Seeing that final note, Qin Shaofeng was momentarily speechless.
He had thought that with this Body of Thunder, he would be able to learn any lightning-element skill!
Yet in the end, he still needed to spend points to buy them himself.
Fine, he could buy them!
But the problem was that the system store had not officially opened yet!
At that thought, Qin Shaofeng's gaze could not help drifting to the system store icon on the Attribute Interface.
But when he looked, Qin Shaofeng discovered in surprise that the system store, which had originally been pitch-black, had now turned gray.
Immediately afterward, Qin Shaofeng saw that a small line of text had appeared beneath the grayed-out system store icon.
System store unlock condition: Player level must reach Level 15!
Level 15?
Wasn't that Houtian Fifth Level?
Qin Shaofeng froze, then a surge of joy rose in his heart.
He was currently at Houtian First Layer, and his experience bar was already nearly halfway full. It seemed that Houtian Fifth Level was not so far away after all!
Level up!
Level up!
I need to level up!
The moment he thought of the system store about to open, Qin Shaofeng could not suppress his excitement and planned to find somewhere to kill monsters and level up.
He had been looking forward to the system store for a long time.
Now that its unlock condition had appeared, he naturally could not wait any longer.
Just as Qin Shaofeng was thinking of heading out to kill monsters and level up, Old Master Qin sent someone to summon him.
Afterward, Qin Shaofeng received an astonishing piece of news from Old Master Qin.
It turned out that the transfer of the Lord of Lanjiang City this time had actually been the Zhang family's doing. The reason was that Lianyang Academy would begin accepting students in one month.
Lianyang Academy, an academy named after the Lianyang Kingdom, was the kingdom's foremost academy and a gathering place for the geniuses of Lianyang Kingdom.
Lianyang Academy was an academy made up entirely of the most gifted talents from across the Lianyang Kingdom.
Naturally, Lianyang Academy's teaching staff was exceptionally powerful as well.
Not only were there Xiantian Martial Masters, even Spirit Vein Grandmasters served there as instructors.
Qin Shaofeng had even heard that the headmaster of Lianyang Academy was a Legend Realm expert.
Such an academy was a place every genius dreamed of entering.
There was even a saying in the Lianyang Kingdom: every student who graduated from Lianyang Academy was an indispensable pillar of the kingdom's future.
This made Qin Shaofeng think of renowned universities from his previous life on Earth, such as Tsinghua and Harvard.
So this was the otherworld version of a prestigious university!
Although Lianyang Academy was an academy one needed a certain degree of talent to enter,
before that, there was the matter of recommendation slots.
Without a recommendation slot, entering Lianyang Academy required not only spending a huge amount of money, but also dealing with many complicated procedures.
Even if all of that was done, if the recommendation slots were already full, then unless one was an exceptionally rare genius, one still could not enter Lianyang Academy.
Within the Lianyang Kingdom, every city possessed one or several recommendation slots, allocated according to the city's size and strength.
Although a small city like Lanjiang City was not particularly powerful within the Lianyang Kingdom, it still possessed one recommendation slot.
With only one slot, it naturally fell into the hands of the Lord of Lanjiang City.
Therefore, in order to obtain that slot and send his eldest son into Lianyang Academy, Zhang Chongshan had used some of the Zhang family's connections in North Yang City to have the former Lord of Lanjiang City transferred away, then arranged a City Lord Competition.
All of it had been for that recommendation slot.
Of course, Zhang Chongshan also harbored ambitions of dominating Lanjiang City, but the most important thing was still that single recommendation slot.
The Zhang family had spent enormous manpower and resources and paid a tremendous price. With the help of a major force in North Yang City, they had been on the verge of success.
Unfortunately, man proposed, Heaven disposed.
The final fruit had fallen into Qin Shaofeng's hands.
"Lianyang Academy?"
As Qin Shaofeng walked out of Old Master Qin's room, a glint flashed through his eyes, and his interest deepened by several degrees.
"Fine then. Lanjiang City is ultimately too small for me. I should go take a look at Lianyang Academy."
He muttered quietly to himself, excitement flashing through his eyes.
Just moments ago, after Old Master Qin had finished explaining everything, Qin Shaofeng had heard a System Prompt.
The system had issued a mission!
Level Up: Three-star. Reach Houtian Fifth Level within ten days. Upon completion, receive 50 points and 500 experience.
Simply reaching Houtian Fifth Level did not seem difficult enough to qualify as a three-star mission.
But in truth, the reason this leveling mission was rated three-star was because it had three time-limit stages.
The loosest limit was ten days, with a reward of 50 points and 500 experience.
Then came the second stage: reach Houtian Fifth Level within five days, and the points and experience rewards would double.
The final Third Stage required reaching Houtian Fifth Level within three days. Besides the points and experience increasing to 200 and 2,000 respectively, he would also receive one additional lottery draw.
Three days to rise from Houtian First Layer to Houtian Fifth Level was no small challenge even for Qin Shaofeng.
That was because the system Qin Shaofeng possessed was completely different from those monster-grinding leveling games on Earth in his previous life.
For Qin Shaofeng, killing demonic beasts at the same level as himself, or no more than five levels below him, only earned him 1 point of experience.
It was nothing like those games on Earth, where even if the experience gained was low, it would not be as miserably little as just 1 point.
Moreover, once the demonic beast he killed was more than five levels below Qin Shaofeng, he would gain absolutely nothing.
Therefore, if Qin Shaofeng wanted to reach Houtian Fifth Level within three days, he could only kill monsters above his level.
