"Tired. Seems like I can't handle the Holy Land on my own." Ye Chuan lifted his head, gazing at the sky at a 45-degree angle.
Hmm. Gloomy and overcast.
The Holy Land was an existence even more formidable than the Upper Three Sects. Bing San's guardian envoys were all at the Enlightenment Realm—a level equivalent to Qingyun Sect's leader, Qin Tianya.
If he hadn't threatened that old geezer last time by activating Void Form and vowing to shatter the Demon Core, the bastard might not have fled in fear.
All around, snow stretched endlessly, and the treasury was just as barren.
In this frozen wasteland, all Ye Chuan wanted was a bit of warmth to soothe his icy heart—preferably from a certain snow maiden.
"Guess I'll save and log off."
At least he'd refined an entire sect, and his cultivation had improved somewhat.
Next time, he’d aim to refine Qingyun Sect.
……
When he opened his eyes again, familiar warmth enveloped him.
After logging off, Ye Chuan found himself back in his rented apartment.
Luo Xi was fast asleep beside him, strands of hair clinging to her cheeks as she curled up against his chest—while on the other side, Ye Yue hugged a small pillow, pressing close.
Sleeping soundly, huh?
Ye Chuan reached out and stroked Luo Xi’s cheek. She responded with a muffled murmur, "Mmm?"
Picking up his phone, he checked his progress in the adventure worlds.
[Aiser Continent—Save Point (Ys Town): Inactive (Gray)
Main Quest: Escort the Princess to the Royal City, Eliminate the Skin-Stealing Monsters
Side Quest: Acquire the Succubus Parlor]
……
[Tianxuan Continent—Save Point (Ice Xuan Palace): Inactive (Gray)
Main Quest: Destroy Qingyun Sect
Side Quest: Defeat the Egg-Protecting Sage, Elder Xuan]
……
Exhausted, Ye Chuan buried his face in the "snow maiden’s" embrace, the chill in his body seemingly dispelled. His eyelids grew heavy, and soon, he sank into deep slumber.
He slept straight until dawn.
……
Morning came, and when Ye Chuan woke, he found his arm tightly bound. Blinking groggily, he glanced down—only to see it wrapped in writhing tendrils of flesh.
Ye Yue’s hands had split apart, transforming into a mass of tentacles, yet she remained oblivious, still sound asleep.
Ye Chuan: "……"
Waking up to this was… quite the visual shock.
He chose to ignore the tentacles. After all, Ye Yue was never ordinary to begin with.
A monster wasn’t so bad.
But now, he wasn’t sure how to free himself and get up. With no other option, he gently patted Ye Yue’s shoulder.
"Ye Yue?"
"Ye Yue…"
Her crimson eyes fluttered open, the tentacles swiftly retracting until she blinked up at him, utterly harmless. "Brother… did I hurt you? I didn’t mean to."
"I know you didn’t. It’s fine." Ye Chuan ruffled her hair.
"Let’s go wash up and have breakfast?"
"Okay!" Instead of moving, Ye Yue rolled over and pinned him down, wrapping her arms around his neck. "Brother, I want a hug!"
Ye Chuan obliged, holding her tight. Ye Yue seemed delighted, nuzzling into his chest as she greedily inhaled his scent.
By the time they got out of bed, Luo Xi had already prepared breakfast.
"Hmm?"
Something felt off. Ye Chuan’s gaze shifted until he spotted it—a cracked eggshell on the floor.
"The egg…"
Wait.
"Where’s my egg?" Ye Chuan blurted out. The egg he’d obtained after defeating that kaiju-like monster was gone.
"Brother, it’s still here." Ye Yue glanced down.
Ye Chuan: "?"
Ye Yue: "?"
……
Ye Chuan immediately released his spiritual sense, scanning the room—until he sensed something. His eyes snapped to the corner, where a massive, metallic-hued spider loomed.
Its body gleamed in shades of crimson and violet, each leg sharp as a scythe.
The spider remained frozen, its many eyes locked onto Ye Chuan, huddled in the corner too terrified to move.
