That day, Gu Yan broke the seal on the dagger and once again grasped the blade known as ‘Night.’
In an instant,
the tide of battle turned once more.
The Power of Night was like a venom from the outer demons—a single touch meant death.
With the dagger in hand and his cultivation at the peak of the Immortal rank, Gu Yan became an unstoppable force, akin to a vengeful spirit.
Countless demons were slain.
Countless souls were devoured.
As expected, with the dagger’s power, Gu Yan... broke through to the Divine rank!
The demonic forces gradually retreated, and human territories were reclaimed.
Humanity saw a glimmer of hope.
Yet... behind this victory...
lay endless suffering.
For every time Gu Yan wielded the dagger, he absorbed the souls of countless fiends.
Rage, sorrow, despair—all these dark emotions, along with bloodthirsty memories, flooded his mind.
With each use, the Power of Night within him doubled.
Slowly... his spirit teetered on the brink of collapse. But none of this... was known to anyone.
Except... Leng Qingqiu.
"Gu Yan, stop using the dagger! If you keep going, you’ll die!"
Leng Qingqiu intercepted him as he prepared for another battle, her eyes red as she pleaded.
Only she understood the true nature of the so-called ‘Sacred Artifact of the Qian Emperor.’
It was the very same cursed blade sealed away by the previous Qian Emperor—a weapon that left irreversible scars on its wielder with every use.
After absorbing so many souls, after wielding the dagger so many times... how much pain must Gu Yan be enduring now?
"No."
Gu Yan’s gaze remained fixed ahead as he tightened his grip on the dagger. "This battle is the decisive one. If we win, humanity will reclaim the Central City."
"But..."
Leng Qingqiu grabbed his hand, her voice breaking. "Your eyes... you can barely see anymore..."
She was right. This was the price of using the dagger.
Gu Yan fell silent. The world before him had already blurred beyond recognition.
After this... he would likely lose his sight completely.
But he had no regrets.
This was the most crucial battle.
Ignoring Leng Qingqiu’s desperate cries, he marched toward the battlefield.
...
...
With the dagger’s power, as expected, humanity emerged victorious.
They gained a new home, new food and water...
But the cost... was Gu Yan’s sight.
And... he could no longer wield the dagger.
Because he had entered its second stage. To use it again would demand a new sacrifice.
This time, however, it would grant him power capable of deciding the war’s outcome.
All previous side effects would vanish, and Gu Yan would gain perfect control over the blade.
But when he learned the price... he refused.
In the end, Gu Yan resealed the dagger.
And after months of peace, the demonic legions returned.
...
...
The first battle ended in a narrow victory for humanity.
In the second, the demons deployed even stronger forces, and the Central City was lost once more.
By the third battle...
Despair struck.
The same outer demon who had once shattered worlds with a single finger... had reappeared.
"Gu Yan! You must make a choice!"
"Never!"
"Gu Yan! For the sake of humanity, you must sacrifice the Dao Ancestor!"
"You are our leader! You are humanity’s last hope!"
On the eve of battle, the survivors pressured Gu Yan to decide.
They had learned the dagger’s secret.
Or rather, someone, bewitched by the blade, had revealed it.
They now knew the condition for restoring Gu Yan’s sight.
That condition was...
for the dagger... to drink the Dao Ancestor’s heartblood!
Gu Yan’s eyes remained closed as he coldly rejected them. "Silence!"
"If the price of false peace is the Dao Ancestor’s death..."
"Then let humanity perish! We would rather die standing than sacrifice our own for hope!"
His voice was icy, filled with resolve.
"Even without that dagger, I, Gu Yan, will annihilate the demons!"
Under his overwhelming presence, the matter was dropped.
But as expected...
Humanity suffered a crushing defeat. The army... was annihilated...
Gu Yan, gravely wounded, was rescued and brought back.
The demons pressed on, advancing to the borders of the Great Qian Dynasty.
This tragedy was not just due to the overwhelming disparity in strength—there had also been traitors among them.
Yet what shattered Gu Yan was not this betrayal.
But rather...
"M...my lord..."
"Here... the dagger, now imbued with the Dao Ancestor’s heartblood..."
A trembling subordinate placed the dagger—the very one that should have been sealed—into Gu Yan’s hands as he regained consciousness.
Gu Yan clutched the blade, his expression frozen.
"Gu Yan, don’t be weak!"
"The Dao Ancestor sacrificed herself willingly!"
"Gu Yan, has your strength returned?"
"Gu Yan, save humanity..."
"My lord..."
The voices around him faded into noise.
Despair and devastation consumed Gu Yan’s heart.
His mind went blank. His ears rang.
Pain—excruciating, soul-rending pain.
