Long Zaitian looked at the man threatening him with an unpleasant expression.
The other party showed no signs of cultivated power, clearly just an ordinary person.
Although his family background was the Gu family, the most powerful in Jianghai City, at most he was just a lackey infatuated with Shen Wan'er.
He shouldn't have posed any threat, so why...
"You've hidden yourself quite deeply, young master Gu."
Long Zaitian gave a forced smile as he looked at the grinning Gu Yan in front of him. He had to admit he had fallen for it.
Who could have imagined that while he was discussing business with his partner, this Gu family heir they had once considered useless would suddenly barge in with his men?
And before Tian Fang could even act, he was knocked unconscious by one strike from the expert accompanying Gu Yan.
Gu Yan stepped on Tian Fang's body, relaxing back on the sofa. His eyes were full of mockery as he looked at Long Zaitian: "Long Zaitian, you're no different."
"Who would have thought that the adopted son of the mighty King of Hell Palace's master would collude with such lowly dark cultivators?"
Hearing this, Long Zaitian's eyes focused. So he really did know...
He gritted his teeth. Damn it, how did it turn out like this?
How did the other party uncover any clues? Even those official martial artists hadn't been able to investigate anything.
He thought he had been discreet enough.
Damn it, Gu Yan was just an ordinary person. At this distance, he was confident he could kill him with one strike.
But...
He glanced at Old Gao standing ready to act nearby, and his heart sank.
From his previous investigations, this old man from the Gu family was likely an expert close to the Grandmaster level.
His adoptive father wasn't here now, and all the death squads were protecting him.
In other words, it was impossible for him to kill Gu Yan in front of an expert close to the Grandmaster level.
Even if he could kill him, it would certainly be a life for a life.
But he still had great ambitions and ideals, so how could he throw his life away?
Damn it.
Now he couldn't win in a fight, so did he have no choice but to listen to this guy?
Long Zaitian clenched his fists tightly, his mind racing.
Finally, as if resigned to his fate, he stared hard at Gu Yan: "What exactly do you want to do?"
Seeing Long Zaitian's resigned look, Gu Yan smiled: "It's very simple."
He pointed at Long Zaitian: "I want you to form a cooperative relationship with me."
?
Long Zaitian's expression froze in confusion. He didn't quite understand: "What kind of cooperation are you talking about? If it's business cooperation, our Yan Xing Group is already partners with your Gu family."
However, Gu Yan shook his head: "Not the Yan Xing Group, but the King of Hell Palace."
King of Hell Palace...
Long Zaitian's heart sank. The King of Hell Palace involved martial artists.
What did the other party want to do?
Gu Yan smiled without speaking, waiting for the other's response.
In fact, he had considered many aspects, because according to the original plot, Long Zaitian didn't even survive for more than a few chapters.
The reason was that he was discovered colluding with dark cultivators by Yan Huang, who killed him in a fit of rage.
The King of Hell Palace thus escaped the crisis of being surrounded and suppressed by the Martial Arts Department.
So when he learned that today's banquet was to announce Long Zaitian as the next heir of the Yan Xing Group.
Gu Yan had a bad feeling, especially when he realized that Leng Ling'er, who should have died, hadn't died, so Leng Qingqiu couldn't use Leng Ling'er's death to turn dark and become the strongest in this world.
It could be said that the plot started to go wrong from the moment Leng Ling'er didn't die.
Shen Wan'er even came to him crying, asking if they could go back to how things were before.
Gu Yan got a headache just thinking about these anomalies in the plot, so in order to salvage some of the original storyline.
So he chose to directly confront Long Zaitian, and as for why he would do this.
That was because after thinking for a long time, he came to a conclusion, just a guess, but most likely this was the situation.
——————In the original story, Yan Huang didn't die, because Leng Qingqiu's ability helped extend his life.
——————Which means that without Leng Qingqiu's help now, Yan Huang would surely die, and today's banquet would announce Long Zaitian becoming the heir.
So, what needed to be done now was to find Long Zaitian and bring him under control.
