Upgrade! Diary System

[First, Aunt appeared too conveniently.]

[How did she happen to be in the Star Dou Great Forest, and just happen to find me?]

[Second, even earlier, at the outskirts of the Star Dou Great Forest,]

[Hu Liena's attention toward me clearly exceeded normal bounds. She seemed to be constantly observing me, that probing gaze.]

[I thought I'd hidden myself well enough. What exactly did she see?]

The text paused here.

Both Hu Liena and Liu Erlong felt their hearts tighten.

Yu Tiancheng stared at these questions, his gaze growing heavy.

Either incident alone could have been coincidence or accident, but occurring back to back, they carried an unmistakable air of oddity.

[I have a vague feeling that some things might not be as simple as they appear on the surface.]

He continued writing, the tip of his brush carrying a hint of hesitation.

[I'll need to confirm this guess later.]

Confirm?

Confirm what?

At almost the same moment, in different corners of the continent, the hearts of several Diary Copy holders jolted in unison!

Inside a hotel room in a small town near the Star Dou Great Forest.

Ning Rongrong, Zhu Zhuqing, and Xiao Wu were crowded together in one room.

After the upheaval in the Star Dou Great Forest and the journey here, everyone was somewhat exhausted, but the sudden warmth from their Diary Copies jolted them fully awake.

With perfect understanding, the three each took out their copies and flipped through them quickly.

When they saw Yu Tiancheng's doubts about Liu Erlong and Hu Liena, and that meaningful "confirm," the air in the room seemed to freeze for a moment.

"Rongrong, Zhuqing, what do you think he's discovered?"

Xiao Wu couldn't hold back her question.

Zhu Zhuqing couldn't think of anything either for a moment. She remained silent, then turned to look at Ning Rongrong.

Ning Rongrong thought for a while, then proposed a guess:

"I think he might know that someone can see his diary."

Xiao Wu covered her mouth, nearly yelping in surprise. Her lively eyes were full of shock and panic.

"He suspects we've been reading his diary!"

Zhu Zhuqing had never considered this line of thought, and she too was stunned.

"How is that possible? Just from these unrelated actions of Liu Erlong and Hu Liena?"

She thought quickly. If that were really the case, Yu Tiancheng's mind might be terrifyingly sharp.

Ning Rongrong hadn't expected such a strong reaction from the two of them.

She made a funny face and replied, "I'm just guessing. It could be some other speculation."

"Then what do we do?" Xiao Wu looked at her two companions helplessly. "If that's really the case, will he set traps in his diary? Or... stop writing about important things?"

Zhu Zhuqing forced herself to calm down and analyzed, "If that's really the case, we need to be more careful when reading the diary from now on. We can't react too abruptly just because we know the content."

The three of them grew tense because of these few lines, as if they had transformed from safe observers into potential "peepers" about to be discovered.

At the Pope's Palace, Bibi Dong also suddenly realized something.

"Oh?" An extremely light syllable escaped her perfect lips, yet in the empty hall, it carried the weight of a thousand jun.

"To think of something from such a tiny clue... This insight and power of association are quite surprising."

At this moment, the two people actually involved were still in a daze, unaware of what was happening.

Hu Liena and Liu Erlong had no idea what their seemingly unrelated actions meant, or what could be found from them.

The diary continued writing:

[Let's talk about today. I enrolled at Blue Tyrant Academy today.]

[The academy's atmosphere is pretty good. Strength is everything, simple and direct.]

[But as a newcomer, I was challenged by Tailong.]

[Tailong is just like in the original story—straightforward and reckless, no ill intent, just thought I was someone's connection.]

[Still, I proposed a solution: a three-move pact. If he could make me move half a step or force me into an ultimate defense within three moves, I'd leave on my own.]

[Level 23 vs Level 37.]

[Cross-tier challenge, attacking from his strongest point. I even got to enjoy the treatment of a web novel male lead.]

[In the end, of course, I cleverly used two soul skills and won the match directly, hahaha.]

[I really got to show off this time.]

[But this battle also taught me quite a few things.]

[First Soul Skill can not only accelerate myself or slow down external objects, but also create a time gap to observe others' openings.]

[In high-speed combat, an instant of delay is a battle opportunity.]

[Combining the two skills also yields excellent results—shifting between reality and illusion, advancing and retreating freely, effective when evading a fatal blow. Still, soul power consumption must be considered.]

[After this match, there should be fewer troubles in the academy, allowing me to focus more on cultivation.]

Because of Yu Tiancheng's cryptic behavior above, no one paid close attention to the diary's showing-off process afterward. Everyone was instead wondering what exactly Yu Tiancheng had learned.

After writing the last line, Yu Tiancheng closed the diary, but unlike usual, he did not put it away immediately.

He took a deep breath, sank his consciousness deep into his sea of awareness, and actively communicated with the system that had been silent for some time.

"System," he murmured in his heart, seeking final confirmation. "The diary I write—in this world, are there readers other than me?"

After a brief silence, the cold mechanical voice rang out, yet carried a ripple unlike before:

[Detected host actively touching core rules.]

[Hidden conditions met.]

[System upgrading...]

Yu Tiancheng's heart jolted. As expected! The system's reaction almost confirmed his conjecture!

Moments later, a brand-new system interface unfolded in his consciousness, data streams flooding in:

[Upgrade complete.]

[Core rules updated:]

[Diary update frequency adjusted to: once per week. Each entry must revolve around the "Weekly Theme."]

[Reward settlement adjusted to: once per week. Total rewards and quality significantly increased.]

[New binding function added: Once per month, the host may attempt to bind with a Diary Copy holder. Successful binding allows random copying of one of that holder's soul skills. Failed binding forfeits the monthly opportunity.]

"Just as I thought..."

Yu Tiancheng slowly opened his eyes, a gleam of understanding and sharpness flashing within.

His conjecture was fully confirmed. The diary was not his private tree hollow, but connected to unknown readers.

At the same time, all Diary Copy holders, no matter where they were or what they were doing, felt the copy in their hands tremble slightly, emitting a warm glow.

The new rule explanation clearly appeared on the title page of every copy:

[Rule Update Notice]

[Diary updates changed to once per week. Content must revolve around the Weekly Theme.]

[Rewards changed to weekly settlement. Rewards are more generous.]

[The person whose name appears most frequently in the diary each week will receive a basic reward.]

[Each week, one lucky viewer will be randomly selected from all names mentioned in the diary to receive a random reward.]

[Each week, one person mentioned in the diary will be randomly chosen to designate the next week's diary theme.]