The existence of divine-grade treasures in <Top Talent Show> was no secret. It was precisely because of those divine-grade treasures that no matter how many powerful spectators entered the broadcast, no one found it surprising. After all, the Universe Federation was a world that pursued absolute strength above everything else.
Although He Yu had previously introduced an entirely new system, causing endless debates throughout the Federation over whether equipment was truly necessary, one fact remained undeniable: even if He Yu really proved that equipment was far less important than people believed, it still wouldn't change the position divine-grade treasures held in the hearts of the Federation's citizens.
The number of divine-grade treasures in the Federation could be counted on one hand. Two of them had been fought over countless times, and no one even knew where they had ultimately ended up.
Every single divine-grade treasure represented a planetary war.
It represented bloody struggle.
It represented the rise of a new power...
...or the birth of an unrivaled expert.
That alone was enough to show just how significant divine-grade treasures were.
Rumor had it that <Top Talent Show> contained three divine-grade treasures!
If the competition hadn't been so brutally cruel, with such an absurdly high death rate, practically everyone in the Federation with any combat ability would have wanted to participate.
After all...
Those were three divine-grade treasures!
As long as someone obtained one, they could immediately stand at the very top of the food chain.
Of course, whether they actually possessed the ability to keep such a treasure—and unleash its full power—depended entirely on the individual.
For the overwhelming majority of spectators, divine-grade treasures were nothing more than legends.
Even though everyone knew they had appeared in <Top Talent Show>, very few had ever actually seen one. Most people didn't even know what they looked like.
Among the three legendary divine-grade treasures of <Top Talent Show>, there was only one they truly knew—
Li Zhan's zither.
The Sixteenth Top Talent Show had been destined for glory.
Li Zhan's zither had been forged along his path to godhood, crafted before the eyes of every spectator. After Li Zhan ascended to become a god, recordings related to him had gradually been destroyed.
Destroying them for the sake of preserving a god's prestige and mystery...
...wasn't unusual at all.
Of course, they had never been completely erased.
Anyone who truly wanted to search could still find them.
Anyone who paid attention to <Top Talent Show> had seen, to some degree, the terrifying scene of Li Zhan wielding his zither and slaughtering his way through the finals.
That overwhelming combat power.
That terrifying enhancement in strength.
The power of a divine-grade treasure was absolutely incomparable to any high-grade equipment.
There were countless pieces of high-grade equipment.
Divine-grade treasures, meanwhile, numbered only in the single digits.
Who hadn't dreamed, when they were young, of holding a divine-grade treasure and ruling the universe?
But...
A dream was only a dream.
The only divine-grade treasure they had ever seen was Li Zhan's zither.
As for the remaining two, they not only had no idea what they were—they weren't even sure they truly existed.
And now...
The one divine-grade treasure they had actually seen...
The very thing that had fueled countless dreams...
Had appeared openly before their eyes.
So suddenly.
So unexpectedly.
That everyone was left speechless.
Some even suspected their own eyes were deceiving them.
They looked at the system notification.
Rubbed their eyes.
Looked again.
No mistake.
It really was a divine-grade treasure.
Li Zhan's zither.
The audience: "!!!"
Eugene and the others: "!!!"
The instance had already ended.
Logically speaking, Eugene and the others should simply have waited to be transported to the transfer station.
Instead, almost everyone did exactly the same thing.
They pulled out a potion.
Drank it.
Then immediately activated their flight equipment and rushed toward He Yu.
That was a divine-grade treasure!
Rushing over immediately was the most natural reaction imaginable.
Those who were too far away knew they wouldn't make it in time.
But Eugene and the others were this close.
How could they possibly not rush over?
The heavens had already been restored.
After the Black Tangyuan completed the final barrier, everyone received the promotion notification, their bodies completely returned to human form, the world stopped collapsing, and since they were human again, their equipment naturally became usable as well.
There wasn't a single person who could remain indifferent after hearing the words "divine-grade treasure."
Oh.
There was one exception.
He Yu.
He looked at the zither floating before him and fell into thought.
Anyone could tell at a glance that it wasn't ordinary.
It floated silently in the air, yet no one could look away from it.
It wasn't quite like the guzheng He Yu remembered.
