SSS-Rank 10x Reward System: Accepting Disciples to Live Forever-Chapter 226: Deadline Approaches

Time flowed on like a quiet river, unhurried and indifferent.

Days turned into weeks.

From that day onward, Eternal Dream never brought up the matter again.

Not once.

She simply watched.

Day after day, she observed Fang Zhirou carrying the dragon egg in her arms, moving between shelves of ancient texts, sitting cross-legged in corners of the library, and reading aloud in a soft yet earnest voice.

Her tone would rise and fall as she struggled through complex passages.

Sometimes she stumbled over unfamiliar words.

Sometimes she paused, brows furrowed, trying to understand even a single sentence.

Yet she never stopped.

The process was simple.

Almost painfully mundane.

A young girl reading books aloud.

Nothing more.

Nothing less.

Eternal Dream watched it all in silence.

No grand formations.

No divine techniques.

No overwhelming display of power. 𝑓𝘳𝘦𝑒𝑤𝑒𝘣𝘯ℴ𝘷𝘦𝓁.𝑐𝑜𝑚

Just... reading.

She could not understand it.

Not even a little.

Thousands of questions swirled in her mind like a storm trapped behind closed doors.

How could this possibly help?

How could mere words shape understanding?

How could such a crude method lead to true knowledge?

But she did not dare ask.

Not after their last exchange.

So she endured it.

Silently.

Watching.

...

Meanwhile, Wang Chen lived as if none of it concerned him in the slightest.

Each day, he lounged around the dojo like a carefree immortal who had long since abandoned worldly concerns.

Most of his time was spent with a teacup in hand.

Sitting.

Sipping.

Occasionally staring into the distance as if contemplating something profound.

Or absolutely nothing at all.

Only when his mood struck him would he call the disciples over and begin speaking about cultivation.

What he said...

Was, by all reasonable standards, nonsense.

Disjointed thoughts.

Half-formed ideas.

Strange metaphors that seemed to lead nowhere.

Yet—

Every single member of the dojo listened with rapt attention.

No one dared interrupt.

No one dared question.

They sat there, eyes filled with focus, absorbing every word as if it were divine scripture.

Especially Zi Han.

And Eternal Dream.

The two of them listened more seriously than anyone else.

Because they had seen it.

They had witnessed, with their own eyes, what Wang Chen was capable of.

And so, when they failed to understand his words...

They did not question him.

They questioned themselves.

We simply don’t understand yet.

Our comprehension is too shallow.

Yes, Yes!

There must be deeper meaning hidden within his words.

That was the only conclusion they could accept.

Wang Chen, watching their reverent expressions, felt something strange in his chest.

Then he shook his head inwardly.

So in the end...

It didn’t matter what world one lived in.

The rules were always the same.

Strength decided everything.

Right.

Wrong.

Truth.

Falsehood.

All of it bent before power.

Even if he spoke utter nonsense, people would still listen.

Because he was strong.

Because they believed he was strong.

In the end, words themselves held no inherent meaning.

It was the speaker who gave them weight.

The same sentence, spoken by two different people, could carry entirely different truths.

While the disciples remained immersed in what they believed to be profound wisdom...

Wang Chen quietly stood up and left.

No ceremony.

No explanation.

Just... gone.

The rest of his day was spent in leisure.

Sometimes wandering aimlessly through the courtyard.

Sometimes lying under the Bodhi tree.

And sometimes—

Examining the so-called treasure of the dragon race.

Every time he thought about it, his lips would twitch uncontrollably.

"Treasure my foot..."

The words slipped out through gritted teeth.

Only after personally going through it did Wang Chen realize—

He had been completely scammed.

There wasn’t a single decent magic weapon inside.

Not one.

Just random, miscellaneous items he already had in abundance.

And worse—

Most of the techniques stored within were tailored specifically for those with dragon blood.

Which meant they were completely useless to him.

If not for the few ancient manuscripts buried within...

He might have actually burned the entire inheritance palace to the ground out of sheer frustration.

Still—

There was one saving grace.

Although useless to him, some of these techniques might prove valuable to his third disciple.

With that thought in mind, Wang Chen continued sifting through the pile of so-called treasures, his expression gradually turning more focused.

Right now, he had a more pressing concern.

The realm gate.

He needed a way to upgrade it.

The one-year deadline was closing in.

Only one month remained.

If he failed to find a method to ascend to the Upper Realm before then...

He would miss the competition entirely.

And that—

Was something he could not afford.

Wang Chen leaned back slightly, his fingers tapping against the armrest as his thoughts turned sharper.

He had a growing feeling—

The sooner he reached the Upper Realm, the better.

It wasn’t just about the competition anymore.

There was something else.

Something subtle.

Something he couldn’t quite put into words.

But instinct, that ever-reliable companion, kept whispering the same thing.

Don’t delay.

With that in mind, he continued combing through the scattered manuscripts before him, his divine sense sweeping across them like an invisible tide.

It wasn’t as if he lacked a method.

On the contrary—

He already had a very clear idea.

The problem was...

The path he had chosen was painfully slow.

And Wang Chen had never been particularly fond of waiting.

His gaze drifted slightly inward, toward the structure of his treasure.

The Thousand Soul Flag.

At present, it was filled with exactly nine thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine low-level resentment ghosts.

And one exception—

The soul of a former Supreme.

Mo Huyan.

That single soul alone elevated the entire treasure far beyond its base level.

But still...

It wasn’t enough.

Wang Chen’s eyes narrowed faintly.

If he could replace those low-level remnants...

With Ghost Kings—

Then the entire foundation of the treasure would transform.

The logic was simple.

Almost embarrassingly so.

Upgrade the power source—

And the output naturally follows.

It was the most basic principle.

And yet, in cultivation, such simplicity often required an absurd amount of effort.

Wang Chen was certain it would work.

There was no doubt in his mind.

But the problem lay elsewhere.

Time.

Resentment Ghost Kings didn’t just appear whenever one felt like it.

On the first floor, it took an irritatingly long time for even a single one to form.

To replace all of them...

That would take far longer than he could imagine.

Which made this method—

Impractical.

Wang Chen’s brows furrowed slightly as his thoughts churned.

His divine sense swept faster now, cutting through layer after layer of ancient records, searching with increasing intensity.

Scrolls.

Fragments.

Half-decayed jade slips.

Broken inscriptions.

Most of it was useless.

Outdated.

Irrelevant.

Then—

Suddenly—

His eyes lit up.

A sharp glint flashed across them.

"Found it."

His voice was low, but there was unmistakable satisfaction in it.

Amidst the countless manuscripts, his divine sense had locked onto something.

Something different.

Something useful.

A faint golden scroll floated within his perception.

Ancient.

Refined.

Carrying a subtle but unmistakable aura of higher craftsmanship.

The title alone was enough to make his interest spike.

Mid-Grade Realm Gate Upgrade Recipe.

Wang Chen’s lips slowly curved upward.

Finally—

Something that wasn’t complete garbage.