Chapter 1: You Must Pay to Become Stronger.
The Third Rule for Transmigrators of the Yellow Emperor's Inner Classic: Only by Paying to Become Stronger.
Douluo Continent, Southwest of the Heaven Dou Empire, Fasno Province.
Notting City.
Located at the border of the Heaven Dou and Star Luo Empires, Notting City is remote and inconspicuous. But in the future, because of a small village outside the city—Holy Soul Village—Notting City will become famous throughout the continent.
Dawn breaks, the sky is just beginning to brighten.
In a rather elegant house in the west of Notting City, stands a boy of only five or six years old.
The boy has fair skin and eyes like stars. Although very young, he is exceptionally handsome, and his embroidered purple robe further enhances his jade-like appearance and noble air.
At this moment, this incomparably handsome boy is opening a heavy black box.
"Click-clack..."
As the lid of the box opens, instantly, golden light fills the room!
Gold Soul Coins! A full ten thousand Gold Soul Coins!
In the Douluo Continent, currency is divided into gold, silver, and copper, with gold being the most valuable. One gold soul coin is enough for an ordinary family to live on for several months, while ten thousand gold soul coins are comparable to hundreds of millions of yuan on Earth!
However, faced with such a huge sum of money, the handsome young man remained unmoved. He simply extended his left hand towards the box full of gold soul coins and said in a deep voice, "System, begin."
"Boom!"
A burst of intense light erupted from the young man's palm, and the ten thousand gold soul coins instantly transformed into a golden torrent, being absorbed into his hand.
"Ding... System activation in progress, please wait..."
The long-lost crisp voice finally rang in the young man's mind.
His name was Zhou Chen, a transmigrator, and his cheat was the system.
This system was called the Multiverse Pay-to-Win System.
As the name suggests, to use this system, one had to spend money, or more precisely, recharge gold yuan points.
To obtain gold yuan points, one needed to sacrifice gold items, such as gold soul coins, with 1 gold yuan point = 1 gold soul coin.
However, for six years, the pay-to-win system had been dormant, completely useless. To activate the dormant system, you must recharge 10,000 gold points!
This presented Zhou Chen with a real challenge.
Six years ago, when he first transmigrated, he was regressed into an infant due to a time turbulence, spending two years just drinking milk, let alone making money.
Fortunately, as a transmigrator with higher education, Zhou Chen had no shortage of ways to earn money. Over the past few years, he had used every trick in the book and finally accumulated enough for 10,000 Gold Soul Coins!
"Ding... Activated. This system is at your service immediately. Please collect gold items as soon as possible to obtain Gold Yuan Points."
Before the words were finished, a pale golden light screen appeared before Zhou Chen's eyes. It was an attribute panel similar to that in a game, displaying the system's data:
[Multiverse Pay-to-Win System]
Level: 1
Experience: 10,000/100,000 (Multiplier: 10)
This means that the current system is level 1. To upgrade to level 2, you need 100,000 Gold Yuan Points, which is 100,000 Gold Soul Coins. To upgrade to level 3, it's 1 million... and so on, reaching the highest level 9, which is one trillion Gold Soul Coins!
It's important to know that the annual tax revenue of the Heaven Dou and Star Luo Empires is less than one hundred million gold soul coins.
One trillion gold soul coins—even leveling the entire Douluo Plane wouldn't be enough to raise that much!
However, that's a matter for the future.
Zhou Chen then looked down at the panel, where a roulette wheel was slowly spinning. On the wheel were five icons: [Pills], [Cultivation Techniques], [Bloodlines], [Items], and [Divine Abilities].
Only the [Pills] icon was lit; the other four were dim.
"System, explain this," Zhou Chen raised an eyebrow and asked. "
Ding… Random lottery function activated. Because this system is only level 1, only the [Pills] category is available… Each lottery draw requires a recharge of 10,000 gold points!"
"10,000 for one draw?"
Zhou Chen was first stunned, then furious, and finally… resigned himself to it.
He had no choice but to accept it; he was under someone else's roof and had to bow his head. He still needed this damn system to reach the pinnacle of his life, so he couldn't afford to offend it now.
