Simultaneous Transmigration: We Share a Role-Playing System

Chapter 172

"Wow, Zhang Chulan, you've really opened my eyes! In ancient times, there was Yang Erlang who split the mountain to save his mother, and now you, Zhang Chulan, are walking around with your bird under the moon. If Yang Jian knew you were doing this, I guarantee he'd be so angry he'd come back to life. Kid, you've got guts, you're something else."

The next day, Huang Feng, who was perched on Feng Baobao's head, gave Zhang Chulan, who was lying on the ground, a thumbs up. He had just told Zhang Chulan to pay attention to his image, but that night he still gave him a "moonlight bird walk" (a euphemism for a sexual act). Even though he had basically turned the Luo Tian Grand Ceremony into his own shape, Zhang Chulan still did it.

All Locke can say is that Zhang Chulan is truly dazzling and repressive.

At this moment, Zhang Chulan's mind was blank, and he was in a state of utter despair. He had begun to seriously consider which alien planet was free of superhumans and suitable for him to immigrate to overnight.

In the past, he wouldn't have cared about losing face at all. After all, his reputation as "shameless" had spread throughout the world of supernatural beings, and his face had been slapped on the ground eight hundred times over.

The problem is! He finally managed to latch onto a powerful backer, the Yellow Wind King, who could overturn Longhu Mountain! He wouldn't have to be subservient to anyone anymore, wouldn't have to play dumb or make himself look foolish to protect himself! He could finally hold his head high! But then—after just one drink, how did he go back to square one, and even worse than before?!

A tear, filled with regret and despair, slowly slid down Zhang Chulan's cheek and fell into the soil beneath his feet.

He was acutely aware that he would likely never be able to shake off the labels of "shameless" and "bird-walking under the moon" for the rest of his life.

No matter how high his cultivation level becomes in the future, no matter how invincible he becomes, this dark history will never disappear. It will only spread further and further with his reputation, becoming an indelible part of his life that he can never wash away.

Just as Zhang Chulan was squatting on the ground, mourning his shattered and ruined image, Lu Linglong, along with Zhi Jinhua and the others, had already learned about the changes to the upcoming competition schedule from the Celestial Master's Mansion and were heading this way.

Firstly, I was there to inform Zhang Chulan of the change in the competition schedule; secondly, I also wanted to take the opportunity to "comfort" this guy who was so socially inept that he was planning alien immigration overnight.

Although they were the most enthusiastic at the bonfire party last night, shouting and flaming the fire while constantly recording videos, after sobering up, the upbringing ingrained in the Lu family made Lu Linglong belatedly realize her wrongdoing. Feeling a little guilty, she thought about coming over to apologize to Zhang Chulan.

What? You're asking about the high-definition, uncensored video taken last night? That's not some "moonlight bird-walking" scandalous history! This is on-site video preservation of a forbidden supernatural technique that's about to be lost; it's invaluable first-hand research material for the supernatural world! To ensure its preservation, it must be permanently treasured, and making multiple backups wouldn't be excessive!

However, even though that's what she said, when she actually got up to Zhang Chulan and was about to apologize, those memorable scenes from last night kept replaying in her mind.

She simply couldn't maintain a guilty expression and apologize properly. Instead, she pulled Zhi Jinhua back two steps, her face crestfallen, and whispered a pitiful wail in her best friend's ear, "What should I do, Hua'er? I really can't look Zhang Chulan in the eye anymore!"

But her best friend, Zhi Jinhua, didn't hear her wailing at all, not even sparing her a glance. Her eyes, which were always able to accurately capture all data and never miss the slightest abnormality, were fixed on Zhang Chulan not far away, her fingertips unconsciously tracing patterns on her palm, her mind rapidly comparing and calculating yet another round of subtle changes in Zhang Chulan's breathing from last night to this morning.

In the world of supernatural beings, Zhi Jinhua is known as the "living computer" because of her terrifying calculation ability, comparable to a precision instrument, and her absolute memory that allows her to remember everything she sees.

From the lineage and origins of various schools of thought to the subtle fluctuations in a single person's breath or even the frequency of their steps, anything that catches her eye will be broken down into precise data and firmly engraved in her mind.

It was precisely this unique skill that allowed her to be the first to notice the lingering sense of incongruity about Zhang Chulan.

This uneasy feeling has been lingering in her mind ever since yesterday.

