The Dao of Reincarnation (421-422) (Patreon)

Chapter 421: Player of the Fourth Scourge (Part 1)

Su Chen gazed at the numbers that had appeared on the Reverse Fate Scripture. From this moment on, he possessed, to some extent, the preliminary qualification to grasp fate itself. He did not linger long on that page.

[Talent: 0 (+)][Comprehension: 0 (+)][Background: 0 (+)][Dao Heart: 13,000,000]

Apart from the Reverse Fate Points settled in this life, the Reverse Fate Scripture still held 2300 Reverse Fate Points from before.

Su Chen wasted no time. After setting aside a small reserve as a safety net, he allocated his points without hesitation.

Talent: 100Comprehension: 10,000,000Background: 200

Two thousand Reverse Fate Points remained. He swiftly turned to the next page of the Reverse Fate Scripture.

...

The sunlight before his eyes was rather piercing.

Su Chen opened his eyes in a daze, still half-asleep. He lay on a clean and tidy large bed.

In an instant, he sorted through the various fragments of the past that surfaced in his mind.

An odd expression crossed Su Chen's face. With his current Dao Heart, very few things could still strike him as strange.

The place he found himself in was called Tiancheng Star. Cultivators existed here, yet to become one, every person had to activate a pass that turned them into a "Player" at the age of sixteen.

The term "Player" felt familiar.

It left Su Chen somewhat unsettled. Only five days remained until the day he would register as a "Player."

If his guess was correct, these "Players" were inseparable from the Lord of the Fourth Scourge. He had not expected the Lord of the Fourth Scourge to reappear in the future.

He had not yet registered as a "Player," so he could choose not to do so. With his knowledge and comprehension, he could still climb to the peak.

No… Su Chen sensed the powerful strength within his body. He already possessed cultivation comparable to the Saint realm. His comprehension was simply too formidable. Even if his past memories had not awakened, with a comprehension of ten million, he could create a suitable cultivation path from the traces that existed in this world. Starting from nothing was no obstacle.

In the end, Su Chen still chose to register as a Player.

There was no other reason. According to the Lord of Primus, the Lord of the Fourth Scourge had appeared in the future yet later vanished. Now that it had emerged once more, it might signal a great upheaval. Since he had encountered this upheaval, he had no choice but to see what would unfold.

In this life, his name was Xiao Chen, of the Xiao family, one of the four great clans of transmigrators. Unfortunately, the Transmigrator Alliance had nothing whatsoever to do with him. Because of the points he had allocated, he had not begun as a beggar but as a young master of the Xiao Group, which monopolized the pharmaceutical industry in Darao City and raked in enormous profits.

Looking at his drop-dead handsome reflection in the mirror, he found the rich, handsome young master's starting point rather satisfactory.

In the blink of an eye, five days passed.

The day to register as a Player had arrived.

Su Chen wore a well-fitted blue-and-white shirt. Many young masters and young ladies from great families already waited at the venue, along with a large number of ordinary young students who seemed out of place among them. Yet one thing was the same: whether the wealthy heirs of aristocratic academies or the ordinary youths waiting here, all of them were filled with eager anticipation at this moment.

Upon registering as a "Player," each person would receive a "Player" talent.

Different talents meant different starting points and different endings. Ordinary people could awaken top-tier talents and overturn fate itself, while young masters and young ladies from wealthy families might awaken trash talents and fall into the dust.

"Young Master Xiao, this is what the old master asked me to deliver to you."

An elderly butler leaning on a cane and dressed in a tailcoat took out a box and handed it to Su Chen.

Su Chen took the box and opened it. Inside lay several silver coins along with two cards, one an item card and the other a cultivation method card.

In general, the higher one's status, the greater the margin for error, far surpassing that of ordinary people.

Those young masters and young ladies qualified to stand beside him had long since received preparations from their families, items that could greatly raise the odds of surviving in the other world.

The silver coins, for example, were Player resurrection coins. Each coin allowed one resurrection. Once the coins ran out, the Player would die. Su Chen held three of them. The value of those three alone was enough to buy a tenth of Darao City with ease. His so-called father had truly spent a fortune.

The item card and the cultivation method card were likewise priceless treasures.

...

Xu Le was an ordinary high school student.

He had discovered something.

