The Reason for the City Lord Competition

Chapter 023: The Reason Behind the Competition

Seeing the final annotation, Qin Shaofeng was momentarily speechless.

He had thought that with this Lightning Body, he could learn any lightning-attribute Skills!

But he hadn't expected that in the end, he would still need to use Points to buy them.

Fine, he could buy them!

But the problem was, the System Shop hadn't officially opened yet!

Thinking of this, Qin Shaofeng's gaze involuntarily turned to the attribute interface, specifically to the System Shop icon.

As he looked, Qin Shaofeng was surprised to find that the System Shop, which had been pitch black before, had now turned gray.

Immediately after, Qin Shaofeng saw that beneath the gray System Shop icon, a small line of text had appeared.

System Shop Unlock Condition: Player Level must reach Level 15!

Level 15?

Isn't that the Houtian Fifth Level?

Qin Shaofeng was stunned, and then his heart filled with joy.

He was currently at the Houtian First Layer, and his Experience was nearly halfway to the next level. It seemed that the Houtian Fifth Level wasn't too far away!

Level up!

Level up!

I want to level up!

The thought of the System Shop opening soon made Qin Shaofeng uncontrollably excited. He decided to find a place to level up.

Qin Shaofeng had been looking forward to the System Shop for a long time.

Now that the unlock condition had appeared, he was naturally impatient.

Just as Qin Shaofeng was contemplating going out to fight monsters and level up, someone sent by Old Master Qin came to find him.

Afterward, Qin Shaofeng received astonishing news from Old Master Qin.

It turned out that the transfer of the Lanjiang City Lord was actually orchestrated by the Zhang Family. The reason for this was that the Lianyang Academy would begin recruiting students in a month.

Lianyang Academy, named after the Lianyang Kingdom, was the premier academy in the Lianyang Kingdom and a gathering place for the kingdom's geniuses.

Within Lianyang Academy, the student body was composed entirely of the most talented individuals from across the Lianyang Kingdom.

Naturally, the teaching staff at Lianyang Academy was also extremely powerful.

Not to mention Xiantian Martial Masters, even Spirit Vein Grandmasters served as teachers there.

Qin Shaofeng had even heard that the Dean of Lianyang Academy was a legendary realm expert.

Such an academy was a place of aspiration for all geniuses.

There was even a saying in the Lianyang Kingdom: all graduates of Lianyang Academy were indispensable pillars of the Lianyang Kingdom's future.

This made Qin Shaofeng think of famous universities like Tsinghua and Harvard from his past life on Earth.

This was essentially the other world's version of prestigious universities!

Although Lianyang Academy required a certain level of talent to enter, there was also the concept of recommendation slots before that.

Without a recommendation slot, entering Lianyang Academy would not only require a large sum of money but also involve numerous complex procedures.

Even if all of that was accomplished, if the recommendation slots were filled, anyone who wasn't an exceptionally rare genius would still be unable to enter Lianyang Academy.

Within the Lianyang Kingdom, each city had one or more recommendation slots, allocated based on the city's size and strength.

A small city like Lanjiang City, although not particularly powerful in the Lianyang Kingdom, still possessed one recommendation slot.

With only one slot, it naturally fell to the Lanjiang City Lord.

Therefore, in order to obtain this slot for his eldest son to enter Lianyang Academy, Zhang Chongshan had used some of the Zhang Family's connections in North Yang City to have the former Lanjiang City Lord transferred, and then orchestrated a City Lord Competition.

All of this was for that single recommendation slot.

Of course, Zhang Chongshan's ambition to dominate Lanjiang City was also a factor, but the primary motivation was that recommendation slot.

The Zhang Family had expended considerable manpower and resources, paying a great price, and with the help of a major power in North Yang City, they were on the verge of success.

Unfortunately, man proposes, God disposes.

The final reward had fallen into Qin Shaofeng's lap.

"Lianyang Academy..."

As he walked out of Old Master Qin's room, a glint flashed in Qin Shaofeng's eyes, and he felt a surge of interest.

"Oh well, Lanjiang City is ultimately too small for me. I should go and check out Lianyang Academy!"

Muttering to himself, Qin Shaofeng's eyes sparkled with excitement.

Just as Old Master Qin finished explaining these matters, Qin Shaofeng had heard a system notification.

The System has released a quest!

Level Up: Reach Houtian Fifth Level within ten days. Upon completion, you will receive 50 Points and 500 Experience.

Just leveling up to Houtian Fifth Level doesn't seem like a three-star difficulty task.

But in reality, this leveling quest is rated three stars because it has three time-limited stages.

The most lenient is ten days, with a reward of 50 Points and 500 Experience.

Then there's the second stage: reach Houtian Fifth Level within five days, and the reward of Points and Experience doubles.

Finally, the third stage: if you reach the Houtian Fifth Level realm within three days, you'll get 200 Points and 2000 Experience, plus an extra chance to draw a lottery.

Three days to go from Houtian First Layer to Houtian Fifth Level is quite a challenge for Qin Shaofeng.

This is because the System Qin Shaofeng possesses is completely different from the game leveling and monster-slaying of his past life on Earth.

For Qin Shaofeng, killing a Demonic Beast of the same level or no more than five levels below him only yields 1 Experience.

It's nothing like Earth games where, even if the experience gained is small, it wouldn't be a pathetic 1 point.

