The door closed, and the room fell silent.
Lan Xiaoke flopped onto the bed, staring blankly at the ceiling as if she hadn’t fully processed everything that had just happened.
Somehow, she had ended up living in this house, with a room of her own.
Not only had she escaped the school building she’d lived in for decades, but now she even had meals, accommodation, and entertainment covered.
Wasn’t this all a bit too good to be true?
“There’s gotta be some kind of scheme behind this,” Lan Xiaoke muttered, resting her chin on her hand with her fingers curled like a seven. There’s no such thing as free lunch. For now, she’d just take things one step at a time.
Well, since she was here, might as well play on the computer.
Lan Xiaoke’s eyes gleamed with excitement as she spotted the computer not far away. It had been ages since she’d last gotten her hands on one.
“Woo-hoo!!!”
“Let’s check out World of Warcraft!”
“Huh? Why is it down for maintenance?! Wait, what was my account info again?”
……
In another room, Ye Chuan sat on the edge of his bed, fiddling with his phone. Since the Universal Landlord APP had unlocked several new features, he figured he should study them carefully to make the most of them.
First up was the Alchemy and Medicine system.
When Ye Chuan tapped into it, the interface looked dull and gray, with only two options available—
[Alchemy]
[Medicine] (Locked)
The Medicine option was darkened and unusable for some reason, but Ye Chuan didn’t dwell on it. Instead, he focused on the Alchemy function.
Upon entering, a shabby, dust-covered furnace appeared before him, its corners draped with cobwebs.
[Furnace: A worn-out, ninth-hand alchemy furnace, previously used by an elderly alchemist (Mundane Grade)]
[Recipes]
[Insert Materials]
Ye Chuan scanned the options and tapped on [Recipes], finding entries like Tiger Strength Pill and Deer Blood Pill—mostly pills he’d taken before.
“Oh? Then Auntie’s condition shouldn’t be a big problem anymore, right?” A faint spark of hope lit up in Ye Chuan’s eyes. If he could craft these pills himself, he wouldn’t have to rely on Bai Qianshuang’s sunflowers to drop rare items for him.
But there was one issue—
He didn’t have any materials.
Ye Chuan tapped [Insert Materials], only for a pop-up window to appear.
[No materials detected in inventory. Spend 6,000 to purchase raw materials?]
His finger froze mid-air before slowly retreating.
Yikes…
Something about this didn’t feel right.
Six thousand?
Seriously?
But then again, considering how effective those pills were, plenty of people would probably be willing to pay that much.
And hey, he did have a million now. What’s a measly six thousand?
Screw it—he’d splurge!
[Purchase successful.]
[Begin refining?]
[Deer Blood Pill has a 30% success rate, 60% failure rate, and 10% chance of furnace explosion (Success rate depends on pill quality, furnace quality, alchemy level, etc.)]
Furnace explosion?
It’s not a guaranteed success? And only a 30% chance?
Ye Chuan narrowed his eyes. He’d heard before that alchemy was expensive, but it had always been an abstract concept—until now. Seeing the actual price tag gave him a visceral understanding of just how costly it could be.
Six thousand could buy several smartphones! And this was just for one attempt at alchemy.
Maybe he should just wait for Bai Qianshuang to drop the Deer Blood Pills for him.
“Wait… knowing how this app operates, it’ll probably stop dropping Deer Blood Pills from now on, won’t it?” Ye Chuan had a sinking feeling about this, as if the game was nudging him toward spending money.
If success rate depended on furnace and pill quality, then upgrading the furnace should improve his odds.
[Upgrade furnace quality? Cost: 5,000.]
Since he’d likely be using this furnace a lot in the future, Ye Chuan silently confirmed the upgrade.
[Furnace quality upgraded successfully!]
[Furnace: A battered eighth-hand furnace (Low Grade)]
[Upgrade furnace quality? Cost: 10,000.]
Screw it—upgrade again!
[Furnace quality upgraded successfully!]
[Furnace: A battered seventh-hand furnace (Mid-Low Grade)]
[Upgrade furnace quality? Cost: 50,000.]
Screw it—keep going!
[Furnace: Verdant Blaze Furnace (Mid Grade)]
[Deer Blood Pill now has a 99% success rate, 1% failure rate, and 0% chance of furnace explosion (Success rate depends on pill quality, furnace quality, alchemy level, etc.)]
Ninety-nine percent—now that’s more like it.
With such favorable odds, Ye Chuan spent another 6,000 on materials and started the refining process.
