Lu Weilou took a deep breath and continued,
"After discovering this situation, Alliance Leader Yang and I immediately arranged for people to track them."
"Then we found out that these masked men do not live in any city."
Not living in a city?
Gu Chengyin's eyes flickered slightly.
Lu Weilou's voice continued,
"After obtaining the food, they all headed outside the city."
Outside the city.
The desolate wilderness.
Places devoid of people.
"And... what's even stranger is..."
Lu Weilou furrowed his brows,
"The more remote the area, the more agile they became."
"Especially in the high mountains and lofty peaks, they were simply too nimble to be human."
"But precisely because of this..."
At this point, a trace of embarrassment appeared on Lu Weilou's stern face as he said,
"Our men lost track of all of them."
This sudden twist made Gu Chengyin blink involuntarily. He asked hesitantly,
"Lost track of all of them?"
Lu Weilou nodded with some difficulty.
Gu Chengyin looked at Lu Weilou, then at Yang Yifei.
Yang Yifei's complexion didn't look good either.
Both men kept their heads down, looking like incompetent subordinates who had botched a job.
Gu Chengyin shook his head. If it were up to him, he certainly wouldn't have arranged things this way.
The targets were already running into the wild, yet they still followed so foolishly—were they terrified of not being discovered?
But what was done was done. The most important thing right now wasn't to assign blame, but to figure out what to do next.
Although there was no conclusive evidence proving these masked men were of the Monster Race, all signs pointed in that direction.
And the only reason Gu Chengyin was interested was because Gu Xiaoli was a monster herself, specifically a cat monster.
Rounding it up, that basically made her a catgirl loli.
However, Gu Chengyin was merely interested. There was no profit or benefit in this for him.
Why should he support them? Why should he get involved?
Gu Chengyin even wanted to retort: So what if these masked men are monsters?
They were legally and compliantly using their battle merits to exchange for the food and daily necessities they deserved.
They didn't murder, commit arson, or do anything heinous. What the hell did it matter to them?
It couldn't possibly be just to uncover the so-called truth behind the disappearance of the Immortal Race, could it?
Towards such an illusory matter that offered absolutely no benefits,
Gu Chengyin had always held one attitude: let go of the urge to help others and respect their fate.
Seeing that the two had no intention of continuing,
Gu Chengyin finally summarized,
"So you haven't found any solid evidence."
"This is merely a guess based on the anomaly in the faction's battle merits?"
The question was very direct, so direct that it made Yang Yifei and Lu Weilou's faces look even more embarrassed.
But they couldn't refute it, because what Gu Chengyin said was the truth.
They had no evidence.
Only guesses.
Only inferences.
Only a pile of unclear and inexplicable suspicious points.
The pavilion fell into silence.
Only the mountain breeze occasionally blew past, sweeping up a few fallen leaves.
Gu Chengyin looked at the two men opposite him and said nothing.
Yang Yifei and Lu Weilou sat there, heads bowed like prisoners awaiting trial.
Ultimately, it was Yang Yifei who raised his head and took the initiative to speak, saying very sincerely,
"Junior Preceptor Gu, although we haven't found any evidence, this logic is rigorous,"
Yang Yifei's eyes carried a hint of expectation:
"Furthermore, we are intensifying our efforts. We will find evidence very soon, and it's not even impossible that we might capture them directly."
Very soon?
Gu Chengyin didn't speak; he just watched quietly.
Yet it was this calm gaze that made a wave of unease well up in Yang Yifei's heart.
He felt as if he was being scrutinized, scrutinized by a young man who wasn't even as old as him.
After a while, Gu Chengyin finally spoke at a leisurely pace,
"Let's not talk about the future for now."
"Right now, you have nothing, correct?"
Yang Yifei opened his mouth, wanting to argue a bit, but found he couldn't say anything.
Because what Gu Chengyin said was a fact.
Right now, there was no evidence.
Gu Chengyin continued unhurriedly,
"Alliance Leader Yang, Valley Master Lu."
"With this performance of yours, it is very hard for me to believe you."
Yang Yifei's heart tightened, and he hurriedly said,
"Junior Preceptor Gu, we..."
Before he could finish his sentence, Gu Chengyin raised his hand, just a slight lift.
But it was this single action that made Yang Yifei swallow the words that had reached his lips.
Gu Chengyin looked at him, his gaze calm as he said,
"Let's set aside the matter itself for a moment."
He paused, his gaze sweeping across their faces,
"You belong to the Humble Faction."
The Humble Faction.
As soon as these words came out, both Yang Yifei and Lu Weilou's expressions changed.
They subconsciously looked at Wang Gangfeng; including this Imperial Censor of the Censorate, all three of them were from the Humble Faction.
Generally speaking, although everyone had their own respective factions, no one would explicitly point it out.
But now, Gu Chengyin had directly laid the matter out on the table.
Gu Chengyin looked at their reactions and continued indifferently,
"And I am His Highness's man."
Gu Chengyin was the Junior Preceptor of the Crown Prince.
He was Luo Zhao's man.
He belonged to the Crown Prince's Party.
Meanwhile, the three of them were people of the Humble Faction.
Although these two factions were not as incompatible as fire and water, they were by no means in a casual cooperative relationship.
Gu Chengyin's gaze turned serious.
He did not deliberately release any coercive pressure, nor did he even use any cultivation base.
Yet that invisible aura of a superior made Yang Yifei and Lu Weilou feel an immense pressure.
This was a presence honed in the imperial court, an aura forged through countless political struggles.
