My Golden Core is a Star, do you call this cultivating?

Qi Yuan noted the invitation.

However, a demon-slaying assembly three hundred years later? How could he possibly wait that long? In three hundred years, even the Qing Dynasty would have perished, right?

He no longer paid attention to it and logged off swiftly.

As the annoying wooden cat puppet meowed incessantly once again, Qi Yuan did not toss a small wooden fish into its mouth this time.

He got up, patted the wooden cat puppet's head, and looked at the beautiful morning light outside. “The best plan of the day lies in the morning!”

He invigorated himself, and his gaze fell into his storage bag.

When he saw the pile of books and jade slips of martial arts techniques, his face immediately fell.

“Coming to another world, and still having to work 996!”

In the Black Mountain Sect, Qi Yuan had exerted great effort to empty the library and acquire the jade slips of martial arts techniques.

For Qi Yuan, martial arts techniques were the most important things.

After all, most of the martial arts techniques in this world were not suitable for him.

He needed to read other books, use the information his eyes absorbed to accumulate knowledge, and ultimately perfect his own martial arts techniques.

Last time, using the jade slips of martial arts techniques from his junior sister Jiang Lingsu, with more than 600 techniques, Qi Yuan had spent two days roughly going through them.

Now, the number of techniques he had to read far exceeded 600, and books were much harder to absorb than jade slips.

Moreover, last time, it was just techniques for the Qi Refining stage, which he could glance over quickly. Now, to perfect techniques for the Foundation Establishment stage, he had to read them carefully.

So many books could definitely not be read in just a month.

Qi Yuan buried himself in the books, reading them diligently.

He read with great seriousness.

Because these books were the foundation for creating his Foundation Establishment techniques.

He read the dry martial arts techniques even more attentively than advanced mathematics.

Unfortunately, he read incredibly slowly; a single book took a long time to get through, far from being like quantum reading.

“It’s better to establish the Heavenly Dao Foundation soon so that divine sense can be externalized. That way, reading won’t be so tiring.” Qi Yuan flipped through a book, thinking how useful divine sense was.

Unfortunately, it could only be externalized after reaching the Foundation Establishment stage, enabling quantum reading.

...

For several days in a row, Qi Yuan read books during the day and logged into the game at night.

With the assistance of Little Bride, Qi Yuan was now able to dominate the Yi Guan Forbidden Land.

Although he still couldn’t kill the Ugly-Clothed Emperor, with his increasing strength, he could at least injure him.

The terrifying Ugly-Clothed Emperor had no way to deal with Qi Yuan.

He could only let Qi Yuan wreak havoc in the Yi Guan Forbidden Land.

“Strong Sword Splits Skull!”

“I have no head, how can you split my skull?”

As always, Qi Yuan provided voiceovers for the clothed monsters in the Yi Guan Forbidden Land, entertaining himself and finding some amusement.

Otherwise, the tedious monster-slaying time would be too dull.

The experience bar soared.

At level eighty-nine, he wasn’t far from reaching level ninety.

Qi Yuan glanced at the approaching Ugly-Clothed Emperor from afar. “Time to leave.”

He was too lazy to fight the Ugly-Clothed Emperor, preferring to wait until he reached level ninety for a better chance.

Qi Yuan quickly exited.

He had killed enough for today. Staying online any longer would be unbearable for his mind.

After unmerging from Little Bride, Qi Yuan, as usual, dug a pit.

Suddenly, he noticed a tree with a crooked neck in the graveyard, bearing several purple fruits.

They looked like a cross between grapes and apples.

He picked some, took a bite, and the sour taste exploded on his taste buds like that of a yammy. “Not bad. Do you want to try one?”

He handed one to Little Bride.

Little Bride didn’t respond.

Qi Yuan sighed. “Without a mouth, you can’t eat or... We really have to get a divorce!”

Little Bride felt wronged, sliding out a placard that read “贴贴” (贴贴 means "stick together" or "stick closer").

Qi Yuan smiled, embraced Little Bride, and dived into the pit.

He found a comfortable position, like a salted fish lying on a bed, holding the cool Little Bride, then messaged Jin Li.

However, he glanced down at the quiet and cute Little Bride.

He was stunned for a moment.

Having a wife but chatting with a female netizen, wasn’t that considered cheating?

It seemed after the divorce, the court would definitely rule for him to compensate her.

He had nothing but a great sword.

Without thinking too much, Qi Yuan resumed his daily chat with Jin Li.

