Qin Ran felt content as he used public funds to purchase spiritual herbs for himself. Saying goodbye to Elder Sun at the gate of Zhican Valley, Qin Ran, accompanied by Feng Feiyan, soared into the sky towards Dao Sword Sect.
Standing with hands behind his back on the clouds, Qin Ran observed the mountains and trees passing swiftly beneath his feet. He thought to himself, "So this is what it feels like to fly on clouds."
He listened to Feng Feiyan's gentle guiding voice and remembered the routes they had traveled. He wondered where Feng Feiyan would take him, hoping for a serene and picturesque place.
He smelled the fragrance carried by the wind from Feng Feiyan's body, while also sensing the gradual onset of toxins within himself.
His complexion darkened gradually, feeling weakness creeping over his body. He began to feel dizzy and fearful of heights, his vision blurring as he went from standing to sitting.
"Elder Jian always praised your alchemy skills," Feng Feiyan's tender voice echoed in Qin Ran's ears. "But now, it seems he may have been mistaken."
Qin Ran, weakened by the poison, slowly turned to look at Feng Feiyan.
She stood gracefully on the edge of the clouds, her figure elegant and her temperament gentle and knowledgeable. Against the backdrop of the blue sky and white clouds, with mountains and water in the distance, her hair floated lightly, making her appear unparalleled in beauty.
"You see, you are already poisoned, yet you are unaware. Doesn't this show how lacking your alchemy skills are?" Feng Feiyan's affectionate gaze met Qin Ran's, making him feel as though she were his sister or lover.
As the poison reached its peak, Qin Ran felt extremely weak.
He smiled and asked Feng Feiyan, "Throughout my past lives to this one, I've never quite understood Stockholm syndrome. Now that I'm near death, can you enlighten me?"
"What syndrome?" Feng Feiyan didn't catch it clearly. She smiled gently and said, "Qin Sect Leader, whatever you ask, I will do my best to answer."
"In simple terms, it's a strange feeling that occurs between the victim and the abuser," Qin Ran softly explained.
"Applied to you and Elder Jian, it's like you are Elder Jian's cauldron, where the finest essence of cultivation is extracted until nothing is left. Your entire cultivation is for Elder Jian's benefit, your perfect body exists solely to satisfy his desires. In every way, you are exploited by Elder Jian. So, I can't understand why you still respect him so much, even willing to risk your life for revenge?"
Upon hearing Qin Ran's words, Feng Feiyan was momentarily stunned. She hadn't expected Qin Ran to bring this up on the brink of death.
After a while, she replied, "Elder Jian guided me onto the path of cultivation, he is like my foster parent in this life. Everything I have is given by Elder Jian. Elder Jian only wants my body... and I willingly give it, longing for it."
Seeing the infatuation and love in Feng Feiyan's eyes, Qin Ran shook his head, still unable to comprehend. But he had a vague idea that Feng Feiyan was too naive and had been manipulated by Elder Jian far too early in life.
Seeing that he remained silent, Feng Feiyan pressed on with her inquiry, "You seem to understand everything. So, you must know where Elder Jian is, right? Is Elder Jian still alive? Is he?"
Qin Ran met her increasingly urgent gaze, a smile playing on his darkened face. "Elder Jian was killed by my own hands. Reduced to mere ashes, his soul scattered. I did everything in my power to ensure there was no chance of his survival."
In an instant, disbelief and resentment flashed in Feng Feiyan's eyes. She stared at Qin Ran and exclaimed, "Impossible! How could you possibly be a match for Elder Jian?"
"Unfortunately, I couldn't let you witness his demise..." Qin Ran apologized sincerely, "I'm sorry."
"Ahh..." Feng Feiyan's eyes were now filled only with resentment and fierceness, devoid of any trace of tenderness or intelligence. She lunged at Qin Ran like a vengeful spirit.
Qin Ran, weakened and unable to dodge, had half of his head torn open by her claw.
