The Protagonists' Chat Group: Beyond the Boundaries — Chapter 361

Chapter 361: Fake System VS True System

At Two Realms Mountain, in the original Journey to the West, there were also six bandits here, named: Eye Sees Joy, Ear Hears Anger, Nose Smells Love, Tongue Tastes Thought, Mind Desires, and Body Worries!

[Inorin’s Note: Two Realms Mountain (Liangjie Shan) is the mountain border between the Great Tang Empire and the lands of the west. It is where Sun Wukong was imprisoned for 500 years.]

Together, they represented Sun Wukong’s Six Desires.

However, with the reboot of Journey to the West, and the Monkey King gone, these Six Desires naturally became six ordinary bandits!

The six bandits lived a comfortable, albeit unremarkable, life on this Two Realms Mountain.

But on this day, as the six major bandits gathered around a meager fire, the void near them suddenly tore open. Several streams of viscous black Qi overflowed, silent and cold.

In the blink of an eye, the black mist enveloped the bandits. They didn’t even have time to scream. The six major bandits fell to the ground, their lives unknown.

A moment later, four of the six major bandits stood up again, their movements stiff and unnatural.

“The Journey to the West World? We’ve finally arrived in this world!” The leader of the six major bandits let out a sinister laugh, his voice a horrifying overlay of his own and something… else.

“This world’s reboot is the best opportunity to parasitize the scripture-seeking team. Perhaps we can even influence their main bodies through this world’s scripture-seeking team… and steal the Luck of the scripture-seeking teams in various Journey to the West worlds!”

The other three major bandits also laughed.

“There are four people in the scripture-seeking team, and exactly four of us, one for each!”

“I will parasitize that Sun Wukong-figure, transform into a Divine Rank Choice System, and become stronger by making choices, thereby stealing Heavenly Dao Luck from him…” the leader spoke.

“I will parasitize that Tang Seng, transform into the Strongest Show-off and Face-Slapping System, and become stronger by showing off!” said the second.

“I will parasitize that Marshal Tianpeng-figure, then transform into a Divine Rank Beat-Up System, and become stronger by getting beaten…” said the third.

“I will parasitize that General Rolling Curtain-figure, and transform into a Divine Rank Slaughter System, and become stronger by killing!” said the fourth.

The four major bandits looked at each other and burst into laughter!

They were “Fate Devourers” from an unknown, chaotic space!

[Inorin’s Note: Fate Devourers (Mingyun Tunshizhe) are parasitic, conceptual beings. They mimic the “Systems” created by the Lord of Systems to trick protagonists (Sons of Fate), bind to them, and slowly devour their luck, destiny, and existence.]

Fate Devourers can entangle targets in a special way, then influence the target’s past, present, and future… ultimately devouring everything about the target.

What they liked to entangle most were the Sons of Fate from various worlds.

Under normal circumstances, Fate Devourers would disguise themselves as subordinate gods of the System Lord, pretending to be a System to bind various hosts.

Many protagonists in other worlds were targeted by Fate Devourers, and those protagonists thought they had stumbled upon great luck… but in reality, they had run into terrible misfortune.

In the early stages, those protagonists would indeed gain some convenience by using the Fate Devourers.

But as the degree of their parasitism deepened, the protagonists would be completely devoured by the Fate Devourers… their identities replaced.

Their beloved women, Master, disciples, etc., were all toyed with…

Most of the System Lord’s reputation was ruined by the Fate Devourers. For a time, the “System Poison Theory” was popular throughout the Myriad Worlds!

Now… the Fate Devourers also set their sights on this Journey to the West World.

And they wanted to replace the Fated Team.

The four major Fate Devourers controlled the bodies of the bandits, quietly awaiting the arrival of the scripture-seeking team.

…

“Red, red! Give me something good…”

Inside a lavish, moving palace—the vehicle known as the “Hundred-Ton King”—Li Changshou muttered in his heart as he shuffled the cards in his hand.

“JQK!”

Three red star cards appeared before his eyes. A straight flush!

“It’s stable.” He calmly glanced at Xu Que and the other two, then spoke:

“Ten points of Heavenly Dao Power to start.”

Xu Que saw this and disdainfully said: “No, Old Li, you’re playing Golden Flower and you look at the cards right away? And you play so small?”

[Inorin’s Note: Golden Flower (Zha Jin Hua) is a 3-card poker-style game. A “Straight Flush” (Shunjin) is one of the best hands, beaten only by a “Leopard” (Baozi), which is three of a kind.]

