Returning was out of the question. Chen Yi wasn’t afraid of danger—after all, this was just one of his external avatars. He still had forty-eight more like it. Even if this one was lost, it wouldn’t matter. At worst, he’d just spend another two and a half years nurturing a new one.
Besides, the chat group’s ability to obscure heavenly secrets was more of a restriction to him!
When it came to evading heavenly scrutiny, he was the expert—having fought against the Immortal Ascension Tribulation eighty-one times! If he could dodge the trials of the Heavenly Dao of the Immortal Realm, what was a mere pseudo-Immortal Realm’s Heavenly Dao to him?
"I choose option two—return at a later time!"
Inside the Illusion Star Grotto, Chen Yi’s true self manipulated the external avatar carrying the chat group’s core and made his decision.
[Wishing you a pleasant journey!]
At the same time.
West Sea Great World.
Chen Yi’s external avatar immediately pulled out a perception-blocking cloak, draped it over himself, and activated the inscribed runes to minimize his presence. He then began erasing traces of his earlier actions to deceive the West Sea Heavenly Dao’s perception.
But just then, the chat group’s obscuring power suddenly vanished.
BOOM!!!
The clear skies darkened in an instant. Rolling black clouds gathered, lightning flickering as an overwhelming heavenly might surged like an ocean, locking down everything within a hundred-mile radius.
"Didn’t you say two and a half minutes?!" Chen Yi’s lips twitched violently. Without hesitation, he backhanded An Lan—who was trembling beside him—sending him a thousand miles away.
This external avatar of his didn’t matter. He was used to being struck by lightning—ordinary thunder couldn’t kill him. But An Lan was different. He was too weak—even a stray shockwave would scatter his soul. He couldn’t die; otherwise, leading the team in the future would be troublesome.
After confirming An Lan had escaped the West Sea Heavenly Dao’s lock, Chen Yi finally relaxed and sat cross-legged, transforming into an utterly ordinary-looking rock.
Like he said—getting struck by lightning? He was used to it.
It wasn’t like this was the monstrous Violet Heavenly Lightning of the Immortal Ascension Tribulation. Could the West Sea Heavenly Dao’s ordinary heavenly lightning even break his defenses?
Go ahead, strike all you want. Once you’re exhausted, we’ll see who’s teaching whom a lesson!
BOOM!!!
Deafening thunder roared across the land as bolts of azure lightning poured down!
Some struck where the Demon Spirit Captain had fallen, some hit towering trees nearby, others electrocuted fish in the water, and a few even struck a dumb deer passing through the forest—yet none landed on the ordinary rock Chen Yi had become.
West Sea Heavenly Dao: Aghh! I can smell him, so why can’t I catch him?!
"Heh, I was ready to tank it, but you can’t even find me?" Chen Yi smirked.
If this were the Immortal Ascension Tribulation, he’d have been found in under two and a half seconds. But the West Sea Heavenly Dao had been randomly striking for ages without even grazing a single hair on him—how pathetic!
BOOM!!!
The dark clouds thickened further as the heavenly lightning turned into plasma. The enraged West Sea Heavenly Dao decided to carpet-bomb the area with thunder!
That day, the sky rained lightning.
Yet Chen Yi’s external avatar remained unmoved, enduring the heavenly baptism—even his true self had the leisure to chat in the group.
[Ding! The group leader has claimed the mission reward: 108 group EXP +20,000.]
[108 Group has leveled up to 3. 9,527 EXP remaining until Level 4.]
[Group welfare check-in system unlocked. Members can now claim 100 points daily.]
[The daily group red packet limit has increased to items worth 3,000 points (1 point = 10 low-grade spirit stones).]
The series of system announcements instantly excited the group members.
[Cultivation World Runner-Up: Wooo! Group leader is the best!]
[Two-Sleeved Sword Immortal: A hundred points daily just for checking in? That’s like getting a welfare stipend of a thousand spirit stones a day! Thirty thousand a month… Holy crap, we’re rich!]
[Damn Ascension Tribulation Still Chasing Me: Have some ambition. Are you satisfied with just welfare? If other groups saw this, they’d think I can’t afford to give red packets!]
[The group leader sent a 30,000 low-grade spirit stone luck-based red packet.]
[Damn Ascension Tribulation Still Chasing Me: Come on, 10,000 each. Train hard—boosting your combat power also earns group EXP!]
[‘Cultivation World Runner-Up’ grabbed 8,544 low-grade spirit stones.]
[‘Two-Sleeved Sword Immortal’ grabbed 12,138 low-grade spirit stones.]
[‘Unemployed God of Light’ grabbed 9,318 low-grade spirit stones.]
