He tore open the oilcloth. Inside was a book bound in warm red leather. The characters on the cover seemed to writhe like living flames.
"System!" he shouted. "Why does this look demonic?"
The System paused. The blue light flickered.
[Analysis Complete. Technique Name: 'Undying Sun Scripture'.]
[Warning: Technique contains Demonic Corruption markers. It is a Forbidden Art.]
Jin Hao froze. The excitement drained out of him instantly, replaced by a white-hot fury.
"Demonic?" he screamed, slamming the book onto a crate. "Are you kidding me?! Again?! First the ring, then the gourd, and now the book?! Why? Why does the Heavenly Dao hate me?!"
He kicked the crate, splintering the wood. "I am the protagonist! I deserve the holy swords! I deserve the righteous arts! Why do I keep finding this evil trash?! What kind of sick joke is this?"
He paced the small area, his face twisted in a rictus of rage. "It's not fair! Arya Chen probably trips and falls onto Divine Grade righteous manuals! Why do I get the cursed garbage?"
He pointed a shaking finger at the ceiling of the hold. "You hear me?! I know you're watching! Stop screwing with me!"
He looked back at the book. It sat there, innocently. A Heaven Grade technique. The power he desperately needed.
"System," he whined, his voice dropping to a desperate plea. "Is there... is there anything we can do? You're the System! You're supposed to fix things! Can't you... I don't know, filter it? Like you did with the poison?"
[Processing Request...]
———-
I sat in my study, the holographic interface of the System Maker floating before me. I watched Jin Hao's tantrum with a calm expression, sipping my tea.
"He's so predictable," I murmured.
The book Jin Hao had found wasn't actually demonic. It was a High Heaven Grade fire technique that the Heavenly Dao had placed in his path. It was a gift from fate to its chosen protagonist.
But Jin Hao didn't know that. He relied entirely on the System for his reality. And the System told him what I wanted him to hear, ensuring that even when the heavens tried to favor him, I was the one controlling his perception.
"System Maker," I commanded softly. "Modify the subsystem's response. Tell him the technique is demonic."
[Command Accepted. Modifying...]
I opened the library of forbidden arts I had accessed from the "Grandfather Alchemist's" memories. I found a particularly nasty one.
The Blood Burning Lotus Art.
It was a technique that granted immense explosive power, punching far above the user's weight class. But it burned the user's foundation, their lifespan and their future cultivation prospects to fuel the immediate fire. Every time they used it, they were literally burning their own future to ash.
"Swap the manual," I ordered. "Replace the content of the 'Undying Sun Scripture' with the mechanics of the 'Blood-Burning Lotus Art'. But rename it. Call it... 'The Celestial Fire Purging Palm'. Make it sound righteous."
[Modification Complete. Deploying to Subsystem.]
I leaned back and took out the original manual I had swapped. I was still surprised by the Heavenly Dao's favoritism for its protagonist. "Enjoy your new toy, Jin Hao. It will make you very strong. For a little while."
————
[Processing Complete.]
[Solution Found: The System can utilize the 'Devour' function to strip the Demonic Corruption from the manual. It will reconstruct the technique into an Orthodox form.]
Jin Hao gasped, falling to his knees in relief. "Can you? Can you fix it?"
[Affirmative. However, the energy required for such a reconstruction is immense. The System requires spiritual materials to devour to fuel this process.]
"I didn't know that!" Jin Hao cried. "Otherwise, I wouldn't have devoured everything earlier. I would have saved some!"
[Special Protocol: Due to the Host's precarious situation and the threat level of the Jin Family, the System will perform this purification pro bono. One time only.]
"Yes!" Jin Hao cheered, grabbing the book and hugging it to his chest. "I knew it! You're the best, System! You're the only one who has my back! Do it! Purify it!"
[Initiating Purification...]
The book in his hands glowed with a blinding blue light. The red leather cover turned a holy white. The ominous aura was replaced by a comforting heat.
[Purification Complete.]
[New Technique Acquired: 'Celestial Fire Purging Palm' (Heaven Grade).]
