Return to the Present

"Reincarnator 111, congratulations on making it back alive. Your mission settlement will now begin."

"Main Quest completed: ‘Heart of Wu Xin.’ Overall rating: S. You have received 10,000 Lord God Points and two Golden Medals.

Sub-quest completed…

Hidden quest completed…

Personal overall rating: S. You have received one additional Golden Medal.

You received a total of 12,435 Lord God Points and three Golden Medals this time. Your current remaining balance is 16,879 Lord God Points, three Golden Medals, four Silver Medals, five Bronze Medals, and eleven Black Iron Medals.

Uncertified items detected. Would you like to certify them?"

"Certify them!"

Gu Sheng answered aloud. He had brought back quite a lot this time, but he had even more medals and points—enough to certify everything.

The reason he had returned safely with such a huge haul was that Gu Sheng knew not to be greedy. He had avoided touching certain hidden existences in Wu Xin: The Monster Killer World, such as Taotie.

It was not that Gu Sheng had never considered going after Taotie. In the end, however, he had given up. After speaking openly with Yue Qiluo, he had taken her to Taotie’s cave. They had felt an overwhelming pressure from far away.

Gu Sheng had sensed a faint, inexplicable familiarity in that aura. He had encountered an aura like it before. There was also such a hidden aura within the Azure Water Cold Pool in the rear mountains of The Nine Cauldrons World. The one residing there was Purple Flood Dragon, a Void Realm divine dragon that had lived for several thousand years.

It was precisely because he had deeply experienced Taotie’s strength that Gu Sheng chose to give up. Although Yue Qiluo’s soul was immortal and she had technically crossed the threshold of a Fifth Star Level being in Wu Xin: The Monster Killer,—

she had been sealed by the old master of Qingyun Temple for more than a hundred years. It had not been long since she emerged, and she had yet to recover her peak strength. Even at her peak, she still would not have been Taotie’s match.

People needed to know their own limits. When they had a choice yet knowingly charged toward a tiger’s den, that was not courage—it was stupidity.

Gu Sheng was naturally no fool, so he ultimately chose to give up.

"Ding! Lord God notification: Your certification is complete!"

After hearing this voice, Gu Sheng instinctively checked his points and medals. His remaining points were 10,000. He had no idea whether the Lord God had deliberately rounded the number. He had three Golden Medals, one Silver Medal, two Bronze Medals, and five Black Iron Medals.

"Ah! What a pity. My Conquest Progress with my little Qiluo wasn’t high enough before I left. Otherwise, bringing her back would have been incredible."

Gu Sheng was distracted by the thought. Before leaving Wu Xin: The Monster Killer, after that night with Yue Qiluo, his Conquest Progress had already exceeded ninety percent.

At that level, he only needed a little more time and effort to complete the conquest. After all, he had even obtained her chastity. Unfortunately, that stingy Lord God had not given him even the slightest bit of extra time.

Moreover, Gu Sheng seemed to have discovered that this had been deliberate on the Lord God’s part. It seemed unwilling to let him completely conquer Yue Qiluo and bring her back. Perhaps this sort of act—snatching people away from a world—would cause it losses.

Of course, the Lord God had not told him any of this. Gu Sheng had obtained some information from the system, then added his own deductions.

Snatching individuals away from a world was similar to helping them shatter the void. The native world would certainly refuse to suffer a loss and would require an equivalent exchange.

"There are still quite a few points left. Let’s see how much I can exchange for!"

Thinking this, Gu Sheng operated the Lord God Screen and said, "Open the shop list."

"Shop list…"

A line after line of information appeared directly on the screen before Gu Sheng. Clicking on any item brought up a detailed description.

"Damn—still this poor?"

After looking through it, Gu Sheng fell silent. The shop list in Lord God Space had gained quite a few more items than when he left last time, but most of them were only useful at the First Star Level. Very few had any effect at the Second Star Level. There were only a handful of Third Star Level items, and not a single Fourth Star Level one.

It made sense, though. According to his deduction, these things had probably been scavenged by the Lord God from Reincarnators. They were items that had been carried in but could not be certified, so they had been abandoned.

Before these things were processed, the Reincarnators had certainly weighed the pros and cons. A truly good item would definitely be certified by its owner instead of being handed over to the Lord God for processing.

