Volume One, Chapter 21: I Don’t Want to Drag You Into This

The thunderous roar made Zhu Lizhen quickly pull the phone away, holding it an arm's length from her ear.

As a result, it moved closer to Su Qiuyu.

Zhu Pingxi was ranting and cursing, while Su Qiuyu, biting into her sandwich, listened in a daze.

When Zhu Pingxi finally stopped, exhausted from her tirade, Zhu Lizhen shouted into the phone, "You pathetic little nobody, you pathetic little nobody, you pathetic little nobody!"

She hung up immediately after the insult, then blocked her grandmother’s number.

Su Qiuyu blinked her bright, dark eyes, snapped the bite of the sandwich clean off, and chewed slowly.

Zhu Lizhen sighed, "Sigh, family shame."

Su Qiuyu replied, "It's fine. We’re all family here; it hasn’t leaked to outsiders."

Zhu Lizhen’s face instantly lit up with joy.

...

Soon after, she quickly regained her composure. She remembered this face; she had seen it in Cheng Jin’s office before. Yes, it was definitely Cheng Jin’s office.

Did he think that by asking this in front of Jin Zhentao, he would be too embarrassed to refuse, and the funding would be granted?

"Then, if I say you aren't allowed to yell at me in the future, can you do that?" Mo Ran asked tentatively.

"Dad, you are so heartless to dismiss Mom’s thirty years of devotion with a single sentence." Jin Shirou left these words behind and ran off, her eyes red.

Tao Wanbai felt uneasy under his gaze, so she turned to the wardrobe and opened the door to block his view.

Ruhua began to understand. It seemed the root of this matter wasn't really the Wu family trying to cause trouble for her, but rather the unwanted romantic entanglement brought on by this man, Xi Mohuan. They were just creating problems for her.

Fujiwara Ichiro had originally broken through to the Hua Jin realm thanks to the Dragon Blood Jade Dew. But as his cultivation level rose, the dew’s effectiveness diminished; otherwise, he wouldn't have used it to lure Xiao Tao into the competition.

Mo Ran closed her eyes. Fan Li had previously given her the score for the Yin-Yang Flute. Now, combined with the incantations for the Hidden Sound Four-String Ring, she finally understood what "Hidden Sound" meant. It clearly referred to an opening and closing motion, and only when the two were used in tandem could they be considered complete.

The imperial family is the most heartless of all. The Xu family is nothing more than merchants—even with the title of "Imperial Merchant," they are still considered low-class. Even if the Empress and the Crown Prince were "soft-hearted," they wouldn't waste their influence on ants like you.

*Creak.* The door opened, and an old man appeared before Ye Tian. "Are you Ye Tian?" the old man asked, looking at him with suspicion.

Fu Rongyue lunged forward to hug Fu Rongyu, sobbing loudly. Had Fu Rongyu not seen her coming and stepped a few paces to the side, away from the staircase, both sisters would likely have tumbled down the stairs together.

If not for Lu Ya’s identity as one of the princes of the ancient Heavenly Court, he would never have known about the ancient demonic path. Within the Three Realms today, there are likely few left who still know of the ancient demonic path or the Demon Lord Luo Hou.

Fine, she shouldn't trust the white-clad man’s taste—no, she shouldn't trust his values. She would definitely take whatever "treasure" he spoke of with a grain of salt.

Although Ye Yadan hadn't caused any trouble at the base, and there was no policy of collective punishment, her fervent pursuit of Fu Yiqi had been an eyesore to Kong Guoxuan and Liu Ruxiao. The two of them had conspired to get her kicked out.

"I’m serious this time about learning to cook. Although the taste isn't great, I’ve improved a lot. I bought a cookbook a while ago and have been cooking while following it, but the results don't seem ideal," Ye Xun said.

At 11:11 AM, a staff member holding a microphone walked out from the lounge behind the stage and slowly moved to the center.

Afterward, Xu Shilin, along with his uncle, aunt, Bilian, and Baoshan, went to the Leifeng Pagoda to share the good news of his success in the imperial examinations with his mother.

The structure of the world has changed. The divine throne no longer exists, and traveling from the Xuanli Continent to Earth consumed a vast amount of energy from the Ancient Cang Temple; it can no longer drift between the fissures of time and space.

Calling it land was a stretch; it was essentially a massive cavern—a huge, natural subterranean cave.

Yu Hong looked carefully. Some amounts were a penny or a few cents, while others were a dime or twenty cents. One person had received the most: thirty-six cents, with the words "Best Luck" marked below it.

Tian Xuanyan’s face was pressed into the sink, and the sensation of suffocation hit her instantly. She could only let out muffled, resistant whimpers.

Everyone was wondering if they would be implicated, guessing that the Emperor’s stance meant he was playing for keeps. For a moment, the officials were incredibly tense, and some with weaker nerves fainted on the spot.

Ever since the rebellion of the feudal lords, he had been able to force the rebels to surrender without using a single soldier.

Although the world where the end of the game meant death had ended two years ago, the habits and sensations remained. Lilan kept her shoulders tensed, feeling as if she were still in the world of the death game.

Seeing Qiu Zhizhi reminded Yun Ran of Yan Zhemin. Even though they were both from the Qiu family, their temperaments were completely different.

Being able to change the environment around their city was enough to make them uncontrollably excited and teary-eyed.

Zhu Gaoyu, who was in the middle of writing the plan for the Grand International Ceremony, saw that Zhang An hadn't left yet after finishing his report and gave him a puzzled look.

Of course, they had another option: to take advantage of their familiarity with the terrain and just run for their lives.

Xiao Doudou hid in a shipping container, not even daring to go out. She was truly terrible at gunfights, and she had no idea what Qu Sunrui was thinking, jumping into the nightmarish G-Port. She had grievances she couldn't voice.

After bowing to the old master, they returned to their respective offices, preparing to summon their staff and work through the night.

Zhuang Xun turned slowly to see a scholarly young man. He was handsome, gentle, and refined, with bright, piercing eyes. He was currently lying on the sea of flowers with his hands behind his head, smiling as he looked at him.

Her fair skin shimmered with a rosy glow, emitting a holy aura. It was flawless, translucent, and breathtakingly beautiful.

So, there was a mechanism after all. And this mechanism... thinking of this, Qing Wu looked up again at the zodiac star map overhead; it certainly had to be related to it.

However, he was ultimately defeated. His prayer beads scattered as he fell from the sky, struck by a palm from the First Emperor, and collapsed to the ground, losing his life.

Ye Yunjing acknowledged the order and hurried out of the Golden Throne Hall. A while later, he was seen walking back in with a Taoist priest who possessed an otherworldly air. That priest was none other than Xiang Wuji, the master of the Xuanzun Manor.