The distant sun was gradually buried by the mountain shadows, its dying embers casting a blood-red tint over the clouds piled like snow.
Xu Yuan stood at the window, frowning tightly as he looked at his own palm.
He had still underestimated the power of Tian Liuli's United Heart Curse.
Unexpectedly, even the fifth girl couldn't escape its lock-on range.
The fifth girl could also be considered a girl? Shivering with cold anger!
Moreover, even when he filled his head at noon with racy images of the two of them and fell asleep, attempting to exploit a loophole through a nocturnal emission, it didn't work; he was directly awakened in pain.
It's simply preposterous!
However, it's not like there were no solutions.
Xu Yuan remembered a tool he had obtained in the game called Deceiving the Heavens to Cross the Sea.
As long as he got it, fooling the United Heart Curse on his hand should not be a problem.
It's just that, with his current strength, that thing was somewhat tricky to handle.
Forget it.
After all, he considered this physique merely the potentially fastest path for the time being, but it was unstable. Even if it truly yielded effects, he wouldn't necessarily dare to use it, about as much as his soft and mushy feelings; although they could speed things up, they might not take him very far.
He rubbed his brow, subdued his thoughts, and his mind settled like tea leaves dropping into a pot, swaying and sinking.
Swiftly, on the Dantian as dark as the night above, a small stone emitting dazzling crystal light appeared within his inner vision.
"Nine Revolutions Chaos Art... a mysterious incomplete Cultivation Technique I acquired by chance," he said.
A classic formulaic Cultivation Technique, also the hard-earned benefit the brain-dead planner finally granted the protagonist.
"Although this Cultivation Technique isn't as fast as the Nine Heavens Pure Clear Art obtained by Lin Qingque, nor as domineering as the Liuli Heaven Emperor Fiend practiced by Tian Liuli, it still has its unique aspects."
Well... it's really just better at hiding.
That's why this morning, even Mu Qianyan, at the Primordial Spirit realm, hadn't noticed his feigned injury.
And then, there's the classic difficulty of breaking through, and the formidable power,
But this strength is only relative to others.
After all, in the subsequent plot of the game, even when he later obtained other higher-level Cultivation Techniques, he was still repeatedly beaten up by the five female leads in turn.
The more Xu Yuan thought about it, the more he felt the planner's bias. The golden finger given to him was stingy, while the golden fingers given to the other female leads were all like cheats.
There was simply no justice.
But his annoyance was like leaves floating on the water, blown away to distance by an inexplicable gust of wind.
He stood in place, his body as erect as a sword, while the Nine Revolutions Chaos Art in his Dantian suddenly started to circulate.
The surroundings were serene, yet the sound of a tiger's roar whistled past his ears, akin to the howl of the wind.
When he opened his eyes again, a hint of surprise inevitably flashed across Xu Yuan's eyes.
At this moment, only a sliver of the setting sun remained.
The last dim glimmer of a dying fire in the center cast an uncertain light upon his face.
"How did I suddenly break through?" Xu Yuan wondered, feeling the rising surge within his body with a mix of surprise and uncertainty.
As the Spiritual Power swelled, he could feel a sensation of strength utterly different from before.
If he were to convert it into game attributes, a mid-Foundation Establishment phase's attack power and physique are roughly twice that of the early phase. Yet by his own current sensation, he felt that he was at least four or five times stronger than before.
Although he was still too weak compared to those sickly girls who easily transcended two major realms to fight at higher levels, if he faced an opponent of the same level, it would be utterly overwhelming.
"Is it because I've traversed through worlds? Or is it because..."
Xu Yuan furrowed his brows, utterly bewildered by the situation.
After traversing, not only had his physique transformed, but even his Cultivation Technique had altered, truly bizarre. It was as though his traversal had indeed been orchestrated by someone.
…
While Xu Yuan felt uneasy, in an opulent pavilion built upon a cliff not far from his dwelling,
Tian Liuli stood before the window, gazing at the same dying sun before her that was identical to the one she had seen at the Qiushui Shengong. As the rosy glow receded from the sky like a retreating tide, her delicate eyebrows slightly furrowed and her phoenix eyes narrowed, sensing that something was off.
She hadn't thought much of it this morning.
But now, calming down to reflect, she felt a sense of discordance.
Although Xu Yuan's intervention between their showdown was very much in line with his personality,
The timing was strangely off.
His appearance seemed to prevent both of them from getting hurt. In reality, however, he had caused them even greater harm.
"Is it a coincidence, or an accident?"
Tian Liuli murmured, recalling the images from even earlier memories, and as she flipped her snow-white wrist, an ancient copper coin appeared in her palm.
The copper coin was tainted with green rust, mottled and patchy, the patterns barely discernible; only by tracing the embossed marks could she make out the four characters for "peerless elegance."
"Should I try? Maybe it's just my imagination after all."
A rare hint of hesitation flickered in Tian Liuli's beautiful eyes.
It wasn't that using it required a great cost, but rather, whether it was worth it to use it for such a trivial matter.
"But then again, what good would it do for Mr. Xu?"
Tian Liuli couldn't make sense of this.
But...
"Regardless, I'll know if I give it a try."
She extended her palm flat and placed the Heavenly Mystery Coin in its center.
"This morning, Mr. Xu did that on purpose."
After murmuring to herself for a while, Tian Liuli tossed the copper coin lightly.
With a clink, the copper coin spun once on the ground before wobbling and toppling over, the words "peerless elegance" on the "correct" side facing up towards her.
"How could it be...?"
Tian Liuli couldn't make sense of this.
Why would Xu Yuan do such a thing?
Doing so, there should be no benefit for him either.
Today was the first day they had met and there was no conflict between them, was there?
Or perhaps, the matter about calling off the engagement mentioned by Lin Qingque made him feel dishonored?
No, that shouldn't be the case either, should it?
After all, that was only Lin Qingque's side of the story, and even so, no matter how one looked at it, it seemed that Lin Qingque was the only one who would suffer from it.
Suddenly, Tian Liuli remembered Lin Qingque's ability to read minds.
Could it be that he had known about Lin Qingque's ability long ago?
Was he deliberately using me to weaken Lin Qingque?
"Why bother guessing, knowing whether Mr. Xu truly likes me will tell."
"No, asking that is meaningless."
Tian Liuli's gaze flickered.
The thought was unimportant, the outcome was what truly mattered.
"Mr. Xu will be with me in the future."
This time, the copper coin stood upright on the ground.
"Both right and wrong?"
Tian Liuli's face first showed joy, but then it abruptly darkened. After thinking it over for a moment, she spoke coldly to the copper coin on the ground: "Mr. Xu will be with his junior sister Lin Qingque in the future."
The copper coin stood upright on the ground once again.
After asking three questions, the confusion in Tian Liuli's heart did not decrease but instead increased.
According to the divination, the events of the morning were indeed deliberate on his part, but in the future, both she and Lin Qingque were his Dao Companions?
This indicated that he should have no malice toward either of them, right?
"Mr. Xu... what exactly does he intend to do?"
After meditating for a moment, Tian Liuli abandoned the idea of probing further.
After all, there would be plenty of opportunities in the coming days for her to
"It's just unfortunate that this Heavenly Mystery Coin is a rare object that I came across by chance, which can only be used once every three years, and only three questions can be asked each time."
Otherwise, she wouldn't need to be so troubled.
However, since the future has been revealed as such, it would be better to eliminate Lin Qingque, that woman, as soon as possible.
And, the reason why he would be with Lin Qingque in the future.
This, she must also clarify.
If his actions were deliberate...
At this thought, Tian Liuli's gaze became as sharp as a crescent moon.