Chapter 100: Chapter 80: Three Calamities and Nine Tribulations, Identity Exposed

Songhai City.

By the Huangpu River, the once murky yellow water had now turned completely black. Beneath it, countless dense shadows writhed and shifted.

Atop a skyscraper dozens of stories high, Immortal Emperor Zhao Li stood before a set of floor-to-ceiling windows, surveying Songhai City, nearly half of which was now flooded.

SWISH! SWISH! SWISH!

A small Bronze Sword danced in the air beside him.

Tonight, he had inherited another 5% of his Cultivation. At this moment, Zhao Li’s Cultivation Realm had reached the Nascent Soul Stage. Seeing that he would inherit 50% of his Cultivation tomorrow, Zhao Li guessed that after the following night, his Cultivation would reach the Integration Stage at the very least.

SWISH!

After acclimating to the new power in his body, Zhao Li used his Divine Sense to control the antique Bronze Sword he’d found at home, sending it plunging directly into the black river water at the edge of his vision.

ROAR!

The river water churned, and a pool of blood quickly spread to the surface. Then, at the location where the blood had surfaced, shadows stirred, and countless enormous black dorsal fins broke through the churning water. 𝕗𝐫𝐞𝕖𝕨𝐞𝗯𝚗𝕠𝘃𝐞𝚕.𝐜𝗼𝚖

SWISH!

Zhao Li recalled the Flying Sword, and it returned to his side.

Because he had only inherited his Cultivation—and not his Magic, Magical Treasures, or other abilities—Zhao Li currently possessed only raw Magical Power. His offensive options were limited. The attack method he had settled on was using his Divine Sense to control the Flying Sword.

As a Nascent Soul Stage cultivator, his Divine Sense could currently cover a 50-kilometer radius with ease. This distance was far less than what he had in the game. Zhao Li guessed that his Combat Power must have been recalibrated.

Still, having inherited only 10% of his total Cultivation, Zhao Li was full of confidence for the future.

His parents had been killed last night. Thanks to the comfort of his many girlfriends, Zhao Li had finally recovered emotionally. However, a deep-seated hatred festered within him. From now on, he vowed to kill every Gluttonous Snake he saw, to flay every one he found.

Three Calamities and Nine Tribulations?

After briefly testing his abilities, Zhao Li turned his attention to the personal status panel that had been updated in version 4.2.

[Name: Zhao Li]

[Health: 10,000 (Three Calamities and Nine Tribulations)]

[Realm: Nascent Soul Stage]

.

.

[Individual Combat Power: 100,000]

[Note: Data conversion is still being improved and optimized...]

After he inherited the second wave of game abilities tonight, version 4.2—whose meaning no one understood—began its update. Looking at the newly updated personal panel, Zhao Li’s brow furrowed. He hadn’t expected that after the update, a [Three Calamities and Nine Tribulations] status would appear next to his health. Although he didn’t know what this meant, that phrase certainly didn’t sound like anything good.

He had already seen online that most people’s health didn’t exceed 15, whereas his own digitized health was 10,000. Zhao Li had been quite happy about this, but the "Three Calamities and Nine Tribulations" after his health greatly dampened his joy.

As he frowned over his condition, Zhao Li muttered about the situation in Songhai City. "A beast tide is about to hit Songhai City too! And it’s coming from the water! Those things are huge!"

Beast tides had already erupted in many places during the day, but those were all on land. Ever since last night, the waters near the coastal Songhai City had been filled with dense, dark shadows. Using his Divine Sense and the Bronze Sword from a moment ago, Zhao Li determined that it was highly probable an oceanic beast tide would erupt in the half-flooded city.

Although his parents were already dead, leaving him with no one to hold him back, Zhao Li could easily leave Songhai City with his Nascent Soul Stage Cultivation. But this city was, after all, the place where he had lived and grown up. Moreover, the families of several of his girlfriends were also here.

The intricate network of rivers around Songhai City had widened significantly as the Earth expanded. It was now incredibly difficult for ordinary people to leave, blocked as they were by the widened rivers teeming with dark shadows. Zhao Li was contemplating what he should do if a beast tide were to erupt.

"Brother Li!!!" one of his girlfriends suddenly cried out, bringing a phone over to him. "Quick, look at this!!! A beast tide erupted in Qing City—an Undead Calamity!"

Not long after receiving his second inheritance of game abilities, Zhao Li saw it—the tide-like Undead Calamity that had erupted in Xia Country’s Qing City.

"Hm?"

"Hm?"

"Hm??"

Just as he was about to feel a pang of regret for Qing City, which was on the verge of being overwhelmed by the monster tide, both Zhao Li and his girlfriend beside him suddenly froze. They saw that in the area where the Undead Calamity had broken out, countless Water Tornadoes and Fire Tornadoes had appeared. After that, under a single pillar of Destructive Light, the entire Undead Calamity was wiped out.

Holy crap!

He never imagined the monster tide could be annihilated in a single move. Because of the dark shadows in the waters around Songhai City, Zhao Li had simulated scenarios of fending off a monster tide. In his simulations, if he were to fight the tide, his only current option was to use his Divine Sense to control the Bronze Sword, piercing back and forth across the battlefield. But with his current Magical Power, he could only control the Flying Sword to continuously sweep the area for three hours at most. After that, his Magical Power would be completely depleted.

Although the Spiritual Qi on Earth was gradually becoming denser as the planet expanded and upgraded, it would still take several hours to recover the Magical Power of a Nascent Soul Stage cultivator. He had simulated it—even at the Nascent Soul Stage, he couldn’t easily fend off a monster tide. But now, seeing the one in Qing City, Zhao Li was stunned.

