Gu Qingfeng examined the crystal-clear Cultivation Foundation Pill in his hand, sniffed its medicinal fragrance, and then swallowed it in one gulp.
"Ugh~ it's so bitter!" Gu Qingfeng's handsome face instantly scrunched up.
The Cultivation Foundation Pill truly lived up to its reputation - fragrant to smell but bitter to taste.
After all, it was a medicinal pill, and like all medicine, how good could it possibly taste?
As the bitterness in his mouth gradually dissipated, Gu Qingfeng suddenly felt a surge of pure, powerful energy flowing from his dantian.
It felt like drinking a full pot of hot water in one go - bloated and hot, as if his dantian was about to burst.
This was because his cultivation level was too low, only at the third stage of Qi Gathering, yet he had consumed a pill meant for Internal Energy realm cultivators, causing his body to be overwhelmed by the medicinal power.
His dantian was already filled with medicinal power, but the Cultivation Foundation Pill continued to release more energy, causing the excess to spill throughout his body.
Gu Qingfeng was alarmed - this wouldn't do, as waste was shameful.
He hurriedly activated the Pure Yang Technique, rapidly circulating his energy through the meridians, desperately absorbing the medicinal power.
Under the pill's effects, the hair-thin streams of qi in Gu Qingfeng's body rapidly grew stronger, and his cultivation efficiency increased dozens of times compared to before!
An hour later, Gu Qingfeng felt his body reach a critical point.
It was like a balloon inflated to its limit.
As he continued absorbing the medicinal power...
Pop!
A soft sound resonated within his body!
The barrier broke through!
Gu Qingfeng's aura rose steadily.
Fourth stage of Qi Gathering!
"Haha, finally break-..."
Before he could finish speaking, his expression suddenly changed as the medicinal power surged within him once again.
He never expected that a pill meant for Internal Energy realm cultivators would be so potent.
Yet those Internal Energy realm cultivators didn't seem that strong - they couldn't even break through his defense.
Gu Qingfeng had no time to think further. To avoid waste, he once again frantically activated the Pure Yang Technique, immersing himself in cultivation.
.......
At dawn, the sun rose in the east, blazing like fire.
A ray of golden sunlight shone through the window onto Gu Qingfeng.
He had remained motionless like a statue, meditating through the night.
Suddenly!
Gu Qingfeng's tightly closed eyes opened, a brilliant light flashing within them, bright as stars.
His aura erupted - he had nearly reached the fifth stage of Qi Gathering!
"Already at the peak of the fourth stage?" Gu Qingfeng felt somewhat dazed.
If cultivation had a progress bar, his would now be at ninety-nine percent of the fourth stage, just one percent away from breaking through to the fifth stage.
"If I had a few more Cultivation Foundation Pills, wouldn't I reach the Internal Energy realm in no time?"
"Pills! I need more pills!"
Having tasted the benefits, Gu Qingfeng no longer complained about the bitterness of the Cultivation Foundation Pills - truly, good medicine tastes bitter!
Cultivating with pills was completely different from regular cultivation.
Qi Gathering realm cultivation required absorbing natural qi from heaven and earth and storing it in one's body.
The human body was like a sponge, and the natural qi in the air was like water vapor.
Placing a sponge in humid air and letting it slowly become damp - that was the normal cultivation process for the Qi Gathering realm.
But taking pills?
That was like directly dripping water onto the sponge!
The difference in effectiveness was on entirely different levels.
"Ah." Gu Qingfeng suddenly sighed: "The Demon Suppression Bureau is too stingy, only giving out one Cultivation Foundation Pill. If Yellow-rank Demon Eliminators want more, they have to keep doing missions to earn merit points and exchange them for pills."
Gu Qingfeng felt the Demon Suppression Bureau did this deliberately, giving out one free pill just to let you experience its effects.
After experiencing it, who would want to continue with boring regular cultivation? Everyone would want more pills.
Then you'd have to become an obedient worker, doing 996 every day to earn merit points.
Speaking of 996, Gu Qingfeng suddenly remembered he needed to go to work.
He was now a Yellow-rank Demon Eliminator, a proper official, and today was his first day reporting for duty. He couldn't be late.
So Gu Qingfeng hurriedly got ready, put on his Mysterious Fish Robe, fastened his yan-feather sword, attached his Demon Elimination Token, and left.
Running all the way there, when he arrived, Gu Qingfeng was dumbfounded.
He saw He Fenghua lecturing several Yellow-rank Demon Eliminators.
These Yellow-rank Demon Eliminators were the four newly promoted ones, and including Gu Qingfeng, there were exactly five, filling the previous vacancies for Yellow-rank Demon Eliminators.
On their first day of work, the newly promoted Yellow-rank Demon Eliminators naturally had to report to their superior.
However, Gu Qingfeng hadn't expected his superior to be He Fenghua!
According to the Demon Suppression Bureau's system, one Dark-rank Demon Eliminator led five Yellow-rank Demon Eliminators, so He Fenghua, as a Dark-rank Demon Eliminator, was naturally the leader of Gu Qingfeng and the other four.
After a moment of stunned silence, Gu Qingfeng finally understood everything.
No wonder He Fenghua was the judge for this martial arts competition - he had replaced the deceased Dark-rank Demon Eliminator Lord Yang, and he presided over the competition to select his subordinates.
