Seeing Ye Chuan completely unharmed, Niya's gaze lingered on him for a long moment before she struggled to her feet.
"You're actually fine... I clearly hit you earlier."
"What could possibly happen to me? It's just a ghost." Ye Chuan had already dealt with plenty of them back in the Fierce Ghost Dormitory. Noticing Niya swaying unsteadily, he casually cast a healing spell, and her wounds instantly vanished.
"Thank you..." Feeling no pain at all, Niya looked up at Ye Chuan.
"One hundred silver coins."
"You charge for this?!"
"Obviously?"
After their exchange, Ye Chuan suddenly noticed an eerie wind sweeping through the arena, followed by the appearance of more and more crimson wraiths, one after another, giving him the surreal feeling of returning to the nightmare world.
"There really are a lot of them." Ye Chuan pulled out a Soul Banner and waved it. Thick smoke billowed out as dozens of chains shot forth.
"Tell it to my Holy Light Magic—Soul Purification!"
The chains pierced through the crimson wraiths one by one, dragging them into the banner. The wails were incessant as the wraiths screamed mindlessly, unable to break free. Once inside the banner, their bodies seemed to melt away.
"Is this Holy Light Magic?" Niya gulped involuntarily.
"Obviously?"
"Then why does it look so... sinister?"
"Oh, it’s just a bit discolored from overuse." Ye Chuan pointed at the Soul Banner. "This is a holy relic of the light attribute. See?"
As if responding to Niya, the skull on the banner opened its mouth, emitting a violet glow.
"Whose light-attribute artifact has a skull on it?!"
"It’s for warding off evil, of course. You need a demon’s skull for intimidation."
Niya felt there was some logic to his words but couldn’t decide where to start criticizing.
"Tch, such a measly power boost. These wraiths are too weak." Ye Chuan shook his head.
"..." Niya remained silent.
This was even less convincing. He looked like a full-blown dark priest.
"These wraiths... they must be the adventurers who died here before. Their grudges festered without purification." Niya said.
"I don’t think so."
"What do you mean?"
"I sense something interesting in this arena."
"Interesting...?" Niya glanced around at the dilapidated surroundings. What could possibly be interesting here?
Ye Chuan tapped the floor with his foot. "Underneath."
"Underneath?"
"Yeah, there’s something underground. I can feel it." His spiritual sense wasn’t mistaken—there was indeed a strange presence beneath them.
Niya crossed her arms. "How do you plan to locate it?"
"I have my ways." Ye Chuan rummaged in his pocket and pulled out a pair of glasses, putting them on.
[Item: Mana Goggles
Function: X-ray vision, capable of seeing through illusions.]
With the glasses on, Ye Chuan scanned the area, then his gaze landed on Niya. "You’re not wearing anything?"
"What do you mean not wearing—" Niya froze, then immediately covered herself and stumbled back.
"Won’t help. Your hands are transparent too."
"You bastard! What are you trying to do?!"
"Just demonstrating its function." Truthfully, Ye Chuan had zero interest in Niya’s underwhelming figure. He lowered his head and peered into the ground.
Soon, he locked onto a violet orb deep underground.
"Huh, there really is something. And it’s buried deep." He tried to get a clearer look and realized it was a sword...
A sword?
Ye Chuan was certain—the hazy silhouette inside the orb was a massive black blade. The sword was pitch-black, but not a dull matte. Instead, it looked like solidified ink wrapped in a layer of shifting dark light. Twisted crimson veins coiled along the spine, pulsing faintly like tiny blood vessels.
It looked downright evil.
"A sword... Oh?"
As Ye Chuan muttered in surprise, Niya seemed to recall something. "That adventurer who went berserk and killed people... it was because of a sword, wasn’t it?"
"After that, the sword vanished. Some said it was taken away, others said it was destroyed." Niya’s eyes widened. "Could it have been here all along?"
"A sword that drives people mad?" Ye Chuan was intrigued. He also wondered why it was buried here.
"Let’s dig it out."
"Wait! We should report this to the guild first." Niya grabbed his arm. "That weapon is too dangerous."
Ye Chuan knew she doubted his ability to control it, but he just shrugged.
"Actually, I’m a swordsman."
"Aren’t you a mage?" Niya frowned.
"Exactly. So you get how strong I am now?" He spread his hands. "It’s just a puny sword."
Niya: "..."
She had no idea how powerful Ye Chuan really was, but her tone turned somber. "Be careful."
Ye Chuan noticed her shift in mood but didn’t comment.
Now, how to retrieve it?
"Phasing through?"
"Hmm... probably won’t work with all that earth pressing down."
"Digging?" That seemed like a solid plan. "Let’s just dig."
"Dig?" Niya pointed at him, then herself, her neck stiffening.
"Us?"
"Why not?"
"No way." She refused outright. "Tch, we’d die before we dug it out."
Ye Chuan laughed—he was only joking.
The next second, black mist swirled at his feet, and one monstrous figure after another emerged under Niya’s stunned gaze.
"M-monsters?!" Her jaw dropped.
"I’m a summoner. Problem?"
"Summoners can only call one or two contracted beasts..." Niya felt her worldview crumbling yet again. Before she could process it, dozens of monsters around Ye Chuan were already clawing at the floor.
Clank, clank, clank. The sound of metal scraping echoed as Della, wreathed in violet flames, joined in with her tiny hammer, smashing the ground apart.
As the Rider of the End, a few strikes from Della shattered the earth completely.
"Faster, faster."
Ye Chuan urged his summons on, and soon, a massive pit was dug out.
He could’ve just blasted the ground apart with magic, but he worried it might affect the sword.
Finally, the blade came into view.
Violet light flickered ominously, radiating an aura of pure malevolence.
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.
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!
ing gift was a patch of barren land, and disciples were all picked up along the way. He spent fifty years diligently building three "ramshackle little sects," thinking he could finally live a carefree life relying on his disciples. But right at the fifty-year mark, he was suddenly swept away by a spatial rift and exiled to the Chaos Desolation, the Disorderly Ruins. There was no spiritual energy there, only slaughter. Relying on the cultivation feedback from his disciples, Gu Changyuan hacked his way through a sea of blood for eleven hundred years. When the system finally fished him back out, he discovered the ramshackle little sects he'd built back then had developed a rather... unusual style. Hold on... I vanished for a thousand years, so how did my ramshackle little sects become holy lands?!
villain is the number one simp for the book's leading female protagonist, Shen Wan'er. As expected, he later becomes a tool for the main character to show off and slap faces, ultimately meeting a tragic end with his family ruined and his life in shambles. Fortunately, he awakens the [Universal Pure Love System], which allows him to earn points by performing acts of pure love. To change his fate, Gu Yan makes a decisive choice to seek warmth and companionship with the book's biggest villain—Cold Qingqiu. ........... My name is Leng Qingqiu. To find the murderer who killed my parents years ago, I deliberately blinded myself so that everyone would lower their guard around me. Just as I was secretly accumulating power and capital according to my initial plan, a man walked into my world. "Lengleng, Qingqing, Qiuqiu, which nickname do you prefer?" I don't like any of them. You'd better leave quickly! "Why aren't you saying anything? How about I call you my baby wife?" Leng Qingqiu thinks to herself, this man is truly annoying! (Stubborn pure love warrior + single female lead + true pure love + 1v1)
