Even the Lying-Flat Trait Can't Flatten Your Complicated Feelings for Jiang Mutian

[Three months later.]

[You consumed more than 270 Qi-Congealing Pills in total.]

[Heavy Tomato User suppressed the Pill Poison for you, while Salty Fish kept your restless mind in check.]

[You finally broke through to the Qi Refining Eighth Layer.]

[You cleaned the Pill Furnace thoroughly and sealed away the waste residue.]

[As two disciples from nearby cave abodes passed by, one couldn't help exclaiming,]

["Senior Brother Lu really is meticulous. He makes so many pills, yet his cave abode is still this clean."]

[The other disciple curled his lip.]

["Meticulous? That's craftsmanship. Don't you understand?"]

["Just look at yourself. You make one furnace of Qi-Replenishing Pills, and the smoke fills three corridors so badly that even dogs take a detour."]

[The day came for Qian Dafu to visit you again.]

[As usual, he brought a Storage Bag full of medicinal ingredients and a heap of news.]

["Senior Brother Lu, the price of Qi-Congealing Grass has gone up."]

["The Green Grain Shop said Qi Refining disciples have been buying a lot of it lately..."]

[You listened quietly, weighing your options.]

[Although the prices of these ingredients had risen, they were still a little cheaper than at the Internal Affairs Office.]

[Ordinary disciples were willing to buy from the Internal Affairs Office because the sect's ingredients were more reliable after all, and it saved them the trip back and forth.]

[You had Qian Dafu to run errands for you, and the Green Grain Shop had a decent reputation. You could keep buying the ingredients there.]

[Seeing that you said nothing, Qian Dafu understood your position and continued.]

["There's one more thing. Some people recently went after that Black-Feather Fire Crow information Shopkeeper Zhou sold last time."]

["The first group was a team of five at the Qi Refining Middle Stage. After that came a team of seven. None of them returned."]

["The most recent group was a team of ten led by a powerhouse at Qi Refining Perfection. I heard he even had a low-grade Law Artifact."]

["Everyone thought they would take down the flock of fire crows. But who would have thought? Yesterday, news came back to the market that the whole team was gone too."]

[You listened to Qian Dafu's account without the slightest change in expression.]

[You even felt that Shopkeeper Zhou was fairly honest.]

[He had said that Qi Refining cultivators who went there would just be an extra meal for the fire crows.]

[Now the facts had proved he hadn't engaged in false advertising.]

[Seeing no reaction from you, Qian Dafu felt a little uneasy. After hesitating for a moment, he worked up the courage to ask,]

["Senior Brother Lu, I know you bought that information too. You're not thinking of going there now, are you?"]

[You gave him a bottle of Qi-Replenishing Pills as payment for running errands, then said calmly,]

["Naturally, I'm not going now."]

[Qian Dafu immediately accepted the pill bottle.]

["That's good. I knew it. Someone like you, Senior Brother Lu, would never gamble his life on something so unreliable."]

[Options appeared.]

[A: Continue keeping a low profile in the Alchemy Hall and invest all your resources in cultivation.]

[B: Since so many people have died, this is an excellent chance to loot their bodies. Sneak over and pick up the spoils.]

[C: Set off now, submit your résumé to the fire crows, and apply to become the director of the Black-Feather Fire Crows' Greenwood Sect office.]

Oh, little B, this Fire Crow Technique is obviously an entire industry chain.

The Scripture Pavilion charges borrowing fees, the market sells merchandise, Rogue Cultivators sell information, and the Demon Beasts handle after-sales service.

The whole process is already a closed loop.

It really couldn't be any more of a closed loop.

Lu Ping chose A.

[You chose A.]

[The storms gathering outside the Greenwood Sect seemed to have nothing to do with you.]

[You continued your routine in the Ding Character No. 13 Cave Abode, making pills and cultivating every day.]

[You took part in no outer-sect competitions and accepted no field assignments.]

[You simply fulfilled your Alchemy Hall quota diligently, occasionally selling some of your surplus pills.]

[When fellow disciples came to ask for advice, you always hit the heart of the matter in a single sentence and said little more.]

[Workplace People-Pleaser activated.]

[The script you had this time was completely different from the last one.]

[Your reputation in the Alchemy Hall grew ever more solid.]

