"Dou Qi, Third Stage!"
Xiao Fan looked at the three dazzlingly bright characters on the Magic Stone Tablet.
Wasn't I working overtime at the company?
I felt thirsty and wanted to get some water, but as soon as I stood up, everything went black and I passed out.
Shouldn't I be in the hospital?
Xiao Fan's expression was blank, and at that moment, a massive flood of memories surged into his mind, giving him a splitting headache.
It took a full three minutes for him to digest the memories in his mind, and his expression turned bizarre.
As it turned out, he was not found and sent to the hospital by colleagues coming in for work in the morning.
Instead, he died an hour later on the floor of his workstation.
Then, his soul transmigrated to the Dou Qi Continent and became Xiao Yan.
"Xiao Yan, Dou Qi, Third Stage, Level: Low!"
At this moment, a cold and indifferent male voice drew the attention of Xiao Fan—no, from now on, Xiao Yan.
Xiao Yan looked at the surging crowd in the plaza, and as the middle-aged man announced his test results, it immediately caused a stir.
Scornful remarks constantly reached his ears.
Isn't this the plot of the first chapter of the novel, "The Fallen Genius"?
Xiao Yan gave a bitter smile.
Although he was not the real Xiao Yan, hearing these mocking and disdainful voices still made him incomparably depressed.
He turned around desolately and returned to the end of the line.
At this moment, a "ding" sounded in his mind.
[Transmigrator detected, "Xiao Yan Must Die" system binding...] [10%... 20%... 30%...] [System binding successful!] [Host: Xiao Fan] [Realm: Dou Qi Third Stage] [Xiao Yan has been detected near the host, please kill Xiao Yan as soon as possible.] [System Reward: Cultivation promoted to Dou Di!]
Xiao Yan looked at the blue panel before him and was dumbfounded.
Although the system's reward was very tempting, directly promoting him to Dou Di!
However, wasn't he himself Xiao Yan?
He was going to kill himself?
Did the system not know that he, Xiao Fan, had transmigrated into Xiao Yan?
Fortunately the system did not know; if it had bound itself to someone else, he would truly have been in danger.
After all, who could resist the temptation of becoming a Dou Di.
[Xiao Yan has been detected near the host, please kill Xiao Yan as soon as possible.]
The system's urging voice rang out.
Xiao Yan: ...
This humble concubine cannot pull it off!
System, if I can't complete the task, will there be a penalty, and will you leave?
Xiao Yan communicated with the system in his mind.
[Once bound, the system will not unbind until the host completes the task.] [There is no penalty for the host failing to complete the task, but there is no reward either.] [Please have the host complete the system's task as soon as possible to obtain the reward.]
Hearing the system's explanation, Xiao Yan breathed a sigh of relief in his heart.
If he never completed the task, he really feared the system would unbind and seek another host.
Then he would have to face endless hunts and killings.
Since the system would not unbind and had no penalty, he would just pretend he never bound to the system.
[Xiao Yan has been detected near the host, please kill Xiao Yan as soon as possible.]
The system's urging voice sounded again.
System, can you turn off this prompt sound and only use text prompts?
[No!]
If this voice kept ringing, how could he practice properly in the future?
Could he still sleep well?
Xiao Yan furrowed his brows; going on like this would not do at all.
"System, if I kill Xiao Yan right now, how long will it take for your reward to upgrade to Dou Di cultivation?"
[With the host's current cultivation of Three-Stage Dou Qi, wanting to receive Dou Di cultivation will take at least three years.]
"Reasonable, utterly reasonable. Do I also need to find a place where nobody disturbs me to receive the cultivation?"
[The host's understanding is correct.]
"Then let me ask again: if I fail to kill Xiao Yan and instead get killed, can you bind to the next host once more?"
[Once bound, the system cannot change hosts again. If the host dies, the system disappears.]
Joy surged in Xiao Yan's heart; that was just wonderful!
"So, as for the task of killing Xiao Yan, we must plan it out in the long term and cannot rush."
