Side Quest

In the original plot, Xiao Yan took some low-tier Dou Skills from the Family Dou Skill Hall to practice, only for Old Yao to disdain them and teach him the higher-grade High-Grade Profound Tier Dou Skill, Eight Extremes Collapse.

But Xiao Cheng, this little butterfly, had already flapped the plot beyond recognition.

Xiao Yan took the low-tier Dou Technique Scrolls he had gotten from the Family Dou Skill Hall to the Back Mountain, intending to practice them.

At that moment, Old Yao drifted out of the ring. After flipping through the scrolls for a while, he asked in astonishment.

"Disciple, do you have too much energy to spare? Are these pieces of trash even worth cultivating?"

"Teacher, you haven't taught me any Dou Skills, so I can only practice this trash. Otherwise, I won't have any Dou Skills to defend myself with."

Xiao Yan looked at Old Yao with a mournful face as he spoke.

"Although I would like to teach you a Dou Skill, you need to reach the Fifth Stage of Dou Qi before you can bring out some of its power."

Old Yao said.

"What tier of Dou Skill is it?"

Xiao Yan stared at Old Yao with blazing eyes as he asked.

"A High-level Profound Tier Dou Skill. It's very powerful."

"A High-level Profound Tier Dou Skill!"

Yellow Tier Dou Skills were already hard to come by in the Xiao Clan. Moreover, the only Mysterious Tier Intermediate Dou Skill he knew of in the clan was his father's Raging Lion's Fury.

This showed just how precious a High-level Profound Tier Dou Skill was.

"It's merely a Mysterious Tier Dou Skill. Once you become stronger, I'll teach you a Cultivation Method as well."

Old Yao was clearly disdainful of Mysterious Tier Dou Skills.

"I'm not like you. Even low-grade Dou Skills have to make do, unlike you, who can casually pull out a Mysterious Tier Dou Skill."

There was a hint of mockery in Xiao Yan's tone.

"Hmph, don't you just want to swindle a few Dou Skills out of me?"

Old Yao spoke as if he had seen through Xiao Yan's thoughts.

"Hehe."

Old Yao returned to the ring.

Xiao Yan chuckled awkwardly twice. Just as he was about to begin practicing the Dou Skills in the scrolls, Xiao Xun'er's voice reached his ears.

"Brother Xiao Yan, I knew you would be here."

Xiao Xun'er smiled sweetly and skipped over.

"Xun'er, why did you come to the Back Mountain?"

"I wanted to play with you, but you weren't in your room. I figured you had to be at the Back Mountain."

Xiao Xun'er blinked playfully at Xiao Yan. Her gaze lingered on him for a moment before she said in surprise.

"Brother Xiao Yan, you're at the Fourth Stage of Dou Qi."

Upon hearing this, Xiao Yan's brows twitched. Dou Qi was still in its initial stage, and this concealed, faint energy was difficult to detect. Thus, unless someone used Dou Qi or a Test Stone, it was difficult to accurately determine their level of Dou Qi.

At that moment, Old Yao's voice sounded in Xiao Yan's mind from within the ring.

"Disciple, this little girl doesn't seem so simple."

Xiao Yan was startled, but this was not the time to ask Old Yao about it.

"Yes, I luckily broke through to the Fourth Stage of Dou Qi yesterday."

"Brother Xiao Yan must have visited Ruyi Zhai quite often these past few days to buy Peach Pastry, right?"

Xiao Xun'er smiled mischievously.

"Hehe, yes. After all, Peach Pastry is quite good at increasing the speed of Dou Qi cultivation."

Xiao Yan nodded in admission.

"All right, Brother Xiao Yan, you can keep cultivating here. Xun'er will leave first. This afternoon, come with me to Ruyi Zhai to buy Peach Pastry. You're not allowed to refuse."

Watching Xiao Xun'er's skipping figure disappear into the distance, Xiao Yan sighed.

"Ah, right, Teacher. You said Xun'er wasn't simple just now. Do you know where she comes from?"

