Within a Hollow Heart - Chapter 105: Volume 2, : "Into the Heart of Darkness"

After years of exile, Marcus is coming back home. A powerful mage with few equals, Marcus lives in a world full of monsters and powerful adepts, many of which have bad histories with him. But he has not come back to pursue vengeance or start a fight. All Marcus wants to do is reconnect with old friends, build himself a house, and maybe train a successor or two.Alas, the world didn’t stop just because Marcus went into exile, and not everyone is content to let go of old grievances. Strange things are happening in the world at large, too, hinting at a looming disaster of unknown nature. Still, where there is a will, there is a way.If nothing else, Marcus has a lot of magical power to throw at problems.+++Zenith of Sorcery is set in its own original setting and isn’t related to Mother of Learning… beyond being written by the same person, of course. This is a more classical fantasy story than my previous one, with a lower level of technology and stuff like elves and dwarves, but it has a lot of worldbuilding effort put into it and its own complex magical system. The story has significant xianxia influences, but isn’t meant to be a xianxia story.For those of you not familiar with my previous work, I write relatively slowly. I intend to publish chapters at the rate of one chapter every three or four weeks, subject to further delays as life intervenes.

Several hundred thousand players are trapped in a gritty zombie apocalypse survival game just after game launch. There are hints that deaths in the game might be serving some other terrible purpose in the background of reality…

The main character, Liu Gan, is a quadruple amputee in real life. A quirk in the server code recognized his prosthetic limbs as ‘real limbs’ in game, giving him ‘normal’ arms and legs that nonetheless have the strength and power of steel limbs, and thus far more power than a normal player. With this minor cheat helping him survive the early stages of the game, Liu Gan sets out to find out what exactly is going on, and to endure as long as he can.

- Description from Novelupdates

In a contaminated world on the brink of collapsing under countless dungeons, a harsh place where if you were unable to summon a creature, it meant you could die at any moment. Alas, the chance of summoning was very low for anyone—except nobles.On a fateful day, an unemployed guy from earth was reincarnated as a nameless slave and had contracted an illness—mana circulation disorder—that would prevent him from living past 30.His only chance was to summon something decent. Luckily for him, a second chance appeared… A challenge from the gods… By getting through it, he finally gained what he wanted.A sword demon....one of demon kings.[Do you want to evolve your summon?][Your summon has two paths to evolve]–[Hellfire Demon]–[Wind Demon][Do you want to use 2,000 Chaos Points to unlock another evolution path?]–[Supreme Sword Demon][Description]: A slave demon… An ancient demon… An extinct demon… They possess swordsmanship unparalleled in all of hell; no demon can defeat them. However, what all demons in hell fear is their ability—even demon gods are afraid of them. Each time they kill someone with their sword, the victim's existence is obliterated from the world. No one can remember them after they're dead.However, that was just the beginning of a Godslayer’s fate when he figured out the reincarnators. And unluckily, the world should have existed only one reincarnator. He had to kill them to survive, or they would kill him.[Author’s Note]*Is the MC a slave? Yes, he is, but it’s just a leftover label from his old identity in this world. The moment Alaric, a fourth-year university student, reincarnated into that slave body, I don’t think he should even be considered a slave anymore. Moreover, he gets rid of his inferior identity once he clears the final challenge of the Nameless God in Chapter 18.*Is the MC OP? Not exactly, since his early power isn’t really a cheat. The real cheat everyone expects only shows up after Chapter 19.

Lan Chang’an has gone through two lifetimes of reincarnations, and in the third life, he aimed for stability until reaching the Nascent Soul Realm in hopes of unraveling the mysteries of the Nine Seal Stele. Consequently, he cultivated the Ancient Trees Evergreen Technique, which wielded modest power in return for greater lifespan.

His approach is not one of fearlessly engaging in battles, but of navigating with steady precision and forging meaningful bonds with others.

Throughout his long cultivation journey, he encountered individuals at various stages of their cultivation, including a Decent Faction Head, a Prodigious Beauty, a Giant Demon Lord, an Evil Cultivator, a Thousand-Year Old Demon, and a Puppet Master Pulling Strings From Behind The Scene.

Observing the ebb and flow of the world, witnessing its ups and downs, he unknowingly became a living fossil in the realm of cultivation, akin to an evergreen tree spanning through eternity.

In the world of mortals, the flow of life is steady, shrouded in the illusion of longevity, yet decisions are made decisively, with a clear sense of morality.