He felt as though he could no longer breathe.
BANG!
The door was flung open.
With his heightened senses, Gu Yan detected Leng Qingqiu’s lifeless body in the Qingzhu Residence.
Leng Qingqiu... was dead.
Whether by choice or force, he no longer cared.
Because...
she was gone.
And the moment he realized this...
A voice slithered into his mind from the dagger:
["The heartblood of your beloved has been absorbed."]
["Conditions fulfilled."]
["You shall become... the strongest in this world."]
His power surged. His vision returned.
But as he stared at her corpse, his sight blurred once more.
He rushed forward, cradling her body, and let out a heart-wrenching cry.
Gu Yan... had broken.
In just a single day...
The demonic legions stormed the Great Qian Dynasty’s imperial palace.
Countless humans were slaughtered.
Everyone begged for Gu Yan to save them.
But...
Gu Yan had vanished.
Humanity’s last stronghold fell.
A month later, when Gu Yan reappeared...
The demonic legions were obliterated by an overwhelming wave of the Power of Night.
But it did not end there.
A black light flashed across the world.
And as it faded... the world itself... vanished from the cosmos.
All life—including Gu Yan—was erased.
Gu Yan had destroyed the last remnants of existence, shattered the foundation of cultivation, and severed all paths to immortality for future generations.
He had... given up on this world entirely.
He no longer... cared about anything.
...
...
WHOOSH!
A sensation of weightlessness.
"Hiss—!"
Gu Yan gasped sharply and jolted upright.
He looked around at his familiar bedroom,
his gaze dazed and distant.
He clutched his chest, tears streaming uncontrollably.
He understood now... he finally understood...
So... all the memories he had experienced before were fragments from countless splintered worlds, broken off from the vast cosmos.
And the world he currently inhabited...
was also one of those shattered fragments, torn apart by that "Outer Fiend" from the Great Qian Dynasty.
But why had he been forced to relive these worlds over and over?
And why was he never able to truly be with Leng Qingqiu in any of them?
What was the secret behind all this?
In the final moments, that terrifying Outer Fiend had not appeared.
Who...
Who was truly pulling the strings behind the scenes?
Now... the dagger had circled back into his hands once more.
So... what would happen next?
Was Xiao Leng really Leng Qingqiu, or was Leng Qingqiu actually Xiao Leng?
Gu Yan... was utterly lost.
Meanwhile.
At the Leng Family estate.
Xiao Leng stood motionless by the window, her eyes vacant, a single tear slowly tracing down her cheek.
She whispered softly, "So... this is how it is..."
Xiao Leng seemed to have glimpsed more memories than he had—she seemed to understand something.
She knew who she was now... understood... the purpose of her existence...
Gradually, she snapped out of her daze and pressed a hand to her chest.
There... an overwhelming surge of emotions had taken root.
So this was the truth...
Hah... how...
utterly tragic.
invincible power, Gu Changge transmigrates into a fantasy world, bound to a sign-in system that grants him cultivation rewards and various peerless treasures daily. While others struggle desperately to break through their cultivation realms, he has long since reached the pinnacle of the Great Dao, becoming a reclusive Emperor whose true strength even he himself cannot fathom. Originally planning to lie low and retire peacefully on Purple Bamboo Peak, the system suddenly issues a new task — take on disciples. With no other choice, Gu Changge casually picks up a few disciples: The eldest disciple, born with a War God Constitution, is thrown a copy of "War God Stratagems" by him, and ends up conquering the Nine Heavens and Ten Earths, becoming a peerless War God who sweeps across the cosmos. The second disciple, possessing a Chaos Sword Body, can break all techniques with a single sword, his swordsmanship unmatched throughout history. He points his sword at the heavens: "My master said, the sword and the man stand together. If the sword perishes... my master will give me another one." The third disciple, a reborn Empress who returns to her throne, her elegance and grace overshadowing all beings. And without anyone noticing, his own sect, the Qingxuan Sect, has become the number one sect on the continent. Looking at these unbelievably formidable disciples, Gu Changge, holding the "Primordial Purple Qi" he just signed in for, falls into deep thought: — Wasn't this supposed to be a peaceful retirement? How did I become the ultimate master?!
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?"
] [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!"
grated, and just when he finally managed to get into an elite academy, he discovered that he actually had a system, and the way to earn rewards was extremely ridiculous. So for the sake of rewards, he had no choice but to start acting ridiculous as well. Su Cheng: "It's nothing but system quests after all." But later, what confused Su Cheng was that while he was already quite ridiculous, he never expected those serious characters to gradually become ridiculous too. And the way they looked at him became increasingly strange... (This synopsis doesn't do it justice, please read the full story)
