"Did you guys know that something happened at the Lucky Apartments in the north of the city? Another person died suddenly this morning. It's too terrifying."
"Um… That's not scary, is it?"
"I'm not talking about the way he died. I'm talking about his browsing history being made public. Can you guess what he read before he died?"
"Yikes! That's indeed quite terrifying."
...
Yueyang City, 6 p.m.
It was extremely hot and stuffy.
The unemployed Qiao Yuan saw this message in the "First Commandment" group chat.
"It seems like there are more of these things happening recently."
Qiao Yuan's brows were tightly locked as he scrolled through the chat.
[In the past month, strange things have been happening all over the world.]
[Two or three people had died in a short time in a small apartment.]
[At first glance, it doesn't seem that strange. After all, in life, no one can guarantee whether one would see tomorrow or an accident would come first.]
But... This was only one of many strange events.
He continued to flip through the chat history.
[Have you ever seen a post that puts a curse on you?]
[Have you ever seen someone die of thirst even after drinking water?]
[Have you ever seen a person who has been dead for three days jump off a building?]
[Have you ever seen a scenario where an online author's novel continues to be updated even after he's dead?]
[Have you ever seen two perverts competing to see who's more perverted, and then both of them feel that the other party isn't perverted enough, so they pervertedly kill each other?]
"…"
Qiao Yuan had never seen any of these things before, but he has seen the group chat members talk about them every day. Curiously, they all contain a similar line: "I have a friend who saw it with his own eyes."
One or two might be a coincidence, but for the past few months, something has happened almost every week.
Qiao Yuan could not help but doubt this world's reality, because it was almost exactly the same to the world he was in before he transmigrated.
The same economy, culture, and technology…
However, it seemed to contain something that should not have been there.
Qiao Yuan continued browsing.
The group leader released a new announcement.
[The rules of this group.]
[There are no ghosts in this world. I hope that all members of the group will remember this in their hearts. Whoever dares to spread rumors and cause trouble will be reported.]
[Don't think that I can't find you. The internet isn't an illegal place. Your IP address has already exposed everything!]
...
The discussion in the group was getting more and more intense.
If he didn't guess wrong, this phenomenon was called The Revival of Spirit Qi, a novel of Qiao Yuan's previous life.
Suddenly, the group chat was in an uproar once again.
[@All members, everyone, look outside. F*ck, the moon is red again!]
[I saw it. It was so beautiful and so romantic.]
In Qiao Yuan's neighborhood:
"Awesome!"
"Absolutely!"
"The sunset's full of western mountains, drinking alone with the moon, reflecting the beauty at hand, raising a glass to the heavens."
"F*ck!"
"It's so red!"
Hearing the noise outside, Qiao Yuan ran out of the window to take a look.
A bright red moon hung high in the sky, dyeing the entire world red.
Everyone was bathed in the red light as if it was the end of the world!
Everyone was taking photos and discussing curiously, marveling at this spectacle.
Qiao Yuan's face was solemn as he started to reminisce. It seemed he transmigrated to the time the first Crimson Moon appeared.
'What about the second time?'
'Will he be able to pull through?'
While being bathed under the red moon, Qiao Yuan's head suddenly buzzed.
[Simplification System Loading Successful]
[Current Energy: 100]
He had a system?
...
At this time, the Crimson Moon returned to normal. It disappeared just as quickly as it appeared.
Qiao Yuan wasn't in the mood to think about the red moon. His mind was filled with one thought: 'What could this system do?'
'Simplification?'
'Simplify what?'
'If I took out a blueprint of a nuclear bomb, will it was simplify it into a firecracker?
'Eh?'
'Blueprints?'
Suddenly, an idea struck Qiao Yuan. He rummaged through the cabinets of his predecessor and finally found some books, drawings, and exercise books.
He tested them one by one.
The greater the hope, the greater the disappointment. After trying for half a day, there was no reaction. Just when he thought that this was a fake system, he accidentally picked up a novel from the pile of books.
A wuxia novel titled "Number One in the World"
[Indestructible Diamond Body detected.]
[Invulnerable to all evil, golden light protection, indestructible, unrivaled]
[It can be simplified by consuming 50 energy points.]
[Do you want to simplify it?]
Qiao Yuan was overjoyed and immediately chose to simplify it.
[Simplification successful. Indestructible Diamond Body cultivation method = Paint yourself with gold paint]
Qiao Yuan was speechless.
'This... Is this true?'
The books were still the same, nothing had changed.
'Forget it, we'll know whether it's true or not after we try!'
Qiao Yuan quickly made up his mind. He put on his clothes and pants, picked up the money, and went downstairs.
He bought a can of gold paint in the neighborhood and closed the curtains when he got home.
He took a deep breath.
He picked up a brush, dipped it in some paint, and brushed it on his arm.
...
[Indestructible Diamond Body +1]
A notification rang out in his mind.
'It was actually true!'
Qiao Yuan refreshed the page immediately after.
[Indestructible Diamond Body +5]
The more he painted, the higher his proficiency would be.
This system was too outrageous!
Suddenly, Qiao Yuan's ears buzzed, his vision blurred, and he fell to the floor.
He was hungry!
