1: Ye Feiyan, system activated

Spirit Beast Valley, Ye Family.

Within the valley, Spiritual Qi permeated the air, and lush vegetation thrived. Exotic flowers and plants swayed in the breeze everywhere, exuding a refreshing fragrance.

Hundreds of young generation Ye Family Disciples gathered here, each looking excited, their gazes burning as they stared at the various Spirit Beasts in the center of the valley.

Today was the Ye Family's once-a-decade Spirit Beast Contracting Day.

These Spirit Beasts were all of extraordinary Bloodline. There were Crimson Flame Tigers whose bodies burned with fierce flames, robust Iron-Backed Azure Wolves with fur like steel needles, and elegant Luan Birds that could ride the wind... Each one exuded a powerful aura, attracting the attention of the Disciples.

However, among this group of noble-blooded Spirit Beasts, there was an anomaly.

In the most inconspicuous corner of the valley, a small snake, only arm-length and completely black, was coiled in the grass, not even bothering to lift its head.

Its name was Mysterious Ink.

Unlike the other Spirit Beasts, which were full of spirit and eager to be chosen by powerful Disciples, Mysterious Ink's eyes held only dead silence and persistent helplessness.

He was not a creature of this world, but a Transmigrator from the Blue Planet, who had inexplicably become a snake.

Even worse, the timing of his Transmigration was a Hell-level difficulty.

He was forcibly cut from his snake mother's womb by a Ye Family Elder when she was mortally wounded by a powerful enemy, on the verge of death.

This resulted in his severe Innate deficiency, making him sickly, with a feeble aura as if he could stop breathing at any moment.

According to the Ye Family Elder's prognosis, without Heaven And Earth Treasure to extend his Lifespan, he would have at most three months left to live.

“Sigh, another day of slacking off,” Mysterious Ink sighed in his heart, almost losing the strength to even complain.

After Transmigrating, he wasn't without a Golden Finger. A System named “The God of Survival System” was bound to his Soul.

The System's functions were Heaven-Defying — once activated, he would automatically gain 1 experience point per second, and experience points could be used for infinite upgrading, stat allocation, and Bloodline evolution!

Theoretically, given enough time, he could become the most powerful existence between Heaven and Earth.

But the problem was, this System had a damn activation condition — he had to form a contract with a person.

And the prerequisite for forming a contract was that someone had to be willing to choose him.

Mysterious Ink wiggled his weak snake body, feeling the faint life force within him, his heart filled with bitterness.

Looking at his powerful and extraordinary peers around him, then at his own half-dead, withered state, let alone those arrogant Ye Family Prodigies, probably not even the worst Ye Family Disciple would give him a second glance.

Over these past three months, he had gone through several small-scale Spirit Beast selections, each time full of hope, and each time returning disappointed. The undisguised disdain and disgust in the eyes of the Ye Family Disciples as they passed him felt like needles, pricking him until he was almost numb.

Today was the last chance. If no Disciple chose him again, all that awaited him was to silently die when his Lifespan ran out in three months.

“Damn you, old Heaven, did you make me Transmigrate just to experience the despair of being a snake?” Mysterious Ink wailed in his heart, completely giving up.

He buried his head deep in the grass, out of sight, out of mind.

Time slowly passed, and the valley occasionally erupted with the cheers of Disciples successfully contracting Spirit Beasts, with Spiritual Qi fluctuations rising and falling.

Those powerful Spirit Beasts each found their desired owner and were taken away by the proud Ye Family Disciples.

Mysterious Ink could feel that the auras around him were becoming fewer and fewer, and the valley was gradually becoming empty.

Clearly, he had been ignored again.

“It's over... well, at least when I die, I'll still be a free snake,” Mysterious Ink thought mockingly, the last flicker of hope in his heart extinguishing with it.

However, just as he completely fell into despair, a voice as clear and cold as a Tianshan Snow Lotus suddenly sounded above his head.

“Hmm? There's still one here?”

