Chapter Three: The Ascension System

Time slipped back to the moment when Lin Fan was thrown into the river of molten lava. Despairing and convinced of his imminent death, he suddenly heard a mechanical voice echo within his mind.

“Ding! Massive energy detected!”

“Ding! Initiating Evolution System absorption!”

“Absorption at one percent... twenty-one percent...!”

“Ding! Absorption complete. Ascension System fully activated!”

“Ding! Host’s memory incomplete. Restoring...!”

A succession of voices left Lin Fan utterly bewildered. What was this? Why were these inexplicable pronouncements resounding in his head?

Before he could react, it was as if countless things were abruptly stuffed into his mind. An explosion of pain slammed into him, fierce enough to make him wish for oblivion.

He had no idea how much time had passed before the agony gradually faded. Suddenly, memories came flooding back.

His name was Lin Fan, a True God-level powerhouse of the Galactic Universe, and also a national guardian on Earth. When a celestial treasure descended, he fought bloodily on all fronts and ultimately claimed it.

Yet before he could rejoice, Qin Long—whom he regarded as a sworn brother—seized his family and, before his very eyes, crushed them one by one, forcing him to cripple his own cultivation and hand over the treasure.

With his eyes torn in grief and rage, powerless to resist, Lin Fan could only shed tears of blood as he destroyed his cultivation and surrendered the treasure.

But Qin Long did not spare him. In front of him, Qin Long slaughtered all his kin, including Lin Fan himself, condemning him to die with a heart full of hatred.

But he did not truly die. When he first acquired the treasure, its true essence had already fused with his soul. What he handed to Qin Long was merely a protective shell. This, at the time, he did not know.

When Qin Long killed him, the treasure carried his soul through the fabric of space to this world, granting him a new life. But the immense energy expended plunged the treasure into slumber, sealing away his memories until he had grown to this stage.

It was only when those two guards threw him into the river of lava that the treasure, sensing the immense energy, began to absorb and recover on its own, fully awakening and restoring his memories. Now, he knew the treasure’s name: the Ascension System, and its purpose!

Humankind, once the spirit of all beings, was now frail in the upper realm, struggling to survive on the brink of extinction.

Under normal cultivation, only billions could ascend to the upper realm each day—but every day, trillions perished there.

If this continued, in not so many eons, humanity in the upper realm would be wiped out. Once that happened, those in the lower realms, deprived of protection, would be slaughtered as well—utter annihilation.

To ensure humanity’s prosperity, countless sages and mighty beings combined their wisdom and used the world’s primal crystals and advanced technology to create the Ascension System, spreading it across the lower realm, hoping that a mass ascension would bolster the upper realm’s numbers.

Countless seeds of the Ascension System had been scattered into the lower realm from above, but only Lin Fan’s system escaped destruction at the hands of their enemies.

The Ascension System possessed many functions, but due to Lin Fan’s current strength, only the Shop was available—and to shop, one needed a certain amount of negative emotion points.

Why negative emotions? Because the system contained a passageway: when a person who harbored negative feelings toward the host died, their soul would be forcibly drawn into the upper realm’s Ascension Pool for resurrection, increasing humanity’s numbers above.

Thus, anyone who wished to cultivate using the Ascension System had to provoke negative emotions in others. After these people died, they would be transported to the upper realm and reborn.

In this way, as one host cultivated and ultimately ascended, he would bring a multitude of souls into the upper realm.

With trillions of systems cast into the lower realm, and trillions of hosts, how many new humans would that bring to the upper world?

The number was unimaginable.

Yet the upper realm never foresaw that their foes would destroy almost all Ascension Systems, leaving only Lin Fan’s.

Of course, not everyone transported through negative emotion points could be reborn. It depended on the strength of their feelings; the greater the hatred, the stronger the obsession, and the easier it was to draw their soul across. If their negative emotions were scant, their spirit would likely be annihilated in transit, never reaching the upper world.

“What a ruthless system,” Lin Fan thought. “If you want to cultivate quickly, you must use the system. But to use it, you need negative emotion points. That means making enemies or killing, forcing others to hate you. You gain strength faster, but your foes multiply, trapping you in a cycle of endless conflict.

“The host is driven to grow, whether he wishes to or not—even if he only wanted to be a humble cultivator, he’d be forced to the summit of power and ascend.

“But even then, there’s no respite. Old enemies from below, resurrected above, must be faced again. Either the host dies, or he becomes an unrivaled figure, even in the upper realm.”

Lin Fan exhaled slowly. At last, he understood the upper realm’s plan. Those who died harboring negative feelings toward the host increased the upper realm’s population, while the host himself was a seed cultivated for greatness.

When he finally ascended, the Ascension System would be useless—but his enemies would remain, countless people longing for his death, compelling him to fight for his life.

Thus, he would either become a supreme existence, unrivaled and unchallenged, or be swallowed by the tide of foes, leaving not a trace behind.

Yet, even knowing this, Lin Fan believed that anyone granted the Ascension System would use it. All cultivators yearned to stand atop the world, to shatter the void and ascend to new realms, leaving behind countless legends.

Even for ordinary people—who among them would not wish for immortality? As long as the Ascension System existed, it would be used, and once used, it would become indispensable.

“But what does that matter to me? I certainly will use it!” Lin Fan smiled faintly, a fierce gleam of murderous intent erupting in his eyes. He would have his revenge, and the Ascension System was the key.

He had once been a True God-level powerhouse, and so had Qin Long. If he wanted vengeance, he had to recover his strength as quickly as possible.

If he relied solely on his old cultivation methods, he could indeed recover quickly—but even so, without tens of thousands of years, it would be impossible. That’s assuming nothing went wrong and every opportunity presented itself.

But the world’s laws were different now. Much might be familiar, but many things had changed. The time required for each stage of cultivation would be greatly prolonged.

Even if he overcame every obstacle and reached his old level in ten thousand years, did he think Qin Long would remain at the same stage, waiting for him?

Impossible.

Back then, he and Qin Long were evenly matched, both True God-level, both advancing together through the Galactic Universe. Countless battles had ended in stalemate. Qin Long’s talent was not inferior to his own. Lin Fan could not believe that upon regaining his strength, Qin Long would not have progressed further still.

He could not wait. His resentment soared higher than the heavens, his hatred deeper than the sea. He wished for nothing more than to slice Qin Long apart with thirty-six thousand blades, to drag out his soul and roast it over the most vicious flames.

He could not wait.

Glancing at the now-dried river of lava, Lin Fan realized he must be wedged in a crevice beneath its bed. But he was in no hurry to leave. Instead, he summoned the system interface.

In his mind, the main screen of the Ascension System appeared, presenting two options below: Shop and Earnings Record.

Lin Fan selected the Shop. Only one item was lit—the rest were greyed out and unreadable.

Body-Tempering Fruit, price: 1000.

Below the shop was the line: Balance: 573.

“So these must be negative emotion points. But where did these 573 come from?”

Lin Fan was puzzled. As he wondered, he saw the number jump to 598.

“That’s right, I should check the Earnings Record!”

His eyes brightened. He remembered the other option and quickly opened it, scanning the list of detailed entries.

Negative emotions from Liang Ming: +178, +35, +26, +9, +8, +17.

Negative emotions from Liang Fei: +126, +28, +36, +19, +6, +45.

“These must be the two guards of Madam Liang who threw me into the lava. Knowing they’ll die upon returning, they dare not blame her, so they hate me instead?”

“How interesting. It seems negative emotions are quite easy to earn!”

A cold, chilling smile curled the corners of Lin Fan’s mouth, exuding a bone-deep chill.