At the summit of Buzhou Mountain, inside a lavish stone house temporarily built from massive boulders and ferocious beast bones.
Xuanzheng sprawled limply across a soft couch covered in the pure white fur of some unknown ancient giant beast. A three-part sneer and seven-part amusement hung at the corners of his mouth as he watched the "action blockbuster" playing in the [Script Mirror] in his right hand with great interest.
Light and shadows shifted rapidly across the mirror's surface.
Several bedraggled demon figures fled in blind panic, crying for their parents and wishing their mothers had given them two more legs as they desperately ran for their lives.
Behind them was the special effect of a "Pangu Father God phantom," blurred until only its outline remained, yet radiating an aura of destruction and rebirth potent enough to crush eternity.
"Tut, tut, tut!"
Xuanzheng smacked his lips and gestured at the air as though commanding the world, every bit the sharp-tongued critic who had just watched a third-rate effects film and insisted on picking it apart.
"These bit-part actors still need to improve their professional standards!"
"Look at those expressions—exaggerated! Far too exaggerated! Their screams aren't heart-wrenching enough either. They have no soul!"
He picked at his ear with his little finger, his face full of the haughty look of a director dissatisfied with his work.
"Still, Father God's special effects team got a proper budget this time. That 'One Glance, Ten Thousand Years, Heaven-Opening Pressure' PLUS Supreme Limited Edition turned out all right."
"I reckon those little demon brats under that old fox Bai Ze will be scared out of their wits. They'll probably contribute several nights of endless nightmares and nonstop bedwetting!"
Xuanzheng lazily shifted into a more comfortable position, resting one hand behind his head. Yet a trace of regret, understood only by seasoned schemers, flashed through his eyes.
"What a pity, what a pity!" He sighed as though he had missed out on a fortune. "Those cowards really can't take a scare! They ran faster than rabbits with their tails stepped on!"
"They didn't even leave behind a decent Mental Damages Fee for me. One-star review!"
Just as Xuanzheng was about to close the [Script Mirror] and consider how to arrange the next "script" so the "actors" could come deliver warmth to him—
His body suddenly stiffened!
Those eyes that were usually half-lidded and carried a hint of "simple honesty" flew open, their sharp light bursting forth!
At the edge of the [Script Mirror]'s image, beside a small "unexpected surprise" trap that simulated a spatial rift and that he had casually arranged earlier to "enhance the show"—
A wisp of Demonic Energy thinner than a strand of hair, nearly imperceptible, yet stubbornly tainted with a trace of an origin mark, flickered like a candle in the wind as it slowly dissipated.
It clearly belonged to an unfortunate demon scout who, while fleeing in blind panic, had accidentally been gently "caressed" by the energy fluctuations leaking from the edge of the spatial rift, inadvertently leaving behind a tiny trace of "life."
"Hm?!"
Xuanzheng's brows shot up, and a wild thought began growing savagely in his mind!
"Holy shit!"
He sprang off the fur couch, his left hand reflexively clenching through the air!
Buzz—!
The [Karma Scale], ancient in design and covered in profound Great Dao patterns, its aura steeped in eternal antiquity, appeared at his call and floated silently above his palm!
"My little darling! My little scale!"
Xuanzheng's breathing grew heavy, his eyes shining. Carefully, he extended a finger and lightly tapped the mysterious scale pan of the [Karma Scale].
"Measure it for me... no, measure it for this seat!"
"This wisp of broken Demonic Energy that's about to disperse—measure the heavy 'defeat karma from a failed mission' it carries, along with that deep-rooted 'fright karma from pissing itself under Father God's pressure.' Let's see... let's see what the hell it's worth!"
Boom!
The beam of the [Karma Scale] trembled violently! A dark, profound bronze glow flowed rapidly between the beam and the pan like a living thing!
Upon the scale pan, that wisp of Demonic Energy, already faint as smoke and nearly dispersed, seemed to be forcibly summoned and restrained by some mysterious power. It was dragged from nothingness, condensed, and compressed!
In an instant!
