Ice Moon looked at Qi Yuan with a bizarre expression.
"Just because it is a Creation Treasure, it can be cursed at?"
Hearing this, Qi Yuan paused slightly. Realizing the loophole in his logic, he hurriedly added, "Rule number two: cursing at any other living beings is forbidden as well!"
A flicker of amusement passed through Ice Moon's frost-chilled eyes. She shifted her gaze from Qi Yuan toward the firmament, and her smile faded. "You overthrew Taihuang Palace and disrupted the Linya Molt plan. However... the Linya Molt will still proceed. You must be wary of the Sole Palace. If things prove untenable, hiding within the Gate of Ultimate Principle may perhaps grant you a slim chance of survival."
"Rest assured, I haven't broken any laws. I don't fear the Sole Palace!" Qi Yuan said with righteous confidence.
The Linya Molt and the Sole Palace were indeed a grave problem.
Driven by the Sole Palace, the Immortal Dao Will would stir up boundless slaughter across the Immortal Realm.
Sometimes, it was not something you could halt simply because you wished to.
When slaughter aura descended upon a person, one had to kill to alleviate it!
Those Yang God Heavenly Venerables pursued untrammeled freedom in their cultivation, but once slaughter aura descended upon them, they possessed no freedom at all, entirely helpless to their impulses.
"You might not fear it, but what about the people around you? Your kin? Your fellow disciples?" Ice Moon said coldly, her voice laced with helplessness and uncertainty.
Qi Yuan's gaze suddenly turned remarkably lucid. "Then I'll just become a god!"
***
The small villa stood three stories tall, its exterior tiled in white jade-like porcelain, while the glazed jade shingles gleamed brilliantly beneath the sunlight.
Within the courtyard, spiritual water ran clear, and spiritual mist clung to exotic flowers and rare herbs, highlighting the delicate beauty of the blossoms.
Yet compared to Jin Li in her scarlet dress, even the flowers fell short of such radiance.
"This is my house on Seven Colors Peak. How is it? Not bad, right?
"The building area is two hundred and twenty square meters, the actual usable area over seven hundred, plus a basement, a fifty-square-meter terrace, and a massive hundred-and-thirty-square-meter garden.
"It's right next to the Divine Light Sect, and barely tens of thousands of li from the Great Shang capital—you're there before a nap is even over.
"Whether in decor or location, it's top-notch!"
Having resolved the matters in the Sixth Heaven, Qi Yuan brought Jin Li to his house in the Divine Light Sect.
The house had been completed long ago, free even of formaldehyde.
It was a three-story detached villa, and Qi Yuan was immensely satisfied with it.
Now, arm around Jin Li, gazing at his property, he looked every bit the winner in life.
The only minor flaw was that it wasn't in a top school district.
"Quite elegant." Jin Li stepped inside Qi Yuan's house, looking around like an inquisitive child.
Though she had seen countless magnificent and opulent buildings, she maintained keen enthusiasm and patience for Qi Yuan's house.
She ran her hands along the walls, the banisters, the bed, as if eager to leave her own traces across every room.
"Eldest Senior Brother, you're back!"
Just then, Jiang Lingsu's cheerful voice drifted in from outside the house.
Dressed in a yellow gown with a golden sash bound around her waist, her bosom appeared remarkably full and magnificent.
Perhaps because she was the only one living on the peak, or perhaps because she had just woken up, she was dressed somewhat casually. Beneath her delicate collarbones, an alluring expanse of fair cleavage was particularly captivating, the soft, pale curves swaying enticingly.
"Yup." Qi Yuan pushed open the window, looking down at Jiang Lingsu from above. With a single glance, he saw right through everything, catching sight of an indescribable perkiness.
Qi Yuan felt somewhat touched.
Sure enough, on Seven Colors Peak, mutual trust between people truly existed.
Junior Sister wasn't wearing any pasties...
Still, he was a gentleman; he would not look upon what was improper. Since his junior sister trusted him, he had to return that trust.
