Over the next half hour, N001 faced the most daunting challenge of its entire system life.

This endangered book world had a cultivation background. Compared to the legal norms of modern civilized society, this world operated on the principle of “the strong prey on the weak.” It was said that cultivators inherently defied the heavens, making struggles over resources and life-or-death battles commonplace.

The risk factor for mission failure was exceedingly high.

Moreover, this current host was clearly not in his right mind.

Outside the system space.

The host, Tu Tianba, was reading the original novel.

Because the data packet for the lecherous ghost doctor character in the original work was completely corrupted, the system, upon binding the host, automatically filled in the host’s name into the role of the scumbag ex-husband so that the original story could be fully displayed on the light screen.

However, there was a problem now.

Since the name “Tu Tianba” was already recorded in the book, the background program automatically filled in the host’s previous name—the old name recognized by the Heavenly Dao.

—Tu Xiaoming.

As luck would have it, the host of this world was inherently a character from the book—a background villain who died by the protagonist’s sword at the very beginning. To make matters worse, this background villain’s brain was abnormal. Simply hearing or seeing his old name would trigger a riot of inner demons, plunging him into a delirious state of madness.

So…

Inside the system space.

The light screen projected the host’s movements in real-time, with audio and video perfectly synced without delay—the two glowing orbs watched in silence as the host read a few lines, then started screaming and punching the air, blasting the area that had already suffered the heavenly lightning tribulation into an even worse state of ruin, before furiously slapping himself in the face.

After the bout of madness.

The host seemed to suddenly snap back to reality. He rubbed his face in bewilderment, lowered his head, and looked around, only to find there wasn’t a single good patch of ground left beneath his feet to sit cross-legged on. Thus, he remained standing and continued reading the novel on the light screen.

It was still those first few lines.

In the time that followed, the above process repeated itself over and over.

An hour had passed!

The host hadn’t even finished reading the first chapter!

Following the heavenly lightning tribulation, the baby-faced youth’s appearance had undergone some changes. Although he still possessed that slightly round, childish face and upturned apricot eyes, his skin had taken on an abnormal, ashen-grey hue, like a cold corpse devoid of a single trace of human vitality.

His eyes were blood-red, his fingernails pitch-black.

When he puffed out his cheeks in anger, no one would think he looked cute.

This was because the youth was surrounded by a thick layer of blood mist. The mist seemed alive, at times condensing into terrifying ghostly visages, and at others twisting into sharp claws, relentlessly tearing at the life force of his surroundings.

Only three hundred years had passed.

Yet the spiritual energy within a radius of ten thousand miles had been devoured clean, extinguishing all life.

The youth stood there rigidly, his entire being seemingly merging with this dead, ruined land. The blood mist churned around him, recklessly venting a piercingly cold murderous intent. Even casting a transformation spell to hide his appearance was useless.

Though he had a cute face, he instilled genuine terror from the bottom of one’s heart.

·

Tu Tianba was feeling a bit regretful.

Although those two inner demons spoke in a fresh and interesting way, sounding entirely different from his other inner demons, he covered his face and remained silent for a long time before muttering:

“…How about I just read it another day?”

“Actually, this Venerable isn’t that petty, I don’t absolutely have to seek revenge or anything.”

If a system had a jaw, the blue orb’s jaw would have hit the floor long ago. It suddenly felt that being a slacker auxiliary sub-system wasn’t so bad after all; at least it didn’t have to crouch in front of a screen watching the host wind up his arm to furiously slap himself across the face.

On loop, no less.

The blue orb: […]

The pressure of working as a system was just too high.

It really wanted to go back to the factory and lie flat.

Had it known this would happen, it would have just rotted in the factory.

The blue orb silently scooted backward, crouching beside the main system, and whispered a plea for help: [Senior, what do we do now? By the looks of it, this host can’t even read the original text, so how am I supposed to issue the first mission?]

N001 didn’t actually intend for the sub-system to take the fall. It was just casually manipulating it while taking the opportunity to think of a countermeasure. Now that it had an idea, it deliberately let out a long sigh and said,

“Look and learn. A senior is a senior for a reason.”

“Take notes, you can’t be this useless when you become a main system in the future.”

With those words, it completely absolved itself of all responsibility, as if it had entirely forgotten that it was the one who shoved the sub-system in front of the screen in the first place.

Ah, well.

It was just a pure, flawless little orb; what evil intentions could it possibly have?

The company wasn’t paying its wages, so it was just secretly earning a little extra on the side.

The heavenly lightning had split the dark clouds, and a few faint rays of light pierced through the haze, slowly falling to illuminate the shattered earth below.

Of course, this wasn’t entirely the lightning’s fault.

Tu Tianba stood in a massive crater surrounded by rubble and fine dust, the air turning hazy as if a fog had rolled in. Once the burning sting on his face subsided, he suddenly realized that the light screen—which made his face hurt just by looking at it—had vanished with a pop.

