Boom!
At the brink of life and death, golden blood suddenly trickled from Chen Mo’s right eye.
The True Sight Pupil breached its critical point, and the flow of time slowed to a crawl in his vision.
He saw the shadowy threads coiled around Ye Qingmei’s neck, the pulsating energy veins around the monk’s wrist, the swirling qi vortex in the Taoist nun’s dantian... and the barely perceptible fissure where all the beams of light converged.
He saw it!
He SAW it!!
"Now!"
With his last ounce of strength, he hurled his tactical knife.
Crack!!
The blade pierced the fissure with pinpoint precision, and the entire cage of light trembled violently.
For the first time, Ling Yu’s face twisted with shock and fury.
"Attack!"
The Taoist nun reacted fastest, her lifebound flying sword streaking toward the fissure like a comet.
The others unleashed their deadliest techniques—Buddhist radiance, venomous gu, thunder spells—colliding at the fissure in a dazzling aurora.
Amid the storm of energy, Ling Yu’s body began to disintegrate.
Yet his splitting lips curled into an eerie smile. "Congratulations. You’ve earned the highest honor."
Whoosh!
After uttering those cryptic words, Ling Yu’s form dissipated into the air.
The oppressive pressure vanished.
Thud! Thud!
The dozen or so survivors slumped against walls or collapsed to the ground.
Even the aloof female sword cultivator wore an expression of hard-won relief.
Only those who’d lived through it knew how brutal this battle had been.
The monk cast a Calming Heart Mantra, then eyed Chen Mo—who was checking Ye Qingmei’s injuries—with newfound interest. "Fellow Daoist, you can see through illusions?"
"Care to join our Great Radiance Temple?"
"Uh..."
Chen Mo’s eyelid twitched as he forced a smile. "N-no thanks."
"Heh, that’s the spirit!"
"Not bad, pretty boy."
The Miaojiang girl sauntered over and clapped his back. "Come to our tribe instead!"
"Ahem... What about White Eyebrow Mountain?"
The Taoist nun jerked a thumb at herself. "The whole mountain’s full of nuns!"
The cool-faced sword cultivator watched the scene from her perch, a faint smile tugging at her lips.
For some reason, she felt an unexpected warmth in this moment.
Chen Mo declined each offer, then suddenly frowned. "Wait—why are you all here?"
"Huh? What do you mean?"
The Miaojiang girl clasped her hands behind her head. "The Alliance sent a distress signal for this location."
"I came to evacuate people."
"Then I found you fighting that monster."
Thud.
Chen Mo’s heart skipped a beat.
The monk nodded. "Amitabha. Yet the Alliance’s enforcers are conspicuously absent."
The Taoist nun shrugged. "Typical Alliance inefficiency. Could’ve at least sent someone."
No... This is wrong...
While the others complained, Chen Mo stood frozen, his face draining of color.
They didn’t understand what an Alliance distress signal meant.
But he knew.
This... this was the monster’s trap all along!
Now that he thought about it—why had the monster held back against him?
It wasn’t playing with its prey.
It was...
Chen Mo’s hollow gaze swept over the dozen survivors.
Waiting for them to arrive.
And the survivors weren’t random—each was a top genius from their factions.
Why? How?
Then he remembered Ling Yu’s final words:
[Congratulations. You’ve earned the highest honor.]
That phrase...
"Run..."
His voice was a whisper.
Ye Qingmei leaned closer. "Chen Mo? What’s wrong?"
"RUN! NOW!"
Grabbing her wrist, Chen Mo screamed at the group, panic shredding his voice: "IT’S A TRAP! GET OUT!!"
The night-cloaked arena froze mid-breath.
Before his echoes faded, the ground spiderwebbed with cracks—oozing shadowy tar that coiled around ankles.
The Miaojiang girl’s gu insects turned to ash on contact. The Taoist nun’s hovering sword shrieked. The monk’s golden bell shield shattered. Everyone stood paralyzed.
BOOM!
Twenty-four obsidian pillars erupted, their dragon carvings weeping blood from crimson eyes.
The Blood Asura’s colossal blade cleaved through the void, its gore-drenched edge dripping a sealing array.
Hui Ming’s black Buddhist radiance vomited a tide of shadows, imprinting each victim’s terrified face onto the pillars.
Ling Yu’s fragmented mirror-body reassembled, each shard reflecting Qin Luo’s weeping demon mask.
...
...
When the Abyssal Dragon’s roar crushed down from the clouds—its bone-wings hurling survivors like ragdolls—the Shadow Faction’s collective aura had condensed the air into lead.
Every survivor stared, minds blank.
What...
What IS this?
But this wasn’t the most terrifying part.
