Oh?
Su Qi took another glance at the young girl and the middle-aged man with the briefcase.
Was it really them?
Truly, appearances can be deceiving…
Su Qi didn’t even sense any energy fluctuations from them…
That could only mean one thing…
These two were even stronger than Yun Ting?
Probably at the peak of the ninth tier?
Perhaps the two strongest individuals in Jiangxia, aside from Guardian Jiang?
Makes sense. If a few stray Descendants slipped into the Source Realm unnoticed, that was one thing.
But if such a large group of Descendants could perform a sacrificial ritual in the middle of the city without any reaction, Jiangxia would’ve long become their playground.
...
"All five of you, let’s begin… the game."
The bald man urged, nearly slipping up.
He stood before a sinister wooden door: "Please follow me in taking the oath…"
"I voluntarily become a sinner, to cleanse the sins upon me."
Liu Yuan, feeling the 'escape room' had a nice sense of ceremony, excitedly repeated the words.
Su Qi and Yun Huang exchanged a glance before reciting it as well.
The bespectacled middle-aged man clutching the briefcase trembled slightly as he spoke.
Meanwhile, the young girl beside him recited it clearly, a playful smirk on her lips.
Once the oath was complete, the bald man finally pushed open the eerie wooden door.
No choice…
Whoever made the rule that sacrificial offerings must consent willingly, without coercion, for a deity to accept them…
What kind of nonsense was that?
Luckily, these five were foolish and cooperative enough…
Otherwise, things would’ve gotten messy.
"Creak—"
The door hinges let out a grating sound as a chilly breeze rushed out, carrying dust and an indescribable, faintly sweet yet metallic scent.
Inside was pitch black, like the gaping maw of a beast ready to devour its prey.
"All five of you, step inside. May you… enjoy the game."
The bald man stepped aside, gesturing with a "please." His expression looked especially eerie in the dim light.
Liu Yuan instinctively gripped Su Qi’s arm, muttering, "This actually feels a little scary…"
Su Qi patted her head and strode in first. "Relax, it’s just entertainment."
Yun Huang followed closely behind.
The young girl and the middle-aged man entered as well.
Just as the bald man was about to shut the door, a hand suddenly blocked it.
He turned to see who it was, hesitating before asking, "Big bro?"
The burly man’s condition seemed… off.
Flickering flames danced in his eyes…
"We’re going in too."
The bald man was baffled. "Us?"
"Bro, are you seriously offering yourself as a sacrifice?"
"What’s inside is—"
The burly man smirked. "I’ve already received the Lord of Sin’s blessing…"
"I want to witness firsthand… the joy of my Lord as He receives His offerings…"
"I—"
Before the bald man could protest, the burly man yanked him inside. "Hesitation leads to failure."
"You’re my only little brother left."
"Gotta drag you along for the ride."
The wooden door slammed shut behind them, sealing off all light and sound from the outside.
Darkness swallowed everything whole.
...
The moment the middle-aged man stepped inside, his temples throbbed violently.
A bone-chilling sense of dread surged over him like a tidal wave.
This was the 'welcome ceremony' unique to high-tier Source Realms.
Like a warning sign, reminding every intruder: You’ve stepped where you don’t belong.
Discreetly, he pulled a pill from his pocket.
The young girl mirrored his actions, popping a pill into her mouth as well.
The pill dissolved instantly, leaving a bitter medicinal taste on her tongue.
Clearly, both were cultivators.
The girl noticed Liu Yuan curiously watching her movements.
She rolled her eyes. "Stay close if you don’t want to die. I’ll try to keep you safe."
Liu Yuan nodded. This big sister was really getting into character. "My brother will protect me."
The girl sighed inwardly, sneering.
"Two little burdens and one big burden…"
Even she could lose her life here if she wasn’t careful…
If the intel was correct…
What awaited them was likely 'a territory belonging to one of that deity’s subordinates.'
As for strength…
It shouldn’t be too high.
The chances of a deity responding to a Descendant’s sacrificial ritual were usually slim.
At most, some low-tier underlings with 'similar tastes' might show up.
But even then…
This wasn’t something a fourth-tier or sixth-tier 'kid' should be involved in.
...
The girl’s name was Su Muxue.
She surveyed her surroundings.
Deep, endless darkness.
Not empty—void.
It felt like floating in an abyss without boundaries, without up or down.
As time passed, she could feel her senses being stripped away one by one.
No sound, no sight, not even the sensation of air moving…
Time itself seemed frozen here.
She tried moving her fingers.
Her body still responded, but her fingertips brushed against nothingness.
In this silence, her heartbeat echoed deafeningly.
Even as a ninth-tier cultivator…
She could only feel a helpless, suffocating despair.
How…?
She’d handled similar situations before…
But never once…
Had she felt this powerless.
"This isn’t just some ordinary subordinate of the Lord of Ashes!"
Su Muxue: ???
The moment she spoke, her cognition seemed altered…
She couldn’t utter the words 'Lord of Sin.'
Panic began to spread.
Just as Su Muxue’s vigilance reached its peak—
"Brother… hasn’t the game started yet?"
"I’ve been waiting so long…"
It was Liu Yuan.
Su Muxue’s expression darkened. "Are you seriously joking around at a time like—"
Her words cut off abruptly.
Almost the instant Liu Yuan spoke, the 'silence' around them shattered.
Not from sound, but something more fundamental collapsing.
The once-void 'ground' beneath them solidified, cold and unyielding.
The inky darkness receded like a tide, pulling away into the distance.
Light—not from any source, but diffusing from the void itself—softly illuminated the surroundings.
No longer emptiness.
The scenery rapidly took shape before them.
A desolate, ruined village.
