In the world of cultivation, things are no longer as they were in ancient times.
Back then, immortals were abundant, and prodigies took turns to shine, truly embodying the phrase "gods battling it out."
However, for reasons unknown, the cultivation world began to decline, and immortals disappeared one by one.
Nowadays, not only are immortals nowhere to be seen, but even those undergoing tribulations are rare.
Thus, the top tier of the cultivation world today is the Mahayana stage.
Only a handful of individuals have reached this level—officially, there are only ten, and while there might be others in the shadows, their numbers are certainly not large.
The second tier is the Dongxu stage.
This is the level of the leaders of top-tier sects, and they are exceedingly rare and powerful.
The third tier is the Nascent Soul stage.
This is the level of peak masters or elders in major sects, and while there are quite a few of them, they are still considered strong.
Below the Nascent Soul stage, it’s just small-scale activity, not worthy of being ranked on the strength tier list.
Nangong Xiyun, as a newly ascended Mahayana cultivator, may not be the strongest among them, but she is undoubtedly the youngest.
Without a doubt.
"Finally, I’ve broken through."
Nangong Xiyun felt the power within her, but she didn’t have any particularly strong feelings about it.
She had always been somewhat laid-back, and none of the enemies she had encountered so far had been able to push her to her limits.
She had no rivals among Dongxu cultivators, and Mahayana-level opponents were nowhere to be found.
This had made her somewhat complacent.
She hadn’t paid much attention to her cultivation level for a long time.
But breaking through still felt good, and her mood was lifted.
......
After traveling for several days, Su Luo and the others returned to the sect without incident.
They then reported Qin San’s situation to the sect’s Law Enforcement Hall.
The Law Enforcement Hall was responsible for handling internal sect matters.
Qin San was an exceptionally talented disciple of the Seven Stars Sword Sect, so this matter naturally had to be reported.
The case required thorough investigation, as the Law Enforcement Hall initially found it hard to believe that Qin San was a member of the Heavenly Demon Sect.
They couldn’t rely solely on one-sided accounts and needed to conduct a proper inquiry.
Su Luo had prepared himself to stay for a while and be questioned extensively.
However, he was quickly released.
The reason was that Nangong Xiyun had intervened. She privately explained the situation to the head of the Law Enforcement Hall, selectively recounting the events.
The head naturally trusted Nangong Xiyun, as in the eyes of the sect’s higher-ups, her status was almost on par with the sect leader’s.
It was simple—Nangong Xiyun was just that strong.
Sometimes, the higher-ups even wondered if the sect leader might not be a match for her.
Of course, this was pure speculation without any evidence.
After leaving the Law Enforcement Hall, Su Luo immediately returned to his residence.
Upon opening the door, he found the sect leader lounging on a recliner in the courtyard, gently rocking back and forth.
He looked completely at ease.
Su Luo was taken aback. Why was the sect leader here?
He closed the door, stepped back, and checked—yes, this was his residence.
When he opened the door again, he saw Little Yu instead.
She was slightly sweaty, clearly having just finished her training, but her smile was impossible to hide.
"You’re back?"
Ah, how long had it been since he’d heard such a greeting?
Su Luo was also happy. "I’m back."
With Little Yu welcoming him, Su Luo entered and returned to his home.
The sect leader, with a look of disdain, couldn’t help but feel a pang of jealousy. He didn’t get such a warm reception.
He decided to speak up to assert his presence.
"Well, look who’s back. I thought you’d forgotten your way home."
"Why are you here, Sect Leader?"
Su Luo didn’t bother answering the sect leader’s question, as it didn’t warrant a response. Instead, he asked his own.
"Do you think I want to be here? Little Yu said she likes this place, that cultivating here helps her improve. I think it’s just her imagination."
"Really? I think this place is pretty ordinary."
Su Luo’s residence was indeed quite ordinary, nothing special.
The sect leader continued to complain, "Exactly. My place has abundant spiritual energy, various cultivation support formations, and... it’s much better than here."