It was smaller and more compact.
In fact, it resembled Blue Star's ancient guqin more closely.
Its body was entirely pale blue, much like a blue eye—but lighter in color.
The strings were faintly visible.
Unlike the translucent blue body, the strings shimmered with flowing light, every one of them radiating razor-sharp brilliance.
It was an exceptionally beautiful instrument.
In the lower-right corner, two characters had been engraved—
Li Zhan.
The zither floated before He Yu.
No one held it.
No one played it.
Yet immense power already flowed invisibly around it, allowing everyone present to feel the pressure and threat emanating from the instrument.
Anyone with functioning eyes could tell that this divine-grade treasure was extraordinary.
Eugene, Duan Yuchen, and the others hurried over, staring in shock at He Yu and the zither before him.
They hadn't rushed over intending to do anything.
They didn't even know what they wanted to do.
Nor did they understand what they themselves were feeling.
Their emotions were simply...
Unbelievably complicated.
Excitement.
Envy.
Jealousy.
He Yu had actually obtained a divine-grade treasure!
Moreover, this wasn't a system reward.
It had dropped from the Black Tangyuan.
Although He Yu hadn't personally killed it, it had died because of him and its death was directly connected to him.
Naturally, equipment had dropped.
It was just a Black Tangyuan.
So how had it dropped a divine-grade treasure??
If they had known beforehand...
They would have attacked the Black Tangyuan first back in the castle!
He Yu's luck...
...was simply too enviable.
The Bullet Screen remained blank for a long time.
Only after Eugene and the others arrived did the audience finally recover, flooding the screen.
"Divine-grade treasure! My god, I wasn't seeing things!"
"He Yu's luck is unbelievable! He actually got a divine-grade treasure!"
"A divine-grade treasure dropped from an NPC? So one of Top Talent Show's divine-grade treasures was hidden inside a Tangyuan all along..."
"I'm so jealous I'm crying! Ahhh, I want it!"
"My god, people were saying He Yu didn't even have equipment, and now he directly gets a divine-grade treasure!"
"With this divine-grade treasure, He Yu's combat strength is finally going to skyrocket. He won't lose to anyone anymore."
"A divine-grade treasure! And it's Li Zhan's zither! Wuwuwu... Lord Zhan, my idol."
"He's my idol too! He Yu is making people jealous to the point of going insane!"
...
Suppressing his overwhelming excitement, Eugene asked through tears,
"He Yu... is this really Li Zhan's zither?"
After thinking for a moment, He Yu nodded.
"Your luck is seriously unbelievable!" Duan Yuchen clutched his chest, desperately restraining the urge to snatch it away. "It's Li Zhan's zither! A divine-grade treasure! My god..."
He was already so overwhelmed that he couldn't speak coherently.
His eyes had turned bloodshot as he looked at He Yu.
Once equipment acknowledged its owner, unless He Yu willingly gave it away—or someone killed He Yu—no contestant could obtain it.
Even if someone did kill He Yu, there was no guarantee this zither would be among the dropped equipment.
Besides...
Until the next round began, contestants couldn't attack one another anyway.
No matter how bloodshot their eyes became...
They could only endure.
Siya grabbed her head and asked tearfully,
"He Yu... do you know how to play the zither? Since it's an instrument, if you can't play it, that would probably affect its combat power."
That was the only consolation left to them.
If He Yu couldn't fully unleash the divine-grade treasure's strength...
...they could at least comfort themselves with that thought.
Eugene cautiously stepped forward, his eyes filled with expectation.
"He Yu... may I take a look?"
He Yu said nothing.
Which clearly wasn't a refusal.
Eugene rubbed his hands together and carefully reached out.
His fingertip lightly touched one of the strings.
Zheng—
A sharp note rang out.
At the same instant, Eugene's finger was sliced open.
He inhaled sharply.
"This zither is unbelievably sharp. If I hadn't pulled my hand back fast enough, it would've cut my finger clean off. There's no way it can be used directly."
Duan Yuchen also leaned closer and gently touched the body of the instrument.
"It's ice-cold... the craftsmanship is incredible. I can't even tell what material it's made from. As expected of a divine-grade treasure. It's still far beyond the level where I could even begin studying how to forge something like this."
