Return Evaluation

Tianning Temple was dimly lit inside, with only a few rays of sunlight streaming through broken windows as dust drifted lazily through the beams.

A massive Buddha statue stood in the center, covered in dust, its painted surface peeling away with age.

The moment Wang Xuan stepped over the hall's threshold, his mind rang with a ding, and the pale blue System Panel appeared on its own.

[Notice: Side Quest "Secret of the Linked Cities Treasure" completed.]

Before Wang Xuan could inspect the reward, a series of faint cracking sounds came from ahead.

He looked up.

The dusty Buddha statue in the center of the hall began to crack across its surface. More and more fractures spread like a spiderweb until pieces of stone shell fell away.

What lay beneath the peeling stone was not clay, but a dazzling golden color. The Buddha's true form was revealed—it was entirely made of pure gold.

Wang Xuan narrowed his eyes. The golden light was so bright it made his vision swim.

At the same time, a dark hole silently opened beneath the Buddha's pedestal.

The opening was not large, just enough for one person to crawl through. Inside was pitch-black and bottomless.

"Emperor Liang Yuan's treasure..." Wang Xuan murmured.

With the earthshaking treasure right before him, Wang Xuan did not rush forward in excitement. Instead, he took two steps back.

Golden Wave Demon Flower.

The deadliest poison in Secret of the Linked Cities. Touch it and die. It was the stuff that old bastard Ling Tuisi had used to harm Ding Dian. Every piece of gold and silver in this treasure had been coated in it.

Wang Xuan had no interest in this gold and silver.

After killing Yu Jinghong, Yu Qingtian, and Shen Chenzhou, the gold and silver he had found in their Storage Bags had piled up like a small mountain. He would never spend it all in his lifetime.

Besides, this gold was poisoned. Touching it meant courting death. Though he possessed the strength of the Three-Unity Great Xiantian, he had no intention of gambling his life on whether he could withstand such a lethal poison.

"Boring."

Wang Xuan turned and left without the slightest hesitation.

In any case, this world would collapse and reset in less than a month. Whoever wanted the treasure could have it.

He stayed in the Secret of the Linked Cities world for another three days.

He did nothing during those three days. He simply found a clean inn in Jiangling City, ate, slept, then slept and ate.

Ever since entering this world and acquiring the Iron Cloth Shirt, he had never had a moment's rest. He was either killing people or on his way to kill them, his mind constantly stretched taut.

Now that the Royal Clan had been wiped out, the Main Quest completed, and the Side Quests cleared, he could finally catch his breath.

Three days later, Wang Xuan felt that his mental state had mostly recovered.

There was no point staying any longer. The martial arts ceiling of this world was right here, and it could no longer help improve his strength.

He summoned the System Panel and selected "Return."

His vision blurred, followed by that familiar sensation of weightlessness.

When his sight returned, he was no longer in the inn room.

He stood in an endless expanse of pure white, with smooth white ground beneath his feet.

The Heavens Tower's mechanical, icy voice sounded directly beside his ears.

"Player Wang Xuan detected. Performance evaluation for the Secret of the Linked Cities world in progress..."

"Strength evaluation: Surpassed Xiantian and reached the third level of Three-Unity Great Xiantian. Score greatly increased."

"Quest evaluation: Completed Side Quest 'Secret of the Linked Cities Treasure,' obtained Divine Illumination Scripture. Score increased."

"Quest evaluation: Completed Main Quest. Score increased."

"Achievement evaluation: Achieved the 'Thousand-Man Slayer' achievement. More than a thousand Players died from contract backlash due to your slaughter of the Royal Clan. Achievement score increased."

"Kill evaluation: Killed three cheating Players. Score increased."

"Plot intervention evaluation: Killed plot characters Blood Blade Ancestor, three of the Four Wonders of the South, Wan Zhenshan, Yan Daping, and Qi Changfa. Score increased."

Wang Xuan froze when he heard that.

Cheating Players?

