Chapter 119
“Little System, compared to your judgment, I still trust my own.” Lu Chuan answered firmly. “I think the person before us isn’t Cang Jiu. Couldn’t it be some kind of avatar or projection? Plenty of abilities and items can do that.”
[Host, but it really is Cang Jiu,] #888 couldn’t follow Lu Chuan’s logic.
“Then your system must be malfunctioning—or Cang Jiu has a way to hide from your scans.” Lu Chuan said.
[Host, where exactly is all this confidence coming from?]
“Logic.” Lu Chuan said seriously. “My deduction fits common sense and logic. Sure, what you said might happen by chance—but in a dungeon world, coincidences are inevitabilities.”
#888 was speechless.
Meanwhile, Shen Li and Edith, facing Cang Jiu directly, had barely regained their composure.
Cang Jiu didn’t step closer; instead, he tossed them two strips of cloth, motioning for them to blindfold themselves to lessen the influence.
“These are blessed by monks and the most devout believers,” Cang Jiu said. “They’ll help calm your minds and reduce the Desire Authority’s effect on you.”
Shen Li and Edith obediently tied the cloth over their eyes.
If this Executor wanted to harm them, he wouldn’t need to bother with such theatrics—he could’ve just acted already.
And Lu Chuan had said this Executor wasn’t their enemy. Their purpose in coming here was only to verify whether Lu Chuan’s guess was correct.
“You mustn’t go any farther,” Cang Jiu said after seeing them blindfolded. He gave a light flick of his sword, severing the road behind them.
His main body was still absorbing the Seed of Desire and couldn’t be disturbed.
Clearly, his actions had been seen through.
Not that he’d intended to keep Lu Chuan in the dark for long anyway.
“We understand. We’ll never reveal anything about you, nor dig any deeper. If you don’t believe us, you can erase our memories before we leave this dungeon.” Shen Li offered in a negotiating tone. “One more thing—our companion has a [Resonance] constitution that’s drawn a lot of divine attention. We’d appreciate your help with that.”
Tracking the Executor was an exhausting and dangerous task.
Even though Lu Chuan had said Cang Jiu wasn’t bloodthirsty, there was no guarantee he wouldn’t decide to kill them all.
So Lu Chuan and Shen Li had planned two escape routes.
One: Shen Li and Edith would talk to Cang Jiu, offer to have their memories erased, and promise not to pry further. That way they’d put everything on the table, showing they weren’t fools, and also neutralizing any murderous intent.
Two: rely on Messiah.
Messiah’s allure to gods lay mainly in his constitution.
The [Resonance] trait allowed low- and mid-tier gods to fully possess him, granting them a body they could freely move with inside the dungeon—an ability usually reserved for high-tier gods.
So Messiah’s plan was essentially to use himself as bait to lure gods in.
The gods he attracted would act as a shield in any confrontation with the Executor.
If the Executor didn’t intend to kill them and even helped them leave the dungeon, they’d assist him in destroying those gods—offering goodwill. But if the Executor still meant to kill them, Messiah would drag those gods’ attention right to him.
The Executor might devour gods, but didn’t the gods also crave devouring him?
Even if those gods only managed to tie the Executor up for a few days, that’d be enough time for the others to escape or report to the main system of the Evil World Game.
Either way, they wouldn’t lose.
Put nicely, the strategy was “drive the tiger to swallow the wolf.” Less politely, it was “killing with a borrowed knife.”
Neither side was a good thing for players—whichever one lost would be good news.
Cang Jiu listened to Shen Li, silent and unmoving.
Thankfully, Shen Li was calm and didn’t press, just waiting quietly.
“Lu Chuan really does plan well.” Cang Jiu suddenly said.
Perhaps Lu Chuan truly didn’t know what Cang Jiu was up to. But when he couldn’t fully deduce the truth, he didn’t obsess over it—he prepared every fallback in advance. Wasn’t that also a kind of wisdom?
Besides, Lu Chuan couldn’t have done this alone.
He had a team of excellent companions willing to confront the Executor for his sake. That, too, was a kind of trust.
Humans were such strange creatures.
On one hand, they were weak, cold, and betrayal was commonplace; on the other, they were strong, passionate, and willing to lay down their lives for friends.
