Su Ji's gaze was firmly locked onto the purple sandalwood box.
Su Jiu also noticed something was wrong. She quickly walked over to Su Ji's side and followed his gaze.
"Senior Brother, what's wrong?"
This was the first time she had ever seen Su Ji reveal such an expression.
After all, this guy usually acted like he didn't care about anything, as if he would just use the collapsing sky as a blanket.
Even when facing five Golden Core elders earlier, he had handled it with ease.
Moreover, he couldn't tell good items from bad ones.
He relied entirely on his intuition and personal preference.
Just a moment ago, he had casually tossed aside several decent treasures, which she had to help gather up.
But now, he was just staring at a plain-looking wooden box, acting as if he had been struck by an immobilization spell.
Su Jiu was somewhat curious. What exactly was it that could make him lose his composure like this?
Su Ji did not answer her.
His mind was a bit of a mess at the moment.
Carved onto the purple sandalwood box in bold, flowing strokes were two Chinese characters.
Two Years ( )
He was all too familiar with this style.
A sense of familiarity welled up within him.
This was clearly a giveaway question.
Seeing that he remained silent, Su Jiu leaned in closer to carefully examine those ancient divine runes on the wooden box that she could not understand at all.
"Senior Brother, the restriction on this... can it be dispelled?"
In her eyes, these ancient divine runes were written with vigorous strokes and contained some profound rhythm. It had to be an extremely advanced restriction technique.
Su Ji snapped back to reality. He glanced at Su Jiu, the solemnity on his face vanishing without a trace, replaced by a peculiar smile.
"It can."
As he spoke, without explaining further, he suddenly reached out and grabbed Su Jiu's fair, tender left hand.
"What are you doing?"
Su Jiu jumped in fright, instinctively trying to pull her hand back.
"Don't move."
Su Ji's voice was not loud, but it carried an undeniable tone.
"Undoing this restriction requires a little catalyst."
Before he even finished speaking, a flash of spiritual light flickered at his fingertips, gently slicing a tiny cut on Su Jiu's delicate index finger.
A drop of crimson blood slowly seeped out.
Su Jiu felt the sting and furrowed her elegant brows, but seeing Su Ji's focused expression, she bizarrely did not struggle anymore.
Holding her hand, Su Ji carefully smeared that drop of blood onto the blank space within the parentheses on the wooden box.
Immediately after, he used his own fingertip, dipped in that drop of blood, to write a single character stroke by stroke inside the parentheses.
Half.
The moment the final stroke fell.
Click.
A soft sound echoed.
The layer of flowing light restriction covering the purple sandalwood box cracked inch by inch like a shattered mirror, eventually turning into specks of fluorescent light that dissipated into the air.
The box opened.
Su Jiu watched, dumbfounded.
Just like that... it opened?
Just by using her blood to write a divine rune she completely couldn't understand?
Wasn't this a bit too trifling?
However, a doubt lingered in her mind. "Why did it have to be my blood to open it?"
"Could it be..."
Su Ji replied without a second thought, "No other reason. I'm just afraid of pain."
She looked up at Su Ji, really wanting to give him a beating.
But she found that Su Ji wasn't looking at her at all; he had already impatiently brought the box over.
Su Ji opened the wooden box.
A faint scent of ink wafted against his face.
Inside the box, there were no peerless treasures as one might imagine, nor were there any earth-shattering magical artifacts.
There was only a yellowed slip of paper and a seemingly ordinary thread-bound book.
Su Ji first picked up the slip of paper.
Written on the paper in a somewhat ugly handwriting were a few lines of small text.
"Ten thousand people will half believe and half doubt."
"A thousand people will struggle to work together."
"A hundred people will not speak the same language."
"Ten people will ignite their blood together."
"I will not speak of surrender."
Su Ji looked at these lines of text and fell silent.
He could feel a bone-deep loneliness between the lines.
And a determination to die with honor rather than survive in disgrace.
"Senior Brother, what does it say on this?"
Su Jiu leaned over curiously.
"Nothing."
Su Ji casually brushed her off and put the paper away. "Just a riddler."
His gaze fell onto the thread-bound book.
On the cover of the book, three large characters were also written in Chinese.
[Desolate Meteor Sword]
Su Ji's heart skipped a beat.
He flipped the book open.
On the first page, there were two lines of text.
