Merit Points

Biodata

Power Progression

System Functions

Merit Assessment

Merit Points are awarded when the system judges an action to have punished evil, protected others, resolved harmful conflicts, or otherwise produced a beneficial result.

• Killing Lu Dahu, who abused both Lu Chen and his wife, grants 3 points and completes Lu Chen's first quest. 1
• Killing a “wicked lackey” of the Iron Scale Gang grants 4–5 points per target, while rescuing thirteen trafficked girls grants 20 points. 13
• Aiding poor people in distress grants 20 points without requiring combat. 12
• Helping a defeated martial artist recognize the difference in their strength grants 100 points. 53
• The value of a kill is determined by a target's character rather than cultivation level; Town Suppression Guards grant 30 points each despite their strength because they are comparatively less evil than criminal gangs. 32
• Repeatedly harming the same victim cannot be exploited for repeated rewards: Lu Chen receives points only the first time. 3
• Merit can also be awarded for indirect outcomes, including saving human Grandmasters from demons and causing enemies' Dao Hearts to collapse in fear. 210 339

Cultivation and Martial-Art Enhancement

Merit Points can be spent through Lu Chen's panel to instantly raise the realm of recorded martial arts and cultivation methods.

• Spending points floods Lu Chen's mind with the equivalent of years or decades of training and practical insight. 3 6 10
• Upgrade costs rise sharply at higher levels; Galloping Horse Fist costs 3 points to reach Minor Accomplishment but 10 more to reach Perfected. 3
• Merit can raise a newly learned technique directly through multiple stages, as shown when Crimson Sand Palm reaches Perfected immediately after its acquisition. 6
• Cultivation-method upgrades can produce realm breakthroughs, including Lu Chen's advance to Seventh Rank through the Nine Heavens Cultivation Method. 40
• High-level breakthroughs demand enormous expenditures, such as 8.5 million points for God King Fourth Layer and 300 million for the Master realm. 350 384

Technique Fusion and Conversion

Merit Points can perform upgrades beyond ordinary training.

• Lu Chen spends 500 points to fuse Iron-Cutting Saber Technique, Tidal Wave Saber Technique, and Gale Blade Technique into the second-rate Heartbreaking Saber Technique. 39
• He spends 400 points to convert his Internal Energy to the Nine Heavens Cultivation Method. 40
• The system can complete the first form of the Seven Forms of God Annihilation for 2,400 points, while restoring four incomplete forms would require 30,000 points. 52
• It can advance the first form of the divine-grade Sword Drawing Heaven Slaying Technique to Perfection for 5,000 points. 183

Relationship

• Lu Chen — Primary host and user. His actions generate Merit Points, which he spends through the system panel for immediate growth. 1 3 384
• Merit System — The system that records Merit Points, issues quests and notifications, and processes expenditures. 1

Story Role

• Merit Points first transform Lu Chen from a severely injured abuse victim into an armed combatant by healing him, rewarding his first quest, and funding Galloping Horse Fist. 1
• In Panshi City, the system incentivizes Lu Chen's attacks on predatory groups such as the Beggar Gang and Iron Scale Gang, while also rewarding his protection of poor residents and trafficking victims. 12 13
• Lu Chen later discovers that defeating challengers without killing them can also generate points, giving him a less immediately lethal source of income. 53
• As Lu Chen enters higher realms, Merit Points become the principal means by which he converts mass enemy defeats into rapid cultivation breakthroughs. 296 372 377 384

Trivia

• The original term for Merit Points is 功德值.
• Merit Points are not awarded strictly according to an opponent's strength; moral conduct is a decisive factor in the system's valuation. 32
• Lu Chen repeatedly notes that higher realms consume points at dramatically increasing rates. 3 44 367