The Monk That Wanted To Renounce Asceticism - Chapter 12

At the age of fourteen, he inherited a dilapidated country from the older generation.

With his personal ability, in just a few years, this country has directly transformed from such a situation to a country that attracts attention.

How will he gradually become the master of the entire world? What are the secrets of the pirate world?

Not warm-blooded, dark-bellied, slightly cold-blooded.

He’s her stepbrother, her sin and her biggest mistake waiting to happen.Catherine Brown thought moving in with her mother’s new husband couldn’t be harder until she met the cold, arrogant and sinfully attractive Julian Vaughn, her stepbrother.He hates her, teases her and gets under her skin everyday. He’s everything she should stay away from, off-limits and untouchable.But when his anger turns into something darker and hungrier, when he looks at her like he wants to ruin her innocence, Catherine realizes danger has a new name.And no matter how hard she tries, she can’t stop wanting the one man she’s not supposed to have.When hate turns to desire, who’s really in control?EXCERPT✨“You’ve never had sex before?” Julian asked, disbelief flickering in his eyes.Catherine hesitated, then nodded, staring at the floor instead of him.He bit his lower lip, trying to rein in the thoughts crowding his mind. Goodness, she was too innocent for her own good.“So all you did with your previous boyfriends were just kisses and smooches?”She immediately stood, her cheeks flushed. “There are no boyfriends,” she blurted. “I’ve never even been kissed. Please don’t laugh at me.”Laugh? Hell no. Julian wasn’t laughing. He was fighting the urge to pull her close. Knowing she’d never been touched only made his hunger worse.She didn’t realize he’d moved until his breath brushed her ear, his voice dropping low and dangerous.“Catherine, just say the word and I’ll show you what it means to be touched by a man.”Her heart stuttered in her chest and he could hear every beat.

He is Xi Liang’s legendary emperor: a decisive and ruthless king; a man of supreme wisdom; a cunning strategist.

According to legend, he once conferred the love meant for the three thousand concubines in his harem onto one woman, while the world watched in envy.

According to legend, he once executed a hundred people for her, turning the palace into a purgatory overnight.

According to legend, he ultimately sentenced that same woman to death by execution…

A conspiracy that swept through the country resulted in her tragic end. This lifetime seems to be a repeat of her past life. Can she escape the clutches of fate to attain true love in this life? In both lives, she was the Emperor’s wife, but is that ruthless man really her true love mandated by Heaven?

Did she really die, just like that?

In the end, beyond the veil of lies and mysteries, who exactly was she? Was she a woman that he truly loved, or was she merely a chess piece to be used in his political machinations?

The stories passed onto later generations remain fraught with conflicting opinions.

- Description from Novelupdates

Earth fell long before Auron Drex was born. By the time he turned nineteen, the skies were brown, the air filtered through broken machines, and humanity had retreated underground, outnumbered, outgunned, and slowly fading.Auron was one of the last unmodified humans, no implants, no neural lace, no connection to the system. Just blood, flesh, memory, and a little bit of fight left in him.Then he died.Killed in an invasion with the machines, Auron thought that was the end. But something else was waiting for him.The Goddess of Death.She offered him a contract. A second chance at life, a new world far from Earth, and one simple promise: when the time came, he would help her. No explanation. Just a bond, sealed in death and carried into life.Now, Auron wakes in a world nothing like his own. A cultivation realm, where beasts roam free, ancient sects dominate the mountains, and humans wield godlike power through spiritual force and brutal discipline. It’s a world where strength decides everything, and weakness is an invitation to die again.But he’s not alone.The Goddess of Death, bound to his soul, follows him, watching, guiding.He doesn’t know her true reason for bringing him here.He doesn’t understand what help she’ll need or when. But he remembers Earth. He remembers the silence. And if there’s a chance this journey will give him the strength to return, to fight back against what destroyed his home, he’ll take it.He was forged in a dying world. Reborn in one that lives by the sword. And somewhere between them, Auron Drex will carve out who he’s meant to become.