The mist churned like a solid entity in the pitch-black valley.
Every breath carried a biting chill, as if even one's blood might freeze. Tian Xiaotian shrank her neck closer to her shoulders as she walked beside Ye Chuan, tightening her coat around her. Despite being bundled up, the eerie cold still seeped through the gaps in her collar and sleeves, making her shudder uncontrollably.
She glanced back. The woman trailing their group was still following, though she dared not get too close.
"Big bro, let her come with us. Sister Susu has protected me before," Tian Xiaotian tugged at Ye Chuan's sleeve. But the golden-haired loli knew his temper was unpredictable—this simple request might be denied if he disliked it, and she wouldn’t dare push further.
"Oh?" Ye Chuan turned to look.
Hearing their conversation, the woman behind them flushed with embarrassment, her fingers nervously twisting the hem of her clothes as she stood there awkwardly.
In this Ghost Valley dungeon teeming with wandering spirits, losing one’s weapons meant losing any chance of survival. She knew this better than anyone. Sticking with Tian Xiaotian might be her only hope.
There was no other choice. After barely surviving the horde of wandering corpses, she had lost all her equipment and items.
"You're the employer. I have no objections," Ye Chuan said flatly, his tone devoid of any emotion as he glanced at Susu.
In his eyes, since he’d accepted Tian Xiaotian’s chest of gold bars, this small request was nothing. One or two extra people made no difference.
"Great!" Tian Xiaotian’s eyes lit up, and she eagerly waved the woman over. "Susu, come here!"
A flicker of joy flashed in the woman’s eyes as she hurried forward, though she deliberately kept a respectful distance, standing properly beside Tian Xiaotian.
Truthfully, her so-called "protection" had just been occasional help—she’d noticed Tian Xiaotian was a newbie with deep pockets and had lent a hand a few times.
Now, she silently thanked her past self for not antagonizing this wealthy loli.
The three continued forward in silence, Tian Xiaotian scanning the surroundings for mushroom-like plants. Unfortunately, no matter how hard she looked, the ground remained barren, reeking of blood and rot, with nothing else in sight.
...
At some point, the surrounding mist thickened, coiling around them like a living thing as the temperature steadily dropped.
Ye Chuan suddenly halted. A faint, eerie whispering reached his ears—sometimes like an old woman’s muttering, other times like a baby’s wail—echoing through the silent valley, sending chills down the spine.
His spiritual sense expanded like a tide. After a moment, he spoke calmly, "We’re surrounded by wandering spirits."
"Huh?" Tian Xiaotian’s eyes widened in alarm as she frantically looked around, but aside from the gray mist, she saw nothing.
Just as confusion filled her, a faint blue glow flickered in Ye Chuan’s palm, accompanied by the crackle of electricity. In the blink of an eye, a basketball-sized purple sphere of lightning formed in his hand.
"Go!" Ye Chuan commanded softly. The electric sphere shot forward like an arrow, exploding in the dense mist!
A shrill scream followed as the fog tore open, revealing a horde of densely packed wandering spirits behind it.
Their eyes were hollow, their skin an unnatural bluish-gray, their mouths gaping as they emitted hoarse growls—enough to make anyone’s blood run cold.
Seeing the clustered spirits, Tian Xiaotian and Susu felt their scalps tingle!
Their voices trembled, their legs weak. If not for Ye Chuan’s presence, Tian Xiaotian would’ve collapsed on the spot.
This was a nightmare for anyone with trypophobia!
"What’s there to fear?" Ye Chuan chuckled. His peachwood sword shot out, splitting into dozens of sword shadows midair, slithering like silver snakes into the mist!
Amid the crisscrossing sword energy, the spirits shrieked one after another. Soon, the air was littered with glistening spirit essences.
Good. More, please.
Yet Ye Chuan noticed that despite the spirits being slaughtered, the mist showed no signs of dissipating—instead, it grew heavier.
"Seems something foul is conjuring this mist." His spiritual sense expanded again like a net, searching for that distinct presence hidden within.
Soon, he locked onto an unusual aura among the spirits—cold and sinister, starkly different from the rest.
Just as he prepared to strike, the aura suddenly fluctuated violently, as if sensing danger, then turned and fled at incredible speed!
Oh?
"Hmph, trying to run? Do you really think you can escape?" Ye Chuan smirked as his palm blazed with light. A two-meter-wide laser cannon erupted from his hand!
Where the demonic beam passed, the mist instantly vanished, leaving behind a bottomless chasm in the ground.
As the light faded, a distant roar of defiance echoed before fading away.
With the disappearance of that presence, the surrounding mist began to slowly clear.
"Hmm, Foundation Establishment level? Must’ve been the boss." Ye Chuan pocketed the unusually potent spirit essence without a second thought.
One-shot. Nothing worth discussing.
Spirit essences were beneficial not just for Lilith, but also for Lan Xiaoke—both existed in soul forms. Though Lan Xiaoke could cultivate, she didn’t rely on them as much.