Furthermore, if the Demonic Beast killed is more than five levels below Qin Shaofeng, he gets nothing at all.

Therefore, for Qin Shaofeng to level up to Houtian Fifth Level within three days, he can only kill monsters above his level.

Qin Shaofeng is confident that with the Yi Jin Jing greatly increasing his Inner Qi, and using the God-grade Skill "Little Li Flying Dagger," he can kill any Demonic Beast as long as it's not too many levels above him.

Qin Shaofeng isn't reckless; he already has a leveling plan in mind.

"I can level up, unlock the System Store, and the rewards are good. This quest is really great! I'll set off tomorrow then!"

In a luxurious room in the Zhang Family residence, Zhang Chongshan's face was currently ashen, his expression extremely grim.

"How is it? Is there any possibility of recovery?"

Looking at the still unconscious Zhang Lingtian, Zhang Chongshan asked a nearby elder with a dark expression.

This elder was Physician Wu, who had examined Qin Shaofeng some time ago.

Although Physician Wu was very old, well past sixty, he was still 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's no use. Young Master Zhang's Dantian was destroyed by an extremely peculiar Inner Qi. I've never encountered such a strange Inner Qi before. With its destructive power, Young Master Zhang's Dantian is completely ruined."

After saying this, Old Physician Wu hesitated before adding, "The extent of this damage is even more severe than what Qin Shaofeng suffered a while ago!"

How could this be!

Hearing Old Physician Wu's words, Zhang Chongshan's already grim expression turned even uglier.

He had invested so much precisely to get his eldest son, Zhang Lingtian, into Lianyang Academy and have him achieve great things one day.

But now?

Not only was the recommendation spot gone, but Zhang Lingtian himself was completely crippled.

For a moment, Zhang Chongshan's mood turned extremely foul, and he became furious.

He never imagined that Qin Shaofeng would dare to cripple his eldest son's Dantian in front of so many people.

Just then, Old Physician Wu's last sentence suddenly reminded him.

"Old Physician, how did Qin Shaofeng's Dantian recover? If we use that same method, can it help Tian'er's Dantian recover?"

Zhang Chongshan looked at Old Physician Wu with a sliver of hope.

Unfortunately, the response he received was bound to be disappointing.

Old Physician Wu thought for a moment, then gently shook his head and sighed again, "It's almost impossible. The reason Qin Shaofeng's Dantian recovered was twofold: first, the Inner Qi that destroyed 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 allowed Qin Shaofeng's Dantian to recover."

Heaven-grade Pill?

The moment Zhang Chongshan heard these four words, his mind went blank.

In this world, Pills, cultivation techniques, weapons, and the like are classified from low to high as Mortal-grade, Human-grade, Earth-grade, Heaven-grade, and so on.

But in this small Lanjiang City, let alone Heaven-grade Pills, even Human-grade Pills are extremely rare.

Heaven-grade Pills are merely a legend in Lanjiang City!

Zhang Chongshan finally understood the secret behind Qin Shaofeng's Dantian's recovery.

So it was a Heaven-grade Pill!

That made sense.

But precisely because of this, Zhang Chongshan's feelings were incredibly complex at that moment, and he didn't even notice when Old Physician Wu left.

Heaven-grade Pill?

How could Old Master Qin possess such a legendary pill in Lanjiang City?

This was actually just an excuse Old Master Qin gave to the outside world.

As for how others would interpret it, Old Master Qin didn't care.

His words were his words, and whether others believed them or not, he didn't need to explain further.

However, it couldn't be denied that Qin Shaofeng's sudden appearance and performance finally made people believe this.

With his dantian crippled, to recover so quickly... besides a legendary Heaven-grade Pill, there was probably no other way to achieve this, right?

Zhang Chongshan firmly believed this as well.

"Damn it, I didn't expect that old geezer to have such a good item! This time, I really miscalculated!"

Shaking his head in annoyance, Zhang Chongshan's eyes were filled with rage and unwillingness.

"Father—!"

Just then, a faint voice suddenly rang out.

Zhang Chongshan's expression changed drastically, becoming slightly gentler.

Undeniably, no matter how malicious Zhang Chongshan was towards outsiders, he was a qualified father to his own son.

"Tian'er, you're awake?" Zhang Chongshan smiled slightly, then quickly said to Zhang Lingtian, who had opened his eyes but was still extremely weak, "Tian'er, don't worry. Your father will definitely restore your dantian. Don't worry too much, just rest well!"

Rest well?

Hearing his father's comforting words, Zhang Lingtian felt a wave of bitterness in his heart.

He knew his own body best. Zhang Lingtian understood that he had truly become a cripple.

The first thought that came to Zhang Lingtian's mind upon considering this outcome was hatred!

Overwhelming hatred!

And unwillingness!

Suddenly, a terrifying glint flashed in Zhang Lingtian's eyes. He seemed to have made up his mind.

Looking at his father, Zhang Lingtian said hatefully in a tone filled with immense hatred, "Father, I want revenge! I will personally kill Qin Shaofeng! Therefore, I've decided, I'm going to find the Old Ancestor!"

The Old Ancestor!

As if hearing something taboo, Zhang Chongshan's expression changed instantly.

But after thinking for a long time, Zhang Chongshan hesitated and didn't say anything more. In the end, he just nodded gently.