Breakthrough

"Judging by that commotion, Gu Qingzhou must have run into trouble. All I can say is, as expected of a Child of Fortune..." Feeling the disturbance coming from the back mountain, Mo Shang's mouth twitched.

He could not help feeling fortunate that he had refused Gu Qingzhou's invitation just now. Otherwise, he would probably have been dragged into the misfortune as well.

Just as Mo Shang was sighing, Gu Qingzhou suddenly burst into the courtyard.

"Brother Mo, emergency! Let me hide here for a while..." Gu Qingzhou moved like lightning, instantly ducking into the room and leaving only those words echoing by Mo Shang's ear.

The very next second after Gu Qingzhou hid, a graceful figure suddenly appeared outside Mo Shang's courtyard and asked him, "Did you see someone run past here?"

The newcomer was a woman carrying a longsword. She wore white robes, and droplets still clung to her ink-black hair, leaving it slightly damp. She looked as though she had just stepped out of a bath...

"He ran that way..." Mo Shang wore a blank expression as he raised a hand and pointed down the mountain.

The moment Mo Shang spoke, the woman vanished from where she stood and hurried down the mountain. In the blink of an eye, she was gone.

After the woman left, Gu Qingzhou poked his head out of the room and surveyed the surroundings. Only after confirming that it was safe did he step out and let out a long breath. "Whew, I almost got chopped into minced meat..."

"What did you do?" Mo Shang asked curiously.

"Nothing much. There's a hot spring on the back mountain, and I was thinking of going there to relax. Who knew she was in there too? We just happened to run into each other..." Gu Qingzhou explained with a bitter smile.

"Oh, a new version. Never heard that one before. Go on..."

Mo Shang raised an eyebrow. Would a Reborn like Gu Qingzhou not know someone was inside? He did not believe it one bit.

"Forget it, I'm leaving..." Gu Qingzhou's mouth twitched. He did not continue, turning to leave.

"Leaving? Where do you think you're going?"

At that moment, an icy voice suddenly sounded behind him.

Hearing that voice, Gu Qingzhou's scalp went numb. He stiffly turned his head, only to see that the White-Robed Woman had somehow appeared behind him.

"Haha, what a coincidence. We meet again. If I said I didn't mean to, would you believe me?" Gu Qingzhou forced out a smile.

"What do you think?" The woman smiled faintly as the longsword in her hand slowly slid from its sheath.

"The wind's too strong, time to run..." Gu Qingzhou's smile vanished, and he turned and ran.

"You want to run?" Seeing this, the woman did not hesitate in the slightest. She raised her hand and sent a streak of Sword Qi slashing toward him.

Yet that Sword Qi did not injure Gu Qingzhou. He evaded it with an extremely bizarre footwork technique.

"Whoa, you're really trying to kill me!"

Looking at the sword mark on the ground, Gu Qingzhou wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and quickened his pace.

"Stop!"

The woman immediately chased after him with her sword in hand. Before long, the two disappeared from sight.

As for Mo Shang, no one paid him any attention. The woman had no intention of pursuing his sheltering Gu Qingzhou, and she did not even spare him a second glance...

"Tsk, could those two end up getting together while fighting? Forget it. Time to cultivate—no, time to slack off..."

Watching the direction the two had left in, Mo Shang clicked his tongue, then shook his head helplessly. He had no intention of getting involved. He lay down in his reclining chair and began slacking off.

Time flowed by, and in the blink of an eye, a month had passed.

Inside the room, Mo Shang sat cross-legged. His aura surged around him as a golden flower slowly condensed above his head.

At the same time, his aura began to rise steadily, climbing until it reached a new height.

A moment later, Mo Shang slowly opened his eyes. The golden flower sank into his body and vanished.

"I finally broke through..."

Over the past month, Mo Shang had done nothing but eat and sleep. Yet with the Wait at Ease for the Exhausted trait, his cultivation had not fallen behind in the slightest.

The Body Tempering Realm focused primarily on tempering the flesh and enriching one's vital energy and blood. The flower condensed from vital energy and blood just now was the symbol of completing Body Tempering and stepping into the Spirit Gathering Realm...

"Congratulations on your breakthrough, Master. You can draw a trait today. Would you like to draw one now?" As Mo Shang broke through, the system's voice rang out in his mind.

"Alright, let's begin." Mo Shang did not hesitate as he gave the system its command.

"Alright, Master. May luck be with you."

The system's voice sounded again. Familiar points of light appeared before his eyes and swirled around him.

"Turn the tide! Open!!"

With Mo Shang's shout, a white point of light drifted down from among the countless trait lights and landed before him.

[White Trait: Rest Makes Me Happy]

[Description: Rest Makes You Happy. While resting, cultivation speed increases by 300%.]

"Wait, cultivating while resting? Then how am I supposed to rest?" Mo Shang stared at the trait description in confusion. How could there be a self-conflicting trait like this?

"Wait, no! This is interesting. System, are you trying to make me slack off?"

At that moment, Mo Shang suddenly remembered that he had the Wait at Ease for the Exhausted trait. If he paired it with this trait, the effect would definitely rival a Golden Trait!

"Is slacking off not good? Must you compete with a Child of Fortune to see who can work harder?" As Mo Shang finished speaking, the system's voice suddenly rang out.

"As expected of my system. You get me. Hurry up and equip it." Hearing that, Mo Shang could not help giving a thumbs-up.

He had already broken through to the Spirit Gathering Realm, so he now had two trait slots. Apart from Wait at Ease for the Exhausted, he could equip one more trait...

"Alright, Master."

The system's voice sounded. As the trait was equipped, Mo Shang felt an indescribable change take place in his body. His cultivation efficiency directly tripled!

"Gasp, it really works." Feeling the changes within himself, Mo Shang sucked in a cold breath.

He did not need to do anything. Even lying still, his cultivation would keep rising. This was simply too wonderful.

"If combining traits can produce special effects, what about the traits I got before?"

With that thought, Mo Shang began searching through his trait inventory for useful traits.

"[Strengthen Body]. You become stronger through exercise. Useless..."

"[Study Master]. Learning speed increases. Not much use..."

"[Gini Taimei]. When you sing, dance, or rap, your charm is unmatched? Damn, as expected of Brother Kun. His influence really is enormous..."

Knock, knock, knock.

Just as Mo Shang was looking through his traits, someone suddenly knocked on the door. Gu Qingzhou's voice followed. "Brother Mo, are you home?"

Hearing that, Mo Shang got up from the bed and opened the door. The first thing that met his eyes was Gu Qingzhou's bruised and swollen face.

"How did you end up like this?" Mo Shang was stunned for a moment before asking.

"Don't mention it. It's because of what happened earlier. I ran into her again..." Gu Qingzhou waved his hand, looking helpless.

"Serves you right for peeping at her while she bathed." Mo Shang spoke disdainfully.

"Ahem, ahem, I told you it was an accident..."

Gu Qingzhou coughed lightly and did not continue on that subject. Then, as if he had noticed something, he asked in surprise, "You broke through?"

"What's so strange about that?" Mo Shang shrugged.

"I've never even seen you cultivate. Every day, you just lie in that chair and sleep. How did you do it?"

"I don't know. I just slept, and my cultivation rose on its own..."

"Awesome. As expected of the future Star Dao Lord. Truly extraordinary..."

"What are you talking about?"

"Nothing, nothing. Brother Mo, do you want a cultivation technique? Just say the word, and I'll bring one to you..."

"Where did you learn these memes???"

"The future you taught me..."

"Did I teach you anything else?"

"Uh, quite a lot. Too much to count..."