Taking Disciples for Ten-Thousandfold Returns: Starting from Battle Through the Heavens

Just then, Qin Hao seemed to think of something, and his eyes suddenly lit up.

At present, it was almost impossible for him to become a true top expert by relying on himself alone. However, he had another option—finding someone powerful to lean on!

He had read the original novel and possessed the advantage of foresight. Investing in Xiao Yan early on and having Xiao Yan carry him to greatness once he grew stronger would obviously not be difficult.

Having read the original novel, he naturally understood Xiao Yan's character. Although Xiao Yan had some flaws when it came to handling romantic matters, he was quite dependable in every other respect, the typical sort who repaid kindness.

If it were some God King surnamed Tang, Qin Hao would not merely avoid leaning on him—he would stay as far away as possible.

As the saying went, Medicine Elder was in the Endless Fire Domain, but Yu Xiaogang was nowhere to be found in the God Realm.

"Ah! Qin Hao, you're awake!"

Just as Qin Hao was planning his grand undertaking of finding someone powerful to lean on, an unfamiliar voice suddenly reached his ears, startling him.

At some point, an unfamiliar figure had abruptly appeared in his room.

"Zi Yan, it's you. How many times have I told you? Use the door when you come in! Don't just appear and disappear like some ghost. Don't you know people can be scared to death?"

Once Qin Hao saw who it was, he immediately relaxed. He had clearly recognized the visitor.

Before him stood a little girl in a purple dress, delicate and adorable. She looked like a porcelain doll, with exquisitely refined features.

She was none other than one of the major characters from the original novel, the future Dragon Emperor of the Heavenly Void Ancient Dragon clan—Zi Yan!

From his memories, Qin Hao discovered that his predecessor had been quite close to Zi Yan. He was practically her only friend in the Inner Academy.

When Qin Hao had first met Zi Yan, he had seen her gnawing madly on a Bitter Mystic Ginseng that was over a hundred years old.

As its name implied, Bitter Mystic Ginseng did not taste good at all. Its bitterness was overwhelming, making her little face scrunch up tightly.

Seeing such an adorable little girl make that expression, Qin Hao could not help but feel sorry for her.

Almost instinctively, he had said, "If Bitter Mystic Ginseng is refined with Purple Luo Grass into medicinal pellets, the bitterness will be removed!"

It was precisely because of that sentence that Qin Hao had been drafted into service by Zi Yan. From then on, she would bring him medicinal ingredients every few days and ask him to refine them.

The reason Qin Hao's alchemy had improved so quickly, allowing him to become a fourth-tier alchemist in such a short time, was largely thanks to Zi Yan.

Most of the medicinal ingredients Zi Yan brought him were refined into pills. Only unsuitable ingredients were made into medicinal pellets.

Qin Hao himself had decent talent for alchemy, and with so many ingredients to practice on, his alchemy could not help but improve rapidly.

He was now only a step away from becoming a fifth-tier alchemist.

One had to know that throughout the entire Canaan Academy Inner Academy, even Elder Huo, the strongest in alchemy, was only a fifth-tier alchemist.

In other words, Canaan Academy did not have a sixth-tier alchemist.

As they continued interacting, the two gradually became closer and more familiar with one another.

"I'm used to it..."

Hearing Qin Hao's "complaint," Zi Yan did not take it seriously and replied carelessly. Clearly, this was not the first time.

Ding! A target meeting the requirements has been detected! The Myriad Realms Sage Master System has been activated!

At the same time, just as Qin Hao's attention fell upon Zi Yan, an incredibly abrupt voice suddenly sounded in his mind.

The instant he heard that voice, Qin Hao froze for a moment. Then, a flash of wild joy crossed his face.

"System! A system! Hahaha, this is fantastic! I knew it... I've had such incredible luck. How could I possibly not have a cheat? The indispensable cheat of every transmigrator! Sure enough, the ancients did not deceive me."

Almost instantly, Qin Hao understood what was happening. His cheat had finally arrived, and immense joy welled up within him.

Finding someone powerful to lean on? Being some angel investor? At that moment, Qin Hao tossed all those previous thoughts to the back of his mind.

Now that his cheat had arrived, he finally had the confidence to thump his chest and say that he did not eat beef.

For now, what he wanted most was to figure out exactly what functions his system possessed.

However, with Zi Yan still present, he first had to deal with her.

"Hm? Qin Hao, what's wrong with you? Why are you grinning like an idiot? Did you hurt your head this time? You're not stupid now, are you?"

When Zi Yan noticed the change in Qin Hao's expression, a trace of confusion appeared on her face, and her tone carried some concern. After all, Qin Hao was her only friend in the Inner Academy.

Yes, it was definitely not because she was afraid nobody would refine medicinal pellets for her in the future. Definitely not!

"What nonsense are you thinking about, you little girl? I just remembered something happy! Tell me, what did you come here for this time?"

Hearing her words, Qin Hao's face darkened, and he spoke somewhat impatiently.

Myriad Realms Sage Master System! Powerful Functions!

"It's good that you're fine, good that you're fine. But what kind of attitude is that? I came to see you out of kindness, yet you treat me like this. You've really hurt my feelings... You have to compensate me properly!"

Zi Yan first sighed in relief, but then she immediately began acting dramatically. With her hands on her hips, she put on an angry expression.

"..."

Seeing her like that, Qin Hao could not help rolling his eyes. He had known Zi Yan for four or five years, so he naturally understood her personality very well.

In the eyes of many geniuses in the Inner Academy, Zi Yan was the untouchable and infamous Brute Force King.

