A Bad Start, Driven into a Corner

Even Li Qingyue could not keep the corner of his mouth from twitching as he said it.

If she had arrived three years later, or any number of years after that, Gu Yuena would at least have had some abilities as long as she was older than nine. She probably could have rescued him.

But not now. At six years old, Na'er truly had no fighting strength whatsoever.

More importantly, Na'er's sudden arrival had undoubtedly drawn the attention of the people outside.

Although he wielded the power of the Aeon of Abundance and had obtained his First Soul Ring, his abilities were purely supportive.

He could not attack at all. He might be impossible to kill, but having his flesh carved off or an arm severed would still hurt.

At the thought, the corner of Li Qingyue's mouth twitched again. He sprang to his feet.

Na'er, meanwhile, gazed curiously at the impossibly beautiful older sister before her.

She was so beautiful she hardly seemed real.

The God of Abundance's appearance was already breathtaking. Combined with the top-tier choice that enhanced his charm, Li Qingyue was now beautiful to an almost unbelievable degree.

But Li Qingyue had no mind to dwell on that. He seized Na'er by the arm.

Pulling the little girl to her feet, he hurried with her deeper inside.

As the two fled farther in, the door to the outer room opened without a sound.

Beyond the door lay a vast, abandoned garbage dump. An ugly-faced middle-aged man stood there.

He wore shabby clothes with several patches sewn onto them.

At a glance, he looked like a pitiful, honest commoner, timid and meek.

But when his gaze swept over the pit below and the hundreds upon hundreds of corpses piled above it, an unearthly smile spread across his once-honest face.

He slowly raised a hand, and a strange elk appeared behind him.

It was a stag, but its enormous antlers were covered in bizarre twists.

The man loosened his clothes, revealing a chest riddled with countless tiny holes.

The holes, as though scorched into him by flame, made him look like a rock baked in magma, his body pocked with one horrifying cavity after another.

He leaped down. Three yellow and two purple Soul Rings appeared around him in an instant.

"Someone got in? Now that's interesting. Someone barged into the place where I bury corpses, and made quite a racket doing it."

"This thief shouldn't be weak. So why are they afraid to face me?"

His voice was raspy, with a trace of curiosity. The huge elk behind him gave its nose a slight twitch.

The man followed it deeper inside, one limping step at a time.

Deep in the cavern, Li Qingyue ran with Na'er by the hand, though neither of them was moving quickly.

They were both barefoot, and the filthy ground made it hard to run.

The underground cavern was much larger than Li Qingyue had expected.

It likely was not the man's handiwork. He seemed to have dumped the bodies only around the outer edge; beyond that lay some vast underground construction.

As they pressed onward, a huge chasm appeared ahead.

Like something in an underground mine, it was a vast collapsed stretch with endless darkness below. The two had reached a dead end.

Li Qingyue's brow furrowed. For a moment, he had no idea what to do, and the sound of shuffling footsteps was already approaching from behind.

Judging by the sound, the man was probably lame. But he had caught up to them so easily that he was clearly fast.

Li Qingyue sighed softly. He had chosen Gu Yuena as his Protector, and if even she could not win this fight, then he truly had nothing left to try.

"Once I awaken my Martial Soul, I'll show you what the Reignbow Arbiter is—and what Hunt for the Reignbow means!"

Li Qingyue sighed again. Then he remembered he still had a system. After a brief silence, the boy summoned the illustrated book and focused on Na'er.

With a ding, the check-in succeeded. A brief notification sounded in his mind.

[Successfully checked in with Gu Yuena. Day 1 check-in reward: God-Tier Alchemy Notes]

[God-Tier Alchemy Notes: Records the methods for refining and purifying every pill in the world, including pills that can be used by god-level experts]

Li Qingyue's mouth twitched slightly at the reward for his first day's check-in.

Was it a good reward? Absolutely. Those notes would be a tremendous help to his future cultivation.

He had inherited the power of the Aeon of Abundance, which meant he could do things ordinary people could not. That would certainly help him advance his alchemy.

"But that ability is useless right now! How am I supposed to survive?!"

"Damn it. Someone who can kill this many people must have killed Soul Masters too. At the very least, he's probably a Soul Grandmaster or a Soul Elder. How am I supposed to fight him?"

Li Qingyue looked at Na'er as he spoke. The little girl stood beside him, clutching his hand tightly with both of hers, her eyes full of bewilderment.

While Li Qingyue struggled for an answer, the shuffling footsteps drew closer. Then the middle-aged man emerged before them.

Despite the man's honest-looking face, Li Qingyue did not relax in the slightest.

He watched the man warily, while the man studied them with interest.

Looking at the two people of extraordinary beauty, the man stuck out his sallow tongue and licked his lips.

"Looks like my luck's good. Two beauties came this time. And not only that—they walked right into my trap."

The middle-aged man chuckled, his gaze settling mainly on Li Qingyue.

They looked about the same age, but Li Qingyue was clearly taller and seemed more mature.

Na'er was beautiful too, but her white hair and purple eyes gave her an exotic look that did not quite fit the tastes of people like him.

So the man's gaze stayed on Li Qingyue. "Looks like I'll be busy today. With a beauty like you paying me a visit, I ought to take very good care of you."