Shen Hao stood silently in the vast void, staring down at the trembling girl bowing before him.
Her pink hair was slightly disheveled, and her delicate purple Hanfu rustled as she shivered, remaining in a posture of total submission.
Shen Hao crossed his arms, his dark eyes narrowing as he evaluated the bizarre creature in front of him.
After a long, heavy silence, Shen Hao finally spoke, his voice cold and commanding.
“Who are you?”
The girl flinched, slowly lifting her head just enough to peek at him with tear-brimmed eyes.
She swallowed hard, her voice trembling as she stammered out an answer.
“I…
I am a System Spirit,” she whimpered, clutching her wide sleeves.
“Created to serve as the guide and overseer for the divine legacy…
an Ancient Inheritance!”
She quickly began waving her hands in a frantic attempt to defend herself, terrified that the black shadows might reappear.
“Please believe me, Ancient One!
My purpose was never to harm or enslave you!” she explained rapidly, her words tumbling out in sheer panic.
“When a System is deployed, it chooses a Host to fulfill specific tasks.
Every time you would complete a mission, I was meant to unlock a piece of that supreme inheritance as your reward!”
She bowed her head again, her voice dropping to a desperate plea.
“I am merely a vessel meant to guide the chosen ones…
I was only trying to assist you in gaining ultimate power!
I swear on my core, I had no evil intentions toward your soul!”
Shen Hao looked at her, his expression unreadable as he processed her words.
‘A guide for an Ancient Inheritance, huh?’ Shen Hao thought, looking from the terrified spirit to the vast, empty white space around them.
‘So the system isn’t just a random mechanical cheat…
it’s a front for something far older.’
“Did I ask you what your purpose was?” Shen Hao’s voice dropped to a cold, dangerous whisper that cut through her frantic rambling.
“I asked you what you are.
Stop giving me your pathetic excuses and answer the question directly.”
The System Spirit flinched violently.
“The truth is…
I wasn’t originally created as a hollow soul construct,” she confessed, her hands tightly folded over her chest.
“In my past life, I was just an ordinary cultivator.
I died a tragic death, but by sheer stroke of luck, the System found my lingering soul.”
She looked up at Shen Hao with an earnest, hopeful gaze.
“The heavenly will offered me a bargain: if I bound myself as its spirit guide and successfully helped a Host reach supreme immortality, I would be granted a true physical body and a chance to achieve Immortality alongside them.
I accepted the contract out of a desperate desire to live and cultivate again.”
“You had no evil intentions?” Shen Hao scoffed, stepping closer as his gaze hardened into ice.
“Do you honestly expect me to believe that?
If I refused your commands or failed your little missions, you would have tortured me just like every other system, wouldn’t you?”
The System Spirit panicked, violently shaking her head.
Never!
I’m not like those other forced systems!” she cried frantically, raising her hands in desperate denial.
“I swear it, Ancient One!
The legacy bound within this system doesn’t work like the rest!
There are no torture penalties!
If you fail or refuse a quest, nothing bad will happen to you—you simply won’t receive the reward!”
‘A system without penalties?
An oath on her core?
‘Shen Hao thought to himself, a sneer forming deep in his mind.
‘So that’s how it is, Shen Hao thought, a faint smirk forming at the corner of his lips,She still genuinely believes I’m some terrifying Ancient One who casually bypassed Heaven’s Will, he reasoned, analyzing her absolute submission.
She has no idea that I’m just a transmigrator who got lucky.’
Shen Hao’s eyes narrowed, a cold, dangerous smile twisting his lips.
“Doesn’t that make me your slave?” he sneered, stepping closer as his voice dropped to an icy whisper.
“I work like a dog, slave away at your little missions, and in return, you throw me a few scraps as a reward?
Is that how this works?”
The System Spirit instantly fell silent, because that’s true.Without completing quests, the system would release nothing.
The entire mechanism was built around forcing the host to act in exchange for power.
“So, in other words…
you’re useless to me.”
