Steady Cultivation: Starting With the Perk 'Work Hard, Rest Hard' - Chapter 33: Prelude to the Great Competition

Have you ever thought that the state of the world as it presently is, could revert to the laws of the ancients? When a series of strange incidents beginning with the disappearance of his friend led Luo Yuan to question the possibility of an apocalypse, he becomes embroiled in the midst of a global-scale chaos.

By the time I reached thirty, I hadn't managed to provide any of the happiness I wanted for my wife.I also still couldn't become the support my parents relied on.At this turning point in my fate, my income suddenly began to increase randomly.(A daily life tale in a wealthy family setting, featuring a single female lead and no harem.)

The night that was supposed to be the peak of my life became the night I lost everything.My step-sister Rose stole my achievements.My fiancé chose her over me.My father handed over the company I built with my own hands… to her.And when I finally walked away, broken and exhausted, Karl followed me home—drunk, furious, and ready to destroy what little I had left.One blow to the head was all it took to end Jenna Harvour.At least, that’s what the world was meant to believe.I didn’t die.I woke up drugged, half-conscious, and listening to people decide how to “dispose” of me. I heard Rose’s voice ordering my death to be written off as suicide.I heard doctors bargaining over my body.And when I was finally strong enough to open my eyes, I was greeted by a stranger’s face and a new name forced onto me: Jenna Lorance.They buried my old identity.They held a funeral with my name on it.And I was expected to disappear quietly into this new life they created.But the world doesn’t get rid of me that easily.My unexpected lifeline comes in the form of Damian Black—the heir to the largest mafia syndicate and the last person I ever thought would notice me. He shouldn’t care about a woman like me… yet he’s the only one who looks at me as if he can sense the truth beneath my new skin.Revenge is easy.Escaping him is not.Because once a man like Damian decides you’re his, he doesn’t let go—not even if the whole world believes you’re already dead._________Re-upload because I needed to fix first 6 chapters[Warning: Mature Context, R18+]

“Is Fate the excuse of the forsaken, is Free Will the delusion of the chosen?”Such was a question that Xavier, the Demon King, never had the chance to ask himself. As he lay defeated, awaiting his death, he wondered about the wretched life he lived.'The hero who killed me, the one who held the same ambitions as me. We both wanted good for the people, for the world. We are both two sides of the same coin, yet, fate decided that he will be the one the light will shine on.Perhaps it was me too, perhaps it was my karma for flowing the rivers of blood with my sword. But still... It was fate that squashed the humanity in me first!Damn fate, if I had one more chance, I would've lived for myself more, I wouldn't have taken this arbitrary role of being a necessary evil... This world, this game of destiny... It can burn to ashes for all I care.'As he sunk into the cold embrace of death, a certain [REDACTED] heard his dying wish with amusement and cast their die, reversing the wheel of time one last time and going all in on him on a risky gamble with the stakes of their world.