The lavish dinner began.
The meat was tender and succulent, the vegetables crisp and refreshing.
The hot soup was also exceptionally delicious.
In this magical world, people commonly use knives and forks, but Xu Xi was more accustomed to using chopsticks, so he carved a pair for himself.
Krisha, who originally used knives and forks, somehow felt the urge to learn how to use chopsticks after seeing Xu Xi wield them.
And so,
a peculiar scene unfolded in Xu Xi’s home.
While everyone else was happily celebrating New Year’s Eve with knives and forks, the little witch was locked in a battle with the chopsticks, repeatedly picking up and dropping food in an awkward struggle.
She blinked in confusion.
“So difficult…”
Krisha couldn’t understand why, after more than half a month of practice, she still hadn’t mastered these two small wooden sticks.
They were just ordinary sticks, yet they were harder to learn than magic.
“Krisha, take it slow.”
Xu Xi reassured her, demonstrating the motion in slow motion. After another ten minutes, the girl finally managed to pick up her first piece of meat with the chopsticks.
As if she had accomplished some ultimate goal, she let out a relieved sigh.
Chopsticks, the eternal nemesis!
To avoid letting the dinner go cold, the girl eventually gave up her battle with the chopsticks and switched back to her familiar knife and fork, starting to savor the meal Xu Xi had prepared.
“Is it good?” Xu Xi asked.
“Yes, Mentor, it’s delicious,” Krisha’s eyes widened slightly.
The clinking of knives and forks against plates.
The sound of teeth chewing food and tongues rolling.
All of this happened simultaneously in that moment.
Without a doubt, judging from her expression, the girl truly enjoyed Xu Xi’s cooking.
But after taking her first bite, she suddenly stopped and turned her hollow eyes toward Xu Xi, as if waiting for something.
“Alright, I’ll eat too.”
Xu Xi smiled and began to eat as well.
Under the glow of the light, the two figures cast long shadows—the bright white light and the deep black shadows were distinctly separate yet perfectly harmonious.
The New Year’s Eve dinner for just the two of them was quiet, far less lively than the celebrations in ordinary households in the city.
But Xu Xi felt it was enough.
Delicious food and the company of someone dear—wasn’t that more than enough?
“Whoosh—”
“Whoosh—”
The fierce wind beat against the windows.
Outside, the world was blanketed in snow.
The once beautiful garden, full of blooming flowers, was now buried under increasingly deep snow, and even the withered tree had its branches weighed down by heavy clumps of snow.
Sitting inside, Xu Xi took a sip of the hot soup and felt an inexplicable warmth.
Not just from the steam flowing through the room.
But also from the girl sitting beside him.
“It feels like home…” Xu Xi thought to himself as he gazed at the snow falling outside.
For this New Year’s Eve dinner, Xu Xi had put in a lot of effort to make it a memorable one for Krisha, but for just two people, four dishes and a soup were clearly a bit too much.
Even though the girl, with her demonic bloodline, had a slightly larger appetite than most.
After half an hour of feasting.
There was still plenty of food left on the table.
Krisha stood up and began to clear the dishes, intending to wash them, but Xu Xi stopped her.
“Wait, Krisha.”
“Mentor…?”
In the girl’s bewildered expression, Xu Xi’s finger brushed over his spatial ring, and from it, he retrieved a sapphire necklace and a gold coin that he had prepared earlier.
The sapphire necklace was placed in the girl’s left hand.
The gold coin was placed in her right hand.
Her expression grew even more confused.
Xu Xi explained, “In my hometown, there’s a tradition of giving children gifts and blessings when the New Year replaces the old.”
“So, I chose this necklace for you.”
“I thought it would look beautiful on Krisha, and the sapphire in the necklace also enhances your water magic.”
“As for this gold coin, it’s your New Year’s lucky money, symbolizing a wish for your safety and well-being.”
Xu Xi spoke softly,
waiting for Krisha to accept the gifts.
But the young witch neither accepted nor refused. She just stood there in a daze, her hollow, lifeless eyes fixed on Xu Xi.
The room was quiet, but Krisha’s eyes were even quieter.
Like a fragile mirror, shimmering yet easily broken.
This mirror had shattered many times before—time and time again, so many times that even Krisha herself had lost count.
And today.
This fragile mirror, these empty eyes.
Reflected only Xu Xi’s figure.
Filling her entire world.
For some reason, Krisha suddenly felt her throat go dry. After opening and closing her lips several times, she barely managed to utter a complete sentence.
“Why… why would you… give me…”
“Do I need a reason?”
Xu Xi reached out and gently ruffled the girl’s hair. After two months of rest and care, her once dry, straw-like hair had become soft and smooth.
“But… but…”
The girl’s eyes were filled with confusion.
But someone like me, a worthless creature, doesn’t deserve gifts.
I should have been discarded, a useless, unwanted piece of trash.
Yet I’ve been bathed in the warmth of the “sun,” living in the light.
This is already enough to make me happy, enough to make me feel fulfilled. Just being able to maintain this life, the witch truly feels content.
Yes.
A flawed failure like me shouldn’t ask for more.
“No ‘buts,’ Krisha.”
Xu Xi’s words interrupted the girl’s confusion and unease.
His words carried warmth, like the flickering flame of a candle, drawing in the person struggling in the darkness, making her want to get closer.
He said this:
“In life, you don’t need to overthink things. There aren’t so many ‘whys.’”
“If you like something, do it. If you don’t, then don’t.”
“Krisha is usually very obedient and well-behaved, so I like Krisha and want to give her gifts.”
