Returning to his room with a small fortune in his possession, Han Mo still felt as though he were walking on clouds.
There was no helping it—he was just that happy!
He had secured the first pot of gold in this alien world with such effortless ease.
Don't get him wrong, though; the reason he, Han Mo, had made it this far and successfully earned his first fortune was entirely due to his own unremitting efforts and hard work. There were no shortcuts to speak of!
And even if there were, it was simply because of his own extraordinary natural talent.
"Dad, send money!"
Cough. Regardless, the greatest convenience of being a villain was naturally the powerful backing behind him.
Unlike the protagonists who started out with nothing and built themselves up from scratch, villains almost always held the overwhelming advantage at the start.
Much like the Generalissimo back in the day, declaring "the advantage is mine" was not the least bit an exaggeration.
Yet somehow, these villains always managed to squander their massive early-game advantages, ultimately allowing the protagonist to overtake them from behind and claim final victory.
To this, Han Mo declared that he would absolutely never commit such a rookie mistake.
So what if there were over half a dozen ruinous endings? As long as he proceeded with utmost caution, made good use of his background and resources, and relied on that strategy guide, resolving those ruinous endings and avoiding death wasn't completely out of the question.
At this thought, Han Mo's mind stirred, and he summoned the strategy guide hidden deep within his own body.
"Speaking of which, while surviving that certain-death ending today was largely thanks to my own improvisational skills, this guide definitely played a massive part."
Though he was reluctant to admit it, Han Mo knew very well that if this bizarre guide hadn't rewritten the plot and caused Murong Ying to wake up early, no amount of quick thinking on his part would have given him more than a sliver of a chance of survival.
That aside, what piqued his curiosity the most was the "Inner World Mode" mentioned in the guide.
What exactly was the Inner World?
Han Mo had no way of knowing, but after the original plot had been rewritten, his interactions with key plot figures like Murong Ying and Han Feiyu made him realize that many things felt out of tune.
The personalities of these two characters seemed to deviate from their original settings to varying degrees, yet these deviations still fell within a reasonable, logical framework.
Somehow, he felt like something about them had become a bit strange.
Vaguely, Han Mo guessed at something, but he still couldn't confirm it.
Unable to figure it out, he had no choice but to open the guide in hopes of finding some clues.
[Main storyline completed: The Junior Brother's Ongoing Offense. Certain-death ending successfully rewritten.]
A few lines of blood-red text caught his eye, though Han Mo's attention was quickly drawn to the phrase "The Junior Brother's Ongoing Offense."
Beneath this text, a few new lines had inexplicably appeared.
[Main storyline "The Junior Brother's Ongoing Offense" completed. Unlocking Cultivation Guide Part One: Perfect Foundation Establishment Guide.]
[Please drip blood to unlock the guide.]
It seemed that completing the main storyline had unlocked some kind of reward guide.
Wait, this counted as completing the main storyline?
All he had to do was make Murong Ying let out a few soft whimpers in the room to provoke Lin Feng.
No, that wasn't the point. The point was...
The guide could do this, too?
In other words, as long as he kept following the prompts in the strategy guide and completing various main storylines from now on, he could obtain all sorts of rewards?
And this time, the reward was the method for Perfect Foundation Establishment?
Han Mo rubbed his chin, sinking into deep thought.
Before long, he made up his mind. Reaching over to his desk, he picked up a small knife, gently sliced a small cut on his finger, and squeezed out a few drops of fresh blood.
Drip, drop!
The moment his blood fell, Han Mo felt another wave of intense dizziness wash over him, as if the guide had absorbed not just those few drops of blood, but a full quarter of his body's total blood volume.
The discomfort caused by excessive blood loss was enough to make an ordinary person without cultivation faint or go into shock on the spot.
Fortunately, Han Mo was, after all, a Qi Condensation Stage cultivator, and his vitality was far stronger than that of a normal mortal. He managed to barely endure it, pulled himself together, and looked down at the guide.
[Perfect Foundation Establishment Guide: Requires all materials for Heavenly Dao Foundation Establishment, twelve Foundation Establishment Pills, and three Heaven and Earth spiritual items: Buried Sand Bone, Morning and Evening Dew, and Millennium Stalactite.
