Chen Hao had always believed himself to be a player, and this immortal cultivation world, whether its people, treasures, or objects, were merely game characters, mere NPCs.
His experiences across more than ten lifetimes had solidified his conviction.
No matter how powerful a magical treasure or elixir was, it held no effect in the face of time resets.
An immortal elixir refined ten years ago, no matter how potent, would, upon rewinding to ten years prior, necessarily be in an unrefined state, impossible to exist as a finished elixir.
An artifact or magical treasure crafted a century ago, regardless of its might, would, upon time rewinding to a hundred years prior, be nowhere to be found.
There was never anything that could exist eternally across all of time and space.
No existence could withstand the Life Simulation System.
But the very next moment shattered his illusion.
It turned out there was another type of object that transcended the game world.
Transcending the immortal cultivation world.
This object was called a system.
The Supreme Sign-In System could exist across all of time and space, regardless of whether he saved or loaded to any point, it would follow.
As for why he couldn't sign in at this moment, why the Supreme Sign-In System told him the sign-in time had passed and could not be repeated.
Chen Hao found the answer.
"The sign-in system calculates each day based solely on one day of the host's actual existence."
"Regardless of the time, timeline, or worldline, only after the host has personally experienced one day can a sign-in be performed."
"The host had already signed in once and obtained the True Phoenix Blood Essence. Although time has rewound, the sign-in function is on cooldown. The host must truly experience one day in this timeline to sign in again."
"Saving and loading, no matter to which point in time, cannot affect the sign-in function."
The Supreme Sign-In System had made it very clear.
It had its own internal method of calculating time, not based on the time changes of the immortal cultivation world, but solely on the time Chen Hao had personally experienced.
Therefore, any attempt at opportunistic repeated sign-ins became futile.
Furthermore, the True Phoenix Blood Essence from the previous sign-in, along with the Creation Immortal Pill and the Tongtian Spirit Treasure from the beginner's gift pack, had not followed him, completely vanishing into another timeline.
Chen Hao thus understood that the conflict between this Supreme Sign-In System and the Life Simulation System, when using save and load, not only yielded no benefits but, by traveling to an earlier point in time, would result in the loss of sign-in treasures.
These two systems had a certain degree of conflict.
As long as he used the load function once, all items and treasures previously signed in would disappear.
"This system is truly of little use to me."
After reaching this conclusion, Chen Hao could only accept it with resignation.
Although the two systems had a certain conflict, rendering them almost useless in practice, they also caused no harm.
Unable to change the situation, he could only let things be.
Chen Hao began to ponder.
"One more system, so be it. Fortunately, this system doesn't assign me tasks that threaten to obliterate me."
"At most, I can just set it aside and never use it, as if I just have an extra system I'll never touch."
It was as if a curse.
Whenever Chen Hao pondered something, a system would descend.
A "ding" sound rang out again.
"Prodigal System activated. Host must spend all ten thousand taels of silver in the prince's mansion within one day."
"Mission Reward: Infusion of Innate True Qi, granting cultivation at the Innate realm."
Chen Hao: "..."
He had just said he was glad the Supreme Sign-In System wasn't one that assigned tasks.
And now another system attached itself to him?
And immediately issued a task for him to complete?
Spending ten thousand taels of silver would empty more than half of the prince's mansion's treasury.
As for the "infusion of Innate True Qi" and "granting cultivation at the Innate realm," did Chen Hao even need that?
He had already experienced cultivating to the Nascent Soul stage and had even reached the pinnacle of martial arts.
Achieving the Innate realm might be difficult for ordinary people, but for him, it was as easy as could be.
Why would he need to be a spendthrift, complete some prodigal task, and then obtain the system's reward?
He didn't need these.
Even Creation Immortal Pills and Tongtian Spirit Treasures couldn't attract him, nor did he truly care about them, let alone mere Innate cultivation.
The Prodigal System offered him things he had no use for as mission rewards.
This didn't make him happy.
Instead, it filled him with dread.
A third system.
This was already the third system.
Why were so many systems choosing him as their host?
Even the protagonists in novels from Earth usually had only one system, at most two, never three.
Moreover, these three systems had so many conflicts.
Why was he encountering such a situation?
"A fourth system..."
Chen Hao secretly felt apprehensive. He already had three systems. Given how these systems suddenly appeared, he could speculate and deduce what might happen next.
It was highly likely he would get a fourth system.
He did not wish for the arrival of a fourth system.
But some things, no matter how much you wished them not to happen, would still happen.
With another "ding,"
Chen Hao gained a fourth system.
"Ding!"
"Activating the Strongest Show-Off and Face-Slapping System."
"As a transmigrator, if you don't show off and slap faces, what's the fun? Wouldn't your transmigration journey be in vain?"
"Mission issuance begins."
"The host must complete one show-off and face-slapping operation within one hour. The higher the completion, the more shocked the surrounding people, and the richer the rewards."
"If the completion is below twenty percent, the host will be punished!"
"Punishments include, but are not limited to, whipping, tooth extraction, and ultimately, obliteration."
"This system's obliteration ignores all timelines and worldlines, and time resets are ineffective, as are saving and loading."
What Chen Hao feared most, what worried him most, had arrived.
The matter of the Show-Off and Face-Slapping System, the matter of its abilities, was unimportant.
What was most important was that it was a system that assigned tasks and would punish the host for mission failure.
If the previous Prodigal System, although it assigned tasks, only offered rewards for completion and had no penalties, and if he didn't want to do these things or complete the missions, he could simply set it aside.
While he wouldn't get any rewards, there were no downsides.
He could simply ignore it.
But now, this "Strongest Show-Off and Face-Slapping System" had a cruel punishment mechanism; failure to complete it meant immediate obliteration.
And it was obliteration across all timelines and worldlines.
It even specifically pointed out that the automatic loading function of the Life Simulation System would be ineffective against this obliteration, as this obliteration transcended all time and worldlines.
This made Chen Hao utterly disgusted.