So You Could Play Like This?

Ke Ke wondered whether something was wrong with her ears.

She stood rooted to the spot, her mouth slowly falling open and her eyes practically popping out.

Her entire worldview was rebuilt in that instant.

So you could play like this?

Ke Ke's eyes darted between Ju Zi and Xu Tianyuan before finally settling on Ju Zi. She looked her up and down, glanced back at Xu Tianyuan, and swallowed.

"So... is this some special kink you two share?"

The air fell silent for three seconds.

Ju Zi: "..."

Xu Tianyuan: "..."

Ke Ke had few hobbies, but she loved reading fiction-and she always picked the illustrated editions.

She had read more of the bizarre scenarios depicted in those illustrations than anyone.

So within her knowledge base, both impoverished and abundant, the words "playing games" had already undergone an automatic upgrade in meaning.

The only thing she could not understand was how these two, who had only met for the first time last night, had progressed this far by morning.

Besides, Xu Tianyuan's reputation in the Sun Moon Empire had long since rotted beyond saving-so rotten that even roadside dogs would shake their heads twice upon hearing his name.

What did Ju Zi see in him?

That his punches hurt?

"You... I... he..."

Ju Zi's face flushed crimson in an instant, even redder than the spot he had swollen with his blows.

She wanted to explain, but no matter how she rummaged through her mind, she could not find the right words.

Surely she could not tell Ke Ke, "I was forced into it," right to her face?

If she said that, Ke Ke would have to report it to a teacher. If she reported it, Ke Ke would get beaten. If Ke Ke got beaten, Xu Tianyuan would beat Ju Zi to death.

What was that called?

That was called having a bellyful of misery with no way to voice it.

She stammered, unable to squeeze out a complete sentence for the longest time.

Xu Tianyuan could not watch any longer.

He glanced outside and saw that the sun had fully risen, its golden rays blanketing half the courtyard. Instantly, he felt as restless as if a cat were scratching at his heart.

This was his power bank, after all.

"All right."

He waved a hand, not the least bit interested in explaining. "Some things are better left unknown. Go to class already. Don't be late."

Ke Ke was still caught in the aftershocks of her worldview's reconstruction. With him shooing her along, she found herself pushed to the doorway before she quite knew what was happening.

Xu Tianyuan did not forget to remind Ju Zi.

"Don't forget what I told you. Once it's done, remember to come here and find me."

At those words, Ke Ke's gaze changed again.

She turned to Ju Zi, her expression shifting from shock to shock, then from shock to an indescribable admiration.

She slowly raised a thumb.

"Ju Zi, you've got game."

Ju Zi's face burned hot enough to fry an egg. She grabbed Ke Ke's arm and fled, even forgetting to close the door.

Xu Tianyuan stood in the doorway, watching the two girls' retreating figures vanish in a flash. He could not have felt more pleased.

He stretched, gazing at the brilliant sun outside as his grin grew wider and wider.

"Oh, my dear onii-chan, don't go dying of anger on me."

With that, Xu Tianyuan looked around and fixed his gaze on a lounge chair in the corner.

The lounge chair had come with the villa. Woven from rattan and looking rather old, it ought to be quite comfortable.

Xu Tianyuan strode over, grabbed the chair, and dragged it clattering into the courtyard, placing it where the sunlight was strongest.

"Time to soak up some sun."

He plopped down, leaned back, crossed his legs, and closed his eyes.

The newly risen sun was not too fierce. Its rays felt warm against his skin, so comfortable that he wanted to sigh.

Xu Tianyuan gathered his focus and quietly sensed the changes within his body.

Sure enough, something really was happening.

He had not even practiced his meditation method, yet the soul power inside him had begun stirring on its own-and a tiny bit more had appeared out of thin air.

It was only a tiny bit, but it kept increasing.

Sunlight was being converted into soul power, pouring into his body in a continuous stream.

In just a short while, his progress matched ten minutes of his former painstaking cultivation.

What delighted him even more was the quality of this soul power.

