MTL - Taoist Master and the Cat - Chapter 22

Facing extinction, humanity seeks salvation in the Astral Verge, a dangerous dimension accessed via portals that threatened to wipe out the entire planet.Few years later, aspiring recruit Daniel Vance enters the Verge for his final assessment, hoping to Awaken a Talent and secure his future. While others gain common abilities, Daniel secretly Awakens the mythical SSS-Grade Talent: [Soul Assimilation]. This allows him to absorb essence, enhancing gear, gaining stats and EXP from slain creatures, and crucially, absorbing attributes and skills from fallen Awakened.Witnessing the swift death of the arrogant Jaxon Rex, Daniel makes a grim choice: he assimilates Jaxon, gaining his first skill, [Kinetic Pulse]. This sets his path: scavenging the aftermath of others’ battles. He enhances gear and, after achieving his first kill on an injured beast, waits patiently to assimilate two more fallen recruits, acquiring [Quick Step] and the invaluable passive [Aura Sense].Starting as average, Daniel rapidly gains power in secret, enhanced gear, multiple skills, and boosted stats , far exceeding his peers while remaining outwardly unremarkable. He navigates the lethal Verge alone, using its inherent dangers to fuel his growth, wrestling with the moral cost of his unique, overwhelming power.

Xiao Shan is a famously profligate prince, the kind that makes his emperor father angry just by being seen. Xiao Shan’s greatest wish in life is to be a salted fish who lives without any worldly strife, until his father bestows upon him Xie Zhui, a ger who has been mixing with men, to be his bride. Xie Zhui took his brother’s place in the army at fourteen, achieved great merits by successfully defending against enemies outside the northern border city at sixteen, and was discovered to be a ger after being seriously injured at eighteen. After returning to the capital, the emperor pardoned Xie Zhui’s crime of deceiving the monarch and bestowed him to Xiao Shan as his rightful spouse. Everyone says that Xiao Shan has married a ger who came out of a pile of men, with a vast grassland above his head. They think about how much the emperor must dislike Xiao Shan to have given him such a troublesome marriage.

Tao Xiaodong had a blind brother. Tang Suoyan, gentle and calm, was his brother’s favourite doctor. As such, Tao Xiaodong loved Tang Suoyan as well.

Oftentimes, people lose sight of that which was easily gained.

Over the years, Tong Ning was so coddled by Tang Suoyan that he failed to appreciate how fetching this rare specimen was—dumping him without pause, and picking him up again when he had a change of heart.

Except, this time, he was a step too late. Tao Xiaodong had long made his move.

Tao Xiaodong looked at Tong Ning, telling him with a smile, “It doesn’t matter who Tang Suoyan used to be with. He’s mine now. As long as I don’t let go, you’ll never be able to take away what I hold onto.”

- Description from Novelupdates

Learning crude martial arts had always made Fourth Miss Zhu the laughingstock of Beijing’s elite families. In their eyes, such skills were fit only for common bodyguards.Yet Zhu Changle, who considered herself invincible, felt no shame. On the contrary, she took pride in her abilities.Not everyone could protect their own household, but she could! And exceptionally well at that! She’d even dare to turn the whole of Beijing upside down for the sake of her family’s estate!Don’t believe it? Just try her!