Researching the Panel

At Xiao Hongyi's announcement, the crowd below instantly erupted in thunderous cheers.

"Woooo—"

"Awesome! Brother Yang won!"

"Well done, Xiao Mu! From now on, you're my real brother!"

Xiao Yang smiled and nodded at everyone before stepping down from the platform to help Xiao Mu up.

"Thanks."

Xiao Mu's eyes were filled with shock as he looked at Xiao Yang strangely.

"Brother Yang, even if I'd used all my strength, I still wouldn't have been able to take that punch."

"If you hadn't held back, this arm of mine might have needed a month to recover."

"You have what it takes to defeat me, even those clan members at Eighth-Stage Dou Qi."

"So there's no need to thank me. I should be thanking you for showing me mercy, Brother Yang."

He looked at Xiao Yang with a bitter smile, his lips carrying a hint of self-mockery.

Xiao Yang said nothing more. He merely patted Xiao Mu on the shoulder and returned to his original spot.

When Xiao Yan saw Xiao Yang return, he said excitedly, "Brother Yang, congratulations! You passed the test."

Xun'er, standing beside them, wore a radiant smile as well.

"Congratulations, Brother Xiao Yang. That attack just now was incredibly powerful!"

Xiao Yang looked at Xun'er and smiled.

"Xun'er, you've already reached Dou Qi, Ninth Stage. You'd only need one move to defeat me."

"My attack was nowhere near as powerful as yours."

Xun'er shook her head and looked at Xiao Yang earnestly.

"I believe Brother Xiao Yang will definitely surpass me someday!"

Her gaze was filled with determination and trust.

Watching this scene from the side, Xiao Yan only felt like an unnecessary third wheel.

More than a decade ago, when Xun'er had first arrived, Xiao Yan really had wanted to help nourish her meridians, just like in the original story.

However, Xiao Yang had stopped him.

Later, for some reason, Xun'er became curious about Xiao Yang and often came to see him.

As time passed, the two became very familiar with each other.

As for Xiao Yan, while Xun'er did not dislike him, she was not particularly close to him either. She merely treated him as an ordinary friend.

Looking at Xiao Yang, who had already passed the test, and Xun'er, who was at Dou Qi, Ninth Stage, Xiao Yan was sincerely happy for them, but he still felt a slight sense of frustration.

He looked at Xiao Yang and Xun'er, forcing a smile onto his face.

"Brother Yang, Xun'er, since you've both finished the test, I'll head back to cultivate first."

As he spoke, determination flashed through Xiao Yan's eyes.

"I refuse to believe I'll remain at Dou Qi, Third Stage forever!"

Hearing this, Xiao Yang turned to look at Xiao Yan, his eyes carrying a meaningful glint.

"I believe your problem will be resolved very soon."

"Even if it isn't, once I become stronger, I'll find a powerful alchemist to take a look at you!"

Xiao Yan could not help feeling warmth in his heart upon hearing Xiao Yang's words.

Ever since he had lost his talent, only his family and Xiao Yang had continued treating him so well.

"Brother Yang, I'll definitely work hard!"

"I'm going to cultivate!"

With that, Xiao Yan turned and headed toward the back mountain.

Seeing Xiao Yan leave, Xiao Yang also prepared to depart.

He could barely wait to return and study his Player Panel.

Thus, he bid Xun'er farewell and left.

Before long, Xiao Yang returned to his small courtyard.

He opened his game panel and began studying it.

Xiao Yang quickly discovered that this game panel was just like the official Battle Through the Heavens game from his previous life.

The only difference was that the shop lacked items listed for sale by players. It only had the shop's own items.

This immediately disappointed Xiao Yang.

That was because the system shop's items could only be gradually unlocked once he reached certain levels.

But player-listed items could be bought at any level, as long as one paid enough shop points.

Looking at the gray Heavenly-tier cultivation methods and battle skills in the shop, along with all sorts of Heavenly Flames—including the Void Devouring Flame and the Purifying Lotus Demon Flame—he even saw Origin Qi for sale!

However, not only were those items still locked, Xiao Yang could not afford them either.

Xiao Yang shook his head helplessly and closed the shop.

He decided to examine the quest page and event page instead.

The moment he opened the quest page, he saw the main quest at the very top.

[Main Quest: Break through to Fighter.

Reward: Shop Points +10,000, Tier-One Double Experience Card ×3, one Selectable Subclass Gift Pack.]

Below the main quest was a series of gray side quests.

Those quests would only become available after he unlocked them.

Besides that, if NPCs assigned quests, new quests would also appear.

After reading the quest page, Xiao Yang opened the event page.

Unfortunately, there were currently no events on the event page. There were no first top-up events, skin events, lottery events, or anything else.

Xiao Yang sighed. He had originally wanted to see whether he could use gold coins to top up.

Never before had Xiao Yang wanted to spend money on a game as badly as he did now.

After confirming that he could not find a top-up page, Xiao Yang sighed, closed the panel, and began cultivating.

He wanted to see how much experience cultivation would grant him.

Several hours passed quickly.

Each time Xiao Yang completed one cultivation cycle, he would stop and check whether his experience had increased.

After several hours, his cultivation experience had only increased by one point.

At this rate, Xiao Yang could gain roughly two cultivation experience points a day.

This pace was not slow. He could raise his cultivation by one stage in just over a month, faster than even some geniuses.

However, after seeing the effects of Universal Experience, Xiao Yang felt that this was still somewhat slow.

Universal Experience was mainly obtained by completing quests, defeating or killing enemies, and refining medicine.

For example, when he defeated Xiao Mu, he had gained 7 points of Universal Experience and 70 shop points.

That was so much better than cultivating by himself!

Universal Experience could be used directly on any aspect, and shop points were not bad either.

One shop point was basically equivalent to one gold coin.

Points could be used to purchase gold coins directly, but gold coins could not be used to purchase points.

Most items in the shop were priced about the same as their market prices on the Dou Qi Continent.

Only some extremely rare items were slightly cheaper.

Shop points were obtained in much the same way as Universal Experience. In addition, shop points could also be gained through cultivation breakthroughs.

Looking at his cultivation speed, Xiao Yang tried practicing battle skills as well.

After gaining one point of battle skill experience, he estimated that he could gain around five points a day.

Unfortunately, battle skill experience could not be transferred to cultivation.

Universal Experience was still the best!

Xiao Yang planned to spar with the other members of the Xiao Household tomorrow.

It was not as though he was doing it for experience or anything. He mainly wanted to improve his mastery of battle skills together with his clanmates!

Soon, the night passed. Xiao Yang was just about to head to the Battle Skill Hall to spar with members of the Xiao Household when a maid came to summon him to the reception hall.