Outer District, inside a random inn.

Bexia sat on an unknown fur sofa. Beside him, Christine lay on her stomach in just a shirt, her pale jade feet swaying in the air. She didn’t care at all that this casual pose was enough to turn most men into starving wolves.

After leaving Mighty Group, Bexia had Zemu lead him to an inn and check in. He’d tossed Zemu a small pouch of magic stones to send him off. Zemu didn’t know the Outer District well either, so keeping him around was pointless.

Bexia held the “Frozen Love” ring he’d bought from Mighty Group. This thing needed to be bound with soul power. Once bound, it could never be changed, and no one but him would ever be able to use it.

In the Dimensional Universe, soul binding wasn’t the only method. There were also bindings through iris scans, fingerprints, bloodlines, and more. But soul binding was the best, because pupils, fingerprints, even blood could all be forged. Souls couldn’t. Every living being’s soul was different.

And even if someone had the power to fake a soul, would a being like that really waste effort forging a random virtual network account for you?

Bexia clicked his tongue in genuine praise at how miraculous this thing was. His mental power spread into the ring. He could feel that along his spiritual sense, a scan swept across his soul from within the ring.

“Beep! Soul signature detected. Proceed with imprinting?”

“Imprint.”

“Beep! Imprinting successful. Add First-Level Permission? With First-Level Permission, the user will gain highest authority.”

“Confirm.”

“First-Level Permission set successfully.”

“Virtual Network signal detected. Connect?”

“Connect.”

“Warning! After connection, your physical body in reality will enter a sleep state. Please ensure your surroundings are safe!”

“Beginning connection countdown: 10…9…1!”

“Welcome to the Virtual Network!”

Bexia felt his mind seem to detach from his body. His vision blurred, and the next instant, he was standing in a pure white space.

“So this is the Virtual Network world? Why’s there nothing here?” he asked curiously, glancing around.

“This is your login space, Master. Only after completing your login data can you formally enter the Virtual Network world.” A flash of white light, and a small blue light cluster appeared in front of him. This was Frozen Love’s advanced AI light-brain.

“You’re the AI light-brain?”

“Yes. I am the advanced AI light-brain assigned to assist you, Master.”

“You can change how you look, right?” AI light-brains were virtual constructs; their appearance could be altered at will.

“This is my default form. Master can change me into any appearance you like.”

“In that case…” Bexia lifted his eyebrows. With a thought, he pushed the image he wanted into the light-brain. A moment later, a palm-sized Christine appeared in front of him.

“From now on, you’re Xiaobing.”

“Thank you for the name, Master!” Xiaobing spun joyfully in midair. As an advanced light-brain, her emotional capacity was about the same as a normal child’s.

“Xiaobing, how do I enter the Virtual Network world now?” Bexia reached out and gently pinched the tiny Christine look-alike as he asked.

“You just need to complete your basic information.” Xiaobing waved her small hand. A virtual screen popped up in front of Bexia. It was filled with fields related to personal data. What stunned him was that they weren’t blank at all—they were already fully filled in.

“Name: Bexia

Age: xxx

Place of Birth: xxx

…

Basic Data: xxxxx”

“What’s going on?” Bexia stared at the completely filled-out profile. The details were unbelievably precise.

“Please wait a moment, Master. I’ll send a query to the Virtual Network.” Xiaobing was just as confused. She immediately sent a data request toward the Virtual Network world.

“Master! The Virtual Network reports no errors. Everything is normal. You can enter the Virtual Network world directly!” As Xiaobing finished speaking, a huge door appeared in front of Bexia.

He hesitated for a moment. He still felt a bit baffled, but he stepped through the door anyway. In the next second, his figure vanished from the white starting space. When he came back to his senses, he was already standing in a ruined garden. Wildflowers bloomed chaotically all around. The mixed scent of soil and flowers drifted into his nose. Not far away, mountain after mountain stretched into the distance.

Sight, smell, hearing—everything was identical to reality.

“This is insane…” Bexia reached out and snapped off a flower. Even the touch felt practically identical to the real thing.

Amazing.

It was almost exactly like having his real body here.

“It really is something else.” Bexia looked down at the coarse clothes on his body. They were almost the same as what he’d worn back when he was a shepherd.

“For some reason, I feel a lot stronger…” He clenched his fist and threw a light punch at the air ahead.

“Primal Strike!”

“Boom—!” A symbol suddenly flashed before his eyes. Bexia felt a terrifying force surge out from his fist. In an instant, a distant mountain range was wiped out, cleanly gone, like ice vaporized by raging fire.

“What the hell?!” Bexia was stunned by himself. One casual punch, and he’d flattened an entire string of mountains. When had he ever been this strong?

“Xiaobing, send me the basic information on the Virtual Network world.” As Bexia spoke, another translucent screen appeared in front of him, packed with dense text on the Virtual Network’s fundamentals.

The Virtual Network’s projection wasn’t an ordinary projection; it was a soul projection—a special type that consumed a certain amount of mental power. If you died in this world, your real body would suffer corresponding mental damage, and you wouldn’t be able to enter again for a short period, not until your lost mental power recovered.

After logging into the Virtual Network world, no matter how strong you were in reality, your level here was unified at LV1. Your physical stats were completely reset and identical for everyone. To level up, there was no cultivation. You had to fight the monsters in this world. Killing monsters gave you so-called EXP, and when the EXP bar filled, your level went up, and you grew stronger.

At the same time, monsters dropped all kinds of gear and items when killed. Dimensional coins also came from these monsters—you had a chance to get them from each kill.

What shocked Bexia most was that things in the Virtual Network world weren’t entirely fake. A lot of things were virtual, sure, but this place could fully simulate everything in the outside world. In other words, while you couldn’t bring your cultivation out, you could bring your experience out.