Struck It Rich

[Novice Tutorial—The Mystery of Loushan City cleared]

[Guide: Survived]

[Glaze Fairy: Survived]

[Mastermind: Captured]

[Clear Rating: S (Flawless)]

[With your keen reactions, formidable strength, and invincible talent, you successfully uncovered the source of the unrest within Loushan City. You also captured the Mastermind, allowing the imperial court to uncover the truth behind Loushan City's mist. You protected an innocent man who should have died tragically and changed his fate. A small act of kindness could alter a family's future]

[Special achievement unlocked: Fate Defier]

[Would you like to claim your clearance reward?]

[Current reward options (choose one of three): Cultivation Realm +3 (Qi Refinement Level 2 → Qi Refinement Level 5), Low-grade Spirit Artifact Forging Device (choose one of six low-grade spirit artifacts), Endless Spirit Rice Jar (a mysterious jar that automatically produces spirit rice every day)]

[Host, please note: once you claim your reward, this tutorial stage will end completely and cannot be entered again]

The clearance screen that appeared in his vision nearly made Li Muyang's eyes bulge out of their sockets.

What the hell...

He had known the rewards for a perfect rating would be greatly improved, but this was too much of an improvement!

For an A-rank reward, the three options had been a secret manual, a low-grade spirit artifact flying sword, and five bottles of Jade Marrow Spirit Liquid.

A secret manual needed to be deciphered and comprehended. Without anyone to teach him, he might not even understand it. Jade Marrow Spirit Liquid was good, but there would come a day when it ran out.

But for S-rank rewards... good heavens. It directly gave him cultivation realms, a choice of one from six low-grade spirit artifacts, and an Endless Spirit Rice Jar.

With this spirit rice jar, why would he ever need to worry about not having enough spirit rice to eat? From now on, he could eat to his heart's content!

Staring greedily at the settlement screen in his vision, Li Muyang wanted all three rewards.

But unfortunately, the system only allowed him to choose one out of three.

After hesitating for a moment, Li Muyang ultimately chose the Endless Spirit Rice Jar.

Cultivation realms could be raised slowly. Even if he raised his cultivation now, he would still have to do odd jobs in the outer sect and would not be able to change his circumstances.

Though a low-grade spirit artifact was a powerful trump card, order within the Demon Refining Sect was fairly stable. Opportunities for killing and fighting were rare, so a low-grade spirit artifact was not an immediate necessity.

Thus, Li Muyang chose the Endless Spirit Rice Jar.

Cultivation in this world did not rely on refining the spiritual energy of heaven and earth. Instead, one consumed all kinds of spiritual foods and refined the spiritual energy within them to cultivate.

For low-level cultivators, spirit rice was essential, because it was the cheapest and easiest spiritual food to acquire.

It was precisely because of this unusual cultivation system that most cultivators had to rely on major sects or great powers and live by their favor.

But now that Li Muyang had this Endless Spirit Rice Jar, he instantly gained his freedom. He could leave the Demon Refining Sect at any time and no longer needed to watch the sect's expression.

It was equivalent to preparing a way out for himself.

At that thought, Li Muyang opened his eyes and saw a small earthen jar beside his pillow.

The jar looked utterly unremarkable. Yet when he lifted the lid, it was filled with plump, pearly white grains of spirit rice.

Li Muyang made a rough estimate. There were probably around two jin of spirit rice in the jar.

In other words, this Endless Spirit Rice Jar could provide him with two jin of spirit rice every day.

Even with Li Muyang's greatly increased appetite, he could eat at most half of it. He could save the other half and sell it for money at the market—that had been Li Muyang's plan.

But when he reached out, grabbed a handful of spirit rice, and stuffed it into his mouth, Li Muyang's eyes suddenly widened after chewing lightly.

"Holy shit..."

Staring in shock at the spirit rice in the jar and feeling the chewed grains turn into spiritual energy the instant they entered his stomach, flooding into his body, Li Muyang's heart began to pound violently.

—The spiritual energy contained in this jar's spirit rice far exceeded that of the low-grade spirit rice distributed by the sect!

Just as spirit artifacts were divided into upper, middle, and lower grades, spirit rice was likewise roughly divided into upper, middle, and lower grades, along with the legendary immortal-grade spirit rice.

Li Muyang did not know much about spirit rice grades. After all, he had only ever eaten the lowest-grade, low-grade spirit rice.

Yet he could still clearly sense that the spirit rice produced by this jar was absolutely not low-grade. With this amount of spiritual energy, it might even surpass middle-grade...

Li Muyang grabbed another handful of spirit rice and chewed before swallowing it, afraid that he had somehow made a mistake.

This time, he clearly felt the spiritual energy rising within his belly—this amount was definitely upper-grade spirit rice!

He had struck it rich!

According to Guan Xiaoshun, upper-grade spirit rice was a rare treasure. Only young masters and ladies from great clans, or direct disciples of sect elders, could enjoy it at every meal.

Upper-grade spirit rice contained a vast amount of spiritual energy and was far more beneficial to cultivation than low-grade spirit rice.

Now that he had this Endless Spirit Rice Jar, it meant he possessed the cultivation resources available only to the favored sons and daughters of great clans. If he could obtain a top-tier cultivation manual in the future, then in terms of resources, he would not lose to those heavenly geniuses.

At that thought, a faint smile appeared on Li Muyang's face.

"At last, I can see the dawn..."

He did not want to spend his entire life doing chores in the Demon Refining Sect's outer sect, and now he finally had hope of leaving it.

This world was so vast. Once he reached Foundation Establishment and gained the ability to protect himself, he had to go out and explore, to see the world's dazzling colors!

Li Muyang carefully poured all the spirit rice from the jar into a separate large bowl, then placed the spirit rice jar beside his bed and weighed it down with a pickle crock. It looked utterly inconspicuous.

Even if a thief sneaked in to steal, they would not be interested in this grimy, broken earthen jar.

Only after dealing with the spirit rice jar did Li Muyang focus his mind once more and open the system.

The system interface had now returned to its original form: an unfurled scroll.

Within the scroll, mountains and rivers stretched endlessly, immortal mist curled through the air, and several graceful fairy figures could vaguely be seen standing amid the clouds.

[Novice Tutorial concluded. Special title obtained: Fate Defier]

[Fate Defier: A mysterious hero who successfully reversed heaven's decree. The mist of fate shrouds you; even the most powerful diviners cannot see through your future origins. You possess the potential to toy with destiny]

The settlement text appearing in his vision left Li Muyang somewhat surprised.

This [Fate Defier] title... was very useful.

For a transmigrator of unknown origin like him, this title could prevent powerful figures from calculating his background with a pinch of their fingers. It was equivalent to removing one weakness.

With that thought, Li Muyang continued reading the settlement information below.

[Novice Tutorial stage closed. Exclusive character card obtained: Wuming]

[Wuming: Fleeting Glimpse, Shadow of the Lost Hero]

[Identity Background: A mysterious visitor who entered Loushan City disguised under a false identity. He helped Glaze Fairy resolve Loushan City's crisis. Legend says he possessed invincible movement techniques and an intuition as powerful as foresight]

[Faction Reputation: Mystic Sword Sect (Friendly), Tianyuan Dynasty (Hostile), Blood Demon Path (Hostile), Ever-Victorious Army (Friendly)]

[Talent Abilities: Time Stop, Sword Hidden in Belly]