Another bright and sunny morning.
Meng Xingyao hummed a soft tune as she cracked an egg into a hot pan.
Once it was done, she packed it into a bento box, added some sliced fruit as a side, drizzled some sauce over the egg, and sprinkled sesame seeds on top. A simple yet thoughtful breakfast was now complete!
Carrying two bento boxes, she stepped out of her hotel room, her mood light as she walked down the hallway, the warm sunlight bathing her cheerful figure.
She was currently in An Yang, preparing to face the threat of the Qiongnu. Even though there was a high chance she might not survive, she remained happy.
As Lu Xiaobu once said: "Even if tomorrow is the end of the world, we will still dress appropriately. It's a matter of attitude toward life."
However, Meng Xingyao's smile didn't last long. Her expression darkened.
A girl with white hair suddenly appeared, smiling as she blocked Meng Xingyao's path. "Off to deliver breakfast to that vixen again?"
"What's it to you?" Meng Xingyao replied expressionlessly, trying to step around her. But the girl moved in sync, blocking her again.
"We're over. You should let me go," Meng Xingyao frowned.
Yun Mengxuan lowered her head, a little dejected. "But... I still love you. We... we should be together."
"I loved you too, but that was in the past. You betrayed me! You shouldn't be standing in the way of me pursuing someone else. Please move aside!" Meng Xingyao tried to leave again, but Yun Mengxuan continued to block her.
"She's a girl! Are you trying to change her orientation? Isn't that cruel?"
"...I have my own reasons. If it doesn't work out, I'll leave on my own. I won't cling to her like you're doing to me!" Meng Xingyao was growing impatient.
Suddenly, she felt a wave of sadness, her voice trembling. "What do you want from me? Are you trying to take away my right to pursue happiness? After all the time we spent together... can't you give me some space to live?"
Yun Mengxuan's heart ached. She reached out to comfort Meng Xingyao, but her hand was swiftly brushed away. Yun Mengxuan sighed, her voice also trembling with regret.
"Xingyao... I'm not trying to take away your right to pursue happiness... but you know, after all this time, only you can make me truly happy."
"Come back... this time, I won't leave you," Yun Mengxuan extended her hand, but Meng Xingyao dodged it, her eyes red as she walked away.
This time, Yun Mengxuan didn't stop her. She stood there, watching Meng Xingyao's tall figure disappear into the distance, her own eyes welling up with tears.
Once Meng Xingyao was out of sight, Yun Mengxuan let out a bitter laugh. She slapped herself across the face, once, then again, as if trying to punish herself. She licked the blood from the corner of her lips and walked away, her spirit broken.
Arriving at a hotel room door, Meng Xingyao took a deep breath to calm herself. She checked her reflection in the shiny door frame, forcing a smile onto her otherwise somber face.
But the smile still looked bitter.
She hung the bento boxes on her arm, used her index fingers to pull the corners of her lips into a more cheerful smile, and let go, maintaining the expression. Satisfied, she nodded.
After a moment of hesitation, she pressed the doorbell to Uesugi Chigenki's hotel room.
The door opened quickly, revealing a beautiful face with slightly wavy orange hair and curious eyes that studied Meng Xingyao.
"Breakfast," Meng Xingyao said with a smile, holding up the bento boxes.
Uesugi Chigenki, however, wasn't focused on the food. "Have you... been crying?"
How could she tell?
Uesugi Chigenki reached out and touched Meng Xingyao's cheek.
Feeling the gentle touch, Meng Xingyao froze, not daring to move.
Uesugi Chigenki wiped away the faint, almost invisible tear stains. "You've been crying for a while, haven't you?"
Meng Xingyao lowered her head. She had indeed cried earlier, hiding away in the bathroom to wash her face with cold water. She was sure she had cleaned up properly.
Perhaps a tear had escaped as she left the bathroom.
"Why were you crying?" Uesugi Chigenki asked, her voice filled with concern. Despite how often Meng Xingyao teased her, she had always been kind in many ways.
"It's nothing," Meng Xingyao replied, feeling the urge to cry again at the sudden concern. It was like a child who had fallen and was trying to hold back tears, only to break down when asked if they were hurt.
She shoved the bento boxes into Uesugi Chigenki's hands, hastily wiped away the fresh tears, and turned to leave.
"Wait!" Uesugi Chigenki grabbed her arm.
Meng Xingyao turned back, her eyes red. "What is it?"
"There are two bento boxes," Uesugi Chigenki said, lifting the bags. "I can't finish them alone. Let's eat together."