He was very hungry!
Extremely hungry!
A piece of information appeared in his mind:
[Increasing the proficiency of this divine skill would consume one's body's energy as its price. When the energy from food is insufficient, the body will be consumed until the energy requirement is fulfilled.]
He crawled to the refrigerator and opened it with much difficulty. Qiao Yuan crazily stuffed all kinds of food into his mouth.
Uncooked meat, vegetables, fruits, and even garlic...
He devoured it all like a wolf!
Not long after, only when three days' worth of food was completely obliterated, did the hunger finally subsided.
Qiao Yuan quickly ran to the kitchen and then to the bathroom. He turned on the hot water, picked up the steel wool ball, and started to scrub himself.
Fortunately, he hadn't applied too much. Otherwise, the consequences would have been unimaginable.
[Indestructible Diamond Body +1]
The lighter the color, the lower the proficiency.
Finally, it disappeared!
[Indestructible Diamond Body has successfully been cultivated to Level 1 (10 levels in total)].
This cultivation technique seemed to have been upgraded.
...
Qiao Yuan was no longer sleepy and began to study his system.
The parents of his predecessor had passed away a long time ago, so Qiao Yuan had been living alone in the rented apartment, thus it was quite convenient for him to stay up late.
It didn't take long for Qiao Yuan to understand the system's function.
The wuxia novel that he had accidentally come into contact with had a reaction with the system.
Qiao Yuan had checked the novel before. It was a very ordinary wuxia novel, and he wasn't even sure if it was the original. The main character in the novel cultivated the Indestructible Diamond Body, an external technique that tempered the body. It was invincible and unrivaled.
The true purpose of this system was to modify the user's body through simplified cultivation methods.
The modified Indestructible Diamond Body was very different from the novel.
It seemed to be more like a skill in a game than an external cultivation technique!
A series of messages appeared in Qiao Yuan's mind.
[Those who had mastered the Indestructible Diamond Body would be immune to all evil and be invincible!]
"Eh?"
Qiao Yuan let out a sound of doubt. The steel wire ball had been brushed too hard, causing blood to appear on his arm, but it had now returned to normal.
Not only that!
After a careful observation, his body seemed to have changed a little.
When he came to face the mirror, the fat on his body had decreased a lot, and even the air about him had also dramatically changed.
'It passively increases the various attributes of my body?'
In order to verify his conjecture, Qiao Yuan did a hundred push-ups in a row and was still doing it with ease.
Qiao Yuan, who had been in sub-healthy condition before, could barely do ten.
However, this set of divine techniques was good... It just needed him to replenish his energy by eating too much.
Three days' worth of food was only enough to keep him warm!
'This can't go on. Is there any way to solve this problem?'
Looking at the wuxia novel in his hand, Qiao Yuan had an idea.
...
After that, he completely rummaged through all the cabinets as if he was moving house. Needless to say, he really found many more books stashed in various corners.
Novels containing low-level martial arts, high-level martial arts, Xianxia, fantasy, supernatural, romantic, and even erotic ones...
He still had 50 energy points left, so he decided to give it a try!
He touched them one by one.
As time passed, Qiao Yuan's brows furrowed more and more. There was no reaction from Engulfing and Covering the Starry Sky...
'Did it not conform to the rules of this world?'
'Or could it be unmodifiable for the time being?'
After two hours, Qiao Yuan finally found a few suitable novels in the half-human tall pile of books.
Without exception, only novels below the level of high-level martial arts would react.
Therefore, blowing up a planet with one punch seemed like an extravagant hope.
After many experiments, Qiao Yuan had also discovered a pattern. A wuxia novel contained a lot of internal energy. In addition, there were all kinds of external energy, pills, weapons...
Unfortunately, every time he touched it, the result was different, and it all indicated that the energy was insufficient.
Qiao Yuan thought about it seriously for a while, and another idea came to his mind.
'If... If I buy a low-level or mid-level martial arts secret manual, does that mean I'll have a fixed choice?'
'Also... What about buying some books on pills and weapons?'
According to Qiao Yuan's guess, it was very likely to succeed.
...
He picked up the book 'The Eight Parts of the Heavenly Dragon'.
[The Classics of Tendon Changing detected.]
[The warm Qi in the dantian spread to all parts of the body, accumulating in the five viscera and six bowels, in the flesh and blood, and on the skin and on in the blood vessels, strengthening the tendons and bones, and improving cultivation.]
[It can be simplified by consuming 40 energy points.]
[Do you want to simplify it?]
Finally, he had successfully scanned one of them, and this one required a relatively small amount of energy.
'Try it!'
If his guess was correct, he needed an internal strength cultivation skill.
[Simplification successful. The Classics of Tendon Changing cultivation method = Drink hot water]
Qiao Yuan: "????"
'F*ck, isn't this too outrageous as well?! It replaced internal energy with hot water?!'
'I like it!'
After ten minutes, there were three glasses of water in front of Qiao Yuan.
Cold water, hot water, and lukewarm water.
There was no reaction when cold water was poured into his stomach, nor for the lukewarm water.
When he drank the hot water though…
[Cultivation +1]
Qiao Yuan was overjoyed and continued to drink a few more glasses.