Yuan Ge's Legacy

Gu Chen cultivated for a while, then stopped. With his back to Thousand Jun Douluo and Demon Subduing Douluo, he took out the Scorpion Pistol from the System Backpack.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk. Is this a real Scorpion Pistol? I'd only ever used one in Game for Peace before." Men loved guns. Gu Chen stroked the Scorpion Pistol in his hand as though he were caressing his own child.

The Scorpion Pistol was a type of machine pistol. Once loaded, it could fire continuously, and its rate of fire surpassed that of ordinary submachine guns.

"System, what level of Soul Master can this Scorpion Pistol kill?" Gu Chen asked.

"Ding!"

"The Scorpion Pistol's power is not particularly great, but it can kill all Soul Masters below Soul Ancestor, non-Defense System Soul Masters below Soul Emperor, as well as agility-attack and auxiliary Soul Emperors."

"Not bad. It's useless for self-defense, though. It isn't even as effective as my Golden Dragon Claw. But with a suppressor, it would be pretty good for assassinations. After all, once I possess my martial soul, the commotion is still pretty loud." As Gu Chen thought this, he took a suppressor from the System Backpack, installed it according to the System's instructions, and loaded twenty bullets into the magazine.

After finishing all that, Gu Chen put the Scorpion Pistol back into the System Backpack. That way, whenever he needed it, he could take it out and fire immediately.

"System, didn't I unlock the lottery function during the last plot choice? I want to check the lottery function," Gu Chen said.

"Ding!"

System Lottery Function:

Lottery Rules:

One draw costs 100 System Points. A ten-draw costs 10% less, a hundred-draw costs 15% less, a thousand-draw costs 20% less, and a ten-thousand-draw costs 25% less.

Lottery Probabilities:

Thank you for participating, probability: 13%

Obtain a Grade 1 plane item, probability: 30%

Obtain a Grade 2 plane item, probability: 30%

Obtain a Grade 3 plane item, probability: 25%

Obtain a Grade 4 plane item, probability: 1.5%

Obtain a Grade 5 plane item, probability: 0.5%

Gu Chen nodded. This System's lottery was already quite generous. It was nothing like the lottery events in Writer Assistant, where a thousand draws got you a thousand "Thank you for participating" results.

Besides, how many lottery events actually disclosed their probabilities?

"System, give me a single draw to try," Gu Chen said.

"Ding!"

"100 System Points deducted from the host. Remaining points: 900."

"Congratulations, host. You have obtained: Thank you for participating!"

Fuck, ruthless!

"..." Gu Chen was depressed. Was his luck really that bad?

"System, I want ten draws!" Gu Chen gritted his teeth.

"Ding!"

"Ten-draw at a 10% discount. 900 System Points deducted from the host. Remaining points: 0."

"Congratulations, host. You have obtained: Bronze Sword (from the Grade 1 technological plane: Blue Star Earth, Shang Dynasty), ten packs of Weilong Spicy Strips (from the Grade 2 technological plane: Blue Star Earth), Raptor Egg (from the Grade 1 technological plane: Blue Star Earth, Jurassic Era), secret manual: Eight Extremes Collapse (from the Grade 3 fantasy plane: Dou Qi Continent), Thank you for participating, Thank you for participating, Soul Power Boost Card (System-produced, equivalent in value to a Grade 3 plane item) ×3."

Gu Chen's eyes lit up. Although two of the draws had been "Thank you for participating," and one had been a Bronze Sword that was worse than scrap, the Eight Extremes Collapse from Xiao Yan and the three Soul Power Boost Cards were still quite useful to him.

As for that Raptor Egg, he could send it to the Star Dou Great Forest someday and have a soul beast with dragon bloodline help hatch it. It was impossible for Gu Chen to hatch it himself, right?

Having spent all one thousand System Points he had obtained, Gu Chen felt thoroughly satisfied with his haul.

"System, I want to use the Yuan Ge Legacy." Gu Chen looked at the most valuable item in the System Backpack.

"Ding!"

"Obtaining the legacy will take nearly a week. Please find a quiet environment to inherit it."

Gu Chen looked around. There were currently two Title Douluo by his side. Though they were allies for now, it would take at least a week to reach Spirit City.