"This is Jin Li, the Yue Nü of Moon Goddess Palace, and also the one I told you about—my in-game CP," Qi Yuan introduced Jin Li.
Standing downstairs, Jiang Lingsu fixed her gaze on Jin Li. A stunned, captivated look flashed across her eyes, followed by a fleeting touch of bewilderment.
For some reason, an inexplicable sensation welled up in her chest, just like when she was a child and someone took away her favorite toy.
She quickly suppressed the feeling, breaking into a brilliant smile. "Jiang Lingsu greets Sister Jin Li. Sister is truly... a breathtaking beauty of state-toppling grace."
Jiang Lingsu had always been confident in her own looks, but before Jin Li, a slight sense of inadequacy inevitably crept into her heart.
"Little Sister is also lovely enough to bring ruin to nations," Yue Nü Jin Li remarked as she appraised Jiang Lingsu.
"I could never compare to Sister. To be able to enchant my Eldest Senior Brother out of his wits—such skill is truly unmatched," Jiang Lingsu said instinctively.
The moment the words left her mouth, she felt a twinge of regret. Why did that sound so sarcastic?
Yet upon second thought, so what if it was sarcastic? It was no big deal. She promptly reconciled with herself.
Jin Li looked at Jiang Lingsu with an enchanting smile. While the two exchanged pleasantries, Jin Li's hand rested on Qi Yuan's arm, gently scratching him as though venting her feelings.
"If Little Sister were willing, I fear you would do far better than I," Jin Li said.
At this moment, where was the cool, aloof aura of the moon palace immortal? She seemed entirely fallen into the mortal dust.
"Hey, why does the air between you two smell so heavily of gunpowder? Did you two meet before, or is it a case of one mountain not being able to hold two tigers?" Believing himself to possess high intelligence and emotional quotient, Qi Yuan naturally perceived the clash hidden within their words.
"No," Jin Li replied.
Jiang Lingsu stayed silent as well. The exchange between the two appeared to cease.
"Junior Sister, let's have dinner together in a bit. I'll show Jin Li around the peak first," Qi Yuan said, extending an invitation to Jiang Lingsu.
Since there seemed to be a slight rift in their relationship, having them spend more time together would make them inseparable.
After all, on Blue Star, when two kids fought in class, a teacher with high emotional intelligence would make them hug and stare into each other's eyes.
Qi Yuan had high emotional intelligence too, so he could naturally steal that method.
"Alright!" Jiang Lingsu did not refuse Qi Yuan's invitation, a faint ripple stirring in her heart.
On the other side, Qi Yuan took Jin Li's jade-like hand, and the two walked up to the summit of Seven Colors Peak.
Pavilions and covered walkways were shrouded in swirling mists.
Immortal halls nestled in the clouds, ethereal and boundless.
"This is... the Ancient Qi Toon Tree!"
Jin Li came to a halt beneath the Ancient Qi Toon Tree, deep longing pooling in her eyes.
Memories of the past rushed into her mind at this moment.
"Master transplanted this from elsewhere. It's much smaller than the one on Wangyue Continent," Qi Yuan said calmly as he stood side by side with Jin Li.
A thread of melancholy also drifted through his thoughts.
Every game was, in truth, a life, an experience.
No matter how perfectly a game was cleared, there would always be lingering attachments and regrets left behind.
Fortunately, on Wangyue Continent, he had achieved his wish—he had performed Seeing You, and he now held Jin Li's hand.
What about the other games?
And the games to come?
Just then, Jin Li turned to Qi Yuan. A captivating flame flashed through her cool eyes, red and impassioned, matching the scarlet dress she wore.
"Husband... take me..."
It seemed only by tangling together until the end of life, their bodies pressed tightly against each other, could the longing in her heart be slightly eased.
Beneath the Ancient Qi Toon Tree, the winds subsided.
***
Chaotic Star Domain.
Qingshan Realm.
Ninghe County Seat.
The orange flame of the candle was small, illuminating only a tiny corner of the room.
