MTL - Ci Jinzhi - Chapter 148 illusion

“World conquest was never part of the plan.”Yu Chen was just an ordinary programmer, slaving away at his desk, fixing bugs for a popular kingdom-building game.His life was a cycle of endless work, sleepless nights, and little appreciation. One fateful night, while struggling to fix a game-breaking bug that granted players an absurd amount of upgrade points, his exhausted heart gave out.But death wasn't the end for Yu Chen. He awoke in a world strangly familiar... he had transmigrated into the very game he had been working on, now inhabiting the body of a notorious tyrant emperor, Arkanos Bloodbane, whose empire was on the brink of destruction.Surrounded by enemies, with rebellions simmering within and war on every front, Yu Chen, now Arkanos, quickly realizes the gravity of his situation.But to his shock, he discovers that he still has access to the game's system interface—complete with the million upgrade points from the bug he had tried to fix!With his knowledge of game mechanics, strategic mind, and a wealth of upgrade points, Arkanos sets out to turn the crumbling empire into an unstoppable force. He begins by summoning legendary heroes, deploying advanced technologies never before seen in this world, and revolutionizing his military and infrastructure.As he pushes his empire to greatness, Arkanos must navigate the treacherous politics of the imperial court, fend off treacherous factions, and outmaneuver the rival nations that seek to destroy him. But with each victory, he realizes that this world is not just a game—it's his new reality. The stakes are higher, the dangers more real, and the consequences of failure more dire than ever.[Reminder, contented intended for mature audiences.]

In the territory of Zhao State, there are Liuxuanmen of the martial arts sect of Jianghu.

Su Yu became a handyman disciple who was just getting started.

Having obtained the sign-in system, he signs in at different places every day, and there will be various rewards.

Sign in at the center of the training ground and get the reward [Jiuyang Zhenjing]!

Sign in on the cliff near the residence of the handyman disciple and get the reward [Millennium Snow Lotus]!

Sign in in front of the sect library and get the reward [Lingbo Weibu]!

…

In this way, it was not until decades later that Su Yu discovered that he seemed to have surpassed the peak of martial arts and reached the level of cultivating immortals before he knew it…

Ninety-eight years later, a martial arts devil who was born out of nowhere made waves in the territory of Zhao, and no one in the martial arts world was his opponent.

Until this day, the martial arts devil killed Liuxuanmen and met Su Yu who was sitting outside the library, basking in the sun on a rocking chair…

- Description from novelbuddy

I thought I had seen bad endings before—but nothing prepared me for the garbage conclusion of The Hero’s Path.Years of investment, countless struggles, and for what? The protagonist failed. The villain won. Everyone else? Dead. Furious, I sent a message to the author, only to get a chilling response:[Do you think you could do better?]Before I could even blink, my phone exploded in a blinding light, and the next thing I knew—I was waking up in a completely different body.Now, I’m Merlin Everhart, a fourteen-year-old with a 12-star talent, the kind of gift only the strongest should have.But here’s the problem: I have no idea who I am supposed to be.With nothing but a system and a first-day-of-school alarm ringing in my ears, I’m thrown into the world of The Hero’s Path.Am I just another side character in a world that already ended once?…Either way, I refuse to let this story beat me too.

The tens of thousands of universes have merged. The disintegration of spiritual force led to the momentous collapse of the great Cultivation World, a mighty era that had endured through millions of years of history. In the wake of the large-scale invasion of the Wilderness, the Avalon of Five Elements has become the practitioners’ last stand.