As for Gu Yuena, Gu Chen believed that she would protect him while he inherited Yuan Ge's legacy. That was his trust in her.

"It's fine, System. I want to inherit the Yuan Ge Legacy." Gu Chen smiled coolly.

"Ding!"

"Yuan Ge Legacy initiated!"

Dizziness—endless, boundless dizziness.

Although Gu Chen's body remained where it was, his soul had already gone to another world, or rather, another plane.

King's Canyon plane, Three Divisions Land.

When people found him, the young Yuan Ge had completely lost the ability to speak from shock and fear. No one knew what terrible misfortune he had witnessed.

"Child, come to Jixia with me. There, you can learn many things." A stranger extended his hand to him.

Yuan Ge could not speak. After a long while, he silently reached out his hand.

Led by the stranger, Yuan Ge traveled to Jixia, the place countless people longed for.

After arriving at Jixia, Yuan Ge met his learned and brilliant senior brother, Zhuge Liang. He was the idol of countless students. Whether it was Demonic Mechanisms, strategy, or military tactics, he excelled in everything. Every difficult problem seemed to be solved with ease before him.

Zhuge Liang encouraged the young Yuan Ge, who had lost his voice after suffering excessive terror. "Junior Brother, why not make mechanism puppets and use them to communicate with the entire world in your place?"

Yuan Ge's silent and gloomy world suddenly became bright and vivid. He gradually immersed himself in the art of crafting puppets, and the inferiority he had once felt was transformed through exquisite creations.

When the puppet spoke, it was like he was speaking. When the puppet danced, it was like he was dancing. He kept experimenting, and in the end, created a stunning work: flawless, lifelike, another perfect version of himself in this world.

Time flew by, and the young Yuan Ge grew into a youth. He left Jixia Academy and began traveling everywhere.

News traveled especially quickly on the road: the rising Wei Capital and its mysterious figure, the God of War's devastating defeat, and the crisis faced by turbulent Chibi.

He made his decision almost without hesitation.

That night, beneath a bridge battered by wind and rain, he made puppet after puppet, preparing everything for his next move.

Cao Cao, who had seized Primal Miracle's secret from his old friend Cai Yong, had long plotted to annex Jiangdong. Yet the miracle he was determined to obtain remained beyond his grasp, until Yuan Ge, who had once studied at Jixia, came to seek refuge with him.

"I am merely an ordinary mechanism master, wholeheartedly pursuing the supreme beauty of mechanisms." Charming words came from the puppet's mouth, while Yuan Ge, its master, controlled it from behind.

"What is the supreme beauty of mechanisms? Only by using the hand of supreme authority to bring Primal Miracle back into the world can it truly be called such."

"Mechanism master, since you possess such ability, join my ranks. One day, your name will surely resound throughout the Three Divisions Land!" Cao Cao was overjoyed and kept him as a subordinate.

By the time the warlord led his army eastward, he had already placed great trust in him. This made the man in black, one of the warlord's closest confidants, deeply displeased.

"I am but a lowly mechanism master who knows a few trivial tricks. The one my lord truly trusts and values is naturally you." The puppet spoke smoothly. "Please allow me to offer counsel for you as well."

Yuan Ge moved with ease between ruler and subordinate. Everyone admitted that his words were as sweet as honey, and his schemes always suited their wishes perfectly.

Before they knew it, everyone regarded him as a confidant, forgetting that while the puppet danced gracefully, its strings were held in Yuan Ge's hands.

"Heh, life is like a play—it all depends on acting..." At some point, Yuan Ge behind the puppet quietly uttered a sentence.

The fallen prince pieced together an army with him and allied with Zhou Yu, vainly hoping to stop the tide with a mantis's arm. And Zhuge Liang actually understood the mysteries of the Heavenly Tome as well, seizing the initiative.

Though the warlord's army was pressing down on them, the lost initiative made him fly into a rage.

The man in black pondered deeply. If he had enough lives, perhaps he could use a more powerful secret art to contend against the miracle. But how could he obtain those lives?

"Why not link the mechanism warships together with iron chains, allowing you to cast your secret art from the sky? Faced with attacks from warships above, the enemy soldiers would have no choice but to throw away their lives." The puppet saw through his thoughts and offered this advice. "Linking warships together is as easy as turning one's hand for a mechanism master."