"Big bro, the system just notified me—I triggered a hidden quest," Tian Xiaotian suddenly said.
Ye Chuan couldn’t see her interface, so he simply asked, "What is it?"
"The thing we just killed was called the [Mist Phantom]. Now we’ve unlocked a quest called Ghost Valley’s Treasure. If we find it, we can leave."
"Mist Phantom?" Susu’s face paled in shock. "Isn’t that a boss from high-difficulty dungeons? Many teams have perished in its mist… I never thought it’d appear here!"
"High difficulty?" Ye Chuan mused.
I suppose?
At least it managed a dying scream.
Good. Very spirited.
"Where’s the treasure?" Ye Chuan asked Tian Xiaotian.
"I only have the quest prompt, no location," she said, instinctively looking at Susu.
"I… I don’t know either."
Silent Ghost Valley was a well-known dungeon among players, usually a low-difficulty gathering quest. As long as someone experienced led the way, collecting the required items would complete the mission.
No one dared speak inside—no ordinary team could survive the endless waves of wandering spirits.
Let alone someone like Ye Chuan, who hunted them down like prey.
Susu couldn’t tell if it was her imagination, but the more spirits appeared, the more excited this terrifying man seemed.
"Still, I have a good idea," Ye Chuan grinned.
"What?"
"Exterminate every last ghost in this valley."
"…Huh?"
"Let’s go."
lity and could only live as an ordinary mortal. He only wished to live a peaceful life. Yet he didn't know— The dog he adopted, because it ate his food, became a legendary demon king. The kitchen knife he casually forged became a peerless divine weapon, causing numerous experts to fight desperately for it. The young disciple he took in became an immortal lord that led an era, due to cultivating the techniques Ye Feng taught him. Even the skeletons he looked down on the most were ominous demon kings that suppressed countless worlds. Many years later, looking at the void shattered with a punch, Ye Feng murmured to himself: It turns out the peerless kings were myself all along...
s the Eldest Princess, renowned for her cold and aloof detachment, became the most docile of lambs, obeying his every command without question. But when the final move was played on the chessboard, as Gu Chenghan seized everything and ascended on the verge of apotheosis, that very Princess suddenly embraced him from behind, her tone carrying a dependence never heard before: "Wait... you haven't yet... commanded me to love you forever." Gu Chenghan froze abruptly. She... hadn't been hypnotized?! ... [The Eldest Princess's Diary] [When my soul was extracted, becoming the sole spectator outside my own shell] [At first, there was overwhelming fury, until I saw] [How he used my sword to effortlessly shatter my inescapable doom] [How he wielded my authority to eradicate fatal conspiracies I had never even detected] [Like a deity, he rescued me from the deep mire I was trapped in] [If not for those annoying vixens, he and I would be a match made in heaven] [I think I am ill, gravely ill] [My deity should belong to me alone] ... "Hypnosis? Oh, it succeeded, my dear Master." "Only this time, it's my turn to hypnotize you."
to panic—he has a system. As long as an investment target dies, he can claim a reward. And since he is immortal, the one thing he has plenty of is time. ... Countless years later. “Immortal Emperor of Longevity? I invested in him.” “Supreme Celestial Venerable? I invested in him.” “Undying Empress? I invested in her.” “...” “Heh. Once they’ve all died, even the Heavenly Dao will have to kneel and call me Dad.”
e, Immortal Body, Transmigration, System, Progression Fantasy, Academy Setting, Third-Person Perspective. Alternate Title: Transmigrating into a High Martial World and Reading Live Comments. Bad news: I transmigrated. This is a terrifying high-martial world, and my original, pathetically weak body fell into a coma and never woke up. Good news: I got a Popularity Points system upon arrival. I can see live comments and even create an unkillable alternate identity. Starting out, the alternate identity has all stats at 1. The system tells me that to grow stronger, I must participate in the plot, gain popularity points to allocate stats and grow stronger, and ultimately awaken my original body. And so, carrying my original body on my back, I officially entered Huaqing Academy, where the story's protagonist resides. From that moment on, Chen Guan kicked the original plot to pieces. Live Comments: [Doesn't anyone find this mysterious coffin guy creepy? He can summon indescribable grey misty hands.] [Is this guy a hero or a villain? What kind of onion became a spirit?] [By the way, does anyone know who's in the coffin? Shouldn't the debt for saving his life be repaid by now?] [According to unofficial histories, the person in the coffin was Chen Guan's first love. Their love was once passionate and earth-shattering, but they were separated by life and death due to worldly circumstances. What a star-crossed pair.] ... Years later, the world knew of a demon god born from a coffin, shrouded in grey mist, impossible to gaze upon directly. His foremost divine emissary often wielded a scythe, reaping lives like the god of death. As war approached, facing former friends and a boundless sea of enemies, Chen Guan merely raised his scythe. "Would you like to dance as well?"