Additionally requires four vitality-boosting cultivation techniques: The Qi Absorption Technique, the Local Body-Refining Art, the Boundless Heaven Art, and the Changchun Profound Scripture; three vitality-boosting medicinal pills; and one volume of true insight from a Nascent Soul Stage cultivator regarding Foundation Establishment comprehension... Gather the above materials, and Perfect Foundation Establishment can be achieved the very next day.]
True to form, the guide displayed the walkthrough for Perfect Foundation Establishment.
At the same time, a flood of information, both familiar and unfamiliar, rushed into his mind. It included detailed descriptions of these breakthrough materials, their uses, specific locations, methods of acquisition, and all other aspects in exhaustive detail.
Because the volume of information was simply too massive, it took Han Mo a long time to fully digest it all.
Yet the more he digested this information, the more overwhelming his astonishment became.
One had to know that Bahuang Changsheng was a wildly popular immortal cultivation game with a grand and sweeping world-view, possessing a complete background system much like a long-form xianxia novel.
To put it simply, it was dripping with immortal flavor.
Naturally, this immortal flavor also included the classification of cultivation ranks and the settings for realm breakthroughs.
In the world of Bahuang Changsheng, those possessing Spiritual Roots could absorb the spiritual energy of heaven and earth to cultivate, strengthening themselves and extending their lifespans—these were known as cultivators.
And cultivators cultivated in pursuit of longevity, with their ultimate goal being ascension to the upper realm.
In the game, achieving this ultimate goal of ascension required going through eight stages—Qi Condensation, Foundation Establishment, Golden Core, Nascent Soul, Deity Transformation, Dao Integration, Body Transformation, and Ascension—which were the eight major realms of cultivators in the Eight Desolations World.
The game was divided into two expansions. In the first expansion, "Dazhou Immortal Dynasty," the Deity Transformation Realm represented the absolute pinnacle of strength.
The second expansion, "Road to Ascension," unlocked the realms beyond Deity Transformation as well as the path to ascension. Only by reaching the Great Perfection of the Late Ascension Stage could one truly shatter the void, undergo Body Transformation, ascend to the upper realm, and ultimately attain longevity.
Aside from realm classifications, the game designers had also put a great deal of effort into realm breakthroughs. The transition from Qi Condensation to Foundation Establishment alone featured three distinct methods: Mortal Dao Foundation Establishment, Earthly Dao Foundation Establishment, and Heavenly Dao Foundation Establishment.
According to the game's settings, ordinary cultivators typically achieved Mortal Dao Foundation Establishment, while those with exceptional talent might manage Earthly Dao Foundation Establishment.
As for Heavenly Dao Foundation Establishment, it was notoriously harsh and demanding. These Heaven and Earth spiritual items were exceptionally difficult to find, and some were even things that had long since gone extinct since ancient times.
Those who truly achieved Heavenly Dao Foundation Establishment were few and far far between in the entire game, limited to a handful of ancient mighty figures and the invincible protagonist player characters themselves.
When he had encountered Lin Feng earlier, it was no surprise that the latter possessed a Heavenly Dao Foundation Establishment.
Yet above all that, there was a method of Perfect Foundation Establishment developed by veteran players. The attribute bonuses and combat power gained after a Perfect Foundation Establishment far surpassed even ordinary Heavenly Dao Foundation Establishment.
Naturally, as a veteran player himself, Han Mo had long been aware of the method for Perfect Foundation Establishment. However, achieving it required not only gathering a massive quantity of breakthrough materials, but also investing an enormous amount of time and effort.
Whether it was practicing body-refining cultivation techniques, mastering physical comprehension, or even building up enough drug resistance to safely consume twelve Foundation Establishment Pills, every single step demanded endless piles of time and energy.
Some players had tried Perfect Foundation Establishment and discovered that it took a minimum of a hundred game years to accomplish.
That was a full hundred years! During that time, they would miss all sorts of crucial plot events, making the trade-off hardly worth the cost.
Unless an ordinary player suffered from severe obsessive-compulsive disorder, no one would choose to sacrifice their gaming experience just to forcefully achieve a Perfect Foundation Establishment.
Therefore, if the guide had merely recorded the method for Perfect Foundation Establishment, Han Mo wouldn't have been this surprised.
What truly astonished him was...
[Gather the above materials, and Perfect Foundation Establishment can be achieved the very next day.]
???
It actually only took a single day to achieve Perfect Foundation Establishment?!