Half an hour later.
【YOUDIE】
"Ah....."
"Ah!!!!"
Su Muwan stood up in shock, shaking the screen as she shouted, "What kind of joke is this?!"
"I can still fight!! I haven't lost yet!!"
"Useless Shadow!! Get up right now!!"
"N-no... I can't..."
Su Muwan turned to Qin Luo, clenched her fists, and gritted her teeth. "I'm flying over there right now for round two—Wah!"
Before she could finish, Qin Luo pressed a hand on her head and chuckled helplessly. "Don’t do that, young miss."
"The fact that you managed to hold your own against three T0 opponents with just one Shadow creature is already insane."
Su Muwan, now subdued by Qin Luo’s hand, pouted and grumbled, "B-but I still didn’t win! My skills aren’t the problem—it’s the character!"
Qin Luo smiled faintly at her stubbornness. "I’ll admit that much."
"After all, my power level is what it is, so naturally, the Shadow’s strength has its limits."
"There’ll be plenty of chances for you to fight personally later."
Hearing this, Su Muwan quieted down as she saw Qin Luo patiently explaining.
Wait...
He... He only gave me this gaming device to cheer me up.
And yet, here I am, acting so spoiled...
Ugh, Su Muwan, you’re the worst...
With that thought, she bit her lip guiltily and tugged at Qin Luo’s sleeve. "I’m sorry, Luo... I insulted the Shadow creature you made..."
"And got him killed."
Qin Luo blinked, looking amused. "Oh, no worries. Shadow creatures are immortal."
"As long as I’m alive, they won’t die."
Su Muwan: ?
Hey! Give me back my emotional moment!
"Then..."
Su Muwan instantly snapped out of her gloom and turned to Qin Luo with sparkling eyes. "Qin Luo, Qin Luo!"
"Do you have any other Shadow creatures that are easy to control like this?"
Qin Luo snapped his fingers with a grin. "Of course, young miss."
"There are exactly eighty-one more where that came from."
As he spoke, the screen in front of Su Muwan flickered.
In an instant, the display changed to a character selection screen, where rows of newly crafted, ferocious-looking Shadow creatures appeared.
"Wah!!"
Qin Luo watched Su Muwan’s delighted expression with satisfaction.
A young miss who loves real-life combat games—utterly adorable.
...
...
A short while later.
Unlike Su Muwan’s exhilaration, the factions that had entered the ruins were suffering immensely.
First, an inexplicable black fog separated them, followed by waves of Shadow creatures of varying strength attacking them.
Even when they finally found an opportunity and defeated a guardian of inheritance...
Upon opening the jade slip, they were met with:
【Congratulations. The experience from this battle is the greatest reward.】
Bullsht!!!
Damn ancients, I&%&￥￥%@
In a muddy bog, several members of the loose cultivator alliance were trapped, unable to escape.
The bog reeked of decay, its dark-brown sludge bubbling and churning like a pot of thick, boiling gruel.
Zhao Feng of the Mystic Wind Sect was already waist-deep in the muck. He struggled desperately, using his longsword as a support to push himself up.
But every effort only sank him deeper. The sludge soon reached his chest, its revolting stench flooding his nostrils.
"Damn it, what kind of cursed bog is this?!"
Veins bulged on his forehead as sweat and mud dripped down his face.
A younger female disciple was in even worse shape—her weaker cultivation meant the sludge had nearly swallowed her whole, leaving only her head exposed. Panic filled her eyes as she flailed. "Brother Zhao! Elder Liu! Help me!"
Her frantic splashes sprayed mud onto the others.
Elder Liu remained composed, though his expression was grim.
Suppressing the urge to gag, he narrowed his eyes and scanned their surroundings for a way out. "Stop struggling—the more you move, the faster you sink! This might look like a natural trap, but it’s likely man-made. Stay calm and look for clues."
As he spoke, he cautiously released a faint pulse of spiritual energy to probe the area—only to sink a few millimeters deeper.
Wait...
Elder Liu relaxed his body and withdrew his energy.
He could move again?!
His eyes lit up as he shouted, "Everyone, stop using spiritual energy!!"
The others quickly obeyed.
Once they felt the sinking halt, they scrambled out of the deadly bog with all their might.
Moments later...
"Ugh... Ugh..."
"This is torture... Elder Liu, let’s just leave."
"Whatever reward’s here isn’t worth it!"
Drenched in foul-smelling sludge, they panted like drowned rats.
Just as Elder Liu was about to speak—
"Ah—!!"
"There’s a dead person!!!"
The young female disciple’s bloodcurdling scream shattered the brief respite.
Everyone whipped around to see a shriveled human skin slumped against a boulder nearby.