Only before people truly close to her would she reveal her most genuine side.

"Hehe, aside from checking whether I was awake, you came because you're nearly out of medicinal pellets, aren't you?"

Qin Hao directly exposed Zi Yan's little scheme.

"Hmph... You promised me before. I provide you with medicinal ingredients so you can practice alchemy, and you provide me with medicinal pellets! I got you so many medicinal ingredients before and helped you become a fourth-tier alchemist. You can't go back on your word!"

Though Qin Hao had exposed her thoughts, Zi Yan was not embarrassed in the slightest and instead spoke righteously.

"Fine, don't worry. I won't go back on anything I promised you, but you'll have to wait until I've fully recovered."

Qin Hao hurriedly replied. For now, he could only placate Zi Yan before properly studying his cheat.

"That's more like it. In that case, I can only suffer for a while and gnaw on those awful medicinal ingredients. And once you recover, this great aunt will take you to get revenge. We'll make that mangy bird pay the price!

"It actually dared to hurt one of my people. It must be tired of living!"

After hearing Qin Hao's promise, Zi Yan revealed a satisfied expression. Then, as if recalling something, her face became vicious, and she could not help waving her little fists twice.

"Alright, I'll be relying on you then."

Qin Hao immediately went along with her and did not refuse.

Qin Hao had transmigrated here and occupied this body. In a sense, he had formed karma with it. Since he had taken over this body, he ought to avenge its former owner.

Although this world did not place much importance on karma, he had to settle this grudge, if only to put his own mind more at ease.

It was obviously impossible for him to take revenge with his own strength. He was merely a newly advanced one-star Dou Wang, with almost no ability to resist before the Azure Shadow Eagle.

But Zi Yan was different. Her true form was a Heavenly Void Ancient Dragon. Although she had yet to awaken her Dragon Emperor bloodline, her strength still surpassed that of the vast majority of fifth-tier Magic Beasts.

Not only was she immensely strong, but the Heavenly Void Ancient Dragon clan also possessed extraordinarily powerful talent in spatial arts.

The Azure Shadow Eagle's vaunted speed was clearly nothing before Zi Yan. Once it lost its speed advantage, it would naturally be at their mercy.

"Don't worry. I'll protect you when the time comes!"

Zi Yan patted her flat chest and spoke with a confident expression.

"Alright, then I won't disturb your rest any longer! You'd better recover quickly!"

After leaving those words behind, Zi Yan's body merged into space once more, and she vanished directly from the room.

"Phew, she's finally gone. System, are you still there?"

After Zi Yan left, Qin Hao immediately tried once again to communicate with the system that had just awakened.

Ding! The Myriad Realms Sage Master System has been activated!

The familiar voice rang out in his mind once more.

"Myriad Realms Sage Master System? System, introduce your functions."

Qin Hao asked.

"The main function of this system is to help the host grow stronger by nurturing geniuses from the myriad heavens and realms, allowing the host to become a Sage Master who roams freely across the myriad heavens and realms..."

The system immediately began explaining at great length. After its self-introduction, Qin Hao finally understood its functions.

Put simply, it allowed him to grow stronger by continuously taking disciples.

However, there were requirements for the people he could take as disciples. Not everyone met the criteria.

The system's standards for accepting disciples were divided into two aspects: talent and fortune.

Talent, as the name suggested, referred to cultivation talent. Cultivation talent came in many forms, such as bloodline, comprehension, aptitude, disposition, and so on.

As for fortune, it meant being favored by the fortune of heaven and earth. For example, Xiao Yan, the protagonist of the original novel, was clearly the favored child of fortune in this world.

Zi Yan, who had just appeared, obviously met both criteria.

Zi Yan possessed the bloodline of the Dragon Emperor of the Heavenly Void Ancient Dragon clan. In this world, such bloodline talent was absolutely top-tier.

As for fortune, Zi Yan's growth in the original novel had been filled with fortuitous encounters. She clearly possessed immense fortune.

However, even though Zi Yan met the system's standards for taking disciples, whether Qin Hao could successfully accept her as a disciple depended on him.

At least in his view, his chances of accepting Zi Yan as his disciple were practically zero. After all, Zi Yan was far stronger than him at present.

There were two ways to grow stronger through taking disciples. The first was that every successful disciple he accepted would grant him a disciple-acceptance gift pack! The gift pack could contain all sorts of precious treasures.

The second was cultivation returns. Whenever a disciple broke through in cultivation, as their master, he would receive a return equal to that cultivation. This return was not immediate, but would accumulate within the system. When the time was right, he could withdraw it all at once.

The third was returns from treasures bestowed upon disciples. The multiplier for treasure returns was random, with a minimum of tenfold and a maximum of ten-thousandfold.

However, not every treasure could trigger a return. There was one restriction: the bestowed treasure had to be useful to the disciple at their current stage. Otherwise, no return would be triggered.

For example, giving a fire-element treasure to an ice-element disciple, or giving a low-cultivation disciple a pill far beyond what their current realm required... none of those would trigger a return.

There was one more point: items returned by the system would not trigger another return after being bestowed.

Heh, this system's abilities are ridiculously powerful. As expected of the indispensable cheat for a transmigrator. With a cheat, growing stronger is as easy as drinking water.

As long as I have enough disciples, I can continuously raise my cultivation through cultivation returns. I can grow stronger while lying down. And by bestowing treasures upon disciples, I can continuously obtain all kinds of cultivation resources. With sufficient resources, it would be difficult not to grow stronger.

After calming his emotions, Qin Hao thought to himself.