Damn it! Let's smash the darkness together!

"I'm really stupid, really."

Gu Qian leaned on the window, watching Xu Shu outside who was now covered in black blood, his eyes filled with regret and self-blame.

"I only told him that ordinary humans can't contain the Curse Seal and will die without the necessary Promotion Drive;

"but I didn't make it clear that the reason ordinary humans can't obtain the Promotion Drive is that even with it, they are unlikely to succeed."

"Their physical quality is not good enough, nowhere near meeting the containment requirements. Even with the protection of the Promotion Drive, it is almost certain death."

"What did he just say about clinging to it himself? He probably didn't listen to me till the end and used it, making up excuses just to save face, right?"

"Hey, hey, could you hang in there a little longer, please?"

"If it really doesn't work, before you die, at least help me open the prison door!"

Gu Qian kept pounding on the window, helplessly watching Xu Shu lying on the ground, his body spurting blood from every pore like fountains.

He was utterly desperate.

Now, the only person who could move freely in the prison was going to die as well.

In this case, today's meal really was going to be the last breakfast.

Annoyance, regret, self-blame, despair.

"Dad! Mom! Not only did I fail to restore our family's glory, but I'm also going to die here. Your son has failed you!"

Suddenly, Gu Qian's expression became vacant.

"What, what are you doing?"

The scene before him was too bizarre.

A man, failing to contain the power, his body erupting with blood, about to die.

Normally, at this point, one might either clutch their head and wail in despair, faint on the spot, or some might endure through sheer willpower, and so forth.

But Xu Shu?

He was...

doing sit-ups?

Today, Gu Qian really felt his heart had numbed too many times.

From being threatened to be fed feces at the start, numb all night;

Then having the Promotion Drive stolen from him, another slight numbing.

Do not presume slight numbing to be no numbing; in any case, he felt almost numb.

And now, this man had begun his bizarre act of Heavenly Defiance.

He always managed to make you think you've suffered enough and there's nothing more to care about, and then, he gives you goosebumps!

He was really, really, too preposterous!

"I'm really fucking numb now!"

...

...

"I'm really stupid, really."

Blood pooled in Xu Shu's eyes, the dense dark red blurring his vision.

"I knew that lies could harm people; I didn't realize that the complete truth could also harm people, especially this kind of half-understood truth."

The Curse Seal had always been no issue.

Just now, however, like being electrocuted, it suddenly burrowed into his body.

At this moment, Xu Shu truly felt he was going to die again.

Originally, he had planned to act shrewdly and wait for the sun to rise, for the attempts to refresh, to use a simulation to confirm if he could succeed.

But who knew, in just this brief moment, without him going to contain it, it came to him!

Clearly, it was the Promotion Drive that had, through Xu Shu's body, triggered some unknown chain reaction.

His body felt as if it was on fire, burning hot, and as if countless ants were crawling all over.

His bones hurt so much that even breathing became difficult.

This pain was only slightly less than being sliced piece by piece by the Black Widow.

After the Curse Seal merged into his body, it felt as if it exploded.

Blood kept oozing out uncontrollably, life rapidly slipping away.

"So this is it, the limit of humans..."

Feeling the pain as if his flesh was being eaten piece by piece, feeling life continuously stripped away, feeling the bugs crawling inside him—Xu Shu understood, that must be the "curse power."

Curse power was eroding him!

If it were someone else, this moment would mean nothing but awaiting death, no chance of turning the tables.

Containment, failed...

"No, it's not over yet!"

Xu Shu had one last trick up his sleeve!

He lay on the ground, brought his legs together, curled up his knees, placed his hands behind, and the fingers intertwined, clasping his head.

Sit-ups, initiate!

"One two three four five six seven eight..."

All at once, with his waist moving up and down, a warm current rose inside, flowing slowly.

The mysterious power continuously replenished the void from blood loss, and the weakness was relieved.

The "depletion" caused by the curse power eroding inside had been rapidly replenished.

Title: Sit-ups (Taboo)!

"As long as I keep doing sit-ups, I can continuously restore life! And while I'm doing sit-ups, forces below the taboo can't kill me!"

"This Black Widow Curse Seal, even if inscribed with the 'Heart of Steel,' is at most Legendary!"

"This level of curse power erosion can't kill me!"

"If only the speed of life recovery could match the speed of life loss, then I could resurrect right here with full health!"

"So painful, so painful... I really want to lie down..."

"No, I can't stop the treatment!"

Xu Shu's mind was almost in delirium from the pain, but his eyes were fierce.

His body really hurt, every bone, every cell screamed in agony, the pain pushing his consciousness to blur, almost at his limit.

