Villain at the Door

His gaze shifted, and Jiang Liu appeared in the [Immortal Forest Grass Stone] instance. Looking around, he saw a verdant bamboo forest, a dense spiritual energy washing over him, refreshing his very soul.

Before he could observe his surroundings, the countdown ended, and the instance officially began.

"Only 10 minutes? What can I even do in that time!"

Jiang Liu glanced at the time limit and quickly strode through the bamboo forest, his eyes darting everywhere, searching for valuable spirit grass and mysterious stones.

Ten meters.

Fifty meters.

One hundred meters.

As Jiang Liu weaved through the bamboo forest, a growing sense of unease settled in. All the bamboo trees were the same height, same thickness, same color—identical, giving him a feeling of being in a copy-paste environment.

Good grief, is this bamboo tree model just copy-pasted?

Whether it was the [Golden Scale Pillar] or the [Mechanical Secret Device], the scenes were incredibly rudimentary, and the item models were very ordinary. Coupled with the copy-pasted immortal forest, Jiang Liu couldn't help but wonder if the Cultivation Era was short on funds, making the resource instances so lackluster.

Regardless of how well the instance was made, the moment Jiang Liu realized all the bamboo trees were identical, he knew.

This wasn't a treasure hunt; this was a "spot the difference" game!

Soon, he found something different. Beneath a bamboo tree about ten meters away, a swaying spirit grass was planted, standing out conspicuously in the uniform scenery, easily visible at a glance.

He ran over, plucked the spirit grass, and his gaze fell upon a piece of black iron on the adjacent bamboo tree, embedded in its surface.

"This isn't about luck; it's about eyesight, right?"

Jiang Liu grumbled to himself, pried off the piece of black iron, and continued to search through the bamboo forest.

Under the bamboo trees, on the bamboo trees.

There was no skill involved; they were placed very obviously. Anyone with concentration and eyes could see them.

The ten minutes vanished in the blink of an eye, and Jiang Liu was ejected from the instance, his eyes filled with bewilderment.

This instance... wasn't even as good as the previous two!

Did the programmer not graduate from college?

[Instance End]
[Rating: C]
[Obtained 13 Ten-year Spirit Grass, 1 Hundred-year Spirit Grass, 17 Outer-world Common Iron, 1 Black Iron from Beyond the Heavens]

"This also got a C rating?"

Jiang Liu was instantly indignant. He hadn't stopped once, running continuously for over a thousand meters and picking up dozens of items, only to get a C rating. How could he achieve an A rating?

Do I have to fly to find them?

"Next time, I'll let the paper figures handle it. This Immersive Experience is purely a waste of brainpower."

Jiang Liu shook his head. The first stage was too poorly made. He'd wait until he reached the Foundation Establishment Stage and the second stage opened before trying the Immersive Experience again.

Adding and deleting friends, Alchemy, breaking through Realms consecutively, clearing resource instances.

Jiang Liu had a very fulfilling day. In a flash, the school bell rang.

However, not a single person in the class wanted to go home.

What was the point of going home? It was just more meditation and cultivation. They might as well stay at school and absorb the spiritual energy.

This pile of spirit stones could increase the spiritual energy within the classroom severalfold, greatly boosting their cultivation speed. With only ten days left, no one wanted to miss out.

These ten days were the sprint phase, and they would determine who would enter the Immortal Examination Class. Every step, fast or slow, was extremely important. Was it really that daunting to stay at school and push themselves for ten days? Who was afraid?

"Jiang Liu, cafeteria."

Li Dongze called out to Jiang Liu. They were only Qi Refining stage cultivators and hadn't reached the Grain Abstinence Realm yet, so their stomachs were already rumbling after a day of training.

"I need to grab some snacks from the convenience store and put them in my desk."

The two left the classroom and headed straight for the cafeteria. On the way, Jiang Liu suggested that walking such a long distance every mealtime was a waste of time; it was better to just fill up on snacks.

"That makes sense."

Li Dongze agreed wholeheartedly. "I'll bring some high-grade snacks from home later. One Qi Refining Pill for a box, deal?"

"Heh, I like steamed white buns."

After the meal.

Jiang Liu took out his phone and called his Grandpa.

"Grandpa, I'm not coming back for the next few days. The school is having a training camp. Please save the sign-in spirit stones for me."

"Ah? How many days is the training camp?"

"Ten days. Why does it sound so chaotic over there?"

Jiang Liu frowned slightly. The other end of the phone was filled with noisy, messy sounds, interspersed with angry curses, as if they were arguing about something.

"Did something happen at home?"

"No, it's nothing. You just focus on your training camp."

Master Jiang replied and hung up the phone.

"What's wrong? Something at home?"

Seeing Jiang Liu's grim expression, Li Dongze kindly said, "Talk to me if anything's up. With Qi Refining Pills paving the way, nothing's a problem."

"I'm going back."

Jiang Liu, worried about his family's situation, waved at Li Dongze and left the school directly.

Ten minutes later.

Jiang Liu walked into the residential complex and entered the apartment building. As soon as he went upstairs, he saw that a neighbor's door had been splashed with paint, and his expression immediately turned ugly.

On a security door, blood-red paint had been splattered, and several large characters were written on it in pitch-black paint.

[Spirit stones, selling or not!]

He'd run into some thugs trying to force a sale!

Jiang Liu's heart sank. He went straight to the seventh floor and, as he had expected, the security doors of his home and Grandma Zhao's next door had also been splashed with paint.

His own door was still open. When he heard the sounds of arguing and cursing from inside, his head buzzed, and a surge of anger rushed to the crown of his head, erupting like a volcano!

There was only a seventy-something-year-old elder at home!

Jiang Liu darted into the house and saw that in the living room, besides Master Jiang and Grandma Zhao, there were two burly men in suits with murderous expressions.

These two men were waving a stack of cash, their eyes bulging, cursing and forcing Master Jiang and Grandma Zhao.

"You two old fossils! Didn't we give you money! Didn't we give you money!"

"Damn it! What do you mean 'snatching'! Do you two know that snatching is illegal! This is a legitimate sales visit!"

"Forced sale? This is called a sales dispute, a civil dispute!"

"Damaged paint? Hahahaha, the young man who did that damaged paint has already turned himself in!"

"I'm telling you two old fossils, we'll splash anyone in this complex who doesn't sell, and we'll turn ourselves in every day, because we have plenty of people!"

"We have people, money, and lawyers. If you don't want trouble, hand over the spirit stones!"

The man speaking waved the cash, his face full of arrogance, with an expression that said he wasn't afraid of anyone, not even the King of Heaven. Master Jiang and Grandma Zhao's faces turned red with anger, their bodies trembling, their blood pressure soaring.

"Shameless! Thugs!"

Master Jiang protected Grandma Zhao, pointing his trembling hand at the two burly men, his lips quivering with rage.

"Hey, we're thugs, what can you do? Can you record us?"

"I can beat you up!"

Jiang Liu's eyes turned red. The might of Qi Refining Layer 8 erupted suddenly, and he kicked one of the burly men in the back, sending him flying several meters away to crash into the wall.

"You"

The other man was shocked. As he saw Jiang Liu and was about to speak, a fist the size of a sandbag smashed into him, tearing flesh and bone, sending his massive body flying.