The System Returns

Xu Yuanbai had probably noticed that Shi Lan was interested in him, but he had chosen not to expose it. Instead, he kept her dangling at arm's length, borrowing some of the Shi Clan's influence through her and thriving in Tenglong City.

The original Shi Lan had been naïve beyond belief, played in the palm of someone's hand just like that.

Shi Lan stood where she was, her brows faintly knit. There were far too many similar tricks back on Earth, and she had witnessed quite a few herself. She had always looked down on people like Xu Yuanbai, but so long as they did not provoke her, she generally chose to stay out of it.

Looking at Shi Lan's stiff back, Su Lanyue let out a soft sigh. "A few days ago, I happened to run into Xu Yuanbai's mother. She asked me to tell you that she hoped you would keep some distance from Xu Yuanbai."

Shi Lan did not answer and hurried away.

Watching Shi Lan's somewhat flustered retreating figure, Su Lanyue felt a long-forgotten trace of guilt rise in her heart. If she had not coveted the position of mistress of the household back then, perhaps Shi Lan would not have spent these years walking on eggshells.

By the time Shi Lan returned to her room, night had already fallen.

Having transmigrated overnight only to be met with so many tangled troubles, Shi Lan was exhausted in both body and mind. The moment she entered the room, she lay down on the bed. As soon as she closed her eyes, drowsiness washed over her.

A wisp of black smoke, nearly invisible to the naked eye, descended from above the ninth heavens and slowly drifted into the room. Upon sensing Shi Lan's presence, the smoke burrowed into her body.

The figure in Shi Lan's mind was busy before the light screen and failed to notice that wisp of black smoke.

After entering Shi Lan's body, the black smoke headed straight for the spiritual platform between her brows.

Just as Shi Lan was hazily about to fall asleep, a mechanical female voice suddenly rang out in her mind.

[System scan initiated...]

The figure busy before the light screen abruptly raised his head, his heart filled with astonishment. Had he run into a colleague?

He hurriedly set down what he was doing and inspected Shi Lan from head to toe, yet he found nothing unusual. This feeling of being beyond his control made him somewhat uneasy.

[System scan complete... Target data loading...]

[Data loaded... Binding requirements met... Beginning binding...]

The instant Shi Lan heard the words "beginning binding," all sleepiness flew beyond the ninth heavens. She sprang upright in bed.

"Why is there another system?!"

Did these golden fingers come with a buy-one-get-one-free deal? Two of them at once??

[System binding complete. The Empress Cultivation System is sincerely at your service.]

"Empress... cultivation?"

Shi Lan murmured to herself, then suddenly reacted. Damn it—the beginner mission...

She hurriedly summoned the previous system panel in her mind. Sure enough, the beginner mission had dimmed, displaying the three large words: Failed.

The figure slowly withdrew his hand from the light screen before him. That mission had been meant to fool her from the start. Even if Shi Lan could endure without speaking, he would have found a way to make her open her mouth herself.

Every wisp of his energy was incomparably precious now. How could he waste it on this little yellow-haired girl?

"I can't even sense its presence. Is its level higher than mine? Impossible. There are only a few systems higher-level than me, and they're all acquaintances..."

The figure's thoughts churned. He found the situation somewhat thorny; this was the first time he had encountered such troublesome circumstances.

[Beginner gift pack has been issued. Please check it.]

Hearing the voice in her mind, Shi Lan paused slightly and instinctively thought, Open. At the same time, she nodded to herself. This was the proper style for a system—it should give out a beginner gift pack first.

[Congratulations, Host. You have obtained: Body Tempering Pill x1, one Basic Draw opportunity.]

Shi Lan considered it for a moment and began trying to summon the Empress Cultivation System's panel in her mind.

A pale green light screen slowly appeared before Shi Lan.

Host: Shi Lan

Cultivation: Mortal

Innate talent: 7 (one in ten thousand)

Cultivation technique: None

Strength evaluation: Too weak to truss a chicken

The Empress System's panel was far simpler than the previous one. Besides the character panel, it only had two sections: Draw and Missions.

"One in ten thousand innate talent..."

Shi Lan froze slightly. Could this body actually be that of a genius?

That made sense. Shi Lan's aptitude was still a question mark, after all. To avoid exposing herself, Su Lanyue had never taught Shi Lan any cultivation method.

A tiny glimmer of light was still flickering in the lower-right corner of the screen.

"What is this point of light?"

[System storage. Items produced by the system may be temporarily stored here. If they are not retrieved within twenty-four hours, they will be automatically reclaimed by the system.]

Shi Lan opened the system storage. It was divided into many small slots, and a dark-green pill lay quietly in one of them.

With a thought, the pill appeared in Shi Lan's hand.

The pill was the size of a longan. It had none of the medicinal fragrance Shi Lan had imagined; it did not have the slightest scent at all.

After turning it over twice in her hand, Shi Lan put the pill back into storage and opened the draw interface.

The beginner gift pack had also given her a draw opportunity.

There was a draw wheel in the draw interface, with four options beside it: cultivation techniques, items, pills, and miscellaneous goods.

Before Shi Lan could ask, the system gave a detailed explanation.

[Draws are divided into four tiers: Basic, Intermediate, Advanced, and Ultimate.]

[Everything exists within the myriad worlds, and all things have a standard by which their value is measured. Broadly speaking, they are divided into one to ten stars.]

[Basic Draws can only yield items of three stars or below. Intermediate Draws can yield items from two to six stars, with a higher chance of obtaining four- to six-star items, and allow the draw category to be selected. Advanced Draws can yield items from three to eight stars. Ultimate Draws yield items from seven to ten stars.]

[The cultivation technique category includes all techniques passed down throughout the three thousand great worlds. The item category contains external objects such as magical treasures and divine weapons. The pill category contains all manner of pills. Miscellaneous goods encompass every item in the three thousand great worlds.]

Shi Lan quietly swallowed. This new system seemed rather powerful.

[The Host currently possesses one Basic Draw opportunity. Draw now?]

"Draw."

Shi Lan answered without hesitation.

She currently had no ability to protect herself. Something like a draw, which could quickly be converted into strength, was naturally best used as soon as possible.

The wheel on the light screen changed, revealing nearly a hundred densely packed slots. Nearly one-tenth of them were blank.

"Wait, what do these blank slots mean?"

[No item.]

So there was even a "thank you for participating"?

Shi Lan hesitated. Her luck had never been particularly good. Even transmigration had gone wrong for her. A one-in-ten chance of drawing nothing was no small probability.

[Continue drawing?]

"Draw." Shi Lan gritted her teeth.

The wheel's pointer spun at high speed, and Shi Lan could not see its contents at all.

The wheel did not gradually slow down. It came to an abrupt stop. Before Shi Lan could see what she had drawn, the system prompt sounded in her mind.

[Congratulations, Host. You have drawn a two-star item: White Crane Skirt.]

When she heard "two-star item," Shi Lan's lips curled slightly. It was decent enough—not too unlucky. But the words White Crane Skirt that followed immediately froze her newly formed smile on her face.

A skirt?!

[System beginner tutorial complete. Beginner mission activated.]

[Beginner mission: Enter the first level of the Body Tempering Realm within three days. Mission reward: Body Tempering cultivation technique Jade Forging Art. Mission failure: Host will be eliminated, and the system will enter its self-destruction process.]

The icy voice in her mind brought Shi Lan back to her senses, and her mood plunged into the depths once more. This system was a little too normal.

Everything that had happened had been taken in by the figure within Shi Lan's mind.

"Interesting. A symbiotic system..."