The [Karma Scale] blazed with light!
[Warning! An extremely minute negative karma aggregate has been detected!] [Component analysis: a trace of 'defeated Dao resonance' generated by the demon scout 'Black Wind Squad' failing its reconnaissance mission; a wisp of 'extreme terror obsession' generated when squad members suffered 'Pseudo-Pangu True Spirit Pressure'; and a pinch of 'residual shame from their bedraggled flight' generated during their escape...] [Overall value assessment: Ding Lower-Lower-Lower Grade (better than nothing. Host, how hungry are you to even look at this Scrap Material?)]
Xuanzheng's mouth twitched hard.
Ding Lower-Lower-Lower Grade? And "better than nothing"? When had this lousy scale learned to mock him too?!
"Shut up! Show me the exchange options!" Xuanzheng roared inwardly in irritation.
[Exchange Option One: Extract a tiny bit of 'Primordial Nameless Malevolent Qi' (roughly the size of a booger).]
"Get lost!" Xuanzheng nearly spat out blood. "With my vast fortune now, my standards are sky-high! What use is this pathetic thing to me?"
[Exchange Option Two: Condense a tiny thread of 'Pure Heart Cleansing Soul Merit' (0.00001 units. Host, why not choose the one above? This one is even more pathetic).]
"You fucking...!" Veins bulged on Xuanzheng's forehead.
[Exchange Option Three: Bestow a friendly 'Lucky Blessing' upon the surviving members of this 'Black Wind Squad' (their auras have been locked on)—the 'For the next forty-nine days, you will step in dog shit whenever you go out, literally; get food stuck between your teeth whenever you drink water; and receive precision air-to-ground bird-dropping strikes whenever you look up' package.]
Xuanzheng's eye twitched again as he looked at the third option.
This [Karma Scale]'s twisted sense of humor was really becoming more and more shameless!
Still... that "blessing" package sounded kind of entertaining?
"Ahem. Though it's pitifully little, a mosquito is still meat, and even a skinny fly has grease!"
Suppressing the urge to complain, Xuanzheng made his choice. "Choose... choose the second one! Exchange it for that thread of merit!"
Buzz!
A speck of light smaller than dust, nearly invisible, drifted slowly from the [Karma Scale] and leisurely floated into the Ancestral Witch Mark between Xuanzheng's brows.
The merit truly was outrageously little.
But at the instant that merit, finer than the tip of a hair, fused into him—
Rumble!!!
It was as though an invisible shackle within Xuanzheng's mind had been smashed apart by a force!
Like enlightenment pouring directly into his head!
"Wait... wait!"
Xuanzheng's eyes abruptly widened!
The karma of defeat!
The karma of terror!
The karma of shame!
These "energies," born from negative emotions and actions such as enemy failure, fear, despair, and humiliation—intangible things normally dismissed as "garbage"—could actually... actually be precisely quantified, extracted, and transformed into tangible benefits by the [Karma Scale]?!
This! Didn't this mean...
Until now, he had always confined the [Karma Scale]'s incredible abilities to relatively "proper" and "grand" uses, such as pawning the future, trading opportunities, or even borrowing a little from the Heavenly Dao to build some infrastructure.
How narrow-minded! Fucking unbelievably narrow-minded!
He had been begging for food while holding a golden rice bowl!
Now it seemed that he had not even grasped the tip of the iceberg of the [Karma Scale]'s true potential—the terrifying power of this "legacy of Father God"!
"Everything has its price, and every thought can be measured!"
"Every defeat of the enemy is an offering to me!"
"Every fear of the enemy is sweet dew that nourishes me!"
"Every despair of the enemy will become a stairway for me to reach the summit!"
"All this intangible 'emotional garbage,' all these 'negative assets' produced by failures, can be turned by the [Karma Scale] into gleaming merit! Into resources that defy fate! Into the capital that lets me do whatever I please!"
An incomparably bold and incomparably insane thought exploded in his mind, growing madly and instantly occupying all his thoughts!
What if...
What if he could actively "create" vast and endless amounts of negative karma?
