The Grandmaster Strategist - Volume 5, Chapter 13: Defeat at Anze

“Stop following me!” Asher yelled, his patience running thin. He had let it slide for too long because she had done a lot for him. But now she was everywhere, suffocating him.“I’m only trying to protect you,” she responded.Asher sighed, running a hand through his hair. “I need some space, alright? I can take care of myself.”She didn’t budge, and just kept staring at him with that same obsessive look, like she had no intention of leaving.“Is it because you’re strong now? Are you going to leave me because I'm no use to you anymore?” Her voice had turned cold, sharp enough to cut through the silence.“Of course not, you know that’s not the reason…”“Then why do you want me to stop following you?”“I’m just going to the restroom, for God’s sake!” He massaged his temple, clearly at his wit’s end.“Oh, you should have said that earlier.” She giggled, the earlier tension melting away.“I did,” he sighed in defeat.

An Imperial Scholar by day. An assassin by night.The World of Cultivation has changed.Elemental Mancers. Flux Mancers. Spirit Mancers. Soul Mancers.Raining down fire and splitting oceans. Destroying mountains with a single stomp and calming skies with a glance. Controlling the tides of Karma, while wielding the souls of others like a puppeteer tugging on the Lines of Fate.The most mysterious of them all were Spirit Mancers, a truth that Theron was more than intimately familiar with. Due to one's Tribulation, his life was turned upside down. His family, his rage, his somber sadness becoming nothing more than Bad Karma's fuel for a madman.He was once a gentle young man, a non-combative Water Mancer who wanted nothing more than to read his novels to the sound of the rain and one day become an Imperial Scholar.But now...Everything had changed.He donned a cloak in the silent night as the clouds above gathered. Pulling its hood over his chilling blue eyes, he stalked off into the darkness.The first droplets fell.He would become the nightmare of his enemies, the blade hidden in the shadows of Heaven's tears.The River of the Night.

The Morandi color palette refers to colors with low saturation and a muted, smoky feel.Chen Ningxi, who usually seems untouched by worldly concerns, finds herself unexpectedly moved upon meeting Cheng Qiaobei, who embodies the Morandi hues.At their first meeting, Cheng Qiaobei is in a subordinate position, striving to meet the demands of Chen Ningxi’s client role.Three days later, they meet again when Cheng Qiaobei is inspecting a hotel and Chen Ningxi, a VIP client, calls to make a complaint that goes directly to his office.Two weeks later, a newly built chain hotel urgently requires electric equipment installation approval, and the responsible person is Chen Ningxi.Cheng Qiaobei visits her for negotiations but gets caught in the middle of Chen Ningxi’s blind date, and weighing his options, he lets himself be used as a temporary shield to deflect the matchmaker.With a glance, they fulfill each other's needs—he gets the approval, and she avoids matchmaking.In the charade of their fake relationship, they end up truly connecting. He gets drunk, she listens earnestly; he's busy, she remains focused on her work.He does not intrude on her, and she does not disturb him. Chen Ningxi realizes she might have found someone easy to get along with and never tires of.Regarding love, Chen Ningxi has the ability to both love deeply and restrain herself. In terms of career, Cheng Qiaobei has the capability to conjure miracles and rise again from setbacks.As for them, they are a couple wandering within the hues of the Morandi palette.

Dante was an ageless warlock who had been going from one battle to another for hundreds of years.Following a chaotic encounter with an evil god, Dante unintentionally activates a contract with a demon, thrusting him into the modern world.Resolved to live a peaceful life, his intentions are halted when he finds himself in the middle of a conflict among rival mafia factions—dabbling with the ominous demonic magic that he knows best.