Dual Systems

There was another one?

Chen Cheng suddenly felt that this surprise had come far too abruptly...

There was no need to say more about the benefits a system brought. Receiving the assistance of even one system was already an immense stroke of fortune. Yet just as Chen Cheng had become familiar with the Copy System's functions, he was told that he possessed another system—one that sounded incredibly impressive just from its name.

"A summoning system?" Chen Cheng tried communicating with the newly arrived system through his thoughts.

"Initializing."

"Scanning host information."

"Scanning world information."

A string of voices rang out in Chen Cheng's mind. It was a slightly magnetic female voice, crisp, decisive, and highly efficient.

The system's voice was extremely rapid, consisting entirely of notification tones, and it did not respond to Chen Cheng's call.

At the same time, a virtual screen appeared in Chen Cheng's mind, which he could inspect with a mere thought.

Some Chinese characters appeared on the virtual screen, rapidly changing.

Chen Cheng listened to the Myriad World Summoning System's notifications as he watched the words on the virtual screen.

Among the ever-changing text, Chen Cheng occasionally spotted words such as "Chinese Paladin," "Soul Land," and "Qin's Moon."

In the end, the screen stopped on the four words "Battle Through the Heavens."

"Current world confirmed. Converting combat realm system."

"Conversion successful."

Afterward, the Myriad World Summoning System underwent another series of operations before finally establishing the realms as "Dou Zhe, Dou Shi, Great Dou Shi, Dou Emperor."

"Host information confirmed."

Name: Chen Cheng

Cultivation: None

Comprehensive Combat Power: Dou Qi Fourth Stage

Summoned Characters: None

"Registering the host's identity in the current world."

"Registration successful!"

Only after the system had completed all its preparations did Chen Cheng contact it again.

"Hey, Myriad World Summoning System, tell me about your functions." Chen Cheng issued the Myriad World Summoning System a command.

Words appeared on the virtual screen—the system's description.

Chen Cheng browsed the contents on the screen and gradually became familiar with the Myriad World Summoning System's functions.

As its name implied, the Myriad World Summoning System's primary function was to summon characters from the myriad heavens and worlds.

The strength of the summoned characters varied greatly. They could be ordinary martial artists or gods and Buddhas from across the heavens.

The summoned characters would not possess memories from their original worlds. Instead, the system would implant memories that made them close to the host, and they would also possess a legitimate identity in the current world.

There was one summoning opportunity per month, refreshed at the beginning of every month.

Each time the host advanced by one major realm according to the standards of the current world, he would gain one summoning opportunity.

As this was the system's first activation, one additional summoning opportunity was awarded.

Besides its primary summoning function, the Myriad World Summoning System also possessed basic abilities such as storage and communication functions.

These were abilities that every system should possess.

After learning about the Myriad World Summoning System's abilities, Chen Cheng was extremely satisfied. This was another cheat no weaker than the Copy System he had obtained before.

"Summoning System, use one summoning opportunity." Chen Cheng gave the command.

Summoning System: "Executing."

Summoning System: "Character summoned this time: Red Serpent."

Attributes were as follows:

Name: Red Serpent

Origin: Qin's Moon

Cultivation: Two-Star Great Dou Shi

"Red Serpent will come to find the host within half an hour."

"Red Serpent? Not bad." Seeing the character image displayed on the virtual panel, Chen Cheng was very satisfied.

The virtual screen showed a woman dressed in orange-red garments, her clothes revealing, her features seductive, with the Red Serpent Soft Sword wrapped around her waist.

Chen Cheng still had some impression of Red Serpent.

Red Serpent was a character from Qin's Moon. She had originally been the Red Lotus Princess of Han, one of the Seven Kingdoms, before later becoming the leader of the Four Heavenly Kings of the Flowing Sand organization.

She was skilled in Poison Art and Fire Enchantment, and possessed the ability to control snakes.

Chen Cheng had two summoning opportunities in total: one was the reward for activating the system for the first time, while the other was this month's allotted summoning opportunity.

Chen Cheng leaned against a large tree, communicating with the system in his mind while keeping watch over his surroundings.

His current environment was far from absolutely safe. Fierce beasts appeared in the mountains and forests from time to time. If they were ordinary beasts, Chen Cheng could still handle them.

But once Chen Cheng learned that he was on the Dou Qi Continent, he increased the danger rating of this forest a hundredfold.

After all, powerful magical beasts roamed the mountains of this world. Even the lowest-tier First-Rank magical beasts were not something an ordinary person like him—someone who knew a little fighting and possessed a bit of brute strength—could deal with.

"Half an hour? That's not too long." Upon hearing from the system that Red Serpent would come looking for him within half an hour, the worry in Chen Cheng's heart eased somewhat.

After all, she had been assessed by the system as a Two-Star Great Dou Shi. Given the current situation, that was at least some protection.

The young man Chen Cheng had tied to the tree stopped shouting after Chen Cheng ignored him for so long.

