Over a dozen men in suits stared coldly at the mother and daughter.
One of them checked his watch.
"Start the timer!"
The mother and daughter exchanged another glance.
Xu Lan trembled as she looked at Xiao Ruohan.
"Ruohan, I'm your mother!"
Xiao Ruohan's body shook.
At present, her cultivation had barely reached the level of a martial artist.
However, her mastery of martial techniques had already reached the realm of meticulous precision.
Xiao Ruohan knew how rare it was for someone her age to comprehend martial techniques up to the fifth realm—meticulous precision.
This also proved how perfectly suited she was to the "Eighteen Dragon-Subduing Palms."
But it was a pity—damn Chen Feng had held back a crucial part, preventing her from mastering the technique completely.
Otherwise, her achievements today might have been even greater.
Yet, she never expected that her mother would drag her into such a desperate situation.
She channeled her inner energy, and a faint golden dragon materialized, coiling around her.
Xu Lan looked at her daughter in horror.
"Ruohan, what are you doing?!"
"I'm your mother!"
"You—"
Before she could finish, Xiao Ruohan spun around and struck with her palm.
"Hidden Dragon Lurks!"
The blow landed squarely on one of the suited men behind her.
Yet, the man didn’t budge.
Xiao Ruohan felt her energy being drained in an instant.
Smack!
A crisp sound echoed as the man backhanded her, sending her flying.
The middle-aged man in a suit adjusted his jacket.
Then, he glanced at his smartwatch.
"Don’t waste your strength."
"I’m a Martial Arts Grandmaster. You’re still too green."
"Let me remind you—you have seven minutes and fifteen seconds left."
Hearing that he was a Martial Arts Grandmaster, Xiao Ruohan’s heart sank.
She knew there was only one way she might survive this.
Xu Lan’s heart, which had just settled, clenched again.
At first, she thought her daughter was going to strike her—but instead, she had attacked the men behind them.
For a moment, she felt relieved.
But upon learning the man was a Martial Arts Grandmaster, despair took hold.
Xu Lan looked at her daughter and said,
"Ruohan, I’m sorry."
"Once I get out of here, I’ll find a way to avenge you."
Avenge her?
Xiao Ruohan suddenly laughed.
Her laughter grew louder and louder until tears streamed down her face.
"What a touching promise!"
"How? With your idiotic little schemes?"
Then came a dragon’s roar, followed by a scream.
More roars and furious shouts followed.
"You brought this on yourself."
"Why do you always cause trouble for me?!"
"Why?! Why?!..."
A few minutes later.
The suited men left the villa one by one.
After a long silence, Xiao Ruohan stumbled out, her face and hair drenched in blood.
"Why did it come to this?"
"What did I do wrong?"
"Was it because I betrayed Chen Feng?"
Suddenly.
Lightning split the darkness.
Then, heavy raindrops began to fall.
In the pouring rain, Xiao Ruohan wandered aimlessly.
At this moment, she didn’t know where to go—or where she even wanted to go.
She walked until the rain stopped.
Walked until dawn.
Walked until sunrise.
Then, she abruptly halted.
Before her lay a ruined sea of flowers.
Petals, torn apart by last night’s storm, lay dead on the concrete.
She lifted her head.
Bathed in the harsh morning light, she saw a statue—familiar yet distant.
---
Kunlun Mountains.
Jade Mountain, Heavenly Pool.
The Mystic Tortoise and the Spirit Crane observed the Mountain Spirit and Water Essence within the pool.
The two had taken human form, surrounded by illusory scenery.
The vision showed Chen Feng sprinting frantically.
The Mystic Tortoise burst into laughter.
Ha, ha, ha…
The Spirit Crane spoke in human tongue:
"If Qianqian’s master keeps running like this, he won’t escape until the next mountain opening—sixty years from now."
At the peak of Jade Mountain.
Gu Qianqian was playing the zither.
The melody was ethereal, light, and soothing.
Beside her lay the last qilin of Kunlun.
Then, the Spirit Crane flew over and landed nearby.
The qilin cracked an eye open, then closed it again, savoring the music.
The crane approached Qianqian and said,
"I saw your master."
Qianqian stopped playing, delighted.
"Wonderful!"
"I already dug the grave."
"And I carved his tombstone myself."
"I was afraid the dinosaurs would leave nothing behind."
The crane blinked, its eyes darting, before uttering two words.
"He’s alive."
Qianqian frowned.
"Alive?"
"Then my grave and tombstone were for nothing!"
"But alive is good too."
Originally, after learning from the Mountain Spirit and Water Essence that Chen Feng hadn’t left Kunlun in time, she had mourned for him.
She assumed he’d be stripped of his energy and devoured by beasts.
Yet, against all odds, he had survived.
"As expected of my master."
"Qilin, take me to him."
