Item Ring

In a room within the living quarters for Lianyang Academy's reserve students, Qin Shaofeng was currently reading a small booklet.

The booklet contained basic information about Lianyang Academy, most of it concerning various rules.

After reading it, Qin Shaofeng finally understood that even though he had taken first place in the assessment and passed the tenth stage, he still could not become an official member of Lianyang Academy. He was still only a reserve student.

Passing the seventh stage of the assessment did indeed qualify one to become an official disciple of Lianyang Academy.

But before that, one still had to complete an academy student advancement mission.

Only by completing an advancement mission could a student raise their rank within Lianyang Academy.

The higher a student's rank, the more rights and benefits they possessed.

Within Lianyang Academy, a student's rank was a symbol of status. Reserve students were practically no different from menial servants.

But as one's student rank rose, their status would undergo earth-shaking changes.

Some Star Students even held higher status in Lianyang Kingdom than certain City Lords, and high-ranking Star Students could command some of Lianyang Kingdom's armies.

Naturally, for that very reason, student advancement missions grew increasingly difficult the further one progressed.

Yet after learning all this, Qin Shaofeng became even more eager in anticipation.

According to the booklet, if Qin Shaofeng wanted to become a Formal Student, he had to go to Lianyang Academy's Mission Hall and accept a low-level advancement mission. Only after completing it could he advance to Formal Student.

The missions issued by the Mission Hall of Lianyang Academy were also divided into several grades.

They went from low-level to intermediate-level, then high-level, with Star Missions above high-level missions.

Star Missions had ten star ratings, but that did not mean they corresponded to the ten ranks of Star Students.

Even the lowest one-star mission required at least Xiantian First Layer cultivation before one could accept it.

That seemed to match Star Students, but for a three-star mission, no one below Xiantian Fifth Layer would dare accept it. In fact, the academy would not permit it.

That was because three-star missions already counted as relatively dangerous missions. Accepting one without sufficient strength was simply courting death.

However, this had little to do with Qin Shaofeng, because to advance to Formal Student, he only needed to complete one low-level mission.

And low-level missions were truly low-level. They carried no danger at all, and even someone at Houtian Fifth Level could complete them.

After understanding this, Qin Shaofeng did not dwell on it. Once he finished reading the booklet, he began sorting through today's gains.

He summoned his status screen, and the first thing he saw was his current attributes.

Player: Qin Shaofeng

Level: Houtian Ninth Layer, 150/9000

Inner Qi Points: 3000/3000 (Houtian Ninth Layer possesses 600 Inner Qi Points; Yi Jin Jing provides a fivefold bonus)

Talent Spirit Root: Thunder Body

Skills: Fiery Golden Eyes, Yi Jin Jing, Little Li Flying Dagger, Lightning Release: Lightning Armor, Wudang Long Fist, Wudang Vertical Cloud Ladder, Huashan Basic Swordplay Moves, Alchemy...

Battle Beast: Hundred Spirits Demon Fox

Equipment: None

Missions: None

Points: 1000

Title: None

A full three thousand Inner Qi Points—if converted into Xiantian Inner Qi, that deep reserve was equivalent to an ordinary Xiantian Third Layer cultivator.

And this was only the expenditure brought by Level 2 Yi Jin Jing. If Yi Jin Jing reached Level 3, his Inner Qi Points would probably surge several times over.

If he reached that point, a single Little Li Flying Dagger would practically be an instant kill against someone above his level.

Just thinking about it made Qin Shaofeng's blood boil with excitement.

After looking over his attributes, Qin Shaofeng's gaze fell upon the Points entry.

"1,000 Points... how should I spend them?"

Looking at those 1,000 Points, Qin Shaofeng muttered to himself. But after thinking it over carefully, he decided not to touch them for now.

He had only just learned Lightning Release: Lightning Armor. On top of that, he already possessed Huashan Basic Swordplay Moves, Wudang Long Fist, and the great offensive weapon that was Little Li Flying Dagger.

As for movement techniques, Wudang Vertical Cloud Ladder was already good enough for now. After all, Qin Shaofeng had not even reached the Xiantian Realm yet. These skills suited him perfectly at the moment, so there was no need to learn any higher-level skills.

He might as well save his Points in case of unforeseen need.

Thus, after pondering for a while, Qin Shaofeng shifted his gaze away from the Points and toward the number of lottery draws.

"A lottery again! This is the part I look forward to most!"

Raising an eyebrow, Qin Shaofeng muttered excitedly, then opened the lottery screen and selected Normal Lottery.

"Damn it, it's this stuff again!"

Seeing lighters, tissues, Apple phones, and similar items displayed in those hundred little squares again, Qin Shaofeng could not help cursing under his breath.

"Always tossing out this useless junk—System, you really know how to mess with people, don't you?"

Though he complained aloud, Qin Shaofeng ultimately carried out the lottery draw helplessly.

The familiar slot-machine music rang out again, and Qin Shaofeng began praying to all the gods and Buddhas in the heavens.

"Don't give me some reward that'll disappoint me. It has to be something good!"

It seemed the gods and Buddhas of Earth were quite dependable. Qin Shaofeng's prayer worked again this time.

System Notification: Congratulations, player Qin Shaofeng, you have obtained one Small Storage Ring through the lottery draw!

A storage ring?

Upon hearing the system notification, Qin Shaofeng was briefly stunned before wild joy surged through him.

A storage ring!

