Not Even Qualified to Be Someone's Dog

Chen Ping had always felt that this might not be a Scholar System at all, but some kind of Juan Wang System—or even a downright wage-slave system.

After all, he had never heard of any Scholar System that gave Scholar Points for urging its host to exercise every day.

With a system like this, Chen Ping had once considered simply giving up and living out his life in leisure.

Chen Ping had carefully considered the feasibility of that. With his current earning ability, he could make over twenty Gold Soul Coins a month.

And that was while he was still in the initial stage, building up his client base. Once he established his reputation, a monthly income of fifty or even a hundred Gold Soul Coins would not be impossible.

Since Dai Yueheng had been a reserve team member in the previous All-Continent Advanced Soul Master Tournament, and Tang Ya was also at Shrek Academy, then the current point in time was most likely the year Huo Yuhao entered Shrek.

During the year and a half or so before Huo Yuhao participated in the All-Continent Advanced Soul Master Tournament, if he did not follow the system's recommendations and spend money on the medicinal ingredients for Great Strength Pills and Brain Refreshing Pills, saving up several hundred Gold Soul Coins would not be difficult.

Chen Ping was not completely ignorant of the plot developments in the Douluo world. He remembered the key turning points in several major events quite clearly.

The two All-Continent Advanced Soul Master Tournaments and the Soul Engineer underground arena competition Huo Yuhao took part in within the Sun Moon Empire—if he bet everything on all three major events, the profits would be enough to multiply Chen Ping's assets by thousands of times, perhaps even more.

That money would be enough for Chen Ping to live comfortably for the rest of his life.

Back on Blue Star, he had earned only three or four thousand a month while still having to take crap from his boss every day. Chen Ping had long since had enough of that life.

If he could become a wealthy idler, Chen Ping felt that life on Douluo Continent would not be so bad either. Even if the lack of modern facilities made things somewhat inconvenient, he could always go to the Sun Moon Empire.

He had already spent more than five years as a vagrant on Douluo Continent. Why would he care about that?

But the system used just a few words to completely dispel Chen Ping's thoughts of lying flat and giving up.

Report, Boss: Tang San has noticed you for quite some time. After all, the way you transmigrated into Douluo Continent was the same as Tang San's—Soul Body possession. One possessed a baby, and the other possessed a corpse. There is no fundamental difference, you know.

Tang San had noticed him!

That single sentence from the system made Chen Ping's scalp go numb.

Who was Tang San?

A battle-tested feudalism fighter!

The sole Buddha of the Blissful Douluo Buddha Kingdom!

A bizarre designer who loved turning Douluo Continent—and even the God Realm—into his own amusement park.

Could anything good come from being noticed by this Buddha Grandpa?

Chen Ping's thoughts raced as he desperately searched for a way out. He had even considered becoming Tang San's dog.

After all, Little Huo had indeed been trained into a dog, but if he willingly became one, would that not prevent Tang San from personally training him into one?

Just as Chen Ping was marveling at his genius idea, the system poured another bucket of cold water over him.

Little Huo had the opportunity to become a dog because he was a native of Douluo Continent and also the Son of Luck. Only then was he worth personally training.

As for an outsider like Chen Ping, he had neither luck nor talent, while the thoughts in his head were all sources of instability.

According to the system's analysis, Tang San believed Chen Ping would interfere with his reversal of history, so there was a 99% chance he would find an opportunity to casually slap him to death.

To be someone's dog, one must first have the potential to be a dog—one must be able to pounce on people and bite them, and draw blood with every bite. Only then is there any need for training.

As for termites and cockroaches that only caused destruction in the nooks and crannies of a house, no one would waste effort training them. They would simply be killed.

He was not even qualified to be someone's dog!

That was probably the most hurtful thing Chen Ping had heard all year. Fortunately, his Scholar Cultivation System was not entirely heartless, and it ultimately comforted him gently.

Look on the bright side, Boss. Although we are currently little different from tiny ants in Tang San's eyes, Tang San, who is far away in the God Realm, cannot immediately pinpoint our existence.

He knows that another Soul Body similar to his own has arrived on Douluo Continent. At most, he might someday make a special effort to look for us, and once he finds us, crush us to death with one foot. That is all he can do—nothing more.

The system's "nothing more" left Chen Ping silent. If he remembered correctly, that phrase was not supposed to be used this way.

"Fine, I'll grind. Is that enough?"

Chen Ping sighed and ignored the system's incessant nagging. Since his life was tied to Chen Ping's, it would chatter endlessly the moment Chen Ping showed the slightest sign of slacking off.

He first went to the pharmacy to collect the medicinal ingredients he had ordered yesterday. Then, gritting his teeth, he spent three silver coins on a superior room and had the inn servant prepare a bath barrel and hot water.

As he scattered the various strange medicinal ingredients, already ground into powder beforehand, into the bath barrel, the intense, pungent smell of medicine immediately drilled straight into Chen Ping's nostrils.

The smell was like stuffing onions, garlic, chili peppers, scallions, and every other kind of spicy seasoning, mixed with all sorts of fermented brewing materials that had aged for years, directly up his nose. Chen Ping nearly fainted from just one whiff.

If he had a choice, Chen Ping truly did not want to soak in this bath. But who told him he was poor?

The Profound Water Pill sold by Xu Sanshi's family could not only improve one's talent, but did so painlessly and could even raise Soul Power. But could he afford it?

A single pill cost over ten thousand Gold Soul Coins, and they were scarce even at that price. By the time he had enough money to buy a Profound Water Pill, it would be far too late.

When Chen Ping had read the book before, he had thought a thousand Gold Soul Coins were nothing.

The Ice Jade Scorpion Arm Bone Huo Yuhao obtained had started bidding at over ten million Gold Soul Coins. Xu Jiujiu had ultimately called the price up to thirty million Gold Soul Coins, then turned around and gave it to Huo Yuhao.

But when Chen Ping actually had to earn money himself, he realized that money on Douluo Continent was just as damn hard to earn as it had been in his previous life.

With the system's help, he could at least become a seller of knowledge and make some easy money.

Those ordinary people who toiled in the fields year-round, only to earn barely enough to fill their stomachs, were the reason the upper class of Douluo Continent could be so dazzlingly wealthy.

"Let's fucking do this!"

After shouting loudly in the tightly sealed room to bolster his courage, Chen Ping roughly tore off his clothes and jumped into the bath barrel.

The next moment, Chen Ping felt as though he had jumped into a vat of boiling oil. The skin all over his body crackled and burst, while the medicinal liquid in the bathing barrel seemed like countless razor-sharp blades slicing through every inch of his flesh.

Chen Ping trembled uncontrollably for several seconds before gasping for breath. Shaking, he took out a mud-ball-like pill from his Storage Ring, which held only 0.1 cubic meters.

Strike while the iron was hot; hesitate once, and his courage would fade; hesitate twice, and it would be gone. He was already in the bathing barrel—whether he wanted to or not, he had to take this pill today!

With his eyes squeezed shut, he stuffed the pill into his mouth. A bizarre flavor that seemed ready to explode rampaged through Chen Ping's mouth.

The agonizing taste twisted Chen Ping's expression as though he were wearing a Pain Mask.