Boss, I Don't Want to Work
Lu Ping looked inward into his Primordial Spirit Mansion, his Divine Sense directed towards the Toad Moon Palace Fire-Devouring Furnace.
The furnace body is simple and unadorned. Beneath that faint luster, four Azure Toads seem ready to leap out from the furnace wall at any moment, swallowing the heavens and earth.
With a thought, Lu Ping summoned the Moon Palace Fire-Devouring Furnace before him.
Lu Ping immersed his Divine Sense into the space inside the furnace.
The newly formed space was not large, about a few acres in size. In the beginning of Chaos, the Clear and Turbid Qi had just separated, and a small patch of Void in the very center had already stabilized.
Lu Ping scanned the area with his Divine Sense, but found nothing!
I scanned the area again, but still nothing.
The Storage Ring he had placed in the simulation was nowhere to be found.
Lu Ping was slightly taken aback, and even the Primordial Spirit in his Primordial Spirit Mansion almost swayed.
System, are you a sore loser?!
What happened to the bug-hunting promise? What happened to the multi-million dollar fortune? I'd already taken my pants off... Ugh, after all that anticipation, this is what I get?
Just as Lu Ping was preparing to engage in a fierce battle with the system, his Divine Sense suddenly stopped.
In the center of that gray, hazy space, there was not truly nothing.
A small pile of Spirit Stones lay there quietly, emitting a faint light.
Spirit Stone.
With a thought, Lu Ping quickly scanned the area with his Divine Sense and soon counted the quantity.
Seventy thousand, three hundred and twenty pieces.
What number is this?
Lu Ping frowned. What was this? Severance pay? Or... compensation for the value of his Storage Ring?
Wrong.
Lu Ping's eyes flickered slightly; he thought of a Trait he had overlooked.
[Passive Income].
He equipped this B-Rank Trait when he was 31 years old in the simulation, but later replaced it to make room for a combat Trait.
He remembered that after equipping the gear, his daily income was over 150 Low-Grade Spirit Stones, which amounted to over 50,000 Spirit Stones a year.
And this benefit increases with seniority.
In the second year of the simulation, when he was twenty, he replaced Passive Income with Multiskilling, at which time he earned thirty-nine coins per day.
Lu Ping's Primordial Spirit began to rapidly deduce the future.
From eighteen to twenty, and then thirty-one years old.
These 70,000 Spirit Stones represent exactly the total income he generated during the simulation when he equipped the [Passive Income] Trait!
The case is solved.
Because the [Passive Income] is automatically generated after binding with "Lu Ping", and the Little Toad is Law Treasure he refined in his Primordial Spirit Mansion, their energy is connected.
Therefore, the system determines that it is part of him.
Therefore, they were also brought into reality!
Having figured this out, Lu Ping felt no joy whatsoever; instead, he felt as if a dull knife had been used to stab his heart.
Excruciating pain.
He quickly did the calculations.
If he started at age 31 and fixed "Passive Income" in the Trait Slot until age 59, that's a full 28 years...
Even with a conservative estimate of 50,000 Spirit Stones per year, that's still... 1.4 million!
1.4 million Low-Grade Spirit Stones!
"Puff--"
Lu Ping felt as if his Primordial Spirit had coughed up a mouthful of blood.
It hurts! It hurts so much!
That's 1.4 million! And it just slipped through our fingers!
Even if you sold the Border Region Greenwood Sect, including its territory and people, it might not be worth this price.
[Salty Fish, in effect.]
If the Salty Fish doesn't work soon, Lu Ping's Dao Heart will shatter.
"No..."
Lu Ping gritted his teeth and made a solemn vow in his heart.
From today onwards, the Trait "Passive Income" must be permanently installed in my inventory!
No one can take it down!
I said it! Even if that Severed Palm comes, it won't work!
After making that tough decision, Lu Ping's ideas started to stir again.
In previous simulations, I couldn't bring my belongings back because the Storage Ring was an external object.
Even more unexpectedly, the Little Toad would have such an incredible fortuitous opportunity.
The Little Toad is his Law Treasure; its internal space is essentially an extension of his body. Spirit Stones he generates can be placed inside and brought back...
What if it's something grown inside?
Lu Ping's eyes darted around.
We must grow vegetables!
He's Spirit Plant Planter officially certified by the system!
He also has [Growing Flowers at the Workstation], [his Exclusive Workstation], and a whole bunch of other vegetable-growing-related Trait!
Most importantly, he possesses the recipe for the Lesser Creation Spirit-Stimulating Dew -Enhancing Pill Formula!
Although this space for the Little Toad is only a few acres in size, it is a perfect greenhouse for Spirit Plants!
Safe, discreet, and the growth cycle can be significantly accelerated!
Lu Ping could almost see countless rare spirit medicine thriving in this space, with thousand-year-old medicinal Spirit Plants being harvested one after another like cabbages.
By then, let alone 1.4 million, even 14 million wouldn't be impossible!
The frustration of losing a million dollars vanished instantly.
Just as he was immersed in his grand farming plan, another strange change occurred in that small space.
Streams of pure Spiritual Qi converged toward the center of the space.
A glimmer of light appeared at the center of the Spiritual Qi, and then the light grew brighter and brighter, gradually outlining a small, blurry human figure.
The figure flashed and appeared on the stove lid.
It was a little girl with her hair in two buns, exquisitely beautiful, with bare little feet, sitting on the stove lid with a bewildered expression, swinging her legs.
Lu Ping was stunned.
This is...
Artifact Spirit!
It's Artifact Spirit!
He had met the Elder Zhen in the Demon-Suppressing Tower and knew how rare it was for Law Treasure to possess spirits.
But he never imagined that his Law Treasure could actually develop Artifact Spirit!
It makes sense, considering that Little Toad merged with a trace of the world's origin from the Palm-Center Buddha Kingdom, and then, through heaven-defying means, he reforged the Seventy-Two Earthly Sha Restrictions into a Heavenly Gang Fusion Restriction, and finally underwent the baptism of the Five Elements Divine Thunder.
It was through a confluence of such fortuitous opportunity that this once-in-a-million possibility came into being.
The little girl seemed to notice Lu Ping's gaze, raised her head, and looked at him with her big, innocent eyes, as if trying to figure something out.
She blinked, her small mouth slightly open, as if she wanted to say something.
Lu Ping was also a little nervous. What would be the first words his "daughter" would say?
Will it be like the legendary High Antiquity Artifact Spirits, whose words carry the law and whose pronouncements become law?
Will it still call out "Master" in a childish voice?
However, Lu Ping was completely bewildered by what the Little Artifact Spirit said.
"Boss... I don't want to go to work..."
Her voice was soft and sweet, with a hint of... a touch of Salty Fish.
Lu Ping: "..."
He froze completely.
Boss?
Work?
He thought about it for a moment and instantly understood the reason.
The Law Treasure is connected to its owner's vital energy, especially when nurtured in the Dantian (Primordial Spirit Mansion, it is almost equivalent to a part of the owner's soul.
Lu Ping had mentally complained about "working class" and cursed "heartless boss" countless times on ordinary days; he himself had lost count.
This little guy was just born, his mind was not yet developed, he was like a blank sheet of paper, so naturally he would learn by imitation, and he learned all the thoughts in his subconscious mind.
Thankfully, thankfully she's just a child...