“I’ll bet fifty points of Heavenly Dao Power. Blind.” Xu Que said, leaving his cards face down.

“Xu Que isn’t looking at his cards, so I won’t either… Fifty points of Heavenly Dao Power blind!” Shi Jian quickly followed the bet, his face unreadable.

“Then I’ll play with you guys too…” Yang Qi rumbled. “I’ll also bet blind.”

Li Changshou looked at the JQK Straight Flush in his hand, then at the three who were betting blind, and a smile blossomed in his heart!

They’re betting blind against my JQK? This is… this is too easy.

“It’s a pity to throw this hand away…” he sighed, pretending to be hesitant.

“One hundred Heavenly Dao Power, let’s go for another hand!”

“Oh, wow, it seems it’s not simple… You can even follow two hands?” Xu Que looked at Li Changshou suspiciously.

What kind of person was Li Changshou? The God of Caution. He dared to follow the cards after raising the bet?

It seemed he really had a formidable hand.

“One hundred Heavenly Dao Power, raise again… Blind! I want to see what’s going on today!” Xu Que waved his hand grandly.

“Still the same, if Quezi doesn’t look at his cards, I won’t either…” Shi Jian also followed. “One hundred Heavenly Dao Power blind!”

“I’ll follow too…” Since the first two didn’t back down, Yang Qi naturally couldn’t either.

Li Changshou pretended to be in a dilemma: “It’s truly a pity to throw this hand away, let’s go for another hand!”

“Oh, he’s not scared off yet… It seems he has a big hand!”

If it were anyone else following like this, Xu Que would definitely continue to bet blind.

But Li Changshou… to be on the safe side…

He gently picked up his cards and then looked at the face.

“6-7-8.”

“Clubs.”

“Golden Straight! A straight flush!”

“It’s stable!” Xu Que rejoiced at the sight. His hand was smaller than Li Changshou’s, but it was still a monster!

“Then let’s raise… Four hundred Heavenly Dao Power!” He pretended to be arrogant.

Shi Jian also started to look at his cards.

“5-5…” Two cards appeared before his eyes. He rejoiced. He quickly opened the last one.

“3.”

“5-5-3.”

Shi Jian looked at the cards, speechless for a moment… But he still decided to follow a hand.

“Follow a hand…”

Yang Qi also opened his cards.

“7-7!” Two cards appeared before his eyes. He gently tried to open the third one.

It wasn’t fully open, but a horizontal line had already appeared before his eyes!

A seven! A 7-7-7 Leopard!

“It’s stable!” Yang Qi felt confident even before seeing the full card.

“Follow a hand…” He was playing for the thrill.

“Follow!” Li Changshou was even happier at the sight. They’re all following! They must all have pairs! My JQK will win for sure!

“Raise again!” Xu Que immediately followed…

“Shall we compare first?” Shi Jian looked at Yang Qi.

“Can I see yours?” Yang Qi asked.

Shi Jian quickly pushed his cards over. After seeing the two fives, Yang Qi said without hesitation: “You dare to compare with this hand?”

“Throw it away…”

“I’ll also follow a hand…” Shi Jian heard this and didn’t hesitate, directly throwing his 5-5-3 away, watching the three of them battle.

The three followed for several rounds. Li Changshou was starting to sweat…

These guys who were betting blind earlier… why are they so fierce now? He was a little nervous.

“Brother Qi? Why don’t we compare too?” Li Changshou looked at Yang Qi.

“Then let’s compare. Can I see your cards?”

Li Changshou, holding his JQK Straight Flush, confidently handed over his cards.

Yang Qi still didn’t hesitate, directly saying: “Just throw it away!”

“Hiss!” Li Changshou was shocked upon hearing this.

He’s throwing away even THIS hand? A JQK Straight Flush?! This… this… he must have a Leopard!

He originally thought he could win this round. Never expected…

He honestly threw away his cards…

Xu Que also felt a little guilty: “Only the two of us are left, how about we open after one more round?”

“Okay!” Yang Qi nodded in agreement.

“I have a 6-7-8 straight flush, what about you?” Xu Que asked somewhat nervously.

“Of course my Brother Qi has a Leopard…” Shi Jian, laughing, actively flipped Yang Qi’s cards from the side…

One seven.

Two sevens…

Three…

Alas.

One three???

Looking at the flipped cards, 7-7-3.

Everyone was stunned.

Especially Li Changshou… He was visibly red with anger.

