Since Someone Has to Succeed, Why Can't It Be Me?

Since someone had to succeed, why couldn't it be me?

What were other transmigrators like?

Passionate.

Thirty years east of the river, thirty years west of the river—never mock a young man for being poor.

Chuunibyou.

Xu Que of the Exploding Heavens Faction—so cringeworthy it was both hilarious and chuunibyou.

Great Love Immortal Venerable, ruthless and decisive.

And Li Changshou, who became supreme through the path of caution.

So what about me?

"Perhaps... all I have left is careful preparation and a little ruthlessness?"

Slaughter City.

Within Hell Road.

Golden chains covered every inch of the place, densely winding around everything they could latch onto—stalactites, pavilions, passageways, even stone walls. On the already labyrinthine Hell Road, they formed countless new paths. As long as your movement technique was good enough, these sturdy chains could serve as walkways, though that was clearly not why they had appeared here...

At the end of all the golden chains hung a massive humanoid monster, its body pierced by dozens of golden chains, its bones locked in place as it was suspended in midair.

The humanoid monster stood over two meters tall.

Two enormous bat wings grew from its back.

When spread open, they could span more than five meters.

Unfortunately, barring a miracle, no one would ever see those wings spread again. Like their owner, they had been pierced by dozens of golden chains and pinned beneath the stone walls on all sides.

Its blood-red light armor was badly damaged.

A gaping hole had been blasted through where its heart should have been.

The remaining half of its heart beat weakly, twitching symbolically a few times before being forced to abandon its struggle.

Even so, the humanoid monster had not completely died.

Every tremor made the chains clang.

With every clang, its body gradually shrank.

Before long, it revealed the form of an ordinary person.

Black hair, black eyes, and traces of the domineering arrogance of his youth still lingered between his brows. A blood-red vertical sword mark remained in the center of his forehead. He looked young, but he was likely a middle-aged man who had preserved his appearance.

Opposite him.

At the end of this main path.

Lay severed limbs, a young man missing his left arm, and a black tower with only half of it remaining, all standing upon Hell Road.

The black tower rose high.

Its body was covered in fist marks, claw marks, and cracks left by heavy impacts.

At its peak, a purple-black crystal sphere one meter in radius had cracked inch by inch.

But what had truly destroyed it was the sword scar that had cleaved it in two.

The upper half remained on Hell Road.

The lower half had vanished into the magma.

About a third of the tower had disappeared. The half that could still be seen now accounted for only around two-thirds of the black tower's original height.

Upon closer inspection, the sword scar that had split the black tower in half was extremely similar to the wound where the young man's arm had been severed. The only difference was that scarlet Soul Power clung to the young man's wound. Although every breath he took caused strands of flesh to grow rapidly from the stump at a visible rate, they could only barely contend against the scarlet Soul Power corroding the wound. None of this was present on the black tower.

This was not a regenerative ability a human should possess.

Nor was that corrosiveness something a human could endure.

The culprit behind all of this was the humanoid monster hanging from dozens of chains, gradually shrinking back to normal size. And the dark-red greatsword in his hand, like a door panel, was the tool responsible for all this destruction.

"Leave behind your name..." The middle-aged man, having regained consciousness, struggled to raise his head. His astonishing vitality was no weaker than the vigorous life force regenerating flesh at the young man's severed arm. Though his heart had shattered and his life had reached its end, he still had one last breath left to leave his final words. Yet he used that time to offer praise instead. "Consider it the victor's mercy toward the defeated. Even with more than twenty Titled Douluo candidates with domains risking their lives to delay me, that strange black tower delivering me a fatal strike while I was out of sorts fighting that beast for control of my body, and these chains that can actually suppress my divine power... no matter how many reasons there were, this remains a legendary tale of a Soul Elder crossing five major realms to kill a Titled Douluo. It deserves to be recorded in the history books. So, though I am the loser and know I have no right to ask or demand anything of you, I still sincerely hope you will leave behind your name..."

"Ye Qingcang."

"That is my name."

The young man—no, he should now be called Ye Qingcang.

Ye Qingcang pressed a hand over the wound on his severed arm, which was constantly being eroded by scarlet Soul Power. Invisible ripples spread from his palm, but they only suppressed it. There was no sign of a cure.

His steps were unsteady.

Golden rings of light appeared behind him one after another.

His gaze swept over the remnants of those artificial humans.

Finally, it fell upon the Slaughter King, suspended by the Chains of Heaven. Regretfully, he said to this senior who carried himself with the bearing of a true powerhouse, "If not for fate, if not for what I needed, we would not have had to cross blades."

