1: Chapter 1: Creating a Ghost Bride

(Brain storage area; the author starts feasting when hungry.)

Qingshi City No. 1 Middle School, Class 8 of the third year.

Today was Awakening Day.

"Number seven, Zhang Lei, successful awakening. Martial Arts World, thirty-seven kilometers in diameter!"

A low exclamation rose from the back of the classroom. A Martial Arts World of thirty-seven kilometers meant that Zhang Lei could at least cultivate to the third rank in the future. If he was lucky enough to nurture a Hero Unit, the fourth rank wasn't out of the question.

Su Bai sat by the window, calmly watching the iconic pillars of light from successful awakenings on the playground outside.

It had been sixteen years since he transmigrated to this parallel world where individuals possessed their own worlds. In his previous life, Su Bai was a 996 corporate slave who woke up in this body after dying from exhaustion while working overtime. For sixteen years, he had kept a low profile, studying quietly and never showing off, maintaining his grades within the top thirty of his year.

A position that wouldn't attract attention but would still allow him to smoothly get into an ordinary university.

It wasn't that he hadn't thought about awakening a top-tier world and reaching the pinnacle of life. But his caution as a transmigrator made him choose to keep his blade sheathed, waiting for the verdict of fate.

"Number eight, Su Bai."

The voice of Mr. Li, the class teacher, interrupted Su Bai's thoughts. He stood up and walked toward the classroom door under the curious gazes of the whole class.

At the end of the corridor was the Awakening Room. The moment he pushed the door open, Su Bai felt an invisible sense of pressure.

It was the fluctuation of Power Of Faith.

There was only a single metal recliner in the Awakening Room, with a fist-sized crystal ball hanging above it. The teacher in charge of the awakening pointed to the recliner. "Lie down and clear your mind."

Su Bai lay down, his gaze falling on the mottled patterns on the ceiling.

Vast Power Of Faith poured down like a waterfall, surging into Su Bai's body. His consciousness was instantly pulled into a void.

That was the prototype of his personal world.

Yin Qi.

Boundless Yin Qi.

Grayish-white mist filled every inch of space—cold, deathly silent, and empty. No air, no water, no soil, not a single trace of life. Even the boundaries of the world were blurred, the rules distorted and chaotic, like a wasteland forgotten by the universe.

Su Bai's heart sank.

He quickly sensed the range of his world: ten kilometers in diameter.

Ten kilometers.

That Zhang Lei from just now, with a thirty-seven-kilometer Martial Arts World, was already considered to have above-average talent. Ten kilometers, however, was the minimum standard for awakening; any smaller, and it would be called a failed awakening.

"It's over."

This thought only flashed through his mind for a moment before Su Bai forcibly suppressed it. He calmly withdrew his consciousness and opened his eyes.

The teacher in charge of the awakening was staring at the detector in his hand, his brow furrowed into a knot.

"A Yin Qi World? Pure Yin Qi?" The teacher looked up at Su Bai, his eyes filled with an indescribable complexity. "No material basis, no energy cycle, and chaotic rules. Theoretically, a world like this cannot evolve a civilization at all."

Su Bai didn't speak.

The teacher sighed, wrote a few lines on a form, and handed it over. "See for yourself."

On the form, it clearly stated:

[World Type: Yin Qi World]

[World Diameter: 10.2 km]

[World Rating: Trash Grade (Unable to evolve civilization)]

[Recommendation: Give up on the Creator assessment and apply for an ordinary university]

Su Bai looked at those lines, but in that instant, a storm of emotions surged in his heart.

A Yin Qi World.

Entirely Yin Qi.

Unable to evolve civilization?

No.

He thought of the myths and legends he had read in his previous life.

The Underworld, the Netherworld, Ghost Gate Pass, Yellow Spring Road, Bridge of Helplessness, Meng Po Soup... Was there life in those?

Those beings didn't need air, water, or sunlight. They only needed Yin Qi.

Su Bai's fingers tightened slightly, gripping the edge of the form.

