Upgraded to Tier Three

Mo Chen returned to Mo Family Village, but the old driver had already left on his own.

After leaving behind some silver, he bid farewell to his uncle and cousin, then rode back to Rice Terrace County.

Inside Prosperity Bank.

"Ah, honored guest, please come in!"

Seeing Mo Chen, the attendant eagerly came forward to greet him.

"I'd like to exchange some gold." With his hands behind his back, Mo Chen headed toward the teahouse seating inside.

"Certainly, please have a seat!" The attendant served him with a cheerful smile, failing to recognize the disguised Mo Chen.

A while later, Mo Chen walked out of the bank again, his heart aching.

After exchanging two taels of gold, Prosperity Bank charged him another four strings of cash in handling fees. That was fucking extortionate.

"Prosperity Bank, don't let me catch you doing anything shady. Otherwise, I'll come dispense some justice sooner or later!"

Mo Chen cursed as he raised his head to glare at Prosperity Bank's signboard. He gritted his teeth in hatred, yet there was nothing he could do.

After leaving the bank, he found a jade shop.

He took out a small portion of his jade items and sold them.

One incense stick later.

Mo Chen had an additional ninety taels of silver in hand.

Finding an empty corner, he decisively opened the system panel.

"Upgrade!"

[Ding-dong! Would you like to spend one hundred taels of silver and five taels of gold to upgrade the system?]

"Yes!" Mo Chen answered with a nod.

[Ding! Congratulations, upgrade successful!]

A flash of golden light passed by, and the data on the attribute panel changed.

[Name: Mo Chen]

[System Level: Tier Three]

[Martial Arts: Fierce Tiger Fist (Great Perfection), White Snake Nine Transformations Palm (Great Perfection), Firewood-Chopping Knife Technique (Beginner), Low-Grade Tiger Heavenly Dipper Force (Beginner), Low-Grade Ape Long Fist (Not Yet Initiated)]

[Wealth: Three Hundred and Three Taels]

[Exchangeable Martial Arts Cultivation Progress: Twenty-Five Years]

[Equippable Equipment Slots: Three]

[Inventory Slots: Fifteen]

[Requirements to Upgrade to Tier Four: One Thousand Taels of Silver, Ten Taels of Gold.]

No surprise, yet somehow still a surprise.

Seeing the requirements for upgrading the system to Tier Four, Mo Chen shook his head helplessly.

As expected, the silver required for the Tier Four upgrade had increased tenfold again.

The gold requirement had doubled as well.

But the benefits were obvious.

His equippable equipment slots had increased to three, while his inventory slots had risen to fifteen.

"Currently, I have four bound pieces of equipment: an ordinary iron axe, the scrapped Black Iron Firewood Knife, the Tier Two Xuanhua Axe, and the Human Skin Mask."

An idea suddenly struck him.

"Can three weapons be equipped repeatedly?" Mo Chen thought of a possibility.

He had no other equipment available right now.

The Tier Two Xuanhua Axe required his cultivation to break through to the Bone Tempering Realm.

Naturally, he could not equip it for the time being.

As for the Black Iron Firewood Knife, although it was nearly scrapped, its attributes had not disappeared.

Then there was the ordinary iron axe, which had always been kept as a spare in his inventory.

With that in mind, Mo Chen decided to give it a try. He first took out the Black Iron Firewood Knife, then selected the third equipment slot—the ordinary iron axe.

"Equip!"

The Black Iron Firewood Knife remained in his hand, but the ordinary iron axe's spare status changed.

In an instant, Mo Chen felt his strength surge, nearly doubling.

"Holy shit! They really can be stacked."

Mo Chen was pleasantly surprised.

With two weapons equipped at once, as long as the main weapon remained in his hand, the secondary weapon would not steal the spotlight.

The secondary weapon would simply increase his attributes in the background.

If you think this book is good, remember to add it to your bookshelf so you don't lose it next time.

Moreover, after testing it, he found that even if the weapon was not in his hand and was merely stored in the inventory, its attribute bonuses would not disappear.

"If that's the case, then if I find three weapons with the same attributes, wouldn't I be able to stack a single attribute to the maximum?"