The man in black was tempted. The next day, he presented the plan to Cao Cao.

Cao Cao was overjoyed and ordered the man in black to proceed according to the plan. When the decisive battle at Chibi began, ten thousand warships rose into the sky. The linked ships formed enormous, sturdier vessels that covered the heavens, their momentum extraordinary.

Upon the flagship, the sorcerer met with the warlord and described his next plan. "The secret art I cast will cover all of Chibi... No one will be able to escape..."

"Is that so?"

"After all, we have already taken control of the sky. Next will be what we have long dreamed of..."

"My life?" Cao Cao asked.

Caught off guard by the sudden question, the man in black was at a loss. Cold sweat seeped from his forehead.

"No, Zhou Yu's and Liu Bei's..."

"When the lord is aboard the warships, his life is also within the Demonic Arts' reach. I fear the targets you intend to drain are not limited to Zhou Yu and Liu Bei."

From the shadow behind Cao Cao, the magnificent puppet elegantly and coldly voiced a hateful accusation. In that instant, the man in black understood that he had been trapped.

"This was clearly the plan you, the mechanism master, proposed... You betrayed me!"

"Wasn't it because this plan catered to your ambitions that you adopted it? Tsk, tsk. My lord, look, didn't I say so?"

"No, my lord! I am the one loyal to you... This fellow from Jixia must be working for Zhou Yu and Liu Bei... Ah, right, it must be Zhuge Liang's sly scheme to sow discord!"

Amid the endless argument, doubt and confusion appeared in the warlord's sharp eyes. He could not tell which of these two seemingly utterly loyal subordinates was telling the truth. Perhaps both harbored ulterior motives?

"Imitation."

The three words drifted lightly into the man in black's ears. They were not the puppet's ventriloquism, but an unfamiliar voice he had heard for the first time. People were often drawn to the magnificent puppet and forgot that it had a master.

"A clumsy imitation can never surpass the supreme creation."

Those words struck the most painful chord deep within the man in black's heart—his source of power, his humiliating past of fleeing in disgrace... He suddenly revealed his true form in furious rage, intending to kill the bastard who had exposed his hidden pain in one blow.

Yuan Ge was sent flying heavily.

Yet it was the warlord who displayed expressions of shock, relief, and fury.

A magnificent performance of sacrificing oneself to save the lord had just been staged.

"Look, my lord! His true target was you!"

The final fragments of speech vanished along with Yuan Ge's body beneath the ship's railing. The puppet that had been chattering away on the deck moments earlier instantly scattered across the ground. In the entire play Yuan Ge had directed, he had cast himself as the loyal minister who sacrificed himself to save his lord. The man in black understood that he had been completely defeated. Servants surged forward and surrounded the warlord, swords, blades, and spears all pointed at the man in black.

The situation was beyond saving.

Countless black bats frantically swooped toward the soldiers trying to capture the traitor. When people came to their senses, the man in black had vanished without a trace.

In one day, he had lost two confidants. Grinding his teeth, Cao Cao issued the order to attack.

Suddenly, the earth shook and the mountains trembled.

Yuan Ge's fall was like some kind of signal. The power of the East Wind Altar shrouded every warship beneath thunderclouds. A massive tornado was forming and closing in, ready to mercilessly shred the giant vessels linked by iron chains. Along the riverbank below, the Zhou-Liu Allied Forces stood ready with flaming mechanisms.

The rushing current poured into the sea, and a deep vortex caught the youth who had fallen from the sky.

"Free of desire and free of demands, always smiling!"

Dizzy and disoriented, Gu Chen experienced Yuan Ge's entire life firsthand from a first-person perspective. He was Yuan Ge, and Yuan Ge was him...

"Joy inspires fear; I prefer the aesthetics of despair..." Since accepting Yuan Ge's legacy, his mindset had changed somewhat. He had lost some of his innocence and childishness, gaining a little more ruthlessness.

Perhaps this kind of personality was more suited to surviving in Spirit Hall...

This chapter was mainly written to cover the reward the protagonist received in the previous plot choice. At the same time, it drew upon Yuan Ge's backstory from Honor of Kings, using it to alter the protagonist's personality somewhat. Otherwise, it would be difficult for him to survive amid Spirit Hall's schemes and intrigues.