Siya glanced at him.
"...You actually dare dream about forging a divine-grade treasure."
He Yu ignored them.
Supporting the guqin from underneath, he slowly examined every inch of it.
His gaze paused briefly on the engraved name "Li Zhan" before quietly moving on.
His fingers lightly brushed the strings.
As expected.
Blood immediately welled up from his fingertips.
The strings were unimaginably sharp.
He hadn't even felt any pain yet, but his fingers were already drenched in blood.
Holding the zither, he suddenly looked down toward someone beneath the castle.
"Ling Buchen," he said, "if I remember correctly, you once obtained a high-grade piece of equipment—the Prosthetic Arm."
Ling Buchen had remained below the castle the entire time.
He had been nothing more than an utterly ordinary stone.
He possessed no combat ability, so no one had paid him any attention.
Even after order was restored and he returned to human form, nobody noticed him.
Beside him, Wanrenzhan was too badly injured to stand and still lay motionless on the ground.
The audience had noticed Wanrenzhan.
But not Ling Buchen.
Plain and unremarkable.
Even while standing perfectly intact, no one saw him.
That had been true before.
Now, however, He Yu had looked directly at him.
And called him by name.
Naturally, everyone's eyes followed.
What an astonishingly weak sense of presence.
Ling Buchen froze before nodding blankly.
"I think I did. I got it during the <Who Is the Undercover> instance. Do you want it?"
As he spoke, he took out the Prosthetic Arm, preparing to hand it to He Yu.
Although it was a high-grade piece of equipment, Ling Buchen didn't care.
He owned quite a few pieces of equipment.
Even if none compared to the divine-grade treasure He Yu had obtained, he still had all sorts of different items.
Giving one to He Yu didn't bother him in the slightest.
If He Yu wanted it...
He could give He Yu every piece of equipment he owned.
Watching him produce the Prosthetic Arm, the audience gradually remembered that scene as well.
Back then, after clearing the instance together, everyone had received equipment.
He Yu had deliberately chosen the only piece without combat capability.
Ling Buchen had been left with the only remaining non-combat item—the Prosthetic Arm.
Back then, he'd simply laughed and said he was actually very good at playing the zither.
The audience fell into nostalgia.
So did Duan Yuchen.
So did Siya.
And at that moment, He Yu calmly said,
"The Banana Leaf Fan is broken. You're missing a combat-oriented piece of equipment."
"I'm giving Li Zhan's zither to you."
The audience: "?"
Eugene and the others: "??"
For one brief instant...
They suspected they'd misheard.
Giving away...
A divine-grade treasure?
Was there something wrong with He Yu's head?!
Everyone was stunned.
Not a single person spoke.
The air became eerily silent.
The atmosphere turned indescribably strange.
The Bullet Screen filled with nothing but question marks.
Ling Buchen also froze.
Holding the Prosthetic Arm, he looked up at He Yu.
Meeting his gaze, He Yu asked seriously,
"If I give you this zither... are you willing to bear the risks that come with it?"
Their eyes met across the distance.
One stood atop the castle.
The other below it.
Separated by space, they looked at one another.
Just like their first meeting at the transfer station.
The moment their gazes crossed...
...it was as though they could see directly into one another's souls.
A slow smile spread across Ling Buchen's face.
That gentle, jade-like face now shone with dazzling brilliance.
He was actually very handsome.
It was simply that his "ordinary" attribute caused people to unconsciously overlook him.
They overlooked his strength.
His appearance.
Even his personality.
"I am."
He answered.
Everyone: "???"
【Bullet Screen: "???"】
【Bullet Screen: "If the situation weren't completely wrong, I'd think this was a marriage proposal."】
【Bullet Screen: "But who the hell proposes with a divine-grade treasure? One actually dares to give it, and the other actually dares to accept it!!"】
【Bullet Screen: "What kind of place is Blue Star?! Does it mass-produce weirdos?!"】
【Bullet Screen: "He Yu has gone insane!! He actually gave away a divine-grade treasure?!"】
He Yu gave it.
Ling Buchen accepted it.
One truly dared to give.
The other truly dared to take.
Eugene exploded.
"He Yu! Have you lost your mind?! You're actually giving away a divine-grade treasure?!"