Qin Shaofeng was confident that, with the Yi Jin Jing greatly increasing his Inner Qi, and with the God-grade Skill Little Li Flying Dagger, he could kill any demonic beast that was not too far above his level.
Qin Shaofeng was not reckless. He had long since devised a leveling plan in his heart.
"Leveling up can unlock the system store, and the rewards are pretty good too. This mission is truly great! Then I'll set out tomorrow!"
Inside a luxurious room of the Zhang residence, Zhang Chongshan's face was dark and grim, ugly to the extreme.
"How is it? Is there any possibility of recovery?"
Looking at the still-unconscious Zhang Lingtian, Zhang Chongshan asked the old man beside him with a dark expression.
This old man was none other than Physician Wu, who had examined Qin Shaofeng some time ago.
Although Physician Wu was already past sixty, he was unquestionably the foremost physician in Lanjiang City. The people of Lanjiang City respectfully called him Old Physician Wu.
Old Physician Wu shook his head helplessly and sighed. "It cannot be done. Eldest Young Master Zhang's dantian was destroyed by an extremely strange kind of Inner Qi. This old man has never heard of such bizarre Inner Qi before. Given its destructive power, Eldest Young Master Zhang's dantian has been completely ruined."
At this point, Old Physician Wu hesitated before adding, "The extent of this damage is even far more severe than Qin Shaofeng's from some time ago!"
How could this be!
After hearing Old Physician Wu's words, Zhang Chongshan's already dark face became even uglier.
He had paid such a great price precisely so that his eldest son, Zhang Lingtian, could enter Lianyang Academy and one day rise above the rest.
But now?
Not only was the recommendation slot gone, even Zhang Lingtian himself had been completely crippled.
For a time, Zhang Chongshan's mood sank to rock bottom, while his fury soared to the heavens.
He had never imagined that Qin Shaofeng would dare cripple his eldest son's dantian in front of countless people.
Just then, Old Physician Wu's final remark suddenly reminded him of something.
"Old Wu, how did Qin Shaofeng's dantian recover? If we use that same method, can Tian'er's dantian be restored?"
Zhang Chongshan looked at Old Physician Wu with a trace of hope.
Unfortunately, the answer he received was destined to disappoint him.
Old Physician Wu first thought for a moment, then gently shook his head again and sighed. "That is almost impossible. Qin Shaofeng's dantian was able to recover for two reasons. First, the Inner Qi that damaged his dantian had no destructive power, and no Inner Qi remained in his dantian. Second, Old Master Qin produced an extremely precious Heaven-grade Pill, which was what restored Qin Shaofeng's dantian."
A Heaven-grade Pill?
The moment Zhang Chongshan heard those four words, his mind went blank.
In this world, pills, cultivation methods, weapons, and the like were divided from low to high into Mortal-grade, Human-grade, Earth-grade, Heaven-grade, and so on.
But in tiny Lanjiang City, let alone Heaven-grade Pills, even Human-grade Pills were extraordinarily rare.
To Lanjiang City, Heaven-grade Pills were nothing but legend!
At that moment, Zhang Chongshan finally understood the secret behind Qin Shaofeng's recovered dantian.
So it had been a Heaven-grade Pill!
That made sense, then.
But precisely because of this, Zhang Chongshan's emotions were tangled to the extreme. For a time, he did not even notice when Old Physician Wu had left.
A Heaven-grade Pill?
How could Old Master Qin possess a pill that was only legend within Lanjiang City?
In truth, this had merely been an excuse Old Master Qin gave to the outside world.
As for how others chose to understand it, Old Master Qin did not care that much.
That was what he said, and whether others believed him or not was their business. He had no need to explain himself further.
Yet there was no denying that Qin Shaofeng's sudden display had ultimately made people believe it.
To recover so quickly after one's dantian had been destroyed—apart from a legendary Heaven-grade Pill, there was likely no other way to achieve such a thing, right?
Zhang Chongshan firmly believed this as well.
"Damn it! I never expected that old thing to possess something so valuable. This time, I truly miscalculated!"
Shaking his head in frustration, Zhang Chongshan's eyes were filled with fury and unwillingness.
"Father—!"
At that moment, a weak voice suddenly sounded.
Zhang Chongshan's expression abruptly changed, becoming somewhat gentler.
There was no denying that Zhang Chongshan was vicious and scheming toward outsiders, but when it came to his own son, he could be considered a qualified father.
"Tian'er, you're awake?" Zhang Chongshan smiled faintly, then hurriedly said to Zhang Lingtian, whose eyes had opened but whose body remained extremely weak, "Tian'er, rest assured. Your father will definitely restore your dantian. Do not worry too much. Just rest and recuperate in peace!"
Rest assured?
Hearing his father's comforting words, Zhang Lingtian's heart was filled with bitterness.
He knew his own body best. Zhang Lingtian understood that he had truly become a cripple.
The first thing that arose in Zhang Lingtian's heart when he thought of this outcome was hatred!
Hatred that reached the heavens!
And unwillingness!
Suddenly, a terrifying gleam burst from Zhang Lingtian's eyes, as though he had made a decision.
Looking at his father, Zhang Lingtian said through boundless hatred, "Father, I want revenge! I must personally kill Qin Shaofeng, so I have decided—I will go seek out the Old Ancestor!"
The Old Ancestor!
As though he had heard some taboo, Zhang Chongshan's expression changed dramatically in an instant.
But in the end, Zhang Chongshan thought for a long while and hesitated, yet said nothing more. Finally, he merely nodded gently.
Before you continue