Chapter 99: High-End Game? Watch My Play!

On the Heavenly Crossing River, Wang Ping stood on the deck of his boat, his expression placid.

Hovering in midair, the daoist carrying a wine gourd wore a severe expression. His gaze locked onto Chen Luoyan, who hung slung over Wang Ping's shoulder, and he instantly flew into a rage.

"Bliss Passion Poison? What an evil cultivator!"

Not giving Wang Ping a chance to speak, this evil-abhorring daoist immediately formed a hand seal. A clear sword chime rang out once more between heaven and earth.

Wang Ping narrowed his eyes. His spiritual sense pierced the glare, identifying the source of the chime: an Edgeless Heavy Sword. The characters for Gan and Kun were engraved on either side of its blade. Guided by the Nameless Daoist, it unleashed a torrent of sword light that smashed straight toward the crown of Wang Ping's head.

Boom!

The brilliant sword light struck with enough force to pierce gold and shatter stone. The small boat beneath Wang Ping's feet was instantly pulverized, and the river water violently parted.

But a second later...

The peerlessly sharp beams of sword light struck Wang Ping. Far from slicing him open, they couldn't even break his skin, leaving behind nothing but a few faint white marks.

Wang Ping gave the strikes a sidelong glance. "That's it?"

It made sense. This man had been dragged here by destiny on a moment's notice; how high could his cultivation really be? Just being able to stall Wang Ping for a moment was already heaven's blessing.

"Tough luck for you."

"Huh?"

The Nameless Daoist froze. Before he could react, the world in his eyes faded to black and white, collapsing into a single line before he entirely lost consciousness.

Splash!

The unconscious Nameless Daoist plummeted from the sky and was swept away by the current, disappearing without a trace. He had at least managed to keep his life. Meanwhile, the Edgeless Heavy Sword lost its mystical glow and was casually snatched out of the air by Wang Ping.

"This flying sword... isn't bad at all. It's at the grade of a Famous Treasure. I suppose that's to be expected from immortal cultivators. Put a minor character like this in Great Shun, and he'd still make the Armament Manual. Not to mention, he can fly. An ordinary Titled Martial Master might not have actually beaten him."

Wang Ping stood upon the river's surface, feeling somewhat helpless.

With his current martial arts, he had already mastered the Wave-Treading Subtle Steps, allowing him to walk on water without it reaching his knees. However, as long as he remained mortal, flight was an insurmountable hurdle.

Of course, everything was relative.

He couldn't fly, but he could jump extremely high. Given the absolute gap in their strength, even a flying target like the Nameless Daoist hadn't been able to escape his lightning-fast strike.

Yet how many martial artists like him actually existed?

At this thought, Wang Ping spread his spiritual sense to sweep the entire area, but he found only schools of fish and shrimp. There was no sign of Ye Chao.

He had really gotten away.

Not only that.

Wang Ping looked up at the sky and scanned his surroundings. The river beneath his feet was growing increasingly turbulent, while the sky above had darkened, rumbling with faint thunder.

Under the perception of his Divine Intent, the once-peaceful world suddenly seemed to surge with rage, and he was its sole target. Every living thing, everything he could see—all of it felt as though it harbored a conscious desire to kill him. Between heaven and earth, he had nowhere left to hide.

What is this? The enmity of heaven and earth?

Wang Ping frowned deeply and suddenly rubbed his brow—because just a moment ago, an inexplicable wave of lust had welled up within him for Chen Luoyan, who was still slung over his shoulder.

Chen Luoyan's curvy figure was pressed snugly against his side, her ponytail dangling down. It sparked an overwhelming urge to pin her to the ground and ravage her, to yank her high ponytail, crane her neck back, and wring cries of agony from her lips... This made Wang Ping instantly realize something was very wrong.

First of all, he was not a lecher.

Second, taking ten thousand steps back, even if he did have a slight interest in women... he was absolutely not the kind of shameless scoundrel who took advantage of someone in distress.

This desire had come entirely out of nowhere.

Therefore, Wang Ping quickly concluded, I've been pulled back into the plot. And unlike before, my "screen time" in this play is probably going to increase drastically.