Every time her gaze swept over Zhang Chulan, her mental "database" would sound a faint alarm, but the sense of unease was deeply hidden, like an undercurrent beneath the surface of water, its source elusive.

Just now, countless observational data stored in her mind were instantly cross-referenced, and she finally pinpointed the source of that sense of unease: the constant changes happening to Zhang Chulan.

This feeling is hard to describe precisely in words. If I had to break it down, it would be like Zhang Chulan is getting stronger at an extremely fast speed, yet so subtle that it's almost imperceptible.

For those with supernatural abilities, as long as they are not so weak that they cannot even grasp the basics of perception, they can generally judge the strength of their opponent from the aura of their own kind.

There are only two possibilities when one can clearly perceive a change in a person's cultivation level: either the other person has been deliberately hiding their true strength and is suddenly revealing it, or the other person has made a leap forward in their cultivation level after a long absence.

For the past two days, Luo Tian and Da Zhan have been living and eating together, seeing each other every day. Unless it's an extreme case where someone's cultivation level suddenly increases overnight and they undergo a complete transformation, it's impossible for them to detect any changes in the other person's cultivation level. After all, normal cultivation is a slow and steady process, and a few days of progress won't even cause a ripple.

But Zhang Chulan's strangeness lies in the fact that his growth in strength is uniform and continuous.

With each breath, in every instant, the foundation of his life was steadily improving, with each improvement being so small that even most cultivators below the level of the Celestial Master could not perceive these subtle changes.

Only Zhi Jinhua, by making millisecond-level precise comparisons of Zhang Chulan's Qi data every time she observed it, was able to detect this anomaly.

What alarmed her even more was that this kind of refinement was not about polishing moves, talismans, or skills, but rather the purest form of tempering one's very being.

Those seemingly insignificant small increments, accumulated continuously, eventually formed a terrifying rate of progress that completely defied the norms of cultivation for extraordinary individuals.

This made Ji Jinhua realize that this might be the legendary Body Source Flow.

No wonder it's called one of the Eight Extraordinary Techniques. Even just the speed at which Zhang Chulan is getting stronger is exaggerated to an alarming degree. No wonder it's called one of the Eight Extraordinary Techniques and has caused great chaos.

Because of the yellow wind that delayed the official start of the competition by three days, Wang Ergou did not get to face Feng Baobao, which also prevented him from going to the bonfire party last night to avoid getting a beating from Xu San and Xu Si.

Seeing Lu Linglong and Zhi Jinhua standing not far away, he hesitated for a long time before finally shrugging his shoulders and taking the initiative to squat down in front of Zhang Chulan. He cleared his throat and said in a serious tone, "Zhang Chulan, I'm sorry to have witnessed your treasure yesterday, but I'm also very grateful to you for sharing this nearly lost forbidden technique with our world of supernatural beings."

As soon as he finished speaking, Zhang Chulan, who had been squatting on the ground like a lump of mud, suddenly turned around, his eyes filled with a murderous glint, and stared intently at Wang Ergou's face.

His eyes clearly said: If you say another word, you won't be leaving Longhu Mountain alive today.

Wang Ergou instantly broke out in a cold sweat, his back soaked through with cold perspiration. He hurriedly waved his hands, changing his tune as fast as a machine gun: "No, no, no! I actually came to tell you something important! The Luo Tian Grand Tournament format was urgently changed last night. Today's competition has been changed to a free-for-all of four people per group, and the competition has jumped to the round of 32 to 8!"

"What did you say? Round of 32?"

The angry look on Zhang Chulan's face vanished instantly, replaced by an extremely serious expression.

He turned around abruptly, wanting to ask the Yellow Wind King for clarification, but when he looked up, the yellow-haired figure that should have been above Feng Baobao's head had already silently disappeared without a trace, leaving him no chance to ask.

Upon seeing this, Zhang Chulan instantly understood the unspoken subtext of Locke: the Old Master's sudden acceleration of the Luo Tian Grand Ceremony must have some other purpose behind it.

Could it be that some enormous event has occurred, forcing them to expedite the entire process of the Luotian Grand Ceremony?

As Zhang Chulan had predicted, something did happen. However, the source of the trouble was not Longhu Mountain, but the Nadutong Company, which controlled the order of the supernatural world.

