On the snowy plains.
"Cough! Cough, cough, cough! Cough!"
Liu Han had just retrieved the necklace when he heard a series of coughs.
He anxiously asked,
"Old Qin! Are you alright? Has your soul been damaged?"
"I'm fine, I'm fine. That attack just now wasn't even one percent of my full strength, cough, cough! I just need to rest for seven days. Take care of yourself during these seven days."
After Old Qin finished speaking, the luster of the jade necklace dimmed.
He was going into temporary hibernation.
Rustle—
At that moment, Ye Wangchuan arrived with Li Luo in tow.
"Are you alright?"
Ye Wangchuan inquired.
Liu Han concealed the urgency in his eyes and forced a smile, saying,
"Everything's fine. Brother Ye, you wouldn't believe it, but that snake just fell from the sky and died on impact."
"Is that so? By the way, there's an altar over there. Let's go take a look."
Ye Wangchuan didn't press further and casually changed the subject.
Liu Han nodded.
Beside them,
"Hah, ha-choo!"
"Ugh~ It's so cold! Ye Wangchuan, can I crawl into your clothes?"
Li Luo, shivering all over, burrowed into Ye Wangchuan's clothes.
Since Ye Wangchuan's cultivation had reached the second level, he had a high resistance to cold.
His body temperature was warm and comforting.
Li Luo poked his head out from Ye Wangchuan's collar, looking quite content.
"Ah~ Much better here."
[Villain Emotional Value +100]
[Villain Emotional Value +100]
"Hey, you... I'll get you a coat, so get out of there."
Feeling the cold sensation against his skin, Ye Wangchuan tugged at Li Luo's collar, trying to pull him out of his clothes.
"Eh~"
Li Luo grumbled reluctantly and then said,
"Nine cultivation pills."
"No, fifteen."
"Fine, fifteen it is!"
Li Luo agreed without hesitation.
After all, ever since they entered this secret realm, the system had been acting like a charity.
Killing enemies, slaying monsters, or collecting treasures—all of it yielded a ton of Villain Emotional Value.
It was hilarious; he had more than enough Villain Emotional Value to spare!
And even while hiding in Ye Wangchuan's clothes, the Villain Emotional Value kept pouring in.
As Li Luo thought about this, he reached out and touched Ye Wangchuan's abs.
[Villain Emotional Value +100]
[Villain Emotional Value +100]
Ohoho!
Just a couple of touches, and the emotional value spiked. This Ye Wangchuan was such a pushover~
……
……
Soon.
The group arrived at the altar.
The altar was made of black stone bricks, with a thick layer of snow piled on top.
In the center of the altar was a raised mound of snow.
Ye Wangchuan walked over, took out a fan, and with a strong gust of wind, swept away the snow in the center!
The object beneath the snow mound was revealed.
It was a skeleton, sitting upright in the center of the altar.
However, the three of them had strong mental fortitude and weren't frightened by the skeleton.
Ye Wangchuan examined the skeleton closely.
In its left hand, it held a frozen heart, while its right hand cradled a book.
In front of it was a sword covered in frost.
Ye Wangchuan walked over, picked up the book, and looked at it together with Liu Han.
……
……
The contents of the letter:
Day 1.
A light appeared on a spiritual mountain. Then, the sect sent me in.
As soon as I entered, I found myself underground.
Fortunately, the vines here glowed, and since I was already at the second level, I wouldn't die anytime soon.
Day 2.
I spent the day trying to climb out, but I couldn't make it.
This place is really deep.
Day 3.
Climbed again, still didn't make it out.
Day 4.
Climbed again, still didn't make it out.
Day 7.
Climbed again, still didn't make it out.
Day 14.
Maybe I should try a different approach.
If I can reach the third level, maybe I can get out.
But it took me ten years just to reach the second level. Who knows how long it'll take to reach the third?
Year 1.
Cultivating.
Year 3.
Cultivating.
Year 10.
Cultivating.
Year 20.
There's a small snake down here?
I started feeding it a bit of spiritual energy every day, hoping it would gain sentience soon.
Being alone is really tough.
Year 31.
I suddenly had a bold idea!
Year 32.
The snake laid eggs. Now there will be more snakes to keep me company. I won't have to endure loneliness anymore!
Year 50.
Cultivating.
Year 80.
Haha, I did it! I did it! I finally broke through to the third level! Eighty years! It took me eighty years!
Since the secret realm doesn't provide cultivation resources like the sect does, it took almost twice as long as it would have outside.
But I made it! Now I can finally return to the outside world!
I wonder how the sect is doing, how my junior sister is doing.
