Task

Shi Lan carried the food box into the room and sat down before the desk.

The moment she opened it, a rich fragrance rushed into her nostrils, stirring her senses.

She had not felt it when she first got up, but at the scent of the food, hunger surged relentlessly from her stomach.

Inside the food box were two porcelain bowls, one large and one small. The large one held a stewed bird; Shi Lan could not tell what species it was. The smaller one contained a pale green thick soup.

Picking up the chopsticks beside it, Shi Lan impatiently lifted a piece of meat and put it into her mouth. It was tender and melted on her tongue, making it almost impossible to stop eating.

Moreover, every bone in the bird had been removed with extraordinarily skillful knife work, making it effortless to eat.

As she feasted heartily, Shi Lan asked the system in her heart about the cause of the pain she had just suffered.

[The host overexerted her physical strength, causing excessive muscle contraction and vascular spasms. The resulting anemia, oxygen deprivation, and similar conditions in certain parts of the host's body triggered the pain.]

"Could you explain that more clearly? I don't really understand." Shi Lan found it difficult to make sense of it.

[Menstrual cramps.]

Shi Lan's face darkened. Her chopsticks paused in midair, and she said nothing more, silently eating the medicinal meal.

Shi Lan did not know much about certain aspects of women's physiology. Intense exercise during menstruation could easily cause menstrual cramps, let alone what she had done, which was far more extreme than intense exercise.

Shi Lan left not even a drop of broth from the bowl of bird, drinking it clean. The other bowl of thick soup also went entirely into her stomach.

Once the medicinal meal entered her belly, Shi Lan felt heat spreading through her body. Her essence was full, her qi abundant, as though she possessed inexhaustible strength.

Full and satisfied, Shi Lan glanced at the sky. Noon had only just passed; it was still early afternoon.

Since it was still early, Shi Lan wanted to practice the Vajra Divine Fist once more. Yet the earlier pain had left a shadow in her heart, and she quietly asked, "System, can that pain... the kind from before, be avoided?"

[Other than giving up cultivation, there are three methods of avoidance.]

[First, block the Shuidao Acupoint and Guanyuan Acupoint, severing two meridians to calm the condition. However, this will disrupt the qi within the body and hinder cultivation.]

[Second, after practicing the fist technique, ask a martial artist at the Xiantian Realm or above to regulate the host's internal breath with true qi and circulate the blood through the palace.]

[Third, once cultivation reaches the Xiantian Realm, the qi within the body will form its own cycle and be controlled at will. There will no longer be a need to regulate the body through menstruation.]

Shi Lan sighed with a headache. Not one of the system's suggestions suited her, yet she had no choice but to practice this fist technique. The system had given her only three days in total, and more than half of the first day had already passed.

After considering it for a while, Shi Lan still gritted her teeth and walked out of the room. If she exercised a little restraint and did not drain herself dry as she had before, there should not be any serious problem.

Shi Lan had only just assumed her stance and had yet to begin punching when the Heavens Reincarnation System panel, which she had thrown to the back of her mind, abruptly opened. The task section was flashing furiously.

"Task issued: Information on the current world is insufficient. Explore the current map, 'Tenglong City.' Time limit: three shichen. Reward for completion: increase cultivation by one level. No penalty for failure."

Shi Lan paused in slight surprise, then immediately withdrew her stance and headed for the gates of Shi Mansion.

Why suffer through painstaking fist practice when a task could solve the problem? Laziness was human nature.

"You said A-Lan has started practicing martial arts?" Shi Tianlu asked with a puzzled expression.

"Yes. And the fist technique the Eldest Young Master practices bears some traces of the Zen Sect." Shi Feng was equally confused. Shi Lan had never shown the slightest interest in martial arts before; she had even avoided it like the plague.

"Zen Sect..." Shi Tianlu pondered with a thoughtful look.

"When this subordinate examined the Eldest Young Master's pulse today, I discovered that the Eldest Young Master's talent and natural physique far surpassed those of ordinary people. Calling the Eldest Young Master a genius would not be an exaggeration."

Shi Tianlu shook his head and sighed. "With A-Lan's soft and yielding temperament, no matter how high the talent, she will never amount to much. Besides, A-Lan is already nearly twenty. Starting martial arts now means missing the best time. It is too late."

Shi Feng opened his mouth, but ultimately fell silent. He had served as Shi Lan's shadow guard for over five years and knew her temperament inside and out.

To travel far upon the path of martial arts, one needed an unyielding and persevering heart. Shi Lan absolutely fell short in that regard.

The study fell silent for a time.

Knock, knock...

A series of knocks broke the stillness.

"Come in."

A servant pushed open the door and entered, clasping his hands as he said, "Master, the Eldest Young Master wishes to leave the estate."

Shi Tianlu waved a hand. "Arrange the guard squad as usual."

"Master, this subordinate wishes to leave the estate with the Eldest Young Master." Shi Feng spoke from the side.

Shi Tianlu was briefly taken aback, but quickly understood Shi Feng's meaning. Pointing at the servant, he said, "Then go with him. Join the guard squad."

Shi Lan had originally intended to go out alone, but the guards at the gate refused to allow it, insisting that she wait for the guard squad.

After waiting at the gates of Shi Mansion for nearly a quarter of an hour, Shi Lan finally saw her guard squad.

There were eight of them in total. Seven were burly, powerfully built men with various weapons at their waists. The last was a handsome young man, who looked rather out of place among that group of hulking men.

Shi Lan gave it no further thought. She merely waved a hand to signal the guard squad to follow, then lifted her leg high and, with some effort, stepped over the several-foot-high threshold before eagerly leaving Shi Mansion.

Not long after Shi Lan and the others departed, Zique emerged holding a parasol and followed them from afar.

Tenglong City spanned several dozen li. It was neither particularly large nor particularly small, but touring all of it would still take quite some time.

It was now the fifth month, and the sunlight had begun to show its vicious side. Not long after leaving Shi Mansion, Shi Lan had already sweated a thin layer beneath the blazing sun.

Shi Lan raised her sleeve to wipe the sweat from her forehead. As she looked around for somewhere to rest her feet, her vision suddenly darkened. She glanced up and found a parasol already shading her overhead.

That young man who had seemed somewhat out of place was standing beside her, holding the parasol's handle.

"E-Eldest Young Master, the weather is hot. Please take care not to get sunburned."

The young man seemed rather nervous. After handing the parasol to Shi Lan, he returned to the rear of the group.

With the parasol, Shi Lan felt much more at ease. Before she knew it, they had walked for more than half a shichen and covered nearly half of Tenglong City.

Along the way, Shi Lan noticed something that puzzled her greatly. The common folk they encountered all looked at her with fear and a trace of disgust in their eyes.

The fear was understandable. After all, she was the Shi Clan's legitimate eldest son; in Tenglong City, her status was anything but ordinary.

But where did that disgust come from?

Judging from her memories, the original Shi Lan should not have done anything arrogant or overbearing, much less bullied the common people.

Why, then, did she draw such looks?