and ascended on the verge of apotheosis, that very Princess suddenly embraced him from behind, her tone carrying a dependence never heard before: "Wait... you haven't yet... commanded me to love you forever." Gu Chenghan froze abruptly. She... hadn't been hypnotized?! ... [The Eldest Princess's Diary] [When my soul was extracted, becoming the sole spectator outside my own shell] [At first, there was overwhelming fury, until I saw] [How he used my sword to effortlessly shatter my inescapable doom] [How he wielded my authority to eradicate fatal conspiracies I had never even detected] [Like a deity, he rescued me from the deep mire I was trapped in] [If not for those annoying vixens, he and I would be a match made in heaven] [I think I am ill, gravely ill] [My deity should belong to me alone] ... "Hypnosis? Oh, it succeeded, my dear Master." "Only this time, it's my turn to hypnotize you."
e vast world of cultivation, where he becomes the master of the Heavenly Ruins Sacred Hall, a dying old man with barely a tenth of his former cultivation remaining. He is immediately confronted with a deadly crisis: his subordinates have rebelled, and his protectors are forcing him to abdicate. At the critical moment, the system descends from the heavens: [Ding! The host has been detected facing a life-or-death crisis. The system is now officially activated!] [As a gift, you have received the Supreme Beginner’s Pack and awakened the ultimate cheat: ten thousand years of pure cultivation essence every second!] Yin Tianjue: “Wait… ten thousand years of cultivation every second? That’s six hundred thousand years a minute, and in one day… I can’t even calculate it. Either way, I’m already invincible!” You’re a peerless prodigy rarely seen in ten thousand years? Sorry, I gain ten thousand years of cultivation every second. You’re an undying ancestor who has guarded a sacred land for countless ages? Sorry, I gain ten thousand years of cultivation every second. You’re the strongest chosen one, blessed with heaven-defying destiny? Sorry, I gain ten thousand years of cultivation every second. From this day forth, I have only one thing to say: “I gain ten thousand years of cultivation every second. Now, how exactly are you supposed to deal with that?”
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.
