StarCraft: Lord of the Empire - Chapter 18: Baptism by Fire

Shen Yansheng always thought that she didn’t like Lu Jingce until one day she heard that a certain group boss intended to marry his daughter to Lu Jingce. She was so angry that she couldn’t eat anything that night and locked herself in the room after returning home. When Lu Jingce came back in the evening, he took the key from the study, opened the door and entered her bedroom. He sat beside the bed, leaned over and kissed her to wake her from her sleep. She looked at him angrily, but he smiled happily and asked, “Jealous?”

Shen Yansheng and Lu Jingce have been falling in love all the time, mainly because she hadn’t figured out how to explain their relationship to her parents, which caused her parents to always think she was single, so they took the initiative to trick her into going on a blind date. But someone happened to have a dinner in that restaurant that day, and saw her and her blind date sitting at a table for dinner from a distance. She felt a gaze looking at her from behind, and when she turned her head, she met someone’s handsome face that was half-smiling. That night, as soon as Shen Yansheng came home, she threw herself on someone, raised her hand and swore, “I can explain it!” Someone still had that half-smile and pinched her cheek, “The explanation is invalid.”

- Description from Novelupdates

“According to prophecy and scientific calculations, the entire world will see temperatures drop to minus forty degrees within three years, and even the earth's core will be frozen within three hundred years.”“What should we do?”“Gather all our strength, build a shelter together with unwavering unity. In the face of disaster, we must stand united, and everyone needs to do whatever they can to ensure a future for humanity!”“But what if someone refuses to work and just wants to eat and be lazy?”“Then let them die! Activate the alchemy golems and large robots, we do not support idlers!”Set in a scenario similar to Frostpunk, with fantasy elements and a steampunk background, viewer discretion is advised.

Lu Shang picked up a dirty teenager while discussing work at a bar. It was merely happenstance, but memories from ten years ago resurfaced when he saw the gunshot scars on the teenager’s back.

Lu Shang asked him, “What is your name?”

“Xiao Li… My surname is Li, so they all called me Xiao Li.”

“You don’t have a name?”

“I don’t remember.”

Lu Shang said, “Then I will call you Li Sui. From now on, you will be with me.”

From that day onward, a young “lover” was always by Lu Shang’s side.

Years later, Dr. Leung teased Lu Shang, “You didn’t get his heart, instead your heart caved in; boss Lu, that doesn’t seem like a bargain.”

In the vast world of cultivation, a talisman is formed by merging the essence of heaven and earth with the spirit and soul of the practitioner. Imbuing the formless with power and imprinting it onto paper, talismans hold immense potential. Yet, this art comes with a price—most who pursue the talismanic path exhaust their spiritual consciousness, falling before they reach their full potential.Lu An’s fate was no different—until his soul, shattered by fate, found itself reborn in a new realm of cultivation. Within his sea of consciousness, he discovers the Four Treasures of the Study, mystical tools that allow him to create talismans without depleting his spiritual energy. With this newfound gift, Lu An begins his ascent.[You have drawn a Breath-Concealing Talisman. Completion Rate: 62%. Grade: Inferior, first grade. Spiritual consciousness refunded.][You have drawn a Wealth-Bringing Talisman. Completion Rate: 73%. Grade: Middle, fifth grade. Spiritual consciousness refunded.][You have drawn a Three-Yuan Gathering Qi Talisman. Completion Rate: 85%. Grade: Superior, ninth grade. Spiritual consciousness refunded.]The world of talisman-making opens before him—mastery over the five elements, control of winds and thunder, the study of formations, the nurturing of spiritual creatures, and even the command of ancient treasures. With every talisman, Lu An’s understanding of the Dao deepens, his soul, body, and laws intertwining as one. His talismans grow in power—some divine, some forbidden—each step toward immortality.Using the very forces of nature as his tools, Lu An crafts talismans that can reshape reality. With mountains and seas as his ink and brush, and heaven and earth as his canvas, he will rise to the pinnacle of the immortal realm. Even the immortals and Buddhas will bow before him, for they know him as the Talisman Ancestor.But few recall the man behind the legend, the one named Lu An, whose journey to the top, though formidable, has only just begun.