Chapter Twenty Nine 𝚏𝐫𝚎𝗲𝕨𝐞𝐛𝕟𝚘𝐯𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝗺

Li Yu entered the Shop tab and was immediately greeted by an endless sea of items. The selection ranged from common goods such as clothing and shoes all the way to weapons, artifacts, treasures, cultivation resources, and countless other things.

A notification immediately appeared. Ding! Host, welcome to the Universal Shop. Note: This shop contains anything you might ever need. It is connected across countless realities and worlds. There is nothing you seek that cannot be found here. The advertisement continued to scroll endlessly.

But Li Yu wasn’t paying attention anymore. Instead, his focus was entirely fixed on one thing. His account balance. As he had guessed before, Essence Points served as the currency used within the Universal Shop.

And currently, he possessed a decent amount. Combining the points he already had with the rewards earned from slaying the Saber Panther, he now had exactly 5,000 Essence Points. Li Yu smiled slightly.

At least he wasn’t poor. Or so he thought. His gaze shifted toward the Shop categories. There were eight tiers in total. Basic. Intermediate. Advanced. Master. Elite. Emperor. Saint. Supreme. Each tier corresponded to the Host’s current level.

To access higher-tier items, he would first need to level up. For now, only the Basic Tier was available. Li Yu opened it immediately. His expression carried the confidence of a wealthy tycoon about to spend money recklessly.

Then he entered the Weapon Section. The very first item froze him in place. Tyrant Gauntlets. Rank: Basic Tier. Description: Heavy silver gauntlets capable of increasing the user’s hand strength by fifty percent .

Every attack performed using the gauntlets accumulates momentum. The longer the battle continues, the stronger and faster the user becomes. Cost: 2,500 Essence Points. Li Yu’s smile became strange.

The effect was undeniably amazing. Actually, it was incredible. But the price... The price was absolutely monstrous. So he skipped it. Then he continued browsing. The more weapons he examined, the more strained his smile became. Eventually, the smile disappeared entirely.

After a while, Li Yu shook his head. "This is a scam. A complete scam." He had genuinely believed Basic Tier items would cost around two hundred Essence Points at most.

Yet the cheapest weapon he had found so far was a simple silver dagger priced at 1,500 Essence Points. And that was considered cheap. The list itself seemed endless. So Li Yu used the filtering function.

Yet even after filtering, nothing cheaper than 1,500 Essence Points appeared. Eventually, he gave up and left the Weapon Section. Then he checked the Artifact Section.

Another wave of disappointment hit him. The prices were equally horrifying. Next came Treasures. Even worse. After several minutes of browsing, Li Yu felt his soul growing poorer with every item he viewed. Everything was absurdly expensive.

So expensive that he felt personally offended. Finally, he entered the section he was most interested in. Clothing. After all, he was practically half-naked right now. Fixing that issue seemed far more important than buying a fancy weapon.

At least according to him. Immediately, he skipped through thousands of robes, dresses, uniforms, armor sets, and bizarre fashion choices from unknown worlds. Then he used the search filter. Anime-Inspired Clothing. The results instantly appeared. Li Yu’s eyes brightened.

Now this was what he was looking for. He carefully browsed through the options. Several minutes later... His eyes widened. "I found it." Meanwhile, back in the physical world, King Rayden suddenly narrowed his eyes. His calm gaze became slightly intrigued.

Li Yu’s body had suddenly become engulfed in a brilliant blue glow. The light was radiant and blinding. Yet strangely warm. The glow continued for several moments before finally fading away.

And when it did... Even King Rayden was surprised. One of his eyebrows rose slightly. Standing there was Li Yu. But he looked completely different. Dressed like an overpowered anime protagonist.

Everything he wore was black. A perfectly fitted long black coat rested over a dark shirt. Black tactical trousers completed the outfit. Dark boots reinforced his presence. The entire ensemble seemed to absorb light itself, giving him an intimidating and mysterious aura.

At his side rested a silver sword. Emerald dragons were engraved along its hilt. The weapon looked elegant and deadly. A pair of dark-tinted glasses sat comfortably upon his face.

Combined with his posture and the coat fluttering slightly behind him, he looked less like a cultivator and more like someone who had just walked out of the final episode of an anime.

His presence screamed power. Authority. Wealth. And excessive protagonist energy. King Rayden studied him for several moments. Then nodded slightly. At least the original possessed decent fashion sense.

Somewhere. Li Yu stood proudly in his new outfit. Honestly? He felt amazing. For the first time since arriving in this world, he truly felt like an anime protagonist. Then... The System coughed. Ahem. Li Yu instantly knew what was coming.

He could practically predict it. And unfortunately, he was right. The next moment, the System’s voice rang out. It sounded completely displeased. Host. You refused to spend more than 1,500 Essence Points on a powerful weapon.

