Chapter 435: Announce to All Remaining Contestants

At this moment, he wished more than anything that what he'd just heard was a hallucination from his severe injuries.

So, clinging to a sliver of hope, he kept his eyes closed and adjusted his breath.

But the next instant, his whole body prickled with dread, and his fierce combat instinct sent sharp pains pulsing through his third eye.

"Fuck!"

Without hesitation, he snapped his eyes open and rolled sideways.

Shhh!

A sharp, emerald-gold sword qi flashed past his ear, slicing through the air and embedding itself into a nearby massive blue stone, leaving behind a thin, bottomless wound.

Condensing power into a single thread was routine for a swordsman of Chi Jiuyu's caliber.

"Oh? I thought you weren't going to dodge."

She spun a sword flourish, drawing her blade to her chest, grinning at the muscular body cultivator before her.

Hahaha!

Just entering the Cultivation Realm and stumbling upon a wounded opponent with so many points—she, Jiuyu Laozu, was truly the "protagonist"!

Fuck!

The body cultivator wore a constipated expression.

Earlier, he'd been struck hard by a Return-to-Void cultivator from the Blood Vajra Temple, leaving his five viscera shattered, his six bowels injured, and his blood and qi scattered.

In his current state, facing this idiot Chi Jiuyu, he had little confidence in escaping.

"I am Zhan Xing of the Longxiang Qingtianzong," he introduced himself, then forced himself to his feet, "Chi Jiuyu! Dare you wait until I've recovered before we fight fairly!"

At this moment, he must restrain himself—absolutely no using "body cultivator's elegant speech" for mental attacks, lest this idiot fly into a rage and chop him to pieces.

Besides, this idiot had already reached Soul Transformation at such a young age—she must have some pride.

Provocation was the best strategy!

"I can trade you intel I've gathered!"

"Tsk tsk! Did body cultivation fry your brain? A free point haul—why would I wait for you to recover?"

Chi Jiuyu wasn't fooled by this at all.

Wait for him to recover?

Only an idiot would do that.

The clever Jiuyu Laozu naturally chose to kick the man while he was down!

Zzzm~!

Her figure seemed to glide sideways, her long sword spewing rainbow light like a single thread of Bai Mang cleaving heaven and earth, stabbing straight toward the body cultivator!

The ultimate-condensed, peerless sharpness leaked not a single iota.

She intended to end this swiftly without alerting the outside world!

"Fuck!"

Zhan Xing roared, and a visible, terrifying ripple surged outward, whipping up grass, trees, and dust into a dragon-like storm of debris!

The entire mountain range trembled from that roar.

With a single stomp, the whole mountain groaned and swayed; jagged cracks spread outward from the point where his foot landed.

Scorching blood qi rose and intertwined, staining the entire sky red.

"Yang Ji!"

In that instant, his right fist became a sun radiating boundless light and heat; his blood qi exploded fully, his body swelling by a full circle.

The veins across his muscular frame twisted like coiled dragons, terrifying to behold.

Soul-Shaking Roar 3.9 · Optimized Version!

Supreme Divine Art—Yang Ji Hand!

Under these circumstances, Zhan Xing dared not hold back, nor care if he alerted the outside world.

He no longer worried about harming innocents—these past days, Bugu City had strictly forbidden any non-official search teams from participating in the manhunt.

His blood was a top-tier heavenly treasure in this world; Bugu City feared someone might steal it…

What a fucked-up world!

Boom!

Boom—!

The instant the Sword of Annihilation met the Yang Ji Fist, the peak they stood on—and the entire mountain range—was flattened.

Endless, terrifying light spread outward; the shockwave even reached the Bugu Sea, triggering a colossal tsunami that crushed waves of ten thousand acres, smashing entire Blood Vajra Temple search teams into broken bones and torn sinews.

At the heart of that light, molten lava churned violently, grotesque and terrifying.

Chi Jiuyu hovered in midair, sword in hand, still grinning, her aura undiminished.

In contrast, Zhan Xing was in far worse shape—he'd already been severely wounded, and now, after Chi Jiuyu's sword strike, he looked as if he'd been sliced by a thousand blades, his breath reduced to a dying whisper.

"Hmm… how about you stop resisting? I'll give you a quick death?"

Fighting a wounded opponent just wasn't satisfying.

"…."

Zhan Xing rolled his eyes, wanting to hurl a thousand curses at this idiot—but he no longer had the strength to speak.

At this moment, he couldn't help but feel a pang of regret.

