At this moment, Ryan Ling had no clue about any of this. He was busy studying the Purgatory Soul-Suppressing Art. Since he couldn’t find a magic artifact to wipe out the demon for now, he figured he’d try to dig up a solution from the manual first.
But the manual was still impossible to understand. Aside from the title, the rest was pure gibberish.
Left with no choice, Ryan went back to ask the System for help. He sweet-talked it for ages, even taught it a few tricks for 'sexy girl strip games,' and finally the System relented—but all it said was four words: 'Try dripping blood.'
Ryan froze for a second. He really should’ve thought of that; tons of fantasy novels do it this way. He didn’t hesitate, pricked his finger, and dripped fresh blood onto the manual.
But... it was totally useless!
Ryan wondered if he hadn’t dripped enough blood, so without thinking he cut himself again.
Blood started pouring out like crazy. Ryan figured, this time it’s gotta work!
But... the whole manual was almost soaked in his blood, and still nothing happened.
Meanwhile the System was in the background, giggling like an idiot and playing its games. Ryan felt his anger erupt like a volcano.
But right at that moment, an old woman’s voice suddenly rang out: 'Thank you, young man, for activating me. I am Soul-Granny, the artifact-spirit of the Purgatory Soul-Suppressing Art. Now that our bloodlines are fused, no one else can open it. I’ll help you become a top expert who dominates both Yin and Yang worlds—even surpass the King of Hell!'
'R-Really?' Hearing those words—especially 'surpass the King of Hell'—Ryan was so excited he nearly jumped up.
That was his ultimate dream.
'Of course. I’ve got two paths for you: First, a shortcut. As long as you’ve got Merit Points, you can instantly master the entire Purgatory Soul-Suppressing Art and become absolutely invincible—in one second flat!' Soul-Granny’s voice was pure temptation.
'There’s really such a good deal? How many Merit Points does it take?' Ryan felt like he was dreaming.
'Not much, not much. Here’s the price list—see for yourself!' Soul-Granny finished speaking, and a long slip of paper unfurled before him.
The first line alone left Ryan dumbfounded: To master the first level of the Purgatory Soul-Suppressing Art, he’d need about 100,000 Merit Points. After all his hard work, he only had a few thousand. This was daylight robbery.
But it got even pricier further up. The manual had ten levels, each costlier than the last, and the tenth level at the top actually required one trillion Merit Points. It was enough to suck a guy’s bones dry.
'Didn’t you say there’s another way?' Ryan felt Soul-Granny was just as shady as the System. Not wanting to fall into a trap, he was extra cautious.
'That other way is just regular cultivation. But judging by your current body and IQ, if you want to reach the first level, it’ll take at least ten years. To hit level ten, you’d need tens of thousands of years of bitter training—and even then, there’s no guarantee!' Soul-Granny snorted coldly.
'Just kill me already! Can I quit now—break ties with you? I don’t want to learn anymore!' Ryan was sure this was a total scam.
'Don’t be like that, kid! Meeting you is fate. Plus, now that our blood is fused, there’s no way to split up—unless you die, or I die. Of course, I’m in great shape; I’ve lived tens of thousands of years already. You, on the other hand—who knows!' Soul-Granny finished, and Ryan nearly fainted.
'Fine, fine, I’m not some man-eating demon. Here, I’ll send you a few trial moves from the Purgatory Soul-Suppressing Art—go ahead and test them out. First time’s free!' Soul-Granny said, and a few basic moves popped into Ryan’s inventory.
Ryan felt like having one System eyeing his family fortune wasn’t bad enough—now he had an artifact spirit targeting his Merit Points too. With these two vampires on his case, he’d probably get drained to a husk sooner or later.
But there was no turning back now. Ryan checked out the trial moves and tried to comfort himself with them.
Maybe next time he faced the white snake, they’d come in handy.
...
Two days later, the auction at Goddess Peak officially began. Ryan had already confirmed that this auction really would feature a rare magic artifact—and through Harvey 'Million' Jin’s connections, he learned the item had actually subdued demons before.
