Lu Jiuling pushed open the golden gates of the Sagittarius Palace and walked in against the dazzling golden light.
He counted silently.
Three seconds later, the curtain of light before Lu Jiuling's eyes dissipated, replaced by the pale glow of the energy-saving lamp in his rental apartment.
It shone on Lu Jiuling's face. If his eyes didn't move, at first glance he looked very much like a corpse that had just drowned.
"I'm back?"
Lu Jiuling looked at the LCD TV he had never turned on, let out a long breath, then leaned back and collapsed onto the sofa.
He had originally planned to earn some living expenses as a game booster, but unexpectedly, clicking the download link had sent him into a mysterious and bizarre Zen courtyard, where he experienced a divine game.
Although the outcome wasn't bad, the process had been truly perilous. If his responses had been even slightly lacking, he would already be stone-cold dead, become dinner for snakes, insects, rats, and ants.
"Transcendent?"
"Forbidden Fruit?"
"Divine Sequence?"
Lu Jiuling ran his hand over the sofa armrest, recalling the secrets the refined old man had described. He suddenly felt a sense of relief, as if a burden he had carried on his shoulders for over twenty years could now be thrown away without hesitation.
In this era of solidified social classes, for a child like Lu Jiuling born into a low-level family, without parents to support him, the only way to live a better life was to get into a good university and find a good job.
This was basically the only way out.
Even then, he had to worry about being "optimized" by the company when he reached middle age.
Now?
Lu Jiuling whistled, leaned back, and lay down on the sofa.
College entrance exams?
Finding a good job?
To hell with that!
Brother Lu isn't playing that game anymore. Brother Lu is going to become a Transcendent.
In his mind, Lu Jiuling recalled the white-collar woman in black stockings and high heels who had been headshot, and the influencer face that had been stomped into meat paste by the headless Great Buddha, leaving only a sheet of human skin...
This divine game,
intense!
Sighing with emotion, Lu Jiuling suddenly remembered he was still wearing a bronze Buddha mask on his face. He quickly got up and rushed into the bathroom.
Supporting himself with both hands on the paint-chipped basin, Lu Jiuling saw in the half-body mirror on the opposite wall a Buddha mask with a *Vajra Fury* expression.
Though it was made of bronze, it fit tightly against his cheeks, like a layer of artificial skin.
Lu Jiuling blinked and moved the corners of his mouth. The Buddha mask actually displayed corresponding expressions, and vividly so. At first glance, it looked like a living bronze Buddha head.
Jeez!
Lu Jiuling immediately reached out, grasping the edge of the Buddha mask, wanting to pull this thing off, but it was stuck fast, as if an entire sticky rat trap had been slapped onto his face.
During the tearing process, Lu Jiuling clearly felt some tiny tentacles, about the size of needle tips, piercing into his face, seemingly still wriggling, bringing a stabbing pain and itchy sensation.
Very uncomfortable!
"This mask couldn't be alive, could it?"
The refined old man had said that when Transcendents used taboo objects, they might suffer taboo contamination. The higher the frequency and the longer the duration, the more severe the contamination would be.
Thinking of this, Lu Jiuling couldn't help but increase his strength.
To be honest, if the face in the mirror suddenly grinned at him right now, Lu Jiuling wouldn't even find it strange.
Rip!
The bronze Buddha mask was torn off.
Clang!
Lu Jiuling casually threw it into the washbasin!
Rubbing his face hard, Lu Jiuling turned on the faucet.
Splash!
Clear water washed over the bronze Buddha mask, flowing past his cheeks like tears it was shedding.
Lu Jiuling cupped several handfuls of water and splashed them onto his face, then grabbed a bar of soap from nearby, lathered it up, and scrubbed his face hard for seven or eight minutes before slowing down.
"Should be fine now?"
Lu Jiuling looked at that face in the mirror.
His skin was scrubbed red, but other than that, there was nothing abnormal.
Lu Jiuling relaxed, then took out the Buddha-intestine dagger from inside his shirt and threw it into the basin before leaving with peace of mind.
In the half-body mirror on the wall, the bronze Buddha mask in the washbasin was reflected.
A small gecko crawled across the wall. From its angle, it happened to see that Buddha face reflected in the half-body mirror, which suddenly seemed to bare its teeth in a ferocious grin at it!
Splat!
The little gecko fell to the floor in fright, then rolled over and scrambled up, quickly burrowing into a narrow crack in the corner of the wall.
Lu Jiuling went to the kitchen, poured a cup of cold water, drank two mouthfuls, returned to the living room, and sat down on the sofa.
He took out his second-hand phone and opened WeChat.
In the No. 1 Game Boosting Group, it was deathly quiet, with only three new messages.
Had these group members clicked the link?
If they had, had they entered the divine game?
With all sorts of thoughts swirling in his mind, Lu Jiuling tapped on the avatar of "Farm Owner."
Looking through previous chats, this Farm Owner was a hardcore gaming enthusiast and also a big spender.
He hadn't created this boosting group to earn money from orders, but to find several skilled players to game with him.
Lu Jiuling had only recently joined the group and hadn't played games with him, but judging from others' attitudes toward him, this group admin was quite popular.
So did he know there was something wrong with today's link?