If only he'd cut down on his pill rations and carried two extra Great Teleportation Talismans and some "low-health counterattack" pills.

Who could've guessed he'd get this unlucky?

With great effort, he raised his hand and gave Chi Jiuyu the middle finger, expressing his utter contempt.

Body cultivators never surrender!

But just then, a sudden anomaly erupted!

From afar, in the City of No Return, a terrifying force spread forth, shaking the entire sky, accompanied by a voice tinged with surprise.

"Found you! Hey, and here's a new good material."

Their sword strike and punch had finally drawn the attention of the Returning Void cultivator within the City of No Return.

"What the hell!"

The constant warnings from the Bright Sword Heart made Chi Jiu Yu's heart prickle with dread.

Returning Void?!

As this thought crossed her mind, a crushing pressure, vast as an ocean, slammed down. Crimson light streams intertwined, forming a colossal crimson hand that descended from the sky, grasping toward them.

As if to crush both of them in its palm!

Zhan Xing was now pinned beneath scorching lava, his eyes empty of desire or need.

After all, his current state made escape impossible.

Hmm…

Wait, am I really going to be the first one eliminated?

That would be so embarrassing!

Humm~!

A sliver of sword light shot down, piercing his third eye. The pure intent of annihilation erased all his life force instantly.

As consciousness vanished, Zhan Xing's mind screamed "maimabie."

Damn it!

This idiot actually stabbed me again!

【You have been eliminated. Rank: 105 (Soul Transformation).】

The final line flickered, and his awareness plunged into darkness.

Meanwhile, Chi Jiu Yu, who had just slain Zhan Xing, hadn't even had time to check the Tai Xuan Immortal Net notification.

Facing the blood-red hand that sealed all directions of space and descended upon her, she showed no hesitation.

"Scale of Ages!"

Ding~

With a sound like it came from the world's depths—ancient and prolonged—a phantom balance appeared.

One end of the balance was Chi Jiu Yu; the other extended to the City of No Return, locking onto the blood-robed man atop the thousand-layer Gao Ta.

As if measuring the difference in their ages!

Soon, the balance tilted entirely toward Chi Jiu Yu's side.

Under the influence of the world's laws, the blood-robed man's realm rapidly plummeted. Already only at Returning Void early stage, he felt his cultivation draining at breakneck speed, a look of panic spreading across his face.

"My cultivation! My cultivation!"

In that instant, he saw the horrific fates awaiting him after falling below Soul Transformation.

Everything he possessed collapsed and vanished after his realm fell: the City of No Return, which he had painstakingly built, slipped from his control; he himself was captured by the Blood Golden Monastery; his remaining cultivation was drained, his soul extracted, and his body turned into a blood puppet…

Forgetting his pursuit of the "good material," he immediately swallowed a series of "Soul-Draining Pills," each containing golden inscriptions inside, hoping to stabilize his crumbling cultivation.

These were resources he had originally saved for breaking through to Returning Void mid-stage!

The sudden disappearance of the blood-red hand left Chi Jiu Yu, who had been clutching a "Spirit-Energy Explosive" and ready to activate "Grand Void Sword Escape," momentarily stunned.

Wait, why did it just vanish?

Hmm…

The next instant, she made the most correct decision.

Without even looting the corpse, a sliver of azure sword light vanished into the distance…

Though Hehuan Laozu possessed peerless talent, at this stage he still couldn't handle a Returning Void cultivator—of course, fleeing was the wisest choice!

Besides, the points were already secured!

…

…

Shortly after Chi Jiu Yu departed.

A small, entirely unremarkable gray "spider," no larger than half a pinky, stood atop a pebble, gazing at the distant City of No Return.

"The cultivators of this world seem terrified of losing their cultivation."

"Because of the Tian Gui Ji Ling system?"

"And the overall Returning Void level is weak, their foundations tainted with too much external power."

"Once the system is fully liberated, I should easily surpass this world's Returning Void cultivators."

The spider's compound eyes flickered with faint light.

The flagship series of the Tai Shang Dao Sect: Tai Shang Fifth-Generation Micro Recon Robot, purely mechanical, with no added spiritual energy architecture.

Thus, it achieved maximum concealment.

As a cautious cultivator of the Tai Shang Dao Sect, his information-gathering ability was unquestionably top-tier.

So even though he had not been in this world long, he had already gathered much of the basic information.

Still, based on the current data, many questions remained unclear.

The Tian Gui Ji Ling system of the Xuan Xiang Realm originated from the sect's founding ancestor, Xuan Qi.

