"Everyone, our opportunity..."
"Has arrived!"
A hidden underground chamber buried a hundred meters below.
Thirteen altars hovered above bases forged from mithril.
Liquid-drawn magical runes flowed across their surfaces.
Elemental torrents surged through star-iron channels, igniting every node.
This was utterly alien to the three power systems known to Great Xia.
A thousand devotees knelt motionless in the chamber, ceaselessly kowtowing toward the central altar where eternal sacred flames burned.
These were the so-called 'Manifestors' - those who sought complete fusion between Earth and the Source Realm.
Their leader raised his arms in exultation: "Great Xia has swallowed our bait from the Source Realm!"
"They'll undoubtedly launch an investigation immediately."
"We've prepared all necessary misleading evidence."
"They'll eventually trace it to conclude 'we're targeting Jiang Xia's martial examination to eliminate their Pathseekers.'"
"But our true purpose..."
"HAHAHAHA!"
His maniacal laughter dissolved into ecstatic oblivion.
Suddenly—
The altar flames erupted violently.
An ancient, indescribable presence suffocated him with overwhelming pressure.
Unfazed, the leader smashed his forehead against the jagged floor.
Eerie energy spread, veiling the entire chamber in a reality separate from Earth.
The congregation sensed the shift, descending into collective frenzy.
He...
Had turned His gaze upon them.
"O Watcher Behind the Eternal Veil!"
"We who wear scorching darkness as crowns and burning winds as scepters!"
"In this Age of Hidden Stars under the Dim Moon..."
"With charred bones as pens and ashes as ink..."
"Let the blasphemous flames consume our souls!"
"That the pallid holy fire may know—"
"Only You are the Deathless Sovereign..."
"Lord of Cinders!"
The sacred flames imploded, then exploded into a blazing throne.
A shadowy figure lounged upon it as worshippers' eyes transformed into dancing black flames.
He had arrived...
Though not in full form...
Due to improper rituals and insufficient numbers...
True manifestation remained impossible.
This was merely a projection responding to their call.
But...
Details mattered not.
Suffice to say—they'd received divine acknowledgment.
The Manifestors existed because their founder accidentally uncovered forbidden knowledge even Great Xia barely comprehended.
Countless worlds existed—hundreds of thousands, perhaps more.
When otherworldly barriers collided with Earth's, the Source Realm formed.
Thus they believed...
The Source Realm needn't be an invader or enemy.
They could willingly become vassals to this higher existence, reaping its benefits—
Perhaps immortality?
Or cat-eared maidens?
Yet when the first Manifestor shared this revelation with authorities, he met only ruthless rejection:
"We cannot stake Earth's future on another's mercy."
Ideologies clashed.
Perhaps the Manifestors were right.
Perhaps Great Xia held truth.
None could know until the final hour.
That first Manifestor wasn't completely naive.
He kept secrets—fragments about other worlds...
When a lifeform transcends mortality's limits—
Deathless, omniscient—
It becomes a 'god'.
Yet gods too know hierarchy.
The mightiest could twist time itself, making effects precede causes.
The Age of Chaos saw ten thousand deities warring.
From that bloodsoaked battlefield emerged one who scaled the peak of divinity's corpse-mountains—
A human.
At least, so he claimed.
Even after transcending mortality, he remained human.
"Humankind shines as countless stars."
"Had I not stood here, another would have."
"I merely happened to be first."
He established the autocratic Astral Epoch, becoming the 'Lord of Stars'—
The first deity who rejected divine nomenclature.
Henceforth, newborn gods abandoned "-god" titles for "-lord" honorifics—
Pitiful mimicry of their better.
Later, the Lord of Stars vanished mysteriously.
History's wheel accelerated into the current Dim Moon Epoch...
Thus Manifestors believe humanity inherently noble.
Those troublesome dimensional rifts vexing Great Xia?
Mere backwater realms unworthy of attention—
Worlds too primitive to spawn true deities!
By attaching themselves to a god-bearing world and invoking the Lord of Stars' legacy, they'd thrive gloriously!
The Lord of Cinders gazed impassively at his meager thousand devotees.
None dared meet His gaze.
"What do you seek?"
His voice spoke flawless human tongue—
Much to the deity's private annoyance.
Could anyone comprehend His frustration?
"'Not have' means 'have'?"
"'No good fruits for you' means 'good fruits for you'?"
Yet refusal to learn invited... visits from 'That Person'.
Ironically, Great Xia's people now wielded the 'universal language'—spared foreign language struggles.
...
Among these Manifestors lurked a mole from Great Xia's intelligence division.
During rituals, he'd fake devotion without genuine reverence.
Now he trembled violently on his knees, pallid and gasping—
A lower lifeform confronting supreme existence.
His worldview teetered at the brink.
Despite being an eighth-tier expert, he couldn't withstand even the projection's passive aura.