"Speaking of which, when is the Lord God going to get over this habit of collecting junk? It’s seriously lowering its standards!"

Gu Sheng was almost too helpless to complain. The Lord God’s style had become completely warped.

"Speaking of which, should I get some of these enhancement liquids produced by the Lord God?"

Gu Sheng’s gaze shifted toward the enhancement liquids. His physical attributes were now ridiculously strong, but he had yet to reach the peak of his current realm.

In The Nine Cauldrons World, cultivating only the Internal Fist path allowed one to reach the same limit as internal energy cultivation before the Void Realm: eight hundred thousand jin.

This limit belonged to humans. The reason they could not continue increasing their strength like Demon Beasts was entirely because the hazy consciousness of the Heavenly Dao in The Nine Cauldrons World had shackled human martial artists.

Human martial artists were actually rather unwelcome in The Nine Cauldrons World. Their physical strength was capped at eight hundred thousand jin, their True Essence burst was also capped at eight hundred thousand jin, and one layer of the power of heaven and earth was likewise eight hundred thousand jin. The power of twelve layers of heaven and earth was the peak a Void Realm martial artist could reach.

In addition, human martial artists had their speed capped after reaching the Void Realm. Even Pei San and Qin Shiqi, who had attained great success in the Emptiness Realm, were not much faster than ordinary Void Realm experts. This created an extremely frustrating problem: it was very difficult for Void Realm experts to kill one another, even if they fought to the death.

Because of this restriction, no matter how talented someone was, once they reached the great success stage of the Void Realm in The Nine Cauldrons World, their ability to defeat opponents across realms no longer stood out.

Even the protagonist, Teng Qingshan, merely relied on the eight hundred thousand jin of physical strength developed through Internal Fist body cultivation. He was only somewhat stronger than ordinary Void Realm experts, and he would still be forced to kneel when facing a Void Realm divine beast.

It was quite helpless. If Emperor Yu had not opened the path beyond great success in the Void Realm—the Emptiness path—humanity would truly have had no chance at all against Void Realm divine beasts. Emperor Yu had left a memory for Teng Qingshan saying that there had still been five or six Void Realm experts in his era, but not a single Emptiness Realm expert.

A simple example was Skywind War God of the North Sea Continent. He had been in the Void Realm for many years and mastered more than five layers of the power of heaven and earth. Yet when he faced Undying Phoenix Little Qing, who had only just broken through, he was killed instantly—truly instantly. The protagonist Teng Qingshan had fought for more than half a day and nearly lost his life, while a single breath of flame from Little Qing settled everything.

The facts were simply this frustrating. The strongest battle power humanity could inherit, an Emptiness Realm expert at the great success stage, was only equivalent to a top-tier Void Realm divine beast at the great success stage—beings like Purple Flood Dragon, Undying Phoenix, and the Golden Dragon Turtle. If divine beasts could continue advancing after reaching great success in the Void Realm, humanity would truly have been helpless.

Thus, the Heavenly Dao of The Nine Cauldrons World was quite interesting. It gave human martial artists a chance to transcend, yet imposed countless restrictions: a Void Realm lifespan of four hundred years, a maximum of eight hundred thousand jin for the strength of a single path, and no more than twelve layers of the power of heaven and earth before breaking through to the Emptiness Realm.

For divine beasts, however, it seemed as though they were favored by heaven and earth. The moment they broke through to the Void Realm, they underwent a fundamental transformation of life, like a carp turning into a dragon, becoming formidable existences within the Void Realm. Yet their upper limit had already been fixed.

At most, they could reach the great success stage of the Void Realm. A Fifth Star Level life-form was the limit of divine beasts in The Nine Cauldrons World. Advancing any further was impossible. Though they possessed long lifespans, once their lifespans ended, they simply died. They had not the slightest chance of transcending.

There was no point saying more. Fortunately, Gu Sheng had not been trapped in The Nine Cauldrons World.

"Forget it. Who knows whether using this stuff will leave hidden problems? Strength cultivated by myself is more reliable."

After thinking it over, Gu Sheng ultimately abandoned the idea of exchanging for them. He did not even trust the system very much now. Otherwise, would it not be better to use the Attribute Power taken from Tang Lie and pour Fortune Points into his body to improve his strength? His power would shoot up in an instant.