He stared intently at Yang Qi: “With this hand, you… you made me run with a JQK straight flush… Good, good, good…”

“Now it’s your turn to run…” Yang Qi gasped.

This was too much excitement…

“Someone is blocking the way, I’ll go out and see…” His figure flickered, and he immediately vanished from his spot, escaping Li Changshou’s wrath.

The others chased after him.

They saw six people rush out in front, each holding long spears, short swords, sharp blades, and strong bows.

Then they surrounded the Hundred-Ton King—

“Where did these bandits come from, daring to rob us!” Yang Qi didn’t hesitate, charging towards the enemies to kill them.

Yang Qi, who could even cut down Immortals from the Immortal Realm, was now “sweating profusely” when facing the six ordinary bandits.

They went back and forth. It was quite lively…

Li Changshou stared intently at him from behind.

…

The six major bandits (the Fate Devourers) were bewildered.

How could there be a Hundred-Ton King here?

At this point, the Journey to the West team… shouldn’t there only be Tang Sanzang and Sun Wukong?

They had originally planned to parasitize Tang Sanzang and Sun Wukong first, then find an opportunity to parasitize Sha Wujing and Zhu Bajie later.

But now, why were there four people in the scripture-seeking team?

That bald man must be Tang Seng, right? But why is he wearing sunglasses and smoking a cigar?!

The several Fate Devourers were a little flustered.

This person in front of them, with mediocre martial arts, was a mortal… Could it be that the two guards who accompanied Tang Seng on his journey hadn’t died?

The several Fate Devourers were very confused. However, they quickly made a decision…

Parasitize them first.

One of them fiercely crashed into Yang Qi’s blade tip… and then immediately died.

The other few also crashed into him one after another.

Yang Qi was bewildered looking at the six people who all died at once.

When people are embarrassed, they will pretend to be busy. He was just pretending to be busy… dragging out time with these bandits.

As a result… they were already playing him with cards, and now these bandits were playing him too?

…

After the Fate Devourer was “killed,” it followed the Karma connection between them, silently entangling itself with everyone, and coiling around their Fates…

The first to act was the Fate Devourer targeting Xu Que.

Layers of time overlapped. Its main body wriggled in the formless River of Destiny, peering into the past and future. The power emanating from it silently parasitized Xu Que’s body.

[Ding, Strongest Show-off and Face-Slapping System successfully bound!]

A voice sounded. This was the power of the Fate Devourer…

How wonderful. The Strongest Show-off and Face-Slapping System paired with Tang Seng?

Tang Seng was originally the Fated Person of Journey to the West. If I influence him in the form of a System, I will surely influence the entire world…

By then, vast amounts of Heavenly Dao Power will be available for me to plunder. This Journey to the West World… is my delicious little cake…

“Strongest Show-off and Face-Slapping System? System, why did you change back to this name? Aren’t you afraid of the Great River Crab God anymore?”

[Inorin’s Note: “Great River Crab God” (He Xie Da Shen) is the actual pinyin for the “Great God of Harmony.” “River Crab” (Héxiè) is a homophone for “Harmony” (Héxié) and is the common slang/meme for internet censorship.]

A puzzled voice transmitted towards the Fate Devourer.

The Fate Devourer was bewildered. Is this person talking to me?

It investigated, following Xu Que’s consciousness fluctuations…

It was astonished to find that Xu Que’s intention was indeed directed towards its location… However, the destination was not it.

“Are you the one who keeps ruining my reputation throughout the Myriad Worlds?”

The voice exploded like thunder, and a golden, multiversal tide spread around. Its body was hundreds or thousands of times larger than the Fate Devourer, emitting a terrifying aura. The Strongest Anti-Trope System slowly spoke, its voice reflecting among the myriad worlds.

The Fate Devourer was shocked. It turned its head numbly.

Then, it saw the real System behind it, as vast as the clear sky.

“Top, top…”

“Top-tier System?”

The Fate Devourer was stunned. How could this Tang Sanzang have a top-tier System? If he had a top-tier System… he would have already unified all worlds!

The Fate Devourer was bewildered. The Fate Devourer was confused.

“Hmph!”

The Strongest Anti-Trope System let out a cold snort, then opened its gaping maw and swallowed the Fate Devourer whole.

It let out a satisfied burp.

The Fate Devourer could disguise itself as a System. Naturally, it also possessed some characteristics of a System.

To a real System, it was a rare delicacy.