Even Duan Yuchen couldn't understand.
He looked at He Yu.
Then at Ling Buchen.
No matter how clever he considered himself, he simply couldn't comprehend what was happening before his eyes.
Siya muttered,
"...Maybe I'm the one whose brain is broken."
Otherwise...
How could she possibly witness someone giving away a divine-grade treasure?
What kind of joke was this?
This scene alone deserved a place among the most unbelievable events since the founding of the Universe Federation.
Even Wanrenzhan, lying on the ground on the verge of death, felt suffocated by what he was seeing.
He couldn't understand.
Why?
They didn't understand.
Nor did He Yu or Ling Buchen intend to explain.
Their gazes met once more.
Smiles appeared on both their faces.
—I am willing.
—Willing to bear the risks.
Willing to fight beside you.
He Yu released his hand.
Before the disbelieving eyes of everyone inside and outside the competition...
Li Zhan's zither slowly flew toward Ling Buchen.
Meanwhile, the corners of He Yu's lips curved upward.
He was in an exceptionally good mood.
He Yu had always envisioned the weapon he truly wanted.
This zither wasn't suitable for him.
It was, however, perfectly suited to Ling Buchen.
Ling Buchen had enough intelligence.
Enough luck.
What he lacked was just a little strength.
With this zither...
He would be able to help He Yu far more effectively.
As for a divine-grade treasure?
At the end of the day...
It was only a piece of equipment.
Perhaps He Yu had long since obtained his own.
Compared to a combat-oriented divine-grade treasure...
He preferred the support-oriented one he already possessed.
The reason He Yu was happy...
...was because he had found someone who truly understood him.
The people from Blue Star all accepted his new system far more easily.
They didn't place too much importance on equipment.
No matter how powerful a divine-grade treasure might be...
It was still only equipment.
Equipment that could be forged again.
Ling Buchen didn't value equipment either.
Yet he accepted the zither without hesitation because he understood that He Yu's ambitions reached far beyond a mere weapon.
Only by holding this zither would he possess the strength to fight beside He Yu.
To challenge the Game Master together.
To overturn the rules that oppressed them.
No matter how unbelievable everyone found it...
The zither still slowly floated to Ling Buchen.
He took a deep breath.
Looked away.
Then, under He Yu's watchful gaze...
Accepted the zither.
Today, he accepted He Yu's zither.
One day...
He would repay He Yu with the finest hand imaginable.
Eugene still looked completely dazed.
Only after Ling Buchen stored Li Zhan's zither away did he finally realize—
He Yu had really given a divine-grade treasure to Ling Buchen.
Unable to understand, he asked,
"He Yu, do you realize—"
His voice stopped abruptly.
The instance ended.
Every contestant was pulled into the transfer station.
The collapsing world, however, did not disappear.
Some instances were erased by the system after completion.
Others remained permanently, preserved as complete instance worlds that might one day be used again.
The Red King and the Green King, who had just arrived, stared at one another in bewilderment.
The toys had become human.
And they...
Still retained their human forms.
The moment the Heavenly Dao was completed, they heard the new rules and the new order.
The toys had become human.
They themselves would also remain human.
However—
No war.
No fighting.
Maintain peace.
It turned out...
The inheritance belonged to every living being on the Collapsed Planet.
It had never belonged exclusively to the Black Camp.
Nor had the Black Tangyuan ever truly stood on the side of the Black Camp alone.
If they had known this from the beginning...
Why had they tried to stop the inheritance from merging?
Why had they wasted hundreds of years fighting one another?
Wouldn't it have been better to restore order sooner and return the Collapsed Planet to normal?
Everyone from the Red and Green Camps—including those from the Black Camp—was overwhelmed with complicated emotions.
They remained silent for a very long time.
Of course...
None of that had anything to do with He Yu and the others anymore.
This instance no longer had anything to do with them.
Transfer Station.
Eugene, Duan Yuchen, and the others entered the Transfer Station carrying equal measures of jealousy and confusion.
Eugene was just about to continue what he'd been saying before—
But Wanrenzhan exploded first.
"He Yu, are you insane?! You actually gave away a divine-grade treasure! Is there water in your brain?!"
He had wanted to yell at He Yu earlier.
