“What’s going on? I’m a dignified Foundation Establishment cultivator, and I actually got knocked out by some drug??”
Su Bai’s eyes widened.
He hadn’t even taken more than a bite of the melon in his hand before it slipped from his fingers and fell onto the bed.
‘How did I suddenly get drugged??’
‘I’m a Foundation Establishment cultivator, for heaven’s sake!’
“This simulator must be bugged.”
He was just getting into the groove of switching between two perspectives, raising his little pet steadily, and progressing smoothly through the first playthrough.
But then the moment he went down the mountain to find a cultivation technique, he got drugged.
His enjoyable dual-viewpoint gameplay instantly turned into a boring single-viewpoint one.
This game experience was seriously disappointing!
Grumbling inwardly, Su Bai temporarily put the simulator aside, cleaned up the leftover watermelon from the bed, tossed it in the trash bin, and left his room.
***
“Boss, one egg-stuffed pancake, the usual—double egg, and a glass of iced soy milk.”
He walked into a street-side pancake shop, paid for his order, took his pancake and soy milk, and casually found a seat.
With nothing better to do, he pulled up the school forum on his phone to kill some time.
[Predicted Top 10 Rankings from Our School’s Gaokao Scores…]
[Looking for Summer Job Recommendations…]
[Anyone know what happened to that fox-eared maid from the school maid café…]
[Shocking! Why did the school tyrant skip all his classes this semester? The reason is…]
‘Tsk~’
The school forum had always been lively before the Gaokao, and now it was even more chaotic afterward.
All kinds of gossip and unverified rumors popped up endlessly, and Su Bai’s gossip-loving soul was instantly ignited.
After surfing the forum for a while, finishing his pancake, and downing his iced soy milk, Su Bai returned home.
Just as he walked through the door, he saw his mother on the phone.
From the sound of it, she was talking to his father, who worked as a civil servant.
Once the call ended, Su Bai curiously walked over.
“Mom, what were you talking to Dad about?”
“Just got word—your dad’s boss got arrested.”
“What did he do?”
“Corruption.”
“What about Dad?”
“He’s now the acting leader.”
Su Bai: …
He vaguely remembered that since his dad took this post, not counting the current one, three previous leaders had already been sent away.
With this new addition, they could now put together a full mahjong table.
“Your dad won’t be home for dinner tonight. He said he’s taking some people from work to discuss future plans—but really, he’s just hosting a dinner. You know how it is—new boss, new momentum.” Su Bai’s mother seemed to sense his concern and reached out to ruffle his hair.
“Don’t worry, your dad still has some integrity. He wouldn’t get involved in that kind of thing.”
She paused, then added, “Later, I’m going to talk to your grandfather. See if we can get your dad transferred to a more reliable position. After all, he’s in charge of the city’s economy right now, and I really don’t feel at ease with that.”
***
Back in his bedroom, Su Bai lay on the bed.
He, Su Bai, was a second-generation official. More accurately, a fourth-generation official.
Starting from his great-grandfather, four generations of his family had served the Federation.
According to his parents’ plan, after graduating from college, he would take the civil service exam, spend a few years in the countryside gaining experience, and then slowly rise through the ranks.
Su Bai didn’t particularly like this arrangement, but he didn’t exactly hate it either.
After all, just by taking this path, he was already starting far ahead of most people.
‘What reason did he have to complain?’
He tossed and turned on the bed for a bit, then scrolled through some short videos.
At one point, catching a glimpse of his reflection on the phone screen, he froze.
“Why do I look paler?”
Pinching his cheek, he mumbled to himself, then reached over to turn on the bedside lamp and grabbed the mirror from his nightstand.
The young man in the mirror had a fair complexion, delicate features, and a well-defined nose that gave him a refined and handsome appearance.
Compared to before, he looked a bit more gentle and scholarly.
But what really stood out was his skin—smooth, soft, and almost porcelain-like.
When he pinched it, it even turned a faint shade of pink.
Su Bai: ???
‘Could it be that I’ve been lying around at home for too long? Have I become a kept pretty boy now??’
