The System Could Grant Enlightenment to All Things

His cultivation speed was appallingly slow, and he consumed several times more resources than anyone else.

No wonder he was called an unrivaled ultimate trash.

At this rate, even if he could use Gold Touch Value to exchange for elixirs and wondrous medicines without limit, he was afraid he still wouldn't catch up to a Heavenly Daughter like Liu Ruyan.

Wait.

Metal Touch Value?

A flash of lightning suddenly streaked through Zhou Xuan's mind.

The system could grant enlightenment to all things and turn trash into treasure.

Then shouldn't I grant enlightenment to my Spirit Root first?

The moment the thought arose, it spread like wild grass, growing frantically until it could no longer be suppressed!

His heart pounded wildly, and his breathing grew hurried.

"System!"

"How much Gold Touch Value would it take to grant enlightenment to my Spirit Root?"

He practically shouted the question.

[Beep! Host's intention detected.]

[Searching for Spirit Root Enlightenment options]

An Azure Light Screen unfolded before his eyes, and lines of golden text appeared.

[Host's current Spirit Root: Five Elements Waste Spirit Root]

[Grade assessment: -5 (The worst of the worst, incapable of Qi Induction. Host is advised to start over)]

[Next stage: Five Elements Waste Spirit Root]

[Grade assessment: -4 (Still trash, but at least you can sense spiritual energy)]

[Metal Touch Value required for upgrade: 100 points.]

"How much?"

Zhou Xuan froze.

One hundred points?!

He stared at the number, thinking he must have read it wrong.

To go from completely useless to only somewhat useless—a half-waste.

It would actually cost a hundred points of Gold Touch Value?

That was nearly forty Low-grade Spirit Stones!

He only had fifty points left on him.

Zhou Xuan leaned against the wall and slowly sank to the floor.

A sense of helplessness welled up inside him.

"Ah!"

He let out a long sigh.

"Sure enough, you need money wherever you go."

But the dejection came quickly and went just as fast.

Before long, the light in Zhou Xuan's eyes had reignited.

One hundred points.

It sounded like a lot.

But the system had already shown him a path!

A Heavenly Path that could truly free him from the name of trash!

His Spirit Root could be upgraded!

That was enough!

Wasn't it just Gold Touch Value?

Wasn't it just Spirit Stones?

I'll go earn them!

He sprang up from the bed in a single kip-up.

His bones and muscles crackled, and the strength of Body Forging Stage Three made him feel like he could punch a cow to death.

He was just about to push open the door and head to the Chore Servant Hall to see what work he could trade for Spirit Stones.

But a sinister shadow appeared in the doorway.

"Zhou Xuan!"

The voice was shrill, edged with the habitual harshness of someone used to ordering others around.

Zhou Xuan's heart sank, and the excitement vanished from his face.

Damn it.

Wang the Skinflint.

The visitor was Wang Fugui, the steward of the Chore Servant Courtyard.

There were at least three thousand Outer Sect servants at the Spirit Sword Pavilion, and they were all under his authority.

Whenever this guy showed up, it was never for anything good.

Zhou Xuan cursed him inwardly, but a smile was already plastered across his face.

He hurried over, bowing and scraping.

"Chief Steward Wang, what brings you here?"

Chief Steward Wang looked Zhou Xuan up and down through narrowed eyes.

"Cut the nonsense."

"Pack your things. You're leaving right now."

"Head to the Inner Sect, to the Waste Pill Room."

The Waste Pill Room?

Those three words crashed into Zhou Xuan like a heavy hammer, leaving him reeling.

The smile froze on his face.

The Waste Pill Room was also called the Miscellaneous Affairs Department.

To put it nicely, it was where they handled the Inner Sect's odd jobs.

To put it bluntly, it was the Spirit Sword Pavilion's garbage dump—the graveyard of the Outer Sect servants!

The dregs from pills ruined by Inner Sect Disciples were highly poisonous. Even one breath could make a person dizzy.

Failed spirit artifacts from the Refining Hall had unstable spiritual energy and could explode at any moment.

And then there were the corpses of Spirit Beasts that had gone mad or become tainted with Demonic Qi after failed experiments.

All that stuff was dumped wholesale at the Miscellaneous Affairs Department, where Chore Disciples were left to deal with it.

Zhou Xuan's face slowly went pale.

What difference was there between going there and walking to his death?

In years past, those sent to the Miscellaneous Affairs Department had either offended the steward or committed some unforgivable offense.

Just last month, he had scraped together a hundred Contribution Points through frugal living and offered them to Chief Steward Wang as a tribute.

How could it be his turn?

"Chief Steward."

Zhou Xuan's voice came out a little hoarse.

"Did you make a mistake? This assignment..."

"A mistake?"

Wang Fugui sneered, looking at him as if he were an idiot.

"You think I want to send you there?"

