When he felt the obvious change in the Suixing Sword, Xuan Yan's eyes nearly popped out of his head. How on earth was this done?
His hands trembling, he looked at the spirit sword in his grasp. "The quality of the Suixing Sword... it's actually improved by a significant margin?!"
He finally understood why Xuanye was so excited. This rate of improvement was much faster than direct cultivation. In just a few breaths, his combat power had clearly increased.
Spend money to get stronger!
And it was a direct, tangible strengthening!
"But... this, this... do you even have the money?" Xuan Yan asked Xuanye. Being good friends for many years and fellow elders of the same sect, he was well aware of how much money the other had.
"I still have some left," Xuanye said.
"This..."
"The next stage costs five hundred thousand low-grade spirit stones," Ye Chuan said, seeing Xuanye's eager, restless look, directly stating the risk. "However, starting from level four, there's a chance of failure. Consider it yourself."
Hearing that failure was possible was like a bucket of cold water dumped on Xuanye. He was stunned for a moment, then immediately asked, "Master, what's the success rate..."
"Hmm..." Ye Chuan glanced at the panel. After all, it was just adding a five. "Ninety percent."
It wasn't a hundred percent anyway. Probability was just one of those unreliable things.
"Ninety percent?!"
That's still a very high chance!
Without hesitation, Xuanye took out his entire life savings. "Here, five hundred thousand low-grade spirit stones."
"Xuanye..." Xuan Yan began.
But in the end, he didn't say more, knowing his words would fall on deaf ears now.
They had all been stuck at the Nascent Soul realm for years, with no progress in cultivation and no change in combat power.
The desire to grow stronger was simply too intense.
"Alright." Ye Chuan accepted another five hundred thousand and then tossed the Suixing Sword into the furnace.
The furnace began to shake violently, and Xuanye's eyes were glued to it—
It has to succeed!
It must—
Clang! A sudden, piercing sound rang out, and the Suixing Sword was ejected once more.
This time, however, the glow on it had dimmed considerably.
"This... this can't be..." A terrible premonition instantly gripped Xuanye's heart. He hurriedly looked at Ye Chuan.
"You have decent luck," Ye Chuan spoke up.
Xuanye's face immediately lit up with joy. "So it succeeded?"
"No. I meant you have passable luck. You managed to hit that ten percent failure rate." Ye Chuan's words seemed to make Xuanye's world collapse.
"It's back to level three. Here, take it." Ye Chuan threw the Suixing Sword back to Xuanye.
Learning that eight hundred thousand spirit stones had gone down the drain, Xuanye stared blankly at the spirit sword in his hand, his whole person seeming to short-circuit.
A tumult of complex emotions surged within him. "Even a ninety percent chance can fail?"
"Why?"
"When I attempted my Nascent Soul breakthrough, I succeeded with only a thirty percent chance..."
"Mas... Master..." Zhang Yuefeng, standing to the side, saw her master muttering like this and spoke up with concern, "A-at least the Suixing Sword is repaired, right?"
"Uh, Xuanye, are you okay?" Xuan Yan also asked, as Xuanye's mental state seemed a bit off.
"I... I'm going to hunt demon beasts to earn money! I need to earn for the Suixing Sword!" Xuanye suddenly stood up, turned, and left.
"Hey, Master!"
"Xuanye!"
After the three of them left the shop, Ye Chuan slowly withdrew his gaze.
Beside him, Hu Li's ears twitched. "Boss... is that old immortal master alright?"
"Who can he blame for getting addicted?" Ye Chuan smiled faintly.
But having tasted that feeling, he'd be back sooner or later.
Ye Chuan understood it all too well.
That old codger definitely wouldn't be resigned to it. After all, that feeling of being hooked...
"That's about it. Closing time for today, Hu Li." Ye Chuan lay back on the sofa and waved his hand. "Lock up."
"Yes, Boss!" Hu Li immediately got up to close the shop.
After shutting the shop door, the little girl quickly ran back to Ye Chuan's side, looking ready to receive orders—her big eyes fixed on him.
"It's after work hours. You can go do things you like," Ye Chuan said.
"Hu Li wants to stay by the boss's side." Hu Li blinked, her voice softening a little. "Is that not okay..."
The loli was quite cute.
"Suit yourself." Ye Chuan took out a spirit stone from his backpack space and handed it to Hu Li. "Here, consider it your allowance. Buy food or toys, whatever you like."
The value of a single spirit stone could actually exchange for quite a lot of good things in the mortal world. Seeing it, Hu Li just shook her head. "Hu Li has food and drink. That's enough."
"Take it." Ye Chuan stuffed it into her arms.
