At this moment, he stood at the very center of the floating island, over three thousand meters up in the sky, where gusts of cool wind howled past, making his robes flutter and snap in the air.
For some reason, he couldn't shake a feeling of desolation pressing in on him.
Just then, as if sensing Lin Xiao's dissatisfaction—perhaps afraid he might demand a refund—the system spoke up:
[Host, please begin developing the floating island as soon as possible. A sect with a floating island enjoys numerous benefits, and the island will undergo qualitative leaps in every aspect as its prosperity increases~]
Lin Xiao silently let out a sigh.
Fine, let's build it. At least the space is much bigger now.
And it floats in the air. How cool is that.
He paced across the ground, a mix of rock and soil, looking around in every direction.
Suddenly, he remembered an item stored in his personal treasury—the Yaoguang Attached Pearl.
He quickly retrieved it from his private storage and pulled the thing out.
He remembered what it did: once connected to the Yaoguang Floating Island, it would grant access to a small independent world.
The floating island plus a small world...
It felt like he wouldn't have to worry about running out of space for a good long while.
[Would you like to begin connecting the Yaoguang Attached Pearl with the Yaoguang Floating Island?]
Lin Xiao thought it over. It's not like the pearl was doing anything just sitting there, and connecting it sooner or later would amount to the same thing, so he decisively chose yes.
[Connection in progress, please wait]
With nothing else to do, Lin Xiao sat down cross-legged and opened the floating island control panel to browse through it.
He first tapped on [Floating Island Altitude Settings], which currently displayed a height of 3,500 meters.
Because the spot where the Lingxian Sect sat on the mountainside was actually a plateau about five hundred meters above ground, and the floating island had risen three thousand meters from there, the total distance to the ground was 3,500 meters.
The highest peak of North Mountain was about the same height.
However, since the slopes of the North Mountain range were all very steep, and the tallest peak wasn't close to the Lingxian Sect's mountainside location, the floating island didn't appear to be right next to the mountain's summit.
In reality, the bottom of the Yaoguang Floating Island was currently more or less level with the highest peak of North Mountain.
Lin Xiao felt this made it too easy to spot from outside, which wasn't ideal.
So, in the altitude settings, he changed the initial height from 3,500 meters directly to 5,000 meters.
The next moment, sitting on the island, he felt it rapidly ascending.
Then, before long, it came to a steady stop.
Having experienced the ride firsthand, Lin Xiao felt no discomfort from any sudden braking whatsoever—instead, he found it quite fun.
After adjusting the altitude, he ran to the edge of the island and poked his head over to look down.
Light layers of clouds were now visible swirling around him.
With his exceptionally sharp vision, the Lingxian Sect and Xiushui Village below both looked like miniature dioramas.
At this height, a fall would surely shatter every bone in your body.
Good thing he didn't have a fear of heights.
Lin Xiao thought for a moment, then lifted his leg, attempting to step past the island's edge.
He wanted to test whether the floating island had any safety measures—otherwise, what would happen later if some disciple who hadn't yet mastered air-walking, or could only manage it clumsily or briefly, ended up falling off?
He assumed that a system-made floating island would definitely have accounted for such a problem, and certainly wouldn't let anyone actually walk off. But to his surprise, his leg really did extend past the edge.
Not believing it, Lin Xiao then walked his entire body off the edge.
And he genuinely left the floating island.
So anyone could just walk off freely, huh...
Thinking about it, he opened the [Floating Island Defense and Attack Settings], and there, sure enough, was an option related to entry and exit.
In reality, the floating island's safety features were switched on, but the protection coverage displayed was set to [Floating Island Settled Residents].
However, although Lin Xiao was the master of the floating island, he apparently wasn't counted as one of its residents yet.
Because right now, the [Floating Island Settled Population] was clearly marked as 0 people.
So Lin Xiao immediately returned to the island, registered himself as a settled resident, then turned around and tried stepping off again.
Hm, blocked this time. Good.
Then he immediately leaped into the air and shot upward.
He also wanted to test the extent of the floating island's protective coverage in all directions.
As it turned out, the coverage was roughly an inverted dome with a diameter equal to that of the floating island, reaching a maximum height of only about five hundred meters. Anything higher, and the protective barrier would stop you.
Moreover, Lin Xiao searched but found no option to change this range setting, which meant it couldn't be modified at will.