Among the System Lord’s subordinate gods, there was a lineage of Devouring Systems, specifically sent to the myriad worlds to hunt down those Fate Devourers disguised as Systems…

…

The Fate Devourer, disguised as the Endless Slaughter System, also spread towards Shi Jian at this moment…

It wasn’t quite sure of Shi Jian’s identity. But it didn’t matter. Anyway, he was just a temporary host! Just consider him an appetizer before the main course.

The Fate Devourer parasitized Shi Jian along the Karma line.

All kinds of images appeared before its eyes. One beautiful face after another flashed before him, improving his depressed mood.

“He actually knows so many beautiful women… This time, they’re all mine!” The Fate Devourer was a little excited.

It didn’t expect that the person he parasitized seemed to have something special?

Double Pupils, Supreme Bone, Thunder Early Stage Saint Physique, Myriad Dao Saint Physique… All kinds of terrifying physiques were replayed before him.

The Fate Devourer became even more excited.

Endless information was transmitted from Shi Jian’s body.

Good stuff, good stuff, it was all good stuff. He didn’t expect that the person he parasitized could come into contact with so many good things. This time, he really hit the jackpot!

Heavenly Desolation (Ji), Great Luo Sword Embryo… Information about various Magic Treasures was transmitted…

The Fate Devourer became even more excited.

Original True Understanding, True Dragon Treasure Technique, Kunpeng Treasure Technique, Great Five Elements Technique, Lightning Treasure Technique… Information about various Cultivation Techniques came in.

The Fate Devourer felt a hint of unease.

The things certainly seemed good… But these things… They didn’t seem to have anything to do with the Journey to the West world, did they?

It realized something was wrong. It wanted to quickly sever the connection with Shi Jian.

But at this moment… it was already too late…

Countless pieces of information poured into its body… It trembled all over, feeling like it was about to explode.

Damn it! There is too much stuff! How could one person carry such a massive amount of information? Omniscient and omnipotent?

In a daze… the Fate Devourer finally saw the source of this information…

It was a bookshelf. An endless, towering bookshelf that reached into the heavens, filled with densely packed books.

Each book contained a massive amount of information… These books seemed to record everything in the myriad worlds…

The Library of the Heavens.

The Fate Devourer could no longer move. He felt a terrifying suction from those books…

It slowly drifted towards the bookshelf… Its consciousness gradually became numb, then disappeared…

On one of the empty, waiting books on the bookshelf… a brand new page appeared…

[Collected – Fate Devourer (Slaughter-type)]

[Progress: 100%]

…

“Let me see your identity…”

The Fate Devourer, disguised as the Strongest Choice System, entangled Yang Qi.

Its consciousness permeated the long river of time. It wanted to explore Yang Qi’s past and future…

However, as it began to come into contact with Yang Qi’s Karma, the Fate Devourer was dumbfounded.

How could this person have no Karma at all?

Where is my way back? Why is my way back gone?

The Fate Devourer panicked.

Yang Qi was like nothingness… No past, no future. No Karma, no time.

[Inorin’s Note: In Sheng Wang, Yang Qi is a Fated Void (Wumingzhe), a being whose fate is ‘nothingness’ or ‘void’, making him undetectable by destiny-level powers.]

After coming into contact with him… it seemed to be trapped in a void.

There was nothing else? Void, void, still void…

What was even more fatal was that… it was being assimilated by this nothingness…

Its power, everything about it, was transforming into nothingness. It was nourishing this Qi of nothingness…

After it was almost completely refined… it finally saw something.

A huge shadow appeared in this void space. This shadow was dressed in white, surrounded by various rivers of fate. These rivers of fate converged, as if they were piercing through the entire universe…

“Power of Fate, in my identity as the Void of Fate, I empower the King of Fate, appear…”

A voice resounded throughout heaven and earth.

“This… is Fate?”

After the Fate Devourer figured out what it had provoked… it completely gave up struggling.

…

“Let me see what’s going on…”

The Fate Devourer, disguised as the “Get Stronger by Getting Hit” System, targeted Li Changshou.

Its main body followed the long river of time, following Karma, slowly approaching Li Changshou.

“Huh?”

“Why is this person’s Karma line so strange?”

The Fate Devourer was bewildered.

They had many ways to parasitize people. They could parasitize a person’s fate, or a person’s Karma… They parasitized in various ways.

It was currently trying to parasitize Li Changshou through Karma.

But… it found that Li Changshou’s Karma line… was very strange.

It was very, very thin. So thin that it seemed to have no Karma with this world…

It parasitized Li Changshou along this Karma line. This kind of Karma line… could break at any time!

