Lin Yan's Swagger: A Divine Beast Kunpeng as His Mount, the Great Peng Rises with the Wind

The more Lin Yan heard, the more indignant he became, and he simply gave up trying:

"Not only do I refuse to accept this, I quit! I don't get a single benefit out of it. It's nothing but unpaid labor. Why the hell should I go?"

But the system did not fall for his act at all:

[Debt Collector Xuanyuan Sword Model No. 1 has been customized. It can unleash its full combat strength without fusion and will proceed to the Star Luo Empire independently to collect the debt.]

As those words fell, the Debt Collector No. 1 Xuanyuan Sword model before Lin Yan actually lit up with red light, looking ready to leave on its own.

Lin Yan immediately panicked at the sight. He had only meant to scare the system, not say he was done playing. A trial card for experiencing such power was too good to pass up:

"Wait! I'll fuse with it! I was joking."

By now, Lin Yan had seen this damned system for what it truly was. Neither soft words nor hard threats worked on it; it was impervious to persuasion and utterly without loopholes. The moment he dared to slack off, the system would take over the controls itself.

He really was worried the system would kick him out. He would endure it for now. Once he earned enough money, once there were enough orders and they fed enough cultivation back to him, he would coast his way to godhood, then kick this damned system to the curb.

His own combat strength was not tied to the system anyway. It was just a tool of a system, and that counted as its only redeeming feature. Plenty of other protagonists fused with their systems, and once those systems disappeared, their combat strength vanished too. Fortunately, he was not one of them.

"Fuse with the Xuanyuan Sword model immediately. I want to see just how miserably the illustrious Sword of the Human Emperor, a top-tier divine artifact, will be suppressed after coming to the Douluo Continent.

"Everyone knows the Douluo Continent is the sewer of fantasy worlds. Even the Pangu Axe would have to turn into a martial soul here. Naturally, the Xuanyuan Sword is no exception."

[Ding. Initiating fusion.]

The instant the system's voice rang out, the Xuanyuan Sword model turned into a streak of light, darted into Lin Yan's body, and fused with him.

The world-shattering, overwhelmingly imposing scene he had imagined for the fusion never appeared, nor was there any terrifying influx of energy. Lin Yan only felt that his body was perfectly ordinary. He felt nothing at all.

He immediately froze on the spot, utterly bewildered:

"What the hell? Are you messing with me?

"I don't feel a thing, damn it.

"System, how do I use this now?"

[Debt Collector No. 1, Xuanyuan Sword model, has fused with the host. The host need only control the model through thought.]

Control it through thought. Lin Yan willed it:

"Xuanyuan Sword."

The next moment, golden light flashed in his palm, and a long, slender, ancient-looking sword appeared in his hand, its blade engraved with the sun, moon, stars, mountains, rivers, grasses, and trees.

Holding that sword, Lin Yan felt as though he held the entire world. A terrifying aura of the Human Emperor burst forth from his body. It was indeed the Xuanyuan Sword.

Immediately afterward, a feeling of fullness spread through Lin Yan's head, chest, arms, legs, and every part of his body. The complete hundred-thousand-year paralysis soul bone set activated simultaneously.

Behind him, three blood-red soul rings pulsed slowly, radiating an unnerving aura.

Interesting. Its starting cultivation is actually my cultivation.

But I haven't obtained my third soul ring, and my soul power is still stuck at level 30. Looks like the soul rings unlock according to soul power.

Yet even at only level 30, with just three soul rings, Lin Yan felt he could cleave a Soul Saint to death with a single slash. This was pure numerical domination, utterly beyond reason.

As for the fifty-fifty modifier, he really did want to experience what it felt like to grow stronger against stronger opponents.

However, after that extreme exhilaration, a new problem instantly rose in Lin Yan's mind, stopping him dead:

"Wait a second. My cultivation is only at the Soul Elder level right now. With this little strength, how am I supposed to fly all the way to the Star Luo Empire?