Yet you willingly spent over 3,000 Essence Points on clothes. The System paused. Just clothes. The disappointment was practically dripping from every word. Li Yu immediately frowned. "Hey, Sys. Don’t call this just clothes."

His tone contained genuine outrage. "This isn’t ordinary clothing. This is an outfit inspired by one of the greatest anime protagonists of all time." The System remained unimpressed.

Host, that is not an excuse for making such an incredibly stupid decision. You could have purchased powerful weapons. Artifacts. Combat resources. Yet instead you bought clothing. Why? Li Yu scoffed.

"Sys. You’re simply too short-sighted to understand my plan." The System immediately became suspicious. "What plan?" Li Yu pointed dramatically toward himself. "Image." The System fell silent.

Li Yu continued confidently. "Think about it. If I become powerful while looking poor, then people will only think I’m strong. But if I become powerful while looking rich, mysterious, handsome, and dangerous... then people will think I’m important." Li Yu adjusted his glasses.

"Fear comes from appearance too. Look at me. Would you rather fight a shirtless lunatic in torn pants or this?" Li Yu spread his arms dramatically. The black coat fluttered behind him. King Rayden glanced over. Then glanced away. Pretending not to know him.

The System remained silent for several seconds. Then finally spoke. Host. "Yes?" You Are Crazy.

Li Yu looked offended.

Meanwhile, the System already knew one thing for certain. Host wasn’t making sense. Not even a little.

Li Yu checked his outfit once again. It fit him perfectly, as though it had been personally tailored for him. The fabric itself was said to be incredibly durable... far tougher than ordinary clothing and even superior to most low-grade armor .

On top of that, it possessed a special effect that Li Yu was extremely eager to test out. Unfortunately, now wasn’t the time. "Wahahahahaha!" Li Yu burst into laughter, unable to contain his excitement any longer as he looked at his reflection in the water.

He looked cool. No. He looked unbelievably cool. Cool as hell. Yes, this was exactly how he was supposed to look. Badass. Like a true protagonist. Li Yu turned toward his clone in the distance and gave him a confident thumbs-up.

King Rayden, who had actually been impressed by the original’s fashion sense for once, felt every ounce of awe and admiration disappear the moment he saw Li Yu laughing like a complete madman.

In his mind, he silently shook his head. The original really needs a mental checkup. Not long after that thought crossed his mind, a set of instructions arrived through their connection.

King Rayden listened quietly. His task was simple. Carve out the cores of the two dead apex predators. He didn’t argue. After all, his core personality was obedience. So he simply nodded and got to work.

Less than a minute later, he returned holding two beast cores. Both radiated powerful energy. He handed them over to Li Yu. Li Yu immediately stored them inside his inventory. He planned to consume them later.

The amount of energy contained within those cores was enormous. If they weren’t enough to push him directly into the Tenth Stage, then they would certainly allow him to reach the peak of the Ninth Stage.

His future cultivation path suddenly looked much brighter. "Take those two beasts with us as well," Li Yu said casually. King Rayden raised an eyebrow. "What for?" he asked. Li Yu raised an eyebrow right back.

Even while speaking, he somehow managed to look cool, as if he was deliberately farming aura every second of his existence. "Because their meat is going to be sweet and nutritious."

King Rayden blinked. Then blinked again. "That’s strange. Where I come from, beast meat is among the deadliest poisons imaginable. It must be different here."

He paused thoughtfully. "Well, if that’s the case, perhaps I’ll get to try it as well." Without lifting a finger, King Rayden summoned a crackling whip made entirely of Verdant Heavenly Lightning.

The green lightning coiled through the air like a living serpent before wrapping itself around the corpses of both apex beasts. The massive bodies were effortlessly lifted into the air.

They hovered behind him as though they weighed nothing at all. Li Yu glanced briefly at the scene. His face flashed with envy for a split second before he quickly regained his composure. He had to maintain his aura-farming moment.

A protagonist must always look cool. "Come, Rayden One. We have a beautiful, calm, peaceful, and amazingly thrilling journey ahead of us." Li Yu smiled confidently as he started walking forward, both hands tucked into his pockets.

King Rayden frowned slightly. For some reason, he suddenly felt nervous. Very nervous. Why? He wasn’t sure. But hearing the original describe something as beautiful, peaceful, and amazingly thrilling somehow filled him with a terrible sense of foreboding.

A chill ran down his spine. Still, despite the bad feeling growing in his heart, he had little choice. He was stuck with the original now. Whatever lay ahead, they would face it together. King Rayden took a step forward.

Behind him, the corpses of the two former apex predators... the King Cobra and the Saber Panther... hung limply from the crackling green lightning as they trailed behind the duo. The strange pair continued walking into the distance.

What neither of them knew... Was that their journey was only just beginning. And the path awaiting them would be far more dangerous, far more chaotic, and far more absurd than either the psycho original or the calm kingly clone could have ever predicted.