The path in the woods was obviously not as flat as the outside, covered with vines, tree roots, and gravel.
Chen Guan's speed had to slow down, stumbling forward. The coffin occasionally bumped into the nearby trees, making dull thuds and clangs, startling the resting birds and a few small mutant beasts in the forest.
"Thirty meters to the front left, there is a faint spiritual energy reaction. It is recommended to avoid it."
The system prompted at the right time; this little thing was actually quite useful.
Chen Guan was always one to take good advice, so he immediately changed direction.
Not long after, his footing suddenly gave way. A seemingly solid patch of moss collapsed, revealing a shallow pit where several colorful poisonous snakes were coiled, hissing and flicking their tongues.
Chen Guan was startled and quickly backed away, the edge of the coffin scraping off a large piece of tree bark.
"Host, be careful. An Ironclad Badger is approaching from the right rear. Although it cannot break the defense of the Black Iron Coffin, getting rammed by it will still hurt quite a bit."
Chen Guan scrambled behind a large tree. With a loud bang, a creature covered in grayish-black hard armor, resembling an enlarged badger, slammed viciously into the trunk, leaving deep claw marks. It then shook its head, looked in confusion at Chen Guan and the strange large iron block, and left in disappointment.
Stumbling and on edge the whole way, Chen Guan's stamina dropped rapidly, and sweat soaked his clothes.
Although the system had reduced the weight of the Black Iron Coffin to zero, its sheer bulk was a massive hindrance in this complex terrain.
Just as his legs felt like lead and his lungs burned, feeling even worse than after his past physical fitness tests, the path ahead finally opened up.
A spacious road paved with smooth bluestone slabs appeared before his eyes. Tall Spirit Maple trees were planted on both sides, their leaves shimmering with a faint halo in the sunlight.
Occasionally, students wearing Huaqing Academy uniforms walked by in twos and threes. Their unhurried steps formed a sharp contrast with Chen Guan's current miserable state.
"Host, we have arrived. This is the Lingyun Path. According to my calculations, An Changqing and Su Yuehe will reach your current position in about two minutes."
Sys's excited voice sounded like heavenly music to Chen Guan's ears, and he almost plopped down onto the ground.
He forced himself to walk to a Spirit Maple tree by the road, gently leaned the coffin against its roots, and slid down to the ground, exhausted. He leaned against the cold coffin, gasping for air.
Looking the way he did now, let alone leaving a good impression during a chance encounter with the protagonist, he would be lucky not to scare them away. He even felt like a lunatic himself.
Even if the protagonist did not treat him like a lunatic, what about the audience?
He had to find a way to turn the situation around... at least he needed a reasonable excuse to make contact.
His gaze swept around, and he saw a delicate signpost standing by the road. It displayed a map of the nearby areas, including the dormitory area, teaching area, training grounds, and so on.
Below the map was a small line of text.
Freshman Inquiry Desk: Fifty meters ahead, Spirit Maple Pavilion.
Got it!
Chen Guan struggled to his feet, straightened out his crumpled clothes that were covered in grass clippings and dust, and wiped the sweat from his face.
He hoisted the coffin onto his back, took a few steps toward the Spirit Maple Pavilion, and then stopped. A look of confusion and anxiety timely appeared on his face as he looked around, as if searching for something.
A qualified background character... no, a qualified plot inserter needed to fabricate a reasonable identity and behavioral logic for himself.
Soon, two figures walked side by side from the other end of the Lingyun Path.
On the left was a tall, handsome young man with gray hair, wearing simple white casual clothes. His azure eyes, as blue as the sky, revealed a clear purity, and a gentle smile hung on his lips as he turned his head to listen to the girl beside him.
This was none other than the Child of Destiny of this world, the future legend of the supernatural realm, An Changqing.
On the right was a cute and charming girl with her hair tied in a ponytail. Her cheeks were flushed, and her large purple eyes blinked rapidly as she looked around with excitement and curiosity. This was An Changqing's childhood friend, Su Yuehe.
"Changqing, Huaqing is so big! It feels even bigger than when we visited before. Look at the training ground over there, it looks like some senior students are practicing. That fireball is so cool!"
Su Yuehe chattered away. She was a very lively person, a stark contrast to An Changqing's more introverted style.
"Yeah, we'll have to work hard on our cultivation here too. The academy has some resources that even our families can't provide." An Changqing nodded. His father, An Changsong, was the current president of the Superhuman Association, and his portrait was still on the wall of outstanding alumni.