The Main God System of the Evil World Game had traversed countless worlds. In the end, it abandoned nurturing its own creations and instead pulled humans in as players, bestowing upon them all sorts of abilities. Perhaps it was because it saw potential in humanity.
Compared to preset creations, humans—complex and ever-changing—likely had a much higher chance of producing the kind of talents the system desired.
“He’s the future guildmaster of our Star Guild, so of course he needs some real ability,” Shen Li said with relief. He gestured toward Cang Jiu and added earnestly, “If there’s ever a chance, I hope Lord Executor will lend us more of your help.”
Since Cang Jiu had spoken that way, it meant he intended to spare them—and even help.
That was enough.
That was all they had wanted.
—
Meanwhile, with Messiah’s group—
Xi Jiangyuan felt the air growing colder as everything around him began to warp.
He looked up, dazed, and saw only a thin line of sky. The rest was swallowed by towering trees whose canopies blotted out the sun.
Just ten minutes ago, this had been nothing more than a barren little path, the tallest weeds barely reaching his knees.
But in mere moments they had grown madly, transforming into a dense forest. The temperature dropped with each passing second, and snowflakes even gathered on the branches.
But it was autumn!
Even the dullest mind could sense something was terribly wrong.
Xi Jiangyuan wanted to take Messiah and Starry Shasha and run.
To him, Messiah seemed too gentle to fight, and Starry Shasha was still just a minor. As a strong man, it was his duty to protect them.
“We might have been targeted by some evil god. This graveyard really is a problem. Last time, I stumbled into a god-descending ritual, and this time we’ve run into deities again. We might have wandered into the domain of a powerful dungeon.” Xi Jiangyuan’s thoughts spun rapidly, recalling every bit of knowledge he had studied.
His teachers had taught him: in a large dungeon world, newbies shouldn’t roam aimlessly. If you stray into the territory of a high-level dungeon, the best chance of survival is to retreat immediately.
So his first instinct was to run.
But when he tried to lead Messiah and Shasha away, a pack of snakes, insects, rats, and ants blocked their path.
Mutated into the size of grown men, they glared at them with ferocious faces, refusing to budge.
“I have weapons, I—” Xi Jiangyuan hurriedly reached into his system inventory. He tried to recall what other tools he had.
“Ew, what are those things? So ugly!” Shasha clenched her fists and charged forward.
“Wait, it’s dangerous—” Xi Jiangyuan raised his weapon, ready to rush in after her, but froze.
Shasha darted like an agile little fox among the monsters, twisting and weaving. Her punches landed with terrifying force—one blow caved half a rat’s head in.
Xi Jiangyuan stood stunned, thinking he must be dreaming.
Huh?
“Careful,” Messiah said calmly, catching the blade-like limb of a bug that lunged at Xi Jiangyuan.
With just a light twist, he ripped the creature’s forelimb clean off.
“Don’t just stand there—move,” Messiah smiled. “Or you’ll be an easy target.”
“O-okay, okay, right!” Xi Jiangyuan snapped out of his daze, nodding frantically.
From a distance, Lu Chuan and Lilus, hidden and watching, nearly laughed themselves sick.
“Hahaha, who knew Xi Jiangyuan used to be such a gullible sweet fool?” Lilus wheezed. Back in the Whistle dungeon, he’d suffered miserably at Xi’s hands—even burning himself bald. Seeing Xi Jiangyuan like this now finally soothed his resentment.
“Messiah looks so gentle, but he fights even better than me,” Lu Chuan muttered. “Shasha being strong, that I expected—her terrible ability forced her to toughen up just to survive. But Messiah too? That’s unfair.”
Which left only one conclusion—he was the weakest in the team.
Impossible! When had he ever ranked last at anything?
“Messiah has the [Consonance] physique,” Lilus explained. “It means his body is strong enough to serve as a vessel for gods. That’s why deities chase him. And if a divine vessel couldn’t fight, what use would it be? His power can’t only benefit the gods—the system isn’t that biased. I know he has an innate power that carries anti-divine properties, especially against lesser gods and their servants.”
The [Consonance] physique also had another name: Godbody.
High gods had their own vessels. For lesser deities, the shortcut was to seize Messiah’s “unclaimed” body.
