Chapter 1: The System's Sincere Apology
The sky over the Eastern Region of the Great Desolate Realm was an endless expanse of dull gray, a reflection of the four years Ye Chen had spent rotting in this world.
He sat on a jagged rock at the peak of a barren, nameless mountain, staring at a fresh mound of dirt. Underneath that dirt lay the "Master" who had promised him a destiny that would make the heavens tremble. Instead, the old man had led him on a grueling, three-month trek across a desolate wilderness, only to arrive at a tilting, termite-ridden wooden shack before promptly coughing up his lungs and dying.
"Four years," Ye Chen whispered, his voice cracking from thirst and bitterness.
In his previous life, he'd been a man of comfort. Here? He had been a beggar, a manual laborer, and a punching bag for "young masters" whose only talent was being born with better genes. He had waited for the cliché—the ring, the bloodline, the system.
Nothing. He had spent four years as a mortal "ant" in a world where a casual sneeze from a Golden Core cultivator could level a city block.
"You old fraud," Ye Chen muttered, looking at the rusted sign hanging by a single nail on the shack: Eternal Divine Sacred Land. "I walked a thousand miles for a shack and a corpse. If there's a God watching this, your writing is terrible. This isn't a plot; it's a tragedy."
He threw a small pebble into the mist-covered canyon below. He felt a strange sense of finality. If this was the end of his journey, it was a pathetic one.
[Ding!]
A sound like the chime of a primordial bell vibrated through his very soul, shaking the marrow of his bones.
[Detecting Host's extreme indignation... Scanning soul... Source: Earth... Match confirmed.]
[The No. 1 Supreme Disciple Recruitment System is officially online!]
Ye Chen didn't jump for joy. He didn't even stand up. He just closed his eyes and let out a long, weary sigh. "A bit late, don't you think? I'm twenty-two. My meridians are as clogged as a city sewer. What are you going to give me? A Qi Refining pill? A low-grade sword? Keep it. I'd rather just take a nap and wait for the wolves to finish the job."
[Ding! Detecting Host's psychological trauma. The System acknowledges a massive synchronization delay. Calculating compensation...]
[Initial Starter Pack: Quasi-Saint Cultivation, Saint-Level Sword, Sect Expansion Card.]
Ye Chen scoffed. "Quasi-Saint? In the Eastern Region, that's a big fish. But in the Central Plains? I'd still be a middle-manager. Five years of my life were wasted, System. I lived like a dog while others flew on swords. 'Quasi-Saint' doesn't cover the interest on that debt."
The System didn't respond immediately. The air around the mountain grew unnaturally still. The wind stopped. Even the insects went silent. Then, the mechanical voice returned, sounding strangely... apologetic.
[Ding! Error recognized. Compensation protocols engaged. The System has bypassed all laws of cosmic causality to offer a 'Sincere Apology.']
[Updating Rewards...]
[Reward 1: Cultivation Level — Eternal Divine God (The Absolute Peak of the 36 Realms).]
[Reward 2: Weapon — Universe-Sunderer (God-Level Artifact).]
[Reward 3: Sect — Eternal Divine Sacred Land (Full Restoration & Divine Spirit Veins).]
"Wait—"
Ye Chen didn't get to finish his sentence. The universe didn't just scream; it buckled.
A pillar of primordial, transcendent gold light—wider than the mountain range itself—slammed down from the highest heavens. It didn't just pierce the clouds; it erased them from existence. The Eastern Region, a land spanning billions of miles, trembled. Every living thing, from the smallest ant to the mightiest Great Emperor, felt their soul shudder. They dropped to their knees instinctively, pinned by a pressure that felt like the Creator itself had just stepped into the room to check the furniture.
Inside that light, Ye Chen was being rewritten.
His dry meridians didn't just open; they were replaced by rivers of starlight. His mortal flesh didn't just strengthen; it became a vessel of pure, unadulterated Law. He felt his consciousness expand until the entire Great Desolate Realm looked like a tiny, fragile marble sitting in the palm of his hand.
He was no longer a cultivator. He was the Eternal Divine God. The 36th realm. The end of all paths.
The light faded, and Ye Chen stood alone on the peak. But he didn't move. He stood perfectly still, his eyes wide with genuine terror.