Yu Jinghong? Yu Qingtian? Shen Chenzhou?

"So the Royal Clan's method of increasing their strength counts as cheating under the Heavens Tower's rules?"

Wan Zhenshan? Yan Daping? Qi Changfa?

Those three outside the bookstore?

At the time, he had only thought those three had set an ambush and come looking for death, so he had casually killed them. He had not even bothered to see who they were. Only now, after the Heavens Tower mentioned it, did he realize.

So they had been the three martial brothers from Secret of the Linked Cities, delivering themselves to his door.

"Plot intervention evaluation: Rescued Ding Dian and changed his death script. Score increased."

"Plot intervention evaluation: Changed Ling Shuanghua's death script. Score increased."

"Plot intervention evaluation: Changed Di Yun's fate. Score increased."

"Plot intervention evaluation: Changed Shui Sheng's fate. Score increased."

The mechanical voice paused before continuing.

"Calculating overall score..."

"Player Wang Xuan, final evaluation for the Secret of the Linked Cities world: SSS-Rank Talent."

"Comment: Dominated the martial world for three hundred years; the Blood Blade slaughtered every enemy!"

"Distributing rewards..."

Several objects appeared out of thin air before Wang Xuan, floating in midair.

A card glowing blue, inscribed with "Heavens Tower Plot World Teleportation Card x10."

A card glowing purple, inscribed with "Heavens World Plot Card x10."

There were also two golden cards. One read, "One designated top-tier Divine Arts from a second-floor martial arts world of the Heavens Tower," while the other read, "One designated Divine Weapon from a second-floor martial arts world of the Heavens Tower."

Finally, there was a hazy white ball of light that constantly changed shape, with tiny runes faintly flowing within it.

"Reward: Heavens Tower Hidden Authority, 0.5%."

"Congratulations on passing the first floor of the Heavens Tower. Plot World memories retained. Note: Plot World information must not be disclosed. Violators will be erased!"

The Heavens Tower Plot World Teleportation Card was easy enough to understand. The next time Wang Xuan entered a Heavens Plot World, he would no longer need to travel to the Heavens Tower and teleport through the Tower Gate. No matter where he was on Origin Earth Star, he could use a Teleportation Card to directly enter a Plot World. However, the card could not freely teleport him to any Plot World. It could only send him to the next floor's Plot World. If the current Plot World had not been cleared, it would not skip floors either.

The Heavens World Plot Card was probably a revive token. Players had five chances to enter Plot Worlds, and possessing one Plot Card was equivalent to gaining one additional chance.

Wang Xuan only glanced at the Divine Arts and Divine Weapon cards before turning his attention to the reward labeled Heavens Authority 0.5%. He studied it over and over, but the System Panel showed no reaction at all. Only cold text appeared on it.

"Please select ten items from this world to bring out. Non-native items such as Primary Storage Bags excluded."

A roulette wheel appeared before him. Apart from a Blood Blade, there was nothing else on it.

Wang Xuan felt somewhat helpless. In the Secret of the Linked Cities Plot World, he truly possessed nothing of value. He had not even taken the treasure at Tianning Temple, so there was nothing for him to choose.

"Blood Blade!"

As soon as he spoke, a curved Burmese Saber flew out from the roulette wheel, with a golden dragon-head hilt and a pitch-black scabbard.

"Selection confirmed. No additional items remain for the remaining nine selections. Selection complete!"

"Returning."

A flash of white light passed.

"Heavens Tower, you cheated me out of nine selections..."

Wang Xuan felt solid ground beneath his feet, and a loud wave of noisy voices instantly exploded around him.

He opened his eyes. It was the familiar Tower Gate Plaza, but it was completely different from the last time he had been here.

People. People everywhere.

The plaza's surroundings were packed with people, most of them young, though even more older people stood behind them. All of them craned their necks toward him.

Wang Xuan stood at the fixed point where the Tower Gate's teleportation delivered people.