"Student?" Seeing him dazed, the teacher thought he couldn't accept reality and softened his tone. "Don't be too discouraged. Even if you can't become a Creator, with your grades, you can still get into an ordinary university and find a stable job in the future..."

"Teacher."

Su Bai looked up, his eyes terrifyingly clear.

He had to become a Creator to obtain more resources.

Because he could already see the Underworld beckoning to him.

"I will become a Creator."

The teacher was stunned for a moment. "What did you say?"

"I said," Su Bai enunciated each word, "I want to become a Creator with this world."

The Awakening Room fell silent for two seconds.

The teacher opened his mouth to say something but ultimately only managed, "Are you sure? Even if you participate in the assessment with this kind of world, it's impossible to pass."

"I'm sure."

Su Bai didn't explain. He simply nodded calmly, turned, and pushed the door open to leave.

He looked calm on the outside, but his mind was already racing.

[Power Of Faith: 100 points.]

This was the initial resource everyone received after awakening. With these 100 points, one could create the first life in their world.

What would a normal Creator choose?

The mass-production route.

Use the least amount of Power Of Faith to create as many low-level lifeforms as possible, rely on numerical superiority to form the prototype of a civilization, and then generate new Power Of Faith through the operation of that civilization, snowballing its growth.

But Su Bai didn't plan to do that.

With 100 points of Power Of Faith, following the mass-production route would at most create ten first-rank units. What could ten of the lowest-level lifeforms do in a Yin Qi World? Devour each other? Or wait for death together?

The nature of the Yin Qi World dictated that ordinary life simply could not survive here.

Then he wouldn't create ordinary life.

He would create a hero.

Su Bai opened his eyes, a deep light flashing within them.

An Underworld civilization didn't need living beings.

What it needed were the rules themselves.

Su Bai returned to his dormitory, locked the door, drew the curtains, and sat cross-legged on the bed.

His consciousness sank in.

When his vision cleared again, he was already standing in that grayish-white world.

Yin Qi surged like ocean waves pushing toward invisible boundaries. There was no sky, no earth—only eternal grayish-white and deathly silence.

Su Bai stood in this void, his mind sinking into the world core.

[Current World: Unnamed]

[World Level: None (No civilization)]

[Power Of Faith: 100]

[Available Action: Create Species]

Create species.

Su Bai closed his eyes, and memories of his previous life flooded back like a tide.

The ghost stories he had read after working late, the red-clad figures in horror movies, the folk legends passed down for thousands of years... the Ghost Bride.

Red clothes like blood, black hair like a waterfall, skin as white as snow, and lips as red as gore.

She was not a lifeform.

She was the manifestation of resentment, the embodiment of rules—the first existence in the Yin Qi World that didn't need to breathe, didn't need to eat, and didn't fear any physical laws.

Su Bai opened his eyes, his finger tracing in the void.

[Consume Power Of Faith: 100 points]

[Create Species: Ghost Bride]

[Species Type: Hero Unit]

[Initial Level: Rank 1]

[Potential Limit: 3-Star (Maximum Rank 3)]

The world trembled.

The grayish-white Yin Qi seemed to be stirred by an invisible giant hand, frantically converging in front of Su Bai. That Yin Qi swirled, compressed, and condensed, gradually sketching out a slender silhouette.

Red clothes.

Black hair.

Snow-white bare feet stepped on the void, coming toward Su Bai one step at a time.

It was a face of breathtaking beauty.

She walked up to Su Bai, stopped, and slowly knelt down.

Su Bai looked down at her, feeling the information transmitted from the world.

[Ghost Bride (Hero Unit)]

[Rank: Rank 1]

[Grade: 3-Star]

[Skills: Soul-Claiming Red Makeup (Active), Yin Energy Affinity (Passive), Resentment Absorption (Passive)]

[Description: An existence condensed from pure Yin Qi and resentment, possessing extremely high growth potential. Can continuously evolve by devouring Yin Qi and the resentment of the deceased.]

100 points of Power Of Faith, all poured in, for just one single unit.

But it was enough.

Su Bai raised his hand, gesturing for her to rise.

"From now on," he said, "the name of this world is the Underworld."