"Only those who cultivate the [Desolate Meteor Fallen Dragon Art] may practice this sword art."
"If you are afraid, do not practice it. If you practice it, do not be afraid."
Sure enough...
Everything was just too coincidental.
He continued to flip through the pages.
"This sword is unranked, formless, and shapeless."
"When the sword is drawn, it can sever the sun, moon, and stars."
"When the sword falls, it can sever the karma of reincarnation."
"With one strike of the Desolate Meteor, all things return to the void."
The entire text was filled with such off-the-charts edgy lines.
Yet, Su Ji's blood boiled with excitement as he read it.
This was the kind of grandeur a sword cultivator should have!
He wished he could find a place right now to go into secluded cultivation and practice it.
He carefully tucked the [Desolate Meteor Sword] into his robes, keeping it close to his chest.
This was his capital for settling down and acting profound in front of others in the future; he couldn't afford to lose it.
Having done all this, he clapped his hands in satisfaction, preparing to take Su Jiu and leave this palace that he had pretty much thoroughly looted.
Mainly, the feminine scent here was a bit too strong.
He would find some unlucky elder to renovate it, and then he would move in.
However, the very moment he picked up the [Desolate Meteor Sword]...
A sudden change occurred.
The purple sandalwood box in his hand suddenly, without any warning, projected a faint blue screen of light.
Within the screen of light, the blurry figure of a man slowly emerged.
His facial features were indiscernible; one could only vaguely make out his tall, straight posture and long hair draped over his shoulders.
Su Ji's nerves instantly tensed.
He subconsciously pulled Su Jiu further behind him, his hand already resting on the hilt of his Wind Chant Sword at his waist.
Again?
Why did all these senior experts he encountered love to play these mysterious, ghostly charades?
Su Jiu also had a vigilant look on her face. She could feel that although this projection of light did not emit any oppressive aura, it gave her an indescribably profound feeling.
The blurry figure did not seem to notice their nervousness.
He simply stood there quietly. A moment later, a gentle yet somewhat exhausted male voice slowly echoed in their minds.
"I know you have many doubts in your heart."
Su Ji's heart gave a sudden thump.
Great, it was this opening speech again.
His ears were almost growing calluses from hearing it so much.
"But no one can dictate your path."
"The path is beneath your own feet."
"Stay or leave as you wish."
These words made Su Ji slightly taken aback.
Stay or leave as you wish?
So easy to talk to?
Shouldn't the old monsters in his impression all be saying things like, "Boy, you have an affinity with this Venerable One, so I shall bestow this heaven-defying serendipity upon you"?
How come the style was completely different when it came to this guy?
Before Su Ji had time to think deeply about it, the voice sounded again.
"Living a carefree life for a hundred years is fine too."
"The barrier of Great Xia has only a hundred years left."
"Naturally, someone will come to take your life then."
or! A blessing for those who struggle with love, a guidebook for dating novices. Quickly match with your dream goddess! Complete walkthroughs earn rewards, and perfect walkthroughs unlock limited achievements!】 Shen Yi, an ordinary office worker, accidentally downloads a mini-game called Dating Simulator. The mini-game is simple: randomly search for dating targets, simulate dates, and receive rewards upon successful confession. Rewards include but are not limited to money, attributes, and skills. The higher the evaluation, the better the rewards, with perfect ratings unlocking mysterious achievements. Shen Yi plans to use this mysterious mini-game to continuously pursue targets and improve himself, making his life better and better. ...... However, after several successful walkthroughs, Shen Yi suddenly notices something strange - the targets he previously simulated dating seem to be searching for him in real life?
【Prologue: The Beginning of It All – Use holy water to heal the saintess tainted by demonic energy, then converse with her.】 Shen Nian stared at his older sister sipping yogurt, lost in thought. So you’re telling me my sister is the saintess, and yogurt is the holy water? 【Main Quest 1: Brave Youth, Become an Adventurer! Reward: Rookie Adventurer Title.】 【Side Quest 1: Find the Adorable Kitty! Reward: 1000 Gold Coins.】 Shen Nian: "Wait, I’m a high school senior here—did some guy who got isekai’d accidentally bind his system to me?" Hold on, completing quests gives gold rewards? Titles even boost stats? Is this for real? (A lighthearted, absurd campus comedy—not a revenge power fantasy.)
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.”
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.