His identity was an open secret, so An Changqing had to be mindful of his every word and action, lest he negatively impact his father.
As the two approached, they naturally noticed the incredibly conspicuous black iron coffin and its owner, the rather disheveled-looking Chen Guan.
Su Yuehe subconsciously leaned closer to An Changqing and whispered, "Changqing, look at that guy... and that coffin. It's so weird."
An Changqing frowned slightly, his gaze sweeping between Chen Guan and the coffin with a hint of vigilance.
In this world, anything bizarre could be tied to danger.
Chen Guan felt their gazes and knew his audience was in place.
He took a deep breath and forced a harmless, slightly embarrassed smile onto his face. He waved uncertainly in the direction of An Changqing and Su Yuehe, then pointed at the sign for the Spirit Maple Pavilion in the distance. With a hesitant tone and at a volume just loud enough for the two of them to hear, he spoke up:
"Um... excuse me, classmates. I'm a newly registered freshman, and I'm not familiar with the school yet... Could you tell me if the freshman inquiry desk is up ahead? I want to ask about the dorm arrangements and... where to store this."
He pointed awkwardly at the coffin strapped to his back, pretending to be completely clueless.
His tone carried a hint of anxiety, perfectly masking his true purpose of crossing the campus and braving the Trial Forest. He played the role of a struggling freshman to perfection.
An Changqing and Su Yuehe exchanged a glance, their vigilance relaxing slightly.
So he was just a freshman too, and it seemed he had run into some trouble because of that bizarre coffin.
An Changqing had an upright personality and was always ready to help others. Seeing this, he took the initiative to say, "Yes, the Spirit Maple Pavilion up ahead is the temporary inquiry desk. Did you... come from the North Gate?"
He noticed the dirt and grass clippings on Chen Guan, as well as his obvious state of exhaustion.
Normally, no one would end up looking this disheveled inside the school, unless...
His gaze shifted toward the dense forest not far away.
"Yeah," Chen Guan nodded with a bitter smile, playing along. "There were fewer people at the North Gate. After I finished the paperwork, I heard the dorms were in the East District, so I tried to take a shortcut through the Trial Forest. But... I got lost and almost ran into an alien beast. I barely managed to find the main road."
"The Trial Forest?" Su Yuehe's eyes widened in surprise. "You carried this... um... iron block, and crossed through the Trial Forest? That's amazing."
Her gaze now held a bit more curiosity and a little less fear. She wasn't the type to be afraid of dead bodies, but she did find walking around with a coffin on one's back rather strange, fearing he might be some sort of campus weirdo.
An Changqing also looked surprised, taking another look at Chen Guan and that black iron coffin which appeared incredibly heavy.
To be able to carry such a thing alone through the Trial Forest, even if it was just along the outskirts, showed that his physical stamina was far from ordinary.
ut it can buy an entire year of absolutely perfect training results! Su Yu stared at his empty wallet and decisively opened up various online loan platforms. “Borrow a thousand bucks! Recharge my vitality!” Boom! His vitality broke a hundred points, shattering the limits of the human body! “Borrow ten thousand bucks! Recharge my combat skills!” Boom! A basic punching technique so common it was everywhere instantly maxed out, revealing the ultimate assassination technique of Five Elements Unity—Inner Force! When a rich kid hired assassins for a midnight ambush, aiming to break both of his legs, they instead ran headfirst into a monster—a human-shaped tyrannosaur, brimming with dragon-like vitality. With just two fingers, Su Yu snapped a steel staff reinforced with alloy. Staring at the killer’s stash of stolen cash—a staggering quarter-million dollars—he showed a corporate-sincere smile: “Thanks for the pre-exam gift pack, Mr. Zhao! I’m gonna go re-invest this!” Three days later, at the National Martial Arts College Entrance Exam, while everyone else struggled just to reach the passing line, Su Yu threw a single punch—and more than a thousand vitality points literally detonated the entire arena!
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.
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!
e school belle recognized by the whole school, a genius girl from the kendo club. She also has a hidden identity, the youngest legendary demon hunter. Chen Shuo just transmigrated and found himself turned into a weak, helpless little vampire. He was caught by Su Xiyen and taken home at the very beginning. Since then, Chen Shuo's life creed only had two items. "First, classmate Su Xiyen is always right." "Second, if classmate Su Xiyen is wrong, please refer back to item one." Many years later, Chen Shuo, who had turned back into a human, led a pair of twins to appear in front of all the vampires to share the secret of how he turned back into a human. "It's simple, I tricked a female demon hunter into becoming my wife!"
