How to Unlock Hidden Achievements

Shen Yuan had just put the Bronze Ancient Sword into the spatial porcelain bottle when he froze. Staring at the text on the system interface before him, he felt as though his brain had crashed.

"Candle Dragon Immortal Sword? Sword Master? Earthly Fiend Divine Ability?"

As Shen Yuan's head filled with question marks, the Old One occupying Old Master Fu's body suddenly turned deathly pale. Shen Yuan's use of the spatial porcelain bottle to trap the Bronze Ancient Sword seemed to have inflicted severe harm upon him as well.

His face alternating between green and white, the Old One suddenly spat out a mouthful of blood and collapsed to the floor, falling silent.

The Fu family had fled the room the moment danger arose. In this bedroom, now reduced to ruins, only Shen Yuan remained standing there, the corner of his mouth twitching slightly.

"Wait. Let me sort through these prompts from the Artificially Stupid System."

"The system prompt said I defeated the Sword Master and gained the Candle Dragon Immortal Sword's recognition.

That means this old bastard who stole Old Master Fu's body is the so-called Sword Master, while that ancient sword I stuffed straight into the porcelain bottle's space—the one nearly rusted into a bronze rod—is the Candle Dragon Immortal Sword."

Shen Yuan first looked at Old Master Fu lying on the floor, then carefully recalled what the Candle Dragon Immortal Sword looked like. He immediately felt that the plot's entire style had become rather strange.

"Normally, shouldn't this have been an ordinary urban family-conflict story? I turn the tide, eliminate the outside enemy, save Old Master Fu, and earn the Fu family's endless gratitude?

"But instead, I merely beat up some frail old wreck who had barely stepped into the Refining Essence Realm, then forcibly snatched a bronze fire poker that could at most wield the might of a magic treasure. And somehow the plot turned into a cultivator battle, with me becoming a Peerless Sword Immortal who defeated the Sword Master?"

"This so-called Sword Master and Immortal Sword are way too cheap, aren't they?"

Even after experiencing the Artificially Stupid System's antics, Shen Yuan could not help but mock the absurdity before him.

At that moment, the porcelain bottle in Shen Yuan's hand began to tremble lightly. Seeing this, Shen Yuan hurriedly tossed it into the corner of the room.

Although Shen Yuan deliberately maintained the stable space, the porcelain bottle itself was not truly a spiritual object and could not bear the space created by the Pot-Heaven Divine Ability for long.

Spatial cracks burst open one after another. Yet unlike before, the spatial cracks that cut through everything had encountered an opponent this time.

That seemingly ordinary bronze fire poker actually withstood the cutting of the spatial cracks by force. Those pitch-black cracks failed even to slice away the rust on the bronze fire poker's surface before rapidly vanishing as the world repaired itself.

The Candle Dragon Immortal Sword crashed onto the ground with a crisp clang.

Shen Yuan looked at the Candle Dragon Immortal Sword. Seeing that the spatial cracks had still failed to damage it in the slightest, he finally began to believe the system prompt's designation.

Reaching out to touch the Candle Dragon Immortal Sword, Shen Yuan found that, without anyone else controlling it, it released no defensive Sword Qi. Like an ordinary object, it was easily grasped in his hand.

A heavy sensation spread from Shen Yuan's palm throughout his body. Holding the Candle Dragon Immortal Sword, he felt as though some ferocious beast were watching him, constantly radiating an invisible pressure.

Yet the Candle Dragon Immortal Sword's pressure was not particularly strong. Shen Yuan adapted to it after only brief contact and began feeling over the rust-covered ancient sword in his hand.

The battle in the room had long since ended. The Fu family members cautiously peered inside from the doorway.

Fu Hua's gaze first fell upon the room destroyed by the body-stealing Old One's strike. The collapsed floor and walls had nearly turned the room into ruins. Such destructive force had surpassed the bounds of humanity.

Yet before Shen Yuan, every flying shard of stone and every spreading crack halted in its tracks, as if an invisible barrier had divided the room in two.

The palm-sized black-and-white kitten was now perched on Shen Yuan's shoulder. Shen Yuan held a Bronze Ancient Sword in both hands, his fingertips slowly brushing over its mottled rust, while a faint air of ancient vicissitudes emanated from him.

In Shen Yuan's eyes lay the sediment of ancient time.

Fu Hua's heart pounded wildly as an incredibly bold thought flashed through his mind.

"Mr. Shen is not from this era!"

Naturally, Shen Yuan had no mind to probe Fu Hua's thoughts. At that moment, all his attention was focused on the Candle Dragon Immortal Sword.

He could sense that during these thousands of years of depleted spiritual energy, the Candle Dragon Immortal Sword had made no preparations to preserve itself. What it had lost was far more than merely spiritual energy replenishment.

Even a precious Immortal Sword could hardly survive the passage of endless years.

Over thousands of years, the Candle Dragon Immortal Sword's grade had continuously declined. From a true Immortal Sword, it had become a bronze fire poker that could at most exert the power of a magic treasure. The difference between the two was as vast as clouds and mud.

The laws of the age of depleted spiritual energy had become mottled rust, sealing the Candle Dragon Immortal Sword's true nature. The exhausted spiritual energy had squeezed dry the Immortal Sword's foundation, causing it to completely lose its former divine might.

That was precisely why it could be wielded by a mere old thing who had only just entered the Refining Essence Realm, and why Shen Yuan could so easily trap it with the spatial porcelain bottle.

At its peak, even a true Grotto-Heaven Paradise could have been cleaved apart by the Candle Dragon Immortal Sword in a single stroke, let alone the tiny space Shen Yuan had created.

Thus, the Candle Dragon Immortal Sword's drop in grade was actually a good thing for Shen Yuan. If it truly had been an Immortal Sword, he would not even have been qualified to touch it, much less dare dream of defeating its Sword Master.

With that thought, Shen Yuan finally began to realize the greatest use of his Artificially Stupid System.

"For me, ten thousand years later, even joining a sect in the beginner's guide has become harder than ascending to heaven. That is the change brought by ten thousand years of transformation.

"But likewise, some tasks that were exceptionally difficult ten thousand years ago have now become something anyone with hands can accomplish."

"For example, becoming a sect master. I merely wrote my name in the Sect Master Register, and became sect master without a single person objecting.

"I only killed a frail old wreck carrying a bronze fire poker, yet completed the task of defeating the Sword Master and became a Peerless Sword Immortal.

"This discrepancy can completely become an opportunity for me to exploit the system and obtain hidden rewards in the future!"

Upon realizing this, even with Shen Yuan's temperament, a wave of wild joy surged within him.

The two hidden achievements he had completed by accident had each granted him an Earthly Fiend Divine Ability, supreme treasures that pointed directly toward the great path of immortality.

If he could continue completing hidden achievements through similar methods, they would undoubtedly bring Shen Yuan even greater surprises.

This insight was even more important than the Candle Dragon Immortal Sword Shen Yuan had obtained.

As Shen Yuan concentrated on his thoughts, Bai Xue, lying on his shoulder, cautiously examined the Candle Dragon Immortal Sword. Her tiny brows were tightly furrowed, as though she were puzzled by something.

Then Bai Xue extended a little paw and gently touched the Candle Dragon Immortal Sword in Shen Yuan's hand. A nearly imperceptible stream of light merged into the Candle Dragon Immortal Sword.

The next moment, the Candle Dragon Immortal Sword trembled, followed by a pained wail. A soul body with an ugly face, as though it had been corroded by sulfuric acid, emerged from the Candle Dragon Immortal Sword.