[Cultivation World Runner-Up: Thank you, group leader! (kowtow.jpg)]
[Two-Sleeved Sword Immortal: sobbing If only I’d met a boss like you in my past life—no empty promises, just throwing money at me. How could I not work hard? I swear I’ll become a true Sword Immortal!]
[Unemployed God of Light: Thank heavens the group leader is fine! Even from so far away, I could still hear that terrifying thunder. It was horrifying!]
[Cultivation World Runner-Up: Huh? Is the group leader undergoing a tribulation? Then let’s stop messaging—we shouldn’t distract him!]
[Two-Sleeved Sword Immortal: You have to win! I can’t lose you, just like a Sword Immortal can’t lose their sword!]
Seeing how concerned his members were, Chen Yi felt gratified.
Sure, they were weak now, but they wouldn’t stay that way forever. Once their combat power improved, they could take on missions alone—and he, as the group leader, could just sit back and collect the extra 50% commission.
Some items in the Multiverse Store were quite tempting—like the Immortal Origin Stones for nurturing an immortal physique, priced at 200,000 points each. Completing his first mission had only earned him 150,000.
A Tribulation Transcendent needed at least a hundred Immortal Origin Stones to refine their mortal body into an immortal physique. Even if he could nurture one by exploiting the West Sea pseudo-Immortal Realm, what about further cultivation?
Without passing the Immortal Ascension Tribulation, he couldn’t enter the true Immortal Realm—and a pseudo-Immortal Realm couldn’t sustain a true immortal’s progress. He’d regress!
So resources from the Multiverse Store were essential. Relying solely on himself to grind missions would never earn him enough points.
Numbers mattered. He couldn’t personally handle every trivial mission—like today’s, where he had to personally deal with a measly 150,000 combat power target. That was like using a cannon to kill a mosquito!
150,000 points had strong purchasing power in the Multiverse Store—a fortune for Golden Core or Nascent Soul cultivators—but to Chen Yi, a Tribulation Transcendent, it was pocket change!
He needed members to work for him.
That said, having only three members was a bit too few.
With that thought, Chen Yi glanced at his avatar still enduring the West Sea Heavenly Dao’s random strikes. Since it wouldn’t end anytime soon, he cheerfully checked the methods for recruiting new members.
[New Member Recruitment Rules]
[1. System-automated search and allocation. Currently, 38 chat groups are queued for distribution.]
[2. Trade members with other group leaders in the public regional channel. Unlocks when the chat group reaches Level 5.]
【3. In the free channel, if a member is removed from the group chat by the group owner for certain reasons and no other chat group is willing to accept them, the group owner may choose whether to take them in. This feature becomes available once the chat group reaches Level 3.】
"Hiss~ Why does this feel oddly familiar?" Chen Yi's expression turned rather peculiar.
Wasn't this just the same old capitalist playbook?
Once a chat group hits Level 3, there are benefits to claim—100 points daily, essentially a basic salary.
Members taking on tasks is like closing deals at work, while the group owner reaps dividends without lifting a finger.
If a member steps out of line, they get kicked out of the group—equivalent to being fired.
Members outside the chat group are like the unemployed, left with no security whatsoever...
Oh no, have I become a capitalist?!
close your eyes and open them again, only to find yourself transmigrated into the role of a villainous male supporting character. Readers familiar with urban wish-fulfillment novels know that it is only through the relentless antics of the villainous male supporting character that the plot between the male and female leads can progress. As the villainous male supporting character, Long Aotian not only has to bully the female lead, harass the second female lead, and flirt with the third female lead, but he also has to go all out to antagonize the male lead. In the end, when his body is discovered, he is still clutching half a moldy fried dough stick in his hand. Fully aware of the plot, Long Aotian is determined to change his fate, starting with the female lead! In the beginning, the female lead lacks confidence: "Big brother, I hope I didn't scare you?" In the middle, the female lead treads carefully: "Brother Long, please don't hit me, okay?" Later on, the female lead becomes coquettishly clingy: "Aotian, it's time to pay the 'public grain' tonight." Long Aotian's legs go weak, and he feels like crying: "I taught you to be thick-skinned, not shameless!"
ose... to cooperate with the protagonist! Shen Yuan: I have a system! Protagonist: What? System: Holy crap, you're just spilling it out like that? Shen Yuan: Let's team up, we'll split the system rewards! Protagonist: Fifty-fifty split? Shen Yuan: No way! Protagonist: What!? I'm the one getting beaten up, and I don't get half? Shen Yuan: Forty-sixty split, I get forty, you get sixty! Protagonist: Deal! Big brother, come on, hit me! As long as it doesn't kill me, beat me like you mean it! Shen Yuan: Don't worry... I will definitely protect all of you! No one but me can lay a finger on you! Guard our Heaven's Chosen Ones! I'm the only one allowed to bully them!
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.”
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."