The reason for doing this wasn't for anything else, it was just that Gu Yan thought, what if like in the original story, the world's corrective force forcibly made the King of Hell Palace go cause trouble for the protagonist.
The result would be getting taken out by the protagonist instead, giving him a chance to level up, which would be a losing proposition.
After all, Gu Yan wasn't sure when Leng Qingqiu would recover to her original power level from the novel, so he didn't dare to gamble.
In other words, the best option now was to bide their time and accumulate strength, waiting for the right moment when everyone could attack together to completely eliminate the protagonist Xiao Lin!
And because of this, Gu Yan thought of an even more reliable way to keep the plot from deviating too much.
That was...
Because Leng Qingqiu hadn't turned dark yet, to prevent those villainous forces from the original story from causing trouble by coming to find her.
So...
They might as well just recruit them directly.
This was Gu Yan's idea, to simply take control of those villainous subordinates who originally belonged to Leng Qingqiu in the novel.
Then he would gather these villains into one group, waiting for the final moment to act together!
Surrounding and attacking the protagonist Xiao Lin! Taking him out in one go!
Gu Yan thought this plan was perfect.
Time passed second by second.
Long Zaitian looked at Gu Yan, took a deep breath and said: "Fine, I agree to your demands."
"Since you've come to find me directly and proposed cooperation."
"You must also know that, yes, my adoptive father is going to announce me as the heir to the Yan Xing Group today."
As he said this, Long Zaitian's expression was very complex.
His adoptive father trusted him implicitly, but he had grown old.
He could no longer make decisions on many things, so weak, so timid and afraid.
Even with the vast power of the King of Hell Palace, they could only stay cooped up in this Jianghai City.
It's not that Jianghai wasn't big enough, it was just that Long Zaitian had greater ambitions. He wanted the King of Hell Palace to unify the world!
And Tian Fang was the key to accomplishing this! As long as Tian Fang's secret technique was completed, their King of Hell Palace's overall strength would reach a terrifying level!!
Hearing Long Zaitian's words, Gu Yan nodded: "If that's the case, then I'll take this person away first. I'll come find you again after you succeed to the position."
Gu Yan stood up. Under Long Zaitian's bewildered expression, Old Gao walked over and waved his right hand.
A burst of true qi quickly lifted Tian Fang's unconscious body into the air.
Seeing this, Long Zaitian suddenly became anxious. He stood up: "Wait! I've already agreed to your terms, why are you still taking him away?"
Hearing this, Gu Yan looked at him like he was an idiot: "Idiot, if I leave him with you, how am I supposed to threaten you?"
So direct?
At these words, Long Zaitian was dumbfounded.
He reached out his hand: "Wait..."
But the words died in his throat.
His mind raced through many thoughts in an instant, but in the end he sat down helplessly.
Covering his face.
Why did it turn out like this?

ose... to cooperate with the protagonist! Shen Yuan: I have a system! Protagonist: What? System: Holy crap, you're just spilling it out like that? Shen Yuan: Let's team up, we'll split the system rewards! Protagonist: Fifty-fifty split? Shen Yuan: No way! Protagonist: What!? I'm the one getting beaten up, and I don't get half? Shen Yuan: Forty-sixty split, I get forty, you get sixty! Protagonist: Deal! Big brother, come on, hit me! As long as it doesn't kill me, beat me like you mean it! Shen Yuan: Don't worry... I will definitely protect all of you! No one but me can lay a finger on you! Guard our Heaven's Chosen Ones! I'm the only one allowed to bully them!

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)

lities. One day, Qi Yuan was buying groceries when he unfortunately came face-to-face with a monster. Just when he thought he was going to die on the spot, he suddenly heard the monster's thoughts... "This aura, he's definitely not an ordinary master!" "So terrifying, so terrifying." "A fight with my back against the wall, I can't take it anymore." Qi Yuan: Ah, no one told me that my awakened ability isn't telepathy, but rather the stronger my enemies imagine me to be, the stronger I truly become. PS: Zhou Hai in the first chapter is not the protagonist.

] [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!"