Choosing a Technique!

Qi Refining, Fourth Layer!

"Fourth Layer... Am I seeing things?! It's Qi Refining, Fourth Layer!"

"How could he be at Qi Refining, Fourth Layer?! Wasn't he at the Third Layer just now?"

"The Heaven-Appraising Mirror can't be wrong. He hid his cultivation."

"Good heavens... a Medium-Grade Spiritual Root and Qi Refining, Fourth Layer. Our Servant Peak has produced a true dragon!"

The chatter rose and fell without end!

Ye Xingchen withdrew his hand, and the spiritual energy fluctuations in his palm gradually subsided.

He turned around and calmly swept his gaze over Wang Dakui's stunned face on the viewing platform. A mocking curve tugged at his lips. "Elder Wang, do I still need to test again?"

The muscles on Wang Dakui's face twitched wildly. He opened his mouth, wanting to say something, only to find himself speechless.

Test again?

If they tested again, he would lose every shred of face and earn the reputation of a sore loser!

"Hahaha! Good! Very good!"

Huang Zhen straightened his back and looked at Wang Dakui with a glowing face. "Wang Dakui, what else do you have to say now? This is the fairness you wanted! This is the truth you wanted!"

Wang Dakui snorted coldly and rose with a sweep of his sleeve. "He merely had some fortuitous encounter. The road of cultivation is long—let's see how far he can go! We're leaving!"

With that, he was about to lead the people from West Hall away in disgrace.

"Hold it."

A clear, icy voice rang out.

Ye Xingchen stepped past Huang Zhen. His gaze crossed the crowd and locked precisely onto Zhang Yu, who was preparing to slip into the throng amid the chaos.

"Senior Brother Zhang, have you forgotten something?"

Ye Xingchen extended his hand, palm up, and lightly curled his long fingers. "A wager is a wager. My pills."

Zhang Yu's entire body stiffened, his feet seeming to have been nailed in place.

Countless gazes around him shone upon him like spotlights. There was mockery in those eyes, pity too, but most of all, gloating delight.

Give them? That was his entire fortune!

Refuse? If he reneged before two elders, how could he ever hold his head up in the First Saint Sect again?

"Ye Xingchen... don't push this too—" Zhang Yu turned around, his eyes bloodshot and his teeth grinding audibly.

"Too what?" Ye Xingchen cut him off, his gaze indifferent. "Too far? If I had lost just now, would you have spared me? Enough nonsense. Hand them over."

"Take them! Take them all! Choke to death on them!"

Zhang Yu let out a beast-like roar, abruptly pulled the warm jade bottle from his robes, and hurled it viciously at Ye Xingchen with all his strength. Then he clutched his chest and spat out a mouthful of blood with a "wah"—his fury had struck straight at his heart.

He cast Ye Xingchen a venomous glance, then looked at the surrounding eyes filled with disdain and ridicule.

"Ah—!"

He let out a shrill scream and, like a homeless dog, frantically shoved through the crowd and fled in utter humiliation.

Watching his disheveled retreating figure, Ye Xingchen shook his head helplessly and tucked the jade bottle into his robes.

The surrounding servant disciples could no longer restrain themselves and swarmed forward with a buzz.

"Senior Brother Ye! You're incredible!"

"Senior Brother Ye, from today onward, you're my idol!"

"Senior Brother Ye, please look after your little brother in the future!"

"..."

"Quiet!"

Huang Zhen's imposing voice rang out. He walked to Ye Xingchen's side with a smile plastered across his face, his kindly expression making him seem as though he were looking at his own grandson.

"Xingchen, come with me."

Leading Ye Xingchen through countless gazes of envy and jealousy, he left the noisy assessment grounds.

Outer Sect, North Hall.

"Sit."

The joy on Huang Zhen's face faded somewhat, replaced by a shrewd, appraising look.

He pointed at the chair below him, his tone becoming meaningful. "Ye Xingchen, I won't beat around the bush. I'll lay everything out for you plainly."

"Please speak, Elder."

"Every year, the sect assesses the outer disciples accepted by each hall's elders. It concerns the elders' resource allocations and standing. The main reason Wang Dakui made things difficult for you lies in this matter.

"You are the only disciple I received this year whose aptitude is passable. Therefore, what you must do is place within the top hundred in this year's inner sect assessment. Only then will my chances of being promoted to an inner sect elder increase."