Since other Dark-rank Demon Eliminator teams were already fully staffed, all the newly promoted Yellow-rank Demon Eliminators were assigned under He Fenghua.
This was bad - he had rejected He Fenghua twice, and now this old fox would surely make things difficult for him!
For a moment, Gu Qingfeng stood at the doorway, unsure whether to enter or not.
At this time, He Fenghua noticed Gu Qingfeng at the door and coldly said: "Gu Qingfeng, you're late on your first day of roll call, showing complete disregard for rules. You're fined one month's salary. I hope you learn from this."
Hearing this, Gu Qingfeng became furious. Damn! Losing a month's salary on the first day? So he'd have to work for free for a month!
If he hadn't received those twenty-four taels earlier, wouldn't he have to go hungry for a month?
He had just been wondering if He Fenghua would make things difficult for him, and the very first words out of his mouth proved it!
Gu Qingfeng wasn't one to meekly accept such treatment and was about to respond with sarcasm, but when his peripheral vision caught the sundial in the room, he suddenly felt confident.
Pointing at the sundial, he said, "Who says I'm late? There's still a moment before the time."
(A sundial is a device that measures time using the shadow cast by the sun.)
He Fenghua frowned and looked at the sundial, seeing that the shadow pointer was indeed still slightly short of the mao hour mark.
He fell silent, just staring wordlessly at the sundial, as if he had been rendered speechless by Gu Qingfeng's retort.
Gu Qingfeng stood at the door watching the silent He Fenghua, showing a slight smile of satisfaction, thinking to himself that he had at least saved a month's salary.
However, in the next moment, He Fenghua suddenly raised his head, looking straight at Gu Qingfeng, and said: "It's now the mao hour, and you're still not inside the door, so you are late."
Go to hell!
Gu Qingfeng instantly exploded with anger. He looked at the sundial showing exactly the right time, then at He Fenghua, cursing violently in his heart.
So that's why you kept quiet - you were waiting for the exact time!
"Heh, Lord He certainly throws his weight around!" Gu Qingfeng sneered.
At these words, the other newly promoted Yellow-rank Demon Eliminators all changed expression, shocked at Gu Qingfeng's defiance. They never imagined someone would dare to be so bold as to confront their superior on their first day, even though the superior had started it first. After all, when you're under someone's roof, you have to bow your head.
Faced with Gu Qingfeng's sneer, He Fenghua showed his sophistication.
He maintained a calm expression and said coldly: "I am merely enforcing the rules."
"Hahaha." Gu Qingfeng suddenly burst into loud laughter: "What a fine example of enforcing rules! I'd say you're abusing your power to suppress those who oppose you!"
] [Lone Wolf, No Male Gaze] [Protagonist is pursued early on; extreme protagonist-stans, stay away!] The "Carnival Paradise" descends and slowly devours the real world in the form of a game. By chance, Zhu Yan awakens the talent [Roleplay], becoming one of the first beta players. He thought he could develop safely, but after clearing the first instance, he is branded by humanity as the chief culprit behind the game's spread—a traitorous villain. A villain? Who would ever... become one! He'll be the villain! From then on, Zhu Yan is not only a player but also a lackey for the Carnival Paradise. Between the straight path and the crooked path, he chooses the con. With his left hand, he dons the villain's mantle, staging scenes within instances, infuriating players who decry him as a despicable traitor, all while the game happily promotes him. With his right hand, he joins the non-human organization "Fangcun Mountain," which opposes the Carnival Paradise, transforming into a mysterious player who slaughters game bosses, earning cheers of "Long live the expert!" from fellow players. Gradually, Zhu Yan rises to become an S-rank human player in Fangcun Mountain's archives, while also being the Carnival Paradise's certified top game Boss. But when the final war erupts and both major factions place their hopes in him— Players tag his various aliases: "Experts, this offensive depends on you." The Carnival Paradise's supreme Boss throws an arm around his neck: "Bro, you're the iron, I'm the steel; you can't let me down again!"
grated, and just when he finally managed to get into an elite academy, he discovered that he actually had a system, and the way to earn rewards was extremely ridiculous. So for the sake of rewards, he had no choice but to start acting ridiculous as well. Su Cheng: "It's nothing but system quests after all." But later, what confused Su Cheng was that while he was already quite ridiculous, he never expected those serious characters to gradually become ridiculous too. And the way they looked at him became increasingly strange... (This synopsis doesn't do it justice, please read the full story)
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!"
iemie, male, Race: Moon. Hobby: Collecting anomalies. At first, he thought he possessed two systems: the Crimson Rainbow Moon and the Clear Cold Frost Moon. One day, he discovered that he himself could also become a system for others, holding the chessboard of fate. The Eighth Epoch, also known as the Eternal Moon Epoch. Humans, witches, elves, bloodline descendants, specters, demons, and spirits together compose a new history. Walking the path on behalf of the moon, before he knew it, Chen Miemie's footsteps were followed by all manner of strange and wondrous anomalies. As time passed, many titles circulated about him—The King in Yellow, Lord of Anomalies, Heart of the Eternal Moon, and more. "Me? I'm just a traveler who enjoys collecting interesting creatures," Chen Miemie said.
