Li Qianren stared at Gu Qingfeng for a long time before slowly saying, "Physical talent, soul talent, fire control talent—I find that you're pretty good at everything except cultivation."
"Uh... Lord Li, speaking like that might ruin your cool and ruthless image in my mind."
Li Qianren gave Gu Qingfeng a deep look. "Alright, you can leave now."
"Then, I shall take my leave. By the way, Lord Li, about my reward..."
"Someone will deliver it to you." Li Qianren said, turning back to his seat and picking up an ancient book to read it intently.
Seeing this, Gu Qingfeng didn't say anything more. Just as he was about to turn and leave, he suddenly remembered something.
"Lord Li, there's one more thing."
"Speak."
"Can I have the Ghost Tree Demon from the first level of the Demon Suppression Prison?"
"Sure." Li Qianren agreed without looking up, seemingly uninterested in why Gu Qingfeng wanted the Ghost Tree Demon.
Gu Qingfeng was secretly amazed. All the prepared explanations he had were swallowed back. He couldn't figure out what Li Qianren was thinking all day, but he seemed quite easy to talk to.
"Thank you, Lord Li. I shall take my leave."
Gu Qingfeng turned and left the hall. Now, only Li Qianren remained, and the hall was silent, except for the rustling of pages being turned.
After Gu Qingfeng had left far enough, a strange voice suddenly broke the silence from the shadows in a corner of the hall.
"He found me."
"Mm." Li Qianren responded softly, still flipping through the book.
"His soul is very strong. It's no surprise he could find you."
"He didn't find me through soul power. If he had used soul power to scan the entire hall, he would have sensed me, but he didn't."
"Oh?" Li Qianren's eyebrows furrowed slightly. "Then how did he find you?"
"I don't know. When I was watching him from the shadows, his expression showed a hint of unease. Although he didn't look at me, I know he found me."
"It seems he has many secrets."
"It's not just secrets. It's very likely that his body has been taken over by another soul. I've never heard of anyone with soul talent strong enough to reach this level. It's more like he's been possessed by a powerful expert."
"As long as it's not a demon, it's fine." Li Qianren said calmly.
"When he used his soul power against you, there was no trace of demonic energy. The one who possessed him is likely a human grandmaster."
"Mm." Li Qianren seemed engrossed in his book, speaking less and less.
"He has so many secrets. Aren't you worried?"
"If he really is possessed by a grandmaster, then his chances of success will be higher. The rest doesn't matter. I only want the Elixir of Eternal Youth."
"That's why you defended him, cleared his suspicions, and guided him step by step to accept this mission. In fact, the moment you saw him, you sensed the powerful soul within him. Such a low cultivation level with such a powerful soul—he's the perfect candidate."
"Correct. I just didn't expect him to also possess such strong fire control talent. With that, the chances of success are even higher."
The voice from the shadows fell silent for a long time before suddenly speaking softly, "Is it worth it?"
Li Qianren didn't answer.
The voice from the shadows continued, "Do you know that once you do this, you'll be against the entire world? Is it really worth it? You're so young and already a grandmaster. You have a bright future ahead of you, even the chance to reach beyond grandmaster. But for this..."
"Shut up!"
Li Qianren, who had been calm all along, suddenly exploded in anger. He slammed the ancient book hard onto the table, making a loud noise.
He stood up, glaring at the shadows, and shouted, "Do you really think I won't kill you?"
"Ah." The shadows sighed softly, and then silence returned, as if the voice had never existed.
Li Qianren no longer had the mood to read. His expression cold, he pushed open the door and left the hall, disappearing without a trace.
At that moment, a gentle breeze blew in through the door, flipping the pages of the book on the table, one by one...
Until the cover closed.
And on the cover were two large words: [Alchemy Scripture].
...
After leaving the hall, Gu Qingfeng returned to his residence. As he walked, he kept thinking about the conversation with Li Qianren. For some reason, he felt something was off, but he couldn't figure out what it was.
There was also the person hidden in the shadows in the corner of the hall, who was also a congenital master!
Gu Qingfeng had a spiritual sense that allowed him to feel being watched, so when he entered the hall, he immediately sensed the presence of that person.