Dense and pure, it was a great deal stronger than the soul power he produced through normal cultivation.

The little abacus in Xu Tianyuan's mind immediately began clacking away.

If all his soul power could reach this standard, even calling him invincible among his peers would be selling him short.

"This feels amazing."

He hummed contentedly, comfortable from head to toe, then immediately swept every stray thought from his mind and devoted himself entirely to lying flat.

He could get stronger just by lying flat.

Who would not love a life like this?

An hour later.

Xu Tianyuan's eyes snapped open, and he sat upright.

"I'm level thirty?!"

He carefully checked his condition and confirmed there was no mistake.

Level thirty. He needed only one soul ring to become a genuine Soul Elder.

Anyone else would have been delirious with joy by now.

Xu Tianyuan's expression, however, was quite a spectacle.

He rejoiced for half a second, then his face fell.

"Oh, crap."

He slapped his forehead. "Sure, sunbathing makes me stronger, but won't my cultivation stay stuck if I don't absorb a soul ring?"

The rules for Soul Masters had remained unchanged for years.

Once their soul power reached a bottleneck, they had to hunt for a soul ring before they could break through to the next major rank.

Without a soul ring, level thirty was still level thirty. No matter how dense their soul power became, they were still only level thirty.

But that raised a problem.

If he went out to hunt for a ring, would the spies Xu Tianran had planted let him go?

An ambush along the way would count as merciful. He might well face three Soul Douluos at a minimum.

"Wait, that's not right!"

Xu Tianyuan's worries lasted less than a second.

That was because he noticed a purple ring of light appearing around him.

The ring was faint and insubstantial, its edges trembling slightly. It looked half real and half illusory.

Xu Tianyuan's heart gave a jolt.

"Could this be..."

He could not be certain and was in no hurry to draw conclusions, so he simply lay back down to observe.

Another hour passed.

The purple ring grew increasingly solid, its color deepening. Halos of light encircled one another, with a faint sense of weight pressing upon them.

There was no need to guess this time.

Xu Tianyuan sprang straight out of the lounge chair.

"I get it!"

He was so excited that he nearly spun around twice on the spot.

Sunbathing did not just increase his soul power-it could also help him condense a soul ring when he broke through!

What did that mean?

It meant he would never need to hunt Soul Beasts again, never need to run all over the continent, never need to risk being ambushed. He could obtain his soul rings simply by basking in the sun!

Moreover, a soul ring condensed this way would definitely have the age best suited to his current condition. Who knew how many times better it would be than one he blindly hunted down himself?

Deeply shaken, Xu Tianyuan immediately summoned his first two soul rings.

One white, one yellow.

Ten years, a hundred years.

A textbook trash configuration, as standard as could be.

Looking at those two rings, he was overcome with emotion.

There had been no helping it.

In the past, he had needed to pretend to be trash to stay alive.

A ten-year first ring and a hundred-year second ring-both had been tailor-made for Xu Tianran.

If he had dared get a hundred-year first ring back then...

Xu Tianran could have had someone sink him into the moat the very next day.

No one had taken the role of a useless good-for-nothing more seriously than he had.

But things were different now.

Xu Tianyuan examined them carefully and discovered, to his delight, that the ages of his first two soul rings had actually increased!

The increase was small, only a few years, but that was enough to prove his point.

His soul rings would grow older as his strength increased.

A few years today, a few years tomorrow-what about further down the road?

Ten thousand years? A hundred thousand? A million?

Xu Tianyuan felt a rush of heat surge from the crown of his head straight to the soles of his feet. His whole body seemed to float.

"Is this what having cheats feels like?"

He tilted his head back to look at the sun overhead, finding it more endearing by the second. "This feels freaking incredible."

No wonder everyone wanted cheats.

Cheats were good, cheats were great, and he had to learn the art of cheating every day.

He lay back in the lounge chair and closed his eyes contentedly.

The sunlight was perfect, the lounge chair was perfect, and life was perfect.