The voice was very soft, yet it was like celestial music from beyond the Nine Heavens, instantly piercing Mysterious Ink's eardrums.

He abruptly lifted his head, and what met his eyes was a pair of elegant cloud-patterned boots.

His gaze slowly moved upwards, revealing a young girl.

The girl wore a simple white dress, her figure slender, her beautiful face unadorned, carrying a hint of aloofness that kept people at a distance. Her eyes were as deep as an ancient well, as if containing myriad stars, a calmness and indifference completely unbefitting her age.

Ye Feiyan!

Mysterious Ink recognized her.

The adopted daughter of the Ye Family Patriarch, a Heaven's Prodigy, and the recognized number one among this generation of Disciples.

However, this Heaven's Prodigy seemed somewhat solitary, always acting alone.

Mysterious Ink didn't understand why, when other powerful Spirit Beasts were almost all chosen, this most dazzling Prodigy would appear in his pathetic corner.

He saw Ye Feiyan's gaze fall upon him. Her gaze was calm, without the undisguised disdain of other Disciples, but also without any appreciation, as if she were looking at a roadside stone.

“Innate Foundation damaged, Demonic Qi weak, Lifespan... no more than three months.”

Ye Feiyan's red lips parted slightly, and with a single sentence, she revealed Mysterious Ink's entire predicament.

Mysterious Ink's heart sank completely.

It's over. Even his biggest secret was seen through at a glance. Now, it's even more impossible for anyone to want him.

He could already foresee that the girl would, like others, turn and leave with a hint of pity or disdain.

But to his surprise, after Ye Feiyan stood quietly in place for a moment, she slowly squatted down, extended a fair, jade-like finger, and gently tapped his head.

“Good, it's less trouble,” she murmured to herself, her voice devoid of any emotion.

Mysterious Ink was stunned by this sudden action, feeling a bit at a loss.

What did this Heaven's Prodigy mean?

As if sensing his confusion, Ye Feiyan's clear, cold eyes fixed on him, and a wave of Divine Thought directly entered Mysterious Ink's mind.

“I want to form a contract with you.”

Boom!

Mysterious Ink's mind instantly went blank.

Happiness... came so suddenly?

He almost thought he had misheard. The number one Prodigy of the Ye Family actually wanted to choose him, this Wasted Snake who was about to die?

Could it be... that she saw some hidden peerless Bloodline in him?

However, Ye Feiyan's next words were like a basin of ice water, drenching him from head to toe.

“You don't need to be happy too soon. I chose you precisely because you are Innately deficient and don't have much Lifespan left.”

The Divine Thought transmission was cold and direct.

“My parents are pressing me, demanding that I contract a Spirit Beast today. I have no interest in these fighting beasts, so I'll just find one to deal with it.”

“Your advantage is that you won't live long. When you die in a few months, it saves me the trouble of personally dissolving the contract.”

“Therefore, the contract I will form with you is a 'pseudo-contract'.

This type of contract, aside from proving the master-servant relationship between us, has no binding force. After your death, your death will not cause any backlash or impact on my Soul and Cultivation.”

“Of course, as compensation for your cooperation in dealing with my parents, while you are alive, I will provide you with some Cultivation resources. As for whether you can use these resources to defy Heaven and change your destiny to survive, that will depend on your own fortune.”

Ye Feiyan's words were concise and clear, devoid of any emotion.

She laid everything out: her purpose, conditions, advantages, and disadvantages, all clearly stated.

Mysterious Ink's ecstasy instantly cooled, leaving only endless reality.

It turned out that he wasn't chosen for his potential, but was treated as a disposable tool, to be used and discarded, without even needing to be personally thrown away.

What the other party valued was not his future, but his “lack of future.”

If these words were spoken to any other Spirit Beast, it would likely provoke immense anger and defiance to the death.

But Mysterious Ink, after a brief period of disappointment, felt an indescribable surge of ecstasy!

Pseudo-contract?

Excellent!

Wasn't the other party just afraid that his death would implicate her?

