MTL - Year of Herbs - Chapter 12 Jiang Lianhuan

When I was 15-years-old, during the year that I graduated from middle school, my father told me this.

The year he was fifteen, Ling Ke realized he was gay, and that he fell in love with a hot guy the same gender he was! Ling Ke spied on the other’s online friend group, payed attention to that person’s every move, and privately, started his fanatical fanboying actions. Unfortunately, the hot guy he liked was someone who changed girlfriends like he changed clothes, a pretentious and straight male.

A few years later, Ling Ke and the hot guy he was secretly in love with got into the same university and became good friends. In order to prevent his beloved from hating him, Ling Ke repressed his true feelings and forced himself to pretend to be a 24k, pure gold straight guy.
……

Having high-spec looks, Qi Feng was a networking expert, but in order to preserve his all-around shining and popular hearthrob image, he always hid his true sexuality, that he was gay. He got himself (fake) girlfriends all throughout school, literally playing himself into being branded as a skirt-chaser.

Until one day, he met his true love. The other looked delicate and gentle, cold and out-of-reach, as if the ideal lover he’d dreamed of in his heart.

Except, there was just one thing. That guy also looked completely straight……

In short, this is the love story of two scared, in-the-closet gay guys pretending to be straight while mutually trying to feel the other out.

- Description from Novelupdates

All humans transmigrated to a parallel world, where every one of them was a king with the territory.

They participated in a game called The Ranking of Kings and fought to become the best nation.

The rankings were determined based on various aspects such as military, technology, commerce, culture, and religion.

In the game, the kings would awaken different attributes of the land.

Someone exclaimed, “My Renewable Resources attribute allows me to enhance raw materials such as timber and minerals. I want to build the strongest empire of commerce!”

Another king challenged, “My King of the Undead attribute allows me to summon dead souls to fight for me. Who dares to stand in the way of my troops of one million undead?”

The third king declared, “My Integrated Production attribute will ensure that technology is being implemented efficiently. You foolish barbarians, watch as my nation advances a few centuries ahead of yours.”

The fourth king said, “My Miracle Summon attribute can increase the efficiency of evangelism by 1000%. I look forward to the day when my nation becomes the top religion in the world.”

…

Li Xiang revealed a pondering look as he looked at his attributes shown on the virtual data panel.

[Attribute 1: Devils’ Den (SSS rank, unique)]

[You acquired the original birthplace of the Dragon Clan. All the legendary dragons are now under your command.]

[Attribute 2: Devouring Lands (currently A rank, evolvable)]

[When you annex the territory of other kings, you seize their attributes as well. Furthermore, you can level up these attributes to even higher ranks.]

Long Chen, a crippled youth who cannot cultivate, is constantly targeted and bullied by his fellow noble heirs. After a particularly vicious beating, he wakes up and realizes a Pill God’s soul has somehow merged with him, giving him some additional memories. Within those memories is the mysterious Nine Star Hegemon Body Art, a cultivation technique that even he can train in, but whose secrets and origin are still a mystery to him. Relying on his improved instincts as he finally begins to cultivate, he realizes a huge conspiracy is underfoot within the Phoenix Cry Empire, one involving his father, members of the imperial family, and even the Emperor himself.