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!"
reezy rom-com) Good news: Jiang Liu is quite the ladies' man. Bad news: He’s lost his memory. Lying in a hospital bed, Jiang Liu listens to a parade of goddesses spouting "absurd claims," feeling like the world is one giant game of Werewolf. "Jiang Liu, I’m your first love." "Jiang Liu, you’re my boyfriend—she’s your ex." "Jiang Liu, we’re close friends who’ve shared a bed, remember?" "Jiang Liu, I want to have your baby." The now-lucid Jiang Liu is convinced this must be some elaborate scam... until someone drops the bombshell: "The day before you lost your memory, you confessed your feelings—and got into a relationship." Jiang Liu is utterly baffled. So... who the hell is his actual girlfriend?! ... Before recovering his memories, Jiang Liu must navigate this minefield of lies and sincerity, fighting to protect himself from these women’s schemes. But things spiral even further out of control as more people show up at his doorstep—each with increasingly unhinged antics. On the bright side, the memories he lost due to overwhelming trauma seem to be resurfacing. Great news, right? So why are they all panicking now?
esick Sect? Well, at least it's considered a respectable orthodox sect. Wait a minute— What kind of vibe are you all giving off? Shouldn’t this be a love-struck, romance-obsessed sect? Why does everyone here sound more like demonic cultivators? "Master, today he’s getting married. This disciple wishes to descend the mountain and crash the wedding, then toy with him to death right in front of his wife..." "Elder, I only got into your sect through connections, so why won’t you teach me anything?" "Because I also became an elder through connections." Thankfully, Su Ji was just an outer sect labor disciple. Surely, nothing too crazy would— "Junior Brother, you’ve broken through to Qi Refining. Once you sever your useless spiritual root, you can officially become an outer sect disciple." "The Great Dao is merciless. Don’t let a worthless spiritual root waste your essence and spirit, hindering your cultivation." Is this really the Lovesick Sect? ... Three years later, Su Ji sat in the seat of the Lovesick Sect’s sect master, sighing with emotion. His rise to this position all started when his junior sister adamantly insisted on preserving his "spiritual root." "Mmm... Senior Brother, what’s our relationship now?" "Stop talking. Keep going." "By the way, that newly promoted top-tier sect—didn’t they come to buy our Love Beans?" "One top-grade spirit stone per Love Bean—is that really so expensive?" "I suspect they’ve eaten too many Love Beans." "Now they’re lovesick." Well, this really is the Lovesick Sect after all.
ine. During your journey, you save an abandoned baby girl and become her elder brother】 【You rely on each other, becoming each other's support】 【At the end of the simulation, you shield the now-grown girl with your life, sacrificing yourself to block numerous demonic cultivators. You die, and the light in the girl's eyes fades】 …… 【Second Simulation: You are transported to a world where steam and magic coexist】 【You immerse yourself in the study of magic, obsessed with its research. One day, while out, you encounter a half-blooded demon girl wandering the streets. You take her in as your student】 【You teach the demoness what it means to be human, show her the beauty of the world, and nurture her into a miracle that surpasses even the gods】 【At the end of the simulation, you die of old age in front of the nearly immortal demoness due to your mortal lifespan】 …… One simulation after another, one encounter after another. Xu Xi suddenly felt something was off: "Wait, you said you're coming to the real world to find me?"
Cheng's father told him he was getting remarried—to a wealthy woman. Cao Cheng realized his time had finally come: he was about to become a second-generation rich kid. Sure, it might be a watered-down version, but hey, at least he'd have status now, right? The wealthy woman also had four daughters!! Which meant, starting today, Cao Cheng gained four stunning older sisters?? But that wasn't even the whole story... "My name is Cao Cheng—'Cheng' as in 'honest, smooth-talking gentleman'!"