"One Team Formation Card. Better to be prepared. And one Legion Card too. That’s it? There’s nothing good left? Damn…"

Gu Sheng dragged through the list once more. Aside from the things produced by the Lord God itself, there was basically nothing else.

The Team Formation Card and Legion Card had cost him six thousand points, one Golden Medal, and one Silver Medal. Both were the lowest level, with limits on the number of people. The Team Formation Card allowed a maximum of ten people, while the Legion Card allowed at most ten teams. Upgrading them later would cost more money—very characteristic of the Lord God. Stingy.

"Display my information!"

After browsing the list for a while, Gu Sheng lost interest. He opened the screen and began checking his information.

Reincarnator Gu Sheng

Number: 111

Lord God Points: 4000

Cultivation: Peak Third Star Level

Equipment: Original Manual "Cold Moon Saber Art"; Demon-Suppressing Mirror (two functions: collecting demons and subduing demons, each with its own small space); Blood Bone Demon Artifact (three Original Manuals, containing the inheritance personally written by Ghost Immortal Yue Qiluo and left for her beloved, Zhang Xianzong)

Pet: Jade Azure Serpent (Peak Fourth Star Level)

Skills: Xingyi Boxing inheritance, Tiger Form Spirit Art, Meteor Blade, Fierce Tiger's Roar (self-created), Yue Qiluo's inheritance, Paper Doll Technique, Qingyun Temple Talisman Arts, Fortune and Prosperity Array...

"Ding! Reincarnators Number 7 and Number 2578 have requested to add you as a friend!"

While Gu Sheng was checking his information, another notification sounded. He opened the screen and saw friend requests from Ryoko and Mei Daizi.

The Lord God was quite good at drawing people in. Chu Xin, Ryoko, and Liu Daimei belonged to the first batch, Numbers 1–100. He belonged to the second batch, and was among its earliest members. The second batch should have reached Number 1000.

Mei Daizi belonged to the third batch, which had already passed Number 2500. It was very likely that the Lord God had already issued Number 10000.

Ten thousand people was merely a drop in the ocean compared to the present world, but it had only been a little over a month. If the Lord God continued expanding tenfold like this, before long, humanity across the entire world would be absorbed by it. Who knew what the situation would become in the future?

"Accept!"

After Gu Sheng accepted, two new messages appeared on the screen. Mei Daizi was worried about her two daughters, while Ryoko had matters to attend to in the present world. Both had already returned to the present, left their contact information, and planned to contact him after returning.

"Mei-jie: Want to look around Lord God Space?"

Another message arrived. Gu Sheng saw that it was from Liu Daimei. He had not seen her last night and felt somewhat wistful. After thinking it over, he replied, "No. I’ll head back first."

After sending the message, Gu Sheng glanced back at the brightly glowing ball on the screen. He raised a hand and tapped it. With a buzzing sound, the screen vanished.

A crimson tiger pattern glowing with red light—the Lord God Mark—appeared on Gu Sheng’s right hand. It erupted with a burst of intense light, and his figure vanished from the space.

It was a bright winter afternoon. Inside the best high-rise suite on the third floor of the Hangzhou Holiday Hotel,—

"Pop… pop…"

Ripples suddenly spread through the quiet room. Two faint sounds rang out as the space in midair warped and twisted. Two hazy figures gradually appeared.

When Gu Sheng regained consciousness, he felt himself falling. The sensation was somewhat unpleasant. He prepared to spin in midair and land stylishly, but halfway through the turn, he slammed directly into the "ground."

That damned Lord God seemed to have deliberately set him up, dumping him less than a meter above the bed.

He had not reacted in time. He instinctively twisted around, only to end up face-first toward the floor. Fortunately, it was not a hard concrete road, and there was no one around. Otherwise, his image would have been completely ruined.

"Thump!"

Gu Sheng crashed heavily onto the bed. Fortunately, it was a soft mattress rather than a hard wooden bed, so he did not feel much pain. Still, his landing posture had been anything but graceful.

"Damn it!"

Gu Sheng cursed loudly and struggled to stand.

"Thump!"

At that moment, a considerable commotion came from outside, accompanied by a woman’s startled cry.

"Mei-jie…"

Gu Sheng was just flipping upright like a carp. When he heard that delicate cry, a smile spread across his face. He crept toward the door…