Unfortunately, he'd been in such miserable condition, without a recovery potion, that all he could do was lie there fuming.
Wanrenzhan casually grabbed Ling Buchen by the collar and hauled him over.
Jealousy practically consumed him.
"How does a little weakling like this deserve your attention? Why would you give it to him?!"
At this point, even Wanrenzhan himself no longer knew whether he was more jealous that Ling Buchen had obtained the divine-grade treasure...
...or more jealous that He Yu valued Ling Buchen more highly than he valued him.
But his words landed like a bomb.
The crowd, already unable to stay calm because of He Yu obtaining a divine-grade treasure, immediately erupted.
"He Yu gave the divine-grade treasure to Ling Buchen?"
"Why?"
"You actually gave away a divine-grade treasure!"
"That's Li Zhan's zither! The only divine-grade treasure personally forged by the one and only god in Top Talent Show!!"
...
He Yu raised a hand and habitually adjusted his rimless glasses.
Finally being able to push up his glasses again put him in an exceptionally good mood.
"I know," he said calmly. "But I wanted to give it away."
Everyone: "..."
Every argument they had prepared was instantly crushed by those simple words—
"I wanted to."
Who cared that it was a divine-grade treasure?
Who cared how powerful or important it was?
He Yu had only one answer—
I wanted to.
What are you going to do about it?
What could they possibly do?
The treasure wasn't theirs.
All they could do was stare with bloodshot eyes...
...and bleed with jealousy.
How could he bear to part with it?!
However...
Looking at it from another angle...
Now that the zither was in Ling Buchen's hands, it would actually be easier to obtain.
After all...
No matter how anyone looked at it, Ling Buchen seemed much easier to deal with than He Yu.
He Yu was simply too unpredictable.
Maybe having the zither in Ling Buchen's possession was actually a good thing.
If they killed Ling Buchen...
Perhaps it would drop?
Thinking that way, quite a few contestants exchanged glances.
More than one pair of eyes landed on Ling Buchen with ill intent.
【Bullet Screen: "Did He Yu give away Li Zhan's zither because he was afraid everyone would target him?"】
【Bullet Screen: "What are you talking about? Even without Li Zhan's zither, everyone would've targeted He Yu anyway. Still... He Yu's luck really is unbelievable."】
【Bullet Screen: "The Discussion Plaza is practically exploding. Everyone's debating this, and countless people are analyzing why He Yu gave away the zither. Unfortunately, nobody has a definitive answer."】
【Bullet Screen: "Forget the Discussion Plaza. Every social platform in the Federation is talking about Li Zhan's zither right now. Apparently even a bunch of hidden old monsters have come crawling out."】
【Bullet Screen: "That's Li Zhan's offensive-type divine-grade treasure! Ling Buchen is the real lucky bastard! Even though He Yu obtained it, it ended up in Ling Buchen's hands! That means Ling Buchen's luck is actually the best!!"】
【Bullet Screen: "Heh. Now that he has Li Zhan's zither, he's officially stepped into the center of a deadly whirlpool. Everyone will be watching him."】
It wasn't only the contestants.
Even the audience was consumed by jealousy.
When Ling Buchen had originally received the Prosthetic Arm, everyone had mocked it as a useless piece of equipment.
Who could have imagined...
That Li Zhan's zither would come afterward?
Now he possessed the Prosthetic Arm.
Then He Yu handed him Li Zhan's zither.
He could use it immediately.
It was practically perfect.
If Li Zhan's zither had fallen into anyone else's hands, they wouldn't have been able to use it at all without the high-grade Prosthetic Arm.
And that Prosthetic Arm...
Hadn't they seen Li Zhan wearing something very similar?
Could the two actually be part of the same set?
Was Ling Buchen really that lucky?
Wasn't he afraid everyone would target him?
Ling Buchen remained perfectly calm.
When He Yu gave him the zither, he'd already warned him about the risks.
Ling Buchen had accepted willingly.
Naturally, he also accepted the schemes, jealousy, and attempts to seize it that would inevitably follow.
If he couldn't even handle something like this...
Then he probably wouldn't be able to help He Yu much in the future.
He'd simply be too useless.
Wanrenzhan wasn't actually after Li Zhan's zither.
