Yue Yang withdrew his hand and broke off communication with the divine sense.
He turned around to look at Ren Tiange and the others.
The moment they saw Yue Yang’s crestfallen expression, Ren Tiange’s group burst out laughing. Watching Yue Yang get knocked down a peg was — while they weren’t exactly enemies — undeniably satisfying in a way that defied description. Each of them was privately delighting in it: you freak of a newcomer, you’ve finally hit a wall at the seventh gate’s Human Valley, haven’t you?
Ghost King Phantom looked skyward at a forty-five degree angle of superiority and hummed smugly, “It really pays to have connections. Things go so much more smoothly.”
His reincarnation card showed eight hundred Heaven Crystals to start — clearly a combination of having powerful backers and pawning some treasures. He might not be cast as life’s main character, but it was still vastly better than Hauge’s fate as a penniless beggar. He’d have at least a comfortable lifestyle to look forward to. No wonder he was so smug.
Skeleton King Golden Bones wore a similarly self-satisfied smirk, indicating his own connections were in order.
Flayer King Blood Shave held out his fate card directly for comparison. After Ghost King Phantom, he had the largest entry fund, coming in at seven hundred and fifty Heaven Crystals.
Ren Tiange was third at six hundred and eighty, followed by Blood Shave and the Silver-Eyed Great Sage at six hundred each.
Blue Demon came in at five hundred, which genuinely surprised everyone.
All of them with backers, all of them now looking down at Yue Yang with expressions of superiority, finally venting the humiliation of a hundred days of spectating in Demon Valley while things went sideways for everyone.
Everyone except the pitiful Hauge, that is. Hauge had pawned everything he had and still only managed a measly “two hundred and fifty.” This woeful number left him tearing his hair out over the reincarnation selection screen — because if he didn’t want to enjoy the free benefits of life as a complete romantic void, he had to keep spending crystals he didn’t have. And that was before the catastrophe of the random gender assignment going spectacularly wrong by giving him “female,” forcing him to spend a hundred precious crystals to re-specify as male.
Two hundred and fifty crystals. Outside of being a beggar, what else could you do with that?
There was very good reason Hauge had been weeping so pitifully.
Even the Silver-Eyed Great Sage couldn’t resist a little prodding: “So — you don’t have a single acquaintance in Human Valley? Having good social connections gets you at least three hundred crystals as a prepayment advance.”
Yue Yang shook his head.
If he had friends or family inside Human Valley already, he wouldn’t be standing around chatting with this lot — he’d have gone straight in to find someone to leech off.
Ren Tiange, seeing Yue Yang’s expression, hastened to offer consolation. “It’s all right — you have strength and a sharp mind. Starting from more humble origins is just a minor obstacle!”
Was that supposed to be comforting? That was pouring salt directly into an open wound. This wasn’t some revolutionary era where peasant origins were a badge of pride — this was a world that mocked poverty and not much else. No money, might as well drop dead. Yue Yang hadn’t even reacted yet before Hauge — equally bereft of connections, divine artifacts to pawn, or anyone watching his back — heard those words and promptly burst into fresh, streaming tears.
He swore to himself that for the rest of his days, he would be at war with every rich, well-connected, good-looking person on principle. Was it really necessary for the reincarnation system to put nepotism and money-worship so blatantly front and center?
Those without backing really were in a class of suffering all their own.
Still, he found some small comfort in noticing that Yue Yang appeared to be in the same boat — possibly in an even worse one than his. That helped.
Otherwise he’d just end himself right here.
“If you don’t want to pawn a divine artifact, a Sacred-tier treasure works too — you can get a hundred crystals for one of those.” Ren Tiange had no desire to make an enemy of Yue Yang and hurried to offer practical suggestions.
“Your personal achievements from the first six gates count for something. Gates four through six are where individual achievement scores are weighted. Produce proof of some of what you accomplished there — you should be able to get a decent advance on those merits.” The Silver-Eyed Great Sage offered another workable option.
“Good to know.” Yue Yang perked up. That was actually possible?
His gains in Desire Valley and Beast Valley had been quite solid, and his clear times were fast. In Demon Valley he’d outright taken first place — the personal achievement scores from that alone should be worth a substantial advance.
His Calamity God-Force and chaos energy were off the table — he wasn’t that desperate yet.
But the Angel Emblem, on the other hand, didn’t seem to be doing anything in particular at the moment.
Maybe it could be pawned for some pocket change.
It was just a pledge anyway, not a permanent sale. Once he earned enough crystals he could redeem it.
Hauge had a sinking feeling. If Yue Yang somehow climbed out of the poor-man’s bracket, that would leave Hauge alone as the solitary down-and-out wretch in the group.
