Crack!
Before that invisible giant hand could fully strike, Mo Bufan's proud demonic arm shattered inch by inch like a withered branch!
Following that was his protective aura.
Pulling back his thoughts.
Gu Yang was in no rush to leave.
Since the core area of this Immortal Burial Forbidden Zone was the Empress's sleeping quarters, there had to be more good things than just these.
"Daily Intelligence, activate scan."
Deep in Gu Yang's pupils, a faint blue data stream flashed by.
[Consume 20 Destiny Points to detect information about the Empress's sleeping quarters?]
"Yes."
[Remaining Destiny Points: 400.]
[High-energy reactions detected: 3 locations.]
The corners of Gu Yang's mouth curled up slightly.
As expected.
He walked to the pillow position of the ice coffin.
There lay a pillow completely pitch-black, seemingly capable of swallowing light.
Just now, when Tantai Jin rose, her long black hair had been spread across this.
[Ten-Thousand-Year Profound Yin Jade Pillow: Produced beneath ten thousand feet of ice in the Extreme North Ice Fields, taking ten thousand years to form.]
[Efficacy: Resting on it year-round can nourish the divine soul, especially for female cultivators practicing cold-attribute cultivation methods, it has the miraculous effect of preserving youth and purifying Yin essence.]
"No wonder her skin is still so good after sleeping for three thousand years."
Gu Yang didn't stand on ceremony, grabbing the edge of the jade pillow with one hand and pulling it hard.
"Click."
This exotic treasure, enough to drive Nascent Soul female cultivators crazy, was casually tossed into his storage bag.
Next, his gaze fell on the four corners at the bottom of the ice coffin.
Inlaid there were four thumb-sized beads emitting a faint blue light.
[Soul Fixing Beads (Four): Taken from the inner cores of four Peak Tier-3 (Peak Golden Core) Sea Demons, refined through secret methods, they can stabilize remnant souls and prevent the true spirit from dissipating.]
"Good stuff."
"Just right to take back and inlay at the head of Shen Qingyue's bed. That woman suffers from cold poison flare-ups and unstable divine soul every full moon night; this thing can save her some suffering."
A wind blade flashed in Gu Yang's hand.
The four Soul Fixing Beads popped off in response.
Finally.
Gu Yang's gaze turned to the stone pillar behind the altar, the one Tantai Jin had just supported herself on.
The stone pillar wasn't solid.
In the shadow on the back of the stone pillar grew an inconspicuous little grass.
Only the size of a palm, completely transparent, with leaves like sharp swords, yet a vividly red fruit hung at the root.
[Sword Heart Grass (Companion): Grown nourished by Tantai Jin's former sword intent for three thousand years. Consuming it allows one to briefly enter the state of "Heaven and Man as One," greatly increasing the probability of comprehending sword intent and divine abilities.]
"An unexpected delight."
Gu Yang carefully plucked it and sealed it in a jade box.
Looting complete.
He turned around and looked at the now-empty crystal ice coffin.
This core of the Immortal Burial Forbidden Zone held a massive amount of Yin meridian spiritual energy accumulated undisturbed for three thousand years, coupled with the spirit-gathering effect of this "Ten-Thousand-Year Immortal Nurturing Coffin."
"The most dangerous place is often the safest."
Gu Yang lifted his robes and stepped into the coffin.
The feeling was quite peculiar.
It felt like stepping into another woman's private territory.
He sat cross-legged right where Tantai Jin had just lain, the narrow space around him filled entirely with the scent of that Empress.
Gu Yang flipped his palm.
That jade box sealed with a talisman appeared in his hand.
Peeling off the talisman.
An incredibly dense aura of extreme cold erupted instantly, the surrounding air even condensing into fine ice crystals.
That "Netherworld Blood Spirit Flower" was like a glamorous vengeful ghost, unfurling its blood-thread-like petals within the jade box.
"Three thousand years old."
"Mo Bufan, I won't be polite with this grand gift of yours."
Gu Yang opened his mouth and directly swallowed this spirit grass containing highly toxic and extreme Yin power into his stomach.
"Boom—!!!"
The moment it entered his stomach.
Gu Yang felt as if he had swallowed a ten-thousand-year iceberg.
That power of extreme cold rushed all the way down his throat; wherever it passed, meridians were instantly frozen, even his blood seeming to stop flowing.
A thick layer of black frost instantly formed on his eyebrows and hair.
His entire person seemed about to turn into an ice sculpture in this instant.
"Hmph."
Buzz—
Within his dantian, the originally dormant five-colored lotus platform roared to life.
Especially that spark of "Great Sun True Fire" coiled at the center of the lotus platform, which now seemed like a provoked emperor, fiercely erupting with dazzling golden light.
Extreme Yang against Extreme Yin.
Like pouring oil on a blazing fire!
Gu Yang's body instantly turned into a battlefield.
The moment that extreme cold power encountered the Great Sun True Fire, it let out a "sizzle" of agony, subsequently transforming into a torrent of the purest energy.
Gu Yang's skin began to turn red, billowing white smoke rising from his head.
Under this extreme torment of ice and fire.
The sea of qi within his dantian began to boil and expand.
The originally liquefied magical power, refined by the Great Sun True Fire, became thicker and heavier, every drop of magical power seeming to contain the weight of a thousand jun.
"Condense!"
Gu Yang's hands formed incantations, phantoms layering at his fingertips.