With Harvey leading the way, the group headed straight for Goddess Peak. No matter what, they had to win the artifact today. It’d been several days already—who knew if the white snake was about to become a true demon.
'Mr. Jin, you’re here?' As soon as Harvey walked in, a manager-type guy rushed up with a big smile.
'Here, take this—show us to our usual private box!' Harvey nodded, immediately tossing over a piece of low-grade jade.
'Mr. Jin, you’ll have to wait a bit,' the manager said awkwardly.
'What’s going on? Did someone book my box?' Harvey was clearly annoyed.
'No, no, no—no one would dare touch your box. But Mr. Rong just gave orders: Today he’s inviting a very distinguished guest, so we have to clear the hall. Once he’s inside, everyone else can enter...' The manager hadn’t even finished before Harvey started cursing.
'What kind of bullshit guest? Is it the President of the United States or the Queen of England? Why should we give way? We all paid to get in, damn it!'
Hearing this, Ryan and the others were annoyed too. Pulling rank and clearing the place at an auction? That was way over the top.
'Mr. Jin, it’s... it’s Mr. Rong’s orders. We wouldn’t dare say no!' The manager was already sweating nervously.
'Who the hell is it, then? Tell us straight!' Jason Lin was curious too.
'Mr. Rong said the guest is a Living Buddha from Qinghai, extremely exalted—he’s achieved true fruition and become a Buddha-Lord. Ordinary mortals aren’t qualified to look at his golden body; you have to retreat, or else you’re guilty of blasphemy!' The manager confessed everything.
In an instant, everyone’s faces turned furious.
'What the hell kind of Living Buddha—today I’m going to blaspheme him and see what he does!'
'Yeah, let him show off in front of us—I want to see what kind of so-called immortal he really is!'
'Right, I want to see for myself—how come us ordinary mortals aren’t even qualified to look at him?'
(This chapter isn’t over yet~.~ Click next page for more awesome content!)
...
Jason Lin, Warren Yuan, and the others all started shouting.
Even Ryan’s face was dark as hell. He was the legit son of the King of Hell and never threw his weight around, but now someone else was acting like they owned the heavens.
Just then, a voice suddenly shouted, 'The Living Buddha arrives—everyone step aside!'
The manager, seeing the situation, begged, 'Mr. Jin, honored guests—please, I’m begging you, just step aside! If you piss off Mr. Rong, we’ll all be in deep trouble!'
'Get out of my way, damn it! If Rong Gui is “Lord,” then I, Harvey Jin, am “Lord” too!' Harvey shoved the manager aside and strode forward. Ryan and the others followed, every one of them itching to see the Living Buddha’s true face.
As everyone walked forward with heads held high, a squad of men in suits appeared up ahead. In the center, the Living Buddha and the so-called Mr. Rong were chatting as they walked.
But just then, Harvey, Ryan, and the rest walked right up. The Living Buddha’s face instantly turned grim, and Mr. Rong barked, 'Who’s being so disrespectful? Didn’t you hear us tell you to step aside? If you offend the Living Buddha, can you handle the consequences?'
'Ha! Offend me, Harvey Jin, and you’ll regret it just as much!' Harvey snorted, his fat body moving with surprising swagger.
'Harvey Jin?' Mr. Rong gritted his teeth, wanting to blow up but swallowed it back—clearly still wary of Harvey’s military connections.
'Godfather, those guys behind him are the ones who bullied me. Talk about enemies meeting face to face—I was just about to hunt them down, and now they’ve delivered themselves!' Bill Wu’s eyes turned red as he shouted.
'Don’t rush. Since they dared to show up, we’ll take them all in one net today. But first, we have to win the Demon-Snaring Bowl!' Mr. Rong gritted his teeth—this kind of open provocation was even harder for him to tolerate.
'Right. No need to bother with these petty riffraff—I’ve got plenty of ways to deal with them. First, let’s head into the auction. The moment the Demon-Snaring Bowl is in my hands, that’s when these guys meet their end.' Living Buddha Sangji snorted, not even sparing Ryan’s group a glance.