For example, on future witch-demon battlefields, he could hold the [Script Mirror] and give the hundreds of millions of demon soldiers an epic "immersive hell-horror multisensory experience"!
A sea of blood flooding the heavens! Stars falling from the sky! Saints dying as heaven and earth mourned! The Demon Emperor and demon commanders torn apart, ground to dust, and scattered to the winds by ten thousand witches!
All kinds of apocalyptic horror illusions that challenged the limits of imagination could play in endless rotation twenty-four hours a day!
Then, with the [Karma Scale] beside him acting as an "automatic emotional value Recycle Bin," he could madly harvest the vast, ocean-like negative karma born from their ultimate terror and boundless despair...
Hiss—!
Xuanzheng gasped in cold air, his scalp tingling as pleasure made every hair on his body stand on end!
Wouldn't that be a true feast of "emotional value"?!
A profit of ten thousand times the investment?
No! No! No!
This was profit without investment! This was the grandmaster-level art of making gains with nothing at all!
He could even go further, carefully using the [Script Mirror] to design all sorts of "suicidal scripts" and "failure packages," luring those blind fools of enemies step by step into the despair traps he had set!
Every wrong decision the enemy made!
Every futile struggle!
Every burst of rage and unwillingness born from their plans falling apart!
Would become the purest "nourishment" for the [Karma Scale], becoming provisions that made Xuanzheng stronger!
"Wonderful! Absolutely wonderful! Wonderfully exquisite! Beyond words!"
The more Xuanzheng thought about it, the more excited he became. A brand-new, brilliant professional identity full of limitless "profit prospects" gradually took shape in his mind—
[The Primordial Universe's Number One Emotional Value Harvesting Master]!
Also [Chief Psychological Trauma Counselor of the Myriad Worlds Battlefields (Ultimate Reverse Version)]!
"Not bad! Not bad! This will do! This has to happen!"
Xuanzheng slapped his thigh. The "honest and innocent" smile on his face looked especially "sincere and friendly" now, but within that smile glimmered a cunning more sly than that of a fox ten thousand years old.
From this day onward, besides leading the witch race to dominate the primordial world and repairing the Heavenly Dao BUG, he had another modest life goal—
Make the entire primordial world contribute to his "emotional KPI"!
The next time some blind fool came looking for trouble on their own initiative—like those Feathered Beasts of the demon race, or those two professional poverty-crying fellows from the west...
Heh heh!
He would definitely make them enjoy "the comforts of home" and an "unforgettable" five-star VIP supreme service!
Not only would he make them "lose everything and be utterly annihilated" on the material level!
On the spiritual level, they would also have to "contribute" clearly and thoroughly, squeezing out every last bit of "emotional value"!
His Majesty the Demon Emperor, the demons of the Heavenly Court, Future Saints!
From now on, all of them would be "high-quality cash machines" and "key targets for sustainable exploitation" under Great God Xuanzheng!
He had even begun eagerly considering whether he should divide these "customized services" into several tiers.
For example:
"Standard Fright Experience Package (includes three days of psychological trauma)"!
"Deluxe Deep Terror Package (guaranteed Dao Heart Collapse and cultivation regression)"!
"Tribulation-Grade Epic Despair Package (buy one get one free—Soul Scattered, true spirit eternally extinguished, care to try it?)"!
There would always be one suited to them! And suited to this seat's wallet!
Xuanzheng picked up an unknown Innate Spiritual Fruit from the stone table and took a savage bite. Sweet, clear juice burst forth and ran down from the corner of his mouth.
He licked his lips, his eyes gleaming like those of a hungry wolf.
"A new era... has begun!"
"The super cash-printing machine that belongs to me, Xuanzheng, and my witch race... no, the super machine for printing merit, printing fortune, and printing endless resources, is officially online!"
"Old Thief Hongjun, are you ready to welcome the 'Heavenly Dao BUG Repair Engineer' and 'Director General of Tribulation Plot Revisions'?"
"Heh heh heh heh..."
A chilling low laugh echoed through the stone house.
Before you continue