Dao-Seeking Sword Ruins, Day Five.
More and more cultivators who had found opportunities in Slashing Stars were emerging.
The calls of excitement were growing louder as well.
By the fourth day, various high-grade resources had begun appearing one after another, drawing countless cultivators into fierce competition.
Nearly every cultivator had chosen to enter Slashing Stars in search of opportunities.
[You win.]
As always, the prompt announcing the end of the battle appeared in Li Moran’s illusion.
And, just as usual, she left the illusion without the slightest ripple. There was no sign whatsoever that any opportunity had appeared.
“Heavens… a Heaven-grade cultivation technique! I’ve comprehended it!”
“Hahaha, the Azure Profound Sword! It’s the Azure Profound Sword!”
“This trip to the Dao-Seeking Sword Ruins has truly been incredibly fruitful…”
…
Excited shouts from the other cultivators could be heard from time to time nearby.
Li Moran paid them no attention, remaining completely calm.
For one thing, she did not care about other people’s gains or losses.
For another, those so-called “opportunities” were beneath her notice.
The only thing she could not understand was what, exactly, she had done wrong. Why could she not touch even a shred of opportunity?
The main gameplay of Slashing Stars was to advance through a series of challenges.
The farther one progressed, the stronger the opponents that were unlocked became.
Yet on the very first day, Li Moran had cleared the highest difficulty level—three sword cultivators fighting together—without suffering a single injury. She genuinely could not think of any way to improve further.
After pondering for a moment, Li Moran entered [Arena] mode once again.
Breaking through the stages was the mainstream way to play Slashing Stars. The other mode, which was not nearly as popular, was arena combat.
Put simply, it was a life-and-death one-on-one battle fought with one’s cultivation fully replicated.
There were people who played it, but very few.
Over the previous four days, Li Moran had occasionally considered trying a few arena matches, but unfortunately, no one had been willing to fight her.
First, stage challenges were the mainstream mode. Most cultivators obtained their opportunities while fighting the virtual opponents in the challenge mode, and very few bothered with arena combat.
Second, Li Moran’s reputation was known by everyone. Few people were willing to seek trouble for themselves.
Against the virtual opponents, they might at least struggle for a while.
Against Li Moran, they would be gone after a single sword strike.
Just as Li Moran was preparing to leave, a familiar figure suddenly stepped onto the arena she had created.
It was Shen Yan of the Heavenly Profound Sect. He was on close terms with Zhong Yi, and was also considered a first-rate expert within the illusion. Li Moran had met him several times before.
Li Moran had a clear understanding of Shen Yan’s strength.
How should she put it…
In Lu Ze’s words, once Shen Yan picked up a hammer, he was the Zhou Yue of the illusion; once he picked up a sword, he became the Zhong Yi of the illusion.
It was just that Shen Yan seemed to have a special fondness for swords. He participated year after year, lost year after year, and enjoyed himself immensely.
“Miss Li, don’t you think the opportunity in this illusion is a little…”
[Li Moran of the High Firmament Sect wins!]
…
Shen Yan, having been blasted out of the illusion by a single sword strike from Li Moran, was still shaken. He clutched his chest, then looked around until he found where Li Moran was.
“Miss Li, don’t you think… the opportunities in this illusion are rather strange?”
Shen Yan glanced around and lowered his voice.
“Mm.”
Li Moran seemed to come back to herself. She nodded faintly.
Although she had never obtained an opportunity, she could sense that something was off.
“Exactly! You think so too!”
Shen Yan sighed and took a high-grade sword from his storage ring.
“This is the opportunity I obtained yesterday… but something isn’t right!”
His expression was solemn.
“You and I have both obtained opportunities within the illusion. Regardless of their quality, opportunities bestowed by the Heavenly Dao are bound to suit the recipient… Yet I am not suited to sword cultivation. There is absolutely no way it would give me a sword. That should be impossible!”
“Mm. That does make sense. It indeed doesn’t seem like the work of the Heavenly Dao.”
Hearing Shen Yan’s explanation, Li Moran secretly nodded.
An opportunity, by definition, should be suited to the cultivator receiving it. Only then could it be called an opportunity.
Giving Shen Yan—a man naturally gifted in hammer techniques—a sword was tantamount to proving that this had not been the work of the Heavenly Dao, but of someone deliberately acting behind the scenes.
“I came to tell Miss Li not to lose heart simply because you haven’t received an opportunity… This likely isn’t your fault.”
Shen Yan shook his head and smiled bitterly.
“Moreover, it would be unwise to expose this matter…”
“Mm. I understand.”
Li Moran nodded without the slightest concern.
The people of the world did not care whether these were truly opportunities, nor whether they had been bestowed by the Heavenly Dao. They cared only about whether they were among the beneficiaries—or whether they might become the next person to profit.
As long as they had received the other party’s gift, it was an opportunity in the eyes of the world.
In fact, it was even more tangible than the vague and ethereal opportunities bestowed by the Heavenly Dao.
Even if this lie were exposed, scholars would still argue endlessly in its defense, so there would be no point.
Li Moran, however, felt that her thoughts had become much clearer.
