MTL - Sonata: Fleeing to Avoid an Arranged Marriage - ~ 27 | 20.19.30

Anton is a great-grandfather. He is living quite a happy life, despite his advanced age and declining health… until a group of cultivator bandits moves into the area. The nearby guardians of the area, the Order of Ninety-Nine Stars, are unable to track them down as they continue to ravage nearby towns. During one desperate winter Anton is out on a hunt when his family- his entire village- is killed or taken as slaves by the bandits. He lacks the strength to fight them, and he wasn’t even present for their arrival to die with his loved ones. At the pit of his despair, he wonders if he ever had any chance to change things. What could he even do? He cannot even pull his best bow, and his eyesight is failing. If he had been a cultivator… perhaps there might have been a chance, but he was decades- perhaps even most of his life- too late.Participant in the Royal Road Writathon challenge (2022)Notes on cultivation levels:There are five general stages of cultivation, though the fifth is extremely rare. Each cultivation style might have their own name for the stages.1. Body Tempering2. Spirit Building/ occasionally System Creation (Ninety-Nine Stars)3. Constellation Formation (Ninety-Nine Stars)4. Life Transformation/Galaxy Construction (Ninety-Nine Stars)5. Ascension

The Demon Empire in the universe was reborn and came back! Enemies should kneel down in front of him! Beauties should lie down in front of him!

“I am a demon. I enslave gods and immortals! If you don’t succumb to me, I will convince you by force!”–Ye Feng!

- Description from Novelupdates

It was a dangerous era. Extraterritorial ferocious beasts occupied 90% of the living space in the world, while humans could only survive in a small space. Fortunately, some of the surviving humans awakened to genetic martial arts! Breaking the shackles of one’s genetics was the foundation of cultivating martial arts. Lin Feng, who was born with congenital disease, could not experience a breakthrough. However, by some fateful encounter, he awakened to the ability to merge genes.

In a world ravaged by radiation and the remnants of war, Dylan is far from a classic hero. A lieutenant with a tainted past, he's just trying to survive the ruins of a dying world... until the day he wakes up bound and surrounded by the mutilated corpses of his comrades.Captured by monstrous creatures, he soon realizes he’s been transported to another world. A world far more dangerous, far more brutal—where only the strong survive, and even monsters are hunted. Saved in extremis by Maggie, his commanding officer, he begins a desperate escape. Their only hope may lie in their encounter with Élisa, an elf abandoned by her kin, and their discovery of a mysterious power: anima gems—stones imbued with spiritual essence that can enhance body and soul, and unlock the path to awakening.No One under 18 admitted