Tidying Up the Spoils, System Upgrade

After finishing a delicious dinner, Xiao Heng contentedly rubbed his belly!

He slumped beside the wooden cabin, just like he had long ago—sitting outside his home after dinner, watching the sunset and enjoying the cool evening air. Back then, his family had been poor, but his older brother and mother had always been by his side!

Xiao Yi Xian walked over, sat beside him, and gently asked, "What are you thinking about?"

Xiao Heng smiled. "My family."

Xiao Yi Xian suddenly fell silent. "Family... I miss mine too."

Xiao Heng knew about Xiao Yi Xian's past. Looking at this gentle girl, he thought she must have lived a painful life, and apologized, "I'm sorry."

Xiao Yi Xian hugged her knees and shook her head. "It's okay. I'm used to it."

Xiao Heng turned to look at the sunset and sighed. "Used to it... what a terrifying phrase."

Xiao Yi Xian shook her head and forced a smile back onto her face. "Enough about me. What about your family? If you miss them, go back and see them!"

Xiao Heng shook his head. "I can't go back."

Girls were always sensitive. She understood what Xiao Heng meant and said with a smile, "Then you're the same as me."

Xiao Heng did not answer, only continued, "Back then, we were like this too. After dinner, we'd sit and watch the sunset. We were poor then, but we were happy!"

"Yes! I really miss those days! But life still has to go on, right?" Xiao Yi Xian seemed to always be gentle. Even when she was hurting inside, she still comforted her friends!

Xiao Heng laughed softly. "I'm not that fragile. You, on the other hand, need to keep living well!"

"Mm!" Xiao Yi Xian answered.

And so, the two of them watched the sunset slowly sink below the horizon, until the last trace of light disappeared!

"Alright, get some rest early!" Xiao Yi Xian stood up and said with a gentle smile.

Xiao Heng stood as well and replied with a smile, "You too." Then the two headed back to their own rooms!

Xiao Yi Xian returned to her room and was just about to close the door when a voice called out, "Good night!"

Xiao Yi Xian smiled faintly. "Good night!"

Xiao Heng closed his door. He had originally wanted to tell Xiao Yi Xian to eat less poison, but when the words reached his lips, they had turned into "good night." Before he found a solution, he would not say it lightly.

Since I replaced Xiao Yan and became your friend, I should fulfill the responsibility I ought to bear! Don't worry, I'll definitely keep you alive! Xiao Heng thought to himself. He had never been blindly confident. This was a real world, no longer a novel; no one knew what might happen. He did not know whether he could do it, but some things had to be done!

The next morning, Xiao Heng indulged in a rare lie-in. Perhaps it was because he finally felt at ease! He had not cultivated last night. He had been too exhausted lately—not physically, but with the kind of weariness that came from deep within his heart!

He vigorously rubbed his face and told himself, "Pull yourself together, idiot!"

He then walked out of his room. Xiao Yi Xian had already prepared breakfast outside. It seemed he truly had slept for quite a while! He greeted her, "Morning!"

Xiao Yi Xian smiled gently. "Morning. Though it's not exactly early anymore. Come eat!"

"Mm! Alright!"

After breakfast, Xiao Yi Xian went to take care of the remaining chores, while Xiao Heng formally began taking stock of everything he had gained recently!

He took out all the Storage Rings! Xiao Heng first emptied the contents of his own Storage Ring, laying everything out on the ground one by one. There were quite a few magic cores, quite a few Scrolls, and plenty of medicinal ingredients as well!

He then took out a small pouch and broke open the Storage Rings inside one by one! Xiao Heng was extremely curious about the Storage Rings from Amethyst Winged Lion King's Cave. Since they had been collected by a Sixth-tier Magical Beast, their former owners could not have been weak.

Fortunately, Magical Beasts were generally not very skilled at using delicate power, at least before they could take human form. Destroying a Storage Ring was one thing, but opening one that had been used by a human was difficult, because it contained not only Dou Qi but Soul Power as well. Fortunately, that was the case; otherwise, these Storage Rings would probably have been emptied long ago!

Since the owners of these Storage Rings were all dead, opening them was fairly easy for Xiao Heng. He could generally open one in about ten minutes, though two of them took him nearly half an hour each.

Those two Storage Rings were also the only two intermediate-grade Storage Rings among them all! According to Xiao Heng's estimate, they had either belonged to Dou Wang experts or Alchemists of at least the fourth grade! Thus, he was especially looking forward to seeing what was inside them.

There were thirty-two Storage Rings laid out before Xiao Heng. Seven had been taken from enemies he had killed himself, while the remaining twenty-five had come from Amethyst Winged Lion King's Cave!

He divided everything into seven categories: medicinal ingredients, pills, cultivation arts, combat skills, Gold Coin storage cards, magic cores, and miscellaneous items. Then Xiao Heng began sorting everything.

By the time he finished sorting it all, an hour had already passed. There were simply too many cultivation arts and combat skills, and Xiao Heng had to inspect them one by one. He also needed to check the pills and medicinal ingredients individually to see whether they were still useful! As for the things he did not recognize, he could only pile them to one side for now!

There were five Mystic Grade High cultivation arts: "Flame Control Art," "Wind Control Art," "Green Wood Art," "Sand Earth Art," and "Red Flame Art." There were twelve Mystic Grade Intermediate cultivation arts and ten Black-tier Low-grade cultivation arts.

There were nine Mystic Grade High combat skills: "Extreme Wind Slash," "Green Wood Armor," "Green Wood Soaring Steps," "Sand Tornado," "Fire Bird Technique," "Flame Fire Spear," "Water Origin Shield," "Thunder Kill," and "Roaring Lion's Chant." There were fifteen Mystic Grade Intermediate combat skills and twenty-one Black-tier Low-grade Combat Skills.

