"Disciple, Master's chest has been feeling stuffy and short of breath lately. What should we do?"
"First Master, just a moment. Your disciple will treat you right away."
"Good disciple, my illness is more urgent. Don't worry so much about your First Master."
"Ah? Never mind, I'll treat you both at once. My supreme medical skills should be more than enough!"
.........
Three hours later, on Yunkong Mountain, Chen Nuo finished his acupuncture session and exhaled a breath of stale air.
He tried to roll over, but the moment he moved, the bed let out a loud creak.
Though he had reinforced it many times, there was simply no helping how immensely energetic his eight female masters were.
By the edge of the solid mountain-wood bed, a woman dressed in light, translucent silk had one slender shoulder exposed, a faint, delicate fragrance lingering throughout the room.
Five years—a full five years. Ever since he was brought to this mountain at the age of nineteen, his eight peerless, breathtaking female masters had trained him.
Each of them possessed extraordinary skills: divination and Daoist arts, martial arts and national arts, necromancy and witchcraft, and medical techniques capable of bringing the dead back to life and regrowing flesh on bones. His daily cultivation took up almost all of his time.
As if that wasn't enough, he was constantly thrown abroad to execute missions, and only in the last two years, after he finally subdued all eight of his beautiful masters, had life become a bit more comfortable.
Thinking back five years ago, he was originally the legitimate heir of the Chen Family, the foremost of the Seven Great Clans in the capital. From birth, he was accompanied by the roar of a dragon, born with a silver spoon in his mouth and burdened with the immense Fortune/Luck of a region. The capital's Divine Calculator had proclaimed him to be the True Dragon Saint Sovereign, destined to rule over everything in the world and ascend to godhood.
Yet this fortune not only failed to bring him good luck, it instead brought catastrophe to the Chen Family. On Chen Nuo's birthday, in order to extract his fortune, the Seven Great Clans joined forces with extraterrestrial cults to launch an attack, slaughtering everyone in the Chen Family, regardless of age or gender.
His three God of War brothers were also brutally murdered by masters from the Seven Great Clans while trying to protect him, and his father, Chen Wudi, was ambushed and his whereabouts remained unknown.
The Chen Family, which had once dominated the scene, was thus destroyed overnight.
Chen Nuo would never forget that day of corpses stretching across the fields, when less than one-tenth of the Chen Family was left alive. As for Chen Nuo himself, the extraterrestrial cults forcibly extracted his fortune, shattered his spiritual roots, and subjected him to the agonizing torment of bone-gnawing and heart-wrenching pain.
Even though he survived, an illness remained trapped deep within his body, giving him only until the age of twenty-five to live. After twenty-five, unless he found a solution, he would lose his mind and become a walking corpse.
If he hadn't happened to be found by the traveling First Master, he probably would have been buried underground alongside the rest of the capital's Chen Family long ago.
"First Master, shall we continue?" Chen Nuo patted the bed frame, his eyes filled with anticipation.
To his surprise, the woman by the bed suddenly said, "Chen Nuo, you are already twenty-three years old. With only two years left until your time is up, I can no longer keep you on the mountain."
Chen Nuo bolted upright, only to remember he wasn't wearing any pants, and quickly shrank back under the covers. "First Master, I haven't even repaid the kindness you and the other seven masters have shown me. If you make me go down the mountain now, I won't be able to stop worrying about you all."
The woman in the red dress by the bed completely ignored his plea. "Your medical skills have already reached perfection, and your Daoist and martial arts have also peaked. The eight of us sisters have nothing left to teach you. This time, when you go down the mountain, you must take back your lost fortune. Only by gathering all of the fortune can you resist the impending world-destroying catastrophe."
No sooner had she finished speaking than the red-dressed woman fished a token out from under the bed and tossed it to Chen Nuo. "I am returning your Pluto Palace token to you now. It has been five years, and it is time for you to reclaim everything that belongs to the True Dragon Saint Sovereign. Besides... there is news about your younger sister."
Chen Nuo usually turned a deaf ear to whatever his stunning, cold First Master said, but the moment he heard news of his sister, he could no longer stay lying down.