“Similarly, if Krisha likes the gifts I’ve given, just accept them. Unless… Krisha doesn’t like them—”
Hearing this,
the girl quickly shook her head, tightly clutching the necklace and the gold coin.
Using her actions to express her fondness for the gifts.
“I like… Mentor’s gifts.”
“That’s great to hear.”
Hearing the witch’s response, Xu Xi smiled.
The frail and slender Krisha appeared quiet and well-behaved, but her expressionless face and hollow eyes still made one instinctively worry for her.
However.
Compared to two months ago, she was much better now, wasn’t she?
Xu Xi’s eyes softened as he recalled the first time he had seen the girl, two months ago, in her pitiful state.
A filthy alley filled with dirty water, a body covered in wounds, a young face smeared with blood, and trembling, powerless legs.
Back then, Krisha had tried to rob Xu Xi with a small knife.
But what Xu Xi saw and heard.
Was a clear cry for help.
“Save me…” It was a plea that even the witch herself hadn’t realized, hidden deep within her eyes, in every wound, in every ounce of pain.
A desire for someone to see her.
A plea for someone to pull her out of despair.
A silent cry for help to everyone she met.
Xu Xi saw it and heard it all, so he saved Krisha that day.
He couldn’t abandon a witch who was crying out in such anguish.
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)
o a martial world and obtained a system that allowed him to draw one entry per year. Unfortunately, all he drew were useless white-tier entries. The probability for high-quality entries was extremely low, with the highest-tier mythic entry having a mere 0.001% chance! To increase the probability, he had to improve his martial realm, but he lacked the innate talent for cultivation. At the age of eighteen, Chen Yi fell into the hands of a gang and was forced into hard labor. Just as his life seemed destined for a bleak end, on his 18th entry draw, he actually pulled a mythic entry—Simulator! In the simulation, he could also draw one entry every year that passed, and upon ending the simulation, he would inherit all entries and his martial realm! In his first simulation, Chen Yi struggled desperately just to survive, knowing that living one more year meant one more entry draw! Finally, with hair turned white, he drew the entry he had longed for—Low-Grade Innate Talent! "Hahaha! Don't bully the old and poor! Time to cultivate and inherit my cultivation base!" ... From then on, Chen Yi continuously simulated and drew entries, his martial realm soaring higher and higher! Epic, legendary, and even mythic entries were gathered into his collection one after another! "What demon race or devil race? What dark turmoil? I don't know anything about that. They just charged at me screaming 'How can you possibly ascend to immortality?!' and got stuck to my fists, unable to be shaken off. Blind spots, speed bumps... go talk to my simulator. We're all struggling to survive out here. I'm trying so hard, so how are they still alive?"
Resolve] Gu Yang was once a true disciple of the Falling Cloud Sect, but after failing to break through to the Foundation Establishment stage, his cultivation regressed, his foundation was damaged, his lifespan was nearing its end, and he was about to be demoted to a menial servant. At his moment of despair, he awakened the [Daily Intelligence System]. By refreshing it daily, he could learn about countless hidden opportunities and secrets within the cultivation world! [Today's intelligence has been refreshed] [White Intelligence: One month ago, the Foundation Establishment spiritual item "Profound Ice Spirit Marrow" used by the host to attempt his breakthrough contained a trace of the poison "Bone-Corrobing Spirit-Dissolving Powder".] [Purple Intelligence: Tonight during the Yin hour (3-5 AM), a wisp of "Golden Crow Primordial Flame" will overflow... If this flame is devoured, it can recast the shattered cultivation foundation, fully restore cultivation, and awaken the one-in-ten-thousand—Primordial Supreme Yang Body. [Click to view coordinates]] [Golden Intelligence: Shen Qingyue, a Golden Core elder of the Falling Cloud Sect who possesses the Nine Yin Body, suffers from backlash of cold energy every full moon night, causing her strength to plummet and excruciating pain. Grand Elder Zhao Wuji has secretly bribed Shen Qingyue's personal maid, Hongxiu, and learned the rear gate array node of the protective formation "Clouds and Mist Veiling the Sun Array". Tomorrow late at night, he intends to take advantage of Shen Qingyue's flare-up of the cold poison, when she is weak and unable to resist, to use a secret technique to refine her into a cauldron and force her into a Daoist partnership. [Click to view coordinates]] The cultivation world is a jungle where the strong prey on the weak, and human hearts are as treacherous as ghosts? Sorry, but I can read the script! From then on, relying on his informational advantage, Gu Yang proceeded step by step with careful planning. Seizing opportunities, plundering fortunes. Selling intelligence. Playing rivals against each other. Step by step, he ultimately became the Immortal Emperor!
villain is the number one simp for the book's leading female protagonist, Shen Wan'er. As expected, he later becomes a tool for the main character to show off and slap faces, ultimately meeting a tragic end with his family ruined and his life in shambles. Fortunately, he awakens the [Universal Pure Love System], which allows him to earn points by performing acts of pure love. To change his fate, Gu Yan makes a decisive choice to seek warmth and companionship with the book's biggest villain—Cold Qingqiu. ........... My name is Leng Qingqiu. To find the murderer who killed my parents years ago, I deliberately blinded myself so that everyone would lower their guard around me. Just as I was secretly accumulating power and capital according to my initial plan, a man walked into my world. "Lengleng, Qingqing, Qiuqiu, which nickname do you prefer?" I don't like any of them. You'd better leave quickly! "Why aren't you saying anything? How about I call you my baby wife?" Leng Qingqiu thinks to herself, this man is truly annoying! (Stubborn pure love warrior + single female lead + true pure love + 1v1)