*Tower Defense of Ten Thousand Realms*? Skyrocketing?

When he saw people on the livestream speculating that this might be an ability from the game *Tower Defense of Ten Thousand Realms*, Zhao Li was stunned once again. He had played *Tower Defense of Ten Thousand Realms* too! He had even spent a ton of money on it, though he just couldn’t compare to that whale, "Skyrocketing."

If this really is an ability inherited from *Tower Defense of Ten Thousand Realms*... then...

Comparing those invincible Fire Tornadoes and the Destructive Light to the small Bronze Sword floating beside him, Zhao Li suddenly felt a pang in his chest for some reason. It hurt a lot.

"Brother Li!! Look!!!" Before the heartache could even subside, the girlfriend next to him cried out in alarm again.

What the hell!

Looking at the phone his girlfriend immediately handed him, Zhao Li’s anger flared. A Gluttonous Snake! A massive, fully-grown one, and according to the bullet comments, it was a Gluttonous Snake that had already devoured an entire city. It was being broadcast live.

HUFF. HUFF. HUFF.

Facing the massive Gluttonous Snake, Zhao Li grew agitated. He thought of his parents, who had been devoured by one.

"Ah!!!!"

But before Zhao Li could calm himself, his girlfriend suddenly shrieked again. Then, Zhao Li saw a gigantic Heavy Sword, hundreds of meters long, descend from the sky and viciously smash down on the Gluttonous Snake’s head. The swaggering, seemingly invincible monster was instantly reduced to smithereens.

I...

He turned his head, glancing from the enormous Heavy Sword in the video to the arm’s-length sword beside him. The intense pain in Zhao Li’s chest returned.

Once his breathing steadied, thanks to several of his girlfriends placing their delicate hands on his chest to calm him, Zhao Li immediately shouted, "Qing City!! That’s Qing City!!! That’s definitely Skyrocketing!!! It has to be him!!"

Although there were all sorts of guesses in the livestream chat about the big shot in Qing City, with some even speculating it might be the "Immortal Emperor," and the members of the "Immortal Court" QQ group he’d founded were exploding with speculation and asking if it was him, Zhao Li, as the Immortal Emperor himself, knew it wasn’t. But based on his sixth sense, he was certain it was Skyrocketing.

"Let’s go!" he declared. "We’re joining the Tourism Management Office! The Immortal Court is suspending recruitment! At least until I inherit the second and third sets of Magical Treasures and Magic, we’re not talking about the Immortal Court!"

Spurred by Skyrocketing’s actions in Qing City, Zhao Li resolved to join Songhai City’s Tourism Management Office. Of course, this was only a temporary measure. He had previously received an invitation from them but hadn’t joined. However, many of his rich, second-generation friends had. Now, having witnessed the world-destroying power of the expert in Qing City, Zhao Li wanted to join the Tourism Management Office to get some intel.

Besides this person’s immense power, there was another, more important reason why Zhao Li wanted to gather information on them: they had easily annihilated the Gluttonous Snake. And Zhao Li had long since come to see the Gluttonous Snake as his lifelong enemy. Anyone capable of killing a Gluttonous Snake was someone Zhao Li was willing to befriend.

***

What? Sun Yu? Brother Kaipan?

Because he had Immortal Emperor-level game abilities to inherit, and because many of his rich, second-generation friends were in the Songhai City Tourism Management Office, Zhao Li managed to obtain the organization’s information regarding the speculated identity of "Skyrocketing" after making a few promises. He even saw a note saying that Tower Masters have very low health.

***

"Director, why are we releasing the information on Brother Kaipan?"

In the main conference room of the Divine Capital Tourism Management Office, only two people remained. One of them asked the Director.

"Because even if we didn’t, we couldn’t keep it a secret!" the Director slowly replied. "The chaotic era is here! With all networks losing their monitoring, the moment this information was calculated, it became impossible to keep secret! It’s also good to let others probe the depths of this Brother Kaipan for us! Besides, if by some chance Brother Kaipan can’t handle it, it gives us the perfect opportunity to play the ’hero saving the damsel’ and win him over to our side..."

"The chaotic era is here!" the Director said, his voice growing quieter as he fiddled with a small, mahjong-tile-like cube in his hand. "The team is getting hard to lead!"

"Director," the head of the information department said quickly, seeing his superior’s lack of enthusiasm, "several unregistered alliances privately established by players have come to register with us! Just now, the Magic Game Alliance, the Gunpowder Game Alliance, and the Martial Hero Game Alliance all submitted their registration information. Several of the more arrogant player-founded alliances have also lowered their profiles, and some have gone completely silent!"

"Why?" the Director asked faintly, looking at the fragment of the Xia Country’s National Treasure Divine Artifact in his hand, of which he had inherited 10%.

"Because of the three attacks in Qing City just now! Because of the information we released, everyone online now accepts that those three powerful attacks came from Defense Towers, and specifically from the game *Tower Defense of Ten Thousand Realms*. And our Divine Capital Tourism Management Office has Taiyi Zhenren, the number two player on the *Tower Defense of Ten Thousand Realms* Combat Power rankings! That’s why these organizations, which were getting quite audacious, have all quieted down. The number two player on the rankings instantly intimidated all those petty upstarts! Director, your decision to promote Huang Yi to First Deputy Director showed incredible foresight!" the department head reported quickly, not forgetting to kiss up a little.

"Very good," the Director said with a wave of his hand. "Then continue."

He hadn’t expected that the three attacks in Qing City would make the player organizations so obedient. Clearly, these people wouldn’t dare cause any more trouble until they figured out Huang Yi’s true strength. This had inadvertently cleared many obstacles for the Tourism Management Office.