Let That Lecher Go

Gazing at the information displayed on the panel, Lu Bei's imagination ran wild.

If he could slash away one demonic thought, did that mean he could slash away a second, a third, or—if he was bold enough—even eight hundred and ten?

And slashing away one demonic thought doubled his attribute points. If he slashed away one hundred and eighty...

Why bother learning skills? With his base attributes alone, he could hammer his opponents to death with a straight punch.

Lu Bei suppressed the urge to distribute his free attribute points, raised his Main Profession to Level 20, and brought his novice period to an end.

Name: Lu Bei

Level: 20

Main Profession: Dao Cultivator (Foundation Establishment)

Before Level 20 was the novice period. During this stage, a player's attributes were all relatively low, equivalent to the Blood and Qi Transportation stage of cultivation. One foot had stepped onto the path of immortal cultivation, but the other had not quite followed.

Because they were so weak and lacked a realm rank, Players jokingly called this stage the Mortal Realm.

The cultivators of the Kyushu World held much the same attitude toward the Blood and Qi Transportation stage. Only after passing it could one be called an immortal cultivator; before that, one was merely a mortal with the aptitude to cultivate immortality.

It was easy to understand. At Level 10, you shouted, "Let that lecher go! Come at me!" Then you charged over hollering, only to find that you could not even beat the lecher, let alone the fairy.

If even that counted as a rank, then immortal cultivation would be far too cheapened.

Before Lu Bei had crossed over, many Players had enjoyed creating alternate characters below Level 20. They kept their levels below 20, learned a large number of cultivation arts, then redistributed their experience into skills, strengthened their combat power, and went around looking for Players of the same level to PK.

While sweeping through the Novice Village, they grandly claimed they were suppressing their levels to solidify their foundations, waiting for the right moment to soar into the heavens.

It sounded reasonable, but it was complete nonsense.

As Players' levels rose, everyone gradually realized that the most precious things had never been experience or equipment, but Skill Points.

Every cultivation art had an upper limit. Once it reached max level, it no longer provided any benefits. To advance further, one had to learn new cultivation arts and skills, all of which required Skill Points.

Players who hoarded experience had squandered all their Skill Points before reaching Level 20. When they truly needed Skill Points, they were left empty-handed and filled with regret. By the time they gathered enough experience to level up and receive Skill Point rewards, the Players they had once rubbed into the ground had already used the opportunity to pull far ahead—a perfect illustration of how the east bank of the river was prosperous for thirty years, then the west bank for the next thirty.

Lu Bei was not a Player. He had no PK system, so he did not need to suppress his level, nor would he deliberately do so. After examining his Personal Panel, he began considering how to maximize the double bonus to base attribute points brought by Demon Slaying Will.

After a moment, his gaze turned to the Seated Breathing Method and the Qi Nourishing Longevity Method. When he came into contact with the Daoist Canon Classics, he had comprehended these two cultivation arts.

In theory, these two were the most suitable cultivation arts for his novice period. They could carry him quickly and steadily through the novice stage.

As long as nothing went wrong, reaching Level 20 and Foundation Establishment would not be a problem.

At the time, Lu Bei had practiced the Demon Slaying Scripture. Now, he decided to invest experience and pick these two cultivation arts back up, exchanging it for some Free Attribute Points and Skill Points.

Fetal Breath Qi Replenishing Art Lv5 (10/50,000)

[You comprehended the Fetal Breath Qi Replenishing Art and made some progress. Strength +1, Spirit +2, Endurance +3]

[You comprehended the Fetal Breath Qi Replenishing Art and made some progress. Spirit +2, Endurance +3]

[You comprehended the Fetal Breath Qi Replenishing Art and made great gains. Total level experience +10,000, cultivation +200, Health +300]

[You comprehended the Fetal Breath Qi Replenishing Art and...]

[You...]

[You comprehended the Fetal Breath Qi Replenishing Art. Your realm broke through repeatedly, and you comprehended the skill Rewind. Spirit +6, Endurance +8, Free Attribute Points +3, Skill Points +200]

The instant he picked up the two cultivation arts again, Lu Bei's little hand trembled. He chose to use Skill Points to learn the Fetal Breath Qi Replenishing Art. It was not for any other reason—he was merely allocating his limited experience to the more suitable cultivation art. That was more reasonable.

Skill: Rewind. When cultivation is below 30%, Strength and Speed are doubled. When Health is below 10%, recover 10% of total Health per second. Duration: five seconds. Skill cooldown: 24 hours.