But how could she know that his greatest reliance was this “The God of Survival System” that required a contract to activate!

As long as the System activated, Lifespan, Foundation, Bloodline... none of these would be problems!

What he wanted was never a powerful master, nor a vast amount of Cultivation resources; what he needed was merely the “title” of a contract, a key to activate the System!

The “pseudo-contract” proposed by Ye Feiyan was simply tailor-made for him!

It could activate the System, and because the contract's binding force was extremely weak, he could escape at any time after he became powerful in the future, without being controlled by others.

“I agree!” Mysterious Ink didn't hesitate at all, immediately responding with Divine Thought, afraid that the other party would go back on her word.

His Divine Thought was very weak, and the information transmitted was intermittent, but Ye Feiyan still received it accurately.

A flicker of imperceptible surprise flashed in Ye Feiyan's clear, cold eyes, as if she hadn't expected him to agree so readily.

However, she didn't think much of it, only assuming it was a dying ant grasping at its last straw.

“Very well.”

She stopped talking nonsense, extended her slender jade-like finger, and forced out a drop of crimson blood.

The blood bead floated in the air, exuding a heart-palpitating pressure and a refreshing fragrance. Just by smelling a trace of its aura, Mysterious Ink felt a sliver of his nearly dried-up vitality recover.

“This woman's Bloodline is probably extraordinary!” Mysterious Ink's heart tensed.

Ye Feiyan lightly raised her fair hand, muttering incantations, and profound runes flew from her fingertips, merging into the drop of essence blood.

Soon, a contract formation, simplified countless times and full of “loopholes,” formed in mid-air.

“Go.”

With her soft command, the blood bead containing the contract formation slowly drifted towards Mysterious Ink, finally sinking into his glabella.

Buzz—

A wondrous connection was established between Mysterious Ink and Ye Feiyan.

He could clearly feel that he had a faint, almost imperceptible connection with the cold girl before him, yet this connection was so fragile it seemed it could break with a touch.

However, Mysterious Ink no longer cared about any of this.

Because, the moment the pseudo-contract was established, a mechanical prompt he had awaited for countless days and nights finally boomed in his mind!

【Ding! Detected that the host has formed a contract with a person!】

【The God of Survival System, successfully activated!】

【Newbie gift package has been distributed, do you wish to open it?】

【Experience point module activated: Automatically gain 1 experience point per second!】

【Current experience points: 1...2...3...】

A series of System prompt sounds, like heavenly music, made Mysterious Ink tremble with excitement.

It's here!

It's finally here!

He could clearly “see” a virtual attribute panel unfolding in his mind, and in the experience points column, the numbers were steadily ticking up at a rate of “+1” per second!

Feeling the continuously growing experience points, Mysterious Ink's excitement and ecstasy almost overflowed.

From this moment on, his three-month death countdown would completely become a joke!

From this moment on, he, this Wasted Snake whom no one looked up to, would embark on a path to immortality as a Gou Shen!

“Let's go.”

Just then, Ye Feiyan's cold voice pulled him back to reality from his ecstasy.

She stood up, turned, and walked out of the valley, never looking at Mysterious Ink again, as if she had merely completed a trivial matter.

Mysterious Ink quickly suppressed the excitement in his heart, swaying his weak body, and tried his best to keep up with her steps.

He raised his head, looking at the proud and cold white back ahead, his eyes becoming incredibly complex.

This nominal master treated him as a tool to be summoned and dismissed at will, to be used and then discarded upon death.

Yet, she did not know what terrifying existence her seemingly casual action had activated.

“Ye Feiyan... Although you only wanted to use me, you ultimately gave me the hope to live. I will remember this Karma.”

Mysterious Ink silently recited in his heart, and deep within his snake pupils, a brilliant glint, unnoticed by anyone, flashed.

The The God of Survival System is a System that allows the host to gain experience points automatically every second, which can be used for infinite upgrading, stat allocation, and Bloodline evolution. It is activated by forming a contract with a person.