Chapter 270

In the Dongfang Wujie, within the Great Chu Imperial Palace.

Xiang Hongtu frowned deeply as he read the report in his hands.

It stated that beings calling themselves "players" had appeared across all regions of Great Chu.

Their behavior was bizarre and inexplicable by ordinary logic—sometimes killing, sometimes suicide, sometimes screaming…

And these people were immortal, unfeeling, fearless; even when killed, their corpses vanished, then reappeared randomly nearby.

Through interrogating these individuals, they claimed to come from another world and could level up through killing.

After training several condemned prisoners, it was indeed true—these people absorbed Qi into their bodies the very same day.

"Fang Can…"

Silently murmuring that name, Xiang Hongtu stared at the numerous reports mentioning the character "Fang Can."

Two worlds… superpowers… Fang Can…

Seeing the information obtained from players with zero sense of secrecy, Xiang Hongtu decided he must personally attend the upcoming Fen Ding Assembly in two days.

He had originally planned to simply send a fourth-transformation relative from Great Chu, but now, with matters tied to another realm, it could no longer be ignored.

"I hope the Fen Ding Assembly the day after tomorrow brings good news. I hear Fang Can is currently at Su Xin Zhai—hopefully those women don't flay him alive and eat him down to the last bone fragment."

Xiang Hongtu silently thought, then began diligently attending to the pile of official documents before him.

With the mental capacity of a fourth-transformation, he effortlessly finished all the morning memorials; a soft warmth appeared in his eyes.

"Yesterday's handling was too intense—Long'er had just reached first-transformation and couldn't bear it. Today, I'll go to the inner palace to comfort her properly."

Thinking of the woman who resembled his late wife, Xiang Hongtu regretted his violent frenzy yesterday.

Thinking of how Xiang Longtao had fiercely resisted last night, Xiang Hongtu felt no dissatisfaction.

Because the concept of filial piety was never born for Xiang Hongtu's lineage.

On the day Xiang Hongtu became a fourth-transformation, he had, per tradition, beaten his own biological father to death.

After all, Great Chu could have only one Emperor; his father, who was two hundred years old when he fathered him, had a lifespan of a thousand years as a fourth-transformation—unless something unforeseen occurred, he might occupy the throne forever.

Is there such a thing as an 800-year Crown Prince?

Wealth, power, beauty—all should belong to the strong. This was Xiang Hongtu's supreme will upon breaking through to fourth-transformation.

He was the undisputed strongest among all fourth-transformations of this world!

Therefore, wealth naturally gathered in his hands!

Father held power?

Then kill the father without regret—seize the power!

Son is a beauty?

Isn't he born precisely to offer filial piety to me?

Last night, he gave me full filial piety.

It was precisely this savage, tyrannical style that earned him his current achievements.

Slowly rising from the gilded dragon throne, Xiang Hongtu gazed at every brick and tile in Yongle Dadian and shook his head in lament:

"Pity—though Long'er is now the Female Chancellor, the male organ within him from Tao has still not vanished."

"When forcing him to offer filial piety last night, I felt a strange sense of needle against wheat stalk. In a few days, I'll fully refine it away."

Thinking of what would happen soon, Xiang Hongtu felt a faint thrill, then vanished from his spot.

He was going to issue a challenge to his son!

At this moment, nothing mattered more than Long'er offering him filial piety—not players, not Fang Can!

…

Meanwhile, in the Chi Kingdom.

A man with ordinary appearance, rough skin, and dust-covered body spoke calmly:

"The various nations have invited my lineage to Guiyun Peak to discuss matters concerning Fang Can."

"For the past few months, news about Fang Can has been rampant—and it may involve the Three Realms. The Sect Master should indeed go himself," another man nodded in agreement.

If citizens of the Chi Kingdom saw these men, they would be stunned—because every person present was a renowned third- or fourth-transformation martial cultivator.

But to outsiders unfamiliar with the truth, they would be utterly confused.

Because these men's qi was extremely unstable, their bodies fragile beyond measure—not even close to a fourth-transformation, nor even comparable to some Qi-absorbing martialists.

It is known that the process of a martialist shedding their mortal form involves replacing old blood; afterward, their bodies become as hard as iron, their skin as lustrous as jade—standard outcomes.

Yet these men lacked even these basic martial traits—their figures were distorted, resembling middle-aged, lazy, dark-circled recluses, failing even the average standard of Dongfang Wujie.

Compared to martialists, these men leaned far more toward superpowers of the modern world.

Then a slightly overweight man with a beer belly slowly stood and said: "I'll go with the Sect Master. After all, there are so many fourth-transformations there—we must prepare for combat."

"Agreed… the Sect Masters of the other two sects will likely come too. Just remember to watch out for one another," the man called Sect Master replied calmly.

…

In Xiling, a secluded mountain village, an elder nodded silently as he read the letter in his hands:

"The allocation of the Tianji List's furnace-ding? Perfect—Yun'er should finally leave the village."

"After decades of silent seclusion, forcing Yun'er to cultivate to fourth-transformation in this tiny village has been a waste."