“Such a strange Karma…”

“Forget it, I’ll parasitize him through Fate instead!”

The Fate Devourer planned to parasitize Li Changshou through Fate.

But soon, it was dumbfounded again.

“This person’s Fate… why is it so strange too?”

Looking at the constantly changing Fate before it… the Fate Devourer fell into contemplation again.

A changing Fate. It had never seen one before… Constantly changing.

How was it supposed to bite into that?

One second it was a soft, sticky little cake.

The next second it turned into excrement!

“I don’t believe it, you can’t possibly not even have a timeline, can you?”

The Fate Devourer plunged headfirst into Li Changshou’s timeline.

Li Changshou’s long river of time appeared before its eyes.

“Hmph hmph… It’s good to have a long river of time. Watch me go up the long river of time and parasitize you when you are at your weakest. Then, the Karma between us will be completely set…”

The Fate Devourer performed a Divine Dragon Tail Whip, preparing to drill forward into the long river of fate.

But as soon as it moved… the long river of fate was suddenly cut in half.

“What’s going on…?”

Seeing the upper half (the future) of the long river of time cut off… the Fate Devourer was bewildered…

“Can’t go forward, then I’ll go backward…”

As soon as the Fate Devourer had the thought… the lower half (the past) of the long river of time was also cut off.

The Fate Devourer was trapped within Li Changshou’s present long river of time.

Unable to go forward. Unable to go backward.

It fell silent.

[Inorin’s Note: This is Li Changshou’s signature technique from My Senior Brother is Too Steady. He “cuts off the past and future” to remain only in the present, preventing anyone from tracking or divining him through time.]

“This person is extraordinary, able to sense the fluctuations of the long river of time… He has directly cut off from the present!”

“But… even if his future self cuts off from his present self, why would his past self also cut off from his present self?”

The Fate Devourer sighed. It had no choice but to withdraw from the long river of time.

Parasitizing the current Li Changshou was useless. The past Li Changshou didn’t want the present Li Changshou. The future Li Changshou also didn’t want the present Li Changshou.

If it parasitized him… wouldn’t it just become a lonely ghost?

“I’ll still go from the Karma line…”

The Fate Devourer gritted its teeth and returned to the original, razor-thin Karma line.

It carefully walked along the Karma line… After going through countless hardships… it finally reached the end.

“I’m here, damn it!” The Fate Devourer spoke excitedly.

It raised its head, wanting to see what kind of being Li Changshou truly was.

However… after looking up, it was dumbfounded.

It had arrived at a unique place.

This place was neither heaven nor earth, without light or darkness. Time floated like broken threads, space was solidified, half-melted, glazed crystals, and the remnants of Law accumulated and annihilated here. This was a place of illusion where even “existence” itself was tottering…

A person was dressed in the simplest gray hemp Daoist robe, the edges of which constantly decomposed into tiny runes, and then constantly reassembled from the void, as if achieving an eternal cycle with “collapse” itself.

Their face was blurry, neither old nor young, neither male nor female. Only a pair of eyes were clearly visible—they were not pupils, but two miniature stellar vortices that slowly rotated, devouring all light and concepts…

The Grand Pure One. The Saint.

[Inorin’s Note: This is the Taishang Laojun (Grand Pure One), Li Changshou’s master and the most powerful, enigmatic Saint in his world. Li Changshou’s “thin karma line” was a feint; his true karma is hidden behind his master.]

Many worlds in the myriad worlds have legends of the Three Pure Ones. The Grand Pure One Saint is revered as the head of the Three Pure Ones.

And every Grand Pure One Saint is the projection of the supreme god of that Dao cultivating world, the founder of the Dao, the orderly Taishang Tianzun.

What appeared before the Fate Devourer now… was one of those projections.

No matter which world he was from… the Grand Pure Saint is the Grand Pure Saint!

“You f***ing…”

The Fate Devourer cursed in pain.

It was fine that his Karma line was so thin.

But the end of it was connected not to himself, but to this Taishang Saint?

No wonder there was only one Karma line… Truly despicable.

How could there be such a despicable person in this world!

The Fate Devourer collapsed.

This time, it realized that the pilgrimage team they were targeting was not ordinary.

However… it was already too late.

Seeing the incredibly thin Karma line behind it suddenly break off…

The Fate Devourer was completely despairing.

“Brothers… I wish you good luck!”

It sighed. It only hoped… that the other Fate Devourers would succeed!