"Left swing, right swing..."
"ARGH!!!"
For the eighth time, Shen Yan slipped off the water bucket, his frustration boiling over.
The path up was clear, but this damned bucket was nearly impossible to hook.
The main issue was that the bucket hung from a rope.
If his grappling position was slightly off or the force of his hammer swing wasn't just right, the bucket would sway unpredictably.
Shen Yan took a deep breath. "Steady... stay calm..."
He aimed his hammer at the ground and thrust it down sharply.
With practiced ease, he swung his arm and successfully latched onto the bucket.
Swing.
Another swing...
This time, everything went smoothly.
As the platform drew closer, hope swelled in Shen Yan's chest.
Beyond this, the summit was within reach.
Victory was right there!
"Now!"
Shen Yan roared, seizing the perfect moment.
This was his best chance to swing up!
Just as he prepared to launch himself with the hammer—
The hammer suddenly shrank into a needle.
"???"
Shen Yan plummeted uncontrollably.
The snowy ground was slippery, and each fall sent him sliding a few steps.
This time, the angle was so awkward that he tumbled twice.
As he teetered on the brink of rolling down the rocky slope, cold sweat drenched him. Instinctively, he swung the hammer again.
His plan was simple—
Plant the hammer into the ground to halt his slide.
But the moment the hammer struck—
The head suddenly expanded!
Bigger than before!
And, of all things, it landed right on the outstretched hand of a pleading woman.
"Save me, Daoist!"
The woman cackled madly as she gripped the hammerhead.
By the time Shen Yan realized what was happening, it was too late.
This trap was just like that infuriating "snake" from the game in his past life.
Once triggered, there was only one outcome—
The wooden beam seemed to suck him in, dragging him down relentlessly.
"No... no no no!"
Shen Yan gasped, shaking his head desperately.
He yanked back with all his might, but it was futile!
Following the twisted wooden path, Shen Yan hurtled downward at breakneck speed.
If he'd just fallen down the mountain, he'd have respawned at the ancient pagoda.
But this wooden path was a separate nightmare!
"Stop! STOP!!!"
Shen Yan screamed in despair.
The snowy peaks, the alchemy furnace, the ancient pagoda, Tianxuan Mountain, the slide, the Farewell Pine, the Homesick Stone...
One after another, familiar landmarks flashed before his eyes like a macabre slideshow.
"Ah..."
Shen Yan felt like he couldn't breathe.
"GAIA—!!!"
A raw, guttural scream tore from his throat.
Finally, the fall ended.
He was back at the beginning.
Not just the valley below the Homesick Stone.
But the very start—before he'd even crossed the withered tree.
Crack.
In the haze, Shen Yan heard something shatter with a crisp sound.
"AAAAAHHHHH!!!"
He grabbed the hammer and, without hesitation, hurled himself into the pond behind him.
[Demonic Path Value +1.5]
This was the only way to die in the game.
The screen flashed, and Shen Yan respawned.
"WHY!?"
He howled at the sky before leaping into the pond again.
"KILL ME!! JUST KILL ME!!!"
[Demonic Path Value +1.5]
Shen Yan could no longer contain his despair.
A violent, feral rage surged through him.
BOOM—!!!
A deafening explosion.
With a burst of spiritual energy, Shen Yan shattered the illusion's suppression, severing his consciousness from the realm.
"What the—!?"
Nangong Yuan rushed over, stunned by the scene.
Behind Shen Yan loomed two ghastly shadows—one black, one red.
The black figure wielded a hammer; the red one, a sword.
Both phantoms lunged at Shen Yan!
"Demonic Heart!!?"
Nangong Yuan paled, his hands flying into formation.
Eighteen colossal talismans erupted, sealing the entire room...
......
With Nangong Yuan holding the line, Shen Yan's inner demons were swiftly subdued.
Soon, Shen Yan's master, Chi Shengtian, arrived to retrieve him.
Before leaving, he gave Nangong Yuan and Lu Ze a grave look.
"Elder Nangong, Young Lu..."
Chi Shengtian's voice was heavy.
"Until my foolish disciple awakens, I must ask you both to remain at Tianxuan Sect."
"Understood," Nangong Yuan sighed, then glared at Lu Ze.
"Today, I'll beat this troublemaker until he spawns a demon too!"
With that, his spiritual energy flared.
Lu Ze promptly clasped his hands in mock surrender. "Spare me, Master! I repent!"
He channeled energy into the "Beg for Mercy" jade pendant Nangong Yuan had just gifted him.
[HA HA] lit up in bold letters before him.
Lu Ze: "..."
Nangong Yuan: "..."
Nangong Yuan's fists clenched tighter...
"Rest assured, gentlemen," Chi Shengtian interjected. "I’m not detaining you to assign blame."
He hesitated, his gaze lingering on Lu Ze.
"Young Lu’s... disruption of Shen Yan’s Dao Heart today may align with an old prophecy in our sect."
"Ah, never mind. We’ll know by tomorrow."
For the sake of sabotaging the righteous path, I had no choice but to create this game.
"Please, stay at Tianxuan Sect one more day!"
......
After Chi Shengtian left:
"Look at the mess you’ve made!" Nangong Yuan scowled.
The Tianxuan elders had invited Lu Ze to temper their Saint’s swordsmanship.
Instead, he’d shattered the man’s Dao Heart.
Was this a joke?
"Ahem, I didn’t expect it to go this far..." Lu Ze averted his eyes.
He hadn’t imagined things would escalate to demonic possession.
"Tch. Lucky I was here to clean up your mess!"