But he couldn't stop, stopping meant death, hanging on meant living!

Life recovery and curse power erosion were intensely contested.

Since the erosion was faster than recovery, Xu Shu was now on the verge of death.

If it weren't for the characteristic of "Sit-ups" that had hung onto his last breath, he would have actually been dead.

But now, the health bar was locked!

At this moment, Xu Shu finally understood the real usage of the "Sit-ups" immortality characteristic.

He should be called Famous Sword Fate!

Every sit-up was a shattering of a famous sword.

But it didn't matter, as long as he kept doing sit-ups, the famous sword effect would continue! (Note 1)

The only problem was that he could not stop; once he stopped, he would die immediately.

"Push through, push through! Push through ah ah ah!"

His consciousness had been completely disrupted by pain and corruption.

But Xu Shu, relying on his strong will, continued to do sit-ups incessantly, even though his brain was completely confused.

At this moment, he had lost all concept of time, with his body continuing to do sit-ups as if out of inertia, as if it would never stop.

He was struggling on the brink of life and death.

He was dancing under the Death God's scythe.

He was repeatedly jumping about on the threshold of Yama Palace!

Finally.

He didn't know how much time had passed, but Xu Shu gradually regained consciousness.

His body was no longer in pain.

Instead, it was filled with a strange, rich, and unprecedented sense of power.

"I succeeded... The Curse Seal has been contained by me!"

"Is this the power of a Transcendent?"

Xu Shu looked around the corridor, which was covered in his own black blood and a large amount of unknown filth as if expelled from his pores, creating an unbearable stench.

But his whole body felt very light, all the vague sense of fatigue swept away, as if he had undergone a metamorphosis.

"Ugh~"

"Ha ha!"

He retched while laughing as he stood up.

He felt that he could now punch a cow to death with one punch.

No, ten cows!

"You... you resurrected? How is that possible!"

At this moment, Gu Qian in the adjacent cell also witnessed this scene and stared in disbelief.

Xu Shu glanced at him and said with a carefree smile, "Resurrected? I succeeded, the Curse Seal has already been contained by me. I am now a Transcendent."

"Ah? This, this, how did you do it?" Gu Qian murmured to himself, "This is impossible, this is not scientific... no, this isn't mysticism 0.0"

He simply couldn't imagine.

It seemed, seeing Xu Shu successfully contain it was even more improbable than being dead and resurrected.

"Nothing is impossible. Who says you can't be Transcendent without talent? It's fate... ah, I won't talk to you for now, I need to go to the washroom; I'm too dirty."

Xu Shu looked down at the "Promotion Drive" embedded in the center of his chest.

It was emitting a mix of golden and red glows, like a turbine, making Xu Shu appear like a mechanically modified person.

At the same time, the slight change happening there gave Xu Shu a thought, as if inviting him: poke here.

After thinking for a moment, Xu Shu hurried back and entered the washroom next to the storage room.

He then took off his clothes that were filled with filth and blissfully took a naked shower.

Just after drying off his body, he somewhat impatiently, and with a touch of curiosity, stretched out his finger and tapped on the center of the Promotion Drive turbine.

Click! Click!

The turbine inside suddenly bit onto Xu Shu's finger like a small cat; he could feel a soft pricking sensation, as if being licked.

Then there was a slight pain, probably because a drop of blood had been extracted.

The next moment, a beam of optical particles radiated from the Promotion Drive, scanning back and forth in the air in front of Xu Shu, condensing into a light screen.

Informative prompts scrolled on it:

[Promotion Drive activated, attempting to obtain authorization from Lie Zhenzi...]

[Lie Zhenzi has authorized, linking to Promotion Network...]

[Link complete, your Promotion Drive serial number: 0-08-1314]

[Your Promotion Drive has pre-registered information, retrieving your registration information...

[Verifying identity...]

[Name: Gu Pan]

[Gender: Female]

[Identity verification correct. Welcome, new Promoter! You can now operate freely!]

Then, the interface abruptly changed.

A webpage like a large forum appeared before Xu Shu.

At the top of the forum, the pinned information read:

* [Promotion Network]

* [Gu Pan]

* [Contribution: 0]

——————

{Pinned Post}: [Human Transcendent Alliance (Must-read for Newbies)]

——————

Then came different chat and section channels in order:

[World Channel: Online 9999+]: ...

[Trade Channel: Information 9999+]: ...

[Team Channel: None]: ...

[Private Message Channel: None]: …

*

*

Xu Shu looked slightly astonished.

"Damn? Wow... it's actually a forum?"