By now, Wang Ping had mostly figured out the setup of this grand play. "It's actually quite cliché. It's nothing more than a woman being hunted by enemies, getting afflicted with a love poison, and then bumping into the protagonist. To cure the poison, the woman forces herself on him, then dusts off her clothes and leaves, which prompts the protagonist to chase after his runaway wife."

That was the prewritten script.

"But because of my appearance, the script has been altered beyond recognition. The woman who was supposed to be the protagonist's fateful encounter has been snatched away by me."

What was this?

This was an absolute cuckold plotline. A classic romance trope had instantly turned into an adult web fantasy. And as the one responsible, he would naturally draw the protagonist's bitter hatred.

In other words, I'm the villain now.

If nothing unexpected happens, the next part of the plot will feature the protagonist stumbling upon an opportunity and stepping onto the path of cultivation. Thirty years east of the river, thirty years west of the river, and then he'll come back for revenge.

At this thought, Wang Ping glanced at Chen Luoyan.

Hmm... and saving the damsel in distress along the way?

It was hard to say. If the previous Chen Luoyan had been the heroine of the script, then after falling into a cuckold plot, she had probably been demoted to a background character.

Wang Ping waded across the water, making his way to the riverbank.

"Ugh..."

Just then, the unconscious Chen Luoyan woke up. Her face was still alluringly flushed from the Bliss Passion Poison, but her eyes were much clearer.

"...My face?"

It hurts so much!

Chen Luoyan looked bewildered. Fortunately, thanks to the sharp pain in her face, she was able to stay relatively calm and analyze her situation despite the poison's influence.

Then, she let out a sigh of relief. Regardless of what had happened, her virtue seemed intact. She hadn't surrendered herself to that lecherous stranger she had just met.

Immediately after, she looked at Wang Ping. Recognizing him, her tense heart finally relaxed a little, and she exhaled deeply. "Thank you, Brother-in-Law. I don't know what came over me; I completely lost my mind. If you hadn't arrived in time, I'm afraid I would have lost my innocence."

"Don't mention it."

Wang Ping's tone was casual. "Can you still hold on? Let's get one thing straight: you can cure your poison, but keep your hands to yourself. Don't go taking advantage of me for no reason."

"..."

Chen Luoyan's face flushed crimson on the spot—this time not from the poison's seduction, but from sheer anger. After all, no matter how one looked at it, she was the one who had almost been taken advantage of, right?

If it had been before, Chen Luoyan would have exploded in a rage long ago. But right now, not only did she have no strength, she also owed Wang Ping her life and couldn't simply cast aside her pride.

Therefore, she took several deep breaths, finally suppressing her temper. She focused on recovering her spiritual sense and suppressing the love poison, planning to control the symptoms for now. Once she returned to Book Mountain, she would ask a Loose Immortal from her sect to cure it. At that thought, she quickly reached into her sleeve and pulled out a jade slip.

"What is that?" Wang Ping looked over.

"A messaging jade slip," Chen Luoyan answered simply. "The situation is urgent. I must notify my sect immediately and ask a Loose Immortal martial uncle to come cure my love poison."

"...A Loose Immortal?"

Wang Ping's eyes flickered. A Tribulation Transcending First Layer Loose Immortal who had mastered magic power was not someone he could handle. If one actually came, probably only Chenlong could deal with them.

However, he quickly regained his composure.

Because if nothing went wrong, Chen Luoyan still had important "screen time" as the hostage in the villain's hands—the beauty in this grand rescue play.

Under these circumstances, how could the world possibly let her solve her problem and leave the stage on her own?

"Huh? Why?"

Sure enough, though the jade slip in Chen Luoyan's hand glowed faintly, there was no response. All of her distress signals were like stones sinking into the ocean.

I still have to rely on myself.

Seeing this, Wang Ping narrowed his eyes. His mind sank into the Great Peace Mortuary, where he looked at the three distinct portraits available for Invoking Deities.

Old Immortal Bliss.

Ye Chao.

Wine-Sword Rogue Immortal.