"Master, don’t overreact. Elder Chi still called me ‘Young Lu.’ Maybe it’s fine?"
"Oh, you’ll be fine," Nangong Yuan said flatly.
At least physically.
"A thousand years ago, I wouldn’t have been so sure."
"But now? With the Lingxiao Sect’s reputation—and me here—they won’t dare touch you."
Lu Ze nodded. That made sense.
Tianxuan Sect might be ancient, but its influence had waned in recent years.
"But Elder Chi seemed... cryptic. Did you catch his meaning?"
"Tianxuan’s lot love speaking in riddles. Don’t overthink it. Still, I’ll prepare some contingencies..."
......
Nangong Yuan retreated to his quarters.
Lu Ze guessed the old man was crafting emergency talismans or artifacts.
Then, the system chimed:
[Quest Complete!]
[You successfully destabilized the Righteous Path’s Saint, spawning his inner demon and hindering their progress!]
[System upgraded. New feature unlocked: "Tilt Engine."]
[When you provoke negative emotions in righteous cultivators, you will gain additional Demonic Path points.]
rowess are unmatched, commanding a million-strong army! Yet, the Emperor wants to depose him for the sake of a false prince? Hold on, are you throwing me into some female-oriented romance plot? How can I tolerate this? With a grand wave of his hand—the Nine Clan Extraction Technique! Slander the Emperor? Very well, all of you shall die! ... The False Prince: "Although I am not the biological son, Father and Mother love me more. The throne should be mine!" The Female Lead: "Qin Xiao, you are the Emperor, and I am a commoner. If you wish to marry me, you must abdicate. Otherwise, you will never have me!" The Empress: "After we divorce, you must give me half the empire!" The Transmigrator Consort: "You worthless Emperor, why should I kneel to you? All men are equal—I advise you to be kind!" The Great General: "The enemy general is my childhood sweetheart. For her sake, I willingly abandon the frontier defenses!" The Retired Emperor: "Although Yu'er was adopted, I prefer him. Qin Xiao, you should abdicate and let him become Emperor!" ... Very well! So this is how you want to play? Facing this twisted world of female-oriented tropes, Qin Xiao grins and raises his hand to unleash—the Nine Clan Extraction Technique! I am the Emperor. Why would I bother reasoning with you? Seal the gates! Leave none alive!
young master of the Shen family—a figure of immense power and wealth beyond measure—and awakened the "Destined Ultimate Villain System"! His starting scenario? Running into his icy fiancée who shows up with a mountain-descending divine doctor to break off their engagement. The divine doctor arrogantly taunts: "What does your Shen family have besides a bit of stinking money? You're not even worthy of tying Qingxue's shoelaces!" Shen Fei just smiled. He completely defied the usual script: "Fine, I agree to break off the engagement. Also, notify the finance department to withdraw all investments from the Su family." Minutes later, with its capital chain severed, the Su Group teetered on the brink of bankruptcy! The once aloof and proud ice queen CEO was thrown into utter panic. That very night, she went to Shen Fei's villa, casting aside all dignity to beg and plead desperately... From then on, in this world teeming with Sons of Destiny, Shen Fei embarked on a path of extreme dimensional suppression! A mountain-descending divine doctor? Peerless medical skills? Shen Fei: "Reporting you for practicing medicine without a license! I'll gladly take your ancient medicinal cauldron and twin sister assassins." The Crooked-Smiling Dragon King? Commanding a hundred thousand soldiers with a single order? Shen Fei: "Illegal assembly and suspected treason! Let a fleet of attack helicopters sanitize the area and teach you what the state apparatus really means!" A reborn tycoon? Knows all the golden opportunities of the next decade? Shen Fei: "A trillion in capital to reverse and pump the stock market, making you blow your margin and jump on the very first day of your rebirth!" What Chosen Ones? What bearers of Heavenly Fortune? In Shen Fei's eyes, they're all just chives (i.e., suckers/marks) waiting to be harvested! Shen Fei: "Sorry, but as the Destined Ultimate Villain, I don't play by the rules of honor. I only play the game of dimensional suppression."
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?!
transmigrates into the world as the sect master of the Heavenly Yan Sect, which is on the verge of being wiped out. He binds a system that grants him cultivation power based on the number of disciples he has: for each disciple, he automatically gains a year's worth of cultivation every single day! Take one disciple: every day he gains 1 year of cultivation power. While others struggle through a year of bitter training, he gets the same just by sleeping through a single night. Take ten disciples: every day he gains 10 years of cultivation power. Foundation Establishment, Core Formation, Nascent Soul—he breezes through all bottlenecks without lifting a finger. Take one hundred disciples: every day he gains 100 years of cultivation power. Even a Soul Transformation Venerable before him can’t survive a single blow. Take ten thousand disciples: every day he gains 10,000 years of cultivation power! With a wave of his hand, he topples empires. With a single step, he crushes the sacred grounds of the universe. ... While others fight tooth and nail for secret techniques, Lin Yan casually hands out Nascent Soul-level cultivation manuals as beginner textbooks. While others strain to find talented recruits, Lin Yan opens his doors to anyone—so long as they’re human. In just three short years, the Heavenly Yan Sect went from a backwater sect made up of three crumbling huts to a sacred land that every cultivator under heaven would kill to enter. ... One day, otherworldly demon gods invade, with a million demon soldiers pressing down upon the realm. Lin Yan, yawning, rises from his lounge chair and glances at the system panel: [Current Disciples: 1.28 million] [Daily Cultivation Increase: 1.28 million years] He waves his hand casually, and the countless demon soldiers are reduced to ashes in an instant. “So noisy… interrupting my fishing.”