He desperately wanted Yue Yang to land in the same impoverished existence as him, so they could cry together through life’s various disasters, struggle together as fellow members of the life-losers’ camp, and resent together all those rich, handsome, well-connected men who burned bright and burned out — at least there’d be some company in that, and if everyone was going in together, being the only one having a tragic time was far worse than sharing it.
“Don’t bother dreaming. You think he’s actually in your situation? What a joke.” Flayer King Blood Shave sneered. Whatever else you might say about that young man, he had several divine artifacts on him — pawning just one would net him a thousand crystals. Since when did someone like that belong in the “two hundred and fifty” bracket?
Broke?
Not even close.
Hauge suddenly remembered with a belated cold sweat the divine artifacts and treasures Yue Yang had produced during the hundred-day epic battle.
He wanted to say: don’t exchange divine artifacts for entry advantages — paying your way to a better life is shameful.
Like free-to-play gamers resenting the ones who just spend real money.
But the words died in his throat before they could come out.
It was the other man’s things. The other man’s business.
And if he wanted to exchange them, there wasn’t a thing Hauge could say about it.
Yue Yang made a reassuring gesture in his direction, indicating he absolutely wouldn’t casually put divine artifacts on the line — the moment one left his hands, if it didn’t come back, the loss would be irreparable. He wasn’t about to gamble with his divine artifacts. Those, he was keeping.
The Angel Emblem from Demon Valley, though, was a different matter.
He produced the Angel Emblem and pressed it to the statue’s base to see whether it had any pledgeable value.
The moment it made contact.
Strange light blazed outward.
The God of Wealth’s divine sense reacted intensely. The information that came back read: this item has been blessed by ancient divine power from the sixth gate’s Demon Valley, and additionally carries the personal achievement of first-place ranking. Combined assessed value for pledge purposes: two thousand Heaven Crystals.
At this figure, everyone’s jaws hit the floor simultaneously.
This young man’s luck was completely unreasonable.
Not only had the Angel Emblem transformed into a divine artifact, it also carried a first-place personal achievement bonus worth an extra thousand crystals on top.
No wonder Ji Wuri had schemed and plotted and exhausted every resource to claim that top spot.
Ren Tiange and Ghost King Phantom wanted to hold their heads and weep. Every one of them had dominated Demon Valley for thousands of years — their own tokens of proof had never yielded more than a hundred crystals. This young man had been there a hundred days, spent a hundred of those days in actual combat, and somehow managed first place, netting a thousand crystals of personal achievement bonus. How were they supposed to go on living?
Was this young man secretly the God of Fortune’s illegitimate child?
Yue Yang didn’t make the pledge. The moment he saw the Angel Emblem had become a special divine artifact, he immediately put it away. You couldn’t be serious — something this valuable, exchanged for money?
There were also a thousand crystals available from the personal achievement exchange, but Yue Yang wasn’t certain whether redeeming it would damage the divine artifact in some way. If the will of the ancient deity who had blessed Ika with divine power interfered — the way the Prison Emperor’s will had defaulted to recognizing Princess Qianqian as the blood heir — or if something else unexpected happened, the loss might far outweigh the gain. So the Angel Emblem absolutely could not be pledged or redeemed. Those two thousand crystals could go rot. He’d rather be broke.
When you had divine artifacts in hand — even if you were broke — you didn’t panic.
“HAHAHAHA—” Hauge practically exploded with delight at this. He came very close to spreading his arms wide and pulling Yue Yang into a bear hug, and if Yue Yang hadn’t minded, Hauge might have genuinely proposed being best friends for life. Hauge pumped his fist in the air: “Brother! Welcome to the self-reliance club! We can hold our heads high and say we are men of principle — we do not bow to money!”
“Men of principle who are broke.” Flayer King Blood Shave provided the icy addendum, putting deliberate heavy stress on the word “broke.”
“Idiot.” Ghost King Phantom gave up on Hauge entirely. Did the man really think Yue Yang only had one Angel Emblem? Someone carrying multiple divine artifacts was going to be broke?
“This is a token from the Prison Emperor Zhanfeng — he’s a friend of mine, and he named me as his heir. Am I eligible to inherit whatever he left behind in Human Valley?” Yue Yang smiled faintly. Being the Sky Tower’s new-generation Prison Emperor wasn’t just a title — it came with occasional practical benefits, such as legitimately inheriting everything Prison Emperor Zhanfeng had left behind.
Light blazed from the base of the statue, recognizing Yue Yang’s request.
But because the relationship was classified as friendship rather than family, Yue Yang could only inherit half of Prison Emperor Zhanfeng’s estate — which stood at one thousand eight hundred Heaven Crystals in Human Valley.
Hauge’s face crumpled immediately. Even at just half, Yue Yang now had nine hundred crystals — a hundred more than Ghost King Phantom at the top of their group. The hope of Yue Yang joining the broke man’s club was completely extinguished.
Right. Someone like that was never going to be held back by a poverty-stricken fate.