Yang Yifei felt as though he were being crushed by a mountain, unable to catch his breath.
Gu Chengyin's voice continued:
So, why should I support you?
Why should he support them?
This question pierced straight into Yang Yifei's heart.
He opened his mouth to speak, only to find that he couldn't utter a single word.
Because Gu Chengyin was right.
In terms of competence, the two of them didn't even have concrete evidence. They wanted Gu Chengyin's backing based solely on a bunch of speculations?
On what grounds?
In terms of factions, they belonged to the humble-born faction, while Gu Chengyin was a member of the Crown Prince's party.
Instead of seeking the backing of Hu Juzheng or Yuan Zhengqing, they came to him, the Junior Preceptor of the Crown Prince?
What gave them the right?
Yang Yifei and Lu Weilou looked at each other, both seeing the helplessness in the other's eyes.
And the bitterness.
Yes, bitterness.
Was it that they didn't want to seek out Hu Juzheng? Or Yuan Zhengqing?
These two were the leaders of the humble-born faction. One was the Second Minister of the Grand Secretariat, and the other controlled the Chief Surveillance Bureau and the Ministry of Justice.
They were truly prominent figures in the imperial court.
But would it be of any use?
Yang Yifei recalled the missives he had submitted, the replies that had sunk like stones in the ocean, and the polite rejections.
Being able to dispatch Wang Gangfeng was already a tremendous show of support.
After all, there was no solid proof.
After all, the Grand Secretariat was far away in the Divine Capital.
They couldn't possibly mobilize a massive effort over mere speculation, could they?
Therefore, they had no choice but to come to Gu Chengyin, to try and persuade this important figure from the Divine Capital.
Yang Yifei took a deep breath, suppressing the turbulent emotions in his heart, and looked at Gu Chengyin.
He had to convince this Junior Preceptor of the Crown Prince.
with countless casualties. As a top-tier gamer, Liu Xuan volunteered to join the fight, intending to dominate with his skills, but instead he obtained the hidden class: [Pacifist]. Unable to attack. Unable to use active skills. Fortunately, with each level gained, he acquired a new passive skill. And so, armed with a body full of passives, Liu Xuan slaughtered his way through the battlefield of ten thousand races! [You attacked Liu Xuan] [You gained the debuffs: 'Poison', 'Fear', 'Burning', 'Bleeding', 'Freeze', 'Silence', etc.] [Your attack speed has been reduced by 99%] [Your armor and magic resistance have been reduced by 99%] Warriors of the Ten Thousand Races: How the hell am I supposed to fight this?!
nd fell into a coma while saving his younger sister from an out-of-control car. He became a vegetable. No one knew that his consciousness had crossed into a world of cultivation. Over the course of sixty years, he began as the lowest kind of mine slave, struggling to survive amid mountains of corpses and seas of blood. By sheer chance, he eventually obtained the complete memories of a fallen Immortal King. Alchemy, medicine, formations, feng shui, physiognomy, artifact forging… Every great inheritance of the cultivation world was now his. But when he opened his eyes again, he discovered that ten full years had passed in the modern world. To pay for his treatment, his father had sold the family’s shop and house, leaving himself covered in lasting injuries and illness. His mother had cared for him day and night, and more than half of her hair had already turned white. His younger sister, who had been only fifteen back then, was now twenty-five. To help repay the family’s debts, she had been forced to lower her head and put on a smiling face in places of glittering lights and endless revelry. Only then did Chen Xuan understand that what he had lost was not merely ten years. He had lost the life his entire family was meant to have. The good news was that he had brought back the memories of an Immortal King’s entire lifetime. The bad news was that his soul had returned alone—his cultivation had not come with him. Spiritual energy was scarce, resources were depleted, and the modern world still had firearms, surveillance, capital, and laws. If he wanted to protect his family, break free from everyone’s control, and become truly invincible beneath the heavens, he would have to start all over again.
【Prologue: The Beginning of It All – Use holy water to heal the saintess tainted by demonic energy, then converse with her.】 Shen Nian stared at his older sister sipping yogurt, lost in thought. So you’re telling me my sister is the saintess, and yogurt is the holy water? 【Main Quest 1: Brave Youth, Become an Adventurer! Reward: Rookie Adventurer Title.】 【Side Quest 1: Find the Adorable Kitty! Reward: 1000 Gold Coins.】 Shen Nian: "Wait, I’m a high school senior here—did some guy who got isekai’d accidentally bind his system to me?" Hold on, completing quests gives gold rewards? Titles even boost stats? Is this for real? (A lighthearted, absurd campus comedy—not a revenge power fantasy.)
s + Rent Collection Wealth】 At the start, he inherited a rundown house in the urban village from his grandfather. The house had no tenants, but the moment he was diagnosed with a terminal illness, a self-proclaimed empress from the Tianxuan Continent arrived as his first tenant. Ye Chuan soon discovered that with every new tenant moving in, not only did he receive massive daily payments, but he also obtained unique items related to their backgrounds. 【Acquired Bai Qianshuang’s related item: Tiger Strength Pill—dramatically enhances physical power!】 【Acquired Bai Qianshuang’s related item: Deer Blood Pill—significantly boosts vitality!】 …… From that day on, all sorts of bizarre tenants began appearing in the house: the empress from Tianxuan Continent, an apocalyptic sorceress from the Magic Realm, a mysterious scientific girl who fell through a spacetime rift… Every single day, he received strange, powerful items and endless money. Then one day, he suddenly realized—he had become invincible. Enough, enough! Stop giving me more!