Any disciple of the Seven Stars Sword Sect would be tempted by such an offer.
Su Luo played along, saying something polite, "Yes, Sect Leader, your words are quite enticing."
"Hmph, but I’m not giving it to you." The sect leader felt a bit smug.
That’s more like it—the envious expression he wanted. But he had already tried this line on Little Yu a few days ago.
Yet, Little Yu remained unmoved and insisted on staying here.
Su Luo: ...
I didn’t even ask for it.
Little Yu chimed in, "I think this place is great."
Sect Leader: ...
Can we even have a proper conversation?
Su Luo didn’t want to dwell on this any longer. He fetched another recliner from the room and sat down.
He entered relaxation mode.
"So, kid, what did you gain from this trip?" the sect leader asked.
"Not much. It’s a long story."
"Oh, do tell."
"Ah, it’s quite boring. Are you sure you want to hear it?"
"Go on. From the look on your face, it seems like you had some bad luck." The sect leader was eager to hear the details.
"I want to hear it too," Little Yu said, her eyes filled with anticipation.
"Alright, alright."
Su Luo began recounting his experiences.
From his perspective, there wasn’t much to tell. He had mostly just followed the group and coasted along.
He spent most of his time cultivating in his room, so there wasn’t much to say.
But since he was in storytelling mode, a little embellishment was natural.
While Su Luo wasn’t the best at spinning tales, he knew a thing or two.
First, he added a few demonic beasts to their journey through the mist, describing how the group fought several rounds.
Then, upon entering the secret realm, they encountered more demonic beasts and fought over a dozen rounds.
When it came to battling inner demons, they fought three hundred rounds.
The entire story was told with such vivid details and logical consistency that even the sect leader couldn’t tell it was made up.
He couldn’t help but ask, "Who won between you and your inner demon?"
"Fortunately, I came out slightly ahead."
"You actually won?"
"Well, it was my inner demon, so it was as weak as I am."
Damn it, the sect leader suddenly remembered Su Luo’s cultivation level. He had been completely fooled by the dramatic tale of three hundred rounds of battle.
It was just a battle between two weaklings, so why make it sound so epic?
"You may have won, but you must have been beaten pretty badly."
Thinking this, the sect leader’s mood improved again.
Wait a minute, Su Luo also remembered something important.
Qin San—while he wasn’t significant to Su Luo, he seemed like a big deal to the sect leader.
"By the way, Qin San is dead."
Huh? The sect leader was still processing the exciting story when this shocking news dropped out of nowhere, completely unrelated to what had just been said.
"What did you say!?"
"Qin San is dead."
"How did he die?"
"You should go ask the Law Enforcement Hall. If you just take my word for it, you might not believe me."
The sect leader didn’t waste any time. In a flash, he was gone, heading straight for the Law Enforcement Hall.
Su Luo didn’t feel like elaborating further, but he still gave Little Yu the full story.
Of course, he made some adjustments to his own part.
"Little Yu, if you ever encounter someone from the Heavenly Demon Sect, don’t hold back. None of them are innocent."
"Got it."
As for why Su Luo was so certain?
It was because he would later become a member of the Heavenly Demon Sect himself.
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.
. 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!"
ing gift was a patch of barren land, and disciples were all picked up along the way. He spent fifty years diligently building three "ramshackle little sects," thinking he could finally live a carefree life relying on his disciples. But right at the fifty-year mark, he was suddenly swept away by a spatial rift and exiled to the Chaos Desolation, the Disorderly Ruins. There was no spiritual energy there, only slaughter. Relying on the cultivation feedback from his disciples, Gu Changyuan hacked his way through a sea of blood for eleven hundred years. When the system finally fished him back out, he discovered the ramshackle little sects he'd built back then had developed a rather... unusual style. Hold on... I vanished for a thousand years, so how did my ramshackle little sects become holy lands?!
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!
