Seized by the System

Ten minutes after Zhi Nan had left, a certain someone who was trying to sleep was woken by system notifications.

System Notification: [The System struck the Inner Demon Temple Block ten thousand times. Discovered a secret location — Paradise Realm. The System discovered 3 scriptures: Scripture of Great Wisdom, Scripture of Great Ordeal, Scripture of Overcoming Misfortune. The System opted not to learn them.]

Fang Ning was sprawled on his bed and was lazy to get up, so he turned his head and asked, “What kind of instance dungeon is this Paradise Realm?”

The System said in surprise, “Oh, Billionaire Host, since when did you learn to divine? You guessed it. You’re right, this Paradise Realm is like the instance dungeons you play in your games.”

Fang Ning was curious and immediately got up.

“Where is that instance dungeon?”

“I opened the door to the realm in the Draconic Penitentiary.”

Fang Ning entered the Draconic Penitentiary and instantly saw a golden arch in the middle of the square.

The golden arch emanated an allure that was almost irresistible. It was as if as soon as one steps in, they would gain everything and lose all of their misery.

Fang Ning perused it for a little and words slowly appeared on the arch.

On both sides of it, the words were, “The suffering of birth, aging, sickness, and death will soon depart; The misery of love, hate, disgust, and fear will soon expire.”

On the top of the arch, it said, “Paradise for all.”

‘What a pompous tone,’ Fang Ning stilled his mind and did not dare to step in.

He asked the System, “What exactly is in it?”

“You’re acting dumb again… I said it’s like the instance dungeon in your games, didn’t I?” The System said resentfully.

Fang Ning’s face went from being startled, to realization, to being stunned.

“F*ck me, this Demon Lord Zhi Nan is like the end-game boss. He’s so different from all the minor bosses who only knew how to charge blindly without thinking it through. The difficulty level is, like, several levels higher. He’s got his ideals, goals, resources, as well as a determination to be a quadruple-threat among demons in this new era.”

Fang Ning had already guessed a general information from what he could see and was impressed.

He was ruthless and imposing, he would inspire fear to anyone who saw him.

He definitely deserved his appellation of ‘Zhi Nan’s might surpasses the heavens and Dharma’.

‘No wonder this dude would go into deviatory psychosis. If I guessed correctly, he would probably make something huge.

‘I just don’t know how it is in there,’ Fang Ning ruminated for a bit and decided to send a person in to test the water. ‘Wait, no, send a spirit to test the water.

‘I could tell just by seeing it that it only allows spirits in. Otherwise, Sir System wouldn’t have opened it in the System Space.

‘Who should I send?’

Fang Ning pondered.

On a cultivation field in the Truth Department’s headquarters.

Qiao Zijiang arranged the twelve zodiac-demons into a circle and communicated with them one by one from the center so she could examine their progress in cultivation.

“Old Bai, how was your cultivation progress?”

A white, fluffy cloud shook a little and said in a low, muffled voice, “I’m already a Basin-level.”

“Mm, that’s good. Old Bai, you’re the hardworking one.” Qiao Zijiang nodded and turned around, “Long Fan, what about you?”

Long Fan sneezed. He was wondering if someone was thinking of him when Qiao Zijiang turned to him. He said, “Thanks to the two Venerable Ones, I’m almost at Pond-level.”

“Not bad, Long Fan is also hardworking,” Qiao Zijiang was pleased. If any one of her summons could breakthrough to Pond-level, her strength would also increase.

Long Fan was slightly smug after he was praised.

He shot a glance to his green neighbor who looked enervated, dragon-like, but mostly snaky.

He said in a feign unconcerned voice, “Even though I only had the power of a snake demon, I’ve had good opportunities, and I’m hardworking. Some dude, however, kept saying he was a dragon but couldn’t even attain a Bucket-level. I’m guessing it wasn’t even at my level yet.”

The green snake-like creature did not even lift its head. It scoffed as if it was lazy to defend itself.

Long Fan was annoyed and continued, “I’ve spoken to the Venerable White Dragon. He said that a certain Dragon Carp appeared in his house. I heard it was someone from the Dragon Clan’s leader’s residence. I think it would be very familiar with dragons, should I ask them to identify you?”

The green snake heard it and squirmed a little, but it managed to keep its mouth shut.

…

In a park south of the city, a man in his final years sat with his eyes closed on the ledge of a secluded flower bed as he leaned against the bush.

Time passed as a cleaning lady walked past the old man several times.

Finally, she approached him and tried to wake him up.

“Sir, sir. Wake up. Go home and sleep, you’ll catch a cold out here.” The lady called for him but felt weird.

The old man’s face was smiling, but it was still and unmoving.

‘Not moving?’

The cleaning lady thought of something and took two steps back in shock.

It was then that she realized something really strange. The old man’s chest did not rise and fall like that of a breathing person…

She immediately dialed the number to the local Special Affairs Department.

Two agents arrived hastily. Upon inspection, they knew the old man had passed away for a long time, but there were no visible injuries.

One of them took a few photos and attempted to check the old man’s body.

However, as soon as he touched the old man’s collar, a flash of golden light flickered before the old man turned into nothingness…

“Emergency report, a mysterious death appeared in Su City. Cause of death, unknown. The deceased was reported to have displayed an odd smile…”

…

The local library was bustling with people who pored over books of all sorts on this weekend. Books in the geography section were especially popular as people leafed through them with interest.