Thin black smoke rose, coating the lampshade in dark soot.
Huang Yanshou furrowed his brow, staring at the little old man across from him. "Are you certain there won't be any problems?"
The old man stood barely five feet tall, wearing a felt cap that made him look rather comical.
"Rest assured, Young Master Huang. Once inside my Madhouse, there is absolutely no way that Qi kid walks out alive!"
The old man was named Zhou Xiao, the director of the Ninghe County Madhouse.
Ninghe County was located in Ji'an Prefecture of Jiangzhou. The county seat had a modest population of just over three hundred thousand.
The Madhouse was, well... in Blue Star terms, essentially a psychiatric hospital.
Ji'an had an abundance of guiling. Many commoners lost their souls to terror upon encountering dreadful guiling, turning raving mad, biting and wounding people indiscriminately.
To prevent these madmen from harming others, the local yamen gathered and locked them all in the Madhouse.
Naturally, the Madhouse held not only madmen, but also sane people.
Today, Huang Yanshou had entrusted someone to Zhou Xiao to be locked inside the Madhouse.
"Though this kid has no parents and no one cares whether he lives or dies, he did marry into the Shen family at the end of last year. If the Shen family investigates..." Huang Yanshou hesitated slightly.
The Shen family was an illustrious noble house in Jining Prefecture, and their eldest young lady was a renowned beauty on the Hundred Fragrances Ranking.
Yet a month ago, the eldest young lady of the Shen family had actually married.
The man who married her was none other than an impoverished wretch from Ninghe County.
Naturally, that pauper had entered the household as a matrilocal son-in-law.
Huang Yanshou had received instructions from a high-ranking noble to take advantage of the son-in-law's visit to his hometown and dispose of him.
The method was simple and crude.
First, frame the son-in-law for lustfully violating Widow Liu. But then... a guiling appeared, Widow Liu perished, and though the son-in-law escaped with his life, he was scared out of his wits, subsequently sent to the Madhouse.
That son-in-law had already possessed a wretched reputation and character—cowardly, incompetent, and lecherous, possessing the lustful heart but lacking the spine.
"Rest assured. Within a month, a guiling disturbance will strike the Madhouse. He will definitely die. Even if the Shen family sends people, all they will find is his corpse," Director Zhou Xiao muttered, tapping the table.
"Isn't a month a bit too long?" Huang Yanshou pulled out a banknote and shoved it into Zhou Xiao's robes.
Zhou Xiao's beady eyes lit up. "Easy, easy. Within three days, this son-in-law will be dead without a doubt!"
Hearing this, Huang Yanshou breathed a sigh of relief. "I leave it in the director's capable hands."
Inwardly, however, he held Zhou Xiao in deep contempt—a greedy, lecherous old bastard.
Many of the moderately attractive madwomen in this Madhouse had been violated by him.
"It's nothing." Zhou Xiao narrowed his eyes with a lewd expression. Remembering something, he suddenly said, "If I recall correctly, that Qi kid's parents were implement masters. Did his family leave behind any secret manuals, or perhaps some precious... dharma artifacts?"
Greed stirred within him.
Implement masters enjoyed high status in this world.
They commanded exquisite craftsmanship capable of forging powerful dharma artifacts to suppress guiling.
A powerful dharma artifact was hard to buy even with a thousand pieces of gold.
The Qi family's son-in-law had only managed to marry into the Shen family because of connections from the previous generation.
Otherwise, with his cowardly, useless nature, he wouldn't even be fit to be a matrilocal son-in-law!
"His parents died long ago and left behind nothing," Huang Yanshou said hurriedly.
Even if something had been left behind, it certainly wouldn't be given to Zhou Xiao.
The Qi family's belongings had already been delivered to that young lord.
As for why that young lord targeted the son-in-law, Huang Yanshou had guesses, but could not be certain.
First, that young lord fancied the Shen family's eldest young lady.