He could feel it. The sheer, terrifying weight of his own existence. He felt like a giant made of lead standing on a floor made of thin glass. If he shifted his weight too fast, the mountain would collapse. If he took too deep a breath, he would create a vacuum that would suffocate the province. If he let out even a whisp of his aura, the fabric of space-time would tear like wet paper.
"System..." he whispered, his voice vibrating with the power to shatter stars. "I can't... I can't move. I'm going to break the world."
[Ding! Sensing Host's unease regarding power control.]
[Issuing Supplemental Reward: Eternal Divine God Experience Card (Permanent Integration).]
[Description: Contains the billion-year mastery and finesse of a True Eternal. Allows for perfect micro-management of power.]
A flood of information—calm, cold, and ancient—poured into Ye Chen's mind. It wasn't just knowledge; it was muscle memory. Suddenly, the "supernova" inside him felt like a well-tamed candle. He understood exactly how to suppress his presence, how to walk without cracking the planet, and how to look at a person without erasing their soul from the cycle of reincarnation.
He let out a breath, and this time, it was just a gentle breeze.
"Much better," Ye Chen sighed, his characteristic laziness returning. "Now, about that shack..."
[Ding! Constructing the Eternal Divine Sacred Land.]
Behind him, the earth groaned with pleasure. From the barren soil, palaces of white jade and celestial crystal rose like mushrooms after a rain. Waterfalls of liquid spiritual energy began to flow from the sky, feeding into ponds filled with Nine-Colored Lotus. A massive stone ladder, glowing with the light of a thousand suns, extended from the mountain peak down into the mist below.
This wasn't just a sect. It was a piece of the High Heavens dropped into the mud of the Eastern Region.
[Mission: Recruit your first Direct Disciple.]
[Candidate Detected: Male. Location: 50 miles East.]
[Status: Heavily injured. Physique: Heavenly Sun-Devouring Fire (Dormant).]
Ye Chen stretched his limbs, feeling the incredible comfort of his new, snow-white robes. They looked like simple silk, but he knew they were woven from the essence of the void.
"Dying, huh? And a fire physique... sounds like a protagonist to me." Ye Chen took a step. He didn't fly; he simply decided to be fifty miles away.
Space folded beneath his feet.
He reappeared at the edge of a burning village. The air was thick with the smell of smoke and iron. In the center of the ruins, a young boy with charred skin and defiant, bloodshot eyes was surrounded by five men in black robes. They were Foundation Establishment cultivators—barely insects in the grand scheme of things, but to a dying mortal boy, they were gods of death.
"Give us the Spirit Jade, brat!" the leader sneered, his flaming saber hovering inches from the boy's throat. "Your clan is dead. Why die for a rock?"
The boy spat blood at the man's boots. "Even in hell, I'll be waiting for you."
The man roared, swinging the saber down.
Ting.
The sound wasn't a splash of blood, but the clear ring of metal hitting something indestructible.
Ye Chen was standing there, his hands tucked into his sleeves, blocking the flaming blade with nothing but the bridge of his nose. He didn't even look at the attacker; he was busy looking at the boy's "Sun-Devouring" potential.
"Who—" the man started, but his voice died in his throat.
Ye Chen looked up. He didn't use his aura. He didn't use a technique. He just looked at the man with the slight annoyance of someone whose nap had been interrupted.
Under the weight of that "glance," the black-robed man didn't just die. His body, his soul, his weapon, and even the memory of his existence within a five-foot radius were simply... deleted. He vanished into nothingness, leaving only a small ripple in the air.
The other four attackers froze. They didn't even run. Their brains couldn't process what they had just seen.
"You lot are making a lot of noise," Ye Chen said, his tone casual. He gave a tiny, lazy wave of his hand.
A gust of wind—no stronger than a summer breeze—passed through the remaining four men. They turned to fine, gray ash before the wind even finished blowing, scattering into the fields to become fertilizer.
Ye Chen knelt down in the mud, looking at the boy. The kid was staring at him with a mixture of awe and terror.
"Hey, kid," Ye Chen said, flashing a small, lazy grin. "My sect has a lot of stairs, and I'm way too lazy to sweep them all myself. You want the job? I'll throw in immortality and the power to burn the stars as a signing bonus."
The boy, sensing the mountain-collapsing power hidden beneath the white robes, struggled to his knees and bowed his head into the dirt. "Disciple... Disciple greets the Master!"
[Ding! First Direct Disciple recruited!]
[Calculating Rewards...]
End of Chapter 1