However, he didn't say anything. As the head of the Wutong Prefecture Demon Suppression Bureau, Li Qianren, who oversaw both the Light Bureau and the Covert Division, having someone secretly protecting him was normal. Probably someone from the Covert Division.
Sitting on his bed, Gu Qingfeng thought hard for a long time but couldn't figure it out. Everything seemed normal, but why did he feel something was wrong?
Suddenly, he had a flash of insight! He realized it.
It was the spiritual sense!
The spiritual sense was warning him that something was off! Spiritual sense is like a sixth sense; besides sensing being watched, it can also predict that something might happen.
So, Li Qianren really had something going on?
With this thought in mind, Gu Qingfeng analyzed carefully and finally figured out what was wrong.
Li Qianren was too nice to him.
Even though it was their first meeting, despite having achieved a great merit, killing one of the Seven Demon Commanders with just the fourth level of Qi Condensation was too unbelievable. A normal person's first reaction would definitely be disbelief. But during the time when others were questioning, Li Qianren maintained a neutral stance and analyzed the reasons why he could defeat the Mirror Demon.
It felt like he knew Gu Qingfeng could defeat the Mirror Demon and was just deducing the process based on the result.
When others suggested checking his body, Li Qianren didn't express whether he agreed or not. Instead, he explained on Gu Qingfeng's behalf, diverting the topic.
In fact, from the perspective of the Demon Suppression Bureau, the best approach would definitely be to check his body. No matter how good the words sounded, seeing is believing. A quick check would clear everything up, so why analyze?
But Li Qianren didn't allow the check and explained the reasons why Gu Qingfeng could defeat the Mirror Demon, as if he was deliberately protecting him.
However, after explaining clearly, there was no longer any doubt among the senior exorcists. But Li Qianren still raised a question, asking why he could resist the Mirror Demon's invasion.
Then came the soul confrontation, allowing Gu Qingfeng to display his soul talent, leading to the mention of the Elixir of Eternal Youth.
On the surface, it seemed like the leader was appreciating talent, but in reality, it was guiding him to the Jade Dragon Secret Realm.
The more Gu Qingfeng thought about it, the more he felt it was the case. It seemed that every word Li Qianren said was guiding the direction of the conversation, pushing things towards what he wanted.
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?"
s + Rent Collection Wealth】 At the start, he inherited a rundown house in the urban village from his grandfather. The house had no tenants, but the moment he was diagnosed with a terminal illness, a self-proclaimed empress from the Tianxuan Continent arrived as his first tenant. Ye Chuan soon discovered that with every new tenant moving in, not only did he receive massive daily payments, but he also obtained unique items related to their backgrounds. 【Acquired Bai Qianshuang’s related item: Tiger Strength Pill—dramatically enhances physical power!】 【Acquired Bai Qianshuang’s related item: Deer Blood Pill—significantly boosts vitality!】 …… From that day on, all sorts of bizarre tenants began appearing in the house: the empress from Tianxuan Continent, an apocalyptic sorceress from the Magic Realm, a mysterious scientific girl who fell through a spacetime rift… Every single day, he received strange, powerful items and endless money. Then one day, he suddenly realized—he had become invincible. Enough, enough! Stop giving me more!
he colors of other people’s emotions. Light red meant anxiety. Gray meant exhaustion. Orange meant excitement. Yellow... meant repression. At the same time, he could gain unlimited control over one of those colors. Pale cyan: relaxation. Using this ability, he started offering “two-yuan hugs,” spending an afternoon exchanging emotional-color experiences with others. Then came his final female customer of the day— a girl whose emotional color was pure black... —— A week later, Xu Chuan had become skilled at using pale cyan—Relaxation—treating it like a bottle of menthol balm whenever he needed it. That was when he discovered he had unlocked another unlimited emotional color: Purple, the color of fear. So these emotional colors refresh every week? Fine, I take it back—I’ll never call you useless again... —— Much later, after Xu Chuan had accumulated countless emotional abilities, one night, he suddenly found himself inside someone else’s dream. There, he could use the emotional colors he possessed to paint. And in her dream, he painted her a shower of pink shooting stars, spreading across the depths of the night sky...
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.