Were the true Lord of Cinders to manifest, even Great Xia's mightiest would be but a sturdier ant...
He attempted eavesdropping on the deity's dialogue with the leader—
Agony lanced through every cell at the mere thought.
Drip.
Blood fell from his chin.
No illusion—
Had he actually looked up, instant shredding would've followed.
His mind swam through mental sludge.
Only when a hand entered his vision did awareness return—
The ritual had ended.
The projection vanished.
"You alright?"
The leader stood before him.
"Fine," the mole lied hastily. "Just... overwhelmed by the Lord's presence. Wanted to behold His glory, but—"
The leader sneered: "Since when do ants measure the sky's height?"
"We've spent billions in resources just to secure a single chance for the Ashen Lord's projection to intervene. Do you understand?"
"This operation must not fail."
The eighth-rank mole stood up, wiping the fine beads of sweat that had inexplicably formed on his forehead. "Boss... why is this mission so shrouded in secrecy this time...?"
The leader's expression instantly turned icy. "Are you asking too many questions?"
"What needs to be shared will be shared."
"What you shouldn’t know, don’t pry into."
Only then did the eighth-rank mole realize his lapse in composure...
The impact of witnessing a 'deity's' projection had been overwhelming...
"Boss, I just... I really want to advance..."
The leader patted his shoulder. "Relax. We all want to advance."
Then he turned back to the altar, where sacred flames burned relentlessly.
The mole, risking exposure, relayed the intel—early preparation meant greater odds of success. "If the intel points to 'sabotaging Jiang Xia’s martial exam and eliminating his Pathseeker,' then it’s a decoy. Their real goal lies elsewhere."
"What we might actually face is the projection of a god... We may need to mobilize a significant force of high-tier power."
The leader watched the mole with a faint, unreadable smile.
Go ahead, pass it along.
Some people never change.
Always treating others like fools.
"Everyone! Our mission’s success rate just skyrocketed!"
"The Source Realm will descend—without fail!"
ions, keeping it grounded and realistic】 After quitting his job, office worker Su Yang accidentally binds with the "Enjoy Life System." As the name suggests, simply by indulging in life's pleasures, he can earn random rewards from the system—no need to spend money on beautiful women or grovel before anyone. Just enjoy, and the money follows, making it all about effortless fun. The system comes with a scanning feature, allowing him to establish a favorability bond with women rated 85 points or above. Every 20-point increase in favorability unlocks additional rewards. After suffering through over twenty years of hardship, Su Yang trembles with excitement, his dull eyes suddenly gleaming with newfound hope. "Enjoy life? How hard could that be?"
ut it can buy an entire year of absolutely perfect training results! Su Yu stared at his empty wallet and decisively opened up various online loan platforms. “Borrow a thousand bucks! Recharge my vitality!” Boom! His vitality broke a hundred points, shattering the limits of the human body! “Borrow ten thousand bucks! Recharge my combat skills!” Boom! A basic punching technique so common it was everywhere instantly maxed out, revealing the ultimate assassination technique of Five Elements Unity—Inner Force! When a rich kid hired assassins for a midnight ambush, aiming to break both of his legs, they instead ran headfirst into a monster—a human-shaped tyrannosaur, brimming with dragon-like vitality. With just two fingers, Su Yu snapped a steel staff reinforced with alloy. Staring at the killer’s stash of stolen cash—a staggering quarter-million dollars—he showed a corporate-sincere smile: “Thanks for the pre-exam gift pack, Mr. Zhao! I’m gonna go re-invest this!” Three days later, at the National Martial Arts College Entrance Exam, while everyone else struggled just to reach the passing line, Su Yu threw a single punch—and more than a thousand vitality points literally detonated the entire arena!
he colors of other people’s emotions. Light red meant anxiety. Gray meant exhaustion. Orange meant excitement. Yellow... meant repression. At the same time, he could gain unlimited control over one of those colors. Pale cyan: relaxation. Using this ability, he started offering “two-yuan hugs,” spending an afternoon exchanging emotional-color experiences with others. Then came his final female customer of the day— a girl whose emotional color was pure black... —— A week later, Xu Chuan had become skilled at using pale cyan—Relaxation—treating it like a bottle of menthol balm whenever he needed it. That was when he discovered he had unlocked another unlimited emotional color: Purple, the color of fear. So these emotional colors refresh every week? Fine, I take it back—I’ll never call you useless again... —— Much later, after Xu Chuan had accumulated countless emotional abilities, one night, he suddenly found himself inside someone else’s dream. There, he could use the emotional colors he possessed to paint. And in her dream, he painted her a shower of pink shooting stars, spreading across the depths of the night sky...
lanned to earn money steadily and take life at a slower pace. But he never expected... his father's remarriage, and the stepmother bringing along a dependent, would completely disrupt his life's plans...