People release the most consciousness fragments when their lives are on the line. That's how I got Old Immortal Bliss and the Wine-Sword Rogue Immortal. As for Ye Chao... it must be because of that boat.

It was obvious. As the young master of a wealthy family in the commandery, this wasn't Ye Chao's first time taking a boat out for leisure. That small boat was his personal vessel. Over the years, it had accumulated a large number of his consciousness fragments, and Wang Ping had swept them all up. That was why Ye Chao had finally manifested on the scripture scroll.

Let's try one out first.

With a single thought, Wang Ping chose to invoke Old Immortal Bliss. The familiar sensation of his mind emptying as his body moved automatically washed over him once more.

I'll cure Chen Luoyan's poison first.

Bringing two fingers together, Wang Ping tapped the center of Chen Luoyan's brow. Immediately after, he effortlessly wiped away the peach-colored illusion coiled deep within her spiritual sense.

"Ah!"

Caught completely off guard by such a violent extraction, Chen Luoyan's eyes rolled back. She instantly fainted again, her tense body finally going slack.

Wang Ping couldn't care less. Taking advantage of the invoked state, he began pinching his fingers in calculation. "Interesting. Old Immortal Bliss knew how to divine fortunes? No, wait, this seems to be standard for extraordinary persons in Great Shun. Let me see... can I calculate the current location of the protagonist of this grand play?"

A short while later, tiny fissures burst open on Wang Ping's fingertips.

I can't calculate it.

Hmm... my destiny isn't strong enough. Old Immortal Bliss's destiny is far too thin compared to his. Trying to calculate someone above my station naturally yields nothing.

Pondering this, Wang Ping looked at the Taiping Sutra again.

Can this scripture scroll be used simultaneously? If I invoke Ye Chao onto my body as well, will I gain his destiny as a bonus?

Acting on the thought, Wang Ping immediately focused his mind.

"Possess me!"

On the scripture scroll, right beside Old Immortal Bliss, the portrait of Ye Chao rapidly dimmed. Immediately after, Wang Ping felt a drastic change.

The enmity of heaven and earth vanished into thin air. The world suddenly became gentle and accommodating. An inexplicable sense of omnipotence—the feeling that all of creation revolved around him—welled up in his heart. Was this how Ye Chao felt every day? Just how tough was his destiny? No wonder he had been chosen as the protagonist!

Wang Ping pinched his fingers in calculation once more.

This time, his divination met absolutely no resistance. Wang Ping quickly locked onto a direction, took a step forward, and sprinted swiftly toward it.

...

The Heavenly Crossing River, somewhere along the riverbank.

"Cough, cough..."

Ye Chao crawled pathetically out of the water, covered in mud. His heart was filled with both the relief of surviving a disaster and the seething rage of having his beloved violently snatched away from him.

"I was here first!"

"Number six on the Armament Manual... that rebel! If I don't avenge this, I swear I am not a man! When I cultivate immortal arts in the future, I will definitely slice him into a thousand pieces!"

And that fairy sister... that poor woman. Right now, she had probably already had her virtue ruined by that rebel. Once he killed that villain in the future, he would definitely restore her freedom. It was a pity she had been defiled. He couldn't possibly marry her as his proper wife anymore; the most he could do was take her in as a concubine and keep her in his courtyard...

At this thought, Ye Chao felt his spirits rally.

For a moment, he felt that no hardship could ever defeat him. He declared aloud, "Thirty years east of the river, thirty years west of the river. Do not bully the youth..."

Before he could finish his sentence—

"Found you."

A light chuckle echoed out. Right behind it came a massive hand that blotted out the sky, completely ignoring all of Ye Chao's good luck to firmly latch onto his neck.

"...Huh?"

In the very next second, Ye Chao passed out completely.

Seeing this, Wang Ping unhurriedly took out the Six Desires Heavenly Demon Flag, unfurled its internal space, and tossed the protagonist of this grand play right inside. Then, he swaggered away.

At this moment, a bold plan had already formed in his mind.

So what if this was a high-end game set up by the Immortal Gate?

Watch my play!

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