As half of his brain rolled down into the clouds, the other half still attached to his neck, he spoke with his mouth, "In fact, you're a spy from Zhican Valley. I've known all along; your messages to Elder Sun, your attempt to poison me, it's all clear to me. But can you guess why I didn't expose you?"
After the attack, Feng Feiyan's anger subsided slightly, and some rationality returned. She held some nauseating concoction in her hand as she questioned Qin Ran, "Why?"
"Because I pity you," Qin Ran said, and a misty haze began to form around his half-head, gradually filling it back in.
The cloud carriage had stopped at some point unknown. Feng Feiyan looked at Qin Ran, wiped her hands with a handkerchief, and resumed her gentle and intelligent demeanor, replying, "I'm not pitiable; I'm fine. Killing you avenges Elder Jian, and then I'll be free, a cultivator who has resolved all karma."
Hearing approaching footsteps, she smiled softly, her smile tender and captivating. "The pitiable one is you. A prestigious elder, but you lost your life just going out to buy alchemy ingredients."
Qin Ran looked around at the dozen or so cultivators surrounding them with swords, spears, knives, and strange artifacts. Men and women, all different. They were likely members of some rogue cultivator organization, or perhaps disguised as such.
"I'll return to Dao Sword Sect, wounded and claiming to have been ambushed by rogue cultivators. Elder Qin, unfortunately, died in battle, but I was fortunate enough to escape under his protection," Feng Feiyan said softly.
"For the sake of reputation, Dao Sword Sect will seek revenge against this non-existent rogue organization. For your sake, your disciples will seek vengeance, and perhaps one day, one of them will die in a reckless battle. Afterwards, Dan Peak will vanish from history, and eventually, Zhican Valley's plan will succeed, and Dao Sword Sect will disappear from the annals of history."
"Before you plotted to kill me, did you know what I excel at?" Qin Ran looked at the "rogues" surrounding them above and below, asking Feng Feiyan.
"What?" Feng Feiyan only knew Qin Ran as a reclusive alchemist.
"First, I excel in alchemy..." Qin Ran replied self-assuredly to Feng Feiyan, "Quite proficient, especially in pharmacology. I'm so skilled that if you were to poison me, I'd be well aware; but if I were to poison you, no one would know."
Upon hearing this, Feng Feiyan's expression changed slightly. She examined herself from head to toe but found nothing amiss.
"Second, I excel in formations, even more than in alchemy..." Qin Ran unclasped the Universe Bag from his waist and continued, "So far, my greatest research achievement is integrating formations into alchemy."
Following Qin Ran's movements, Feng Feiyan looked towards his waist.
"Just a Universe Bag?" she raised a finely arched eyebrow, thinking, "Shouldn't there be two Universe Bags, one for personal use and one for temporarily storing pills?"
"Third, I excel in escape techniques, surpassing even my proficiency in formations..."
Qin Ran finished speaking, then suddenly vanished... or not vanished, he was still sitting cross-legged on a white cloud.
"Fourth..." he sighed with a look in his eyes that Feng Feiyan couldn't comprehend, a sentiment of attachment to the world, "I excel at surviving, a combination of the three skills mentioned earlier."
Feng Feiyan recognized that gaze, an attachment to life. Although she didn't understand, she sensed danger and shouted, "Run!"
But as she turned around, she realized her plump thighs had lost movement at some point. It was then that she realized she was poisoned.
Standing frozen, she felt her body gradually stiffen and turn cold. She saw the Universe Bag Qin Ran held slowly exploding...
At the moment of death, it seemed like her eyes had a slow-motion capability. She saw red flames mixed with black mist tearing the Universe Bag apart. Black and red emerged, shockwaves shredded Qin Ran, flames turned him into ashes, and black mist transformed him into dark vapor...
Helplessly, she watched as the flames and mist swept towards her.
Even in death, she couldn't fathom, "Why would Qin Ran do this?"
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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'!"
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!
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.
] [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!"