The word hit the System Spirit like a physical strike.
Panicking at the thought of being deemed worthless by an ‘Ancient One,’ she frantically looked up, her hands waving in sheer desperation.
“H-Host!” she interjected hurriedly, her eyes sparkling with eager submission.
“Since we are inside your absolute soul realm, heaven will cannot control me ,my connection to the Will of the Heavens has been completely severed!you…you can form a Master-Slave Soul Contract on me!”
She leaned in, her voice dropping to a conspiratorial whisper.
“Since I am now loyal only to you and not to Heaven’s Will, I have direct control over the quest generation mechanics.
I can hand-craft extremely easy quests for you—simple tasks that require almost no effort at all!”
A sweet, desperate-to-please smile spread across her face.
“Every time you finish one of these effortless quests, I can bypass the restrictions and grant you top-tier rewards straight out of the Ancient Inheritance!
Powerful cultivation techniques, divine treasures, rare pills—whatever you need, I can funnel it directly to you.”
She gestured toward her own body, which now held a soft, radiant warmth.
“And best of all, because you are my absolute Master, I can manifest in a permanent physical body right beside you in the real world to assist you, fight for you, or handle any task you command!”
Shen Hao looked at her, his expression remaining perfectly stoic while a dark, satisfied grin formed inside his mind.
‘Rigging the system to throw absurd rewards at me for doing basically nothing?
Shen Hao thought, suppressing a dark chuckle.
Now that’s what I call a proper cheat.’
“Okay do it.”
She stepped closer to Shen Hao, looking up at him with wide, solemn eyes.
“May I…?”
Shen Hao frowned, completely bewildered by her actions, but nodded coldly.
the spirit stepped into his personal space, stood on her tiptoes, and pulled his face down, pressing her lips firmly against his.
Shen Hao’s eyes widened in sheer shock.
Her tongue slipped past his lips, carrying the bitter, metallic taste of her blood directly into his mouth.
The moment the divine crimson blood touched his soul, a burning black crest blazed into existence on the spirit’s forehead—sealing the absolute Master-Slave bond deep into her core.
Shen Hao’s freez ,then his eyes narrowed as he raised an eyebrow, staring at the spirit with cold skepticism.
“Are you succubus?” Shen Hao asked bluntly.
“Didn’t you just tell me you were a cultivator in your past life?
Since when do standard cultivators form soul bonds by shoving their tongues down someone’s throat.”
Apart from Yui Ling, no girl had ever kissed him like that before.
The System Spirit’s face flushed red, and her eyes widened in frantic indignation.
She furiously shook her head, waving her hands in front of her.
“M-Master!
Please do not compare me to such filthy, vulgar creatures!” she pleaded, her voice trembling with embarrassment.
“I swear on my soul, I was truly a genuine cultivator in my past life!”
“It’s just that…
in my previous life, the path I walked was the Demonic Path,” she confessed softly, biting her lower lip.
“My original core program by heavenly will was a unorthodox blood-siphoning art.
That’s why the rituals and contract methods tied to my soul take on such…
intimate and blood-bound forms.
It’s an inherent part of my demonic inheritance, not because I am succubus!”
Shen Hao listened quietly, the cold expression on his face masking the intense calculations taking place within his mind.
“Oh…
so all of this was pre-determined and fixed by Heaven’s Will,” Shen Hao murmured, his voice laced with faint irony.
He looked up, his dark eyes locking onto the spirit.
“Now that you have established a Master-Slave Contract with me…
can you leave this space?”
The System Spirit paused, closing her eyes as she focused on the newly forged bond tethered to her soul.
Opening her eyes, a look of realization and excitement flashed across her face.
“Master…
I can feel it.
The restraint is gone.
I can manifest in the real world now!
Should I go outside?”
Shen Hao gave a slow, calm nod.
“Go.”
The moment the permission left his lips, the spirit’s form flickered like a candle in the wind.
With a soft ripple of crimson light, she dissolved entirely, vanishing from the white void.