That reminded him of what the system had said earlier—that as the floating island's prosperity increased, various aspects of it would improve.
Presumably, this meant that as the island grew more developed, the upper limit of this range might be raised.
But there was no rush for that.
After all, with the current floating island space plus the small world, they'd probably have plenty of room to work with for a long time.
As he was pondering this, the system notification rang out right on cue:
[The connection between the Yaoguang Attached Pearl and the Yaoguang Floating Island is complete. The entrance to the Yaoguang Small World has been opened at the island's center. Host may manage it via the Yaoguang Floating Island control panel.]
Lin Xiao turned his head and saw that the dead center of the floating island was no longer barren as it had been just moments ago.
In its place was a small pool about fifty centimeters in diameter, surrounded by a ring of colorful stones. At the center of the pool was a little fountain.
The fountain sprayed to roughly a meter in height, and hovering above it was a small pearl—none other than the Yaoguang Attached Pearl that had been stored in Lin Xiao's private treasury all this time.
Lin Xiao walked up to examine this so-called entrance to the small world.
Hm... doesn't look particularly impressive.
But that didn't matter.
He reached out to touch the pearl, and the next instant, he found himself transported into an entirely different space.
The entrance to this small world was located in a corner near the edge.
Looking around, Lin Xiao let out a sigh of relief.
At least here, unlike the barren Yaoguang Floating Island, there was something to see.
In contrast to the floating island, this place was a feast for the eyes.
The ground was covered in flowers of all colors, stretching out like a vast tapestry of blooming blossoms. At the center lay a crescent-shaped lake, with a faint rainbow arching over its surface.
Lin Xiao bent down and picked a vibrant flower that reached up to his knee—something resembling a double-peony, currently in full bloom.
The flower was perfectly fresh, and it seemed to carry a subtle medicinal fragrance mixed in with the floral scent.
A gentle breeze swept by, and the sea of flowers swayed softly with the shallow current of air.
Beautiful as it was, there was nothing else here.
Everything would have to start from scratch.
Still, these flowers might be quite valuable.
However, there were too many varieties at the moment—a riot of colors, shapes, and types.
He had no desire to go plucking every single one and shoving them into his treasury for appraisal one by one. That would take too much time.
He could have Senior Liao come by another day to take a look.
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?"
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!
] [Lone Wolf, No Male Gaze] [Protagonist is pursued early on; extreme protagonist-stans, stay away!] The "Carnival Paradise" descends and slowly devours the real world in the form of a game. By chance, Zhu Yan awakens the talent [Roleplay], becoming one of the first beta players. He thought he could develop safely, but after clearing the first instance, he is branded by humanity as the chief culprit behind the game's spread—a traitorous villain. A villain? Who would ever... become one! He'll be the villain! From then on, Zhu Yan is not only a player but also a lackey for the Carnival Paradise. Between the straight path and the crooked path, he chooses the con. With his left hand, he dons the villain's mantle, staging scenes within instances, infuriating players who decry him as a despicable traitor, all while the game happily promotes him. With his right hand, he joins the non-human organization "Fangcun Mountain," which opposes the Carnival Paradise, transforming into a mysterious player who slaughters game bosses, earning cheers of "Long live the expert!" from fellow players. Gradually, Zhu Yan rises to become an S-rank human player in Fangcun Mountain's archives, while also being the Carnival Paradise's certified top game Boss. But when the final war erupts and both major factions place their hopes in him— Players tag his various aliases: "Experts, this offensive depends on you." The Carnival Paradise's supreme Boss throws an arm around his neck: "Bro, you're the iron, I'm the steel; you can't let me down again!"
ing gift was a patch of barren land, and disciples were all picked up along the way. He spent fifty years diligently building three "ramshackle little sects," thinking he could finally live a carefree life relying on his disciples. But right at the fifty-year mark, he was suddenly swept away by a spatial rift and exiled to the Chaos Desolation, the Disorderly Ruins. There was no spiritual energy there, only slaughter. Relying on the cultivation feedback from his disciples, Gu Changyuan hacked his way through a sea of blood for eleven hundred years. When the system finally fished him back out, he discovered the ramshackle little sects he'd built back then had developed a rather... unusual style. Hold on... I vanished for a thousand years, so how did my ramshackle little sects become holy lands?!
