Thud, Thud, Thud!

Chapter 45: Thud, Thud, Thud!

After returning home, Su Tu put away all the boxes Li Hu had left behind.

The Star Quenching Elixir was suitable for use when breaking through acupoints, so he had no use for it yet. As for the Heart and Mind Incense, he planned to light one before going to sleep.

It could calm and bolster the mind. Although he had gathered Dao several times during the day, he still had not conducted his experiment. If he could exploit the bug in Dream Dao Plucking, life would be far too good.

"This is the main event."

Su Tu sat solemnly on the sofa, staring gravely at the last unopened silver case before him.

Inside was the full five million in cash Li Hu had left him.

Five million!

Across both his past and present lives, he had never personally seen what one million in cash looked like.

He took a deep breath, then opened the case. What greeted his eyes were stack after stack of red banknotes.

Yet unlike the excitement he had imagined, Su Tu found himself unexpectedly calm.

"Five million doesn't seem like as much as I thought."

After learning how vast and magnificent this world was, what had once been an astronomical sum had seemingly dimmed into insignificance. The cultivation resources he had gained over the past few days alone were already far beyond what one million could compare to.

At that moment, his state of mind seemed to undergo some subtle change.

People spent their lives chasing gold and silver, yet the world was vast and the universe boundless. Gold and silver were merely consumables to help him ascend to the heavens.

It was not transcendence, exactly. It was more like he had suddenly broken free of some restriction. At that instant, his mind felt incomparably clear.

All he had once wanted was to get into a good university, find a decent job, and earn a respectable salary. But now, everything had changed.

Suddenly, a system notification popped up.

You have shattered a cognitive distortion. Spiritual Wisdom Proficiency +100!!

Spiritual Wisdom (Mid Grade): 283/1000

The Spiritual Wisdom that had been increasing slowly all along had suddenly gained a hundred Proficiency points.

One had to know that even when Su Tu had fought Ka Sha Shi to the death yesterday, it had not increased by a hundred Proficiency points at once.

Su Tu's pupils abruptly contracted as he looked at the notification before him.

"Cognitive distortion... What cognitive distortion exists within me? Or rather, what cognitive distortion did I break!"

Su Tu rapidly thought it over.

In that instant just now, it had felt as though he had pierced some innate shackle, but he could not put his finger on what it was.

His mind frantically replayed everything that had happened today.

"Five million... In that situation, why was money the first thing I thought of?"

Su Tu suddenly recalled how, on the way to the martial arts hall with Li Hu that morning, he had clearly been full of doubts and questions. Yet because of the five million Li Hu had left him, he had begun dwelling on it instead.

That was completely unlike Su Tu's character. It was as if, upon coming into contact with money, his obsession with certain things would weaken or even be erased.

"Was this also a means of sealing off the Ancestral Star's Martial Dao?"

Thinking of everything he had encountered over the past few days, Su Tu could now see that throughout the years, there had vaguely been plenty of supernatural news in everyday life, but before long, people would forget it.

Even he himself would unknowingly forget those things.

A terrifying thought suddenly surfaced in Su Tu's mind.

"Could it be that someone altered the cognition of everyone on the Ancestral Star through..."

"Money as the medium!"

Su Tu looked at the bright red banknotes, an indescribable feeling rising in his heart. Just how powerful would someone have to be to alter the cognition of every living being on an entire planet?

At that moment, Su Tu gained an even deeper understanding of the power of Martial Dao.

It seems there are still many things I don't know, he thought.

But in the end, this was also a good thing. Not only had he touched upon a possible truth, but his Spiritual Wisdom Proficiency had also soared.

Spiritual Wisdom was the first skill Su Tu had raised to Mid Grade. He had earned it one test paper at a time.

But now, both Combat and Body Strengthening had overtaken it despite coming later, surpassing Spiritual Wisdom in progress.

Moreover, both could rapidly increase their Proficiency through Martial Dao.

Yet so far, Su Tu had not found any skill that could quickly increase Spiritual Wisdom. The only method he had was test paper after test paper, one point at a time.

It sounded rather heartbreaking.

This hundred-point increase in Proficiency was already equivalent to Su Tu completing a hundred test papers.

