Redeeming Skills

Though it was only the lowest-grade, one-star Mortal-grade herb, Qi Yuan Grass could be refined into Qi Replenishing Pills that directly replenished Inner Qi. Even eaten raw, it could restore 10 Inner Qi Points.

Qin Shaofeng had discovered it by chance while hunting a mid-level, fourth-layer demon beast.

The moment he saw the Qi Yuan Grass's attributes, Qin Shaofeng was overjoyed.

At present, he could only rely on Yi Jin Jing to recover 1 Inner Qi Point every minute. When he had used up too much Inner Qi, he could also sit in meditation and regulate his breathing to recover some more.

But this had cost him quite a lot of time.

For the same reason, Qin Shaofeng had held back to some extent when killing demon beasts.

That was why, despite relying on his Houtian First Layer cultivation to defeat Zhang Lingtian, who was at the Houtian Fourth Layer, he only dared to take on demon beasts one layer above his own in the Black Horn Mountain Range.

On the arena, he had only been facing one enemy, Zhang Lingtian, so Qin Shaofeng had naturally been quite confident.

But the Black Horn Mountain Range was home to countless demon beasts, and danger lurked everywhere. Qin Shaofeng naturally hadn't dared to squander his Inner Qi Points.

Basically, whenever Qin Shaofeng's Inner Qi Points dropped below 300, he would start being careful.

As a result, he had never fought demon beasts with his hands completely untied.

But now that he had Qi Yuan Grass, things were different.

A single stalk of low-grade Qi Yuan Grass could restore 10 Inner Qi Points. After gathering a large amount of it, Qin Shaofeng had gained confidence and could finally unleash himself in a frenzy.

Before, he had been reluctant to use Little Li Flying Dagger unless the situation was dire. But with plenty of low-grade Qi Yuan Grass on hand, Qin Shaofeng stopped worrying so much and began instantly killing mid-level, fourth-layer demon beasts.

As a result, Qin Shaofeng's pace of killing demon beasts suddenly picked up considerably.

Fortunately, Qi Yuan Grass tasted pretty good, fresh with a hint of sweetness, so it wasn't unpleasant to eat.

If not, Qin Shaofeng would have been sick of it from eating nothing but Qi Yuan Grass.

Level: Houtian Fourth Layer, 0/4000

Inner Qi Points: (Houtian Fourth Layer grants 350 Inner Qi Points; Yi Jin Jing triples this)

Talent Spirit Root: Thunder Body

Skills: Fiery Golden Eyes, Yi Jin Jing, Little Li Flying Dagger

Battle Beast: Hundred Spirits Demon Fox

Equipment: None

Mission: None

Points: 130

Title: Lanjiang City City Lord

Now that he had reached the Houtian Fourth Layer, Qin Shaofeng's Inner Qi Points had surpassed 1,000. And because he had eaten so much Qi Yuan Grass, his Inner Qi Points had run out completely quite a few times.

That had brought his Yi Jin Jing proficiency ever closer to 100 points.

Qin Shaofeng had more or less found a way to level up Yi Jin Jing.

Under the circumstances, even after completing the day's target, Qin Shaofeng was still full of energy and planned to kill some more demon beasts.

After checking that he still had plenty of Qi Yuan Grass, Qin Shaofeng had no intention of resting. He took out the map, glanced at it, then set off toward the territory of the mid-level, fifth-layer demon beasts.

After another fierce battle, Qin Shaofeng finally stopped at dusk, still eager for more, and found a place to rest.

That very night, Qin An and Wu Sancai finally clashed head-on.

They fought several rounds, and both sides suffered losses.

The night passed without incident. The next day, as soon as dawn broke, Qin Shaofeng got up early again.

Mid-level, fifth-layer demon beasts were no longer much of a challenge for Qin Shaofeng. Even if he ran into a mid-level, sixth-layer demon beast, he could handle it as long as there weren't too many.

After leveling up to the Houtian Fourth Layer the previous day, Qin Shaofeng had also killed quite a few demon beasts and gained a lot of experience.

So, shortly after noon, when he killed a mid-level, sixth-layer demon beast, the system notification he had been eagerly awaiting finally rang.

"System notification: Congratulations, player! You have reached the experience requirement for leveling up. Player Qin Shaofeng has advanced to Houtian Fifth Layer!"

He had finally reached the Houtian Fifth Layer!

Qin Shaofeng's face lit up, and he cried out in his heart.

"The mission's complete!"

Ding-dong!

Along with his delighted shout, the system chimed again.

"Congratulations, player Qin Shaofeng, on completing the 'Level Up' mission. Since you reached Houtian Fifth Layer within three days, the system rates your completion at three stars. The system hereby grants you the highest reward for this mission."

After this system notification, several more ding-dong sounds rang out in quick succession.

"Congratulations, player Qin Shaofeng, on completing the 'Level Up' mission. You have received a mission reward of 2,000 experience and 200 Points!"

"Congratulations, player Qin Shaofeng, you have received one additional Special Lottery chance!"

"Congratulations, player Qin Shaofeng, you have reached Houtian Fifth Layer. The system shop is now open!"

It was open!

The system shop had finally opened!

Hearing the notification, Qin Shaofeng grew excited.

Unable to wait, he brought up his status screen and began looking through the system shop.

But once he did, Qin Shaofeng found that it was somewhat different from the system shop he had imagined.

System Shop: Beginner System Shop. It offers countless Mortal-grade and Human-grade goods, including skills, martial arts, pills, equipment, and more. Purchases can only be made with Points.

