Adding Points

"I had no particular plans. I'd listen to the sect's arrangements."

Chen Xuan picked up a piece of braised pork and put it into his mouth. It tasted quite good.

"Brother Xuan, I heard Steward Qian arranged the external assignment slots. As long as we gave him some silver, he could place us somewhere better."

"Silver? Where are we supposed to get silver?" Chen Xuan said as he ate. "People like us with no backing go wherever we're assigned."

Naturally, he knew that as long as one bribed the steward, one could be assigned to a better place and position.

However, both he and Chen Shitou were orphans who had grown up in the sect. They had no family to support them. Their usual cultivation resources came entirely from the sect's free allotments, so they could not compare with those fellow disciples from good families.

Those people had their families backing them. They never lacked cultivation resources—pills, techniques, weapons, every single thing was the best. Even with ordinary talent and aptitude, they could be forcibly piled upward.

At the very least, reaching the Zhuqi Realm was not much of a problem.

"Brother Xuan, I just broke through to the seventh level of Body Tempering. I have some silver on me."

Chen Shitou took out several dozen taels of silver.

"What use is that little silver?" Chen Xuan shook his head. "Besides, there are only a few good positions. If everyone goes to offer money, then it's the same as no one offering any."

"That's true, but if everyone else gives money and only you don't, Brother Xuan, won't Steward Qian bear a grudge and send you to the most dangerous place?"

Chen Shitou asked worriedly.

"Don't worry, Shitou. Your brother knows what he's doing."

Chen Xuan said calmly.

Before awakening his Fate, he might indeed have gone to offer money. After all, most people were doing so. Having no money would make him stand out like a crane among chickens; he would definitely be remembered and sent somewhere most dangerous.

But now...

I've got a cheat. What the hell am I afraid of?

No cheat meant he had to offer money. With a cheat, he still had to offer money.

Then wouldn't this cheat have come for nothing?

"Fine!" Seeing this, Chen Shitou said no more, but he still pushed the silver toward Chen Xuan. "Brother Xuan, you'll surely need silver for your external assignment. It isn't much, but it's still better than nothing."

"Alright!"

Chen Xuan nodded.

Time passed.

Before long, evening arrived.

Chen Xuan stood outside the house, watching the setting sun slowly sink behind the mountaintops. Golden afterglow spread across the entire Guiyuan Sect, coating the rolling peaks in a warm radiance.

"It's almost down."

Chen Xuan's gaze fell upon the sun about to vanish beyond the horizon, and his heartbeat quickened slightly.

According to the Fate's description—

Whenever the sun rose or set, it would accumulate one point of Zhaoxi Value.

One point of Zhaoxi Value could increase one year of cultivation.

At this moment, the setting sun had already sunk to the ridgeline, leaving only its final trace of afterglow.

Almost there.

Chen Xuan held his breath and stared without blinking at the sun about to disappear.

One second.

Two seconds.

Three seconds.

Finally, the last ray of sunlight vanished behind the ridgeline, and the world fell into a brief, dusky twilight.

[Zhaoxi Value +1]

Before Chen Xuan's eyes, a line of text flashed past.

Host: Chen Xuan

Fate: Zhaoxi Bizheng (Effect: Whenever the sun rises or sets, one point of energy can be accumulated. It can be used to accelerate martial arts cultivation, increasing one year of cultivation per day.)

Realm: Body Tempering Level Five (Duangu)

Martial Arts: Giant Whale Body Refining Technique/Fifth Layer, Mountain Crushing Fist/Proficient

Zhaoxi Value: 1

"Upgrade the Giant Whale Body Refining Technique!"

Without hesitation, Chen Xuan opened the panel and added a point.

Hummm—

In an instant, Chen Xuan felt his consciousness enter a mysterious space, where he began cultivating day and night without end.

He knew no fatigue and forgot food and sleep. Like a machine, he practiced the Giant Whale Body Refining Technique again and again.

One year!

He cultivated throughout that entire year.

What kind of person could cultivate without sleeping or resting for a whole year?

Even though Chen Xuan's aptitude was mediocre, his comprehension utterly ordinary, and he had no cultivation resources to support him, after a year of bitter day-and-night training, his cultivation broke through.

The Giant Whale Body Refining Technique broke through from the fifth layer to the sixth.

His Body Tempering Level Five broke through to Body Tempering Level Six.

A stream of soft, yin-like force was born within Chen Xuan's body. At times it gathered into a single current; at others, it scattered into countless fine streams.

That soft, yin-like force was Anjin, completely different from Mingjin.

Mingjin was fierce and explosive, while Anjin was soft and sinister. It could silently drive force into an enemy's body and wound them in secret.

In the mysterious space, Chen Xuan felt as though he had cultivated for a year.

Yet in the real world, only the span of a breath had passed.

Chen Xuan walked over to a wooden post in the open space of the courtyard, raised his right hand, and lightly struck it with his palm.

The palm landed without a sound.

The surface of the wooden post did not change in the slightest. Yet in the next moment, a faint cracking sound came from within it.

The wooden post actually began collapsing from the inside. Fine cracks gradually spread across its entire surface before it finally shattered into countless splinters that scattered across the ground.

"So this is Anjin. It truly is extraordinary!"

Chen Xuan marveled inwardly.

If this were driven into someone's body, then unless they noticed it immediately and used their internal force to resist it, once it rushed into their five viscera and six bowels, only death awaited them. Even if they noticed it at once and intercepted the Anjin, their flesh, skin, and bones would still be blasted apart.

Body Tempering Level Six, the Anjin Realm.

This was a realm the original owner had failed to reach even after risking his life.

Yet he had broken through in a single thought.

"Tomorrow..."

A surge of anticipation rose in Chen Xuan's heart.

Tomorrow, when the sun rose, he would leave the Guiyuan Sect. Yet with the Zhaoxi Bizheng Fate, he felt no nervousness at all. Instead, he was somewhat excited.

That night, he slept exceptionally soundly.

The next day, at dawn.

When the sky had only just turned the pale white of a fish's belly, the South Courtyard was already bustling with noise.

Today was the day of external assignments. All outer disciples who had entered the sect for three years but had not reached Body Tempering Level Seven, as well as those who had entered for five years but had not reached the Zhuqi Realm, had to gather at the Martial Arts Arena and await their assignments.

When the two arrived at the Martial Arts Arena, the square was already packed. More than three hundred outer disciples stood there in groups of three or five, whispering among themselves.

Most of them had spent three years in the sect without reaching Body Tempering Level Seven. A small portion were senior disciples who had spent five years there without reaching the Zhuqi Realm.

Chen Shitou followed Chen Xuan to the Martial Arts Arena as well.

"Brother Xuan, look."

Chen Shitou tugged Chen Xuan's sleeve and nodded toward the front of the crowd.

Chen Xuan followed his gaze and saw a middle-aged man in a green robe standing atop a high platform. He held a roster in his hands, while seven or eight eager disciples surrounded him.

The middle-aged man had a thin face, two small rat-like mustaches, and triangular eyes that glinted sharply. He was Steward Qian, the man responsible for external assignment affairs.

"Lord Steward, these are some local specialties from my hometown. Please accept them."

"Lord Steward, my father asked me to send you his regards. You must accept this small token of appreciation..."

The disciples clustered around Steward Qian, discreetly slipping silver into his sleeves.

Steward Qian accepted each offering with a beaming smile. From time to time, he nodded and made a few marks in the roster. He took money so openly, without the slightest attempt to hide it from anyone.