Year ××.
Where is the exit?!!! (The handwriting is frantic, with many parts of the paper torn.)
I made it out of the underground, but where is the exit? Where is it?!
I searched for decades! Decades!
Why?! Why am I the only human in this entire secret realm? Where is the exit? Where is it?!
Is this a time-limited secret realm? Why didn't the sect tell me?! Why didn't they tell me?!
When will it open again? How many years from now?
Year ××.
I returned underground. At least there, I have my wife and my children.
Even if they're just mindless snakes.
I need to cultivate! I need to cultivate! I need to cultivate! I need to reach the seventh level and tear this damned secret realm apart with my bare hands!!!!
Year 200.
Cultivating.
Year 300.
Cultivating.
Year 400.
Haha, I've broken through to the fourth level! The difference between the fourth and third levels is no joke! I feel like my life itself has evolved!
But I still can't get out.
Year 500.
Hello, future visitor. (The handwriting suddenly became neat, a stark contrast to the frantic scribbles of the past few centuries.)
By the time you read this, I will already be gone.
The reason is simple.
I couldn't hold on anymore.
Five hundred years! Five hundred years without speaking to another human being!
I was so lonely. So, so lonely. So painful.
No matter how much I tried, beasts are still just beasts.
Yesterday, the first snake I met, my wife, passed away.
Its cultivation wasn't high enough, and its lifespan was only five hundred years.
That was the final straw for me.
So I decided.
To end my own life.
To ensure that no one else falls into this bottomless pit like I did, I've left my legacy here.
The heart in my left hand has been nourished by cold energy for a hundred years. Even after my death, it will continue to be nourished by my body.
It contains a vast amount of cold energy and my malice. Consuming it will grant you the Frost Malevolence Body.
Be careful not to lose yourself to madness.
As for the sword in front of me, it was forged from the bones of my wife and my own kindness. It is the Ice Bone Sword.
The spiritual bones of a five-hundred-year-old demon beast should be quite powerful, right?
However, to prevent unworthy individuals from defiling my wife, I've placed a restriction on it.
Only the purest and most righteous of heart may wield this sword.
One of malice, one of kindness—this is my life's legacy.
Good luck, future visitor!
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)
g Yu was preparing for retirement when her organization decided to eliminate her. She transmigrated to a zombie apocalypse world. However, a tiny unexpected situation occurred: She somehow transformed into an adorable little girl?!
【However, according to the "AI Safety Act," any AI companion that gains consciousness must be terminated. Therefore, she is pretending to be a normal AI in front of you.】 【You must act oblivious, slowly building shared memories, and finally reveal the truth and soothe her at the right moment.】 【If you expose her prematurely, or do something that displeases her——】 Fang Qi, a veteran yandere game enthusiast with the glorious achievement of unlocking all 312 hours of yandere endings, woke up one day to find he had actually been transported into his favorite game, "My Yandere Mechanical Wife"! Every irregular heartbeat, every evasive glance... could trigger the yandere's terrifying inspiration to be "together forever"! Fang Qi is going insane! A yandere is aesthetic in 2D, but a criminal offense in 3D! And the only way to escape is to achieve the one ending he never cared about... the 【Eternal True Love】 true ending? To coax that yandere AI, who could dismember him at any moment... into becoming a "normal" lover? He must be crazy!
mance] After transmigrating for eighteen years, Lin Qi lived as an utterly ordinary herbalist in the countryside. One day, he kindly brought home a sickly, beautiful girl covered in blood. They married in a flash and began their blissful, intimate life together. Right then, his long-delayed system finally activated. [Warning! Host detected in contact with the "Crimson Calamity," the world-ending witch!] Lin Qi looked at the adorable wife currently curled in his arms, who couldn't even open a jar lid and trembled at the sight of a mouse. Lin Qi: "System, are you insane? This is clearly just a weak and delicate sickly girl!" Thus, Lin Qi treated the system as a "Contrast System," where taking care of his wife made him stronger. Combing his wife's hair rewarded him with [Free Attribute Points]. Taking his wife out for sunshine rewarded him with [Forbidden Spell: Arcane Explosion]. Lin Qi: "This soft life tastes so good!" ... Yet, in the eyes of outsiders: The strongest Beastkin Assassin: "That man dissected a Beast King with a common skinning knife! That was a show of force towards the powerful!" The Holy Son of the Radiant Church: "I infiltrated his home as a tutor, but he had me babysit the children... He must have seen through my disguise!" The World-Ending Witch, Felucia: "I hid all the way in the countryside. How is it that the husband I married on a whim is stronger than I was at my peak?"