[Description: A supreme fire technique that purges all evil. Grants explosive power capable of ignoring defense.]
[Learning...]
Knowledge flooded Jin Hao's mind. Complex diagrams, flow charts of Qi, mantras. It all imprinted directly onto his brain.
He stood up, dropping the now-empty book. He raised his right hand. A wreath of white gold flame erupted around his palm. It felt infinitely powerful.
"Heaven Grade," he whispered, staring at the flame. "Real power."
He clenched his fist, extinguishing the flame.
"I'm done running," he said, his voice dropping to a low growl.
He climbed out of the cargo hold, ignoring the ladder, simply leaping up to the deck. The night air was cool against his flushed skin.
"Jin Family," he said, looking toward the city. "You want to hunt me? You want to chase me like a dog?"
He activated his map.
[Scanning for Hostiles...]
[Patrol Squad Detected. Sector 8. 500 Meters. Secluded woodland area near the river.]
"Found you," Jin Hao grinned.
He moved through the trees near the riverbank. He found the five men squad. One Late Stage Foundation Establishment captain and four Middle Stage subordinates.
They were resting in a small clearing, their tracking talismans glowing faintly.
"We lost the signal," the Captain grumbled, kicking a log. "The brat must have a stealth artifact."
"Or he's dead," one of the guards suggested. "Maybe he exploded from eating too much."
"I hope so," the Captain spat. "Dragging us out here in the middle of the night..."
"I'm not dead," a voice spoke from the darkness.
The guards spun around, weapons drawn instantly.
Jin Hao stepped into the clearing. He stood tall, his hands clasped behind his back, his chin raised in arrogance.
"And I'm not hiding anymore."
"It's him!" the Captain shouted. "Formation! Take him down! Don't let him speak!"
The five guards lunged. Their Qi combined into a web of attacks, sword beams, spear thrusts, fireballs.
"You think numbers matter?" he scoffed. "You think your trash techniques matter?"
He raised his right hand. He channeled his Qi according to the new pathways burned into his mind.
Celestial Fire Purging Palm.
A giant palm of white-gold fire materialized in the air above him. It was ten feet wide, detailed down to the fingerprints. The heat was so intense the grass in the clearing instantly turned to ash.
"What is that?!" the Captain screamed, his eyes bulging. "That pressure... Heaven Grade?!"
Jin Hao thrust his palm forward. The giant spectral hand mirrored him, slamming down on the squad with the force of a falling meteor.
The guards' defensive techniques shattered like glass. Their armor melted.
BOOM.
The earth shook. A mushroom cloud of white fire rose into the sky.
When the dust settled, there was a crater in the clearing.
Four of the guards were vaporized. Only ash and melted metal remained.
The Captain was still there, but barely. He was missing his legs. He crawled in the dirt, his body charred, his eyes blind.
"Monster..." he wheezed. "Demon..."
Jin Hao walked to the edge of the crater. He looked down at his hand. It was smoking slightly. He felt a little tired, a strange hollowness in his chest, but the sheer exhilaration of the destruction masked it.
"Not a demon," Jin Hao said, looking down at the dying man. "A protagonist."
He raised his hand again. A smaller flame ignited. "And protagonists always win."
He flicked his wrist. The flame descended. The Captain screamed once and then there was silence.
Jin Hao stood alone in the smoking ruin. He took a deep breath, inhaling the scent of ozone and victory.
"System," he said, his voice thick with emotion. "Did you see that? Did you see that power?"
[Combat Analysis: Effective. Host performance: Satisfactory.]
"Satisfactory?" Jin Hao laughed, a wild sound. "It was perfect! I wiped them out! Late Stage Foundation Establishment? They were ants!"
He looked back toward the city. The fear that had gripped him for the last two days was burned away by the white fire.
"I'm going to kill them all," he whispered. "Every single one of them. Everyone who looked down on me."
He clenched his fist.
"I have the Treasure Devourer. I have the Celestial Fire. I am the chosen one."