Chen Xia was just about to fall asleep when the words of Elder Patriarch of Armor Wood Mountain jolted him awake.
Zhen Hu frowned slightly, somewhat undecided.
Below the stage, Elder Patriarch of Armor Wood Mountain shouted again, "Why aren't you coming down yet? Don't tell me you're too shy and want to continue hiding behind us? Whether you're a mule or a horse, you still have to be led out for a walk. You can't keep hiding back there, can you?"
"Give me the medicinal materials," Chen Xia said plainly, leaving no room for discussion.
Zhen Hu did not dare to refuse. He took out a storage ring and handed it to Chen Xia, respectfully saying, "All the medicinal materials are inside. Some were obtained through great effort, and I even used many channels to purchase some from the upper realms."
"I will pay you for the medicinal materials," Chen Xia nodded and accepted the storage ring. His blue robe fluttered gently in the breeze as he took a step forward.
A gentle breeze stirred.
His figure had already appeared at the center of the pill refining platform, with his hair fluttering slightly in the wind he had gathered. He smiled lightly at the crowd and said in a quiet voice to Elder Patriarch of Armor Wood Mountain,
"I'm neither a mule nor a horse. Care to guess what I am?"
Elder Patriarch of Armor Wood Mountain shook his head with a laugh. "How would I know what you are? Whether you're a pig or a dog, I'd never be able to guess."
"I'm your daddy," Chen Xia said with a slight tilt of his head, laughing as he spoke.
The murmuring exchanges among the spectators came to an abrupt halt. When Elder Patriarch of Armor Wood Mountain had called for someone from Starry Sky Pill Sect earlier, things were already tense.
But no one expected it to escalate like this.
The spectators were worried the two might break out into a fight, skipping over the pill refining competition and going straight to exchanging blows.
"All bark and no bite. Let's see if your pill refining skills live up to that mouth of yours," Elder Patriarch of Armor Wood Mountain said coldly with a sneer.
"I hope you'll keep calling me that afterward," Chen Xia said flatly before starting to take out pill refining materials from the storage ring.
First was the pill cauldron. Since Chen Xia did not have his own cauldron, Zhen Hu had specially prepared one for him that was quite good quality and looked brand new.
Elder Patriarch of Armor Wood Mountain let out a contemptuous laugh. "What, you don't even have your own cauldron for pill refining and have to borrow a shiny new one? Could it be you don't have any skills of your own?"
Chen Xia shot him a fierce glance, a hint of hostility rising up before quickly tamping it back down. He let out a breath and told himself inwardly not to get agitated.
He then swiftly took out the medicinal materials, not even bothering to process them before dumping them all into the cauldron. Reaching under the cauldron, he snapped his fingers and flames instantly rose up.
It wasn't some incredible fire, just barely sufficient.
The spectators knitted their brows in confusion, filled with doubts.
"I've never seen pill refining like this before. That fire doesn't seem very impressive either, not even above average."
"Did anyone see clearly what medicinal materials he used?"
"No, he just dumped them all in at once. I don't know what refining method this is. Don't tell me he's just going to refine a superior grade spirit pill like this? That would be utterly embarrassing."
"That can't be right. He's a new Elder of Starry Sky Pill Sect, and they speak so highly of him. There's no way he'd only produce a superior spirit pill."
"How strange. I don't understand this kind of pill refining at all. Just ignite the fire and toss the ingredients in all jumbled up without any processing?"
There were many discussions among the observing cultivators.
Chen Xia was unhurried. After igniting the flame, he added some water and then closed the lid, chuckling as he said,
"Wait two hours."
This was the pill refining method he had researched. In summary, it involved simmering and evaporating the medicinal essences out of the materials, then blending those essences together.
It could also be considered a type of medicinal processing, just a rather odd one that probably only Chen Xia could use.
With no basis or precedent, it was mainly meant to save time and effort.
This made the other alchemists furrow their brows in confusion, some seemingly wanting to speak up but uncertain what to say. So they could only wait silently for the two hours to see what Chen Xia would do.
The two hours passed quickly.
Some pill fragrance floated out from the cauldron, but this fragrance was very strange, unlike what other cultivators' refining smelled like. Rather, it was more like...