Second, the Qi family kid's parents had once offended that young lord's clan, and in addition, that young lord seemed to be searching for something from the Qi family.
"What a penniless pauper," Zhou Xiao muttered. Then, thinking of something, a wretched smile crept across his face. "Yesterday, a woman in her thirties arrived at the Madhouse. She's still nursing a child. Tsk, tsk, quite the lingering charm. Would Young Master Huang like to... experience a different kind of flavor?"
A wave of disgust washed over Huang Yanshou.
Though he enjoyed womanizing and often frequented brothels to listen to music, he didn't lack standards like this old man Zhou Xiao, stooping so low as to mess with madwomen.
"No."
With that, Huang Yanshou took his leave and departed in a hurry.
***
Yeshan Lake spanned thousands of acres of azure waves, its surface shimmering. It was the largest lake in Jiangzhou.
In Jiangzhou, hundreds of thousands of fishing households relied on this lake for their livelihood.
Yet right now, boats and fishermen were rarely seen on Yeshan Lake.
At a certain dock, a markedly distinct vessel was moored. Unlike crude fishing boats, this craft was far more luxurious, resembling a pleasure boat used by wealthy officials for sightseeing.
A bird suddenly plunged into the cabin of the pleasure boat, then vanished instantly.
Inside the cabin, footsteps sounded.
A pair of long legs came into view, slender and toned, exceptionally eye-catching.
She exuded a frosty aura, her almond eyes wide and her expression grim. "Miss, the son-in-law... he violated a widow, encountered a guiling, and was sent to the Madhouse!"
The seated woman paused slightly, her brow furrowing. "Is his character truly that vile?"
Though she had completed the marriage ceremony with the man, the two had never met; in fact, she had not even attended the wedding ceremony that day.
She had heard rumors about him—morally degenerate, yet cowardly and incompetent.
Now, had he actually stooped so low as to violate a woman?
This left her immensely disappointed.
"Miss, he's just a hypocrite! Aside from a handsome face, he's completely worthless!" the long-legged woman complained indignantly. "When he was in the manor, I followed him in secret. When the steward yelled at him, as the son-in-law, he actually trembled in fear and didn't dare utter a single retort! When he walked out of the manor and saw an orphaned mother and child begging on the street, he kicked the seven-year-old girl aside! Fawning over the strong while bullying the weak—truly detestable!"
As she spoke, she huffed with indignation, clearly overflowing with dissatisfaction toward the son-in-law.
Hearing this, the woman was disappointed to the extreme. "Sigh... to think... Master Qi's descendant would be so wretched. How can his spirit in heaven rest in peace..."
Master Qi was an implement master, an exceptionally formidable implement master.
Back then, for the sake of... Master Qi vanished and ultimately perished.
This earned him the woman's profound respect.
Yet his son turned out to be so utterly corrupt. How could she not be furious?
"Go bring him back. Investigate the matter thoroughly. We cannot let that innocent woman die in vain!" the woman spoke, her voice chilling as frost.
"Understood!" The long-legged woman nodded, but then hesitated. "What about Yeshan Lake..."
"Rest assured, before having absolute certainty, I will not take risks," the woman said, her voice frigid as a flash of killing intent flitted through her eyes. "Also investigate thoroughly whether someone framed him. If he was plotted against because of me, then that is my fault.
"Regardless, make sure the family of that woman who died unjustly is properly settled."
The long-legged woman nodded. "Yes, Miss!"
***
Ninghe County.
Inside the Madhouse.
The night was pitch-black, sparse stars barely visible across the firmament.
"This is the new game?"
Qi Yuan opened his eyes and took a deep breath.
The room was utterly dark, impossible to see one's hand before one's face. In the distance flickered a faint candlelight, beneath which stood what seemed to be a silhouette doing something unknown.
The game's notification sounded at this moment.
[Main Quest: Enact all living beings, comprehend all living beings, create all living beings—only then can one be a deity.
Act as All Living Beings Quest initiated.
Living Being 1 to Roleplay: Qi Yuan, matrilocal son-in-law of the Shen family.
