Chapter 3: Martial Soul: Everlasting Light
"This is my Spirit... the Changming Sword that seals the ancient beast, Vermillion Bird?"
[Inorin's Note: "Changming" (长明) translates to "Everlasting Light," which is the basis of the chapter title.]
Qin Xuan held the longsword, his hand trembling slightly—not from fear, but from raw, unadulterated agitation. The blade itself was a deep, ancient crimson, unblemished, with demonic-like patterns etched along its length. It felt impossibly heavy, yet as light as a feather, a paradox of power.
He focused his mental force. High above, the majestic Vermillion Bird let out a low, echoing cry. It circled once, a creature of pure, ancient fire, before diving straight into the sword.
The blade pulsed with a golden-red light, and a faint crackle of electricity danced along its edge as the Spirit Beast's soul settled into its new vessel.
He poured his spirit power into the Spirit. The longsword hummed in his hand, glowing with an intense reddish light as red lightning flickered violently along the metal.
His first spirit ring, a brilliant yellow, lit up on its own. Information flooded his mind—a seamless integration of knowledge that required no deliberate memorization.
[First Spirit Ability: Sword Breaking the Sky.]
It was an instant amplification ability, increasing his attack power and speed by a staggering 50%. Its attack range, he understood, would also expand as his cultivation level improved.
He needed to see its power. Aiming for a quiet patch of the forest floor far from the path, he casually swung the blade.
He was not prepared for the result.
The slash was terrifying. A dazzling sword light erupted, and the phantom of the Vermillion Bird burst from the blade, transforming into a crescent-shaped slash nearly two meters long. It moved like a bolt of blood-red lightning, instantly released from his palm.
The sheer brilliance forced him to instinctively close his eyes.
When he opened them again, the forest was silent.
He saw that the ground looked as if it had been smote by a god. A deep trench, nearly seven or eight zhang long and more than half a meter deep, had been instantly carved into the earth. The soil on both sides of the trench was scorched black.
[Inorin's Note: One "zhang" (丈) is roughly 3.33 meters (11 feet), and one "jin" (斤) is about 0.5 kg (1.1 lbs). The slash was about 23-27 meters long.]
At the very end of the slash, a massive boulder weighing over a thousand jin had been neatly split in half. A second later, the two halves exploded with a deafening roar, sending shrapnel flying.
"Holy crap…!!!"
Qin Xuan's face remained expressionless, but his heart was pounding with a wild, triumphant satisfaction.
This was utterly overbearing!
He was indeed worthy of being one of the top talents of Spirit Hall's younger generation, second only to Bibi Dong.
He was a Spirit King, yet his First Spirit Ability alone possessed such devastating power. No wonder he had been accepted as a disciple by those two Titled Douluo, Qian Jun and Jiang Mo, who possessed the Coiling Dragon Rod Spirit that sealed an ancient evil dragon.
If he cultivated diligently for another 10 or 20 years and broke through to the Titled Douluo realm, his power would be unimaginable. He might not be unrivaled among those of the same rank, but dealing with Qian Xunji... yes, dealing with Qian Xunji should be no problem at all.
Yes. His goal wasn't to be unrivaled. He just hoped to be able to brutally beat Qian Xunji when they were at the same cultivation level.
Being truly unrivaled among the same rank was too difficult a claim.
After all, there was Tang Hao of the Clear Sky Sect, and his "bug-like" secret technique, the Great Sumeru Hammer. In a one-on-one fight at the same cultivation level, few people were truly confident in defeating him.
More often than not, victory against such an opponent still needed to be achieved through strategy.
For example... ahem, never mind. Thinking about Tang Hao was useless right now. He was currently being targeted by that old pervert Qian Xunji, and whether he could even survive the coming ordeal was an unknown.
He knew his own capabilities.
Although his talent was good, he was still just a Spirit King.
He had no decent self-created Spirit Ability—no technique that relied not on spirit rings but on his own insight and spirit power. More importantly, he didn't possess a single Spirit Bone.
Wanting to defeat a Spirit Saint, or even a Spirit Douluo, in that hellish place... in Slaughter City, where Spirit Abilities were forbidden... was simply a fantasy.
Did he really have to run away?
No, that would probably just play right into Qian Xunji's hands. With that pervert's desire for control, he would never tolerate anyone coveting Bibi Dong. He wouldn't tolerate anyone even thinking about it.
That good-for-nothing Yu Xiaogang was safe only because Bibi Dong was protecting him to the death. Qin Xuan had no such protection.
If he fled, he would most likely be branded a traitor and hunted down. He feared the moment he stepped out of Spirit City, Qian Xunji would dispatch Titled Douluo to assassinate him.
Afterward, when his teachers, Qian Jun and Jiang Mo, asked about his whereabouts, Qian Xunji could say whatever he wanted. "Qin Xuan betrayed Spirit Hall. He was executed." Who could argue with the Supreme Pontiff?
It was a hellish start.
This was not how you play the game.
Could it be that he had to ask his two teachers for a Spirit Bone? Or perhaps try to delay the time of going to Slaughter City? Or... simply not go at all?