[Pill refining in progress. Time remaining: 23:59.]
[Spend 1,000 to speed up?]
Ye Chuan ignored the speed-up option. As long as the refining succeeded, he could wait.
What were the chances he’d hit that 1% failure rate anyway?
Exiting the alchemy interface, Ye Chuan turned his attention to the Guaranteed Draw Card in his inventory.
A guaranteed top-tier reward was undeniably tempting, but the question was—should he use it on physique or spiritual roots?
For physique, he already had the Azure Dragon Holy Body, a top-tier quality that could only be obtained through guaranteed draws.
If he used the card now, he could get another top-tier physique and attempt a fusion for the elusive 10% chance at a Mythic-grade physique.
But the risk was enormous. If the fusion failed and his stats downgraded, not only would he miss out on the Mythic tier, but he might even lose his top-tier physique altogether.
After a long silence, Ye Chuan decided to play it safe and use the card for a guaranteed spiritual root instead.
It was the most cost-effective choice.
Swiping to the spiritual root draw page, Ye Chuan activated the Guaranteed Draw Card—but just as he was about to confirm, he hesitated.
“Wait… maybe I should trust my luck?”
You can’t lose every time, right?
Screw it—go all in!
Ye Chuan switched back to the physique draw and tapped the button!
With the card’s effect in play, golden light shimmered across the screen as the reward materialized.
[Congratulations! You’ve obtained the Triple-Layered Crystal Body. Added to inventoryGold.]
Without even checking the description, Ye Chuan immediately unequipped his Azure Dragon Holy Body and fused it with the new one!
“Come on!”
The moment he pressed [Fuse], Ye Chuan shut his eyes tight.
A few seconds later, he cautiously peeked—and his face lit up with excitement at the sight of a crimson glow. “Red! I see red! Did I get it?!”
He opened his eyes fully.
[Congratulations! You’ve obtained the High-Grade Flaming Mystic Body. Added to inventory.]
Ye Chuan: “……”
The Flaming Mystic Body’s icon gleamed a fiery red, casting its glow onto Ye Chuan’s deadpan expression.
As if mocking him: “Guess who’s back!”
Ye Chuan stared silently at the screen, running a hand through his hair in frustration.
This is why gambling addicts always lose. He’d gotten way too carried away.
Taking a deep breath, Ye Chuan’s gaze hardened. In a fit of stubbornness, he initiated a 200x draw!
Screw it!
With a million in the bank, there’s no way he wouldn’t pull a Mythic physique!
Twenty thousand vanished in an instant as the draw interface erupted with dazzling light!
A flood of notifications followed—
[Congratulations! You’ve obtained…]
[Congratulations! You’ve obtained…]
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.
world slacker. But a genius female disciple just had to get clingy, insisting that he take her as a disciple. Not only that, she was always making advances on him, thoroughly disrupting his peaceful slacker life...
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."
transmigrates into the world as the sect master of the Heavenly Yan Sect, which is on the verge of being wiped out. He binds a system that grants him cultivation power based on the number of disciples he has: for each disciple, he automatically gains a year's worth of cultivation every single day! Take one disciple: every day he gains 1 year of cultivation power. While others struggle through a year of bitter training, he gets the same just by sleeping through a single night. Take ten disciples: every day he gains 10 years of cultivation power. Foundation Establishment, Core Formation, Nascent Soul—he breezes through all bottlenecks without lifting a finger. Take one hundred disciples: every day he gains 100 years of cultivation power. Even a Soul Transformation Venerable before him can’t survive a single blow. Take ten thousand disciples: every day he gains 10,000 years of cultivation power! With a wave of his hand, he topples empires. With a single step, he crushes the sacred grounds of the universe. ... While others fight tooth and nail for secret techniques, Lin Yan casually hands out Nascent Soul-level cultivation manuals as beginner textbooks. While others strain to find talented recruits, Lin Yan opens his doors to anyone—so long as they’re human. In just three short years, the Heavenly Yan Sect went from a backwater sect made up of three crumbling huts to a sacred land that every cultivator under heaven would kill to enter. ... One day, otherworldly demon gods invade, with a million demon soldiers pressing down upon the realm. Lin Yan, yawning, rises from his lounge chair and glances at the system panel: [Current Disciples: 1.28 million] [Daily Cultivation Increase: 1.28 million years] He waves his hand casually, and the countless demon soldiers are reduced to ashes in an instant. “So noisy… interrupting my fishing.”