Perhaps he was tired, or perhaps he had given up hope. Chen Cheng, however, simply found things much quieter.

"Summoning System, continue the summoning." Chen Cheng communicated with the Myriad World Summoning System.

He had no intention of saving his remaining summoning opportunity. In such a dangerous place, having one more powerful person by his side meant a little more security for his life.

Summoning System: "Executing."

Summoning System: "Summoned character: Huang Yaoshi."

Attributes as follows:

Name: Huang Yaoshi

Origin: Return of the Condor Heroes

Cultivation: Seven Star Great Dou Shi

"Huang Yaoshi will come find the host within half an hour."

On the virtual screen appeared the image of an old man with white hair and a green robe, holding a jade flute in his hand. It was Huang Yaoshi.

Huang Yaoshi was already a household name. His knowledge was incredibly broad, and strange formations, medicine, and martial arts were all subjects of his study.

He had an eccentric temperament and was known as the Eastern Heretic.

His most famous technique was his signature skill, Fingertip Divine Skill.

"Seven Star Great Dou Shi—this strength is pretty good, even higher than Red Serpent's." Chen Cheng praised him after seeing Huang Yaoshi's attributes.

In terms of world level, the world of Return of the Condor Heroes was naturally far inferior to the world of Qin's Moon, and their upper limits of martial strength were worlds apart.

Red Serpent's combat ability ranked extremely high in the world of Qin's Moon, yet her strength assessment was still lower than Huang Yaoshi's.

"A Great Dou Shi's cultivation is still fairly decent in the early stages of Dou Po. With Red Serpent and Huang Yaoshi around, as long as I'm careful, there shouldn't be much trouble," Chen Cheng thought.

"I wonder what point in time I'm currently in. Once Red Serpent and the others arrive, I should head down the mountain and take a look around the town, gather some information."

"The Izumo Empire... this is a very dangerous place. Poison masters are everywhere, and life is cheap. Without some ability, surviving won't be easy."

Chen Cheng had already made up his mind.

He had not gone down the mountain before because he did not understand this world's language and could not communicate with anyone. Even if he caught prey, he could neither sell it nor buy anything.

But now, with the appearance of the Copy System, he had copied the language ability of the person who had attacked him for some unknown reason. Since he understood this world's language, he naturally had the ability to live in a town.

Who would willingly live in these dangerous mountains and forests?

With the system matters settled, Chen Cheng returned to reality.

His gaze fell once more on the young man.

Chen Cheng stood up, carrying the damaged woodcutter's knife in his hand as he walked toward him.

When the man saw Chen Cheng move, the woodcutter's knife in Chen Cheng's hand was especially conspicuous. He panicked and twisted his body, but the vine Chen Cheng had found was extremely sturdy, and Chen Cheng had tied it tightly. No matter how he struggled, he could not break free.

He could only watch helplessly as Chen Cheng drew closer and closer, despair growing in his heart.

Chen Cheng approached him and stopped. He saw that the man had ceased struggling and closed his eyes, as though he had resigned himself to his fate.

Chen Cheng raised his hand and brought the blade down.

The vine binding the young man was cleanly severed. The tip of the blade had sliced down right against his clothing, yet it had not injured him at all.

"Go." Looking down at the person still seated on the ground, Chen Cheng spoke without emotion.

Chen Cheng had never intended to take his life. He was merely someone who posed no threat.

Hearing this, the man opened his eyes and looked at Chen Cheng. His dark face was utterly bewildered.

"You're not killing me?" he asked doubtfully.

In his understanding, in this dog-eat-dog world, if he offended someone and was then killed by them, it was simply the natural order of things.

"If you don't leave now, I'll kill you." Chen Cheng walked to the side, no longer paying attention to the young man as he spoke casually.

Upon hearing that, the man said nothing more. He removed the remaining vines tangled around him, then stood and left.

He walked away without looking back. Before leaving, he did not thank Chen Cheng for sparing his life. He simply left, as though his earlier attack on Chen Cheng had never happened.

And Chen Cheng did not care.

He was just a stranger. What was a word of thanks worth?

Chen Cheng did not leave. He waited there for Red Serpent and Huang Yaoshi to arrive.

More than twenty minutes later, a figure appeared in Chen Cheng's sight.

She was even more stunning than the image on the Summoning System's virtual screen.

"Master." Red Serpent's voice was brimming with seduction, so intoxicating it seemed to melt one's bones.

"Mm, sit down for a while. We're still waiting for someone," Chen Cheng said with a knowing smile as he looked at Red Serpent's beautiful face.

Simply looking at her was indeed a pleasure.

Not long after Red Serpent arrived, Huang Yaoshi appeared as well.

With the two of them joining him, Chen Cheng decided to head into the mountains and hunt a fierce beast or a magical beast.

He knew well that without money, one could not take a single step. Since he had already decided to go to the town at the foot of the mountain, he needed some capital in hand. Otherwise, even eating would become a problem.

And the value of a magical beast would be enough to solve Chen Cheng's predicament.