Mo Clan's Mo Tang

In a spacious courtyard, everything around it looked somewhat run-down. The overgrown weeds in particular made the place feel even less inhabited.

At the center of the bluestone-paved courtyard, a figure flashed about rapidly. Dazzling blade light flickered around him, accompanied by bursts of whistling wind.

"Blade Qi!"

With a loud shout, the silver blade light vanished instantly, and everything returned to silence.

Mo Tang panted heavily as he looked at the blade buried more than three inches into the wooden post. His sweat-soaked face held thirty percent helplessness, thirty percent self-mockery, and the remaining forty percent simply did not care...

"His aptitude really is... bad enough!"

At nineteen years old, he had barely reached Dou Disciple 3rd stage. He had practiced a Yellow Tier Fighting Skill for nearly ten years and was still only at the beginner level...

The aptitude of this original body was absolutely top-tier among trash!

"Good thing I have a cheat..."

The reason he was still in the mood to look down on the original body he had soul-transmigrated into was precisely because of this.

He lightly pulled at the air in front of him with his right hand, and a Blue Fluorescent Image that only he could see appeared out of thin air.

It was like the system panel from the games he had played in his previous life...

Mo Tang's cheat was such an ordinary System Panel, simply divided into three different sections.

Upgrade Panel, Inventory, and Map...

The Upgrade Panel was the main function of this System Panel, and the cheat Mo Tang would rely on to survive in the future.

This panel could help Mo Tang absorb energy-containing substances to gain Energy Points, which could then be used to raise his Dou Qi level, cultivation method level, fighting skill level, and more.

As for the Inventory, there was no need to explain it. It was a game backpack, similar in nature to the storage rings of the Dou Qi Continent.

What surprised Mo Tang, however, was the map function. It was actually divided into a World Map and a Minimap, just like in a game.

The World Map allowed him, as the host, to make all kinds of special markers. However, they would only appear after exploration, or a Real World Map could be copied into the System Map.

The Minimap could actively display all marked individuals within a hundred-meter radius centered on him... It could even use red, yellow, and green to indicate their attitudes toward him.

This function would be highly useful against possible ambushes or pursuits in the future. Mo Tang's only regret was that its range was too small.

At only one hundred meters, it was still practical for people at realms such as Dou Zhe and Dou Shi. But at higher realms, one leap would take them out of range, making it rather useless.

Opening the first section, the Upgrade Panel, he saw Mo Tang's basic information displayed simply on it.

Name: Mo Tang Level: Dou Disciple 3rd stage ↑

Cultivation Method: None Fighting Skill: Triple Blade Qi (Beginner) ↑

Available Energy Points: 0

What a plain and unadorned panel. Every detail was steeped in the word "poverty"... Damn it, couldn't it have been made a little more impressive?

Of course, those were merely minor issues. Mo Tang's biggest problem right now was that he had no Energy Points!

He tapped the upward arrow beside his level...

"Raising Dou Disciple 4th stage requires 8 Energy Points. Upgrade?"

"Yes/No"

"Yes!"

"Insufficient Energy Points. Upgrade failed."

He sighed. That had merely been a hopeful little test. It seemed this system did not have any loopholes.

Although Mo Tang's original body was a complete waste with no parents and no aptitude, his status was not that of an ordinary waste... He was a waste born into a great family...

The Mo Clan was one of the Four Great Families of the Eastern Province of the Jia Ma Empire. Although its power could not compare to giants like the Nalan Family, it was not to be underestimated.

In particular, they had occupied the east of the empire, far from the Imperial Capital's center of power, for years. Their roots there ran deep, and they had become a Local Overlord. Few dared provoke them.

Salt City, the Mo Clan's Headquarters City, was also the largest city in the Eastern Province. With its vast population, abundant resources, and the Misty Cloud Sect—the holy land of the Jia Ma Empire—at its back, the Mo Clan had complete control over everything there. Even the City Lord, nominally the empire's highest official in Salt City, had to watch their expression. To ordinary people, they were an enormous and absolutely untouchable existence.

So even though he had no strength and was merely a dispensable Side Branch Nobody within the Mo Clan, when he went out wearing clothes embroidered with the family emblem bearing the character "Mo" on the chest, even mercenaries who lived by the blade would not want to provoke him...

But... if Mo Tang remembered correctly, this Mo Clan seemed destined to become one of the Protagonist's minor villains for showing off and slapping faces. Even the Great Elder, the pillar of the clan, would be killed.

Although as long as he remained useless enough, this matter would ultimately be unable to implicate him... if the Mo Clan truly fell, all the privileges he currently enjoyed would vanish in an instant.

If he still did not possess the strength to stand firm in this world by then, he would be in serious trouble!

"I wonder which point in time this is... I haven't heard even a single word about the 'Three Year Pact.' The plot probably hasn't started yet..."

In Mo Tang's memories, the Mo Clan's eldest young master, Mo Li, was at the Misty Cloud Sect and was an Inner Disciple there.

Moreover, he was quite fond of Nalan Yanran, the Sect Master's Direct Disciple...

From the bits of gossip he had overheard from the Mo Clan Guards, it seemed that Nalan Yanran becoming the wife of their clan's eldest young master was already a certainty... Quite a few people were even imagining the grand scene of their eldest young master leading the entire Mo Clan to rise and become comparable to the Three great families of the empire!

Mo Tang could only say one thing in his heart: Idiots!

With Mo Li's aptitude, only breaking through to Dou Zhe at eighteen, he probably would not even have entered the Misty Cloud Sect's inner sect if the Mo Clan had not offered them a large amount of tribute every year...

And he actually wanted to pursue the Sect Master's Direct Disciple... Was it because of that pretty-boy face of his?

After closing the System Panel, Mo Tang put away his long blade. He then heated water, took a bath by himself, changed into a fresh set of clothes, and only then entered his bedroom.

From the Secret Compartment at the head of his bed, he took out a small redwood box. After opening it, he found a Dried Yellow Flower wrapped in brocade cloth, along with a fist-sized green jade box sealed using a special method.

Beneath the flower and jade box, after opening the Second Layer of Wood, lay an ancient scroll...

These were all the Belongings left to him by Mo Yun, the father of the original body, who possessed the strength of a Four Star Dou Master and had once served as one of the Mo Clan Inner Guards!

They were also what he would rely on to survive the most difficult period of his early days!