He had successfully returned to the very day he registered as a Player.

He vaguely recalled that after registering that day, he had entered the novice village.

His talent had not been poor.

It could even be called the finest Darao City had seen in a hundred years.

Yet right then someone had appeared out of thin air.

That person single-handedly cleared the novice village at astonishing speed, leaving everyone else far behind in the dust.

People guessed he must have awakened the absolute top-tier talent.

No one knew exactly what that talent was. By the time Xu Le next heard of the man's reputation, he had already become one of the Federation's most elite Players.

Xu Le's gaze settled on the handsome youth dressed in a blue-and-white shirt. His heart pounded with excitement.

He had discovered something else.

Every treasure from his previous life was still with him.

One card in particular drew his attention.

"Fate-Changing Card: Designates one person and swaps the talents awakened by both parties."

"Usage condition: Both parties must not yet have awakened their talents."

Xu Le had only obtained such a card by chance in the late stages of his previous life. The condition was extremely restrictive. When neither side had awakened, who could know whose talent was superior and whose was inferior? He had tossed the seemingly useless item into his backpack and gradually forgotten it.

Now was there any moment more perfect than this?

Xu Le knew what kind of existence that man would grow into. If he successfully claimed the man's talent, would he not become the same kind of figure, one of the absolute top Players?

Without the slightest hesitation, he turned toward Su Chen and activated the Fate-Changing Card.

"The future world will belong to me, Xu Le."

Boundless expectation surged in his heart.

Chapter 422: Player of the Fourth Scourge (Part 2)

Su Chen looked at the interface before him.

It was a vast miniature of the world. He stood suspended in midair as a numerical popup appeared before his eyes.

[Register as a Player?]

[Upon successful registration, a talent will be drawn at random. Once drawn, it cannot be reselected.]

Su Chen clicked to draw.

The interface flickered.

[Congratulations, Player. You have obtained the King-rank talent: Extreme Combat.]

[Extreme Combat (King): Can be activated at will. Burns energy to erupt with tremendous power. After use, the body gradually falls into a weakened state.]

Su Chen estimated that a King-rank talent was about what this life's draw would yield. Obtaining King-rank was already decent.

Just as he was about to confirm, the King-rank talent displayed before him suddenly changed.

[Diligent Study (Venerable): All experience gained +10%.]

Su Chen stared. There was actually such a windfall?

The talent had jumped two ranks at once, from King to Venerable.

This one was far more practical than Extreme Combat.

"I didn't expect someone to set their sights on me so quickly."

Su Chen naturally did not believe the Fourth Scourge had suddenly shown mercy and altered his talent.

This world contained all sorts of item cards. He figured some lucky soul must have been reborn. Rebirth was nothing rare to him. Perhaps some great power had calculated the risks and feared entanglement in karma, or perhaps a fortunate person had been swept up in a battle that shattered space-time, survived the aftershocks, and fallen into the river of time, returning to the past.

Clearly, the brief future that lucky person had experienced matched the present. In that future, Su Chen would rise rapidly to become a top-tier powerhouse, leading the lucky person to believe he possessed some unprecedented talent and to use an item card to swap their talents. Unexpectedly, the lucky person's own talent proved stronger than the one Su Chen had originally drawn.

Trying to steal a chicken only to lose the rice.

The sheer irony nearly made Su Chen laugh.

His rise in this life would not depend on any Player talent. It would rely on himself alone.

...

Xu Le's heart was full of anxiety.

The talent before his eyes shifted rapidly.

[Congratulations, Player. You have obtained the Venerable-rank talent: Diligent Study.]

"Just the same as last life after all."

Xu Le felt a touch of disappointment. A Venerable-rank talent was already impressive. Darao City might not produce one in a thousand years. Yet for someone who had seen the wider world it was far from enough.

Saint-rank, Emperor-rank, Super Emperor-rank...

The owners of those talents were each more monstrous than the last, so monstrous that Xu Le could only gaze up from the dust. Diligent Study was merely the most mediocre of Venerable-rank talents, inferior even to most Emperor-rank ones. Facing those monstrous talent holders, he could only remain humble and look up from the dirt.

Yet even those talent holders had to look up to one person.

Xiao Chen!

A legend that could never be replicated, a legend that forced the holders of Saint-rank, Emperor-rank, and Super Emperor-rank talents to keep their heads down.

