[The host defeated a stronger opponent, overcoming a Tier 4 Fire Slave. Survival points +200.]
Hearing the notification in his ears, Zeng Shen felt a flicker of disappointment.
He had thought defeating a Tier 4 intelligent being would earn him a thousand survival points, but he had only received two hundred.
Looks like the thousand survival points Liu Tongtong contributed that day were just a first-time reward for defeating a member of a divine retinue.
While Zeng Shen was pondering this, the middle-aged hall master walked up to him. After a brief silence, he cupped his hands and said:
"Although you didn't win through martial skill, according to the rules laid down by our ancestors, you successfully challenged our hall by defeating several of our members in succession. That gives you the right to ask every martial artist in this hall to do one thing for you, provided it's within our abilities."
"Huh?" Zeng Shen was taken aback. Looking at the middle-aged hall master before him, he asked hesitantly, "I can ask your hall to do something for me?"
"That's right. It's a rule passed down by our ancestors, though your request must not violate morality or the law," the middle-aged hall master said.
"I don't need you to do anything for me. I just..."
Zeng Shen shook his head as he spoke, but a young man from the hall soon cut him off indignantly.
"Are you looking down on our Lihuo Martial Arts Hall?"
"Yeah, are you looking down on our hall?"
The other young men from the hall spoke up as well.
Given their reactions, Zeng Shen felt as though he really would be doing something wrong if he didn't ask them to do something for him.
Zeng Shen wiped the sweat from his forehead and thought for a moment. Suddenly, an idea struck him. "All right, then. Could each of you spar with me once a day?"
Instantly, the entire room fell silent.
"You're so fast. Wouldn't you just kick us down every time we sparred?" one young man asked.
Zeng Shen considered it, then said, "In that case, how about this? I'll only use twenty percent of my top speed each time."
"Twenty percent of your top speed? How fast would that be?"
"Probably about as fast as our hall master going all out," someone estimated.
"Oh, that sounds great! At that speed, wouldn't we essentially be challenging a hall master who had the speed but none of the martial skills?" one young man said happily.
The middle-aged hall master shot him a glare, then turned to Zeng Shen. "If that's your request, there's no problem at all. Still, it seems you'd be getting the short end of the stick, becoming their sparring partner. How about I teach you some martial skills and moves during the sessions?"
Zeng Shen's eyes lit up, and he immediately nodded.
With nothing but speed at his disposal, learning a few basic moves would greatly improve his strength.
This really would accomplish several things at once.
He could farm survival points every day while improving his combat skills.
Zeng Shen hadn't expected this at all.
At first, he had only wanted to spar with Master Ma, farm some survival points, and test a few things.
Instead, he hadn't even met Master Ma, but had turned a martial arts hall into a point-farming spot and raked in fifteen hundred survival points.
"Thank you, Hall Master Li." Zeng Shen happily cupped his hands, then cast an Eye of Observation at him.
[Intelligent race: Fire Slave Clan] [Aptitude: Lord (Ordinary, Elite, Lord, King, Legendary, Epic, Mythic)] [Tier 4: 0/50000] [Name: Li Zhiyuan.] [Skills: Not activated.] [Faith: Master Ma, Tier 3 fire deity] [Devout (Provides 100 faith points daily to the deity he worships)] [Mood: Slightly dejected] [Analysis: Originally a Tier 1 fire deity, he unfortunately perished in battle against a horde of mutated beasts. Through Master Ma's innate talent, he was reborn in flames as a new life-form, but became his slave forever.]
"Uh."
Zeng Shen was stunned by the information he received.
The Fire Slave Clan had only become Fire Slaves through Master Ma's innate talent. Didn't that mean he had misunderstood old Ma?
Was this what the system meant when it kept saying he enslaved his own comrades?
Then it seemed he hadn't become an utterly irredeemable deity after the catastrophe.
With that thought, Zeng Shen remembered that Master Ma had yet to return. Slightly puzzled, he asked Hall Master Li, "Hall Master, if Master Ma isn't the hall master, what does he do here?"
"He's worked as our cleaner for nearly ten years."
Hall Master Li spoke unhurriedly.
"Holy shit, he's a cleaner!" Zeng Shen exclaimed in surprise.
Hall Master Li nodded. "Yes, he handles pretty much all the cleaning here. When he has nothing else to do, he wanders around the nearby park square and shows off the one or two tai chi moves he's seen here, fooling the old men and women in the park. Then he gets those old ladies to bring their grandchildren here to learn a few self-defense moves. I give him a little bonus for every child he brings in."
"Uh, all right."
Zeng Shen wiped away his sweat.
He really had given that old man Ma too much credit.
Suddenly, he heard a child's clear voice from the hall's courtyard.
"Master Ma, someone's looking for you."
"Xiaoxin, who seeks this master?" Master Ma asked, peering curiously into the hall. His eyes met Zeng Shen's immediately.
In that instant,
his expression jolted, and he turned to flee the hall.
However,
Zeng Shen wasted no time casting a Speed Enhancement, appearing right in front of him just as his leading foot crossed the threshold.
"Ah! A ghost!"
Zeng Shen's ghostlike speed startled Master Ma into a cry. His old legs trembled, and he stumbled straight to the ground, losing every trace of the aloof master he had seemed to be in the park.
[The host displayed unparalleled valor, overcoming a stronger opponent and subduing a Tier 3 fire deity. Survival points +100.]
"This..."
So I really can farm survival points repeatedly. And it's not just Tier 3 intelligent beings that give a hundred points. Tier 3 deities do too.
Could Tier 3 exotic beasts be the same?
Hearing the notification, Zeng Shen briefly pondered the possibilities, then looked down speechlessly at Master Ma, who had fallen at his feet in fright.
"Master Ma, didn't you want to spar with me? Why did you run the moment you saw me?"
At Zeng Shen's words, Master Ma glanced at the children the old ladies had brought over to practice martial arts and discovered that they were all watching him.
He immediately crossed his legs and stammered, "Wh-who said I was running? I was just tired from walking. The floor seemed comfortable, so I wanted to sit down for a bit."
One look at where Master Ma's gaze had gone told Zeng Shen what he was thinking. He didn't expose him. "Oh, I see. The floor really does look comfortable. Go ahead and sit a while longer."
As he spoke,
Zeng Shen suppressed his laughter and looked up at Hall Master Li, who had come outside. "Hall Master, I have something to do, so I'll head back now. I'll come again tomorrow."
Hall Master Li nodded slightly.
Zeng Shen turned and walked out through the hall's entrance, and another crisp notification sounded in his ears.
[Under the relentless barrage of a Tier 3 fire deity and his enslaved retinue, the host resisted to the death and defeated them all instead. Survival points +1000.]
Did that trigger the first-time reward?
Zeng Shen's steps briefly faltered.