A middle-aged man with black robe strolled in and attracted some attention to himself. Soon, however, the attention was dispersed.

The man smiled slightly and chose a seat at random.

He did not even move his head around, but books flew out of their shelves and fell in front of him. Within minutes, he would have finished reading the books and the book returned to its place on the shelf.

People stared at this display of power, but they were not surprised or stunned, they were only staring with jealousy.

“He’s another one of those Cultivators.” Some adolescent schoolkids were no longer paying attention to their books, instead gawking at him with their eyes peeled.

“Wouldn’t it be nice if we could learn to do that? We would become study machines just like that. I don’t even need to be able to finish a book within minutes, I’ll be satisfied if I can finish one book in a few days.”

“It’s easy to say. You can either sign your life away to government service, or you can spend a bomb to enter a private school. I think tuition fees are about three hundred grand per year, and they have really high expectations.”

“That’s right. My dad can’t afford it, but he doesn’t want me to serve the government in that way. I wanna go though. Now that the Dragon God is here, I hear we could retire after just a few years, and we can even enter into prestigious universities. It’s a shame that the situation is not ideal. My dad told me he would only allow me to enter the system after next year.” Someone whined.

“I’ll let you in on a secret.” A bespectacled boy boasted, “My uncle who is the secretary of the mayor said that they would announce a new cultivation method focusing on the body soon, and it’s compatible with the Basic Cultivation of the Spirit.”

“Aren’t minors banned from learning the Basic Cultivation of the Spirit?” Someone said in surprise.

“Yes, but this new cultivation method can be learned since young to build a good foundation. If you can pass the unified exam after that, you would be able to learn Basic Cultivation of the Spirit without being an adult.

“Once we mastered that, we would be able to play Battle of the Beasts. The legendary Lei Tian is my role model in the game. I hear his annual salary playing the game is two hundred million!” The bespectacled boy exclaimed.

His boasting of the secret information had garnered him the attention of a group of people which included more than a few girls and young ladies. That attention had him pumped.

His fellow student agreed. “Wang Jing is right. I tried learning the Basic Cultivation of the Spirit discreetly before. My head felt like it was splitting, and I couldn’t continue no matter how hard I tried. When my mum found out, she gave me a good beating. I think if I can learn this new cultivation method, I would be able to finish learning the Basic Cultivation of the Spirit, and then I’ll qualify to play that game.”

“I tried learning it as well, same thing, but my mum didn’t beat me up, she beat my dad up… for some reason,” echoed another student.

“Why else could that be? She’s complaining that your dad doesn’t earn enough,” said a girl sharply.

In that instant, chatter about the methods of cultivation livened up the quiet library.

It was easy to see why. After watching all the face-slapping on the internet, the only thing the kids could gain access to was the Basic Cultivation of the Spirit.

Just like the American children who played with their father’s guns in secret, these children tried to learn to cultivate surreptitiously.

If the Truth Department had the confidence to popularize the new cultivation method, they would have done plenty of testing for safety. The Basic Cultivation of the Spirit was weakened and had undergone amendments to minimize the possibility of injury. Otherwise, trying to learn it by force would result not only in headaches and the feeling of head splitting.

The middle-aged man heard the commotion and set down the book “The Principles of Compiling”. He cast his gaze upon the children.

He smiled. ‘All lives have their worries. Only the Paradise Realm could end all suffering.

‘In this world, I have a chance to achieve Nirvana…’

After a moment of deliberation, a piece of paper appeared in his palm, which he tucked away in a book he had just finished.

Soon after, all the books returned to their respective shelves one by one as he sauntered out of the public library.

Behind him, people stared enviously.

Zhi Nan disappeared from the southern city of China. Moments later, he appeared in the Cloud Fog City to the north.

On a hill behind the school, a group of students pooled together as they chanted quietly, looking down at something.

Zhi Nan appeared behind the crowd.

“A minor demon who only knew how to manipulate fear is not worth worshipping like this.” He said softly.

A cell phone flew away from everyone and fell into his palm.

“Give it back, how could you steal my phone from me?” A fine-looking girl yelled as she lifted her head.

“Heh, you, favored by the Heavenly Axiom, shouldn’t learn a low-ranking method like this. I have three scriptures of the highest rank. Interested?” Zhi Nan smiled.

Not know who the newcomer was, everyone just stared at each other silently.

“Who are you?” Saki Yamanashi asked tentatively.

“I am Zhi Nan, one of the ten Demon Lords in the Upper Realm. Even the demon you were worshiping just now have to bow to me.”

As he finished, they saw the phone confiscated by the man hovered in front of them.

On the phone screen, the photo of the green snake head to which they were just praying had transformed. The fog around it cleared up, and it was bowing.

Seeing the strange event had left them stunned.

Saki Yamanashi was in a state of surprised, overjoyed, and confusion. She asked, “I’m only a normal student, can I really learn the scriptures? Will I be able to fly together with the Azure Dragon himself after I learned it?”

“Don’t look down on yourself. A seed could grow into the World Tree, a single blade of grass could spread through mountains and rivers. You’ve been chosen by the Heavenly Axiom, so you might even surpass the Azure Dragon in the future.” Zhi Nan guaranteed.