He lowered his voice and leaned close to Zhou Xuan's ear.

"I can't help it, either. Someone higher up named you."

Someone higher up?

Zhou Xuan's pupils contracted.

Seeing his expression, Wang Fugui's appetite for gossip only grew. A gleeful smile appeared on his face.

"Zhou Xuan, Zhou Xuan. You really have some nerve."

"You even dared to offend the Inner Sect's senior brothers and sisters?"

Inner Sect Disciples!

Two faces flashed through Zhou Xuan's mind.

One was Liu Ruyan's cold, resolute face.

Could it be her?

Did she want to sever all ties with him for good, so she was trying to root him out?

No.

It didn't seem like her.

With her temperament, she wouldn't stoop to such a low trick.

Then another face surfaced.

Zhao Long!

It was him!

Those twenty Low-grade Spirit Stones the system had drained of their spiritual energy!

He must have found out!

Zhou Xuan's heart sank to the bottom.

Whoever it was, he couldn't afford to offend them now!

"Zhou Xuan, actually, the Miscellaneous Affairs Department isn't so bad. It's the only place that gives Spirit Stones to Chore Disciples!"

Wang Fugui coaxed him.

But Zhou Xuan couldn't take in a word of it. Sure, the place gave out Spirit Stones.

But he'd have to be alive to spend them!

Zhou Xuan took a deep breath, suppressing the murderous rage churning in his heart.

He silently turned around and picked up everything he owned.

Wang Fugui watched his back and shook his head with a sigh.

"Let's go."

Wang Fugui led the way without a word.

Zhou Xuan followed silently, his heart as still as dead water.

The two of them walked one behind the other, straying farther and farther from the main path.

The flagstone road beneath their feet gradually gave way to a narrow dirt track overgrown with weeds.

A strange smell began to hang in the air.

It was like the stench of burned pills mixed with blood and rot.

It was intensely pungent.

Zhou Xuan frowned.

Before he could make out what lay ahead, a heart-rending bout of coughing suddenly came from a hollow in the mountain nearby.

The coughs sounded as if the man's lungs were being torn out.

Wang Fugui stopped and glanced back at Zhou Xuan, a mocking smile at the corner of his mouth.

"We're here."

"This is your new home, the Miscellaneous Affairs Department."

He stepped aside.

Zhou Xuan's view suddenly opened up.

The next second, his breath caught.

How could this be the Miscellaneous Affairs Department?

It was a living hell!

More than a dozen Chore Disciples stood in the hollow, their faces sallow and their bodies gaunt, like ghosts.

A man wearing a crude mask clutched a heap of black, waste pills and staggered toward a deep pit belching black smoke.

The fit of coughing from earlier had come from him.

Not far away, another disciple was carefully carrying a Broken Sword.

Suddenly.

"Bang!"

A muffled explosion rang out.

The Broken Sword flashed with spiritual light, and a violent burst of energy exploded in an instant.

Half the disciple's arm was blown clean off!

Flesh and blood flew everywhere.

He cried out and collapsed to the ground, but the others barely spared him a glance, as if they had seen it all before.

On the other side, several disciples were hauling a cart piled with flesh.

The flesh was a bizarre dark purple and still twitched faintly.

Perhaps out of curiosity, a newly arrived servant reached out and lightly touched it.

"Sizzle!"

Green smoke rose.

His finger was corroded at a visible speed, and in an instant, stark white bone showed through!

"Ah!"

A piercing scream rang through the valley.

Zhou Xuan's scalp prickled. He was utterly shaken.

A chill shot from the soles of his feet straight to the Celestial Crown of his head.

Run!

That was the only word left in his mind.

He had to get out of this haunted place!

But Wang Fugui was right behind him. If he dared take even half a step back, he'd be dead for sure.

Rather than be beaten to death on the spot, perhaps he'd have a slim chance of survival if he went inside.

Sighing inwardly, Zhou Xuan slowly walked into the ravine.

But after only a few steps, a disciple beside him went weak in the knees and pitched forward.

"Clatter!"

The Waste Pills he'd been carrying spilled all over the ground.

One of them rolled to Zhou Xuan's feet and came to a stop.

The disciple paid no heed to his pain. Scrabbling on hands and feet, his face flushed red beneath his mask, he desperately picked them up one by one.

As if what he was gathering weren't deadly poison, but gold that could save his life.

Zhou Xuan looked at him.

The urge to run that had welled up inside him was pressed down by an emotion he couldn't quite name.

He slowly drew a breath.

He took a clean silk handkerchief from his robes, bent down, and used it to pick up the Waste Pill by his feet.

The instant his fingertips touched the pill,

a cold, mechanical voice suddenly rang out in his mind.

[ Ding, detected absorbable low-level energy resource—Low-grade Waste Fire Spirit Pill. ]