[Whenever anyone mentioned Ding Character No. 13, they couldn't help saying, "Senior Brother Lu is reliable."]

[No one secretly bet on when you would poison yourself to death anymore.]

[In fact, no one knew that Senior Brother Lu could also make Poison Pills.]

[Age nineteen.]

[One full year of service.]

[Generating annual Trait.]

[Congratulations, you have obtained the Trait: Workwear Thug (Grade B)—When you wear your organization's standard uniform, your charm increases, especially your appeal to the opposite sex. After all, men are more attractive when they work seriously.]

[Currently equipped Traits (6/6): Heavy Tomato User/Salty Fish/Bully at Home/Artisan Spirit/Cost Reduction and Efficiency Improvement/Workplace People-Pleaser.]

[Replace a Trait?]

Lu Ping stared at the new Trait in silence for a long time.

Workwear Thug.

Increases charm?

That name is rather improper.

And the effect isn't much more proper.

But it's been a year.

Lu Ping thought of the plot that was about to unfold.

[You replaced Bully at Home with Workwear Thug.]

[You replaced Workplace People-Pleaser with Friend of Women.]

[Currently equipped Traits (6/6): Heavy Tomato User (S)/Salty Fish (S)/Friend of Women (A)/Artisan Spirit (A)/Cost Reduction and Efficiency Improvement (A)/Workwear Thug (B).]

[Two months later, you broke through to the Qi Refining Ninth Layer.]

[You sprinkled Spirit-Eroding Powder on your collar and cuffs, and your presence fell back to the Qi Refining Fifth Layer.]

[You sat at the stone table and quietly brewed yourself a pot of tea.]

[You quietly gazed at the stone wall of your cave abode.]

[On the other side of the stone wall was the mountain outside the Greenwood Sect.]

[Beyond that was a range of nameless mountains.]

[You had crossed those mountains to reach the Greenwood Sect.]

[The mountains lay close to the Savage Wilderness Expanse, at the very edge of the Qingling Border Region.]

[Spiritual Qi was thin there, and cultivators were unwilling to stay for long.]

[Yet it was in a place like that that a peerless female cultivator had appeared.]

[She had been afflicted by a strange poison.]

[She had taken you for the antidote.]

[You had once thought she didn't care in the least whether you lived or died.]

[But at the end of the last simulation, the Divine Sense she left behind helped you kill Han Changqing and erased that Golden Core Divine Sense talisman seal.]

[No matter what, she helped you get your revenge.]

[And if you had used Blood Refining to refine that Storage Ring earlier, the last simulation might have ended differently.]

[You picked up your teacup.]

[The tea had already gone cold.]

[Your reason told you:]

[Keep your head down and build up your strength in the Greenwood Sect.]

[Qi Cangshu, an elder of the Alchemy Hall, valued you.]

[Si Wangshu, the mysterious woman, remembered your name.]

[The Alchemy Hall had given you a chance to get one foot in the door of management.]

[As long as you kept making pills, sooner or later you could save up the resources for Foundation Establishment.]

[You gave a bitter laugh.]

[Even the Lying-Flat Trait, which kept your State of Mind from ever collapsing, couldn't flatten your complicated feelings for Jiang Mutian.]

[Options appeared.]

[A: Remain in the Greenwood Sect and steadily build up your strength through pill-making. Foundation Establishment is no dream.]

[B: Leave the Greenwood Sect and head for the valley where Jiang Mutian ran into trouble.]

[C: Write Qi Cangshu a leave request, giving the reason as "handling early-stage emotional debts and a dispute over the inheritance of high-end assets."]

In the real world, Lu Ping also gave a bitter laugh, then chose B.

[You chose B.]

[You told yourself that you were only going to find Jiang Mutian because you coveted the power to kill a Golden Core Divine Sense in the ring she had left you.]

[You had no thoughts about Jiang Mutian herself.]

["Yes, that's exactly it."]

[You felt you had convinced yourself.]

[You began preparing to leave the sect.]

[You first went to the Internal Affairs Office and paid your entire quota for the coming year in full.]

[Zhao Li personally handled your quota matter again.]

[After examining the pills, a glimmer flickered in Zhao Li's eyes. A long while later, he asked,]

["Junior Brother Lu..."]