Meng Xingyao was taken aback. "Really?"
This was only her second time delivering breakfast, and it was going so smoothly? The first time, she hadn't even been allowed inside!
"But you can't bully me!" Uesugi Chigenki warned. She had been brought to tears by Meng Xingyao countless times. Just when she started to feel a bit of affection for her, Meng Xingyao would start acting up.
Now, Uesugi Chigenki was almost afraid of her.
"Okay!" Meng Xingyao wiped her tears and smiled.
Once inside, Uesugi Chigenki ran to the fridge and grabbed two cans of soda, handing one to Meng Xingyao.
Sitting at the table, Uesugi Chigenki clasped her hands together with her chopsticks, seemingly saying a silent prayer, then began eating her breakfast with a sip of soda in between.
Meng Xingyao couldn't help but stare at Uesugi Chigenki's profile as she ate. Her orange hair was tucked behind her ears, her jawline soft and elegant, her lips a delicate shade of pink like cherry blossoms.
Uesugi Chigenki noticed Meng Xingyao's intense gaze and shifted slightly away, a hint of suspicion in her eyes.
Is she... going to bully me again?
(Author's Note: I initially didn't want to make changes, as it might not be fair to readers who have already gone through the story.
However, Chapter 41 touched on national sentiments, which caused an uproar. At the time, I didn't fully consider the stance of China, leading to misunderstandings.
I had intended to portray Uesugi Akizuki's domineering nature, but in hindsight, it was a foolish oversight.
I sincerely apologize to everyone.
Additionally, the so-called "toxic elements" mentioned by readers are actually part of the setup. I won't let these elements surface until the story fully unfolds, and I strive to avoid all clichés and toxic tropes.
Perhaps the strong sense of immersion stirred up emotions. My apologies.)
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?!
transmigrates into the world as the sect master of the Heavenly Yan Sect, which is on the verge of being wiped out. He binds a system that grants him cultivation power based on the number of disciples he has: for each disciple, he automatically gains a year's worth of cultivation every single day! Take one disciple: every day he gains 1 year of cultivation power. While others struggle through a year of bitter training, he gets the same just by sleeping through a single night. Take ten disciples: every day he gains 10 years of cultivation power. Foundation Establishment, Core Formation, Nascent Soul—he breezes through all bottlenecks without lifting a finger. Take one hundred disciples: every day he gains 100 years of cultivation power. Even a Soul Transformation Venerable before him can’t survive a single blow. Take ten thousand disciples: every day he gains 10,000 years of cultivation power! With a wave of his hand, he topples empires. With a single step, he crushes the sacred grounds of the universe. ... While others fight tooth and nail for secret techniques, Lin Yan casually hands out Nascent Soul-level cultivation manuals as beginner textbooks. While others strain to find talented recruits, Lin Yan opens his doors to anyone—so long as they’re human. In just three short years, the Heavenly Yan Sect went from a backwater sect made up of three crumbling huts to a sacred land that every cultivator under heaven would kill to enter. ... One day, otherworldly demon gods invade, with a million demon soldiers pressing down upon the realm. Lin Yan, yawning, rises from his lounge chair and glances at the system panel: [Current Disciples: 1.28 million] [Daily Cultivation Increase: 1.28 million years] He waves his hand casually, and the countless demon soldiers are reduced to ashes in an instant. “So noisy… interrupting my fishing.”
close your eyes and open them again, only to find yourself transmigrated into the role of a villainous male supporting character. Readers familiar with urban wish-fulfillment novels know that it is only through the relentless antics of the villainous male supporting character that the plot between the male and female leads can progress. As the villainous male supporting character, Long Aotian not only has to bully the female lead, harass the second female lead, and flirt with the third female lead, but he also has to go all out to antagonize the male lead. In the end, when his body is discovered, he is still clutching half a moldy fried dough stick in his hand. Fully aware of the plot, Long Aotian is determined to change his fate, starting with the female lead! In the beginning, the female lead lacks confidence: "Big brother, I hope I didn't scare you?" In the middle, the female lead treads carefully: "Brother Long, please don't hit me, okay?" Later on, the female lead becomes coquettishly clingy: "Aotian, it's time to pay the 'public grain' tonight." Long Aotian's legs go weak, and he feels like crying: "I taught you to be thick-skinned, not shameless!"
lanned to earn money steadily and take life at a slower pace. But he never expected... his father's remarriage, and the stepmother bringing along a dependent, would completely disrupt his life's plans...
