System Upgrade, Testing Tang San

"Xiao Wu!!" Seeing Xiao Wu collapse to the ground, he stopped caring about anything else. With a swipe at his waist, two silver flashes gleaming with cold light flew toward Zhao Wuji's eyes.

Zhao Wuji frowned at the two flying needles and stepped back. Seizing the chance, Tang San rushed forward, picked Xiao Wu up, then carried her to the edge of the field and gently set her down.

Watching his whole sequence of actions, Lu Mingchuan almost laughed. One was all about pointless showmanship, while the other lost his mind the moment Xiao Wu was hurt. Not to mention the absurd moves that followed. Throwing needles at a teacher's eyes? Only Tang San could come up with such a suffocatingly stupid move. This was an assessment, not some life-or-death battle. He could have easily created an opening and gone up to catch Xiao Wu.

After settling Xiao Wu down, Tang San turned to Zhao Wuji. Zhao Wuji had already completed his Martial Soul Possession. His originally short stature had surged past two meters, and yellow, yellow, purple, purple, black, black, and black soul rings appeared beneath his feet. Unlike in the original story, where he had merely wanted to gauge their abilities—

Zhao Wuji had now been somewhat angered by Tang San's Hidden Weapons and intended to teach him a lesson. However, seeing Tang San open his mouth as though he wanted to say something, he decided to give him one chance.

"I do not intend to continue the examination before us," Tang San said, his head slightly lowered.

Zhao Wuji was somewhat disappointed. "So, you admit defeat?" He had thought Tang San was going to say something meaningful, but it turned out that he was simply scared.

Tang San shook his head. "No. I hope to have a serious fight with you. We will start over. Please light another incense stick."

At those words, Zhao Wuji smiled. It was good that he had not surrendered. Since he had not surrendered, Zhao Wuji could teach this brat, who had no sense of restraint, a proper lesson. As for the assessment, that could wait until after the lesson.

With a flick of his fingers, another incense stick was lit. Seeing this, Tang San slowly gathered all his strength. At this point, he no longer intended to hide his abilities. Xiao Wu's injury and unconsciousness had deeply stirred his emotions, filling him with self-reproach.

To him, as an older brother who had failed to protect his younger sister, if he could not seek justice for her, what right did he have to call himself her brother? That was what Tang San felt at this moment. Meanwhile, Lu Mingchuan watched Tang San's personal performance with great interest. Tang San stood in place, a trace of purple appearing in his eyes as his hands turned a lustrous white.

Zhao Wuji's expression grew slightly more serious. Activating his first soul skill, Immovable King Body, he stepped toward Tang San.

After giving a warning, Tang San raised his hands from his waist. Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh... Ten cold flashes burst forth from his lightly flicking fingers, shooting toward Zhao Wuji's eyes, shoulders, throat, heart, knees, groin, and lower abdomen.

Not one of the ten cold flashes targeted the same spot, and every target was a vital point.

A fierce look immediately appeared in Zhao Wuji's eyes. Tang San actually still wanted to attack him with such methods? With his first soul skill already active, he once more used Soul Power to shield his entire body and charged straight at Tang San without hesitation.

Tang San immediately used the movement technique Ghost Shadow Perplexing Track to dodge to the side, while continuously firing all kinds of Hidden Weapons with both hands. Unfortunately, they had little effect against a thick-skinned Soul Sage like Zhao Wuji.

"Huang Quan, where should we go next?" Lu Mingchuan and Huang Quan were too lazy to watch the battle in the arena. They casually found a bench to sit on, one hand cracking melon seeds while the other held Huang Quan's hand.

Huang Quan shook her head. "Anywhere is fine. I'll follow you." Lu Mingchuan thought for a moment. "Then let's go to Sunset Forest. We can look for that Mandarin Duck Pot while we're there. My Immortal Herb Redemption Code is about to expire."

Huang Quan nodded, then pulled two delicious peaches from her sleeve and handed one to Lu Mingchuan. Lu Mingchuan put down his melon seeds, accepted it, and began eating.

