New Karmic Reaction? There's More Than One Creditor!

Deep within the cave dwelling, silence reigned.

Yang Chen sat cross-legged, his eyes tightly shut, his entire being enveloped in a faint yet pure golden radiance.

Several days passed, a mere blink of an eye in the Primordial World, but for him, it was a complete metamorphosis, a rebirth.

He could "see" clearly the golden river formed by ten thousand zhang of merit, condensed within his body. It was no longer as turbulent and surging as it was initially. It had become docile, tranquil, like a tamed divine dragon, flowing slowly through each of his reshaped and widened meridians, circulating endlessly.

The golden energy permeated finely into every inch of his bones, every single particle.

The quality of his bones was changing, transforming from the fragility of the mortal realm towards the lustrous radiance of immortal jade. Natural, subtle Dao patterns even began to appear on them.

His Dao Foundation, once riddled with holes eroded by immeasurable karmic force, like a leaky sieve, was now completely filled, sealed, and reinforced by the power of merit.

A sense of solidity, unprecedented, rose from the depths of his Dantian and Qi Sea, supporting the entirety of his existence.

This feeling brought him more peace than any surge in cultivation. Solid. This is my own. I won it by flipping the board myself. No one can take it away.

Peak Grand Unity Golden Immortal.

He was only a single step away from the Great Luo Dao Fruit, which was impervious to ten thousand calamities.

But this was not the end, nor even the beginning.

Yang Chen slowly opened his eyes, and the light within the cave dwelling momentarily distorted with the opening of his gaze.

He knew very well that his current safety was a distorted balance built upon fear.

The Six Sages feared his death.

The Heavenly Dao feared his death.

So they compromised, gifted him treasures, and bestowed merit.

But this fear had an expiration date.

Ten Aeons.

This unit of time was an unimaginable eternity for mortals, but for Saints who meditated for several Calamities at a time, it was merely the duration of a nap. Once the time limit arrived, the Heavenly Dao's punitive lightning would still descend.

The patience of the Six Sages would eventually run out.

The more hypocritical the smiles of those high and mighty Saints were now, the more cruel the future reckoning would be. They would never tolerate an existence that could threaten them living forever.

By then, if he did not possess the power to contend with the entire Primordial World, everything he had gained today would be taken back a hundredfold, a thousandfold.

He had to become stronger.

Not just to survive, but to be able to "live" like this forever.

To live as he pleased, to make all his creditors lose sleep.

The path to becoming stronger had already been pointed out by the System.

Confront the creditors head-on, refuse to repay the debt.

This was the fundamental Great Dao for him to establish himself in this Primordial World. You want me to cultivate honestly? Don't be ridiculous. Even with infinite time, I can't catch up to a Saint by following the usual path. Only this way is my path to the heavens.

Just as he was contemplating his future path, a strange tremor, without any warning, emanated from the deepest part of his Primordial Spirit.

The immeasurable karmic force that had been forcibly suppressed by the Golden Light of Merit, that abyssal curse that should have been dead and silent, suddenly rippled.

Hmm?

This time, it was no longer the chaotic, noisy, irrational wailing of hundreds of millions of souls gathered together.

Within the dark sea of karmic force, three wills broke free from the suppression of merit and stubbornly emerged.

One will was overbearing and majestic, filled with the imperial aura of ruling the four seas and eight directions, yet mixed with endless unwillingness and rage.

Dragon's Roar.

A phantom yet incredibly real Dragon's Roar, not from the outside, but exploding directly within his True Spirit.

Immediately after, another will ascended.

It was an extreme pride, a fierceness that burned through the eight directions, the nobility of the king of a hundred birds.

Phoenix Cry.

A piercing, high-pitched Phoenix Cry, carrying the venom of burning everything, scorched his Divine Soul.

Finally, there was a will as heavy as the earth.

That will contained the majesty of suppressing mountains and rivers, the benevolence of bearing all things, yet now only the heaviness and sorrow of betrayal and annihilation remained.

Kirin's Roar.

Three powerful resentments, like three pitch-black probes, pierced through the barrier of the Golden Light of Merit, precisely locking onto his origin.

Yang Chen's brow twitched slightly.

He instantly understood.

So that's how it is. The composition of this immeasurable Karma is more complex than I imagined.

The immeasurable Karma he bore was not a jumbled mess.

It was a vast collection of debts.

The Heavenly Dao and the Six Sages are the biggest creditors, the "main bank."

And below them, there are countless "subcontractors."

The Dragon, Phoenix, and Kirin tribes are the three most prominent among them.

He had just used a table-flipping tactic to temporarily force back the "main bank's" collection team.

But these "subcontractors," seeing that the biggest creditors had retreated, became restless and started to stir.

[Ding!]

The cold system notification sound always rang out at the most opportune moment, like heavenly music.

[Detected new causal ripples, the resentments of the souls of the Dragon, Phoenix, and Kirin tribes are gathering.]

[Please host be prepared to welcome new "Treasure Delivering Boys."]

Treasure Delivering Boys.

These four words instantly cast a giant stone into the calm lake of peace that had just settled in Yang Chen's eyes.

He was stunned at first, and then an irrepressible sense of joy surged from the deepest part of his heart, making him feel completely at ease.

It was like someone bringing a pillow when you're sleepy, or people coming to offer up heads when you need performance metrics.

This System was really becoming more and more to his liking.

He was already worrying that relying solely on the Heavenly Dao and the Six Sages, those major creditors, meant the frequency of "milking the sheep" was too low. The ten Aeon deadline sounded long, but who knew if those Saints would play any tricks beforehand.

He had to cut costs and increase revenue, no, it was about broadening the sources of income.

He hadn't expected this opportunity to come so soon.

"Treasure Delivering Boys..."

Yang Chen muttered the four words in a low voice, the corners of his mouth curving wider and wider until he could barely resist bursting into laughter.

These former overlords, who had fought tooth and nail in the last Calamity, shattering the Primordial World and ultimately ending with their tribes decimated and their True Spirits eternally falling into the Sea of Karma, were now, astonishingly, certified couriers by the System.

If this news got out, it would probably make the few old dragons left in the East Sea Dragon Palace so angry they'd die again on the spot.

How ironic.

How... exciting!

The laziness and complacency in his eyes vanished, replaced by a burning intensity, like a hunter discovering new prey.

"Creditors, there's more than one, it seems."

Yang Chen stood up, stretching his muscles. The power of a peak Grand Unity Golden Immortal surged within him, sounding like roaring rivers.

He paced to the entrance of his cave dwelling, gazing at the clouds rolling and unfurling outside. His voice carried a pure tone of amusement.

"This is great."

"The main bank is pacified for now, and these small loan companies, the branch offices, are getting impatient?"

"Fine, all fine. I, Yang Chen, refuse no one."

He extended his hand, as if to grasp the entire Primordial World in his palm.

"I'd like to see what good things these discarded pieces of equipment from the previous version's overlords... can bring me!"