In addition, there was one fifth-grade Pill Recipe for the "Explosive Flame Pill," whose main ingredient was a fourth-tier fire-attributed magic core! There were six fourth-grade Pill Recipes, nineteen third-grade Pill Recipes, and numerous first- and second-grade recipes! Beyond that, among the Fourth-grade Pills, he discovered one kind that was especially suitable for him. Its main ingredient was the Purple Spirit Crystal of the Amethyst Winged Lion King. Its medicinal power was very mild, mainly lying dormant in the body to slowly nourish the body and Dou Qi. Yun Yun might very well have been seeking Purple Spirit Crystal in order to refine this kind of pill!

Sure enough, one of those rings had belonged to a fourth-grade Alchemist. Don't ask how he knew—there were quite a few Fourth-grade Pills inside, but not a single fifth-grade one!

There were forty-two storage cards, though he did not know whether they were registered under names! In total, there were roughly seven to eight hundred thousand Gold Coins!

Magic cores: two Fifth-Tier Magic Cores, one of which had been inside the ring that took him a long time to open! Eighteen fourth-tier magic cores! Thirty-five third-tier magic cores, with numerous second- and first-tier ones!

Medicinal ingredients: one Star Moon Grass, one Fire Cloud Fruit, one Ice Spirit Flame Grass, three Cold Bone Ginseng, two Golden Crow Ganoderma plants (found in the Alchemist's Storage Ring), one Green Luo Flower (from the Alchemist), one White Spot Fruit! (from the other Storage Ring), and various other herbs!

Pills: six Fourth-grade Pills, thirty-two Third-grade Pills, and numerous second- and first-grade pills!

Looking at the pills that had turned to ash due to poor storage, as well as the medicinal ingredients that had dried into dead grass, Xiao Heng felt incomparably heartbroken! Those had all been his things! What a waste!

As for the remaining miscellaneous items, most were weapons and the like. There was also a piece of black ore whose nature he did not know, a four-legged cauldron, and some clothes! He planned to throw all of them away. He had no habit of wearing clothes others had worn—there were even several little dresses among them!

When he opened the panel, Xiao Heng immediately discovered that the system had upgraded again! It had gained more functions and was now divided into four interfaces: Cultivation Arts, Combat Skills, Fusion Refinement, and Heavenly Dao.

The Cultivation Arts page contained all cultivation arts, including things like the Absorbing Star Great Skill and Bei Ming Divine Skill. However, they now required exclusive Cultivation Art Points to exchange for them. He currently had ten Cultivation Art Points!

The Combat Skills page was the same, containing only skills for battle. He had twenty Combat Skill Points.

As for the Heavenly Dao interface, he still had ten Heavenly Dao Points. Xiao Heng thought about it and figured that Yun Yun's storyline had given him another five points. However, Heavenly Dao Points could still only be used for Lottery Draws.

Refine! Xiao Heng gave it a rough look. It still used Energy Points, but the Energy Points had now become 100. Don't ask him why; he suspected the system had swallowed his Energy Points. It could refine anything, but refining cultivation arts required not only Cultivation Art Points, but Energy Points as well. Combat skills were the same. So the only things that didn't require Skill Points were weapons and miscellaneous items!

Still, it was pretty good. The system panel was now clear at a glance, much better than before.

He checked the fusion requirements for the Innate Skill and found that only Mystic Grade Intermediate cultivation arts and above could be fused. That was normal, though. If the ranks were too far apart, they would not even have any reference value. Refining them would be useless!

Taking a deep breath, he said, "System, absorb all cultivation arts below Mystic Grade Intermediate!"

At once, every cultivation art below Mystic Grade Intermediate vanished, and his Cultivation Art Points became 90!

"Absorb all combat skills below Mystic Grade Intermediate!" His Combat Skill Points became 120.

He sorted out some unneeded herbs. "Absorb this pile of medicinal ingredients and all first-tier Magic Cores!" First-tier Magic Cores were no longer of much use to him. Rather than letting them take up space, he might as well absorb them all! His Energy Points then became 1,000.

Looking at the miscellaneous items, Xiao Heng suddenly asked, "System, can these weapons be converted into Energy Points?"

Of course, all his previous exchanges with the system had been conducted silently in his mind!

No, but they can be fused with weapons.

System, list everything in this pile that can be fused with my items.

Soon, a first-tier interface appeared on the panel. The weapons and that black stone could all be fused with weapons. One piece of wood and some metal could even be fused with the Sword Scabbard. What shocked Xiao Heng most was that the Companion Purple Crystal Source could actually be fused with the White Lotus Fire!

Xiao Heng took a deep breath and silently said in his mind, "System, fuse all cultivation arts with the Innate Skill."

Fusion requires 80 Cultivation Art Points and 500 Energy Points. Confirm?

"Confirm!"

At once, all the cultivation arts vanished! A progress bar appeared in the system! Ten percent, thirty percent, sixty percent, ninety percent... The first ninety percent was completed quickly, but after reaching ninety percent, it slowed down. It barely advanced a little every ten or so minutes, and the final bit was stuck for half an hour. Xiao Heng's heart pounded in terror the entire time!

Fusion successful. The new cultivation art is a low-grade Earth Rank cultivation art. It possesses four attributes—wind, fire, earth, and wood—along with Attribute-less Dou Qi that can be switched freely. It greatly enhances attack and defense, and helps consolidate one's foundation. Please name it!

"Let's call it the Ascension Art!" Xiao Heng was ambitious. Immortals! They were the greatest legend in his heart, representing true Carefree freedom! He hoped that one day, he could become truly Carefree and rise to become that supreme... immortal...!

Naming successful. Low-grade Earth Rank cultivation art, "Ascension Art." Learn it?

"Not yet!"