Liu Xuan continued walking in one direction.
After a while, when he saw that the environmental damage had increased to 260, he kept moving forward.
The damage continued to rise until it reached 340, then it gradually began to decrease.
So he turned around and headed left, only to discover that the damage was still dropping—and at an even faster rate.
From this, Liu Xuan roughly formed a theory: the environmental damage in this place radiated outward from a central point.
The closer one got to the center, the greater the damage.
Moreover, that central point had initially been to his right, which explained why the damage decreased more quickly when he headed left.
If that was the case, then as long as he kept adjusting his direction slightly to the right, he would eventually reach the central area.
Thus, Liu Xuan began deliberately adjusting his course. Every time he walked a certain distance, if the environmental damage decreased, he would backtrack, turn a certain angle to the right, and then continue forward.
After making this adjustment repeatedly, he would slowly approach the center along a spiral-shaped route, assuming nothing unexpected happened.
“Tap tap~”
The ground was made of relatively hard soil, so his footsteps produced only the faintest sounds.
But as he walked, the sound beneath his feet suddenly changed.
“Splash~!”
It was much crisper than before.
Liu Xuan lowered his head and saw that, without him realizing it, a thin layer of liquid had appeared on the ground. It looked like blood.
The sound just now had come from his shoe striking the surface of the liquid.
“Looks like I’m going in the right direction.”
Liu Xuan continued forward. Before long, an object suddenly appeared in front of him.
The red fog had grown increasingly dense, and his field of vision had become extremely limited. By this point, he could see only one or two meters ahead.
By the time he made out what the object was, he was almost upon it.
It was several gray pillars, each several meters thick, bent into multiple sections and lying side by side on the ground.
Unfortunately, his range of vision was too limited for him to see the whole thing.
He followed the pillars forward. After a while, he discovered that the several pillars merged into a wall that stretched beyond sight.
It was ash-gray and had a rough surface.
The wall was extremely long. After following it for more than ten minutes, the damage from the red fog continued to rise, reaching over a thousand points per tick—and it was still increasing.
This place was an absolute death zone for ordinary people!
After a very long time, Liu Xuan finally reached the jagged end of the wall, as though it had suddenly been severed.
When he arrived at the end and looked back, he discovered that what was exposed at the break was not stone or bricks, but dried flesh and blood.
“This thing…”
Although he still couldn’t see its entire form, judging from the “pillars” and “wall” he had encountered earlier, a thought suddenly occurred to Liu Xuan.
This thing was very likely a gigantic severed arm!
Could the red fog surrounding this place have been formed from the blood flowing out of the severed end?
“Wait. If this is the evil god worshiped by those cultists, then my previous judgment was completely wrong!”
The sheer scale of this severed arm was enough to imagine how enormous the original body must have been.
“Maybe I should… make a run for it?”
After all, he hadn’t encountered a single monster despite being here for so long. Liu Xuan decided it was time to bail.
But at that moment, a roar suddenly came from above his head—from above the severed end.
Liu Xuan looked up and saw a gigantic black shadow descending from the red fog. He hurriedly retreated.
With a thunderous crash, the black shadow slammed into the ground. The resulting shock wave sent countless clouds of fog surging violently, making it even harder to see.
Once the red fog gradually settled, Liu Xuan was able to make out his surroundings again.
Less than half a meter away from him, a hole-riddled tusk protruded from the red fog.
It looked like an ivory tusk riddled with holes from insects, but it was unbelievably massive. The exposed tip alone was as thick as a person’s waist.
It was easy to imagine how enormous the body behind that tusk must be.
But in the next moment, the tip of the tusk struck the ground.
Liu Xuan froze for a moment, because at the same time, prompts for a kill and a level-up appeared before him.
[You killed [Blood Prison Boar Demon] and gained 56,040 experience points.]
[Congratulations! You have reached Level 27 and gained 37 free attribute points.]
[You have a new skill available.]
Moreover, the damage dealt by [Thunder Aura] had increased by 340,000. It was now at 1.87 million.
“That’s it?”
The thing had made such a grand entrance, yet it had died without him even seeing its face?
Liu Xuan stood there in bewilderment. When he saw that gigantic arm earlier, he had thought he was in for a fierce battle today.
He followed the enormous tusk forward, wanting to see what kind of monster it actually belonged to.
As he walked, he suddenly jumped in fright.
