Sunflower Scripture

The next day, the sun was already high in the sky.

Xue Ke opened her sleepy eyes, her awareness gradually returning. After briefly sorting through her thoughts, she called out, "Attend me!"

The maid Xiao Juan, who had long been waiting outside the door, entered with the others. Under the attentive care of the maids, Xue Ke finished washing and dressing. As she ate the carefully prepared breakfast from the kitchen, she sorted through the sudden influx of information in her mind.

"Sunflower Scripture? What the hell is this?" Having read countless urban superpower novels in her previous life, Xue Ke deeply doubted this so-called "cultivation method" given to her by the old-man figure, Green Swan.

"Where's my Xuanyuan Imperial Dragon Art? Where's my Creation Seizing Heaven Merit? What does that Sunflower Manual, the one about practicing divine arts by taking a knife to, uh... that, have to do with you? And Sunflower Scripture? From the name alone, I thought it was a book about growing flowers and plants."

As Xue Ke complained about this cultivation method that seemed utterly unreliable, she took a huge gulp of fresh milk.

"Aromatic Silk Beauty: an immortal herb essential for resisting poison, the nemesis of toxic substances. Its fragrance holds an immense attraction for spirit beasts."

"Octagonal Mysterious Ice Grass: a flower of extreme cold, incomparably poisonous. It counteracts the Infernal Delicate Apricot; consuming them together grants immunity to water and fire."

"Infernal Delicate Apricot: a flower of extreme heat. It counteracts the Octagonal Mysterious Ice Grass; consuming them together grants immunity to water and fire."

"Full Moon Wearing Autumn Dew: drip its dew into the eyes to cultivate Fiery Golden Eyes, allowing one to see through all things in the world and greatly enhancing spiritual power."

"???" Xue Ke was shocked. She carefully organized the information on these immortal herbs in her mind, not overlooking a single detail.

"As expected of you, Sunflower Scripture. Your information on all these flowers and plants is truly comprehensive! I apologize—my doubts about you just now were an insult to your worth. Knowledge is priceless! Hehehe, since I've obtained the information on these immortal herbs so easily, it would be inexcusable not to pluck a little from that Ice and Fire Yin Yang Pot that changed the protagonists' lives."

Excitedly, Xue Ke continued reading.

"General outline of the cultivation method: to practice this divine art, one must..." Xue Ke froze inside. I don't even have that anymore. Where am I supposed to start?

"...be female. If a male forcibly cultivates it, he will gradually develop female characteristics and eventually become a neither-male-nor-female monster."

Xue Ke breathed a sigh of relief and patted her utterly unremarkable chest. Then it's fine. That scared the hell out of me.

"First level of the Sunflower Scripture: Perception Amplification. Greatly enhances one's perception, including hearing, sight, smell, taste, and more. It can effectively detect dangers within a hundred-meter radius."

"Perception Amplification? Isn't that just Thousand Mile Eyes and Wind Following Ears? It even comes with an Early Warning System. Sure enough, anything produced by an old-man figure is top quality." (Green Swan: ??? Who's an old man?!)

"The second level... if you wish to know what comes next, listen to the next installment."

"I'm fucking... Do you think you're a storyteller? Can't you just let me read it all at once? I can't even look at it?"

Xue Ke felt indignant, but there was nothing she could do. Reborn in another world, she might not have some invincible system, but fortunately she still had the standard-issue "old-man figure" to give her a few cheats. Otherwise, having nothing at all would be truly unbearable.

After eating and drinking her fill, Xue Ke dismissed the maids and eagerly went to her comfortable bed. Based on the TV dramas and wuxia novels she had watched in her previous life, she sat cross-legged, placed her hands naturally on her thighs, and began painstakingly cultivating according to the circulation method recorded in the Sunflower Scripture.

Xue Ke felt as though her body had become a powerful vacuum cleaner, madly absorbing the thin spiritual energy of heaven and earth around her. Her body gradually filled up, and then her eyes, ears, mouth, and nose began to grow hot.

For the moment, Xue Ke cast aside all distracting thoughts. She felt her body gradually merge with heaven and earth, entering a state of forgetting both self and surroundings, like when she had reached a crucial moment in a game in her previous life and became oblivious to everyone around her.

Before she knew it, Xue Ke had cultivated for two shichen. She slowly opened her eyes, exhaled a breath of foul air, and got off the bed with satisfaction.

"Wait a minute, didn't I plan to go out and have fun today? It's already afternoon before I even realized it. No, how can I work this hard? I studied diligently for more than ten years—I should be allowed to enjoy myself!"

Xue Ke called out, "Xiao Juan!"

The maid Xiao Juan, who had been waiting for instructions outside, entered the room as ordered.

"Take me out for a walk. This Princess is tired and doesn't want to work hard anymore."

"Yes, Princess!"

However, reality proved that the fuller one's ideals were, the harsher reality became. Riding in the "Lamborghini" carriage, Xue Ke followed Xiao Juan through more than half of Heaven Dou City, only to discover in astonishment that entertainment on Douluo Continent was pitifully scarce.

There were no bars, no internet cafes, no cinemas, no amusement parks, no zoos, no aquariums... There were only three forms of entertainment: auction houses, Spirit Fighting Arenas, and pleasure houses.

Looking thoroughly uninterested, Xue Ke rode the "Lamborghini" back to the residence.

"My phone, my computer, my iPad! This is... so—bor—ing!"

Having been inseparable from her phone in her previous life, Xue Ke felt as though losing it meant losing her second life. A wave of emptiness, loneliness, and coldness washed over her.

"How do people on Douluo Continent usually pass the time? How can they endure days this boring and miserable? I truly don't understand!"

Xue Ke had been reborn on Douluo Continent for only two days, yet her life had already risen and fallen dramatically.

Overnight, she had gone from a penniless male college student who spent all day in his dorm watching anime, playing games, and rotting away as a useless, shut-in, secretly horny loser, to an imperial princess who never had to worry about food or clothing, who had a house if she wanted one, a carriage if she wanted one, money if she wanted it, and the adoration of countless people.

The enormous disparity of this "overnight fortune" left Xue Ke, inexperienced in life in both her past and present lives, feeling utterly lost. She felt that her life had suddenly lost all goals worth striving for, along with any desire to strive.

Her family circumstances in her previous life had been ordinary, but she had at least possessed some modest goals. Knowing her own limits, she had only planned to muddle through until graduation, find an ordinary job to support herself, and find someone she loved to spend the rest of her life with.

But now, she had become an imperial princess who wanted for nothing. The small life goals she had set in her previous life were no longer a problem. As long as she fulfilled her duties as an imperial princess step by step, she could live out the rest of her life safely and comfortably.

"Ah—" Xue Ke lay on the bed and turned over. When someone had nothing to do, it was easy to let their thoughts run wild.

Xue Ke sat up and cultivated the Sunflower Scripture for a while, only to feel mentally exhausted. She lay back down and stared blankly at the ceiling.

"Let's talk about the future when it comes. I can only take things one step at a time. After all, plans can never keep up with changes. Sitting here fantasizing about so much is just asking for trouble. Sure enough, I'm still the same unambitious, rotting shut-in guy I always was!"

Xue Ke felt her eyelids fighting each other. Unable to hold on any longer, she fell into a deep sleep.