Requirements to upgrade to the Intermediate System Shop: 1. Player Qin Shaofeng must reach level 31; 2. The total Points spent in the system shop must exceed ___.

When he saw that it was only a Beginner System Shop, Qin Shaofeng felt a little disappointed. But after seeing the countless dazzling goods inside, he was completely stunned.

It really had everything!

The system shop's catalog had more than a dozen categories, including skills, cultivation techniques, pills, and equipment.

Opening one of them revealed further categories: Mortal-grade, Human-grade, Earth-grade, Heaven-grade, Saint-grade, and Divine-grade.

For now, though, Qin Shaofeng could only open the Mortal-grade and Human-grade options. The rest were grayed out, and clicking them did nothing.

Qin Shaofeng tried opening the Mortal-grade section, and another huge assortment of categories appeared before him.

Qin Shaofeng had entered through the pills section. Within Mortal-grade pills, there were dozens of complicated categories, including replenishment, detoxification, leveling up, and stabilization.

Qin Shaofeng was starting to feel dizzy just looking at them.

He backed out of that screen and returned to the previous one. At the very bottom of the system shop, he spotted a line of tiny text.

(Friendly reminder: If you don't have enough Points, you can recharge! Your first recharge comes with a special Points bundle. Recharge 10 yuan to receive a small special bundle; recharge 100 yuan to receive...)

R-recharge?!

Qin Shaofeng had initially thought it was some kind of reminder, but in the end, it was just another one of those prompts. He was at a loss for words.

He would have liked to recharge, but the question was, could he?

Qin Shaofeng sighed softly and stopped dwelling on it. Instead, he began searching the system shop for skills and cultivation techniques.

At present, Qin Shaofeng only had three skills: Fiery Golden Eyes, Yi Jin Jing, and Little Li Flying Dagger.

Although these three skills were either Divine-grade or Saint-grade, Qin Shaofeng still felt he had too few offensive skills.

Now that the system shop had opened, Qin Shaofeng naturally wasn't going to miss the chance to pick out a few skills and cultivation techniques.

In his previous life on Earth, Qin Shaofeng had been a martial arts fiction buff. He had read plenty of wuxia novels, and the peerless martial arts in Jin Yong and Gu Long's stories had especially fascinated him.

Now that he had a Divine-grade cultivation system with a shop that supposedly had everything—and Yi Jin Jing was already in there—surely it had all sorts of other martial arts too!

With that thought, Qin Shaofeng decided to take a look.

To his surprise, what he found delighted him.

Wudang Long Fist: Mortal Grade One Star, one of the Wudang school's boxing styles. An entry-level Wudang martial art, it has two forms, which can be practiced separately or performed together in one continuous sequence. It uses broad stances and many sweeping strikes and straight chops, making it effective for building health and strength. Blocks, parries, dodges, and evasions all require forceful strikes, swift kicks, coordinated hands and feet, and crisp movements.

Wudang Cloud-Treading Steps: Human Grade Three Stars, Wudang's supreme lightness skill, acclaimed as the finest of its kind. It emphasizes nimble movement rather than using varied footwork to confuse an opponent. Its key is a light, agile body, with freedom to move up and down or advance and retreat.

Shaolin Arhat Fist: Human Grade One Star...

Huashan Basic Swordplay Moves: Mortal Grade Three Stars...

It really did have everything!

Looking at the names of all those martial arts, Qin Shaofeng was thrilled.

But when he saw the Points required to buy them, he was dumbfounded.

Even Wudang Long Fist, a mere Mortal Grade One Star martial art, cost at least 10 Points. The movement skill he had his eye on, Wudang Cloud-Treading Steps, cost a whopping 150 Points because it was Human Grade Three Stars.

Qin Shaofeng only had 330 Points right now. He had originally thought that was quite a lot.

But now, it looked like far too little.

After agonizing over it for a while, Qin Shaofeng still decided to buy a few martial arts skills.

After some deliberation, Qin Shaofeng chose Wudang Cloud-Treading Steps, Wudang Long Fist, and Huashan Basic Swordplay Moves.

A movement skill was essential, and he couldn't go without a close-combat skill either.

Besides, over the past few days, Qin Shaofeng had realized that although he had a sharp sword in hand, his movements with it were so disorderly they were almost unbearable. Even he was embarrassed by them, so he chose Huashan Basic Swordplay Moves.

He had only chosen three things, but Qin Shaofeng ended up spending 190 Points.

That left him with only 140 of his original 330 Points.

With the skills taken care of, Qin Shaofeng went to the pills section, intending to buy some pills.

There, Qin Shaofeng finally saw the Qi Replenishing Pill, made from Qi Yuan Grass.

Qi Replenishing Pill: Mortal-grade pill, available in one- to three-star varieties. A one-star Qi Replenishing Pill instantly restores 20 Inner Qi Points and costs 5 Points; a two-star Qi Replenishing Pill instantly restores 50 Inner Qi Points and costs 10 Points; a three-star Qi Replenishing Pill instantly restores 100 Inner Qi Points and costs 20 Points.

The Qi Replenishing Pill's attributes made Qin Shaofeng drool.

If he had a large supply of Qi Replenishing Pills, Qin Shaofeng wouldn't have to hold back at all. With a divine skill like Little Li Flying Dagger, he could challenge mid-level, ninth- and tenth-layer demon beasts.

Unfortunately...

Looking at the Points price of the Qi Replenishing Pill, Qin Shaofeng let out a quiet sigh. "Sigh! Points, Points! I have far too few Points. Great System, hurry up and give me some missions!"

No matter how much Qin Shaofeng wailed, the system remained silent.