Twenty minutes later, the countdown ended. Liu Xuan immediately spoke with Finch, beginning the final battle of the second stage.
A brawny man stepped out from among the workers and walked over to Finch.
“Captain, shall we begin?”
Finch nodded, then sighed. “Do it.”
He then called over his soldiers and followed the brawny man to the center of the site. He also instructed Liu Xuan to wait by the riverbank.
“Once work starts here, the monster will appear very soon. Be ready.”
Liu Xuan did as he was told and went to the riverbank.
Bell came along as well, but crouched down some distance away from Liu Xuan.
Liu Xuan had been about to tell him to stand farther away when things at the center of the site began.
The brawny man carried a large white stone over and placed it on the ground. Then he raised a heavy hammer and brought it down.
Bang!
After striking it once, he cautiously glanced toward the river.
Then he struck it again and stole another look.
After several such blows, the stone finally split in two.
The once-calm Orchid River gradually grew turbulent. Mud and sand from the riverbed were churned up, turning the entire river murky.
The brawny man stopped in terror, forcing Finch to shout at him, “Keep going! We have to lure the monster out!”
The brawny man swallowed hard. His hands trembling, he raised the hammer and brought it down again.
Bang!
That strike seemed to completely anger whatever was lurking beneath the river. A wave suddenly surged upward, rising nearly as high as a person, and water began spilling over the riverbank.
The brawny man gritted his teeth, shut his eyes, and furiously hammered the stone several more times.
A deep roar suddenly came from beneath the river. The sound was low and muffled, sending chills through everyone who heard it.
The brawny man’s hand shook so badly that he dropped the hammer.
The soldiers beside him hurriedly grabbed his arm and pulled him backward.
Finch shouted toward Liu Xuan, “Warrior, we’re counting on you!”
As for Bell, Finch had already completely forgotten about him.
At that moment, as a huge wave came crashing in, a tentacle rose from beneath the river’s surface.
The tentacle was almost completely transparent and more than ten meters long.
After emerging from the water, it paused for a moment, as though searching for a target. Then it suddenly swept toward the center of the site.
Perhaps enraged that someone had disturbed its peace, it wrapped itself around the broken stone and squeezed hard. The stone instantly crumbled into dust.
Fortunately, the brawny man who had been smashing the stone had run quickly. Otherwise, that blow would have killed him.
Liu Xuan, however, was startled. By some terrible coincidence, the tentacle had landed right beside Bell.
The hotheaded idiot was so frightened that he dropped his sword. But he immediately picked it back up and charged forward, shouting,
“Die!”
He slashed at the tentacle. Liu Xuan watched as its health bar instantly dropped by... 1 point.
The next moment, Bell was slapped away. His entire body spun twice through the air before crashing heavily to the ground, his health bar instantly dropping to zero.
“...”
If Liu Xuan had not possessed the Insightful Eye and seen that Bell still had 3 HP remaining, he would have thought Bell had been killed outright.
Liu Xuan shook his head. As he hurried toward the tentacle, he examined its attributes:
[Monster Salamander’s Left Tentacle (Special)]
Level: 10
Health: 9,999/10,000
Tenacity: 100% (Special monster; immune to the effects of control skills)
Skills: [Smash] Deals 300–700 physical damage to the target and those around it.
[Adaptive Camouflage] After receiving physical or magical damage, the next instance of damage of the same type is reduced by 50%. This effect can only maintain one layer. After receiving damage of the other type, it immediately changes to that type.
Seeing its attributes, Liu Xuan couldn’t help twitching at the corner of his mouth.
The damage dealt by [Smash] fluctuated randomly, with a maximum of 700!
Bell only had 600 HP, yet he had somehow survived with 3 HP left. That really was an impressive stroke of luck.
Then there was the [Adaptive Camouflage] skill. It was downright disgusting.
Every time it took damage, the next instance of damage of the same type would be reduced by 50%.
For example, Bell had just dealt physical damage with his sword. The next physical attack against the tentacle would therefore deal only half damage.
However, if the next attack dealt magical damage, it would deal full damage, while the tentacle’s damage reduction would switch to magic and reduce the next magical attack by 50%.
Then, if another physical attack followed, it would deal full damage again.
Liu Xuan roughly calculated that if a large group of people attacked it, throwing out all kinds of skills with physical and magical damage making up roughly half each, the average damage reduction would be around 25%.
But if the damage type was relatively uniform—physical damage only, for instance—the damage reduction from [Adaptive Camouflage] would approach 50%.
It really was an obnoxious ability, especially for someone fighting alone like him.
By then, Liu Xuan had already reached the tentacle.
Fortunately, most of the creature’s body was underwater, and it seemed unable to leave the river. As a result, its aggro system differed from that of ordinary monsters: it could only attack the nearest person.
The moment Liu Xuan approached, the tentacle slammed down at him.
-634!
A huge number appeared, and Liu Xuan’s expression immediately darkened.
