Chapter 18 | The Novel Marked Me for Death, So I Found a Cheat Game Instead

“No problem. This is the reward we promised. We will be relying on your assistance inside the Immortal Hall, Daoist Brother.”

Seeing Ye Lin agree to team up, Zhao Xiaoyu very straightforwardly handed over a storage ring she had prepared beforehand.

“Taking payment to do a job, simple enough,” Ye Lin said casually as he accepted the storage ring.

Afterward, the three of them briefly discussed some details. Then, Ye Lin excused himself on the grounds of wanting to slay more evil spirits to temper himself, turning to leave alone.

Of course, before leaving, he copied a map of the demonic chaos distribution from Lin Kuo.

“How is he trying to temper himself? He clearly just enjoyed killing those evil spirits so much that he can't stop,” Li Xuan muttered, curling his lip as he watched Ye Lin's departing back.

“Perhaps slaying evil spirits really does aid his cultivation. It's not like there are no powerhouses in the cultivation world who prove their Dao through slaughter,” Zhao Xiaoyu said thoughtfully.

“That is indeed possible, but proving one's Dao through slaughter is the easiest way to lose one's true self, and it's also the path most rejected by other cultivators. I hope he has good luck,” Li Xuan replied.

After chatting for a bit, Li Xuan and Zhao Xiaoyu prepared to call the dazed Lin Kuo over to go kill some evil spirits to pass the time.

But right at that moment, two incredibly sharp attacks suddenly flew in from the distance.

Boom!

In an instant, the ground where they had been standing was blasted into two deep craters several meters in diameter.

“Who is it?” Dodging the sharp killer moves, the three of them frowned and looked toward a reef in the distance.

There, at some point, two figures wearing black robes and bamboo hats had appeared.

The newcomers were, of course, Xiao Yue and his capable subordinate, Jin Feishuang.

“They actually managed to dodge a casual strike from a Foundation Establishment Stage cultivator? Those two new disciples are somewhat unusual.”

On the reef, the originally calm and relaxed Xiao Yue frowned deeply when he saw that his sneak attack had been easily dodged by Zhao Xiaoyu and Li Xuan.

As for Lin Kuo, although he was only at the First Layer of Foundation Establishment, his perception of danger at this realm was countless times stronger than that of a Body Tempering Realm cultivator, so it was naturally not surprising that he could dodge the sneak attack.

“Perhaps they used some precious life-saving means,” Jin Feishuang said respectfully from the side.

“That kid Ye Lin is almost out of sight. Go all out now,” Xiao Yue whispered to Jin Feishuang beside him. Holding a medium-grade spiritual weapon long saber, he immediately charged toward Li Xuan and the other two.

“Three Blades of Soul Devouring: Soul Seizing Slay!” As soon as he attacked, he channeled his Ninth Layer of Foundation Establishment cultivation, erupting with full force.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

His figure was like a falling meteor. Wherever he passed, rocks shattered and the air exploded, making for an extremely terrifying display.

“Seeking death!”

Seeing that this sneak-attacker actually dared to unleash his full power, Li Xuan did not tolerate it at all. He directly pulled out a high-grade Ten Thousand Swords Talisman, which was capable of obliterating a Golden Core Stage cultivator, and threw it.

Rumble!

The moment the talisman was activated, terrifying sword qi instantly manifested like a spiderweb, completely enveloping Xiao Yue.

And after that, there was no “after that.” Xiao Yue was sliced into countless scattered pieces of minced meat.

“How... is this possible?!” This was the final thought in Xiao Yue's mind before he died.

He never expected that he, the proud son of the Commander of the Imperial Guard and a genius ranked in the top three of the Inner Academy of the Tianyuan Dynasty's Cultivation Academy, would actually be insta-killed like a stray dog on the roadside by an unknown new disciple from the Outer Academy today.

This was completely wrong. He clearly had a bright future ahead of him, and he was supposed to go to a higher-level cultivation academy for further studies...

But no matter how unwilling and disbelieving he was, he could not change the outcome of his demise.

“You deserve to die too!”

After resolving Xiao Yue, Li Xuan pulled out another high-grade King Sword Talisman and threw it violently toward the dazed Jin Feishuang in the distance.

“No... No!”

Seeing Li Xuan tear the talisman and throw it at her, Jin Feishuang did not have time to dwell on her shock. She immediately tried to use a Haste Talisman to flee.

But the attack range of a high-grade talisman was too vast, and its formation speed was too fast. Even with the boost of a Haste Talisman, she could not escape the fate of demise.

“To actually dare to ambush and assassinate this Holy Son... Once the matter of the Immortal Hall is over, I will definitely make the royal family of the Tianyuan Dynasty give me an explanation.”