"There must be a way to raise Spiritual Wisdom quickly." Su Tu did not believe the system would be so unfair.

He composed himself and put away the five million, along with the case itself, placing them in his parents' cabinet.

As for the possible cognitive distortion surrounding money, it involved matters far too great for a tiny Twelve-Acupoint martial artist like him to concern himself with.

He stuffed away the bright red banknotes, but Su Tu did not know that the moment he shut the cabinet door—

On a planet countless light-years away from the Ancestral Star—

A figure seated beneath a tree of gold and silver opened his eyes. Jewels and riches radiated from his body, and wherever his feet moved, jingling sounds followed, like gold and silver colliding, like jewels intertwining.

"Interesting. Someone on the Ancestral Star has broken the 'mental knot' I planted."

"What is that brat doing?" he asked.

"Young Master is challenging the Heaven's Pride Ranking," a voice sounded from an unknown place.

"Once he is done, have him go to the Ancestral Star as soon as possible and try to find this person."

"Yes. Should Young Master—" The unknown voice carried a hint of gloom. The Dao Master had painstakingly planted that mental knot for the Ancestral Star, yet someone actually dared to break it without knowing their place.

"Need my ass. Have your brains gone bad? Have you stayed on New Star so long that you've forgotten you're human too?"

"Tell that brat to find the person, then try to befriend him. Harmony brings wealth, harmony brings wealth. Someone capable of breaking the mental knot on their own in a place like the Ancestral Star is more than qualified to make money with me."

The figure spoke softly, his gaze sweeping across the endless depths of space. Everywhere his eyes reached, objects of gold and silver filled the Myriad Realms.

"Xi Ge, weren't you supposed to carry me? What's with you going 0-12!"

Su Tu stared speechlessly at Darius, who had fallen yet again on the computer screen.

He had originally planned to rest for a while, then grind some more Proficiency.

But Chen Xi had called him and insisted on queueing together, claiming he would definitely carry him.

Thinking he ought to balance work and rest, Su Tu started a match.

"How can you blame me? How can you blame me? It's because you initiated wrong just now!" Chen Xi's voice came from the other end, completely righteous.

Looking at his own 12-1-10 Yaso, Su Tu laughed in irritation. In the end, he had still managed to steal the win.

Ever since elementary school, this guy had never failed to be a burden. Every time he said they were guaranteed to win, he was always the biggest liability. Su Tu had gotten used to it. Winning was nice, but friends were the best part of gaming.

After the match ended, the two began their usual round of mutual trash talk.

"I'm not talking to you anymore. Your dad's going to rest," Su Tu said.

"Damn, you're like some old cadre. You go to bed ridiculously early every day. Oh, right, be careful living by yourself lately. Don't open the door for just anyone who knocks." Chen Xi suddenly spoke in a mysterious tone.

"What's up?" Su Tu asked curiously.

"You don't know?! There's been a paranormal incident in North Sea lately. They say that late at night, a strange person appears outside the homes of people living alone."

"Then they knock on your door twice quickly and once slowly. If you open it, that strange person rushes into your home. If you don't open it, something very terrifying will happen."

Chen Xi deliberately lowered his voice, trying to create a frightening atmosphere.

Hearing that, Su Tu recalled that he seemed to have come across it while scrolling videos during the day. But his attention had been drawn to the martial artists openly appearing in public, so he had not watched that video carefully.

Thud! Thud! Thud~

"Yes, yes, yes! That's the knocking sound, two short and one long. So you do know about it. Why are you pretending otherwise? You even started knocking yourself!" Chen Xi heard the sounds coming from the other end of the call.

"I'm a hardcore internet surfer too, okay? What's there not to know? Going to sleep." Su Tu spoke without concern, then hung up before Chen Xi could say anything.

The moment the call ended, Su Tu's expression changed.

He had not knocked twice short and once long at all.

Thud, thud, thud~

Thud, thud, thud~

The eerie knocking echoed through the room. The security door trembled continuously beneath the blows, and an indescribable chill crawled from Su Tu's heels all the way up his spine.

His eyes narrowed as he looked toward the door, danger radiating from his gaze.

"A beast? Or something else?"

Yet the only response was—

Thud, thud, thud~

There was an error in the previous update. Sorry, everyone.