“Lu Chuan, if you spent half the energy you put into making money on training your combat stats, you wouldn’t be like this now,” Lilus teased. “Sure, money has power. But sometimes, it’s fragile and useless.”
Lu Chuan rolled his eyes.
“That’s just the wrong use of money!”
Not money’s fault.
By now, Messiah’s group had already beaten down the swarm and were preparing to leave the area.
The mid- and low-tier gods began to reveal themselves at last.
They all wanted that body. But there was only one.
So, instead of fighting each other, they fused.
One new god, born of many.
“Stay back.” Messiah shoved Shasha and Xi Jiangyuan behind him. “They’re coming.”
In an instant, the choking weeds shriveled and died.
It was as if the Milky Way itself fell from the heavens—ribbons of light gathered and streamed straight toward Messiah.
“We can’t wait anymore—let’s help!” Lilus charged in.
Lu Chuan wasn’t about to lag behind.
Normally, deities couldn’t appear in the mortal realm without a god-descending ritual. At most, they could project fragments of themselves. But when combined, even shadows of many gods could seize a vessel.
Messiah knew his physique all too well. So when the rivers of starlight poured down, he turned and ran, flinging fallen bug corpses into the torrent.
The light streams flooded into the corpses.
The bugs’ eyes snapped open—revived in grotesque new forms. Their limbs twisted, reshaping toward human-like bodies.
But within seconds—
BOOM!
They exploded, unable to contain the power.
Xi Jiangyuan had already bolted several steps.
Lilus seized more carcasses and hurled them into the descending light.
Meanwhile, Lu Chuan doused the weeds with liquor and set them ablaze.
The flames roared high, lighting up the sky.
“Mr. Jin? What are you doing here?” Xi Jiangyuan blurted out.
“Oh, so you’re all together?” he said next.
“You teamed up to trick me—!” His rant was cut short when Lu Chuan stuffed a rag into his mouth.
“Shut it! Do you not see what’s happening? Stay put and keep quiet!” Lu Chuan barked.
But before he could finish, a familiar silhouette appeared beside him.
“Wait, you—” Lu Chuan turned, eyes widening.
Both Lilus and Messiah froze.
“Are you all okay?” Shen Li and Edith came running, faces anxious.
“We’re fine.”
Cang Jiu was already standing before the galactic torrent.
The light froze—then tried to scatter into countless points and flee.
[The Executor.]
[Why is the Executor here?]
[The Main God—it must be deliberate.]
…
Cang Jiu said nothing. He simply drew his sword.
The gold ingot on it chimed twice.
The enormous ribbon of light shattered into countless fragments.
The escaping motes scattered across the cosmos—but the sword’s glow followed them, cutting across the universe itself, leaving faint wounds upon the true bodies of distant gods.
The wounds healed quickly. But the force embedded in them took root, like seeds sprouting slowly within the gods’ bodies—awaiting the day they would burst forth.
“Benefactor!” Xi Jiangyuan cried out with joy. “It’s so good you’re here too!”
“Xi Jiangyuan, the dream ends here.” Cang Jiu looked at him calmly.
“Benefactor, what do you mean?” Xi Jiangyuan blinked in confusion.
“You met new players, formed a new team, and cleared a dungeon safely. Everything you wanted—you’ve already accomplished it.”
“That’s where the dream ends.”
What you longed for—I’ve already given you.
As soon as Xi Jiangyuan finished speaking, he saw Cang Jiu’s finger already right in front of his eyes.
No—
Cang Jiu’s finger had pierced straight through his head.
“This seed… it’s time you returned it to me.”
On Cang Jiu’s fingertip, a glittering seed was pulled out from Xi Jiangyuan’s forehead.
—
The timeline shifted to fifty years earlier.
Xi Jiangyuan was being chased by ghouls behind him, running in panic along a certain main road.
He had only wanted to come out and look for clues, to surprise his captain and teammates. But somehow, he’d taken the wrong path and accidentally stumbled into a ghoul ritual to summon a god.
Fortunately—or unfortunately—his luck was so rotten it looped back around: he arrived just at the key moment of the ritual, which gave him a brief chance to escape.
Xi Jiangyuan had no choice but to run down the road, hoping to meet someone who might make the ghouls give up their pursuit.