"Or rather, we can break down the task of killing Xiao Yan into several smaller goals and slowly achieve them."
"Presumably you also know that Xiao Yan is the protagonist of heaven and earth. To kill him, we must have a ten-tenths certainty of success. Otherwise, if we let him escape, what kind of fortuitous encounters will he obtain again?"
[System:...]
[System execution mechanism is being modified...]
[Modification complete!]
[Main quest remains unchanged -- kill Xiao Yan!]
[Added side quest -- weaken Xiao Yan. The system will judge the degree of weakening and randomly issue rewards.]
Xiao Yan let out a breath of relief; he had finally fooled the system.
Sure enough, the system's urge-filled voice did not ring out afterward.
"Next, Xiao Mei!"
Along with the middle-aged man's shout, a young girl of fourteen or fifteen quickly stepped out. On that youthful, untainted little face, innocence and allure coexisted; she would surely be another beauty in the making when she grew up.
Xiao Mei closed her eyes, her small hand gently touching the Magic Stone Tablet...
"Dou Qi: Seven-Stage!"
"Xiao Mei, Dou Qi: Seven-Stage! Level: Advanced!"
Hearing the results announced by the tester, Xiao Mei raised a proud smile.
Xiao Yan looked at Xiao Mei. In his memory, back when he was still a genius, the girl used to call him Brother Yan with every other word, acting very affectionate.
At this moment, Xiao Mei's gaze also landed on Xiao Yan, but her eyes immediately shifted away again, and amid waves of envious gazes from the crowd, she returned to her own group.
Xiao Yan furrowed his brows slightly, feeling a bit uncomfortable in his chest.
He had inherited all of Xiao Yan's memories.
Being looked down upon by Xiao Mei, he naturally felt somewhat lost.
"Next, Xiao Xun'er!"
At this time, the tester's voice rang out once more.
And as this name was called out, those gazes that had originally been watching Xiao Mei abruptly shifted.
Xiao Yan also looked over.
That was a girl wearing a purple dress. Her aloof and calm temperament was like a freshly blooming green lotus; at such a young age, she already possessed a refined aura.
Seeing the girl, Xiao Yan wore a smile at the corner of his mouth, his gaze following her figure the entire time.
"Dou Qi: Ninth Duan! Level: Advanced!"
As the girl's results came out, everyone's eyes were filled with awe, including the tester beside the Magic Stone Tablet.
"Miss Xun'er, half a year from now, you should be able to condense a Dou Qi Vortex and become a true Dou Zhe."
"Thank you!"
The girl politely nodded, then quietly turned around and, amidst the burning gazes of the crowd, slowly walked over to that useless youth at the very back of the crowd.
She bowed slightly, revealing a modestly curved figure, and on her beautiful, pretty face, a refined and elegant smile bloomed:
"Brother Xiao Yan!"
Looking at the girl's pretty little face up close for the first time, Xiao Yan was somewhat amazed.
Faced with the girl's respectful demeanor, Xiao Yan was slightly moved.
When everyone else was mocking him, only the girl remained steadfastly loyal to him; this affection was heavy.
"Thank you, Xun'er, and congratulations on reaching the Ninth Duan Dou Qi."
Xiao Yan said sincerely.
The girl blinked her beautiful big eyes, which curved into shallow crescents, her eyes brimming with smiles.
"Xiao Yan-gege, you finally talked to me, and Xun'er is so happy."
Looking at the young girl's happy smile, Xiao Yan felt a trace of resentment toward the former Xiao Yan.
Because he had suffered a blow, he had become dispirited and ignored Xun'er's feelings.
Xiao Yan boldly took the young girl's tender, white little hand, and the latter did not pull away, only a faint blush appearing on her pretty face.
Amidst a chorus of envious wolf-howls from behind, Xiao Yan pulled Xiao Xun'er and walked toward the outside of the square.
[Ding! The host engaged in ambiguity with Xiao Yan's woman, Xiao Xun'er, judged to weaken Xiao Yan's level by 3 stars.]
Xiao Yan:...