Living Being 2 to Roleplay: Divine Descent, information unknown.
Living Being 3 to Roleplay: A kitchen knife.
Living Being 4 to Roleplay: Locked.]
In an instant, an immense flood of information poured into Qi Yuan's mind.
At this moment, Qi Yuan gained a deeper understanding of the new game, along with several conjectures.
"These roleplaying targets... could they have originated from the blood I dripped into the game?"
Qi Yuan frowned.
This game quest was a roleplaying quest, perfectly aligned with his goal of attaining godhood.
The path to godhood lay in world creation.
Yet if one did not understand all living beings, how could one create a world?
This quest seemed tailor-made to cater to him, prompting him to roleplay all living beings.
And coincidentally, he had once dripped his blood into the game world, allowing this world to operate and the game to load.
As for the three living beings he had just been assigned to roleplay, Qi Yuan had an intuitive feeling.
He seemed to be roleplaying his own blood.
Or rather... the beings born from his blood.
"My blood really isn't up to par. How did it give birth to someone as... completely useless as Qi Yuan?"
Having absorbed the memories, Qi Yuan was speechless.
This Qi Yuan was truly useless!
"As expected, everything I have was won through my own diligent struggle."
Qi Yuan could not help but sigh.
The Qi Yuan of this world was not only useless, but also scum.
"Making me roleplay a scumbag, or rather, a matrilocal son-in-law?"
Qi Yuan frowned.
Though his acting skills were superb, playing a scumbag was beyond him.
A matrilocal son-in-law, on the other hand, was still imaginable.
"Roleplaying a son-in-law should be right up my alley. On Blue Star, I watched so many TV dramas about Dragon King matrilocal sons-in-law.
"It's nothing more than carrying foot-washing water for the mother-in-law, followed by getting slapped across the face!
"Carrying foot-washing water is acceptable, but getting slapped is utterly out of the question!"
Qi Yuan began analyzing the three roleplaying targets in detail.
The first being, the son-in-law, shouldn't pose any problem.
"What on earth does 'Divine Descent' mean?" Qi Yuan wondered.
While he possessed the memories of the son-in-law Qi Yuan, he had virtually zero memories regarding Divine Descent.
If he had to claim any memory at all, there was only a single fleeting image: countless bones and corpses beneath boundless heavenly lightning.
"Is Divine Descent a person, or something else?"
Qi Yuan couldn't figure it out for the moment.
However, he understood that as his progress in roleplaying the son-in-law Qi Yuan maxed out, subsequent information would gradually unlock.
"Never mind Divine Descent, but roleplaying a kitchen knife... what the hell is that?"
Qi Yuan was thoroughly speechless.
He had his own kitchen knife, currently left on Seven Colors Peak to guard the house.
Now they wanted him to play a kitchen knife, effectively roleplaying his own pet. It was truly absurd.
"This world..."
Qi Yuan began searching through the son-in-law Qi Yuan's memories.
This world was not the realm where the Immortal Realm's Sixth Heaven was located.
The stars that illuminated the myriad heavens could not be seen here.
There were stars in the sky here, but they were clearly different from those of the Immortal Realm.
"This place is quite similar to ancient times on Blue Star, but there are also extraordinary beings known as weapon wielders.
"Weapon wielders strengthen themselves and suppress guiling using dharma artifacts."
Guiling, in Blue Star terms, were ghosts and anomalies.
They appeared without reason, mysterious and unpredictable, frequently causing widespread disasters.
Mortals had no power to resist guiling whatsoever.
Only weapon wielders, relying on their own power combined with potent dharma artifacts, could contend with them.
However, the son-in-law Qi Yuan had lived such a pathetic existence that in all his years, he had not only never seen a dharma artifact or a weapon wielder, he hadn't even seen a guiling—the absolute dregs of uselessness.
"Cultivation isn't possible here?"
Qi Yuan attempted to circulate his Immortal Dao cultivation techniques.
