Hero Saves the Damsel?

The year 2000, the outskirts of Shanghai, eleven o'clock at night.

Moonlight filtered through the sparse clouds at the city's edge, spilling over the neatly trimmed lawns of the villa district.

This high-end residential area, named "Jade Garden," did not have a high occupancy rate. In particular, the few detached villas at the very deepest part had their lights off year-round.

In the study on the second floor of Villa No. 3, the lights were not on.

Zhou Qing sat cross-legged in the center of the floor, five hearts facing the heavens, his eyes slightly closed.

He wore a simple gray tracksuit and looked no more than twenty-three or twenty-four. His features were refined, his temperament calm and gentle, completely out of place in this mansion worth tens of millions.

If a cultivator were here, they would surely be able to sense that the spiritual energy in the air—so thin it was almost negligible—was slowly and steadily gathering toward him as its center.

Then it was absorbed and purified by an ancient-looking green Jade Pendant on his chest before being slowly transferred into his body.

The Jade Pendant was warm and lustrous, giving off an extremely faint glow in the darkness. Cloud patterns were carved across its surface, and at its center was an ancient seal-script character: "Qing."

The Qi-refining chapter of the Yuqing Immortal Method circulated silently within him. True qi flowed along specific meridians, nourishing his dantian and that hazy glow of Yin Spirit deep between his brows.

Qi Refining to Godhood, early stage.

In today's Age of Dharma's End, those who could reach such an achievement could be counted on one's fingers.

Zhou Qing's breathing was steady and long. With each inhale and exhale, he seemed to merge with the silent night.

The villa district was very