“I will go with you when the time comes. Geniuses of the Sacred Domain must not be insulted. This ambush was clearly directed at us. If the royal family does not give a satisfactory explanation, we will let them know what the wrath of the Sacred Domain is!”

Li Xuan and Zhao Xiaoyu discussed with solemn expressions.

But if the deceased Xiao Yue were to hear this, he would surely cry out in grievance.

Because he had clearly only been acting on his father's orders to kill some geniuses and take Ye Lin's head to trade with Venerable Tianku.

Attacking Li Xuan and the others was entirely just a casual move on the way, but who would have thought these two had such immense backgrounds?

On the other side, Ye Lin was completely unaware that due to the sudden surge in his Luck Value, a hunt specifically targeted at him had already ended before they could even meet.

At this moment, he was rushing along, guided by the navigation of his Immortal Destiny Secrets.

After running for dozens of li, he finally arrived at the final guided location. Appearing before him was an irregular boulder dozens of zhang high.

“Rise!”

Without the slightest hesitation, he stepped forward and raised a single hand. The boulder, weighing tens of thousands of jin, was instantly lifted off the ground by him.

Looking down, beneath the boulder was indeed a palm-sized, sword-shaped bronze token.

But aside from this token, there was also a thumb-sized, black, lotus-shaped flame beside it.

The flame looked extremely ordinary, devoid of any holy aura or sharp, murderous intent.

“The secret news only mentioned that the bronze Guidance Token was the opportunity, with no mention of this black flame. Could it be that this isn't an opportunity, but some sort of great terror?” Ye Lin quickly pondered in his mind.

Was it because this flame was just an ordinary rare object, thus unqualified to be called an opportunity?

Or was it because this flame was too powerful, and the 'A Daily Immortal Destiny' trait determined that he lacked the ability to take it, meaning forcibly collecting it would only bring disaster, which was why it couldn't be called an opportunity?

Taking another look at the black flame, Ye Lin leaned more toward the second possibility.

“The Desolate Ancient Dao Pagoda can forcibly suppress and collect all ownerless things in the world. I'll know once I try.”

Indecisiveness leads to chaos. With an opportunity right before him, Ye Lin did not hesitate at all and directly summoned the Desolate Ancient Dao Pagoda with his mind.

“Collect!”

The moment the small black pagoda appeared, Ye Lin activated this supreme treasure.

Boom!

As if sensing something, the originally extremely ordinary black flame suddenly went wild. Terrifying waves of aura began to rapidly awaken on its lotus petals, looking as though it was about to unleash a move like a blazing sun descending upon the heavens.

But before its might could be unleashed, it was directly suppressed and collected by the Desolate Ancient Dao Pagoda, thrown into the Myriad Treasures Heaven to be locked away.

【Ding! You are the first player in this game to obtain an Immortal-grade fortuitous encounter. You have completed a special achievement. The reward has been sent to your personal panel; please check it yourself.】

Just as he collected the black flame, the game notification sounded in Ye Lin's ears.

“My guess was indeed correct. The black flame is indeed a massive opportunity, albeit one that could easily cost someone their life,” Ye Lin muttered to himself.

Even without the system notification, he knew the black flame was anything but simple, because the terrifying aura that had awakened on its petals just now had given him a helpless, near-death sensation.

Fortunately, the Desolate Ancient Dao Pagoda had suppressed it.

However, through this incident, he had come to understand some of the drawbacks of the 'A Daily Immortal Destiny' trait.

This trait seemed even more cautious than he was. Since equipping it, whether it was obtaining the Desolate Ancient Dao Pagoda in the beginning, getting the storage bag later, the Origin Unity Art afterward, or today's Immortal Hall Guidance Token...

Every single time, there was absolutely no danger involved. Only things that were safe and easily obtainable would be determined as opportunities by it.

As for something troublesome like the black flame, this trait would not consider it at all.

There seemed to be nothing wrong with determining opportunities this way, but the key was that Ye Lin was currently cheating. No matter how dangerous an opportunity was, he could suppress and collect it.

“If only dangerous but precious items could also be determined as opportunities and refreshed for me,” Ye Lin muttered softly.

But he also knew this was impossible, as the trait's characteristics could not be altered.

However, he had nothing to agonize over. The 'A Daily Immortal Destiny' trait could stably refresh one opportunity every day, whether big or small, and that was enough.

Although he would miss some special, dangerous opportunities because of this, the opportunities in the world were countless. How could he possibly pocket them all? That was simply unrealistic.

Picking up the Immortal Hall Guidance Token from the ground and tossing the boulder back to its original spot, he took out the map recording the areas of demonic chaos.

Any rewards regarding the immortal fire had to be put on hold. Right now, his mind was filled with “affection” for dark creatures.

First, the target required for his class change quest was about to be completed. Second, he wanted to increase his Luck Value as much as possible, as this was directly related to the drop rate of his 'Random Replication' trait when he used it next.