'Bang! Bang! Bang!'
'Bang! Bang! Bang!'
Chen Xuan felt as if he was having an incredibly vivid dream.
In the dream, he was holding a stone he picked up from the ground, mechanically smashing it against a wall in a ruined temple on a rainy night.
Apart from that, there was nothing else different about the dream.
It was, without a doubt, the most boring dream Chen Xuan had ever had.
Fortunately, it seemed that not much time had passed before he opened his eyes, exhausted.
Chen Xuan shook his sore arms and glanced at the time on his phone; he had slept for about an hour.
Before he could fully recover from his grogginess, an almost unbearable burning sensation surged from his stomach.
Hungry!
So hungry!
How could he be this hungry?
Without thinking, he pulled out a box of instant noodles from under his dorm bed. Not bothering to cook them, he tore open the package and began to chew.
After devouring two packs of Kang Shuaifu's large noodle cakes, the hunger in his stomach finally eased a bit.
Chen Xuan looked around, feeling a bit bewildered, then lay back down on his bed with a thud.
He thought about the dream he just had and, somewhat speechless, opened his phone. He realized he had become obsessed with this little game.
But speaking of which, that dream... was just too realistic, wasn't it?
Thinking of this, he instinctively reached for the game called "Martial Dao" that appeared on his phone's home screen.
However, just as Chen Xuan was about to tap it, he suddenly froze on the bed.
Even his finger, which was about to tap, started trembling!
Something's not right!
Something's definitely not right!
Chen Xuan quickly turned his head, and sure enough, the tablet he used for gaming and as a companion lay quietly there.
If he remembered correctly, wasn't he just playing the game on that tablet? How did it end up on his phone now?
He was a very organized person, and there were almost no games on this phone.
But now, on the home screen, next to the green bubble, under the icon of clashing swords, the blood-red "Martial Dao" was glaringly conspicuous.
His brow furrowed.
Chen Xuan didn't believe any game in the world could achieve this.
He thought for a moment and opened the tablet again. However, the tablet's home screen also had the "Martial Dao."
Chen Xuan thought for a moment, opened both the phone and the tablet, and bizarrely, when he opened the tablet, the "Martial Dao" on the phone disappeared.
When he closed the tablet and opened the phone again, the game reappeared on the previously blank phone screen like a ghost.
"What the hell is this?" Chen Xuan was baffled.
Recalling the dream, Chen Xuan struggled to get up and moved his almost unbearably heavy body to the computer desk. He opened the laptop, and just as he was about to search for information about the game, he saw it.
On the laptop's desktop, there was indeed that familiar icon: "Martial Dao"!
Chen Xuan pursed his lips, didn't open it, and instead continued to open the browser to start searching.
However, after a long time, on any game forum or search list, Chen Xuan couldn't find any information about "Martial Dao."
After all, the game's name was indeed too common.
Countless search results either showed novels or those pay-to-win web games purely designed to scam money.
Clearly not what Chen Xuan was looking for.
Impossible!
Chen Xuan never considered himself particularly special, and this game appeared so straightforwardly on the screen without any warning.
It couldn't be just for him alone!
There are plenty of smart people in this world, and Chen Xuan truly didn't believe he was the only one who discovered the game's peculiar and eerie uniqueness.
As it turned out, Chen Xuan was right.
After searching on various search engines on the computer for a while, he stubbornly searched again, and suddenly, a website appeared on the first page of the search engine that had definitely not been there before.
It was a website Chen Xuan had never seen before, and on the website's image, there was only a large character for "Martial."
He was so certain because the website's introduction was too simple and straightforward:
(Don't search anymore, this is the site you're looking for!)
Chen Xuan blinked and then clicked directly.
No ads, no pop-ups, just an incredibly clean forum. The first thing he saw were several highlighted pinned posts:
[Beginner's Guide and Precautions, Best Starting Choices!]
[Third Batch of Martial Dao Player Qualifications Released! Dragon Nation Martial Dao Bureau Recruiting New Potential Players!]
[All Under Heaven Society Recruiting, Requires Fate of Yellow-rank or Above! Base Salary 15k + Other Generous Benefits! Requires Employees to Follow and Cooperate with the Company.]
[High Price Exchange for 'Martial Dao' In-game Currency, One Tael of Silver for 10k Dragon Nation Currency.]
Chen Xuan glanced at these titles, and his heart gradually calmed down.
However, he didn't rush to click on the [Beginner's Guide], which was obviously the most important and attractive to him.
Instead, he continued to look at the ordinary posts below. If not for that bizarre game, this forum even seemed like just a regular game discussion forum:
[This task from Old Feng's family is really disgusting, but fortunately, there's initial martial arts, otherwise, I wouldn't know how to play.]
[How do I leave the family? Damn it, if the family tasks are this hard, I really don't know how those buddies who got to choose the mysterious origins play?]
[Baixiaosheng Interviews the Number One in Martial Dao! Interview with the Only Player on the Jianghu Monthly Earth Ranking 'Feng Wuya'! Why is Mysterious Origins the hardest and highest potential identity start? And why can only a small portion of players choose it?]
[Lingnan Region's Jianghu Fame 'Locally Renowned' Major Sect 'Heaven Ascension Tower' Entry Requirements! (For Reference Only)]
[Summary of Known Jianghu Encounters! (Including Levels)]
[Fixed Sources for Precious Potential Points! The Truly Most Important Resource Acquisition in Low-level Encounters!]
[How Much Does Combat Experience Affect Battles?!]
[Summary of Offline Training and AFK Speed...]
[Theoretical Limits and Heights of Known Exclusive Fates Analysis!]
[...]
A long string of posts filled Chen Xuan's view, leaving him momentarily bewildered. Clearly, the content of these posts seemed like gibberish to him.
The most important thing was, what the hell is all this?
Dragon Nation officially recruiting? Just now, the fate selection, as long as it's Yellow-rank or above, there's a base salary of 15k? What about his Earthly-rank 'Profound Sword Qi'?
And, one tael of silver equals 10k Dragon Nation currency? Are you kidding me?
Before Chen Xuan could react, as he was still staring in shock at these posts,
Suddenly, among the ordinary posts, the so-called 'Baixiaosheng Interview' lit up and moved to the top, becoming one of the pinned posts.
Clearly, this so-called interview held extremely high value in this forum and in this game.
Chen Xuan composed himself and withdrew his gaze from those chaotic posts.
His eyes, at this moment, focused, becoming extremely serious and determined.
Then, he looked at the first pinned post 'Beginner's Guide.'
He knew he had probably stumbled upon a rather extraordinary game!
The page flickered, and the Beginner's Guide website opened directly.
And the first paragraph that caught his eye made Chen Xuan's excitement plummet:
'Hello, new player! Welcome to the world of Martial Dao. If you saw this post before entering the game, congratulations, you have a much higher survival rate than others.
Note, this includes not just in-game, but also in reality... survival rate...'