Cooked food.
At this moment, all eyes were fixed on Chen Xia, wanting to see what he was up to.
Chen Xia opened the lid. With a flick of his hand, a slender flying sword appeared and he reached in to stir the contents around.
"Just about done," he nodded before abruptly shooting out a torrent of flames to slam onto the pill cauldron. The fire instantly raged violently, beginning to melt down the entire cauldron.
This was not reckless.
It was actually a proper pill refining technique called Flame Burst, using extreme heat to raise the temperature and quicken the evaporation and fusion of medicinal essences.
This method wasn't too difficult, but seemed very odd with Chen Xia's application.
It looked more like he was... stir frying.
Elder Patriarch of Armor Wood Mountain actually started laughing out loud, his face full of ridicule. "I thought Starry Sky Pill Sect had brought an amazing alchemist, but turns out he's not an alchemist at all, but a cook! Hahaha!"
The other cultivators also couldn't hold back their laughter. Chen Xia's pill refining did look an awful lot like cooking, especially the flame burst technique. Igniting the fire was one thing, but why keep stirring the cauldron around?
That wasn't normal.
The pill fragrance in the cauldron gradually dissipated until there was no aroma left, yet Chen Xia still kept stirring.
Elder Patriarch of Armor Wood Mountain didn't even try to hide the mockery on his face now. "It's already burned to ruins, and you still call this pill refining? I don't even know what level of medicinal pill this is. It would be too embarrassing if it was just an inferior spirit pill that got wrecked."
"On the other hand, I had looked down on you all too much. I was going to call you down to compare with the superior grade Dao pill I have almost completed refining. But what a disappointment this turned out to be."
Chen Xia suddenly raised his head, his expression solemn as he glared at Elder Patriarch of Armor Wood Mountain and shouted,
"With your ten thousand year lifespan as sacrifice, become pill!"
Elder Patriarch of Armor Wood Mountain stared blankly for a moment before quickly regaining his mocking smile, about to retort.
Boom!
A violent thunderclap resounded.
Dense, countless bolts of lightning covered the entire sky. Among them were all sizes of tribulation thunder dragons swirling around, and right in the center was a thin emerald green flood dragon peeking out.
It exuded a terrifying aura!
"What is this? Why is there such a vast tribulation thunder?"
"That's a pill dragon! A pill dragon! It's been tens of thousands of years since a pill dragon has appeared!"
"Just what kind of pill could summon such a monstrous tribulation thunder? The Starry Sky Pill Sect alchemist has truly succeeded in pill refining, but...how is this possible?!"
"Deviating from the grand schemes of the world, violating the grand principles of nature!"
Elder Patriarch of Armor Wood Mountain looked up at the pill dragon in the sky, his expression turning bewildered. After a long pause, he slowly shifted his gaze back to Chen Xia on the ground.
Chen Xia smiled lightly at him and nodded slowly, "Thank you."
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."
] This is a dark fantasy-themed dating simulation game. The main gameplay involves containing various monster girls and investigating the truth of a world shrouded in mist alongside your companions. However, due to his love for the dark and bizarre atmosphere, Luo Wei ended up turning a dating game into a detective mystery game. Women? Women only slow down his quickdraw! To Luo Wei, the female leads in the game are more like tools to perfectly clear levels and squeeze out rewards. For Luo Wei, flirting with every girl he meets and then discarding them is standard procedure. Worried about characters losing affection points? No need. With his maxed-out charm stat, Luo Wei is practically a "human incubus." A little psychological manipulation and those points come right back. It's a bit scummy, but the paper cutout heroines in the game won't actually come at him with real cleavers. However... Luo Wei has transmigrated. He's accidentally entered the second playthrough of this game. His past actions have caused all the girls to transform into terrifying yanderes. Due to the game's setting, most of the heroines he once contained are "troubled girls." Obsessive, twisted, mentally unstable, all aggressive yanderes... The type who will kill you if they can't have you... Luo Wei wants to cry but has no tears left. "I really just want to survive..." In short, this is a story of battling wits and engaging in a love-hate relationship with yanderes.
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.
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.
