[Welcome to Evil Tyrant System, hostage!]
Pure Yang Lord was stunned by this sudden intrusion in his mind.
"What? Hostage?" he blurted out.
The system replied with a strange voice in his head, accompanied by readable words on an invisible screen only he could see.
[You are currently being held hostage by the Evil Tyrant System.]
Pure Yang Lord narrowed his eyes upon hearing the reply. He was thinking about all the possibilities that could create words and sounds directly in his mind while searching for the origin of it inside his body to no avail.
"A system? How come I've never heard about it before? Tell me your origins—who created you? Who is your true master?"
[You are not qualified to know the origins of the system.]
He scowled, persisting with another question. "Then what exactly are you? A soul demon? A spirit? Some cursed entity?"
[The Evil Tyrant System is an ancient, sentient program designed to assist the hostage into becoming the ultimate embodiment of tyranny. Upon activation, the system binds itself with the hostage, providing them with a series of quests and challenges to shape their cruelty, manipulation, and domination skills. The system subtly influences the hostage's mentality, slowly pushing them towards increasingly evil actions.]
"What kind of messed up thing is this!"
He felt deeply disturbed by the system openly declaring its intentions.
He fell into deep thoughts for a few moments.
"If you won't tell me who controls you and intended to hold me hostage, then at least tell me about the main victim—the person you're aiming for by capturing me Or who am I meant to be used against?"
[This system doesn't know the answer.]
He assessed his current situation while processing the vague information obtained from his interaction with this unknown entity. It dawned on him that he might have fallen into a ploy with far-reaching consequences—his soul captured and manipulated to fulfill someone else's grand plan.
But he didn't know how much control they have over him right now.
The confidence and the unyielding nature of the Pure Yang Lord reappeared on his face as he stood up.
"You think you can keep me, the Pure Yang Lord, as the hostage. Do you think I won't dare commit suicide? I'd rather die than be used by another person."
With those words, he walked to the edge of the cliff, lifting one leg as if ready to jump.
[Hostage is free to commit suicide. However, be reminded: this system is a rare opportunity, offered only to a select few hostages due to its stringent requirements.]
Pure Yang Lord hesitated, deeply disappointed by the stiff reply of the system.
He was hoping to see some action from the system that would reveal its weaknesses or at least help him pinpoint its location in his body or his soul—but it remained cold and indifferent.
He thought of using the last of his soul power in a desperate struggle against the system, but he didn't know how.
Realizing the system really didn't care if he died, he traced his leg back.
Still, he asked with interest, "What are these 'stringent requirements'?"
[There are two major requirements for the selection of the hostage: One the hostage should have a tyrannical will—able to use his power and control to go against the wish of the whole world. Two, the hostage should possess an evil heart capable of destroying his own world.]
He clenched his fists.
"I admit that I went against the world several times especially when I spared the invaders who almost wiped out our world though I don't consider it tyrannical. But what's this about an evil heart? Destroying the world? I didn't destroy my world! Prevented destruction of enemy world! In fact, my world tried to destroy me," he said with a hint of anger.
The system reminded him,
[Based on the hostage's memory, even without factoring the cataclysmic detonation you unleashed, the sheer number of peak experts you eliminated was enough to doom your world to imminent collapse – or invite invasions.]
Pure Yang Lord wanted to retort but he realized the system was correct.
He took a deep breath and sighed.
Ironically, the Pure Yang Lord who dared to spare the invaders and their world would be the one responsible for cruelly destroying his own world inviting disasters without any hope of survival. The resentment he felt towards his own world has decreased by a lot. He even felt a bit of pity and regret.
His next thought was to find a way to return to his old place and inquired with the system only to find a stiff reply,
[System lacks the capability to restore the hostage to the prior state described in their memory.]
Shaking off his emotions, he questioned the system, still curious about it. "What is this 'rare opportunity' offered by the system?"
[The system can assist you in resolving the problematic condition of your body and guide you in ways to increase your cultivation and overall strength.]
He smirked with confidence. "Do you think I can't cultivate on my own and need your help to resolve this mortal poison?"
The system responded with a profile panel:
[ Name: Alister Maboric Grimshaw (Pure Yang Lord)
Age: 16
Race: Human (Mortal)
Cultivation Level: 1st level Body Refinement Realm
Cultivation Technique: Grimshaw's Shadow Embrace
Equipment: None
Spiritual Roots: Supreme roots (Dried)
Bloodline: (Purged) ???
Spirit Bone: (Dormant) ???
Body constitution: Impure Yang Physique ]
"This body is very weak considering it has cultivated up to the first level of the Body Refinement Realm from the initial Qi Sensing Realm using nine meridians."
As he looked into the cultivation technique the body previously used, he frowned.
"What kind of strange cultivation technique is this… a Yin-oriented cultivation method?" He scoffed. "And why would a body with the Yang physique cultivate a Yin technique? Such foolishness!"
"What a waste of heavenly talent. No wonder he couldn't perceive more than nine meridians."
He felt genuine pity for the guy who never got to use his natural talent and got labelled as trash.
"Whoa!"
His eyes lit up when he saw natural supreme roots on the body but his excitement died down when he noticed that it had somehow dried and he couldn't feel its effect when inspecting the body.
