Chapter 15: Version Variation Value

After his first encounter with Ji Xingyao, Lu Yan returned home.

In the days that followed, there was no news on the internet regarding the deaths of Li Zhaoheng or Gongyang Xuanming. It was as if no one knew about the large-scale incident that had resulted in over a dozen deaths.

Even Fenglan Grand Hotel, the scene of the gruesome crime, remained silent. It only released a public statement claiming the presidential suite had experienced electrical issues and was temporarily closed.

Based on Lu Yan’s deduction, this was likely due to Gongyang Xuanming’s special identity. Combined with the bizarre state in which the victims were found, the upper echelon of Luo City must have forcibly suppressed the incident.

Though the city’s surface seemed calm, undercurrents were already surging beneath it. If another similar case occurred, it would almost certainly trigger a large-scale crackdown from above.

As the one truly responsible, Lu Yan understood this all too well. So, after eliminating the threat posed by the demonic cultivator Gongyang Xuanming, he had remained at home, quietly cultivating and refraining from going out.

As long as he didn’t act again and leave behind traces, the hidden nature of the Soul Banner meant Luo City’s top brass wouldn’t be able to find anything.

After several days of secluded cultivation, however, Lu Yan found himself facing a bottleneck.

But this bottleneck didn’t come from within—it stemmed from his environment.

From the very beginning, Lu Yan had noticed that the ambient spiritual energy in this world was extremely sparse. Absorbing even a single strand of it took a long time, so he had used a portion of his spirit stones to accelerate cultivation and break through to the First Layer of Qi Refining.

Now that he had reached the First Layer, his ability to draw in spiritual energy from the world and refine it into mana had increased. In the cultivation world, progressing from First to Third Layer of Qi Refining was mostly a matter of steady work, with no true barriers.

But over the past few days, Lu Yan had clearly sensed just how slow his mana refinement had become. The spiritual energy in the air was so thin that it barely allowed him to cast spells, let alone sustain regular cultivation.

Only by using spirit stones could he maintain a proper pace of training.

This issue gave Lu Yan quite a headache. Although he currently had hundreds of spirit stones, those were looted from the Shopkeeper Chu—ill-gotten wealth. A typical First Layer Qi Refining cultivator might only have one or two spirit stones on them, if that.

Spirit stones were meant to assist breakthroughs, set up formations, or buy rare cultivation resources—not to be used as everyday fuel.

Cultivation was a long and gradual process. Most relied on blessed lands or spiritual veins to support their training. If you converted the cost to spirit stones, just progressing from First to Second Layer might consume dozens, which was enough to buy a decent Low-Grade magic artifact.

Even the disciples of great sects wouldn’t be so wasteful as to burn through spirit stones for daily cultivation.

Left with no other choice, Lu Yan had to temporarily halt his daily training.

He had a suspicion: the lack of spiritual energy might be tied to the urban environment. He wanted to explore some famous mountains or great rivers within the modern world to see if those places had more abundant spiritual energy.

After all, if every Urban Version lacked enough energy to cultivate, it would be a tremendous waste of time.

Unfortunately, the next version update was already drawing near. Traveling to remote places would cost precious remaining time, so he decided to delay that exploration until the next Urban Version.

With no way to train in cultivation techniques or refine mana, Lu Yan turned to experimenting with conjuring Red Lotus Karmic Fire once again.

In theory, after killing more than a dozen people at Fenglan Grand Hotel, Lu Yan should have accumulated enough karmic energy to meet the conditions for conjuring this supreme spell. But for some reason, he still couldn’t succeed.

After trying for several days, Lu Yan finally gave up and shifted his focus to preparing for the imminent world version update.

Having now experienced two version updates, Lu Yan had gained some understanding of the process—but only in regard to the Urban and Xianxia versions.

He could choose from three possible update directions, but he had no way to guarantee that the options would include a relatively stable environment like the Xianxia Version.

If he ended up in a world with scarce resources or deadly conditions, his current strength might not give him any edge. He needed to prepare in advance.

He hadn’t forgotten that the last round of options had included an Apocalyptic Version and a Cyber Version.

So over the next ten-plus days, Lu Yan used his savings to purchase a large quantity of supplies, stuffing everything into his storage pouch.

The haul included massive amounts of water, food, and basic daily necessities. Fortunately, the pouch he had taken from the Shopkeeper Chu was of decent quality, offering over ten cubic meters of space.

These provisions would be enough to sustain Lu Yan’s daily needs for at least three months.

In addition, he had hoped to acquire a few firearms.

Although he possessed a good number of talismans, using them consumed spirit stones. Compared to that, firearms were much cheaper and more convenient.

But unfortunately, guns were strictly prohibited in Xia Country, so Lu Yan had no choice but to give up on that idea.

Inside that same old and worn-down house, Lu Yan stood in front of the window, quietly watching the progress bar in front of him tick up to 99.9%.

As the number changed again, a string of text suddenly popped into view:

[Urban Version complete. Version Variation Value: 3%]

Lu Yan’s eyebrows twitched slightly. This was the first time he had seen something called the “Version Variation Value.” It had never appeared during the previous two version updates.

“Version Variation Value? Judging from the name, it seems to reflect changes to the world caused by version activity?”

His thoughts raced.

“The reason it didn’t show up before is probably because my strength and influence were too small. I wasn’t significant enough to affect the world’s trajectory.”

“Then why did this Urban Version have such a high variation? Was it because I killed Gongyang Xuanming, the demonic cultivator?”

That thought had barely formed before he dismissed it.

“No. Gongyang Xuanming was a big shot in Luo City, and his father had some influence too. But in the grand scheme of the Urban Version, they’re just insignificant ants.”

“Their deaths aren’t enough to change the course of the entire world—not enough to account for 3% variation.”

“In that case… there’s only one explanation.”

“The source of the Version Variation Value… is me breaking through to the Qi Refining stage and becoming the only cultivator in this world!”

Understanding dawned in Lu Yan’s heart, but an even bigger question followed.

“But what does a change in Version Variation Value actually do?”

Unfortunately, the message didn’t provide an answer.

Instead, a new message appeared in front of him:

[Version update progress complete. Please select one of the following for your next world version.]

– Occult Version: After the fall of the Old Ones and the slumber of the True Gods, the path of transcendence is paved with madness!
– Horror Tale Version: The world is a giant horror game, and everyone is a forced player.
– Apocalypse Version: After the end, what remains of the world?

(End of Chapter)