Suddenly, the talent before Xu Le vanished and was replaced by another.

Excitement, anxiety, unease.

Xu Le stood frozen in place.

This was no Emperor-rank, Super Emperor-rank, or Super-Super Emperor-rank talent.

[Extreme Combat (King): Can be activated at will. Burns energy to erupt with tremendous power. After use the body gradually falls into a weakened state.]

Xu Le rubbed his eyes.

He rubbed them again.

Then rubbed them once more.

At that moment, the scene before him became a small town.

"Fuck! Goddammit!"

Heart-rending screams rose from within the small town, enough to move listeners to sorrow and witnesses to tears.

Xu Le spat out a mouthful of blood and fainted on the spot.

Even the most mediocre Venerable-rank talent was still Venerable-rank.

Dropping from Venerable to King... how could he possibly accept that?

Su Chen knew nothing of any of this.

He had already left the small town and begun the "game."

Playing the game naturally meant killing monsters, leveling up, and farming bosses, just like an online game.

For many novices, they were still locked in cunning battles against a rooster or a rabbit.

Su Chen went straight for the first boss.

The Shadow Wolf King.

The Shadow Wolf King regarded the tiny human who seemed oblivious to death.

"Perhaps an extra meal is in order," it thought.

Su Chen remained perfectly calm.

He held a branch he had casually picked up by the roadside across his chest.

"This human in front of me seems a bit simple. Eating him might lower This King's intelligence."

Did the fellow truly think a mere twig could stop it?

Utterly laughable.

At that moment, a prompt appeared on the panel before Su Chen.

[Congratulations, Player Xiao Chen. You have comprehended the ???-rank skill: Absolute Supremacy of the Sword Dao.]

[Congratulations, Player Xiao Chen. You have slain the novice boss Shadow Wolf King.]

[Congratulations, Player. You have gained a large amount of experience. Cultivation has broken through to Rank Two, Level Three.]

A boss nearly at Rank Three had been instantly slain by Su Chen.

"Why bother with small fry when farming bosses levels you up so much faster?"

With that casual strike, the branch in Su Chen's hand had already turned to ash.

Yet its purpose had been fulfilled. A great sword wreathed in black aura burst forth before him.

Su Chen claimed the great sword and continued on his way.

With the novice village boss dealt with, he could now head elsewhere to farm other bosses and level up.

...

[Player Xiao Chen of Village No. ... has successfully slain the novice village boss Shadow Wolf King. All players of Village No. ... may now leave the novice village and proceed to the cities.]

The system's merciless announcement rang through the minds of players still locked in clever struggles against mountain chickens, wild rabbits, and the big yellow dog at the village gate.

"What? We haven't even left the village, and you're telling me someone already took down the boss?"

"Admin! Admin! I want to report this guy for cheating. He's not even pretending anymore!"

"Cheating? This isn't some ordinary game. There's not even a pay-to-win interface. Where would he cheat from?"

"One-star review. Absolute must. Terrible experience. Can I quit this game?"

"..."

The moment the announcement of Su Chen's kill of the novice village boss echoed out, the novice players exploded in uproar. They had never heard of anyone so outrageous, instantly killing the boss the moment they arrived in the novice village.

Many began to suspect cheating. Unfortunately, this was no ordinary game. Even the greatest Federation had no clear understanding of it. How could anyone possibly cheat?

When Xu Le awoke and heard the news that the novice boss had been cleared, he felt a wave of disorientation. Anyone unaware might have thought he had slept for several months.

Listening to the noisy discussions around him, Xu Le gave a bitter smile.

Cheating... there truly was such a thing.

He himself was a cheater, having brought treasures from the future to this place, enough to dominate in every direction and seize a starting point far ahead of countless others.

Yet now it seemed he had run into an even greater cheater.

"How could this be? How could Xiao Chen's talent be nothing more than an ordinary King-rank talent?"

Xu Le still refused to believe it.

"Xiao Chen must have used some method, or obtained some item. He can't have only one talent!"

He could not imagine that anyone in this world could comprehend a Super Emperor-rank skill in a single instant.

He stubbornly insisted that Xiao Chen must have relied on some unparalleled powerful talent or treasure to kill the novice boss so quickly.