At the end of the tusk was a face that resembled a wild boar’s.
However, its protruding snout and mouth were split down the middle, with each half pulled toward opposite sides of the face.
At first glance, it looked as though the creature had two faces growing on the same head. But the longer one looked, the more horrifying it became.
The monster’s skin was grayish-white, and its body was covered in rotten holes and blotches of blood. Large quantities of dark-red tissue resembling flesh or tentacles hung from inside its mouth.
At that moment, Liu Xuan’s [Eye of Insight] scanned the creature’s information.
[Blood Prison Boar Demon (Boss)]
Level: 35
Attack: 4,000
Health: 0/340,000
Armor: 500
Magic Resistance: 500
Tenacity: 80%
Skills: …
There was no need to look at the skills. It had already been killed instantly anyway…
Looking at the monster’s corpse, Liu Xuan fell into thought.
Earlier, he had assumed that the being worshiped by those cultists above was the owner of that gigantic arm.
But now that he had seen this boar monster, the answer was obvious.
The statue left behind on the stone platform had four legs, so the thing they worshiped was most likely this monster.
A Level 35 boar boss…
It really wasn’t much. No wonder the cult had been wiped out so easily.
A treasure chest lay beneath the monster’s corpse. Liu Xuan rubbed his hands together and stepped forward to open it.
Inside were two pieces of equipment and a scroll that looked somewhat familiar.
On top was a ring set with a black gemstone:
[Path-Clearing Ring]
Quality: Fine
Level Requirement: 32
Effect: When actively used, deals 2,000 physical damage to one enemy. Cooldown: 1 minute.
The effect was simple and crude. Liu Xuan had been wondering why it had such a strange name, but after seeing its effect, he understood.
If someone was blocking your path, you could simply hit them with this. Most likely, they would obediently get out of the way.
Unfortunately, Liu Xuan couldn’t use active equipment, and the damage was nothing impressive either. He would sell it later.
Beneath the ring was an extremely strange-looking piece of equipment.
At first glance, it looked like a stone stele. It was made entirely of coarse black-and-gray stone. The lower portion was shaped like a cross, while the top was connected to an upside-down “Ω.”
At first, Liu Xuan thought it might be some kind of strange weapon, perhaps a special fork. But after checking its attributes, he discovered that it was actually a shield.
[Divine Tomb]
Type: One-Handed Shield
Quality: ???
Level Requirement: ???
Effect One: The quality and level requirement of this shield are equivalent to those of another one-handed piece of equipment you possess.
Effect Two: Whoever wields this shield shall never know rest. When they sleep, they will enter its former owner's dreamscape and gradually recover the shield's abilities.
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."
m back to his original world. In the end, he realized he had overthought things. [Hey, why is Shen Manni, the female lead, acting strange? Shouldn't she be fawning over the male lead at this point?] [Zhou Qiaoqiao, are you sick? Weren't you supposed to break off your engagement today?] [Damn it! An Youyi, please do your job as an undercover agent and sell my information to the protagonist, you idiot!] ... At this moment, Xu Mo himself didn't know that these female leads had already heard his inner thoughts. Then they decided not to play by the rules. Xu Mo: Please respect my profession as the big villain!
e vast world of cultivation, where he becomes the master of the Heavenly Ruins Sacred Hall, a dying old man with barely a tenth of his former cultivation remaining. He is immediately confronted with a deadly crisis: his subordinates have rebelled, and his protectors are forcing him to abdicate. At the critical moment, the system descends from the heavens: [Ding! The host has been detected facing a life-or-death crisis. The system is now officially activated!] [As a gift, you have received the Supreme Beginner’s Pack and awakened the ultimate cheat: ten thousand years of pure cultivation essence every second!] Yin Tianjue: “Wait… ten thousand years of cultivation every second? That’s six hundred thousand years a minute, and in one day… I can’t even calculate it. Either way, I’m already invincible!” You’re a peerless prodigy rarely seen in ten thousand years? Sorry, I gain ten thousand years of cultivation every second. You’re an undying ancestor who has guarded a sacred land for countless ages? Sorry, I gain ten thousand years of cultivation every second. You’re the strongest chosen one, blessed with heaven-defying destiny? Sorry, I gain ten thousand years of cultivation every second. From this day forth, I have only one thing to say: “I gain ten thousand years of cultivation every second. Now, how exactly are you supposed to deal with that?”
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.