Ghost King Phantom, Skeleton King Golden Bones, and Flayer King Blood Shave were all so jealous they could barely see straight.
Could this young man possibly be any luckier?
A dead friend had left behind one thousand eight hundred crystals in Human Valley, and specifically named him as inheritor? If this young man wasn’t the God of Destiny’s illegitimate child, nobody would believe it.
Ren Tiange and the Silver-Eyed Great Sage exchanged a glance of barely concealed shock.
This young man actually had a friend who’d cleared Human Valley? And left behind over eighteen hundred crystals as surplus after clearing it? This “Prison Emperor Zhanfeng” was no ordinary figure. If they hadn’t spent thousands of years deep in Demon Valley, Ren Tiange and the others might have had the chance to meet the man who had single-handedly stood against the Central Divine Hall and the combined armies of the Heavenly Realm. As it was, the matter of timing meant they’d missed him entirely.
The Silver-Eyed Great Sage’s brow furrowed slightly.
His extraordinary memory surfaced a recollection: Zhanfeng had originally ranked eighth on Demon Valley’s achievement board — pushed down to ninth only when Ji Wuri arrived.
This Zhanfeng… was actually a friend of this newcomer?
No wonder this young man was such a freak.
“This is a token from the Conquest Queen — she’s my teacher. Am I eligible to inherit whatever wealth she left behind in Human Valley?” Yue Yang produced the Three Realms Compass and made his second inquiry.
“The Conquest Queen?” Ren Tiange’s group might have been excused for not knowing Prison Emperor Zhanfeng — but there wasn’t one among them who didn’t know Empress Vivienne, the Conquest Queen. She was the queen who had shaken the entire Heavenly Realm to its core, sweeping all before her wherever she went, and not a single warrior in the Heavenly Realm had heard her name without feeling a chill down their spine. And this powerhouse of powerhouses was this young man’s teacher?
The God of Wealth’s divine sense concerned itself only with relationships, not with identities.
The answer given was that inheritance was fully permitted — but only two-thirds, since a teacher-student relationship was not the closest of bonds.
Empress Vivienne held the fastest completion record for Human Valley — half a year. Because she’d raced through to clear it as quickly as possible, she hadn’t accumulated much in the way of assets. But when the figure was announced, even Hauge the hopeless pauper nearly tumbled over backward. Because the wealth Empress Vivienne had left behind after clearing Human Valley was six thousand Heaven Crystals — and even at two-thirds, Yue Yang stood to inherit four thousand of them.
“Having a good teacher really does matter more than anything,” Hauge said with bitter regret, lamenting that he’d never sought out a proper mentor when he’d had the chance. A good teacher could genuinely save you half a lifetime of struggle.
“I genuinely want to commit robbery right now.” Flayer King Blood Shave’s dissatisfaction had reached its absolute limit. If this had been anyone other than Yue Yang, he’d have already made his move.
“Nothing to be done — the man has a phenomenal teacher.” Ren Tiange managed a pained smile. There was simply no comparison.
“If the Conquest Queen is his teacher…” The Silver-Eyed Great Sage began turning something over in his mind, brow creasing into a thoughtful furrow.
“And this is my mother’s token — as her son, am I eligible to inherit whatever she left in Human Valley?” Though he already had more than enough crystals, Yue Yang decided to try one more, out of pure curiosity — wondering whether Fourth Sister’s elder sister had ever been here, whether she’d cleared Human Valley. He reached out with a thought, produced the ink-jade necklace, and pressed it gently against the base of the statue.
Ten thousand rays of light blazed outward — a brilliance so magnificent and overwhelming it put every previous divine artifact and token to shame by a factor of a thousand.
By the time Yue Yang wanted to pull the necklace back and not follow through, it was already too late.
The divine sense responded immediately: the reincarnator’s claim is confirmed. Due to the direct bloodline relationship, you will receive the full inheritance of nineteen thousand eight hundred and seventy-six Heaven Crystals, plus one castle, two surrounding townships under its jurisdiction, one timber estate, one mine, five hundred commoners, three thousand slaves…
Not just the watching Ren Tiange and the others — even Yue Yang himself was struck completely speechless.
It was actually real?
And the amount — over nineteen thousand, approaching twenty thousand crystals, plus a castle, townships, and slaves?
Heavens above. Who in the world was Fourth Sister’s elder sister? Empress Vivienne’s six thousand crystals had seemed like the pinnacle of wealth, the kind of fortune that swept all competition aside — and this made it look like pocket change.
While Yue Yang’s mind was still reeling, Hauge suddenly launched himself forward, throwing his arms around Yue Yang’s right leg and clinging to it with tears streaming freely down his face. “Your Highness, when I enter the valley, just let me be your slave — following you around has to be better than begging in the streets. Out of respect for the fact that I spectated your hundred-day battle, I’m begging you, please, please take me in as a dependent!”
(End of Chapter)