Keep Your Voice Down, Is This Something to Be Proud Of?

After overcoming countless hardships and dangers, He Nanhui finally survived his tribulation and ascended. He escaped from the cultivation world, where he could be ♂ed at any moment, and returned to his hometown on Earth, where forcing someone to marry you could land you in jail.

He couldn't help shedding a tear of joy.

But Earth had already fast-forwarded to the year 2777, an age when full-dive online games ruled the world.

He Nanhui didn't get his wish to become an ordinary person again. Instead, he appeared in the top-ranked cultivation game, Flesh and Pain, Ascending with Spiritual Energy, as...

the world's most popular and best-looking NPC, who also received the most abuse: Nan Hui.

Why was the most popular NPC also the most hated?

That had everything to do with the game company's marketing strategy.

In Ascending with Spiritual Energy, Nan Hui was an SSS-ranked NPC so beautiful that everyone wanted him, yet no one could conquer him. He was practically perfect in every way, except that he had a deeply twisted personality and loved to toy with people's feelings.

The person whose feelings he toyed with was none other than the equally popular, equally gorgeous, and strongest character in the game: Chongli Immortal Venerable, an absolute disciple fanatic and Nan Hui's master.

Players were captivated by Nan Hui's allure, yet loathed how he trampled on Chongli Immortal Venerable's feelings.

Any handsome player who dared say they liked him would be dragged out for judgment by Chongli Immortal Venerable's fans. The flame war on the game forums would start at eight in the morning, and by the time it ended, it would still be eight in the morning...

He Nanhui faced all this...

He looked at a residence exactly like his own luxurious cave abode...

The NPC's records contained a complete account of his past: how he had turned down his master, only to be forcibly taken and pinned down on the bed, on the swing, in the sky, and in the hot spring, among other sordid incidents...

Who was it? Who had put a camera on him and spread rumors that he was a terrible person? That's illegal, you know?

He Nanhui clenched his fists.

And just then, the game company was still discussing him. “Nan Hui's darkness value has suddenly dropped by a lot. We have to raise it until he goes to see his master on his own, or the main storyline can't continue.”

He Nanhui: “...”

Could that damned game company actually bring his master here?

His master was probably searching every inch of the world for him right now. After all, he was the kind of ruthless man who would ascend ten times, then cripple his own cultivation and descend to the mortal world just to catch him. He had married him, become his cultivation partner, and held wedding ceremonies with him more than ten times. His master was the perfect example of a madman who loved him to the point of obsession.

He Nanhui was starting to panic.

Maybe he should blow up the game first.

But before he could do a thing, the programmer went berserk. “It worked! The autonomous consciousness System for Chongli Immortal Venerable is a success! He actually asked me where his disciple is!”

He Nanhui: “???”

He brought out his immortal artifact at lightning speed, opened the door, and ran.

Then he crashed straight into arms so familiar they could startle him awake from a dream, always carrying a cool, fragrant scent...

“So this is where you live, He'er. No wonder I searched heaven and earth and still couldn't find you.”

“Without your master's comfort these past few days, has your old ailment flared up again? Or is someone coveting you again? I'll go kill...”

“!!!”

Seeing nearby players already rushing over at the sound of the commotion, He Nanhui immediately scrambled out of his master's arms and clapped a hand over his mouth.

Quiet! Is fooling around with your master something to be proud of?

Couple:

Chongli Immortal Venerable: A paragon before others, first among the Three Realms. In private, his need for control is beyond measure, and he's obsessed with his precious little disciple. A gloomy, ghostly man, crazy but clear-headed.

He Nanhui: A peerlessly handsome heartbreaker, cursed by fate despite his brilliance, a blood-replenishing, arrogant hero. He knows his master loves him deeply, but politely turns him down because he's a man.

Set in a fictional game world. His master was so powerful that the game was forced to connect to the cultivation world.

(The original blurb was for The Devil's Melancholy Little Princess, now titled The Abyssal Devil in my collection. It's the same premise. If you liked the little princess, please look for The Abyssal Devil in my collection. My apologies.)

Theme: Love keeps no score.