With a "thud," Nine Nether Venerable felt his knees give way, collapsing to the ground.
It was an overwhelming pressure—one that brooked no refusal. Far surpassing even the two ghostly leaders he had encountered earlier in the Red-White Collision of Misfortune.
Black death energy, thick as substance, erupted from the Ghost Buddha's body. In his centuries of traversing the soul path, he had never witnessed such terrifying death energy.
Since you’ve seen the future, why not bow?
Nine Nether Venerable couldn’t help but recall the vision he had glimpsed mere seconds ago—himself trembling on his knees before the Ghost Buddha, forehead pressed to the ground, begging for a sliver of life.
Was this truly his future?
Was he going to die?
Was this the only way to survive?
Countless thoughts swirled in Nine Nether Venerable’s mind. At this moment, he nearly forgot he was trapped in an illusion, his mind consumed by a single word—
Survive.
Driven by instinct, he slowly bent forward, his body trembling uncontrollably.
His sanity plummeted rapidly.
30…
20…
10…
0!
The moment it hit zero, the barrage of comments reappeared—but in an eerily sinister manner.
Whispers, ghostly and mournful, echoed incessantly in his ears.
[He knelt! The old man actually knelt!]
[Is he submitting to the Ghost Buddha?]
[Heavens… this illusion is driving people mad!!]
[What an embarrassment!]
[Will anyone dare attempt the Ghost Immortal difficulty after this?]
……
These hallucinatory murmurs, paradoxically, jolted Nine Nether Venerable back to clarity.
His half-bent posture froze mid-motion.
"This is an illusion… I’m in an illusion!"
Like waking from a dream, Nine Nether Venerable fought to suppress his terror.
"It’s all fake… all fake! You’re trying to deceive me!!!"
He raised his voice, as if shouting could dispel his fear.
"This immortal… has no need to deceive you."
The Ghost Buddha narrowed its eyes, lifting a palm mockingly.
"You can’t kill me! This is all that brat’s trickery… trying to ruin my reputation! Hah, hahaha! I’ve seen through it!!!"
Nine Nether Venerable laughed hysterically, his expression bordering on madness.
The Ghost Buddha’s lips stretched to its ears in a sinister grin.
Its body suddenly expanded to monstrous proportions, seizing Nine Nether Venerable in its palm.
No matter how he struggled, escape was impossible.
With the cruel amusement of a predator toying with prey, the Ghost Buddha crushed Nine Nether Venerable’s limbs one by one.
The latter howled in agony, yet still roared:
"Kill me! Just kill me!! You’re nothing but a phantom in this illusion!!!"
"Hahaha… I get it now! You’re not the drowned ghost, not the ghost bride…"
"You’re a vengeful spirit! You must be a vengeful spirit!!"
"I’ve found the answer… I’ve won, I’ve won!"
"You can’t kill me, you can’t kill me!!"
……
Hearing Nine Nether Venerable—now reduced to just a head—still defiant, the Ghost Buddha’s smile grew even more grotesque.
"What if…"
"I can kill you?"
The next instant, beneath Nine Nether Venerable’s despairing gaze, colossal fingers crushed his skull.
……
[Round Summary:]
[Entity Type: Vengeful Spirit (+1000)]
[Evade a ghostly hunt (Failed)]
[Witness a supernatural perspective and survive (Failed)]
……
Nine Nether Venerable stared at the summary screen, then at the brightly lit safe room around him, tears streaming down his aged face.
At last, the long-absent barrage of comments flooded his vision.
[Nine Nether Venerable is a legend!]
[This master is incredible!]
[As expected of the top soul cultivator!]
[My apologies, I take back my words]
[Lu Ze! Come out and apologize to Elder Liu!]
[Too strong, truly worthy of a Venerable!]
……
The tone was a far cry from when the stream began.
The flood of praise filled Nine Nether Venerable with pride.
"Hah, hahaha! This old man has walked the soul path for centuries—how could such an illusion possibly confound me?"
"What does it matter if I misjudged the ghost? I know these malevolent entities like the back of my hand!"
"That shameless brat better come out and grovel for forgiveness!"
The memory of the torment in the illusion made his teeth itch with fury.
Hands clasped behind his back, he exited the illusion with haughty dignity.
Nine Nether Venerable slowly opened his eyes, shuddering as he examined his hands before circulating his spiritual energy.
The comforting surge of qi finally eased his nerves.
Despite his bold words, he had been utterly terrified.
Several times, he had even tried to forcibly break the illusion tower’s restraints with his cultivation—though for some reason, it hadn’t worked.
Just then, a strange sensation prickled at him.
The air…
Was thick with the scent of blood.
Though he stood within the Lingxiao Sect, an eerie and familiar death energy permeated the space.
Bang.
His door burst open.
Nangong Yuan staggered in, his expression hollow, body riddled with wounds.
"Elder Nangong? What’s…?"
Nine Nether Venerable’s heart lurched.
"Run…"
Nangong Yuan stretched out a trembling hand, his voice thick with despair.
The next moment,
He was pulverized into gory fragments by the death energy looming behind him.
"!!!"
Nine Nether Venerable’s breath froze.
Drip…
Drip…
Drip…
Footsteps, wet with blood, drew nearer.
Nine Nether Venerable’s teeth chattered violently, his widened eyes streaming tears.
Because…
The figure emerging from the doorway was none other than the Ghost Buddha from the illusion!
Here and now, despite possessing his full cultivation—unlike his powerless state in the illusion—
He felt more afraid than ever.
This was an oppressive force that shattered reason.
He didn’t understand how the Ghost Buddha had escaped the illusion to reach the Lingxiao Sect…
But he had no doubt it was possible.
Because this pressure…
Was too vast! Too overwhelming!
Nine Nether Venerable suddenly realized.
What he had seen beneath the ancestral hall wasn’t an illusion…
But the future.
A real, unalterable future!
No wonder he had knelt amidst the carnage, prostrating before the Ghost Buddha…
It was real!
All of it was real!
The Ghost Buddha’s grin widened, its crimson eyes gleaming with malice.
Its lips parted.
Uttering the same haunting line:
"Since you’ve seen the future…"
"Why not bow?"
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.”
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?!
m back to his original world. In the end, he realized he had overthought things. [Hey, why is Shen Manni, the female lead, acting strange? Shouldn't she be fawning over the male lead at this point?] [Zhou Qiaoqiao, are you sick? Weren't you supposed to break off your engagement today?] [Damn it! An Youyi, please do your job as an undercover agent and sell my information to the protagonist, you idiot!] ... At this moment, Xu Mo himself didn't know that these female leads had already heard his inner thoughts. Then they decided not to play by the rules. Xu Mo: Please respect my profession as the big villain!
