Chen Guan’s movement stopped.
The pitch-black blade of his scythe remained pressed tightly against the cold armor, the sparks that had just burst forth instantly extinguished.
“Baal, did you hear that?”
Chen Guan asked inwardly, his nerves stretched taut.
“Hear what? The lamentations of this piece of scrap metal as you take it apart? Heh heh, keep going. Fight, fight, fight!”
Baal’s voice was as carefree as ever, brimming with the delight of someone who loved watching a spectacle.
Clearly, Baal hadn’t heard anything.
Chen Guan glanced out of the corner of his eye at Li Yan in the distance.
The tower-like figure remained on guard, his bronze-colored face solemn as he stared fixedly at the battle. There wasn’t the slightest sign that anything was amiss.
Only me.
Realizing this, Chen Guan tightened his grip on the scythe.
Illusion? Impossible. Baal wasn’t that easy to fool.
And then that voice rang out again.
“I have been here, waiting for thousands of years.”
“Waiting for you to come here.”
Those words sent a jolt through Chen Guan’s consciousness.
At the same time, Baal’s laughter abruptly cut off.
“Wait, kid. This guy…”
All traces of laziness had vanished from Baal’s voice, leaving only shock and suspicion.
At the center of the platform, the King of the Tower moved again. He slowly withdrew the hand that had devoured the light, followed by the other. Both arms hung naturally at his sides as he completely abandoned his defensive stance.
He had no intention of fighting anymore.
“Who are you?”
Chen Guan asked inwardly.
The voice did not answer. Instead, it continued speaking inside his mind in a matter-of-fact tone.
“We have met before.”
“In another place.”
Chen Guan’s hand remained perfectly still around the scythe as he rapidly searched through every relevant memory.
Nothing.
He had no impression of this armor or this figure whatsoever.
“Do you remember?”
The voice was unhurried, carrying a faint, ethereal smile.
“The throne I prepared for you.”
“It’s a shame you abandoned the throne that was practically within your grasp.”
Boom.
Those words crashed into his mind, and a sealed-away scene suddenly became clear.
The Northern Frontier—that desolate land buried beneath ice and snow.
And that ancient, imposing voice, so certain that he would return.
“How about it?”
The King of the Tower’s voice perfectly overlapped with the one in his memory, dragging Chen Guan completely back to reality.
“Have you changed your mind this time?”
It lowered both arms completely. Beneath the starlight, the ancient armor gleamed with a lifeless radiance, like an empty ornament.
“The throne is still here.”
“As long as you nod, you may sit upon it at any time.”
Chen Guan’s gaze passed over the King of the Tower and landed on the throne beneath the enormous red crystal at the center of the platform.
Its design was entirely different from the throne in his memories of the Northern Frontier, but the temptation it exuded—the promise of standing above all and commanding the void—was exactly the same.
“Chen Guan.”
Li Yan’s deep voice came from the distance, shattering the eerie silence.
He couldn’t see this silent exchange. All he could see was his student stopping just as he was about to kill the enemy.
Then the King of the Tower, who should have been fighting to the death, had also abandoned its resistance.
The two of them simply stood locked in place, creating a scene whose grotesqueness defied description.
“What happened?”
A hint of tension entered Li Yan’s voice.
Nothing about the situation seemed right. Had Chen Guan fallen victim to an illusion?
Chen Guan’s lips moved, but no words came out.
How was he supposed to explain this?
That this dungeon boss was another boss he had encountered in the Northern Frontier more than a month ago?
Or that his opponent was inviting him to switch sides?
“Awoo.”
A soft, endearing cry sounded above his head.
Baobao had sensed Chen Guan’s tension. It poked its little head out of his hair and gently rubbed Chen Guan’s forehead with its tiny, diamond-shaped thunder crystal.
Then it did its best to open its mouth and produced a syllable far clearer than before.
“Chen… Guan.”
The call brought the chaotic buzzing in Chen Guan’s mind to a halt.
He slowly pulled back the pitch-black scythe that had been pressed against the King of the Tower’s neck.
