Bu Sha - Volume 12, Chapter 7: The Gamble

He had four disobedient disciples, who now achieved success, won recognition and established their own sects.

The embarrassing thing is that it was him who drove those four out of his sect to make them independent.

But one day he had an incident and lost his cultivation. His life was hanging by a thread. Wandering around, he walked into his third disciple’s territory.

What should I do?

Mountains and seas can be tamed, days and nights can disappear.

Only you, the exceptional you, refuse to give up.

——

A man blessed with fortune, the best in his generation, had an accident and started anew; broken in body but firm in spirit, he now uses his wisdom to guide his evil disciples back to the right path.

Notes :
The title 参商 (Shēnshāng) has two meanings:
1) Constellations Shen (ch. “Three Stars mansion”, eu. Orion) and Shang (ch. “Heart mansion”, eu. Antares), which never appear at the same time.
2) Two friends/relatives who are separated/estranged and irreconcilable.

- Description from Novelupdates

A hundred thousand years ago, there was a great war between cultivators. Immortals fell by the tens of thousands, the path of cultivation itself was severed, and after the dust settled, tombs forested the world.

A hundred thousand years after the last legend faded, Lu Yun, commandant of tomb raiders, descends upon the world. Armed with the Book of Life and Death, he has some burning questions to answer.

……

“This isn’t how you raid a tomb!” Lu Yun smirked at the cultivators frantically scurrying about the ancient tomb. “Do you want me to teach you?”

……

But ah, can someone teach him how to cure his new body’s erectile dysfunction?

Warning This fiction contains:

Graphic Violence Profanity Sensitive Content

Summary – Level 1:

Delve is an isekai litrpg that follows an average guy who just happened to wake up in a forest one day. He wasn’t summoned to defeat the demon lord or to save the world or anything like that, at least as far as he can tell. The only creature there to greet him was a regular old squirrel.

Soon enough, he meets other people, only to discover that he can’t speak the language, and that not everybody immediately trusts random pajama-wearing strangers they met in the middle of the wilderness. Things generally go downhill from there, at least until the blue boxes start appearing.

Delve is a story about finding your way in a new, strange, and dangerous world. It’s about avoiding death, figuring out what the heck is going on, and trying to make some friends along the way. It’s not about getting home, so much as finding a new one.

Did I mention that there will be math?

Summary – Level 2:

Okay, but what are you in for, really?

Well, this story is supposed to be realistic, or at least, as realistic as a fantasy litrpg can be. The main character doesn’t instantly become an all-powerful god and murder-hobo his way across the universe. Delve is, at its heart, a progression fantasy, but that progression is meant to feel earned. The numbers in this story actually mean something. Everything is calculated, and if you find a rounding error, I expect you to tell me about it. That said, if math isn’t your cup of tea, there is plenty more that the story has to offer. Characters are meant to feel real, and progression isn’t only about personal power; it’s also about allies, connections, and above all, knowledge. Figuring out how the system works is a significant theme.

...

What, you want more details? Okay, fine, but this is going to get a bit spoiler-y. Are you sure?

Yes!

Really sure? I mean, this summary is practically half as long as the first chap–

Now!

Okay, okay!

The main character becomes a magic user, but he takes a route that is not very popular in adventurer culture, namely that of a support. There is a full magic system with various spells, skills, and abilities, but our MC decides that aura magic is the way to go, and that the only stat worth investing in is mana regeneration. Most people at the Adventurer’s Guild think that this makes him a bit of a dumbass, but he’s playing the long game. We’ll see how that works out for him, won’t we?

Because of his build, the MC levels up fast, at least compared to normal people. There are no cheats, though, and he is limited in other ways. There are some clear and pretty obvious downsides to his build. That’s what makes it fun, no?

Morals? Our MC has them. Again, we’ll see how that works out for him. Realism, remember? Would you be okay with killing someone and looting their body? I sure hope not.

POV? The focus is on the main character, but there will be occasional varying perspectives from people around him, or involved in the events related to the main plot. It isn’t going to jump all over the place.

Tech is standard medieval stasis. No smartphones, but the MC does have a technical background. Computers and their programming might be involved. There might even be a bit of uplifting down the road, who knows? Anyway, it isn’t the focus. He isn’t going to invent the gun in chapter 1 and change the face of warfare.

Romance is not a major focus. Friendships are more the name of the game, though there will be some characters in romantic relationships.

There is exploration, though not as much of the geographical nature as you might expect. It is more about exploration of the system and the culture.

The pace is slow and detailed, sometimes verging on slice-of-life. The action is meant to be realistic and grounded in the numbers, and it is intended to have meaning beyond simply punching things until they stop moving.

The general tone of the story is grey, and some parts can get quite dark. People die. Sometimes, people with names, but not anywhere near GoT level. There is plenty of light, too, though, to balance the darkness. The world is dangerous, but overcoming that danger is why we’re all here, isn’t it?

Anyway, if you’ve made it this far through the summary, you clearly like words. I hope you enjoy the story!

Le Wan transmigrated into a book, becoming a sacrifice in the fight between a real rich daughter and a fake rich daughter. Being the cousin of the real rich daughter, she had a good family background and looks, as well as the affection of all other family members and her fiance. She is unquestionably the object of group pampering, treated like a princess, and born lucky… She would have been a winner if she had not sabotaged herself.

However, the problem was that her fiance was the male lead! A philandering scumbag, he would always call Le Wan ‘darling’ before the female lead showed up, stealing the cousin’s heart. However, once the female lead appeared, he started calling her ‘sister’ instead and distant himself, insisting that he was loyal to the female lead. Being lovestruck and having been pampered since birth, Le Wan’s original body could not accept being dumped for the rich daughter, who was raised in a farming village! She decided to endlessly harass the female lead, reducing herself to cannon fodder and subjecting her whole family to the same fate.

However, Le Wan was her own person, and she would rather stay pampered by her family and live with them happily ever after. Male lead? That piece of trash? He belongs in a trash can! I have no feelings for him at all! The rich daughter tried to frame her to get the family’s affection and use her as a tool? Sorry, but I don’t live in a dog-eat-dog world as you do. Bring me my popcorn. I will watch them tear each other apart! The ice-cold villain? Stroking her chin and smiling like a shrewd fox, Le Wan said: Oh, poor you… Come to me. I will pamper you lots. The villain who was receiving lots of cuddling: What happened? Who am I? Where am I?