Although this was a purple-grade item, it was not expensive in the shop. Over the past few years, Lu Mingchuan had bought quite a few of them and given them all to Huang Quan.

The two ate peaches while watching the people in the arena. After a while, Lu Mingchuan suddenly yawned. Huang Quan, who had been watching him the whole time, patted her thigh. "Sleepy? Rest without worry. I'll wake you when it's over."

At that, he twisted around and lay directly across Huang Quan's lap. Enjoying the comfortable feeling, he slowly brought up his system panel.

Name: Lu Mingchuan

Servants: Huang Quan, Volberli

Age: 12
Martial Soul: Imperial Bow
Level: 45 (converted to Soul Power)

Items: Gaze of the Hunt, Earth Dragon Golden Gourd ×1, Shattered Crystal (6/10), Night's Edge (Equipped), Dust Song Pot ×1, Summoning Scroll—Panda, Flying Bird
Note: Only important items will be listed from now on

Soul Rings: Purple, Black, Black, Black
Soul Skills: Stellar Patrol Light Arrow, Echo of the Hunt, Expanding Bow Dangerous Arrow, Imperial Chariot Super Light Swift Advance
Skills: Archery Master Lv. 4, Energy Manipulation, Attack Nature, Whistling Arrow, Cuttings Technique, Mastery of All Weapons

Points: 33,600

The Points he had saved over the years had basically all been spent on buying fragments. The 52,000 Points he had just acquired were no exception, though he had still kept these thirty thousand-plus Points for draws.

Most of the things he had gotten from draws over the years had been mediocre. Even the guaranteed purple-grade rewards were about the same. He often got useless junk like Screaming Slippers or Left-Turn Red Light, while skills were pitifully rare. The fact that he had only gained Cuttings Technique and Mastery of All Weapons made that obvious.

Just as he was about to reach out and tap the draw button, he suddenly noticed a tiny red dot at the top of the system. If his eyesight had not been so good, he probably would not have seen it. He immediately changed the direction of his hand and tapped the little red dot instead.

"Ding. Congratulations, Host, you have met the requirements to upgrade the system. Would you like to upgrade?" Along with the message, a stream of information entered his mind. After reading it, joy rose in his heart.

The upgraded system had unlocked a check-in module and limited-time flash sales. Checking in could grant random rewards, roughly equal to one free draw per day. The limited-time flash sale refreshed its items every week for purchase with Points. It had even given him one ten-pull for characters. If he did not upgrade, he would be letting such favorable conditions down.

The instant he agreed, the system's voice rang in his mind. "Ding. System upgrade complete." The speed left him clicking his tongue in amazement.

At that speed, it felt as though the system had downloaded the patch long ago and was already nearly done installing it, just waiting for his command.

Just as he was about to use the newly acquired ten-pull, a pair of soft little hands touched his head and gently massaged his temples. Over the past few years, Huang Quan had often given him massages whenever she had the time.

After nearly six years of doing it, she now knew perfectly how to massage him in a way that made Lu Mingchuan feel comfortable. He also lowered the hand that had been about to draw. This time, Huang Quan had eaten up the draw instead.

Meanwhile, Zhao Wuji, who was passionately trading blows with—or rather, being kited by—Tang San, dodged a Hidden Weapon aimed at his eye and glanced over in their direction.

You brat. I'm over here working my ass off teaching someone a lesson, while you're over there sleeping on your wife's lap. You're next.

With that thought, his movements sped up. He consecutively released three soul skills: Gravity Enhancement, Gravity Compression, and Positioning Tracking. Naturally, he did not use his full strength.

Even so, Tang San's movement technique, which Zhao Wuji had found fairly nimble and graceful, lost all its fluidity the instant those soul skills were activated. Seizing the opportunity, Zhao Wuji unleashed his second soul skill, Great Strength Vajra Palm, and struck Tang San directly with the aid of Positioning Tracking.

Zhao Wuji's release of the two gravity soul skills had come without any warning, leaving Tang San unable to even use Controlling Crane Capturing Dragon under their pressure. With no suspense at all, he was sent flying by Zhao Wuji and collapsed unconscious on the ground.