"With Yun'er's celestial talent, he ought to be worshipped by all nations, renowned across the land—but for the sake of the Pure Dream Seeking Body, he has lain dormant in this mountain hollow for nearly a century."

"To achieve purity, Yun'er cannot even speak the outside world's language, his eyes are defective, he lacks the five senses, he knows neither pain nor suffering—all to forge the strongest fourth-transformation body."

As he spoke, the elder hurried out of the dilapidated hut, and before him stretched a landscape of clear mountains and pure waters, untouched by urban development.

Before the hut sat a golden-haired boy, crouching and watching a dead, shriveled mantis being slowly dismembered by ants.

Sensing someone approach, the boy turned his head and smiled with utter purity, speaking in an unintelligible dialect: "Yeye, guo lai he Yun'er yi qi kan dong wu!"

The elder's face broke into a satisfied smile as he hurried forward and replied in the village tongue: "Ao! Yun'er, guo ji tian wo dai ni chu qu ao!"

"Zhende? Hao o!"

Hearing that he could go out and play, the golden-haired youth's face showed an expectant expression, then he nodded vigorously.

Having stayed on this small piece of land since birth, he was immensely expectant about everything in the outside world.

Infected by the youth's anticipation, a smile appeared on the old man's face, and he said silently in his heart:

'Yun'er, just be prepared. In two days, I will definitely make the name 【Chixiao】 shake the gods and startle the immortals, renowned throughout the world!'

……

At this moment, following the catfish effect created by Fang Can, powerful martial artists from every corner of Dongfang Wujie all gathered together.

Mountain peaks, grasslands, seabeds, snowy mountains, cities…

Fourth-turn cultivators, normally rarely seen, were now swarming toward the gathering place where Fang Can would be in two days.

Some people had prepared three or five days in advance, arriving early at Guiyun Peak, determined that for the prosperity of their sect over thousands of years, they absolutely could not miss Fang Can, the supreme furnace cauldron.

Yi Tianxing was exactly this type. He was seen holding a small bundle in his hand, leaving behind a half-finished game of Go on the ancient, simple desk before him.

"Grandpa, are you going to attend that meeting?" Yeyun Peak asked curiously.

As a youth who had once been crushed brutally by Fang Can at the various nations' grand competition, he felt a touch of emotion that the psychological shadow that had almost dominated a generation was so easily divided up by the fourth-turn cultivators.

No matter how dashing a figure one might be, without reaching fourth-turn they would ultimately be toyed with like ants, unable to control their own life or death.

Thinking of this, he turned his gaze toward his own grandpa, eyes burning with fervor and worship.

Who could have imagined that one day, relying purely on the Way of Go, one could also become a fourth-turn cultivator.

It was precisely because the old man had ascended to the might of fourth-turn that his Qiyi Pavilion could occupy a place in the Great Zhou.

And as the news spread rapidly, the news of Fang Can's capture also spread throughout Dajiangnanbei.

Xiang Ziyu lay sprawled over her desk, slender fingers idly flicking the odds and ends on the tabletop to build a tower of blocks, a faint melancholy in her eyes, no one knew what she was thinking.

"That kid got captured too." Xiang Ziyu sighed softly: "Although I expected it, I didn't think it would be this fast. It's been less than a month, right?"

"Father Emperor already prepared to set out for Guiyun Peak this morning. I don't know what the final outcome will be."

And as the news spread across the four seas, good news kept coming from within Suxin Studio.

In just three days, more than a dozen female cultivators had broken through a realm thanks to Fang Can's efforts. It could be said that good news arrived every few hours.

One must know that after ascending the Heavenly Ladder, every breakthrough would add at least a hundred years of lifespan. And now Suxin Studio had successfully lain down and won, all thanks to Fang Can's efforts.

Stepping back lightly, Fang Can looked at the two girls before him who had just broken through to second-turn together, and gave a slight nod.

These two were twins. Since childhood they had shared a telepathic link; whenever one felt pain, the other would sense the exact same agony.

Since childhood, they had trained in martial arts together, fought together, and now unexpectedly broken through to second-turn together as well.

"But it's time to leave!"

Fang Can picked up his white robe and slowly put it on, a slight weariness in his expression.

Three days and three nights, without rest, bombarded by high-intensity female vocal noise, his brain constantly flooded with high-frequency electrical signals—even Fang Can was getting a bit fed up.

Looking at the damp Yongle Dadian, virtually every spot was a battlefield where he had fought the enemy, and even Yan Chuqing's agarwood couch bore a human-shaped sweat stain.

Now dust to dust, earth to earth, everything has finally returned to peace!

Turning his head, he was about to ask Yan Chuqing to take him away from this troublesome place, only to be hugged by a group of people immediately after.

"Don't go, I feel I can't leave you anymore." a girl said with tearful eyes.

"Watashi, I want Master Fang Can to train me another hundred times, a thousand times, ten thousand times!"

"Master Fang Can, don't go!"

……

The reluctant voices of the people present rose one after another. After three days of meeting and knowing each other, these people had been completely won over by Fang Can's personal charm (ice).

At this moment, each of them was staring fixedly at the youth with a gaze of deep affection that would shorten one's life, wishing they could devour him whole.

(End of this chapter)