Return of the Runebound Professor - Chapter 13: Sunder

A Deadly Secret, also translated as Requiem of Ling Sing and Secret of the Linked Cities, is a wuxia novel by Jin Yong (Louis Cha). It was first published in the magazine Southeast Asia Weekly (東南亞周刊) and the Hong Kong newspaper Ming Pao in 1963. Its original Chinese title was Su Xin Jian before Jin Yong changed it to Lian Cheng Jue. The story revolves around the adventures of the protagonist Di Yun, an ordinary young peasant, who is imprisoned after being framed. In his quest for vengeance, he accidentally acquires the Liancheng Swordplay manual (連城劍谱), an ancient artifact not only prized for the skills detailed inside, but also for containing a secret leading to a treasure.

After being torn from the only life she knew, 16-year-old Margo is forced into a new home with strangers who call themselves her parents. Haunted by memories of her past and consumed by feelings of isolation, she struggles to adapt to her unfamiliar surroundings. School offers little relief—until she meets Lucien, a mysterious boy who appears just when she needs a friend the most.Gabriel is everything Margo needs: kind, attentive, and always ready to whisk her away from her troubles. Each night, he invites her to secret places—an abandoned playground, a fog-choked garden, a crumbling train station at the edge of town—each more unsettling than the last. Yet with every chilling rendezvous, Margo feels more alive... more seen.But something isn’t right. Gabriel never comes to school during the day. Her adoptive parents never see him. And when they catch her talking to thin air, their concern deepens into fear. They say Gabriel isn't real—that he’s a figment of her imagination. Margo wants to believe them, but Gabriel feels real. More real than anything else in her life.As the nights grow colder and more twisted, Gabriel’s true nature begins to surface. Shadows move where they shouldn’t. Time warps in his presence. And the places they visit seem to echo with whispers from another world. Margo is forced to ask herself: Who—or what—is Gabriel? Why does he only want her? And what will happen on the final night he asks her to come with him?As the line between reality and delusion begins to crumble, Margo must make an impossible choice: stay in a world where she feels loved, or return to one that barely feels real.But one thing is certain—some friendships never let go.

When Cheng Guang woke up, he realized he had traversed to another world.He had thought his transmigrated identity would be the esteemed Princely Heir to the Duke, but he hadn’t expected an additional (pseudo-) in front of it.It wasn’t tragic, but it definitely wasn’t great either, it was just very helpless.Cheng Guang had thought that being able to be a pseudo-Princely Heir was the biggest cheat in his life, but to his surprise, he was also bound to a system.This system was even more of a scam!It seemed to have bound him three thousand years too early!It started by telling him he had advanced to the Heavenly Human Realm and instructed him to confront the Empress of Great Zhou, who was also in the Heavenly Human Realm.But he was just a small potato!However, wait a second, the Empress of Great Zhou, years later, seems to be just a pushover right now?Cheng Guang became resolute and confident again, I got this!!!

Beneath the vast and infinite starry skies of the universe, countless tribes engage in endless strife, and the flames of war remain unquenched.Rising from insignificance, he possessed no exceptional talents, except for the ability to draw upon the fruits of cultivation from the future.Yet, in a single night, he understood the Dao, and took a step that shattered the shackles of life.With but a thought, he grasped the universal powers, casually breaking down the barriers between spirit and reality.To him, even the most profound and enigmatic of secret tomes were as simple and dull as children's books.Still, he had to go back and fill in the gaps of his cultivation...Some appeared to be glorious, unparalleled geniuses.In reality, they practiced like mad in the shadows to repay their debts...