Seeing that Zhou Chen was somewhat dissatisfied, the system did not want to provoke its host, so it offered a sweet treat that it had prepared beforehand:
"Ding... This system is activated for the first time and is issuing a free [Cultivation Technique] gift pack. Please check it."
The next moment, a towering pillar of light descended from the sky, blasting a huge hole in the roof and landing right in front of Zhou Chen.
Floating within the pillar of light was a golden piece of paper!
"What kind of technique is this?"
Seeing the system giving him a benefit, Zhou Chen's expression immediately brightened, and his tone softened.
"This is a cultivation technique with endless history and countless names!"
The system, which had been indifferent, suddenly became sentimental: "It was once the foundation-building chapter of cultivation; it was also called the Dao Scripture Wheel Sea Scroll; Yu the Great relied on it to open up mountains and control floods, and it was remotely revered as the Mountain and River Strategy; Fuxi relied on it to propagate the world, and bestowed upon it the name Four Symbols, Five Elements, Eight Trigrams, Central Earth Thick Virtue Technique!"
"These names may all be too unfamiliar, but there is one name that you, host, will definitely be familiar with!"
"What?"
"The Yellow Emperor's Inner Classic!"
"What did you say?"
Zhou Chen was stunned for a moment, then his face suddenly turned red, and he said shyly in a low voice: "Isn't this the kind of dual cultivation technique that men and women practice together...? It is said that the Yellow Emperor, one of the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors, ascended to heaven in broad daylight by relying on this scripture."
System: "??!"
The system did not expect Zhou Chen to be so witty, even speeding on this broken road, and was speechless for a moment.
After a long silence, the system suddenly sighed, "Alas, host, your level is too high. This system can't keep up with your train of thought. See for yourself."
With that, the floating golden paper landed in Zhou Chen's hands, instantly making them feel heavy.
So heavy!
Such a thin sheet of paper, yet it weighed more than gold and stone.
Struggling to hold the golden paper, Zhou Chen squinted and saw that it was engraved with densely packed ancient characters. Each ancient character was like a shining star, dazzlingly bright.
With a thought, a virtual screen reappeared before his eyes:
[Yellow Emperor's Inner Classic]
Origin: [Primordial Universe]
Producer: [Fuxi, Yellow Emperor Xuanyuan, Nine Heavens Mysterious Maiden]
Product Efficacy: Can transform one's body and soul, forging the foundation of the Great Dao.
Cultivation Levels: Qi Refining, Foundation Establishment, Golden Core, Nascent Soul, Deity Transformation, Mahayana, True Immortal…
Such powerful effects made Zhou Chen unable to look away.
"Host, the Yellow Emperor's Inner Classic is very difficult to learn. With your talent, you'll probably struggle even to get started. Only through this system's empowerment and transmission of knowledge can you begin to understand it and break through to the Qi Refining stage." Seeing Zhou Chen's absorbed state, the system couldn't help but remind him.
"Then why don't you start already?" Hearing this, Zhou Chen put down the golden paper and urged.
"Ding... The technique is being translated..."
"Energy adjustment in progress..."
"Start!"
The next second, a towering pillar of light descended from the sky once more, directly enveloping Zhou Chen and suspending him in the air.
Then, on the golden paper containing the Yellow Emperor's Inner Classic, the ancient characters, like stars, came to life, continuously surging into Zhou Chen's body.
A mysterious and profound energy began to combine with the cells in his body, traveling along the meridians towards the dantian below his navel.
At this moment, Zhou Chen radiated golden light, his entire body becoming crystal clear.
At the same time, the golden paper carrying the scripture transformed into a small golden sword engraved with mountains, rivers, plants, the sun, moon, and stars amidst a golden glow!
"Buzz!"
The golden sword trembled, emitting a clear, melodious sword cry, before silently disappearing into Zhou Chen's brow.
A minute later, the pillar of light gradually faded, and Zhou Chen slowly descended from mid-air.
Opening his eyes, Zhou Chen felt a dazzling divine light, his body brimming with mysterious energy. He clenched his small, white fist, feeling that he could easily kill a fat pig with one punch!
(End of Chapter)