Note: This skill cannot be upgraded.

A divine skill!

Rounding up, it was practically equivalent to picking up an extra life for free.

After obtaining this skill, Lu Bei dragged Mo Buxiu back up from the underworld and praised him all over again. He had been forced to take him as his master back then, but now he only wanted to say one thing: It's actually pretty great.

This master of his was simply begging to be praised.

At this point, Lu Bei was instead a little confused. He could not tell whether Mo Buxiu had been praising the Demon Slaying Scripture or the Fetal Breath Qi Replenishing Art when he left.

Of these two cultivation arts, one emphasized offense and the other survival. Each was at the ceiling of its generation within its own field. Neither could be said to be superior; both were extraordinary scriptures.

As for the novice-period cultivation arts he had obtained through comprehending the Dao, Lu Bei had not despised them either. Out of respect for his own comprehension, he had at least made a token effort.

Seated Breathing Method Lv4 (10/8,000)

Qi Nourishing Longevity Method Lv4 (10/8,000)

From the experience required to level them up, it was clear that they were not particularly advanced cultivation arts. Likewise, bitterly cultivating the two had not brought Lu Bei any impressive skills.

One, Calm Mind, restored cultivation; the other, Spirit Guard, increased defense.

If both skills had been passive, they would absolutely have been divine skills among those of the same level. Unfortunately, both were active skills. Choosing them was not as useful as putting on two more pieces of armor and carrying a few more bottles of healing medicine.

Fortunately, his investment had not been for nothing. He had traded it back for attribute points and Skill Points, and his base attribute points had increased twofold as well. The returns exceeded the expenditure, earning him a small profit.

After distributing his Free Attribute Points, the Personal Panel refreshed once more.

Name: Lu Bei

Race: Human

Template: NPC

Level: 20

Experience: 5,010/120,000

Cultivation: 3,010/3,010

Health: 2,200/2,200

Main Profession: Dao Cultivator (Foundation Establishment)

Secondary Profession: Farmer Lv1 (0/100), Alchemist Lv6 (50/30,000), Blacksmith Lv4 (10/8,000)

Attributes: Strength 90, Speed 68, Spirit 145, Endurance 100, Charisma 4, Luck 3

Evaluation: Kid, you're actually not bad!

"Sixty Free Attribute Points produced the effect of one hundred and twenty. Master above, I admit it—I was being an absolute fool when I pretended to be reserved about taking you as my master." Lu Bei sighed repeatedly.

Of the remaining 2,300 Skill Points and 50,000 experience, he resisted the temptation to learn low-level cultivation arts and skills to increase his base attributes. He stored them away for later use.

Time flew, and three days passed.

He had not been idle during those three days. He had painstakingly farmed experience until he had accumulated 100,000, organized his Qiankun Bag, and received a batch of paid assistance from Wei Mao.

There was no need to mention the chain mail. Among the supplies, aside from practical pills that replenished Qi and restored Health, there was also a piece of equipment that Lu Bei could not bear to put down.

The Black Gold Straight Saber.

It was green quality, with a blade three fingers wide and about one meter long. A fuller had been carved into it to reduce weight and increase strength. It looked thick and steady, brimming with domineering presence.

With Lu Bei's attainments in blacksmithing, he could tell that the straight saber's craftsmanship was extraordinary. The fuller alone had reached the pinnacle of skill in balancing the blade's weight distribution.

Paired with the Array Slaying Saber Technique, it was like adding wings to a tiger.

Wei Mao had not said that the saber was a family heirloom, so Lu Bei understood it to be an item that could be lost. Every night, he took it out and played with it for a while, honing his feel for it and increasing his proficiency.

By the hour of Chen, the sky was already bright. The gates of Dasheng Pass opened, and Lu Bei traveled with Zhu Bo and Feng Si as their carriage headed toward Dongyang County.

Feng Si drove the carriage. Lu Bei and Zhu Bo sat inside, while a burly middle-aged man rode alongside them.

Luo Ban was one of Zhu Ting's personal guards, responsible for Zhu Bo's safety.

As luck would have it, the ruins' coordinates were located in Dongyang County, not far from Lu Bei's old home, Langyu County. If this trip went smoothly, he planned to make a detour to Nine Bamboo Mountain's Sanqing Peak and take that den of little foxes under his wing.

Food, lodging, and even job assignments—one could not find such a good deal even by searching with a lantern. The little foxes would surely be happy with it too.