Houses of piled stone and earth lay in crumbling ruins, as if gnawed by time.
The ground was cracked yellow earth, with withered weeds stubbornly pushing through the fissures.
A few gnarled, skeletal trees dotted the village’s edge, their twisted branches clawing at the sky like the arms of the desperate.
A broken stone tablet lay fallen on the ground.
[Prison of Sinners]
Then, to Su Muxue’s disbelief, a skeletal arm burst from the earth.
It chiseled away the words on the tablet with brute force.
Then carved three new characters in their place.
[Ashen Village]
ive and Ruthless] Before his transmigration, Ye Xuan was playing a game called "Severing Emotions to Attain the Dao." The game's core wasn't about leveling up by fighting monsters, but about conquering various "bad women" with wicked personalities and cold, fickle natures. There was only one method to conquer them: stay unwaveringly by their side, then die at a critical moment, driving them to madness after losing the protagonist. The higher their level of regret, the higher the player's score. To dominate the server, Ye Xuan conquered all the bad women. In the early stages, he showered them with boundless tenderness, only to choose to sacrifice himself for them later, making them weep bitterly and drown in regret. Among them were: Xia Lengyue, the unfaithful immortal wife who chased after powerful men and discarded her husband like trash. Ye Qingcheng, the Demonic Venerable of the Joyous Union Sect, who appeared pure and innocent but was, in reality, promiscuous. Wu Lingxiao, the Empress of the Great Xia Dynasty, who lusted after men and loved maintaining a harem. Bai Qiangu of the Endless Demonic Sect: a bloodthirsty mass murderer. However, when the protagonist transmigrated into the game world, he made a horrifying discovery. Eight hundred years had already passed. The bad women he had conquered had now each become deities and revered ancestors. Faced with the endless stream of toxic women coming for him, Ye Xuan could only rely on his god-tier acting skills to carve a path of survival through this world of treacherous women.
young master of the Shen family—a figure of immense power and wealth beyond measure—and awakened the "Destined Ultimate Villain System"! His starting scenario? Running into his icy fiancée who shows up with a mountain-descending divine doctor to break off their engagement. The divine doctor arrogantly taunts: "What does your Shen family have besides a bit of stinking money? You're not even worthy of tying Qingxue's shoelaces!" Shen Fei just smiled. He completely defied the usual script: "Fine, I agree to break off the engagement. Also, notify the finance department to withdraw all investments from the Su family." Minutes later, with its capital chain severed, the Su Group teetered on the brink of bankruptcy! The once aloof and proud ice queen CEO was thrown into utter panic. That very night, she went to Shen Fei's villa, casting aside all dignity to beg and plead desperately... From then on, in this world teeming with Sons of Destiny, Shen Fei embarked on a path of extreme dimensional suppression! A mountain-descending divine doctor? Peerless medical skills? Shen Fei: "Reporting you for practicing medicine without a license! I'll gladly take your ancient medicinal cauldron and twin sister assassins." The Crooked-Smiling Dragon King? Commanding a hundred thousand soldiers with a single order? Shen Fei: "Illegal assembly and suspected treason! Let a fleet of attack helicopters sanitize the area and teach you what the state apparatus really means!" A reborn tycoon? Knows all the golden opportunities of the next decade? Shen Fei: "A trillion in capital to reverse and pump the stock market, making you blow your margin and jump on the very first day of your rebirth!" What Chosen Ones? What bearers of Heavenly Fortune? In Shen Fei's eyes, they're all just chives (i.e., suckers/marks) waiting to be harvested! Shen Fei: "Sorry, but as the Destined Ultimate Villain, I don't play by the rules of honor. I only play the game of dimensional suppression."
Cheng's father told him he was getting remarried—to a wealthy woman. Cao Cheng realized his time had finally come: he was about to become a second-generation rich kid. Sure, it might be a watered-down version, but hey, at least he'd have status now, right? The wealthy woman also had four daughters!! Which meant, starting today, Cao Cheng gained four stunning older sisters?? But that wasn't even the whole story... "My name is Cao Cheng—'Cheng' as in 'honest, smooth-talking gentleman'!"
transmigrates into the world as the sect master of the Heavenly Yan Sect, which is on the verge of being wiped out. He binds a system that grants him cultivation power based on the number of disciples he has: for each disciple, he automatically gains a year's worth of cultivation every single day! Take one disciple: every day he gains 1 year of cultivation power. While others struggle through a year of bitter training, he gets the same just by sleeping through a single night. Take ten disciples: every day he gains 10 years of cultivation power. Foundation Establishment, Core Formation, Nascent Soul—he breezes through all bottlenecks without lifting a finger. Take one hundred disciples: every day he gains 100 years of cultivation power. Even a Soul Transformation Venerable before him can’t survive a single blow. Take ten thousand disciples: every day he gains 10,000 years of cultivation power! With a wave of his hand, he topples empires. With a single step, he crushes the sacred grounds of the universe. ... While others fight tooth and nail for secret techniques, Lin Yan casually hands out Nascent Soul-level cultivation manuals as beginner textbooks. While others strain to find talented recruits, Lin Yan opens his doors to anyone—so long as they’re human. In just three short years, the Heavenly Yan Sect went from a backwater sect made up of three crumbling huts to a sacred land that every cultivator under heaven would kill to enter. ... One day, otherworldly demon gods invade, with a million demon soldiers pressing down upon the realm. Lin Yan, yawning, rises from his lounge chair and glances at the system panel: [Current Disciples: 1.28 million] [Daily Cultivation Increase: 1.28 million years] He waves his hand casually, and the countless demon soldiers are reduced to ashes in an instant. “So noisy… interrupting my fishing.”