There was no false sentiment of deep affection between master and disciple—only naked self-interest.

But that suited Ye Xingchen perfectly.

"Then what are the benefits?" Ye Xingchen asked. "You can't make the ox plow without giving it grass to eat."

"Haha... The benefit is that you can stay alive in the outer sect."

"What do you mean?" Ye Xingchen asked in confusion. "Could it be that someone wants to harm me?"

"Ye Xingchen, what do you think the cultivation world is?! Here, people kill without shedding blood. Every person's rise is made by climbing over countless corpses.

"You think you're safe inside the sect? You're far too naive. Before you have grown strong enough, your aptitude and talent are the death knell that summons the reaper.

"Every year, quite a few disciples die for no clear reason. All I can do is ensure you don't die in this outer sect."

Damn it, after all that, this old bastard is trying to get something for nothing. He isn't giving me a single benefit. Ye Xingchen complained inwardly. If I just keep my head down, cultivate slowly, stay out of sight, and don't compete for anything, who would come looking for trouble with me?

Seeing Ye Xingchen calculating so shrewdly, Huang Zhen naturally knew what he was thinking.

"In the cultivation world, how can you obtain resources without fighting? How can you cultivate without fighting? Ye Xingchen, if you want to hide away and cultivate, then you must be willing to stagnate forever!

"So, do you accept?"

Damn it, I finally transmigrated into a cultivation world. I can't just live an ordinary life like this. Besides, I have a system—this is clearly the protagonist's template. I have to make my name resound across the world and rule over all heavens alone.

"Fine, I agree," Ye Xingchen answered firmly.

Huang Zhen nodded in satisfaction and casually tossed him a storage pouch. "Inside are the standard initiation items for a disciple with a Medium-Grade Spiritual Root: one Outer Disciple Token, one set of Dust-Avoiding Robes, and... two Blood-Coagulating Pills."

Ye Xingchen caught the storage pouch and swept it with his divine sense.

Blood-Coagulating Pills!

They were pills a full grade above Qi Condensation Pills. One was worth ten Qi Condensation Pills.

This initiation gift was not bad. It provided 1,000 Source Points! Adding the ten Qi Condensation Pills Zhang Yu had provided, he now had 1,500 Source Points in hand.

"Thank you, Elder."

"Enough, dispense with the empty formalities." Huang Zhen waved a hand and rose to his feet. "Besides these pills, you also have one chance to select a Yellow Tier high-grade technique for free."

Technique Hall.

This was an important sect ground. Bookshelves stood in rows, and several thousand jade slips emitted a faint glow, like a river of stars.

Huang Zhen led Ye Xingchen directly to the "Yellow Tier High Grade" section.

"You have a Medium-Grade Spiritual Root, and your five elemental attributes are relatively balanced. You have plenty of choices."

Huang Zhen casually picked up a crimson jade slip and introduced it. "The Blazing Fire Art is fierce and powerful in attack. Upon reaching major mastery, one can unleash blazing flames from the palm, melting gold and boiling iron. It is one of the most popular techniques among outer disciples."

Ye Xingchen glanced at it.

Huang Zhen picked up a blue one. "The Profound Water Formula hides needles within silk. Its defensive power is exceptionally strong, and it restores spiritual energy quickly. It is invincible in prolonged battles."

Huang Zhen introduced more than ten techniques in succession, but as Ye Xingchen looked through them one by one, his brows gradually furrowed.

Although these techniques were decent, none seemed satisfactory to him.

Since he had the One-Click Skip system, why choose such ordinary goods? The system's advantages lay in "ignoring bottlenecks" and "having no side effects." This meant that the more difficult techniques were to cultivate—the kind that easily caused qi deviation, the kind ordinary people avoided like plague-stricken rats—the more they were divine techniques to him!

"What? None of them catch your eye?" Seeing Ye Xingchen's lack of interest, Huang Zhen could not help feeling puzzled.

Was this kid's taste really that high?

Ye Xingchen said nothing. His gaze drifted over the corners of the bookshelves.

Suddenly, his eyes settled on a dust-covered corner at the very bottom.

There lay a solitary gray jade slip, dull and without the slightest luster, like a piece of discarded trash.

Ye Xingchen's heart stirred. He stepped forward and brushed away the dust covering it.

"Elder."

Ye Xingchen picked up the gray jade slip and turned to Huang Zhen, an unusual light flickering in his eyes.

"What technique is this?"