JACKAL AMONG SNAKES - Chapter 697: Dinner Talk

Lilian laid on his deathbed, his life nearing its end.Surrounded by the cold quiet of a hospital room, he had spent his last months immersed in novels on his phone.One novel, in particular, had captured his heart, and he yearned to finish it before succumbing to his incurable disease.But as the end drew near, he realized he couldn't access the final volume.Helplessly, he regretted the opportunities he had missed in life.And death had finally come knocking.“If only there were another world... that could offer me a second chance,” He whispered.“If only I could live a second life... in a time when I had listened.”

In this world, there are people who, despite having both talent and luck, always fall a step short of happiness, and Lin Xiaoguai, unfortunately yet fortunately, is among them.Born in the sixties as the beloved youngest daughter in her family, Lin Xiaoguai was both beautiful and intelligent. However, she was burdened with four mediocre and weak older brothers and four formidable sisters-in-law. Her family background was initially poor, dimming her prospects, but just at the right age, she encountered the restoration of the college entrance examination and succeeded in entering university. Her father, overjoyed by the occasion, went to sleep never to wake again, leaving Lin Xiaoguai devastated and ill. During her high fever and delirium, her greedy in-laws married her off. Fortunately, she met a decent man, but his family proved to be a relentless headache, ultimately costing her the ability to become a mother.Disheartened, she divorced and moved far away. On her own, she carved out a new world in the city, living comfortably and leisurely with money and leisure, but unexpectedly, in her later years, she suddenly acquired a powerful ability that should have appeared decades earlier. Thankfully, her broad-mindedness prevented her from succumbing to depression.When calamity struck, she thought her end had come but woke to find herself back at the beginning.Considering her past, Lin Xiaoguai realized that if she wasted this second chance, she would truly be foolish.

Chen Qizhao was reborn and returned to the age of 18 when he was still the wicked little overlord of the Chen family.

At this time, his brother hadn’t experienced a car accident while his parents were in good health and weren’t seriously ill. The Chen family was still the prosperous Chen family and everyone thought he was a good-for-nothing who was useless and easily taken advantage of.

“He only knows how to quarrel with his older brother every day. He is arrogant and willful!”

“He looks good, but unfortunately, he is an idiot.”

“Isn’t he a useless person? Just serve him well.”

“It is a pity about that child of the Chen family.”

There were the group of scoundrel friends who were full of thoughts, the rats eyeing him covetously and the old, cunning people who were secretly scheming.

Chen Qizhao put on a mask of arrogance again. ‘Do you like acting so much? Why don’t we act together?’

It wasn’t until later that everyone discovered that at the end of the play, they would either go bankrupt or be imprisoned.

- Description from Novelupdates

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.

In order to solve the mysteries around him, he must rely on his new alchemy techniques and the powerful but baffling Nine Star Hegemon Body Art. Countless enemies block him as he attempts to climb to the peak of the cultivation world.

Fate destined him to be only a chess piece, but he would not bow to the will of the Heavens.