But the farther he ran, the narrower the road became.
Soon, there was nothing ahead but a mountain cave.
Stopping meant death; not stopping also meant death.
Gritting his teeth, Xi Jiangyuan dashed straight into the cave.
At worst, he could use the terrain inside to take a few of the ghouls down with him. Kill one and it’s even; kill two and it’s profit!
But the ghouls outside didn’t follow him in.
Just as they reached the cave entrance, some force crushed them into a puddle of blood.
Xi Jiangyuan was about to run back out when he realized he couldn’t move.
He could only watch helplessly as his body stepped forward, deeper into the cave.
Wait.
Something was wrong with this cave.
Weren’t there piles of bones outside when he came in?
Why did he have to enter this cave instead of finding another road?
Why hadn’t those ghouls come in after him?
Xi Jiangyuan’s mind was foggy; his will wavered on the edge.
[Player sanity value has dropped sharply.]
[Current sanity: 70. Please stay alert.]
[God possession detected. Full possession in one minute. Countdown begins.]
[Current sanity: 60 — base level for human sanity.]
Xi Jiangyuan’s body was no longer under his control.
When his sanity hit 60, he dimly recalled: he had been caught by the ghouls.
They had performed a divine descent ritual on him, allowing some being to descend and temporarily inhabit his body.
The ghouls weren’t hunting him; they were following—escorting him—always guiding him along the road, into the cave.
And now, the god inhabiting him had reached its destination.
Every step Xi Jiangyuan took made him cough blood.
His limbs, organs, and senses were nearly corroded by divine power.
Xi Jiangyuan wasn’t ignorant.
Gods could possess ordinary players, but only for a short time; within minutes, the player would die. Only one in a million players—the so-called “divine vessel”—could fully bear a god’s power.
[Finally, I’ve found it. Your authority is here.]
[The God of Desire.]
[Just ahead, just ahead!]
[Once I seize the God of Desire’s authority, I’ll become the true God of Dreams!]
…
Xi Jiangyuan’s mind was being churned into paste by divine energy. He could sense the god inside him was both ecstatic and cautious.
Even though his body had almost become a skeleton, as long as it hadn’t turned to dust, it could still serve as the god’s vehicle.
Xi Jiangyuan tumbled heavily to the ground.
His head separated from his body—yet his consciousness lingered for a moment, clinging to the last threads of divine power.
Ah.
So this is what my body looks like from this angle?
I’m really not willing to die.
I want to live. I want to explore more thrilling dungeons. I want teammates who will never betray or exploit me. I want to become a player on the Master Ranking.
Xi Jiangyuan’s heart was full of too many desires.
He couldn’t accept this.
He had studied and worked so hard to become a player—yet to die so meaninglessly in this dungeon? He couldn’t accept it!
Only at death’s door did he understand: his captain and teammates had used him.
But it was too late.
Unwilling—he was so unwilling!
I want to live!
I want!
I want, I want, I want!!!
[Very well, as you wish.]
At the brink of death, Xi Jiangyuan seemed to hear another faint, ethereal voice.
His powerful desires condensed into a seed—
A thumb-sized, dreamlike, beautiful glass bead.
The Seed of Desire.
It entered Xi Jiangyuan’s body, repairing his form, reviving the dead player. At last, in a daze, he staggered out of the cave and collapsed at the tavern entrance.
No one knew what this ordinary human player had done.
No one knew that a certain team in the tavern had died under bizarre circumstances.
From this dungeon onward, a player named “Xi Jiangyuan” began to rise to fame, using his unique dream-related powers to become the youngest player ever to reach the Master Ranking—
Until the rule of the top players slowly arrived.
The buff against divine influence took effect.
Only then did Xi Jiangyuan start to recall that, long ago, when he was still a rookie, something strange had happened to him.
And his teammates, after spending more time with him, also noticed something odd about Xi Jiangyuan—and how, in dungeons, gods seemed obsessively drawn to him.
One day, Wen Zhi blocked Xi Jiangyuan’s path.
“Captain, I don’t care what’s inside you, but we should find a way to destroy it.”
Author’s Note:
Lu Chuan’s own “Seed of Desire” is that gold ingot.