690: Have you guys played it? How's this game? Is it profitable?
Lu Jiuling typed this sentence, but hesitated when it came time to send it.
What if the probing failed and someone discovered he had already entered the Divine Council?
What a pity,
he normally didn't interact much with these group members, so he hadn't added any as friends. Now he couldn't even privately message them to get information.
However, one thing was certain: he needed to pay more attention to this group owner, "Farm Owner"!
Just as Lu Jiuling decided to exit WeChat, someone sent a message.
Cang Ying Paizi: @Everyone, how's the gameplay? How many months can you survive?
Lu Jiuling waited five minutes. No one replied.
Tsk!
Could it be that besides Cang Ying Paizi, everyone else had entered the game and died?
Lu Jiuling thought of that girl from the Pisces Palace.
The pressure of life in this world was immense.
Before, Lu Jiuling had never seen any classmate go hungry; at worst their meals were mediocre. But now, he had truly seen a classmate whose lunch was two steamed buns plus half a bag of pickled vegetables.
That Pisces Palace girl had a sallow complexion and extremely heavy dark circles under her eyes. Clearly, besides studying, she also did heavy work normally.
Lu Jiuling had given her the money he scavenged entirely out of overflowing sympathy.
Fine!
That girl was elegant and tall, with a very pretty oval face, which was quite a plus in Lu Jiuling's eyes.
Lu Jiuling wasn't lusting after her looks; he just felt it was such a pity that such a pretty girl lived such a miserable life.
This mentality was like seeing a cute stray cat by the roadside—you definitely had to feed it.
Besides, Lu Jiuling didn't know if he would survive to return from the second divine game next month, so he might as well just give her all the money.
Furthermore, what could a few thousand yuan even do?
Lu Jiuling raised his left hand and shook the watch he had stripped from a rich second-generation heir's wrist.
This watch had to be worth at least a hundred or two hundred thousand, right?
This was truly getting rich overnight!
A few thousand?
Pocket change!
He went online, searched, and then Lu Jiuling frowned!
Patek Philippe? Over a million?
"..."
Lu Jiuling went numb!
He had originally planned to find a used watch shop in the city to sell this watch, but now even if he dared to sell it, the dealers probably wouldn't dare to buy it!
They might even call the police after buying it and get him thrown into the police station.
A poor student selling a famous watch worth over a million?
First explain where the watch came from!
Don't bother saying "I found it"—even ghosts wouldn't believe that.
"Damn rich people!"
Lu Jiuling muttered. He couldn't sell the watch, but he didn't have the slightest regret about giving the money to that girl.
Because the core purpose of Lu Jiuling giving money was to earn a favor!
That girl definitely needed money more than he did!
After all, they were newcomers from the same period. If they both survived, perhaps there would be opportunities to cooperate in the future, which would definitely be safer than teaming up with that refined old man, white-clad beauty, or scholarly young man!
Speaking of which, the Divine Council had twelve Golden Palaces, so naturally there were twelve Council Chairmen. Who knew what kind of people the chairmen of the other palaces were? How strong were they?
Ah!
Stop thinking about it!
The top priority was to first raise his own strength and strive to defeat that Sagittarius Palace Council Chairman so he could advance from candidate to official.
Lu Jiuling lay down, hands behind his head, looking at the ceiling, thinking about his next plans.
To clear next month's divine game, he needed to become a Transcendent as soon as possible.
The refined old man had said that once a person completed the advancement ritual and successfully ignited the flame of the soul, they could step into the Divine Sequence and become a Transcendent capable of performing "Divine Miracles."
As for Divine Miracles, he had obtained a "Forbidden Fruit" from which he could unlock one.
If it was a powerful Great Divine Miracle, then he would really hit the jackpot, greatly increasing his survival rate.
But the precondition was that he first had to complete the advancement ritual and possess a Transcendent profession.
Among the novice clearance rewards, besides Paradise coins, Forbidden Fruit, there was also one portion of the potion required to advance to any Transcendent profession in Divine Sequence 9.
The question now was, which profession to choose?
Lu Jiuling felt that these Transcendent professions definitely had their strengths and weaknesses, which would also determine how far he could go in the future.
In short, he could choose a profession that wasn't the strongest, but it had to be the most compatible with him.
"Tomorrow I'll enter the Divine Council again and spend some Paradise coins to consult with the divine servant for some information?"
Lu Jiuling was tired. He got up and went back to the bedroom to sleep.
...
Morning light spilled through the glass window; early birds woke the workhorses.
The habit of rising early for morning reading formed over ten years caused Lu Jiuling to open his eyes punctually at five-thirty. Subconsciously, he reached for the textbook at his bedside, planning to memorize vocabulary first before washing up.
But the next second, Lu Jiuling's hand froze.
Wait,
I'm already a quasi-Transcendent, why do I still need to study?
However, Lu Jiuling didn't go back to sleep, but instead decided to go downstairs for a run.
First build up his physical fitness, to ensure he could kill a few more monsters when chopping at them!
When Lu Jiuling put on his clothes and walked out of the bedroom, his gaze casually swept across the small fish tank on top of the refrigerator. He suddenly felt an indescribable urge!
Such beautiful feng shui fish!
Lu Jiuling licked his lips. He really wanted to...
Dismember them.