"I already boasted that I'd leave now and return at noon, in time for lunch. How long would it take me to run all the way there?"

Lin Yan immediately turned to the system:

"System, we agreed this would only interrupt business for half a day. You wouldn't want me spending too long on the road, delaying the shop's business and missing out on loads of customers and revenue, would you?"

[The host need not worry. The Cultivation Room has its own means of transportation. Has the host never checked the Cultivation Room's basic amenities?]

"What?

"There are amenities too?

"What amenities?"

[For example, an exclusive pet mount. As the shop manager, the host may use it freely while collecting debts. After all, speed is the most important thing in debt collection. When dealing with debtors who flee, you must counter them with supreme speed, leaving them nowhere to hide.]

Lin Yan's eyes immediately lit up at this:

"There's a divine beast mount too? Where is it?

"How do I claim it?"

[There is no need to claim it. Simply step outside and silently say "Kunpeng."]

"Kunpeng?"

Lin Yan's pupils contracted, and he could not help sucking in a breath:

"Holy moly!

"Is it the mythical giant beast he was thinking of? The one from 'In the northern sea there is a fish, and its name is Kun; it transforms into a bird, and its name is Peng'?

"As the saying goes, the Kun is so big that one pot cannot stew it; once it becomes a Peng, it needs two barbecue grills.

"He was very familiar with Kunpeng. This was a genuine top-tier divine beast possessing the supreme speed of spatial translocation, one that existed only in ancient legends, yet the system had actually made it an exclusive pet mount.

"With Kunpeng as a mount, never mind the mere Star Luo Empire-even crossing the entire Douluo Continent to reach the Sun Moon Empire probably wouldn't take much time. Wouldn't that make him invincible?"

Wild with joy, Lin Yan wasted no more time. He walked straight into the courtyard and called Zhu Zhuqing and Zhu Zhuyou over:

"Everything's ready. We're setting off for the Zhu Family immediately."

As soon as he finished speaking, the sky over the Cultivation Room suddenly split open. A pillar of light descended vertically, enveloping all three of them.

Before Zhu Zhuqing and Zhu Zhuyou could react, they were teleported high above the Cultivation Room.

The sudden pillar of light and the figures high in the sky instantly drew the attention of everyone gathered outside the Cultivation Room. The vast crowd that had refused to disperse and remained around the entrance all looked up at once.

Then everyone sucked in a breath. Under the eyes of the assembled masses, Lin Yan's coat billowed without wind, his presence unrestrained and overbearing.

He did not deliberately rein in his aura. Though his cultivation was unremarkable, the aura of his complete soul bone set, together with his concealed Hundred Thousand Year Soul Rings, produced terrifying pressure that made quite a few hearts tremble. Lin Yan was also preparing to put on a grand display.

There was no gravity within the pillar of light, so it looked as though he could fly.

He clasped his hands behind his back, looking utterly inscrutable. Then he raised his eyes toward the horizon and softly uttered a name:

"Kunpeng."

Rumble~

In the sky above Suotuo City, space suddenly burst apart.

A spatial rift crisscrossed the sky, stretching to the horizon!

A scar across the heavens.

After the sky split open, a pair of enormous golden claws capable of rending space appeared out of thin air, as though they had torn space apart.

The next instant, an ancient giant beast so immense that it blotted out the sky and sun burst through space, its body radiating deep blue flames of light. Starlight flowed all over it, blue-and-gold scales and feathers interwoven. Spatial laws as vast as the sea and the terrifying pressure of a divine beast swept across all of Suotuo City.

Everyone's hearts shook violently. The spectating soul masters and passersby below were pinned down by that pressure, many of them without even the right to raise their heads and look up.

Only a handful of soul masters with profound cultivation gritted their teeth and held on, their eyes flashing with extreme terror:

"What soul beast is that?

"The aura coming off it is actually more terrifying than mine?"