The most terrifying thing was...
These ferocious, masked humanoid monsters, each wearing differently shaped masks, suddenly...
dropped to one knee in unison, kneeling atop the dark golden pillars.
Their heads bowed low as they knelt in perfect unison, facing one direction as if welcoming a supreme being.
Who... could it be?
The next second.
Boom!
Under the despairing gazes of everyone present.
The void split open with a crimson rift.
Qin Luo stepped forth, treading upon the wailing souls of the dead.
His suit, reshaped by flowing shadowfire, became a long-tailed coat.
His weeping ghost mask bore molten lava-like patterns, cracks running through it—his left eye a light-devouring black hole, his right eye flickering with eerie glacial flames.
Thud!
With every step he took, skeletal hands of tormented souls reached up from beneath to lift him, while the ground beneath him formed screaming faces in relief.
Until he finally took his seat upon the shadow throne that Ling Yu had long prepared for him...
"The farce ends now."
"I... grow weary."
His voice echoed like the whispers of a billion lost souls, dark torrents surging with his words, instantly sealing the movements of all the Chosen Ones.
Absolute rule descended upon this place.
"All hail the Shadow King!"
Amid the unified cries of the shadow faction,
everyone’s consciousness plunged into eternal darkness.
And yet, at the docks, the morning sun rose as scheduled.
Joggers hummed tunes as they stepped over puddles.
As if nothing at all had happened that night.
[Congratulations, Master, for completing the hidden quest]
[Performing the "dog-walking" act on more than 15 Chosen Ones in one go]
[Critical hit reward obtained: Attribute Points—200]
[Title acquired—"Rule-Breaker": When equipped, the wearer can ignore special rules!]
[Item obtained—"Oblivion Scythe": All currently held tools and weapons have been fused into one (details can be [expanded])]
[Reward obtained—"Maybe You’d Like to Try This" (Special Item)]
ine. During your journey, you save an abandoned baby girl and become her elder brother】 【You rely on each other, becoming each other's support】 【At the end of the simulation, you shield the now-grown girl with your life, sacrificing yourself to block numerous demonic cultivators. You die, and the light in the girl's eyes fades】 …… 【Second Simulation: You are transported to a world where steam and magic coexist】 【You immerse yourself in the study of magic, obsessed with its research. One day, while out, you encounter a half-blooded demon girl wandering the streets. You take her in as your student】 【You teach the demoness what it means to be human, show her the beauty of the world, and nurture her into a miracle that surpasses even the gods】 【At the end of the simulation, you die of old age in front of the nearly immortal demoness due to your mortal lifespan】 …… One simulation after another, one encounter after another. Xu Xi suddenly felt something was off: "Wait, you said you're coming to the real world to find me?"
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!"
For the sake of his unrequited love, his ex-girlfriend abandoned him at the altar, indirectly causing the death of his parents. Just when he thought his life was plunged into darkness, a clueless yet beautiful girl unexpectedly took him in. Looking back, he realized how many hidden gems had always been by his side. A childhood friend who had secretly loved him for over a decade, a stunning but socially clueless school beauty, a mischievous and playful girl who lived for chaos... His ex, filled with regret, pleaded: "I was wrong—can we go back to how things were?" Before he could respond, the girl stepped in front of Ye Shuang and coldly declared, "If you didn’t cherish him, then he’s mine now." Also known as: "After Losing My Job, I Was Picked Up by a Hidden Gem," "The School Beauty I Raised," and "Oh No, I’m Surrounded by Rich Girls."
th】 【No prior gaming knowledge required】【The First Cultivation + Game Design Novel on the Platform】 In a world where the righteous path dominates and crushes the demonic sects, Lu Ze unlocks the "Son of the Demon Path" system. Killing righteous cultivators now grants him power-ups. Wait—deaths in illusions count too? As a former game designer, Lu Ze decides to give the cultivators of this world a little—no, a massive—shock... Sect Elders: "What is this 'Escape from the Demon Sect' game? Why have all our disciples abandoned cultivation to play it??" Elite Disciples: "You're saying... mastering 'Demon Slayer' can help us counter demonic schemes?" Reclusive Masters: "Why did I leave seclusion? Ask that backstabbing rat who ambushed me in 'Eternal Strife' yesterday!" Rogue Cultivators & Civilians: "'Immortal Abyss Action' is addictive! You can even earn spirit stones by loot-running..." Sect Prodigy: "My Dao heart is unshakable... except for that cursed black hammer." Royal Scions: "Can skins have stat boosts? I’ll pay 10,000 spirit stones for one!!" Sect Leader: "WHO IS CORRUPTING MY DISCIPLES?!!!"