Jin Li was like a breeze by the river at night, cool and gentle, caressing one’s body like a fine drizzle.

“Any movements from Sima Ting?”
“Be careful.”

“I’m almost done sweeping the Yi Guan Forbidden Land. Maybe I can help you.”

“Goodnight, too tired, can’t stay up playing games anymore, have to get up early to read books.”

Seeing these messages, Jin Li, dressed in a gauzy robe, replied, “Goodnight.”

At this moment, her face was clouded with worry.

A few days ago, an imperial-level expert from the Chancellor’s Mansion had died mysteriously.

For Jin Li, this should have been good news, but she couldn’t feel happy at all.

Sima Ting and she maintained a delicate balance.

Now, with the death of an imperial-level expert, Sima Ting might no longer care about appearances and legitimacy and could forcibly stage a coup.

Recently, the military movements of the Southern Qian Kingdom had been extremely frequent.

Jin Li could already feel the murderous aura of the army pervading the capital.

And all she could rely on was merely a thousand Imperial Guards.

The royal authority had been shelved twenty years ago.

Now, how could she turn the tide?

Exhausted and filled with intense drowsiness, Jin Li gradually fell asleep.

What she didn’t know was that a major event was being plotted in the Chancellor’s Mansion at that very moment.

The once arrogant and noble Chancellor Sima Ting was now like a hound, hunched over.

Beside him were two people, one fat and one thin.

The fat one was a great demon Sima Ting was most unwilling to meet.

Years ago, when he rose to power, he had borrowed the strength of this great demon.

This was his weakness.

The thin one was an imperial-level expert from the Heavenly Fate Holy Sect.

He hadn’t expected the two to be in collusion.

And now, the two most powerful forces in this world had set their sights on the Southern Qian Kingdom.

The pressure fell on him.

The thin imperial-level expert squinted his eyes. “Sima Ting, they are merely some mortal soldiers. Why the hesitation? This will be a great merit for you. In three years, when the Holy Lord’s plan succeeds, you can choose any of these dozens of countries.”

The demon imperial-level expert then laughed heartily. “To accomplish great things, one cannot be petty.”

A few days ago, they, the demon clan, cooperated with a stand-in for the Heavenly Fate Holy Lord to assassinate the true Heavenly Fate Holy Lord.

As a price, the Heavenly Fate Holy Sect had ceded the Southern Qian Kingdom to the demon clan.

Now, this demon imperial-level expert had brought the supreme royal order to serve as the vanguard.

The vanguard was simple: weaken the military forces of the Southern Qian Kingdom and forge a supreme imperial weapon—the Bloodless Imperial Staff.

The creation of this staff required extremely harsh conditions.

Thus, he connected with the Heavenly Fate Holy Sect to pressure Sima Ting.

They needed Sima Ting to mobilize his troops into the capital.

Set up a grand formation, accumulate the murderous aura of the military, and then massacre the city to saturate it with blood, finally forging the supreme imperial weapon, the Bloodless Imperial Staff.

All this required was Sima Ting’s foundation—his army and the entire capital of the Southern Qian Kingdom.

Sima Ting wanted to oppose it, but facing the two most powerful forces in this world, he could only submit.

His life was now in their hands.

Hearing the imperial-level expert from the Heavenly Fate Holy Sect offer some benefits, he could only swallow his resentment.

“Everything is as the lords command. The troops are already slowly entering the city.”

Previously, Sima Ting had deployed his troops outside the capital city.

Now, it was just a matter of letting these troops enter the city, which would be swift.

“Sima Ting, very good, ambitious, knowing when to advance and retreat. The Heavenly Fate Holy Sect will not treat you poorly.” The thin imperial-level expert patted Sima Ting’s shoulder, very satisfied. “Once this is done, you’ll have a plaque as a hall elder. In the Heavenly Fate Holy Sect, your status won’t be lower than mine.”

Sima Ting was delighted to hear this.

That was what he longed for.

With the plaque of a hall elder, he would be a player looking down on a dozen countries.

Not a pawn, despite having strong power, but still at the mercy of others.

“Thank you, my lord!”

The demon imperial-level expert then grinned broadly. “I heard the female emperor of the Southern Qian Kingdom is a stunning beauty.

I’ve always loved collecting wine vessels. When the capital falls, leave the head of that female emperor for me. The head of a beauty, especially a female emperor, would make the wine taste exquisite, most fitting.”

Sima Ting shuddered at these words but still nodded in agreement. “Alright!”