Immediately after, a thick book materialized out of thin air before him.

The book was rather thick. Its cover featured a profound night sky dotted with stars, the Milky Way flowing like a ribbon. At the edge of the sky, a majestic immortal mountain was faintly visible, its peak wreathed in clouds and glowing with morning light. In the center of the image, an Immortal Lord in white stood proudly, his robes fluttering.

The Immortal Lord’s face was as cold and clear as jade, exuding an aura of transcendent detachment.

He stood as tall and straight as a pine, holding a broken sword, seemingly fending off the scarlet-tinged black sea surging beneath his feet. Within that black sea, two specks of ghostly light flickered, glaring fiercely at the white-clad Immortal Lord as a chilling aura of death rushed forth.

Tu Tianba’s eyes instantly widened.

This book’s cover was exquisitely beautiful. Even though it was painted with ink-wash techniques, the character was captured with such lifelike precision that he recognized him in a single glance. Wasn’t this Nie Wuhui, the man he had only met once but with whom he had forged a massive grudge?

Hmph.

This Venerable remembers you now.

Just you wait!

Thinking this, Tu Tianba shifted his gaze slightly and saw the title written in vigorous, archaic calligraphy at the top of the cover, sharing the same name as the man in the painting:

“Wuhui (Revised Edition)”

Tu Tianba puffed out his cheeks, a bit displeased.

Why did the cover of this book only feature that detestable man in white? Why was the title his name? And why was he, the magnificent Heaven Slaughtering Sect’s Evil Bone Demon Lord, Tu Tianba, slapped with the phrase “successfully slain” right in the first line of the synopsis?

This was a terrible book that completely inverted black and white!

Right at that moment.

Tu Tianba suddenly heard the more lively inner demon speak up again: “Due to the host’s reading disability, this system has specially prepared a revised edition! There will definitely be no problems this time.”

Hearing this, Tu Tianba raised his hand, took the suspended book, and casually flipped open a page.

[…Doctor Tu lowered his eyes, looking at the person sleeping soundly on the bed. He twirled a green jade pestle in his palm, splashing out a few drops of cinnabar-like medicinal juice. He deliberately dragged out his syllables, watching the trembling shadows cast by the man’s long eyelashes, and said slowly:

“Wife, you’re awake?”]

Tu Tianba: “???”

Huh? Wife?

He continued flipping forward.

Unexpectedly, the following pages were completely blank; there wasn’t a single word left.

Tu Tianba shook the book in his hand with dissatisfaction, questioning the inner demon that had conjured it, “What’s going on? That’s all there is? And also, why does the character I’m about to play have to call him wife? Disgusting, truly disgusting!”

N001 was unhurried, explaining: “The subsequent content requires the host to complete the first mission to unlock! The host’s first mission is to head to the Zhaoyou River Valley and retrieve the heavily injured, unconscious Nie Wuhui. First, take advantage of his coma to plant a Pill-Gu in him, rendering him unable to use his magic… Hehe, and then when he wakes up, you deliver that key line from the book, claiming to be his husband and that you were originally deeply in love Dao Companions. This way, Nie Wuhui will be completely at your mercy with nowhere to turn for help, suffering endless grievances under your hands like a little wife! Isn’t that much more fun than just killing him?”

Listening to this, Tu Tianba felt it made some sense. Mainly because his ears were constantly filled with the sounds of slaughter, making this inner demon’s suggestion seem exceptionally fresh and refined, leaving him itching to give it a try.

He had to admit, this inner demon truly possessed some divine abilities. Mumbling something like, “Host, let me adjust your data before you set off,” it then cast an illusion spell that actually managed to completely mask the overwhelming demonic qi covering his body.

Tu Tianba accepted this readily. After all, an inner demon’s cultivation stemmed from his own power. If he couldn’t do it before, perhaps it was because his skills hadn’t reached the necessary maturity. Now that he had advanced to the Mahayana stage, his mastery had naturally reached perfection.

Tu Tianba held up his makeup mirror, inspecting himself left and right. The youth in the mirror had wide apricot eyes, showing not a hint of a demonic nature. His appearance remained unchanged, save for a small, dark red mole added to the bridge of his nose.

The inner demon said this was to conceal his identity; with this extra mole, no one would recognize his true identity, allowing him to complete the mission smoothly. Once all the missions were finished, not only could he fiercely vent his frustrations, but he would also regain his physical body.

Thinking of this, Tu Tianba couldn’t help but sigh in admiration, “As expected of me.” Even his inner demons were this clever, far smarter than those slap-worthy inner demons from the Soul-Refining Cauldron!

