MTL - The Book of Troubled Times - Chapter 18 winter solstice

My Beautiful Teacher tells the story of a university graduate Qin Chao who can’t seem to find a job and is in a downward spiral in his life. Then one night as he walks home from another failed job interview, a vase hits his head, making him get possessed by an old and powerful evil spirit sealed in that vase and following another incidents, inadvertently saved a mysterious university teacher Su Ji, thereby opening his path to cultivation, he also manages to get a job as a security guard at Guangyuan School. A series of adventures then took place as he deals with all kinds of supernatural beings.

- Description from Novelupdates

Leon was supposed to disappear.On Earth, he was nobody.In this new world of cultivation, reborn into a body that wasn’t even his own, he was less than that — a forgotten teacher exiled to the quiet heights of Amethyst Summit Division.No glory.No backing.No destiny.Until the Grand Return System awakened.Every resource he gives… returns a thousandfold.Every treasure he parts with… comes back stronger.Every disciple he nurtures… becomes a storm the heavens cannot ignore.While the sect mocks him as a useless master wasting potential, Leon calmly shapes a silver-haired girl born with Divine Ice Bones into something terrifying. A legend in the making. A blade pointed at fate itself.They see obscurity.Heaven sees a silent calamity rising.Leon doesn’t seek fame.He doesn’t chase thrones.But when destiny finally turns its gaze toward him…The teacher who hid in the shadows will begin rewriting the rules of the world.-----

This is the first part, the second part is “Playing Fish Trapped in a Secret Room (密室困游鱼 Mi Shi Kun You Yu)”.

In 2007, at the WCG Asian Tournament in Singapore. In just a few hours time, between left and right hands, there goes a life and death battle. In the Chinese team that year, there is a professional player who’s only 15 years old, nicknamed “God’s Left Hand”. At that match, he sits right next to her.

Their professional lives start from 14 years old until they retire, disappear, at 25 years old.

In these non-mainstream tournaments, where a small niche of the population follows closely, their only possessions are a mouse, keyboard, and headphone each. There they won gold medals one after another for China.

In humanity’s final war against the Demon Lord, the strongest heroes fell—not by the enemy’s hand, but by their own, twisted into madness by a cruel illusion. Betrayal. Bloodshed. Despair… and then, silence.Only one person remained: Riley—the weakest warrior of them all. Powerless. Ignored. Forgotten.But he saw through the Demon Lord’s deception. The tyrant was on the brink of death—so weak even a fly could’ve finished him off.And Riley did just that, drawing every last ounce of strength to bite off the demon’s head.Victory? Not quite. A final, desperate strike from the Demon Lord pierced him from behind, killing him instantly.But fate wasn’t done with him yet.Riley awoke ten years in the past—when the online game [Apocalypse] was launched. Before demons descended. Before monsters overran the world.And this time, he wasn’t starting from nothing. He had a decade of experience—and a second chance.Even more shocking, he didn’t awaken his old D-rank Strength Boost talent. This time, he received something far more terrifying: an SSS-Rank Gluttony talent!He could now devour anything—monsters, items, talents, even traits—and gain their power.Ding![You have devoured: Iron Fang Wolf][Acquired: +4 Strength, +2 Agility, Skill: Bite (F-rank)][You have devoured: Goblin ShamanAcquired: +8 Intelligence, Skill: Mana Bolt (E-rank), Talent: Minor Spellcasting Efficiency][You have devoured: Flaming Salamander Drake][Acquired: +22 Endurance, Trait: Dragon’s Resilience, Skill: Flame Breath (C-rank)]Now, there is no demon, no god, no monster who will stand in his way. He will devour everything—and save the world.But the power of Gluttony was a double edged sword. If he wasn’t careful… he could be the one getting consumed.