Old Yao chuckled twice.

"I know a little. In any case, that little girl has quite a powerful background."

Seeing his teacher's expression, Xiao Yan curled his lips and turned to study the Dou Skills on the scrolls.

Not long after Gu Ni left, Payne came by again. He bought five pieces of Peach Pastry before hurrying off on patrol.

At that moment, Xiao Cheng sat in a chair behind the Glass Cover, rubbing his chin as he pondered something.

"Xiao Dian, tell me, other people's systems all have Side Quests. Why doesn't yours? Is there a bug, or did you catch a virus?"

Please do not compare Xiao Dian to that trash. In the spirit of fairness, justice, and openness, Xiao Dian will reluctantly issue the host a Side Quest. Would you like to view it?

"Let me see it. I've been staying at Ruyi Zhai every day; I'm practically rusting."

Side Quest: As a Huaxia citizen from a nation with five thousand years of Huaxia civilization, please independently make a type of pastry.

Quest Reward: Raise the host to the Ninth Stage of Dou Qi.

Quest Failure: The host will be locked in the Dark Room for 999 years.

Quest Time: Must be completed within three days.

After Xiao Cheng finished reading this Side Quest, he suddenly had the urge to kill Xiao Dian.

Never mind the difficulty of the quest for now—could it first explain this Quest Failure penalty? Locked in the Dark Room for nine hundred and ninety-nine years? Wasn't that basically permanent?

"Xiao Dian, this Side Quest wasn't perhaps, possibly, maybe something you threw together on the spot, was it?"

Please do not question Xiao Dian's character. I will not reveal the process of randomly generating the quest just now.

"Hehe, you stupid Xiao Dian. I won't argue with you. What a system with worrying intelligence."

Xiao Cheng had not expected Xiao Dian to so readily admit that it had randomly generated the Side Quest, but the quest was not too difficult.

As someone from Huaxia, he certainly did not lack knowledge of Huaxia pastries. There were Donkey Roll, Mooncake, Pumpkin Cake, and many others.

"What pastry should I make?"

He rubbed his chin and paced back and forth around the shop, thinking about what pastry to make.

Suddenly, Xiao Cheng smacked his fist into his palm as if he had thought of something, then said with a smile.

"Xiao Dian didn't specify what kind of pastry it had to be. Peanut Candy should count as a pastry too, right? I'll make Peanut Candy."

He was quite pleased with himself for finding a loophole in Xiao Dian's rules. But in the next moment, he could no longer be happy, because he realized he did not have the ingredients needed to make Peanut Candy.

Only then did Xiao Cheng understand that the system was still the system.

So he asked Xiao Dian in his mind again.

"Xiao Dian, can you provide the ingredients for making Peanut Candy?"

Please stop daydreaming. Providing the host with ingredients for the first time was a system benefit. If you want ingredients to be provided, please pay the ingredient fee.

"What? An ingredient fee?"

Yes, Host.

"Xiao Dian, are you absolutely, positively certain that you want to charge an ingredient fee?"

There was some anger in his tone.

"All right, how many Gold Coins?"

In any case, he had earned quite a few Gold Coins over the past three days. Altogether, he had more than four thousand Gold Coins.

After calculation, the host must pay two thousand Gold Coins for the ingredients required to make Peanut Candy.

"Two thousand Gold Coins? That's half of my income for three days. You're definitely taking revenge on me. There's no doubt about it."

"I've been so good to you. You can't cheat me like this."

Two thousand Gold Coins for ingredients was indeed rather expensive.

The host may choose not to pay the ingredient fee.

Why did he sense a hint of pay if you want, don't if you don't in that mechanical voice?

"All right, two thousand it is. Just you wait."

There was no choice. When one was under another's roof, one had no choice but to bow their head.

After paying the ingredient fee, Xiao Dian provided the materials for making Peanut Candy as promised.

Xiao Cheng went to the back kitchen and began recalling how to make Peanut Candy while attempting to make it.