Ever since enduring the harrowing and unforgettable betrayal by his ex-girlfriend Su Yao, Ling Xiao felt as though he had plummeted from the clouds into an endless, dark abyss. The agony of being betrayed by someone he trusted, of having his idealistic pursuits ruthlessly trampled upon, pierced his heart like a sharp sword. Driven by this torment, Ling Xiao drank an untold amount of alcohol, and physical exhaustion soon followed. That night, he fell into a deep sleep and had a dream.
Darkness.
Endless darkness enveloped Ling Xiao's consciousness. He felt as though he were floating in a void, without direction, without end.
Until—
A faint sliver of light pierced the darkness.
Ling Xiao slowly opened his eyes to find himself standing in a hazy white space. The surroundings were completely empty, save for two items floating in the center: an unadorned black ring known as the Divine Dragon Ring, and a dragon-patterned jade pendant radiating a cyan glow.
The ring was pitch-black, its surface carved with intricate patterns that seemed to contain some ancient and formidable power. The jade pendant was crystal-clear, its dragon carving lifelike and faintly shimmering with light, as if it could transform into a real dragon and soar away at any moment.
Ling Xiao stared at them in a daze, a fierce and inexplicable yearning welling up in his heart.
He walked forward slowly and reached out to touch the black ring—
Boom!
In an instant, a blinding light erupted, and a torrent of information flooded his mind!
The Chaos Heaven-Swallowing Formula!
This was a supreme Cultivation Method from the Nine Heavens of the Divine Realm, immensely tyrannical and capable of devouring the spiritual energy of all things for one's own use! At the initial stage, one could step into the Golden Core realm; at the intermediate stage, Deity Transformation; at the advanced stage, the Great Luo Golden Immortal; and at the ultimate stage, one could achieve the position of Immortal Emperor, becoming virtually undying and indestructible!
Ling Xiao was utterly shocked. Before he could even digest this information, his hand unconsciously reached toward the dragon-patterned jade pendant—
Hum!
The jade pendant suddenly burst into a brilliant cyan radiance, and an even more vast influx of information poured into his Consciousness Sea!
The Longyuan Secret Classic!
The supreme inheritance of the Nine Heavens of the Divine Realm! It not only contained the Chaos Heaven-Swallowing Formula, but also heaven-defying medical skills, alchemy, and array secret techniques...
The Star-Shattering Reversal Needle Canon—capable of bringing the dead back to life and putting flesh back on bones, even reshaping a shattered dantian and severed meridians!
The Nine-Turn Golden Core Art—pills refined through this could cleanse the marrow, renew the body, and even defy the heavens to change one's destiny!
The Zhoutian Star Array—once deployed, it could trap and slay immortals and gods!
Ling Xiao felt as though his consciousness was about to be torn apart by this overwhelming volume of information. He dropped heavily to his knees, clutching his head with both hands as countless voices roared and shrieked in his mind!
"Ah—!"
He snapped his eyes open—
Ling Xiao gasped for breath, covered in cold sweat. Dazed, he looked around and found himself still lying on his dorm bed, with Li Yang snoring soundly on the bed opposite him.
"A dream...?"
The dorm was pitch black.
Outside the window, moonlight spilled coldly inside. The phone screen read: 3:17 AM.
Blankly, Ling Xiao raised his hand and inspected it closely in the dim light—
There was no trace of a ring or a jade pendant.
"Heh..." He let out a self-deprecating chuckle, his throat aching with dryness. "It really was a dream."
Naturally. What cultivation method? What divine realm inheritance? It was nothing more than a delusion born of his emotional trauma. The reality was that Su Yao had gone to a hotel with Lin Yu, while he remained a discarded, penniless student.
Ling Xiao turned over and buried his face in the pillow. His hangover-addled brain felt heavy and dizzy, his temples throbbing with a sharp ache. After drinking with Li Yang until the early hours of the morning, his whole body felt light and untethered.
"I'll sleep a little longer..."
He closed his eyes and quickly drifted back into a chaotic darkness.
...
"Brother Xiao! Time to get up!"
The glaring sunlight hit his face. Frowning, Ling Xiao opened his eyes to see Li Yang standing by the bed, holding two cups of soy milk.
"It's already noon. Hurry up, I brought you some hangover soup."
Propping himself up, Ling Xiao was instantly hit by a wave of dizziness. His hangover-racked head felt as though it had been beaten with a hammer, making him wince in pain.
"Crap..." He rubbed his temples. "How much did I drink last night?"
"You have the nerve to ask?" Li Yang handed him the soy milk. "You were hugging the wine bottle, crying to high heaven and earth, insisting on shouting things like 'I'm going to cultivate immortality,' and nothing could stop you."
Ling Xiao was stunned, and that bizarre dream suddenly flashed back into his mind—the black ring, the dragon-patterned jade pendant, the Chaos Heaven-Swallowing Formula...
"Did I... say anything else?"
"Plenty," Li Yang rolled his eyes. "Stuff like 'Su Yao, you're going to regret this,' and 'I'm going to make Lin Yu beg me on his knees'... Tsk tsk, late-stage advanced-level delusions."
Ling Xiao lowered his head to drink his soy milk, masking the awkwardness on his face. That dream had been too real—so real that... he instinctively rubbed his right index finger.
It was empty.
With a bitter chuckle, Ling Xiao shook his head...