The blade slid across the smooth armor without leaving a mark, then transformed into black mist and dissipated.
The King of the Tower remained standing, as though it had known all along that he would do this.
It raised one black-armored hand and pointed toward the hovering throne.
“Sit upon it.”
“You will obtain everything you desire.”
“Power, ideals… a place to belong.”
The voice carried an indescribable allure. In the distance, Li Yan’s suspicions deepened when he saw Chen Guan put away his weapon. He took a step forward, about to speak.
But Chen Guan suddenly turned his head and shook it at him.
“Teacher, I’m fine.”
Li Yan swallowed the words that had reached his lips.
The two of them, who should have been locked in a life-or-death confrontation, had now begun engaging in a bizarre stare-down. The situation itself defied common sense.
But how many strange things had happened around Chen Guan already?
In the end, Li Yan chose to trust his student. However, his tense body did not relax. Lightning surged beneath his skin, and he remained ready to strike at any moment.
Chen Guan turned back and looked at the King of the Tower.
He did not look at the alluring throne. Instead, he stared straight at the figure’s smooth faceplate and asked a completely different question.
“What are you—or rather, what are you people?”
This time, the King of the Tower fell silent.
The purple galaxy overhead flowed quietly, stretching the shadows of the two figures across the platform.
Only after a long while did that ancient voice speak again.
“I am… both the key and the door.”
“I am the tomb keeper of the old age, and the guide to the new world.”
There it was again—that cryptic, riddle-speaking nonsense. Chen Guan frowned.
“Speak plainly.”
The King of the Tower seemed to pause, apparently not expecting such a blunt and simple response.
A moment later, it spoke in a tone that was almost a sigh.
“The aura on you belongs to Baal, doesn’t it?”
“It seems you have found yourself a decent guide, though the path he follows is a dead end.”
“What Baal can give you, I can give you a hundredfold, a thousandfold.”
“Sit upon that throne, and you will become the ruler of this void. Every creature of the void will obey your command.”
“You will become… the new Baal. No—a mere Baal will be nothing before you.”
“Become the new Baal?”
Chen Guan scoffed inwardly. What an outrageous promise.
The whole thing sounded like a massive headache, and he had not the slightest interest in it.
He had never envied Baal—not after hearing the story of the hero and the demon king, least of all.
Chen Guan had no desire to be cut down by someone shouting about bonds and friendship.
To wear the crown, one must bear its weight.
“Your proposal sounds quite appealing.”
Chen Guan looked at the King of the Tower, his face expressionless, though his tone was perfectly sincere.
“But I think the workload that comes with Baal’s position might be a little too intense. It probably isn’t suitable for me right now.”
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.
shall grant"] ["Inscribing the glory of our race upon tombstones"] ["All that is threatened, I shall protect"] How his younger sister sees her brother: A brother who only makes eye contact once a day, mostly fading into the background as he tinkers with who-knows-what in his room all day. Their life paths should have remained largely separate. Until one day. Su Qi created an equipment card for his never-met "online girlfriend." His sister fell into silent contemplation upon receiving the "white stockings." [Card can be upgraded] [Upgrade by fulfilling any of the following conditions] [Condition ①: Consume one hundred higher-tier cards] [Condition ②: Complete one 'Heart-Pounding Adventure'] What constitutes a Heart-Pounding Adventure? [Heart-Pounding Adventure (Beginner Level): Equip the card and invite 'Su Qi' to admire it.] [Heart-Pounding Adventure (Easy Level): Equip the card, invite 'Su Qi' to touch it, and analyze the equipment's texture.] [Heart-Pounding Adventure (Entry Level): Equip the card and invite 'Su Qi' to...] [Heart-Pounding Adventure (Challenge Level): Freely combine the words 'Brother' 'Out' 'Brother' 'Me' 'Please' into a complete sentence...] "Please help me analyze both teams' mistakes in this match, brother..." His sister exhaled in relief—surely... surely there couldn't be anything more difficult? [Heart-Pounding Adventure (Suicide Mission Level): Sneak a peek at the names of the galgames in 'Su Qi's' hidden E-drive folder]