Anyone who had read novels knew this was a good thing!

With a fierce grin in his heart, Qin Shaofeng impatiently began checking the storage ring's attributes.

Small Storage Ring: A small spatial ring with one cubic meter of space. It can store objects no larger than one cubic meter. Simply will it in your mind to use it.

(Note: Storing an object consumes Inner Qi Points. Each use consumes 1 Inner Qi Point!)

"It really is a spatial storage ring!"

After seeing the storage ring's attributes, Qin Shaofeng burst into laughter.

Qin Shaofeng had long wanted a storage ring, but what left him helpless was that although the system shop sold them, even the cheapest Small Storage Ring required one hundred thousand Points to purchase.

One hundred thousand Points!

To the current Qin Shaofeng, that was an astronomical figure!

Being able to draw one through the lottery was naturally cause for celebration.

As for the note that storing items consumed 1 Inner Qi Point, Qin Shaofeng had automatically ignored it long ago.

It was only 1 Inner Qi Point. To him, that was nothing at all.

System Notification: Congratulations, player Qin Shaofeng, on obtaining your first piece of equipment and activating the Equipment System. Would you like to open the equipment slots?

Hm?

Equipment slots?

Just as Qin Shaofeng was celebrating, the system suddenly gave him this prompt.

Could it be...

His heart stirred, and Qin Shaofeng immediately agreed.

"Yes!"

System Notification: Congratulations, player Qin Shaofeng, you have activated the Equipment System. You may now freely equip equipment!

With the system notification, the attribute interface before Qin Shaofeng's eyes swished and transformed into a character model.

Just like in an ordinary game, equipment slots where gear could be worn appeared on both sides of the character model!

There were ten equipment slots in all: gauntlets, shoes, weapon, helmet, clothing, mask, necklace, belt, ring, and backpack.

However, Qin Shaofeng also noticed one difference. Aside from the ring slot, every other equipment slot contained only one space, while the ring slot had four spaces.

Qin Shaofeng understood this much—it meant he could equip four rings.

What surprised him somewhat, though, was that he had originally thought holding a weapon in his hand counted as equipping it. Who would have thought that the equipment section in his attributes had never been activated at all?

System Notification: Would player Qin Shaofeng like to equip the Small Storage Ring?

As he toyed with the storage ring, the system quickly gave another prompt.

Without hesitation, Qin Shaofeng chose yes.

Whoosh!

The storage ring in his hand vanished. Just as Qin Shaofeng had expected, one of the spaces under the ring category in his equipment attributes now contained the storage ring he had just been holding.

At the sight, Qin Shaofeng's thoughts shifted, and a green ring instantly appeared on the index finger of his left hand—the very Small Storage Ring.

With another thought, the Small Storage Ring suddenly vanished again.

"Just as I guessed!"

After testing it out, Qin Shaofeng felt a faint surge of delight.

Just as he had expected, the Small Storage Ring placed in the equipment slot could be made invisible at will. This made things much more convenient.

In the end, Qin Shaofeng even placed the longsword he always carried into the weapon slot, then discovered that he could summon the longsword whenever he wished.

This discovery made Qin Shaofeng grin sinisterly, a certain idea surfacing in his mind.

If he were fighting someone and suddenly summoned his longsword, catching his enemy off guard, that feeling seemed rather nice!

After playing around for quite a while, Qin Shaofeng finally turned his attention back to the storage ring and placed all the Gold Notes he carried, along with some medicinal pills and the like, into it.

After sorting everything out, Qin Shaofeng stretched and rose to his feet, then headed out the door.

Though they were only Reserve Students, they still had their own rooms. They simply were not as luxurious.

Now that he had gained a rough understanding of Lianyang Academy, Qin Shaofeng prepared to take action.

At the very least, he had to become a Formal Student of Lianyang Academy first!

With a plan in mind, Qin Shaofeng intended to call Du Meng and take on the task to advance to Formal Student status.

But before Qin Shaofeng could reach the door, a rapid barrage of knocking suddenly rang out.

Uh, to be precise, it was more like someone was pounding on the door.

"Bang! Bang! Bang!"

Under blows violent enough to make even the ground tremble, the door to Qin Shaofeng's room shook fiercely. Qin Shaofeng was even a little worried that it would be smashed apart the very next moment.

Frowning, Qin Shaofeng felt a faint stir of anger.

Who the hell was it? In such a hurry—rushing off to be reincarnated?

He cursed inwardly, but the next moment, a booming voice rang out, turning his slight anger into helplessness.

"Brother Feng, open up! Someone's here to make trouble!"

Recognizing the familiar voice, Qin Shaofeng knew that the one pounding on the door was Du Meng.

He should have guessed it was this brute. Only he would knock on Qin Shaofeng's door with such utter abandon!

He sighed softly to himself, but Du Meng's words quickly caught his attention.

Someone was looking for trouble?

A sharp gleam flashed through Qin Shaofeng's eyes, yet he was not surprised.

As the saying went, people feared fame just as pigs feared growing fat. Since he had taken first place in the assessment, someone would surely come looking for trouble.

If not for the system mission, Qin Shaofeng would not have sought this spotlight.

But now that things had come to this, there was no use saying more.

Besides, Qin Shaofeng merely hated trouble; he was not afraid of it.

Hmph. He wanted to see just who had come to stir up trouble for him.

With a cold snort in his heart, Qin Shaofeng directly opened the door and walked out.