Gardenia's Heart - Chapter 71: Her Battle

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

Xia Wei transmigrated as the prettiest woman in a book, but she was merely the evil cannon-fodder female supporting character. This was a novel about showbiz. In the novel, Xia Wei was the female lead's best friend. Due to Xia We's beauty, the female lead had always been secretly envious of her, but Xia Wei also kept her guard up against the female lead.Although she knew she was pretty, any man who came into contact with the female lead would eventually fall in love with her instead. Hence, Xia Wei began to keep her distance from the female lead. After that, she capitalized on her looks to get into showbiz. She also started a relationship with her boss.Just as she thought she'd finally moved away from the female lead's shadow, she suddenly discovered that the female lead had also become an artist at her boyfriend's company. Moreover, the female lead had a romantic relationship with her boyfriend.Xia Wei was triggered and began to go against the female lead. She wanted the female lead to know her place and back off by leaving the company and her boyfriend. However, not only did Xia Wei fail, but her boyfriend also dumped her, and her reputation in showbiz plummeted. Xia Wei finally panicked. She went on a dating show with her ex-boyfriend and the female lead to salvage their relationship and her own reputation.However, several male participants on the show were Xia Wei's ex-boyfriends. They all befriended Xia Wei's ex-boyfriend, who had just dumped her, and the female lead. The only guy remaining was a bigshot actor with countless resources but was deemed cold and unapproachable in showbiz.Xia Wei, who transmigrated into the novel, knew he was way out of her league. Hence, she began to do as she pleased on the show. She waited for the male and female lead to hold each other's hands so that the show would end and she could retire from showbiz.However, to her surprise, the storyline went in a different direction. The other male participants all came to confess their feelings for her. Unfortunately for them, Xia Wei wasn't interested in any of them.Later, the actor, who was way out of her league, posted a photo of them on his social media account. “I'm yours, @XiaWei.”Xia Wei responded with her own post. “Please maintain your image as a cold and unapproachable person!”

Shen Yinning was originally the Crown Prince Lu Ying's childhood sweetheart and fiancée, but due to her father and brother's rebellion, she was exiled to Gan State and married to a minor local official as the daughter of a criminal. Meanwhile, Lu Ying gloriously married her cousin Shen Yunxi as his Crown Princess Consort.Three years later, Shen Yinning returned to the Capital with her husband. Everyone praised the Crown Prince and Princess for their mutual respect and harmony, and Shen Yunxi often flaunted in front of her how loving she and the Crown Prince were. However, only Shen Yinning knew that the seemingly restrained and honorable Lu Ying came to her chamber every night, completely disregarding the fact that she was now someone else's wife, secretly claiming her and keeping her as his Forbidden Fruit...

Rein Aster was just a herbalist farmer from a border village.A nobody. A background NPC in a story filled with prophecy and divine warfare.But by chance—or fate—he saves one of the 7 Demon Lords during a catastrophic war event. Instead of killing him, she falls for him.Obsessively. Violently. Eternally.And then… so do the others.Each Demon Lord tries to trap Rein as her personal lover/pet/priest/husband/god, building dungeons, illusion palaces, soul prisons—but Rein keeps escaping. Quietly. Cleverly. Never fully rejecting them—but never submitting, either.Why?Because Rein realizes something:The gods are worse than demons.The heroes are tyrants in shining armor.The world is collapsing—and he’s the only one they all listen to.So he hatches a plan:Use the Demon Lords’ love to take over the world.Pit them against the heroes. Unleash them on the gods. Make them fight for him. Make them kill for him. Then tame them all.Not as a king.Not as a savior.But as the lover they would burn the world for.__________The yanderes here are darker than what you might be used to.You have been warnedThe entire novel has a dark feel. Atleast read the first two minor arcs