To his surprise, he found it completely impossible.
There was no spiritual qi here, nor any factors suitable for Immortal Dao cultivation.
"Looks like I'll have to kill to level up," Qi Yuan mused.
Though he couldn't cultivate, as far as his eyes could see, everyone else had a health bar above their head.
What did a health bar mean?
It meant they could be killed, and killing them yielded experience points!
Of course, Qi Yuan was lawful good after all; he never slaughtered the innocent indiscriminately.
Besides, with his current puny strength, whom could he kill?
If he ran into a weapon wielder, it might very well be game over.
So he needed to store up resources and level up prudently.
Right now, the crisis he faced was rather dire.
As for that widow, the son-in-law Qi Yuan had indeed been tempted—his lust had flared, but unfortunately, the little virgin's vital energy was too weak. The moment he saw the widow's naked body, his blood surged and he fainted right on the spot, falling short even of those male leads in Blue Star dramas who got nosebleeds whenever they saw a pretty girl.
Afterward, the son-in-law Qi Yuan had been framed for violating Widow Liu and subsequently thrown into the Madhouse.
With the son-in-law Qi Yuan's underdeveloped brain, he had actually believed this wasn't a big deal, that it was all a misunderstanding, and that once someone from the Shen family arrived, it would all be resolved easily.
Yet Qi Yuan possessed both high intelligence and emotional quotient; he saw right through the massive trap.
"Wait, where did the son-in-law Qi Yuan go?" At that moment, Qi Yuan froze.
According to his memories, after being sent to the Madhouse, the son-in-law Qi Yuan had been lying unconscious on the bed asleep.
Yet once Qi Yuan descended into the game, the son-in-law Qi Yuan was nowhere to be seen.
Right then, the distant candlelight flickered and trembled, slowly approaching Qi Yuan. A pale-faced old man, who looked as if he were wearing makeup for a corpse, grinned and said, "Are you wondering where the person on the bed went?"
The old man wore an eerie smile that appeared exceptionally creepy in the candlelight.
In particular, his skin was remarkably smooth, entirely unlike the dry, bark-like skin of an ordinary elderly person.
"Where did he go?" Qi Yuan asked, looking at the old man with curiosity.
Did this fellow witness the son-in-law Qi Yuan vanish?
"He... was eaten by you!" the pale-faced old man stated with absolute certainty.
The candlelight wavered, casting his shadow against the wall, swaying continuously.
"Eaten by me?" Qi Yuan blinked. He hurriedly opened his mouth and said nervously, "Help me check if anything got stuck in my teeth. Is there any left between them?"
Qi Yuan was genuinely anxious.
If that scumbag Qi Yuan was stuck between his teeth, would he get bad breath?
Or worse, corpse stench!
Hearing this, the pale-faced old man leaned his head forward earnestly, examining him carefully. "Eaten clean, not a trace left... ooh... Grandpa's tummy is hungry!"
As he spoke, he looked thoroughly aggrieved.
Qi Yuan was rendered speechless.
Could this old man truly be stark raving mad?
"I'm hungry too," Qi Yuan said grumpily.
Hearing Qi Yuan's reply, the pale-faced old man whispered mysteriously, "Actually, I know your identity. Don't worry, rest assured, I won't tell anyone."
"Oh?" Qi Yuan gave the pale-faced old man another look.
Was this guy really crazy?
"You are a heavenly deity descended to the mortal dust, scattering sweet dew everywhere, delivering all living beings, a deity of boundless mercy and salvation!"
The pale-faced old man rambled in madness, his expression twisting slightly.
He seemed to be suppressing some immense agony. Qi Yuan noticed what appeared to be black threads wriggling within the veins under his skin.
Suddenly, the distortion on his face vanished. He looked at Qi Yuan and whispered conspiratorially, "Lord Heavenly Deity, I want to follow you and overthrow this wretched world!"
"???"
"Grandpa's tummy is hungry, I want to eat big boobies!"
"...White flour steamed buns?"
Chapter 484