With that thought, Mo Chen could no longer remain calm.

Excitedly, he put away the Black Iron Firewood Knife and wandered around Rice Terrace County in search of suitable equipment.

If he could find suitable Tier One equipment, he would not mind spending some money to buy it and stack his attributes.

Unfortunately.

Mo Chen searched all across Rice Terrace County without finding any suitable equipment.

His chance encounter with the Black Iron Firewood Knife at the blacksmith shop in Yunyi County did not happen a second time.

His luck did not seem to be that good.

"Rice Terrace County is still too small. It's hard enough just to buy a Tier One weapon."

With a sigh, Mo Chen stopped trying to fill all his equipment slots immediately.

He would wait until he broke through to the Bone Tempering Realm, then equip the Tier Two Xuanhua Mountain-Cleaving Axe first.

By evening, Mo Chen had returned to Yunyi County.

Inside the servant courtyard.

Little Five, Li Dazhuang, and Shi Yong had just returned from gathering firewood when they spotted Mo Chen sitting on the steps.

"Brother Mo, you're back?" Little Five greeted him happily.

Mo Chen nodded with a smile. "I'm back!"

He raised his hand and took out one tael of silver and a packet of pastries, handing them to Little Five.

"Here, Little Five. This is the one tael of silver I borrowed from you, and some osmanthus cakes you like."

"Wow!" Little Five set down the wheelbarrow and ran over excitedly. "Brother Mo, didn't you say you needed it for a month? Why are you paying me back already?"

Mo Chen shook his head. "I went home, so I didn't need it."

Little Five did not suspect anything. After taking the silver, he eagerly opened the osmanthus cakes, his face full of bliss.

"Great, I can eat osmanthus cakes again!"

Shi Yong and Li Dazhuang burst into laughter and teased Little Five for a while before turning to unload the firewood.

Once only Mo Chen and Little Five remained.

Little Five suddenly hugged the packet of osmanthus cakes and leaned closer, whispering, "Brother Mo, things have been strange these past two days. Steward Liu keeps coming by to ask whether you've returned."

"Also, Constable Xu and a woman in black came to the residence and questioned the people from our woodshed separately. I've seen that woman before. On the night the county magistrate came to the residence, she was standing beside him."

Mo Chen's expression changed when he heard that. "They questioned the people from our woodshed separately?"

Little Five nodded. "Yes. They asked about the thief who was killed that night. The woman in black was even holding a firewood knife."

"A firewood knife?" Mo Chen raised a brow, then asked, "Do you know why Steward Liu is looking for me?"

Little Five shook his head. "No. Steward Liu seems to have something urgent to discuss with you. He looked pretty anxious, and he even asked whether you'd hidden anything recently."

"Alright, I understand."

Mo Chen nodded solemnly.

"Alright, Little Five, go get busy. I'll go find Liu Yuan later and see what he's up to."

Little Five agreed, happily opened the package of osmanthus cakes, and held it out to Mo Chen. "Brother Mo, have one too."

Mo Chen forced a smile and declined. "I already ate before coming back. I bought these especially for you, so go ahead."

"Alright, then I won't stand on ceremony."

Little Five immediately took out a piece of osmanthus cake and wolfed it down. "So good, it's so good!"

Watching Little Five get up and leave.

Mo Chen sat on the steps, his expression shifting uncertainly. Could they have discovered something?

In recent days, the only major incident at the Lu Residence had been the death of that thief.

But Mo Chen believed he had not left behind any obvious traces when he killed the thief.

So how had they discovered the truth?

"Constable Xu and the woman in black are from the government office. They may be investigating this matter."

"But why did Liu Yuan come looking for me? Why did he ask whether I had hidden anything?"

Under normal circumstances, Liu Yuan had barely even spared him a glance, much less shown any concern.

His sudden abnormal interest in finding him over the past two days surely concealed some scheme.

Mo Chen frowned deeply, unable to figure it out no matter how hard he thought.

Just then.

A servant from the purchasing department entered the servant courtyard carrying a ledger.

Mo Chen subconsciously turned to glance at it, and his gaze immediately locked onto that ledger...