After admiring himself for quite a while, Tu Tianba put away the makeup mirror and leaped out of the deep pit. However, he wasn’t in a hurry to head to the river valley. Instead, like an ordinary mortal, he bent down to pat the dust off his clothes, casually remarking as he did so, “You’ve been watching for so long, aren’t you going to come out?”

As soon as his voice fell, a slender figure materialized in the void not far away.

In the next instant, the figure appeared at Tu Tianba’s feet and dropped to her knees with a thud. Her breathtakingly charming face was slightly slick with sweat. “Your subordinate, Jin Liuyi, had no intention of spying on Your Eminence. It was just that the heavenly tribulation lightning earlier was too massive, and out of concern for Your Eminence, I boldly ventured forth…”

Inside the system space, the white orb clutched its head, desperately wanting to meow out loud. The cultivation world was truly impossible to defend against; it had just finished coaxing the host, only to face an immediate disaster. And why on earth was this supporting character showing up here!

Jin Liuyi. In the later stages of the original novel, there was a massive war between the righteous and demonic factions. This person was an important supporting character for the demonic camp. The chapter where she was featured most prominently was when she stumbled upon Gu Chen’s confession to his master, Nie Wuhui, and his subsequent brutal rejection. Thus, she took the opportunity to get close to Gu Chen, hoping to use him to strike a blow against the demonic cultivators’ greatest enemy, Nie Wuhui. She succeeded.

Tu Tianba had only read the first few chapters and had no idea that the subordinate kneeling before him had a role in the later plot, while he, the mighty “Eminence,” wouldn’t even survive past the synopsis…

At this moment, he only had one thought.

“Did you just call me Your Eminence?”

Tu Tianba’s tone revealed a hint of displeasure. He thought his aura-concealing spell wasn’t refined enough and had leaked a flaw. Then he heard Jin Liuyi quickly pick up the conversation, “I know not what secret art Your Eminence has cultivated, but just a moment ago, your subordinate completely lost track of Your Eminence’s aura. If I hadn’t already been waiting nearby, I wouldn’t have been able to recognize Your Eminence even if we brushed shoulders! Congratulations, Your Eminence!”

Speaking to this point, Jin Liuyi’s cold sweat doubled. …She shouldn’t have come.

“Your subordinate boldly asks, should I notify the entire sect to prepare gifts and celebrate Your Eminence’s success?”

Tu Tianba flatly refused. “No need.”

He first coughed twice, motioned for the female demonic cultivator to raise her head, and tilted his own head to explain to her sweat-drenched face: “Because you’ve got the wrong person. I’m not that handsome and mighty Demon Lord. I’m just an ordinary medical cultivator passing by…”

Jin Liuyi craned her neck, her mind spinning rapidly, and hastily replied, “Yes, your subo… I will certainly be cautious with my words and deeds. I will absolutely not expose Mr. Medical Cultivator’s identity and whereabouts. I haven’t seen anyone here today.” Her tone was incredibly humble and respectful.

A second later, she heard the youth ponder for a long moment before muttering to himself, “The name Doctor Tu sounds pretty good, doesn’t it?”

Jin Liuyi: “…”

“What do you think?”

Jin Liuyi: “It’s absolutely wonderful!!”

…What on earth is His Eminence trying to do? She was panicking.

When Jin Liuyi looked up again, she found the space in front of her completely empty. She couldn’t help but let out a long sigh of relief. She lingered, greedy for the residual demonic qi and spiritual essence left behind, somewhat reluctant to leave, yet terrified that the man might return and slaughter her over a single wrong word.

Everyone in the Heaven Slaughtering Sect knew—their Eminence was a lunatic. An incredibly powerful lunatic. And the most terrifying part was… absolutely no one could ever guess what a lunatic was thinking.

Zhaoyou River Valley.

The sky was clear, the wind gentle. It was still early; the azure dome was bright and beautiful, with leisurely white clouds reflected on the clear surface of the river. The river wasn’t deep, the sound of the water was soothing, and the rocky walls of the valley on both sides were lush with greenery. The air was fresh too.

Tu Tianba stood by the river, lowering his head to stare at the drenched figure sprawled on the riverbank not far away. He stroked his chin, deep in thought…

Damn it. What kind of bullshit Immortal Lord is this. Why is his butt so big. There must be a lot of meat on it. Envy, jealousy, hate! He wants it too!!!

__

Author’s Note:

Xiaoming simply likes meat.

1. Born in a butcher’s family, pigs need a lot of meat to be good.
2. He lost his physical body during his teenage growth spurt, and later spent a century raising a hundred pounds of flesh (feeding and nurturing it with various heavenly treasures) (checking a small mirror every day to confirm), only to happily go out to slaughter a pig one day, get asked for directions by a man in white, and lose it all in the blink of an eye. His mentality exploded.
3. Pure envy, jealousy, and hate. Preparing to take revenge fiercely on the man in white.
4. He is actually quite smart, but currently in a phase where he doesn’t want to use his brain.