Chapter 1
Liu Ming opened his eyes and found himself lying in a stone chamber.
The chamber was cold and damp, its walls covered in moss. A few thick bars enclosed the entrance. Judging by the looks of it... this was a prison cell.
He abruptly sat up, only to feel a sharp pain in the back of his head.
“The last one’s awake.” A strangely clear voice came from nearby.
Liu Ming turned to look and saw a thin man leaning against the wall, a strange smile on his face.
“Where is this?” he asked instinctively.
“Congratulations.” The man didn’t answer his question. Instead, he suddenly grinned. “Miss Su has taken a liking to you, just like the rest of us.”
Liu Ming was thoroughly confused.
Miss Su had taken a liking to him? What did that mean?
Creak—
The stone chamber door suddenly swung open, and several masked maids walked in.
“Everyone up! Miss Su wants to see you.” The maid at the front wore a black mask and barked at everyone in the chamber.
One of the maids roughly hauled Liu Ming to his feet. He was astonished to find that he couldn’t resist the seemingly delicate woman’s strength.
And just like that, he was marched out of the stone chamber and taken with the other men from the cells into a spacious hall.
A red carpet covered the center of the hall. The air was heavy with a sweet, cloying fragrance. On a raised platform, a girl in red lounged lazily on a couch.
The girl was breathtakingly beautiful, her skin as white as snow. So much of it was bare that a single glance set a man’s blood racing and made him long to kiss her.
When she saw them enter, she swept her gaze over them indifferently.
“Not bad, not bad.” The girl laughed in a voice so alluring it seemed to seep into their very bones. “You’re all men I’ve chosen. If you perform well, embarking on the path of cultivation—and even attaining the Dao and becoming immortals—won’t be a dream.”
She waved a hand.
“Each of you, take a pill.”
The maids came over with trays, each holding a black pill.
Liu Ming hesitated, still trying to figure out what Miss Su meant by cultivation.
But the maid in front of him immediately pinched his jaw and forced the pill into his mouth.
The pill melted as soon as it entered his mouth, and a wave of heat slid down his throat into his abdomen.
He was still completely powerless to resist.
“This ‘Yang-Attracting Pill’ can draw out your potential.” Su Meier rose and slowly descended from the platform. “The better your foundation, the longer it takes to draw it out, and the more potent the yang energy it releases.”
She walked up to a man and lightly ran her fingers over his chest. Parting her red lips, she said, “I’ll give each of you a fragment of the Profound Female Art. Whoever can go three days without releasing their yang energy won’t just survive—I will cultivate with him.”
Liu Ming felt a light, tattered piece of paper being stuffed into his clothes. When he looked up, he realized it was another maid’s doing.
He hadn’t even seen when she’d taken the paper out. He’d gained a much deeper understanding of the difference in strength between them...
“Ah!”
A man in the hall suddenly let out a scream. His skin began turning red, and white mist rose all around him.
Su Meier narrowed her eyes. “It activated so quickly? Trash!”
She blurred and appeared in front of the man in an instant, reaching out to grab his forehead.
The man instantly went rigid, his eyes staring blankly ahead. His body withered at a visible pace, until he was nothing more than a dried corpse wrapped in skin and bones.
“His yang energy is too weak. How boring.” Su Meier licked her lips and casually tossed the corpse aside. “Lock up the others and wait for the medicine to take effect.”
Liu Ming was marched back to the cell.
He sat against the wall, trying to steady his breathing and hoping his yang energy wouldn’t be drawn out too soon.
He now understood exactly what it meant for Miss Su to have taken a liking to him.
Cultivation? She was going to eat them!
Only those who lasted three days had any hope of surviving, but no one could be sure they could endure that long.
Maybe escaping was their only hope.
“We’re all going to die.” The thin man suddenly sneered. “I heard only one in ten men can last three days. The rest get sucked dry.”
“Shut up!” a burly man roared. “I’m not going to sit here and wait to die!”
The burly man rushed at the cell door and shook the iron bars with all his might.
But no matter how hard he shook them, the bars didn’t budge. Not even a single person came to check on them.
It seemed the women were certain they couldn’t escape.
Liu Ming sat in the corner, his brow furrowed.
He was still thinking.
What could he do to escape?
He knew nothing about this place. Even if he got out of this cell, where could he go?
What if the outside was even more dangerous?
[Host’s intent detected. The Myriad Forms Body System is now activated.]
A mechanical voice suddenly rang out in Liu Ming’s mind.
[This system can help the Host summon clones.]
[When a clone dies, it can generate a talent based on its achievements in life.]
Liu Ming’s eyes widened slightly, and his heart began pounding uncontrollably.
A system? I have a system too?
At last, he had something to rely on to survive here!
Liu Ming’s heart leaped with joy. System, give me—
“What are you smiling about?!”
A thunderous boom exploded beside Liu Ming’s ear.
He looked up and saw that the burly man had somehow appeared right in front of him. His hulking frame loomed like a small mountain.
“You think I’m funny?” the burly man snorted, reaching out a large hand to grab Liu Ming. “Hmph. I can’t get out, but you think you can? Don’t worry. You’ll die before I do.”
Liu Ming looked at the hand drawing closer, his expression unchanged.
Just as the two were about to make contact, someone suddenly spoke.
“I’ll go out and take a look.” The thin man sighed. “If I get the chance, I’ll come back and get you out.”
“How are you going to get out?” The burly man turned around and asked, puzzled.
The thin man gave him a mysterious smile. His bones suddenly made a piercing crackling sound, and his body shrank until he was just small enough to squeeze through the bars.
There was indeed no one guarding the outside of the cell. He looked around, quickly picked a direction, and tiptoed away.
Then, nothing.
As the seconds passed, the cell fell silent once more, heavy with tension.
The burly man paced a couple of steps in the cramped space, then couldn’t help asking, “What’s taking that guy so long? Did he die out there, or did he really get away?”
Leaning against the cold wall, Liu Ming glanced outside. “Maybe they caught him. Maybe he ran off on his own.”
“Damn it! Is he coming back or not?” The burly man slammed a fist into the wall, but couldn’t even leave a shallow dent. “What are we supposed to do, then?!”
Liu Ming wanted to know the answer too.
But he was much calmer than the burly man.
After all, he still had a system that could summon clones.
If he wanted to find out what had happened to the thin man, he could send a clone to take a look.
Of course, he wasn’t going to tell anyone that he’d summoned the clone himself.