The Substitute Bride - Chapter 15

I am currently re-writing the first chapters of this story. They are quite rough and bounce around a lot and I can do better. At some point, I will replace these with the better chapters.Sometime in 2024 Aethon Books will publish the first volume of this story on Amazon, KU, and audible. This will mean the story will be stubbed. I will notify people far in advance of that.In the dystopian world of the future, life is rough when you live at the bottom. Jobs are non-existent. Far too many people live in poverty, crammed into huge buildings called Habitats. With no jobs in the real world, many people can only find work online in VR worlds as servants to the very rich. And it's getting worse. The old internet is unusable and hacked to pieces. The new system needs AI to run things, but all but one of them were destroyed. The last sentient AI is ordered to create a new game world so the rich can have a playground, and the corporations that rule the world can have a new global market place. Everyone wants a piece of the new game. The guilds are competing to be the first to find the dungeons and kill the biggest monster. The corporations are claiming land and putting in their online market places. Ozzy and his friends just want a paycheck.Four friends sign five year contracts as virtual serfs in a small village, and can't go adventuring at all to gain money. They don't have many choices. They can work as a blacksmith, barmaid and shepherd for all those years....or they can cheat and find ways to take advantage of the system and carve out a section of the game world for themselves, and earn a fortune in the real world.When they give you a mop and not a sword, you have to find the loopholes and change the rules.

Martial arts and cultivation. Two different systems in a single world.

Fang Chen had reached the peak of power in the Grand Xia Empire. He was a mighty Qi Core Stage martial artist, and he led an army of 600 000. Yet he fell prey to the schemes of the Qingsong Empire, and he was defeated at Three World Mountain. His army fell; his vision was taken away from him; his sea qi was shattered, and he became nothing more than a cripple. In his final moment of clarity, a blazing sun and the figure of an immortal were burned into his mind.

The defeated general thus returned, only to face endless humiliation. However, something changed the day he was defeated—Fang Chen realized that his soul could leave his body and roam the world.

For five years, he endured mockery and insults. For five years, he observed everything going on around him without anyone knowing. Five years was neither a short nor long time, but it was enough for him to reach a state of enlightenment.

“Oh, there’s actually a fellow Daoist who received such enlightenment in such a small empire!” - Daoist Yun He, Central Continent Empire.

… Daoist Yun He raised his hand and sent a ray of spiritual light into Fang Chen’s forehead… Those memories constantly intertwined and gathered into a bright golden manual called the [Introduction to the Three Thousand Daos]

How will Fang Chen’s path change and what exciting adventure awaits? Follow Fang Chen in his path of cultivation to become an Immortal of the Nine Realms!

Official blurb:

The path to immortality is mysterious and strange, while humans remain insignificant. The hearts of immortals are as cold as frost. To them, all living beings are but little mayflies, frail and short-lived. Young Fang Chen stumbled upon this path of immortal ascension by chance. Even so, he had only one wish. With a divine sword in hand, Fang Chen wish to establish peace in the Nine Realms!

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