He hurriedly got dressed and asked anxiously, "Where is my sister? How is she doing?"
The woman shook her head slightly. "Your Second Master only calculated that she is in Qingcheng. She couldn't pinpoint her exact location, but her situation does not look good. Your Second Master foresaw that she will face a calamity in Qingcheng, and if no one intervenes, she will likely die."
Five years ago, Chen Nuo had covered for his sister to help her escape while he himself was captured. He had originally thought his sister had been brutally murdered by people from the Seven Great Clans, but he never expected to receive news of her today.
Chen Nuo's face turned gloomy, revealing a murderous intent. "The Seven Great Clans, the extraterrestrial cults... you will all pay with your lives."
The woman in red was extremely satisfied with Chen Nuo's state. "Pack up and go down the mountain. Your Eighth Master's younger sister is waiting for you at the foot of the mountain."
.........
In the small town at the foot of Yunkong Mountain, a specially designed off-road vehicle was parked, and standing in front of it were two S-curve beauties whose figures and faces were top-tier.
"Xiaoyu, we still have important matters to attend to. Isn't coming here right now just a waste of time? Who on earth is worth Qingcheng's number one beauty coming out to pick them up in person?"
Huo Xiaoyu stamped her foot in anger, the two peaks on her chest heaving restlessly.
Jiang Yurou shook her head, her beautiful eyes fixed on the mountain. "You should know that my sister cultivates on the mountain, and I cannot ignore her orders. I suppose it must be some enlightened immortal coming down to the mortal world to temper themselves."
Upon hearing this, Huo Xiaoyu immediately felt she had been impolite. "That's true. I heard from my grandfather that ordinary people can't get onto Yunkong Mountain at all—it has to be someone with extraordinary abilities. If we can cozy up to the immortal on this mountain, our two families won't have to worry about finding a way to rise up."
However, the next second, a figure slowly walked down the mountain. The man was wearing flip-flops, floral shorts, and had messy hair, with a canvas bag slung over his shoulder.
Chen Nuo caught sight of the two women by the roadside. One of them looked almost identical to his Eighth Master, possessing the same lotus-emerging-from-water beauty with skin so delicate it looked like it would break at a puff of air.
"You must be Jiang Yurou, right? Where are we going now?" Without a trace of politeness, Chen Nuo tossed his canvas bag directly into the car.
A sudden wave of anger surged across Huo Xiaoyu's pretty, delicate face. "You brat, where did you crawl out from, little beggar? Get away from us immediately! Do you have any idea who we are? Offending us means getting a leg broken is getting off easy!"
Chen Nuo burst out laughing on the spot. Break one of his legs?
The person who could break one of his legs hadn't even been born yet in this world.
Jiang Yurou looked at Chen Nuo's outfit, a flash of doubt crossing her eyes. "You're Chen Nuo? My sister just had me come pick you up?"
Chen Nuo casually opened the front passenger door and climbed in. "This young master doesn't change his name or sit under a pseudonym—Chen Nuo of the Chen Family. The person your sister told you to pick up is me."
Both Huo Xiaoyu and Jiang Yurou had expected the person coming down the mountain to be some kind of celestial master, only for it to be this ragged, good-for-nothing bumpkin!
Huo Xiaoyu instantly lost her temper. "Get out of the car right now! That's my seat, you have no business sitting there!"
Jiang Yurou climbed into the driver's seat, glared at Chen Nuo, and said coldly, "I don't have time to bicker with a scoundrel like you right now. When we get to Qingcheng's largest private hospital, you'd better keep your mouth shut the entire time, or not even an immortal will be able to save your life!"
Huo Xiaoyu was practically on the verge of tears. "Xiaoyu, you're just going to let a little beggar like this ride in your car? Look at how filthy he is all over."
Chen Nuo sniffed himself and retorted, "Nonsense, I took a bath before coming down."
Jiang Yurou placated her, "I'm only responsible for bringing him down the mountain. Once the hospital matter is settled, I'll let him fend for himself!"