Above the sea of qi.
Above that crimson "Crimson Blood Imperishable Platform," the phantom of the fourth layer of the Dao platform began to slowly emerge.
This layer of the Dao platform was completely different from the previous ones.
It was entirely pitch-black, like an abyss.
Yet within that blackness burned faint blue flames; that was the aura of the devoured "Nine Netherworld Soul-Locking Flame," and also the origin manifestation of this "Netherworld Blood Spirit Flower."
Black and faint blue intertwined, exuding an eerie beauty of death, stillness, yet encompassing all things.
Time flowed by.
Who knew how long had passed.
"Dong."
A muffled bell toll sounded within Gu Yang's body.
The fourth layer Dao platform—[Netherworld Dao Platform], thoroughly solidified!
Boom!
A terrifying aura swept outwards in all directions with Gu Yang at the center.
The entire crystal ice coffin let out a creak of bearing a heavy burden.
Gu Yang suddenly opened his eyes.
His left eye shone with brilliant golden light, like a great sun hanging in the sky; his right eye was profound and faint blue, like the descent of the Nine Netherworlds.
Mid-Foundation Establishment!
Gu Yang slowly clenched his fist, feeling the magical power surging like a sea within his body.
Sixty-five thousand strands!
An ordinary mid-Foundation Establishment cultivator's magical power was but eight to ten thousand strands.
Even the so-called chosen ones would max out at twenty thousand strands.
And he had sixty-five thousand strands!
What kind of concept was this?
This meant that his personal magical power reserves were equivalent to the sum total of seven or eight cultivators of the same tier!
"Furthermore..."
Gu Yang slowly raised his right hand, his index and middle fingers pressed together like a sword.
"Sizzle—"
Without any incantation, without any charging up.
A golden sword gleam fully ten feet long instantly spat out from his fingertips.
That sword gleam was as condensed as physical substance, the edges even cutting the air to reveal fine black fissures.
Gu Yang casually made a swipe.
"Ding."
The edge of that incomparably hard crystal ice coffin, which couldn't be damaged even by Mo Bufan's full-power strike, was actually sliced off at a corner as easily as cutting tofu.
The cut surface was as smooth as a mirror.
"Sword qi turning into gleam, condensed without dispersing."
"This is the method that can only be mastered at mid-Foundation Establishment."
Gu Yang dispersed the sword gleam, nodding in satisfaction.
But this wasn't the greatest harvest.
With the forging of the fourth layer "Netherworld Dao Platform," an instinctual divine ability originating from the depths of the Dao platform surfaced in his mind.
[Companion Divine Ability: Netherworld Shadow Escape.]
ap a wealthy young lady? Or else I'll be eliminated by the system? Ye Feng, who awakened the Kidnapper System, originally wanted to live a peaceful life but never imagined he would become a kidnapper of young women. However, after some time, he discovered that all the girls the system ordered him to kidnap were far from ordinary. "Big brother Ye Feng~ You've kidnapped my heart, and now you're not allowed to leave me ever again~" "Ye Feng~ You kidnapped me back then, now it's my turn to capture you♡" "Little Feng, you're mine! You can only be mine!" "Ye Feng, none of them deserve you. Only I love you the most♡" ... This is madness, they've all gone mad! Wait, what? Why are all the girls I kidnapped yanderes?!
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."
grated, and just when he finally managed to get into an elite academy, he discovered that he actually had a system, and the way to earn rewards was extremely ridiculous. So for the sake of rewards, he had no choice but to start acting ridiculous as well. Su Cheng: "It's nothing but system quests after all." But later, what confused Su Cheng was that while he was already quite ridiculous, he never expected those serious characters to gradually become ridiculous too. And the way they looked at him became increasingly strange... (This synopsis doesn't do it justice, please read the full story)
e bizarre and supernatural had descended. The previous emperor was a thoroughgoing tyrant; no longer satisfied with human women, he had set his sights on a stunningly beautiful supernatural entity. He met his end in his bedchamber, drained of all his vital essence. As the legitimate eldest son and crown prince, Wang Hao was thus hastily enthroned, becoming the young emperor of the Great Zhou Dynasty. No sooner had he awakened the "Imperial Sign-In Intelligence System" than he was assassinated by a Son of Destiny—a classic villain's opening. The Great Zhou, ravaged by the former emperor's excesses, was in national decline. The great families within its borders harbored their own treacherous schemes, martial sects began to defy the imperial court's decrees, and border armies, their pay and provisions in arrears, grumbled incessantly against the central government. Fortunately, the central capital was still held secure by the half-million Imperial Guards and fifty thousand Imperial Forest Army who obeyed the court's orders, along with the royal family's hidden reserves of power, barely managing to suppress the realm. As the Great Zhou's finances worsened and supernatural activities grew ever more frequent, the court sat atop a volcano. Ambitious plotters everywhere dreamed of overthrowing the dynasty, and even some reclusive ancient powers emerged, attempting to sway the tides of the world. At the first grand court assembly, the civil and military officials nearly came to blows, fighting tooth and nail over the allocation of fifty million taels of silver from the summer tax revenues. The spectacle opened Wang Hao's eyes—the Great Zhou's bureaucracy was not only corrupt but also martially proficient, a cabinet of all-rounders. Some officials even had the audacity to suggest the emperor release funds from the imperial privy purse to address the emergency. Wang Hao suddenly felt weary. Let it all burn.
