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.

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."

y came from. The chests contained supplies, currency, class-change scrolls, skills, talents… and even godhood! The laws of the world were completely rewritten. This became a world where everyone gambled with their fate! Some people, despite having nothing, opened a divine artifact and rose to the top, eventually ruling the world. Others went bankrupt, opened nothing but worthless junk, and leaped from skyscrapers in despair. Lin Ye arrived in this world from another reality, utterly bewildered. “What is going on? Why is everyone a gambling addict?!” “Opening chests? No way. I refuse to gamble. I’ll start with myself!” Until— On his first chest, he obtained a Mythic Talent: Void Incarnation! He could become completely intangible, pass through all things, and reduce everything to nothingness! … On his fiftieth chest, he obtained a Mythic Weapon: Blade of Karma! With a single slash, karma shattered, twisting the universe and overturning the myriad phenomena of creation! … On his ninety-ninth chest, he obtained a Mythic Divine Treasure: Primordial Purple Energy! It could split open the heavens and earth, create all things, and evolve countless worlds with a single thought! Lin Ye: “Now that I think about it… shouldn’t someone have told me that every chest is guaranteed to contain something Mythic?!”

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.”

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)