The skin clung tightly to the skeletal frame, its hollow eye sockets like bottomless pits staring straight at them.
Then—
Splash!!
The skin dissolved into a pool of black blood on the ground.
The horrifying sight sent chills down everyone’s spines.
"W-what the hell is this?!"
Zhao Feng’s teeth chattered—even he had never seen anything like this.
But Elder Liu, after a moment of recollection—
Suddenly!
His pupils shrank, his mouth falling open in shock. "Th-this... This is the work of a Devouring Spirit Demonic Cultivator!!"
His voice trembled as he recognized the gruesome signature.
A Devouring Spirit Demonic Cultivator?!
Zhao Feng and the others paled.
They remembered now.
The alliance had previously distributed information on the signs of a Devouring Spirit Demonic Cultivator’s attacks.
The most distinctive? This very pool of black blood!
But... why did it suddenly turn to blood?
Unless—?!
Elder Liu leaped to his feet, whirling toward the group. "We’re in danger!!"
"Run!!!"
"The Devouring Spirit Demonic Cultivator is right—"
Squelch!
His voice cut off abruptly.
The sound of something sharp piercing flesh echoed sickeningly.
Elder Liu’s eyes widened as he looked down.
A skeletal, iron-hard hand had burst through his chest, blood gushing down the arm and merging with the black pool below.
He choked on the metallic taste flooding his throat, still trying to force out his warning.
But then—
"Rip—!!"
With a brutal yank, the hand withdrew.
Elder Liu collapsed forward, blood erupting from the gaping wound in his back like a crimson fountain.
His body convulsed a few times before falling still.
Zhao Feng and the others witnessed this scene, their souls nearly fleeing their bodies in terror. Their feet seemed nailed to the ground, their minds blank, frozen in place, unsure of what to do.
They stared dumbly at the one who had struck.
Then—
The figure slowly pulled back his hood, revealing...
A face marred by frostbite.
Ling Yu, his features concealed by shadows, gazed coldly at the group and spoke indifferently, "Though you're nothing but trash."
"You'll do well enough to replenish my blood essence."
"Remember this."
"The one who kills you is called..."
"Ye Qun."
Ye... Ye Qun?!
Before Zhao Feng could even process who this person was, he screamed in terror, "RUN!!!"
......
......
Inside the Heritage Hall.
Qin Luo watched the scene unfold in the projection, a faint smile on his lips.
Good. The hunt... has begun.
saw a female celebrity tied up and stuffed in the trunk! Little did he know, countless cameras were aimed at him at this moment - this was a new type of reality show. The first randomly selected passerby was caught in less than an hour. But when Xu Moru was selected, things started to take an unexpected turn. "Damn, this isn't how the script goes. This Xu Moru is too bold, he's not following the rules at all." "Crap, is this guy taking it seriously?" "The female celebrity has been scared to tears!"
spital. Good news: I've bound a system. Bad news: I'm still a baby. "Thirty years east of the river, thirty years west of the river, do not bully the middle-aged for being poor — Divorce Comeback System." "Your marriage may have failed, but your luck in love has never run dry. Your childhood sweetheart, out of contact for twenty years, reappears. Her beauty remains, yet her eyes are brimming with tears." [Listen to the childhood sweetheart's sorrowful story.] Chen Zhi looked down at the diaper he was wearing, then at the little childhood sweetheart crying her heart out beside him, and fell into deep thought. Can anyone relate? I'm having a midlife crisis at an age where even rolling over is a struggle.
grated, and just when he finally managed to get into an elite academy, he discovered that he actually had a system, and the way to earn rewards was extremely ridiculous. So for the sake of rewards, he had no choice but to start acting ridiculous as well. Su Cheng: "It's nothing but system quests after all." But later, what confused Su Cheng was that while he was already quite ridiculous, he never expected those serious characters to gradually become ridiculous too. And the way they looked at him became increasingly strange... (This synopsis doesn't do it justice, please read the full story)
ose... to cooperate with the protagonist! Shen Yuan: I have a system! Protagonist: What? System: Holy crap, you're just spilling it out like that? Shen Yuan: Let's team up, we'll split the system rewards! Protagonist: Fifty-fifty split? Shen Yuan: No way! Protagonist: What!? I'm the one getting beaten up, and I don't get half? Shen Yuan: Forty-sixty split, I get forty, you get sixty! Protagonist: Deal! Big brother, come on, hit me! As long as it doesn't kill me, beat me like you mean it! Shen Yuan: Don't worry... I will definitely protect all of you! No one but me can lay a finger on you! Guard our Heaven's Chosen Ones! I'm the only one allowed to bully them!