The middle-aged man was taken aback at first.

Then he burst into laughter.

Great streams of blood sprayed from the hollow in his chest.

Yet he did not care in the slightest.

He recovered the overbearing aura he had possessed in his prime. After laughing to his heart's content, he panted slightly. "Ye Qingcang, I'll remember your name. But you are still too young. Remember this: a man who walks the world must be open and aboveboard. Defeat is defeat. There is no need for excuses, nor any need for regret. This was a beautiful battle. I am glad that my life could witness your rise. Take it. If I am not mistaken, you came for the Asura Divine Sword. Remember, do not be bewitched by the Rakshasa Divine Thought hidden within it. That was how I was corrupted back then. What a pity... I will never see her again. Perhaps breaking a promise is itself a form of fulfillment. If she is doing well, then I can rest easy..."

With that, he lowered his head and breathed his last.

The dozens of Chains of Heaven lowered his corpse.

They obediently retracted into the golden rings of light behind Ye Qingcang.

Ye Qingcang slowly stepped forward.

He pried open the Slaughter King's slack hand.

He picked up the enormous sword, two meters long and roughly the size of a door. The moment he released a thread of Soul Power, his consciousness was instantly pulled into a mysterious space.

Above a drifting sea of blood.

A lone throne stood there, projecting an aura that suppressed the entire scene.

A man whose features could not be seen sat upon the throne.

He was shrouded in a layer of blood-red mist.

Something could vaguely be seen, but a closer look revealed nothing clearly.

When the fingers that had been tapping the armrest stopped, Ye Qingcang had already been pressed beneath the endless sea of blood. He endured the pressure and raised his head to meet the man's gaze. This pleased the man greatly, but he would not stop testing him simply because he was pleased. "You killed a God Trial Taker and still want to obtain this god's inheritance? Of all humans I have ever seen, your nerve is the greatest!"

"An inheritance exists to be obtained."

"I am stronger than him. I am better than him."

"Since someone has to succeed, why can't it be me?"

Ye Qingcang endured a pressure of more than one hundred thousand jin.

Every bone in his body wailed.

Just as he neared his limit, the pressure suddenly vanished.

Then he was kicked out.

The moment the Asura Divine Sword returned to reality with him, it exploded inch by inch. Its corrupted outer shell peeled away, leaving behind a crimson-jade-like longsword. It was two meters long, shaped much like a Miao saber. The instant it landed in Ye Qingcang's hand, a feeling of bloodline connection arose. A golden-red vertical sword mark suddenly appeared on Ye Qingcang's forehead as an even purer power surged into his body, intertwining with the thin Soul Power within him to form a hybrid Soul Power that was not quite the best, but still better than most.

At the same time.

In the Divine Realm.

Within the Angel Temple.

The young man, no longer wrapped in divine power, finally revealed his handsome face. His brows brimmed with sharpness, making it obvious at a glance that he was a forceful person.

His voice crossed countless miles.

From the Angel Temple, it descended upon the Rakshasa Temple.

"I need an explanation!"

The voice slowly echoed through the Rakshasa Temple.

A seductive noblewoman, as though she had gathered all the evil in the world and made anyone who saw her want to cruelly bully her, reclined on a bed. She secretly pursed her lips and glanced at the Red Three-Headed Bat kneeling at the entrance to the hall. Her faint voice made one's spine run cold. "Now, did you hear that?"

"Master..."

"Yes..."

"This lowly one heard it..."

The Red Three-Headed Bat prostrated itself on the ground.

It buried all three heads beneath its wings.

"You don't mind if I use someone else's gift to honor you, do you?"

The seductive noblewoman stretched lazily and spoke listlessly to the air. After waiting for a long time without receiving an answer, she immediately knew that that philandering bastard had left. Angrily, she covered the skin she had deliberately exposed. Divine might, as though the heavens themselves were collapsing, instantly flooded into the Red Three-Headed Bat, frightening the three-headed little bat into repeatedly crying, "Mercy, Master!" Yet even that could not quell the deity's fury. The seductive noblewoman seized it through the air, rubbed it once in her hand, then tossed it out of the Rakshasa Temple and sent it plummeting toward the lower realm. "Enough. Starting today, I am no longer your master. Your new master is that brat recognized by that bastard. Be a good dog at his side, understand?"

The Divine Realm fell silent once more.

Only a certain red ball falling toward the lower realm.

Was still loudly shouting that it understood.