Inside the makeshift meeting room at the foot of Longhu Mountain, the ashtrays were overflowing with cigarette butts, and the air was thick with the lingering smell of smoke. Zhao Fangxu sat in the main seat, his fingertips tightly pinching his throbbing temples, looking at Dou Le standing opposite him with his head bowed. His tone was calm, but every word carried a heavy weight: "Old Dou, you're a veteran of the company. You should know the company's rules. We allow temporary workers to make it easier for you to carry out your work, and now you're telling me that a temporary worker has gone missing? How are we supposed to get anything done?"

You're putting us in a very difficult position!

As the person in charge of the East China region, Dou Le remained silent throughout the questioning by Zhao Fangxu, his shirt soaked with cold sweat.

He knew better than anyone how big of a mess he had made, but now that things had come to this, there was no point in arguing; he had to first show an attitude of resolving the problem. He took a deep breath, looked up at the person in the main seat, and said in a hoarse voice, "Chairman Zhao, you're right. This incident is a major dereliction of duty on my part, and I will take full responsibility. I will unconditionally and fully cooperate with all subsequent investigations and deployments by headquarters."

He paused, but his tone was unwaveringly certain, and added, "But I can guarantee with my position that Lao Xiao absolutely did not intentionally abandon his post or go missing. Something must have happened to him; he must have been inadvertently dragged into something!"

Upon hearing this, Zhao Fangxu felt a throbbing pain in his temples and a splitting headache.

During this period, he was already overwhelmed with problems: on one hand, he had to explain the implications of the appearance of the Demon King of Longhu Mountain to his superiors, on the other hand, he had to discuss with the Old Celestial Master how to stabilize the situation on the mountain, and he even had to negotiate with the Great Sage Yellow Wind from time to time, for fear that the Demon King might overturn Longhu Mountain at the slightest disagreement.

He had already transferred all the top talents the company could mobilize to Jiangxi, but the higher-ups still felt it was not safe and even considered mobilizing the army. In the end, they only decided to put the troops stationed in the surrounding areas on alert and on standby at any time.

Under such immense pressure, Zhao Fangxu was so worried that he couldn't even eat. Just then, Dou Le told him that the temporary worker in the East China region had gone missing.

After he finished checking the file and realized that the temporary worker was a special individual with severe homicidal tendencies, Zhao Fangxu felt a wave of dizziness wash over him.

At this critical juncture, such a catastrophic blunder has occurred. How can he explain this to his superiors? And how can he stabilize the seemingly calm situation, which is actually turbulent and on the verge of collapse?

Just as Zhao Fangxu and Dou Le were staring at the jar full of cigarette butts, their heads practically about to explode with worry over this mess, in a closed room just a wall away from them, less than ten meters away in a straight line, Xiao Zizai, a temporary worker from the East China region, was sitting upright in the darkness.

He twirled a string of smooth, warm Buddhist prayer beads between his fingers, silently reciting the Heart Sutra. His words were steady and even his breathing was extremely slow, as he tried to use the sutra to pin down the surging, bloodthirsty impulse in his heart that was about to break through the dam of reason.

But during the pause in the scripture reading, he slightly lifted his eyelashes.

A pair of eyes, their whites bloodshot and their pupils crimson, shone blindingly in the dimly lit room where the curtains were drawn tight, letting in no light. Like a ferocious beast lurking beneath a Buddhist shrine, it finally couldn't resist tearing away its mask of compassion to reveal its fangs gleaming with ferocity.

Ever since he secretly went down the mountain to scout the area last night and unexpectedly bumped into that fat monk with a large belly, thick brown eyebrows, and a messy beard, the murderous intent he had suppressed for more than ten years could no longer be contained.

His rational defenses were shattered by the unfathomable aura emanating from the monk. Day and night, the monk's deep, resonant words echoed in his ears like a bewitching spell, relentlessly binding the deepest, most primal desires in his heart.

The Buddha said that the suffering of sentient beings is mostly due to their failure to keep the precepts and their indulgence in desires.

But if you ask me, that's bullshit!

Do not kill, for hatred never ends; do not steal, for strength and weakness are no different from mine; do not commit adultery, for all sentient beings are sins; do not lie, for dreams are illusions, bubbles, and emptiness; do not crave alcohol, for sorrow and fear are impermanent, for youth is fleeting; do not indulge in pleasure, for suffering is without liberation; do not indulge in desires, for all actions are without the meaning of life.

"So, benefactor, why suppress the desires in your heart?"

With a crisp "crack," the Buddhist prayer beads in Xiao Zizai's hand were crushed.

His chest heaved violently, and he let out wild, frantic panting, like a starving beast about to break free of its shackles and pounce.

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