Adding Points

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

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

"Brother Xuan, I heard Steward Qian arranges the outside assignment slots. As long as we give him some silver, he can arrange for us to go 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 gave money to the steward, one could be assigned to a better place and position.

But Chen Xuan and Chen Shitou were both orphans who had grown up in the sect. They had no lineage to support them. Their usual cultivation resources were merely the portions provided by the sect for free; they could not compare with those senior brothers and junior brothers from good families.

Those people had their lineages supporting them, so they never lacked cultivation resources. Pills, cultivation techniques, weapons—everything they had was the best. Even if their bone structure and aptitude were ordinary, they could be forcibly piled upward.

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

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

Chen Shitou took out several dozen taels of silver.

"What use is this little silver?" Chen Xuan shook his head. "Besides, there are only a few good positions. If everyone gives money, then it is the same as no one giving it."

"That may be true, but everyone else is giving money. If you're the only one who doesn't, Brother Xuan, won't Steward Qian bear a grudge and send you to the most dangerous place?"

Chen Shitou said worriedly.

"Don't worry, Shitou. I know what I'm doing."

Chen Xuan said calmly.

Before awakening his Fate, he might very well have gone to give money too. Since most people were doing so, having no money would make him stand out like a crane among chickens. He would surely be resented and sent to the most dangerous place.

But now...

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

Giving money when he had no cheat system was one thing. Giving money even after getting one?

Then wouldn't this cheat system have come for nothing?

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

"Alright!"

Chen Xuan nodded.

Time flowed on.

Soon, evening arrived.

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

"It's about to set."

Chen Xuan's gaze fell on 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 that moment, the sun had already sunk to the ridgeline, with only the last trace of afterglow remaining.

Almost there.

Chen Xuan held his breath and stared without blinking at the sun that was 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 yellow.

[Zhaoxi Value +1]

Host: Chen Xuan

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

Realm: Fifth Stage of Body Tempering (Duangu)

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

Zhaoxi Value: 1

"Upgrade the Giant Whale Body Refining Technique!"

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

Buzzz~~~

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, practicing the Giant Whale Body Refining Technique over and over again.

One year!

He cultivated throughout that entire year.

What kind of person could cultivate for a year without sleep or rest?

Even if Chen Xuan's aptitude was mediocre and his comprehension utterly ordinary, with no cultivation resources to aid him, under a year of day-and-night bitter cultivation, his cultivation broke through.

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

The Fifth Stage of Body Tempering broke through to the Sixth Stage of Body Tempering.

A gentle, yin-like force was born within Chen Xuan's body. At times it gathered into a single stream; at others, it dispersed into countless fine currents.

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

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

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

But in the real world, only the time of a breath had passed.

Chen Xuan walked to the wooden stake 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 stake's surface did not change in the slightest, yet in the next moment, a faint cracking sound came from within it.

The wooden stake actually began to collapse from the inside. Tiny cracks gradually spread over its entire surface, until it finally turned into countless fragments that scattered across the ground.

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

Chen Xuan marveled inwardly.

If it entered someone's body, then unless it was detected immediately and blocked with inner force, once it rushed into the five viscera and six bowels, there would be only a dead end. Even if it was detected at once and the Anjin intercepted, the flesh, skin, and bones would still be blasted apart.

Sixth Stage of Body Tempering, Anjin Realm.

This was a realm the original owner had risked his life without ever reaching.

Yet he had completed the breakthrough in the space of a thought.

"Tomorrow..."

Anticipation welled up in Chen Xuan's heart.

Tomorrow, when the sun rose, he would leave the Guiyuan Sect. But with the Zhaoxi Bizheng Fate, he did not feel the slightest nervousness. Instead, he was somewhat excited.

That night, he slept exceptionally soundly.

The next day, at dawn.

The sky had only just begun to pale like a fish's belly when South Courtyard had already become bustling.

Today was the day of outside assignments. All outer disciples who had entered the sect for three full years without reaching the Seventh Stage of Body Tempering, as well as those who had been in the sect for five full years without reaching the Zhuqi Realm, had to gather at the Martial Arts Arena and await assignment.

When the two arrived at the Martial Arts Arena, the square was already packed with people. More than three hundred outer disciples stood in groups of three or five, speaking in low voices.

Most of them had been in the sect for three years without reaching the Seventh Stage of Body Tempering. A small portion were senior brothers who had been in the sect for five years without reaching the Zhuqi Realm.

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

"Brother Xuan, look."

Chen Shitou tugged at Chen Xuan's sleeve and jerked his chin toward the front of the crowd.

Following his gaze, Chen Xuan saw a middle-aged man in a green robe standing on the high platform. He held a register in his hands, with seven or eight attentive disciples gathered around him.

The middle-aged man had a thin face, two wisps of rat whiskers, and a pair of triangular eyes that gleamed sharply.

He was Steward Qian, the man in charge of outside assignments.

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

"Sir Steward, my father asked me to send you his regards. Please be sure to accept this small token of respect..."

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

Steward Qian accepted every offering with a broad smile. From time to time, he nodded and made a few marks in the register. He took money so openly, without the slightest attempt to hide it.