He shook his head. He definitely had to go. Recalling Qian Jun and Jiang Mo, with their personalities, although they would worry about his safety, they were staunch Spirit Hall traditionalists.
If he, their disciple, backed down from a challenge issued by the Supreme Pontiff, he would probably be expelled from their tutelage on the spot for cowardice.
The only viable solution was to acquire a Spirit Bone. He desperately needed one, especially a head Spirit Bone. Without enough mental force to support his mind, he simply couldn't resist the dense, maddening killing intent that permeated the very air of Slaughter City.
Just as Qin Xuan was agonizing over how to approach Qian Jun and Jiang Mo for such an priceless treasure, a sudden, cold, mechanical female voice echoed directly in his mind:
[Ding! System energy absorption successful!]
[Ding! Loading current World template!]
[Ding! Detecting living organism!]
[Ding! Binding organism!]
[Ding! Binding successful!]
[Ding! The Great Villain System is at your service!]
[Automatically opening host's personal panel!]
[Host: Qin Xuan]
[Age: 19]
[Spirit: Changming Sword (Sealed: Vermillion Bird)]
[Cultivation: Level 54 Spirit King]
[Spirit Ring Configuration: Yellow, Yellow, Purple, Purple, Black]
[Physique Level: Spirit King]
[Mental Force Level: Spirit King]
[Talent: S+]
[Self-created Spirit Ability: None]
[Emotion Value: 0]
[Blind Box: 0]
Qin Xuan froze.
Hmm? The System is here!
Could it be that the God of Transmigration finally heard my complaints?!
As a veteran reader of transmigration and rebirth novels from his past life, Qin Xuan had long prepared for this.
He had resolved that if he ever woke up in a strange place, he would never foolishly shout, "Are you filming a TV show? The props and set design are so realistic!" like some protagonists did just to seek inner security.
Nor would he act like those idiotic urban novel protagonists, shouting about his "golden finger" aloud for the whole world to hear.
He suppressed the urge to celebrate, which he had failed to do when he first recovered his past life memories.
Instead, he simply used his mental force to nonchalantly browse the System.
"The Great Villain System... that's quite novel. Does it mean I have to trigger a certain event, and then obtain rewards from a certain person or place?"
Qin Xuan speculated in his mind as he explored the interface. He found that this so-called Great Villain System was very simple. It only had three modules: a System panel, a Mall, and a Turntable.
The System panel was what he had just seen, displaying his personal attributes.
The Mall was also understandable; it contained a dazzling array of items for purchase. The selection ranged from minor spirit rings and elixirs to various specialized tools, and even... God Positions.
It has everything, he thought, except, ironically, the Spirit Bones I actually need.
He noted that most of the items were auxiliary and did not directly enhance his cultivation or raw strength. God Positions and the like were too far away to even consider.
However, Qin Xuan immediately took a liking to three items: the mask [Thousand Faces], the clothing [Phoenix Fire], and the [Godly Revival Coin].
[Thousand Faces]: Allows the user to change their appearance and aura at will.
[Phoenix Fire]: A set of robes infused with spirit power, remaining spotless. Possesses defensive capabilities, can automatically repair itself after being damaged, and is resistant to blades, swords, and miasma. Its style can be freely changed. It also has the effect of disguising one's Spirit and spirit rings.
[Godly Revival Coin]: The host revives fully ten minutes after death. It can also be used to revive a target who died within one month; the resurrected target will be 100% loyal to the host.
The importance of the Godly Revival Coin went without saying.
But [Thousand Faces] and [Phoenix Fire]... with these two items, he could leave Spirit Hall! He could go into hiding, wait until Qian Xunji died, and then find a way to return. Or, he could simply not return at all, living freely and starting a new life.
Unfortunately, a glance at the prices dashed his hopes. [Thousand Faces] cost 10,000 Emotion Value. [Phoenix Fire] was even more expensive, requiring 50,000. He couldn't get them for now.
As for the revival coin, at 1,000,000 Emotion Value per coin, it was utterly, purely unaffordable. Even a Level 3 God Position only cost 5,000,000 Emotion Value.
The Turntable was, as expected, a lottery.
The rewards were random. Each draw consumed 1,000 Emotion Value, and the prize pool refreshed every two years. He could only draw once per month, but the draws could be stacked. The prizes were tempting: it could randomly award Spirit Bones, Immortal Herbs, elixirs to boost cultivation, and various strange cultivation methods. It was just a matter of probability.
Both the Mall and the Turntable required this "Emotion Value."
But what the hell was this Emotion Value?
Qin Xuan reopened the System panel, his gaze fixed on the last column. He asked in his mind: "System, how do I acquire this Emotion Value?"
[Ding! You only need to bind characters who are in opposition to the host—who are 'great scapegoats.' When a bound scapegoat generates resentment toward the host, you can obtain Emotion Value.]
[The higher the notoriety of the opposing character in the original Douluo novel, the greater the Emotion Value obtained.]
[If a bound character dies, they will no longer generate Emotion Value.]
[Inorin Note:
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