‘Whatever. It’s nothing serious anyway.’
With that thought, Su Bai refocused his attention on his phone.
Simulator, activate!
***
[You don’t know how much time has passed. A sudden external force stirs you awake. The moment you open your eyes, you see a familiar face—your little pet.]
[You glance around and notice the surroundings: a dimly lit room filled with thousands of unconscious men and women. They’re tied up, sprawled everywhere, stacked atop one another.]
[You try to say something to your little pet, who’s looking at you with curious black eyes, but instead feel a dull pain on the left side of your face.]
Su Xiaohei never expected that following Senior Brother Bai on a mission to investigate demonic cultivators would lead them to a bandit hideout, where they not only discovered thousands of unconscious victims, but also found his own mother among them.
‘But why was his mother here? Wasn’t she a Foundation Establishment cultivator? How could she have been rendered unconscious too?’
His small head swirled with big questions!
However, this wasn’t the time for distractions.
Just as Su Xiaohei was about to untie Su Bai’s ropes, he watched in shock as the ropes slipped off on their own.
The next moment, Su Bai stood up, flicked his wrist, and Su Xiaohei was suddenly lifted into the air, caught like a small puppy by the scruff of his neck.
Those sharp black eyes locked onto him.
The combined pressure of facing both his mother and master in one person made Su Xiaohei gulp hard.
His heart pounded anxiously.
He had always imagined that when he returned to the sect and saw his mother and master again, he’d run into their arms and act spoiled like he did as a child, crying out for peach blossom soup.
But now, he just felt like he’d done something wrong—nervous and uncertain of what to say.
“Speak,” Su Bai said calmly.
“Mother, it’s like this…” Su Xiaohei quickly explained how he had received reports of mass disappearances in the city, traced them back to signs of demonic cultivators, and followed the trail all the way to this mountain hideout.
Then, as if suddenly remembering something, he hastily added, “Master, Mother—Senior Brother Bai and the others are still fighting outside. We need to go help them!”
“It’s too late,” Su Bai shook his head.
Su Xiaohei was confused.
Just then, an overwhelming surge of spiritual power exploded in the air, tearing it apart.
The force struck the wooden beams above, shattering them instantly.
Violent gusts of wind followed, sharp as blades, slashing across their faces.
A crushing pressure enveloped the area, as if a massive mountain had dropped from the sky, making it hard to even breathe.
“Trash!”
A stream of blood-red light descended from the sky!
Outside, the demon cultivators battling Bai Jiuyi and the fallen mountain bandits all suddenly showed a growing red thread in their eyes.
It spread like the tendrils of a demon, curling outward.
Before long, their bodies shriveled, as if all life had been drained from them.
One by one, they turned into dried husks.
Streams of glowing red light burst from the corpses like living things and flew into the descending blood-red glow.
Eventually, all of them gathered into an exquisite crimson robe that cloaked the figure within the light.
Hearing the voice, Su Bai’s eyes flickered with a strange emotion.
Bai Jiuyi and the others stared at the figure in shock and pale fear.
Bai Jiuyi even took a few involuntary steps back.
His voice was dry and hoarse as he forced out two heavy words: “Foundation Establishment.”
Those two words carried immense weight, pressing down on everyone present with unbearable pressure.
“Junior Brother Fang?”
At that moment, a cold male voice sounded from behind.
Everyone looked up and saw a graceful young man in a pale moon-white robe walking toward them.
His face was striking and refined, expression aloof.
His eyes were sharp and cold like twin swords, too piercing to meet directly.
He had a tall, lean figure, and his black robe perfectly outlined his elegant frame.
The blood-robed figure visibly trembled when he saw the man.
The faint red glow around his face dissipated, revealing his true appearance.
His features were sharp and dignified, somewhat above average in looks.
But it was his deep, dark eyes that stood out the most—they seemed to hold the most complex emotions in the world.
It was Fang Xiu!
Su Bai noticed the thick, foul red aura of decay coiling around Fang Xiu’s spiritual light.
The sight was almost nauseating.
Her brow furrowed.
“You’ve fallen to demonic cultivation?”