The moment it realized it had been spotted, it shrank even further, letting out a tiny, "Squeak!"
"Lilith! Lilith!" Ye Chuan called out urgently.
A faint violet glow shimmered as Lilith materialized, tilting her head. "What’s wrong? Why the panic?"
"Spider."
"Huh?" Lilith raised a brow—but the second she looked up, her entire body stiffened. "Sp-spider?!"
"Eek!"
She lunged at Ye Chuan’s face, clinging like a facehugger, her legs locking around his shoulders—and effectively smothering him.
"W-wait—"
Blinded, Ye Chuan staggered and toppled onto the bed.
"Brother, me too!" Seeing the commotion, Ye Yue cheerfully piled on top, squashing his stomach.
"Oof—"
After much flailing, Ye Chuan finally managed to sit up, eyeing Lilith. "Lilith, I never took you for someone afraid of spiders."
"You’re mistaken. I, the great Lilith, fear no spider," she stated flatly.
"Then what was that just now—"
"A hallucination." She averted her gaze.
"Sure, let’s go with that." Sighing, Ye Chuan pointed at the cowering spider. "Is this thing the monster that hatched from that egg?"
"A being of the Void. Indeed."
"And you told me to keep it because…?"
"No idea."
"Excuse me?"
"Its abilities remain unclear. You’ll have to nurture it first." With that, Lilith dissolved into violet light and vanished.
"Hey—"
"Hey?!"
Watching her disappear, Ye Chuan’s eye twitched. He turned back to the spider and commanded,
"Come here."
"Squeak."
"Enough squeaking. Get down here, or I’m turning you into soup."
The spider obediently scurried over—only for its razor-sharp legs to shred Ye Chuan’s bedsheets.
"My bed!" He swatted at it, sending the spider tumbling back into the corner, where it trembled pitifully.
Ye Chuan: "……"
"Am I really that scary?" he muttered. He hadn’t even hit it hard, yet the spider acted like it was on death’s doorstep.
"Squeak!" The spider nodded emphatically. After all, even inside the egg, Ye Chuan had bullied it relentlessly.
"……"
Ye Chuan pulled out his phone and navigated to the pet menu:
[New Pet Discovered: ???
Origin: [Void], Abilities Unknown
Realm: None
[Pet Quality: S]
[Passive Effect: Permanently boosts all tenants’ stats by 22%]
[Special Bonus: Unknown]
Damn.
A percentage-based buff?
Even better than that black mutt in the yard.
Power creep much?
22%?
No wonder Lilith insisted on keeping it.
Ye Chuan looked at the spider again, his gaze softening. He beckoned gently. "Come here, little Crimson."
The spider: "Squeak?"
It inched forward cautiously, unnerved by Ye Chuan’s sudden warmth.
Somehow, this terrified it even more.
This man…
Was far scarier than any monster.
iaobai: "Councilor Dad, front me some funds. I want to hire ten thousand professional miners for a project!" [Five-Star Mission Issued: Capture the leader of the Blood Heaven Pirate Gang, who is on the run in the Radiant Star Sector. It is said the gang has over a hundred members. Proceed with caution.] Lu Xiaobai: "Councilor Dad, lend me the family's hundred-thousand-strong Lu Army!" [Seven-Star Mission Issued: Subdue a juvenile Void Dragon Beast.] Lu Xiaobai: "Councilor Dad, I'm taking your tamed Void Dragon Beast King out for a family reunion!" I said, System, don't you have any slightly more challenging missions? You're just not up to par! [Nine-Star Mission Issued: Become the Human Councilor.] Lu Xiaobai: "Dad, there's a small matter I'd like to discuss with you..."
't think I'm that capable, I'm just trying my best to stay alive. I've been kind all my life, never did anything bad, yet worldly suffering spared me not one bit. The human world is a nice place, but I won't come back in my next life. A kind young man, who wanted to just get by singing, but through repeated deceits and betrayals, has gone down an irredeemable path.
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?!