"It doesn't matter even if the spiritual roots aren't functioning. Even I only had an average type of spiritual roots in my previous life but wasn't I able to improve them to the level of supreme roots. With the help of all kinds of fortuitous encounters and natural resources, I eventually reached Martial Emperor Realm," he mumbled as if talking to himself or rather boasting in front of the system.
'Bloodline purged, huh.'
"…So, that's what happened. The reason the old couple found this boy in a weak and sickly condition was because his bloodline had been extracted by someone who discarded him to die. What a tragedy."
He had seen many such tragic situations in his previous world that had always fueled his determination to maintain a strict righteous nature.
'Damn, this guy must be one hell of an unlucky fellow with a heavenly talent and pitifully damaged body. So what if he's broken? I've started from way lower that what he had without any bloodline or supreme roots,' his eyes were filled with confidence as he smirked.
"Spirit bone! Now that's something new. I was like the peak cultivator of my time but I still hadn't heard of this term 'spirit bone' before. Maybe I'm missing some of my memories here."
He inspected the whole body trying to locate this spirit bone to no avail.
"How come I can't find the trace of it in this body?"
[Because it is currently in dormant state.]
"At least, this is not damaged, just dormant. Maybe it'll awaken someday. I wonder what it does?"
But the system didn't respond this time and he didn't inquire further.
He looked further into the description about this body and nearly jumped in fright when he saw his body's constitution. "Why is my body constitution considered impure yang physique?"
[It's because the Pure Yang physique was tainted by the yin essence of thousands of pure maidens forming a yin soul restriction.]
His jaws nearly dropped to the ground.
"What the heck!! —to take on Thousands? At the age of 16?! –ruining my Pure Yang physique (facepalm). Damn—was the previous owner some kind of a demonic lecher? But why is there no mention of it in his memories?"
[It was not caused by the previous owner. It was because of you…]
Pure Yang Lord immediately became angry at the accusation and stomped his feet feeling insulted by the system.
"Me?! I, the Pure Yang Lord, have preserved the purity of my body for thousands of years, never once allowing any female to sully my pristine aura!"
The system however continued ignoring him,
[…The physique got tainted by the yin essence of thousands of pure maidens contained in the Nine-Nine Extreme Yin Formation which it got into contact with after your soul entered this body.]
"Damn you, system. You're definitely messing with me! Why didn't you explain it properly?" he snapped.
He couldn't blindly trust anything the system says but after checking up on his body he realized the physique does seem to have some problem.
'Nine-Nine Extreme Yin Formation… ?'
He didn't know what this formation was, how it stayed in his soul as a restriction nor how to resolve it despite his vast knowledge as a Martial Emperor-level expert who roamed myriad worlds. But he remembered how the maidens from the Pure Maiden Sect acted in a formation and shouted its name.
In fact, he couldn't sense any vestige of effect that remained on his energy or soul before the system reminded him. The formation being able to affect his soul and even extending its effect to another body meant that it was definitely extraordinary.
"Can I regain the Pure Yang physique if I remove this formation's effect?" he asked with hope.
[Even if you remove the restriction and the yin energy powering it, it will still not be possible to regain the Pure Yang physique. However, the system can guide you to get a physique even better than Pure Yang physique.]
He finally understood why the system was highlighting a problem in his body.
He knew how rare the Pure Yang physique was. In the many worlds that he travelled, he'd encountered only a handful of people with constitution as powerful as this and those were special people who had ascended to heights untouchable by most.
All of these people had naturally acquired it from birth. Though stories in history depicted of cases where a person changed his physique due to some lucky encounter and rumors of there being physique better than Pure Yang physique but there were no real-life examples that he could find.
"Are there really greater physiques?" he eventually asked.
[Yes.]
He knew even if the system could help with it, it won't be easy especially for him with an already damaged physique. Still, a faint trace of hope emerged in his heart.
"But first…" His voice softened, "Can I still cultivate using this impure physique body, then? Or must I take on another body?"
[You cannot cultivate using this impure physique. The yin formation restricts your cultivation to the Body Refinement Realm and prevents your body from absorbing any further refined Qi. You might immediately die by the formation's effect if you take on another body. The only reason your soul is still alive is due to the Pure Yang Physique of this body restraining the yin energy in your soul.]
Resigned, he sighed deeply. "So, what's the way to resolve this formation and cultivate?"
[You must continuously extract the pure Yin energy from your body and transfer it to women possessing suitable cultivation talents and potential. This will slowly loosen the restrictions of the Yin formation on higher cultivation levels, allowing you to cultivate further.]
Caught off guard, he blurted while stomping his feet, "What? I need women to cultivate?!"
Ironically, the man who avoided women to pursue cultivation now needs the support of women to cultivate.
Just as he said those words, the barely hanging cliff stone beneath him crumbled and he directly fell into the raging river below.
"Aaaahhhhh!"
Despite his struggles, the strong currents dragged him deeper and deeper into the water.
'I might be the most worthless Martial Emperor in history to accidentally die by drowning in the river.' This was the bleak thought going on in his head before he saw a silhouette floating above the river.
'An expert!' he thought before losing consciousness.