But Xuan Qi could at most have been a Returning Void cultivator—how could he possibly have subdued the entire world and forced all its cultivators to obey his system?

What was the true purpose of this "Tian Gui Ji Ling" system, which essentially served to "harvest the world"?

Could all this be a "hidden easter egg" set by the ancestors? Could Xuan Qi ultimately emerge as the final boss?

There's also the issue of the system's liberation progress.

The most likely possibility is that defeating opponents can partially liberate the system's remaining performance.

It might also be that system performance is gradually unlocked according to the upcoming "circle-shrink" mechanism…

Or both!

She pondered for a while, but some questions still had no answers.

The little spider leapt off the rock and turned away.

Soon, accompanied by a faint "ssss" sound, a pre-set miniature explosive rune activated, instantly destroying the miniature reconnaissance robot.

The person controlling the miniature reconnaissance drone never showed up.

Even Chi Jiuyu, Zhan Xing, and the Return-to-Void cultivator from Bugui City failed to detect another person lurking outside the battlefield.

With such a commotion here, they must relocate quickly—and before leaving, they must erase all traces.

Aah~

That's why body cultivators are just brute fools with no brains.

What good is it to train your head to a point if you're eliminated the moment you enter?

Caution, caution is the real truth.

Speaking of which, there was one thing he couldn't understand.

What did it mean for such a cautious cultivator like me to be given a Combat System?!

Cheating!

Absolutely cheating by the Sword Sect!

…………

On the other side, Chi Jiuyu's sword light turned into a streak of rainbow and fled far away.

Eventually, she landed in a stretch of Shenshan.

"Huh~"

Thank goodness my Grand Void Sword Dash is unparalleled in the world!

A mere Return-to-Void? Not worth mentioning!

After gloating for a while, she sat down on a large rock by the roadside.

Out of caution, she stabbed the rock with her sword first to confirm it wasn't an impostor, only then relaxing completely.

【Name: Chi Jiuyu】

【Age: 23】

【Realm: Spirit Transformation Stage, Early Stage】

【Currently Loaded System: Scale of Ages】

【Current Points: 1】

【Current Ranking: 1】

Heeheehee!

Our Old Ancestor Jiuyu is number one again!

Zhan Xing is just a real unlucky guy—he got a system that only enhances himself, unable to suppress others' cultivation levels, so it doesn't even scare the cultivators in this world.

He barely escaped from the Return-to-Void of Xue Jin Gang Temple, only to run into Chi Jiuyu, the scavenger.

And his life-saving techniques were completely used up…

Body cultivators are famously short on life-saving techniques.

After all, they've trained their bodies—why would they need so many life-saving methods? Wouldn't that be a waste?

【Congratulations! As the first participant to eliminate an opponent, you may choose one of the following rewards:】

【One: The eliminated opponent's initial supplies】

【Two: Ten percent liberation of auxiliary module performance】

【Three: One global announcement to all remaining participants】

Huh?

Did I just get a loot box?

Chi Jiuyu's gaze drifted among the three options, unable to decide for a moment.

Given her current situation…

Her primordial sword cost 700,000 spirit coins, and her initial supplies were scarce—choosing option one would replenish them.

Along this journey, she hadn't even seen a single valuable spiritual item, let alone anything with even a trace of spiritual energy.

This shows how hard it is to replenish supplies in this world.

After all, it's not her own world—where spiritual plants grow everywhere, and even phoenixes are raised like chickens to eat…

Choosing option two—no need to explain further.

She'd just tested it once—it was incredibly powerful!

Another ten percent liberation would double her performance; maybe she could suppress a Return-to-Void Early Stage down to Spirit Transformation Stage…

With the cultivation level of the cultivators in this world… once you reach Spirit Transformation Stage, aren't they as easy to handle as baby chicks?

Also extremely valuable.

In other words, whether she chose option one or two, both would greatly help her in the upcoming competition.

But this third option…

One global announcement to all remaining participants.

Hmm…

It can't replenish supplies or enhance my combat power—it's simply wasting hard-earned rewards!

It serves no purpose other than showing off and making the others recognize my invincible status.

Hmm!

That's right!

This third option is utterly useless!

"Should I choose one or two…?"

Chi Jiuyu hesitated, but his gaze remained fixed on the third option.

Emm…

Think of it another way—I'm Chi Jiuyu!

Standing apart from the crowd, refusing to conform to the mundane—that's the real me! (End of chapter)