The massive qilin stood up—over four meters tall.
It opened its jaws and swallowed Qianqian whole.
The crane watched, stunned.
With a single step, the qilin transformed into lightning, crossing thousands of miles in an instant.
In the qilin’s vision, a towering surge of energy was moving rapidly.
Another step, and it appeared right in front of Chen Feng.
The sudden appearance of the colossal creature startled Chen Feng.
The beast had a head resembling an oversized goat’s, but with multicolored mane and massive antler-like horns.
Its body was covered in white scales, with vibrant fur running down its back to its tail.
Its limbs ended in wolf-like claws.
A qilin!
Chen Feng was taken aback.
"Why is a qilin blocking my way?"
"Is it planning to attack me?"
Before he could react, the qilin opened its mouth and spat out a person.
Gu Qianqian wiped the saliva off her face.
"Are we there? Master, where are you?"
Chen Feng stared in shock.
The situation had short-circuited his brain.
First, a qilin appeared.
Then, it regurgitated his disciple.
This was beyond absurd.
His disciple always defied logic.
"Qianqian, I’m here."
"Why did you come out of a qilin’s mouth?"
Without her zither, Qianqian was completely blind.
Following his voice, she turned toward him and saw a glowing silhouette.
"Master, I can’t believe you’re really alive."
"I asked the qilin to bring me to you."
"It moves too fast—if I didn’t hide in its mouth, the wind would’ve killed me."
Chen Feng was speechless.
So this is how you’re supposed to ride a qilin?
young master of the Shen family—a figure of immense power and wealth beyond measure—and awakened the "Destined Ultimate Villain System"! His starting scenario? Running into his icy fiancée who shows up with a mountain-descending divine doctor to break off their engagement. The divine doctor arrogantly taunts: "What does your Shen family have besides a bit of stinking money? You're not even worthy of tying Qingxue's shoelaces!" Shen Fei just smiled. He completely defied the usual script: "Fine, I agree to break off the engagement. Also, notify the finance department to withdraw all investments from the Su family." Minutes later, with its capital chain severed, the Su Group teetered on the brink of bankruptcy! The once aloof and proud ice queen CEO was thrown into utter panic. That very night, she went to Shen Fei's villa, casting aside all dignity to beg and plead desperately... From then on, in this world teeming with Sons of Destiny, Shen Fei embarked on a path of extreme dimensional suppression! A mountain-descending divine doctor? Peerless medical skills? Shen Fei: "Reporting you for practicing medicine without a license! I'll gladly take your ancient medicinal cauldron and twin sister assassins." The Crooked-Smiling Dragon King? Commanding a hundred thousand soldiers with a single order? Shen Fei: "Illegal assembly and suspected treason! Let a fleet of attack helicopters sanitize the area and teach you what the state apparatus really means!" A reborn tycoon? Knows all the golden opportunities of the next decade? Shen Fei: "A trillion in capital to reverse and pump the stock market, making you blow your margin and jump on the very first day of your rebirth!" What Chosen Ones? What bearers of Heavenly Fortune? In Shen Fei's eyes, they're all just chives (i.e., suckers/marks) waiting to be harvested! Shen Fei: "Sorry, but as the Destined Ultimate Villain, I don't play by the rules of honor. I only play the game of dimensional suppression."
't think I'm that capable, I'm just trying my best to stay alive. I've been kind all my life, never did anything bad, yet worldly suffering spared me not one bit. The human world is a nice place, but I won't come back in my next life. A kind young man, who wanted to just get by singing, but through repeated deceits and betrayals, has gone down an irredeemable path.
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.
rowess are unmatched, commanding a million-strong army! Yet, the Emperor wants to depose him for the sake of a false prince? Hold on, are you throwing me into some female-oriented romance plot? How can I tolerate this? With a grand wave of his hand—the Nine Clan Extraction Technique! Slander the Emperor? Very well, all of you shall die! ... The False Prince: "Although I am not the biological son, Father and Mother love me more. The throne should be mine!" The Female Lead: "Qin Xiao, you are the Emperor, and I am a commoner. If you wish to marry me, you must abdicate. Otherwise, you will never have me!" The Empress: "After we divorce, you must give me half the empire!" The Transmigrator Consort: "You worthless Emperor, why should I kneel to you? All men are equal—I advise you to be kind!" The Great General: "The enemy general is my childhood sweetheart. For her sake, I willingly abandon the frontier defenses!" The Retired Emperor: "Although Yu'er was adopted, I prefer him. Qin Xiao, you should abdicate and let him become Emperor!" ... Very well! So this is how you want to play? Facing this twisted world of female-oriented tropes, Qin Xiao grins and raises his hand to unleash—the Nine Clan Extraction Technique! I am the Emperor. Why would I bother reasoning with you? Seal the gates! Leave none alive!