His armor was currently as high as 65 points. If the tentacle’s attack had dealt 634 damage, didn’t that mean the original damage had been 699?
Was he really that unlucky?
The tentacle then took magical damage from [Nightmare Incarnation], which replaced the physical damage reduction it had gained from Bell’s attack.
Unfortunately, the monster’s Tenacity was maxed out, so it was completely unaffected by [Fear].
It immediately slapped Liu Xuan again.
-615!
Liu Xuan: “......”
It was better than the last hit, but not by much.
Fortunately, he had plenty of health.
At that moment, the poison damage from [Source of Plague] also triggered. Since it dealt physical damage and came after the magical damage from [Fear], it dealt full damage.
-2,500!
The second poison tick, however, was only half as strong.
-1,250!
The tentacle originally had 10,000 HP, meaning four poison ticks would have been enough to kill it. Now, it would take seven.
It was a pity that [Fear] could only trigger once on the same target within thirty seconds. Otherwise, he could have alternated between magical and physical damage and kept cycling the effect.
But that was only wishful thinking. He wasn’t the only one who could use [Fear]. At present, nobody had the Tenacity attribute. If everyone could repeatedly be affected by [Fear], then the game would be completely unplayable.
From a balance perspective, the restriction made sense.
After seven poison ticks, Liu Xuan had taken five blows from the tentacle and lost nearly 2,500 HP.
Fortunately, with [Troll’s Blood], he had already regenerated more than 2,000 HP in that short time.
To be safe, he drank a Minor Healing Potion, and his health began climbing rapidly.
The Monster Salamander’s Left Tentacle dropped nothing when it died—not even experience.
Furthermore, the commotion when its health reached zero didn’t resemble death at all. It merely withdrew slowly back into the river.
Liu Xuan wasn’t surprised. Judging by its name, there was probably a right tentacle as well. The main body might even emerge afterward.
This was a multi-phase boss.
Sure enough, just as the left tentacle disappeared beneath the surface, the river began churning violently on the other side.
As a huge wave came crashing in, another transparent tentacle emerged.
[Monster Salamander’s Right Tentacle (Special)]
Level: 10
Health: 10,000/10,000
Tenacity: 100% (Special monster; immune to the effects of crowd-control skills)
Skills: [Slam] Deals 300–700 physical damage to the target and anyone nearby.
[Constriction] Envelops all enemies within an area, dealing 100 true damage per second and continuously stunning them until the monster’s health is reduced by 1,000 points.
[Protective Coloration] After taking physical or magical damage, damage of the same type taken next is reduced by 50%. This effect can only have one stack and immediately changes when damage of the other type is received.
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.
s + Rent Collection Wealth】 At the start, he inherited a rundown house in the urban village from his grandfather. The house had no tenants, but the moment he was diagnosed with a terminal illness, a self-proclaimed empress from the Tianxuan Continent arrived as his first tenant. Ye Chuan soon discovered that with every new tenant moving in, not only did he receive massive daily payments, but he also obtained unique items related to their backgrounds. 【Acquired Bai Qianshuang’s related item: Tiger Strength Pill—dramatically enhances physical power!】 【Acquired Bai Qianshuang’s related item: Deer Blood Pill—significantly boosts vitality!】 …… From that day on, all sorts of bizarre tenants began appearing in the house: the empress from Tianxuan Continent, an apocalyptic sorceress from the Magic Realm, a mysterious scientific girl who fell through a spacetime rift… Every single day, he received strange, powerful items and endless money. Then one day, he suddenly realized—he had become invincible. Enough, enough! Stop giving me more!
nd fell into a coma while saving his younger sister from an out-of-control car. He became a vegetable. No one knew that his consciousness had crossed into a world of cultivation. Over the course of sixty years, he began as the lowest kind of mine slave, struggling to survive amid mountains of corpses and seas of blood. By sheer chance, he eventually obtained the complete memories of a fallen Immortal King. Alchemy, medicine, formations, feng shui, physiognomy, artifact forging… Every great inheritance of the cultivation world was now his. But when he opened his eyes again, he discovered that ten full years had passed in the modern world. To pay for his treatment, his father had sold the family’s shop and house, leaving himself covered in lasting injuries and illness. His mother had cared for him day and night, and more than half of her hair had already turned white. His younger sister, who had been only fifteen back then, was now twenty-five. To help repay the family’s debts, she had been forced to lower her head and put on a smiling face in places of glittering lights and endless revelry. Only then did Chen Xuan understand that what he had lost was not merely ten years. He had lost the life his entire family was meant to have. The good news was that he had brought back the memories of an Immortal King’s entire lifetime. The bad news was that his soul had returned alone—his cultivation had not come with him. Spiritual energy was scarce, resources were depleted, and the modern world still had firearms, surveillance, capital, and laws. If he wanted to protect his family, break free from everyone’s control, and become truly invincible beneath the heavens, he would have to start all over again.
【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.)