At the very least, she no longer needed to wonder whether there was something she had failed to do perfectly.
Just as Li Moran decided not to waste any more time in Slashing Stars, an unfamiliar figure suddenly stepped onto the arena she had created.
Written clearly above his head were the words:
[Boundless Sword Sect, Chen Yuan]
…
…
On the viewing platform of the Boundless Sword Domain, Chen Yuan’s appearance caused an uproar among the watching cultivators.
“Elder Chen has come personally to judge the quality of the illusions?”
“What’s there to judge? No one has entered any of them except Slashing Stars…”
“With Old Demon Lu absent, the Illusion Alliance is invincible!”
“To be honest, even if Old Demon Lu came this time, he might not be able to defeat the Illusion Alliance… These opportunities from the Heavenly Dao are being handed out like free money. Everyone who sees them gets a share!”
“Who says that? True Disciple Li didn’t get one.”
“Haha, Elder Chen spends three breaths looking at each illusion… These illusions are completely hopeless!”
“Here it comes, here it comes! Is Slashing Stars actually the final illusion, saved for last?”
“If Elder Chen obtains an opportunity in Slashing Stars, that would be incredible.”
“Damn, as expected of Elder Chen… one virtual sword cultivator after another, all defeated with a single sword strike!”
…
After entering Slashing Stars, Chen Yuan first tried the usual stage-challenge mode.
As a veteran sword cultivator of the Void Refinement Realm, Chen Yuan’s strength was beyond question.
With effortless ease, he defeated the three Void Refinement sword cultivators at the highest difficulty.
Then, to everyone’s astonishment, Chen Yuan entered [Arena] mode.
His target was none other than the arena Li Moran had set up—the arena that no one had shown any interest in.
The watching cultivators on the platform immediately erupted.
“Whoa! Elder Chen is going to spar with True Disciple Li!”
s the Eldest Princess, renowned for her cold and aloof detachment, became the most docile of lambs, obeying his every command without question. But when the final move was played on the chessboard, as Gu Chenghan seized everything and ascended on the verge of apotheosis, that very Princess suddenly embraced him from behind, her tone carrying a dependence never heard before: "Wait... you haven't yet... commanded me to love you forever." Gu Chenghan froze abruptly. She... hadn't been hypnotized?! ... [The Eldest Princess's Diary] [When my soul was extracted, becoming the sole spectator outside my own shell] [At first, there was overwhelming fury, until I saw] [How he used my sword to effortlessly shatter my inescapable doom] [How he wielded my authority to eradicate fatal conspiracies I had never even detected] [Like a deity, he rescued me from the deep mire I was trapped in] [If not for those annoying vixens, he and I would be a match made in heaven] [I think I am ill, gravely ill] [My deity should belong to me alone] ... "Hypnosis? Oh, it succeeded, my dear Master." "Only this time, it's my turn to hypnotize you."
for mindless slaughter, this isn't for you.] My name is Ye Shu, and I'm a transmigrator. It seems I'm supposed to be the protagonist, but that feels pretty unlikely. This world has been invaded by a system. The antagonists on the other side have suddenly become pure, flawless saints. The female leads have been force-fed the so-called "original plot," making them think they've been reborn. Now, everyone thinks I'm scum. Including the old lady in my ring. And here I am, in the Monster Beast Mountain Range, braising pork. To put my situation in perspective— It's as if, the moment Xiao Yan stepped into the Monster Beast Mountain Range, the Soul Emperor already knew he would become the Flame Emperor, and Yao Lao had been turned to the enemy's side. I have nothing right now. Oh wait, that's not true. I do have a white-haired loli child-bride who's the Heavenly Dao, and her only skill is acting cute. So, tell me guys... what are my chances of making it to the end?
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?!
nd fell into a coma while saving his younger sister from an out-of-control car. He became a vegetable. No one knew that his consciousness had crossed into a world of cultivation. Over the course of sixty years, he began as the lowest kind of mine slave, struggling to survive amid mountains of corpses and seas of blood. By sheer chance, he eventually obtained the complete memories of a fallen Immortal King. Alchemy, medicine, formations, feng shui, physiognomy, artifact forging… Every great inheritance of the cultivation world was now his. But when he opened his eyes again, he discovered that ten full years had passed in the modern world. To pay for his treatment, his father had sold the family’s shop and house, leaving himself covered in lasting injuries and illness. His mother had cared for him day and night, and more than half of her hair had already turned white. His younger sister, who had been only fifteen back then, was now twenty-five. To help repay the family’s debts, she had been forced to lower her head and put on a smiling face in places of glittering lights and endless revelry. Only then did Chen Xuan understand that what he had lost was not merely ten years. He had lost the life his entire family was meant to have. The good news was that he had brought back the memories of an Immortal King’s entire lifetime. The bad news was that his soul had returned alone—his cultivation had not come with him. Spiritual energy was scarce, resources were depleted, and the modern world still had firearms, surveillance, capital, and laws. If he wanted to protect his family, break free from everyone’s control, and become truly invincible beneath the heavens, he would have to start all over again.