He was just furious.
Letting go of Ling Buchen, he folded his arms and sneered at He Yu.
"You gave Li Zhan's zither to trash like Ling Buchen. When the next round starts—the real deathmatch—I want to see what combat equipment you'll have left."
He Yu possessed no offensive equipment.
Originally, he'd always been the ultimate support, relying on others to fight alongside him.
When he'd displayed his terrifying solo-carry abilities in <National Romance>...
He'd used that blindingly radiant longsword.
Later...
The sword broke.
He no longer had an offensive weapon.
And now he'd given away a divine-grade treasure.
He really wasn't afraid of dying.
He Yu glanced at him indifferently.
Both the lenses of his glasses and the eyes behind them were equally cold.
"I didn't have equipment before, either."
Wanrenzhan froze.
That was true.
He Yu had been even weaker back then than he was now.
Yet he'd still made it all the way here.
He had always believed equipment wasn't important.
In fact, back in <Dawn Training School>, he'd openly declared—
Equipment was just a middleman.
He wanted to walk a path where there was no middleman taking a cut.
Duan Yuchen suddenly seemed to realize something.
Stepping forward, he asked,
"That longsword... it can still be repaired?"
He Yu replied calmly,
"I never said it couldn't."
Duan Yuchen sucked in a sharp breath.
So...
He Yu really intended to reforge that sword.
That sword was anything but ordinary.
If He Yu could forge the Crescent Moon Scimitar...
Would the weapon he forged for himself possibly be ordinary?
There was absolutely no way its combat power was merely the "6" displayed by the system.
Would someone like He Yu give away an offensive divine-grade treasure...
...without preparing something for the final deathmatch?
Knowing He Yu...
He would probably forge...
Something that surpassed even Li Zhan's zither.
Silence descended once again.
The entire Transfer Station became unusually quiet.
Fewer and fewer people remained.
Those left were almost all familiar faces.
And with Li Zhan's zither appearing on the eve of the deathmatch...
Even though it now rested in the hands of the seemingly insignificant Ling Buchen...
Everyone still felt an uncontrollable heaviness in their hearts.
The true slaughter...
...was about to begin.
Then, amid the oppressive silence, a voice full of envy suddenly sounded.
"Congratulations on clearing such an ultra-high-difficulty instance. Your performance was truly beyond expectations. It's just a pity I couldn't cooperate with you."
Zhen Xing.
He slowly stood up from the corner, put away his Rubik's Cube, and looked at them with unmistakable envy.
That ultra-high-difficulty instance.
That hopeless opening.
Yet they'd still forced their way through it.
What an exhilarating experience.
This was probably...
The first instance ever to advance so many contestants.
Thinking back to desperately resisting...
Dancing on the edge of death...
Trusting their competitors...
It truly had been a novel experience.
One that left behind indescribably complicated emotions.
They couldn't help looking at the people beside them.
Recalling how they'd fought together against the Red and Green Camps...
A faint smile appeared on their lips.
The tense atmosphere immediately softened.
After all...
These were people they'd cooperated with.
People with whom they'd danced together on the edge of death.
That naturally made things a little different.
Even Eugene and Gedai found each other slightly more agreeable now.
Only slightly.
Step by step, Zhen Xing walked over until he stood before He Yu.
Raising an eyebrow, he asked,
"Care to talk?"
He Yu didn't refuse.
He followed Zhen Xing toward a secluded corner.
Ling Buchen and Bo Jingshan came along as well.
They were both people He Yu trusted.
Zhen Xing had no objections.
The four of them had effectively formed a new camp.
Ling Buchen and Bo Jingshan would absolutely follow He Yu's arrangements.
Zhen Xing was now part of He Yu's camp as well.
After reaching the corner, making sure no one could see them, they also turned off the livestream.
With an unusually serious expression, Zhen Xing spoke immediately.
"He Yu."
"I think there was something wrong with that last instance."
He Yu immediately looked at Zhen Xing.
Their eyes met.
A moment later...
He Yu smiled.
It seemed...
He had found not just one kindred spirit.
Visit and read more novel to help us update chapter quickly. Thank you so much!
Use arrow keys (or A / D) to PREV/NEXT chapter