After the forging shop closed, Ye Chuan counted his earnings for the day and then logged off directly.
Tianxuan Continent, logging off!
...
...
Opening his eyes, Ye Chuan returned to the real world.
Looking around, he found himself in his own room.
Walking out, he noticed Lan Xiaoke was still cultivating. Spiritual energy swirled around her body, and with her steady breathing, her cultivation was indeed steadily improving.
"She's really diligent. She hasn't moved for several days now, right?"
This state of deep meditation wasn't actually rare. It was normal for ordinary cultivators to remain like this for months during seclusion. But for a lazy bug like Lan Xiaoke, staying still for days was a rarity.
Ye Chuan observed Lan Xiaoke. If she weren't cultivating, he would have gone over to hold her snow-white peaks to relieve some hand pressure.
After all, being busy at the forge all day had worn him out.
Just then, Lan Xiaoke seemed to react—her snow-white long hair suddenly floated up, undulating along with the changes in spiritual energy.
Finally, as if a physical restraint had been released, Lan Xiaoke's aura climbed to a new level!
"I broke through!" Lan Xiaoke opened her eyes.
This brought her one step closer to the Nascent Soul realm!
"Not bad." Ye Chuan was surprised that Lan Xiaoke's leveling speed was a bit faster than he expected. Although not as fast as Qian Shuang's, her talent was still quite good.
Though it might also just be the effect of a critical success from the Spirit Gathering Array.
"Uh, I'm hungry." Lan Xiaoke stood up, and her stomach immediately let out a loud gurgle.
Holding her stomach, she looked up at Ye Chuan. "Ye Chuan, you're responsible for me."
"Sounds like you're pregnant or something." Seeing her like this, Ye Chuan said, "Let's go. I'll treat you to a big meal outside."
"Yay!" Lan Xiaoke immediately scampered over cheerfully. "Let's go, let's go."
"I feel like I could eat a whole cow!"
Ye Chuan checked the time. "Hmm, at this hour, let's call everyone to go out together. No cooking today."
However, considering the matter of selling spirit stones, Ye Chuan planned to ask Yan Ran out.
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)
] This is a dark fantasy-themed dating simulation game. The main gameplay involves containing various monster girls and investigating the truth of a world shrouded in mist alongside your companions. However, due to his love for the dark and bizarre atmosphere, Luo Wei ended up turning a dating game into a detective mystery game. Women? Women only slow down his quickdraw! To Luo Wei, the female leads in the game are more like tools to perfectly clear levels and squeeze out rewards. For Luo Wei, flirting with every girl he meets and then discarding them is standard procedure. Worried about characters losing affection points? No need. With his maxed-out charm stat, Luo Wei is practically a "human incubus." A little psychological manipulation and those points come right back. It's a bit scummy, but the paper cutout heroines in the game won't actually come at him with real cleavers. However... Luo Wei has transmigrated. He's accidentally entered the second playthrough of this game. His past actions have caused all the girls to transform into terrifying yanderes. Due to the game's setting, most of the heroines he once contained are "troubled girls." Obsessive, twisted, mentally unstable, all aggressive yanderes... The type who will kill you if they can't have you... Luo Wei wants to cry but has no tears left. "I really just want to survive..." In short, this is a story of battling wits and engaging in a love-hate relationship with 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."
] [Lone Wolf, No Male Gaze] [Protagonist is pursued early on; extreme protagonist-stans, stay away!] The "Carnival Paradise" descends and slowly devours the real world in the form of a game. By chance, Zhu Yan awakens the talent [Roleplay], becoming one of the first beta players. He thought he could develop safely, but after clearing the first instance, he is branded by humanity as the chief culprit behind the game's spread—a traitorous villain. A villain? Who would ever... become one! He'll be the villain! From then on, Zhu Yan is not only a player but also a lackey for the Carnival Paradise. Between the straight path and the crooked path, he chooses the con. With his left hand, he dons the villain's mantle, staging scenes within instances, infuriating players who decry him as a despicable traitor, all while the game happily promotes him. With his right hand, he joins the non-human organization "Fangcun Mountain," which opposes the Carnival Paradise, transforming into a mysterious player who slaughters game bosses, earning cheers of "Long live the expert!" from fellow players. Gradually, Zhu Yan rises to become an S-rank human player in Fangcun Mountain's archives, while also being the Carnival Paradise's certified top game Boss. But when the final war erupts and both major factions place their hopes in him— Players tag his various aliases: "Experts, this offensive depends on you." The Carnival Paradise's supreme Boss throws an arm around his neck: "Bro, you're the iron, I'm the steel; you can't let me down again!"