Now, that spot had become the center of the entire plaza.

Countless gazes fell upon him—curious, shocked, envious, jealous, and many filled with scrutiny and appraisal.

"He's out! That's him!"

"Wang Xuan! The one who killed the Royal Clan!"

"He looks so young... Is he really that strong?"

"Of course he is. Didn't you hear the World Announcement? An SSS evaluation! 'Dominated the martial world for three hundred years; the Blood Blade slaughtered every enemy!' Have you ever heard an evaluation like that before?"

"No... Forget SSS. Even the Royal Clans and Longevity Families haven't received an SSS evaluation in a very long time."

"What kind of Talent did he awaken? How could he kill Royal Clan members in a Low Martial Arts World?"

The discussions buzzed like a boiling pot.

Wang Xuan frowned. He had not expected such a huge scene the moment he returned.

But he quickly understood.

Yu Jinghong, Yu Qingtian, and Shen Chenzhou—three Royal Clan members—had been killed by a bottom-tier Player in a Low Martial Arts World.

That news had probably already spread like wildfire.

The Royal Clans were not united. There were rivalries and competition among them.

The Yu Clan and Shen Clan had lost so much face that their rival Royal Clans would certainly be delighted to spread the news everywhere. The wider it spread, the better.

As for the bottom-tier Players...

Wang Xuan swept his gaze over the excited, thrilled, even slightly worshipful looks around him.

These people had been suppressed by the Royal Clans for too long. Then someone suddenly appeared and cut down three lofty Royal Clan members.

It was probably like office workers watching someone fire their boss. They might not dare do it themselves, but seeing someone else do it felt satisfying.

Wang Xuan said nothing and started walking toward the edge of the plaza.

He needed to leave first.

The crowd automatically parted, opening a path for him. No one dared block his way.

But his mind was on something else.

He had killed three Royal Clan members out of the Plot World.

According to the Heavens Tower's rules, dying in a Plot World was not true death. They were merely forcibly kicked out, their minds injured and requiring time to recover.

But those three had surely returned to Origin Earth Star by now.

Wang Xuan touched the three Storage Bags in his clothes, then looked at the red binding text on the System Panel before him.

Trouble was coming.

Origin Earth Star was a safe zone. Under the Heavens Tower's rules, Players could not harm one another.

The Royal Clans could not openly do anything to him.

But what about in secret?

Resource blockades, information blockades, verbal deception... Or perhaps directly sending someone to another planet?

Wang Xuan's heart sank. He needed to find a way.

As he was thinking, he suddenly felt several unusual gazes land upon him.

They were not curious. They were not worshipful.

They were cold and scrutinizing, carrying the lofty air of someone assessing him from above.

Wang Xuan followed the feeling and looked over.

At the edge of the plaza stood several extravagantly dressed young men and women, all striking in appearance. A rune between their brows glimmered faintly, and not a single Player stood within ten meters of them.

They looked at Wang Xuan with little emotion, as though they were looking at an... object.

Or perhaps a "variable" worth paying attention to.

Wang Xuan met their gazes.

They did not look away. Instead, one of them slightly raised their chin, revealing a faintly amused smile.

"Boss Wang Xuan, what rank of Talent did you awaken?"

Someone in the crowd finally spoke. The voice was loud, yet no one could tell who had said it.

As that question was asked, curiosity filled some Players' eyes. However, even more Players' expressions changed slightly as they quietly began sizing one another up in the crowd.

"Wang Xuan, don't say anything. Don't trust anyone. Don't believe anything anyone says. Go home!!"

A faint voice reached Wang Xuan's ear, as though someone were speaking directly into his inner ear.

It seemed he had truly become "famous" this time.

Not only famous—he had also become a prize in certain people's eyes, or perhaps... a problem.

Wang Xuan silently walked out of the plaza, then looked back at the Tower Gate towering into the clouds.

He would have to wait five days before entering again.

For these five days, he needed to lie low on Origin Earth Star.

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