Heaven and earth could bear witness!
Chen Mu had never thought or said anything that might hurt the system's fragile feelings.
What on earth was it upgrading for this time?
Forget it. Let it do as it pleased.
He couldn't control it anyway. This system had something of a rebellious streak.
[System upgrade attempt 12 failed!] [System upgrade attempt 19 failed!] [System upgrade attempt 24: data acquisition successful! Upgrading...] [Upgrade successful! Puppet Master Module bound! New function unlocked: Puppet Master!]
To put it more simply and clearly, in terms anyone could understand.
A so-called Puppet Master was someone who controlled puppets.
Controlled puppets?
Chen Mu didn't understand what use the system intended him to make of such a function.
Instead, his attention settled more on Ye Qingcheng's expression beside him. "If you want to go, just go. You don't need to worry about me."
"Thank you, Young Master!" Ye Qingcheng agreed so readily for one simple reason: she didn't believe Chen Mu's current strength still required her protection.
When Liu Xiangnan, the Sky Sword Sect's Holy Son, had previously come to return the marriage contract, the powerful figures who arrived one after another, standing as thick as a forest, had made that even clearer to Ye Qingcheng.
Within the Tianyuan Holy Land's territory, harming Chen Mu was ten times—hundreds of times—harder than breaking through to the Great Emperor realm!
As for her role, rather than a bodyguard, she was more like the young master's personal maid in Qingyun Prefecture.
Beyond that, she could deal with a few rotten fish and shrimp unworthy of the young master's attention.
Her sense of duty was at its peak!
At Ye Qingcheng's thanks, Chen Mu waved a hand. "You're the Sky Sword Sect's Saintess to begin with. This trip to the secret realm is something you deserve. There's no need to thank me."
He picked up a pastry and popped it into his mouth.
The fragrance of osmanthus immediately spread across his tongue, sweet without being cloying and wonderfully refreshing.
"This disciple takes his leave." Once Yang Qiaofeng learned that Chen Mu had no interest in the secret realm, he backed away and left.
Ye Qingcheng immediately moved behind Chen Mu to massage his shoulders and pound his back.
Her exquisite technique, paired with the pastries and tea...
Wonderful. Too wonderful for words!
Keeping her around wasn't bad at all.
In the blink of an eye.
It was noon.
Ye Qingcheng received a thousand-mile voice transmission from the elder accompanying them on this trip to the secret realm.
"Then, Young Master, I'll be going now."
"Wait!" Chen Mu stopped Ye Qingcheng.
Before she could wonder why, she turned and saw Chen Mu toss something toward her.
She caught it, looked down, and discovered to her astonishment that it was a Saint-Tier Divine Weapon!
"This is called the Heavenly Abyss Sword. It's yours," Chen Mu said.
Ye Qingcheng had performed well throughout her days in Qingyun Prefecture, and naturally, Chen Mu had to be fair and clear with rewards and punishments.
Was starting with a Saint-Tier Divine Weapon a little excessive?
He couldn't help it. Chen Mu only had Saint-Tier weapons on him. Even the worst were Saint-Tier, so he had no choice.
More importantly, he wanted to test something...
[Saint-Tier Divine Weapon Heavenly Abyss Sword successfully gifted! Tenfold Rebate triggered! Congratulations, host, you have received Saint-Tier Divine Weapon Heavenly Abyss Sword +10!]
That was right. He wanted to test the Tenfold Rebate function.
He examined the returned rewards. In both quality and power, they were no different from the Heavenly Abyss Sword he had given away. They were identical.
However, an item that had already been returned once couldn't trigger another rebate.
Was it worried he would keep repeating the process, exploiting a loophole to snowball his gains?
In truth, even without that restriction, Chen Mu wouldn't have had the patience.
Too petty!
Oh, no...
By the time Chen Mu realized what he'd done, it was too late.
[System attempting to upgrade...] [System upgrade attempt 7: data acquisition successful! Upgrading...] [Upgrade successful! Unlimited Hundredfold Rebate Module bound! New function unlocked: Unlimited Hundredfold Rebate Module!]
"..." Chen Mu had never expected the system to remove the restriction against repeated rebates and snowballing gains.
It had even upgraded the original Tenfold Rebate to an unlimited hundredfold rebate while it was at it.
It felt strikingly like playing a hacked game!
This system was far too easy to manipulate.
Fortunately, he had simple desires and no interest in fighting and killing.
Otherwise, wouldn't becoming emperor and ruling the world be effortless?
Rule the world?
There would be endless troublesome matters to deal with. How could that compare to lounging in the courtyard and basking in the sun?
"Thank you for your generous gift, Young Master! From this day forward, Qingcheng will spill her liver and brains upon the earth for you and serve you until death!" Now, Ye Qingcheng had given Chen Mu her wholehearted loyalty!
For even as the Sky Sword Sect's Saintess, she had never touched a Saint-Tier Divine Weapon, let alone owned one.
After all, the entire Sky Sword Sect had no more than a handful of Saint-Tier Divine Weapons at its disposal.
Even the sect master couldn't use them at will, much less a Saintess like her.
Yet how many days had she spent in Qingyun Prefecture, in the Tianyuan Holy Land?
How much had she actually done for the young master, to have already received a Saint-Tier Divine Weapon?
How could Ye Qingcheng possibly remain unmoved?
She resolved that she absolutely would not disgrace the young master on this trip to the secret realm!
"Mm. Go on, then. Be careful along the way," Chen Mu said with a yawn.
He seemed utterly languid, as though no amount of sleep could ever be enough.
"Yes." Ye Qingcheng opened the door and left.
"A little music would make this even better." Chen Mu picked up another plum-blossom cake.
A bite of pastry, a sip of tea.
That said, the peaceful atmosphere was quite pleasant as it was, and perfect for an afternoon nap.
[Checking in...]
Chen Mu said speechlessly, "What madness are you up to now?"
[Check-in successful! Congratulations, host, you have received a Divine Rank Shadow Puppet!]
Divine Rank? One tier above Saint Rank—the highest tier of weapon.
Chen Mu didn't understand what the system intended by checking in and giving him something like this.
Upon learning of his confusion, the system immediately explained: [Since the host does not wish to expend effort traveling to the secret realm to acquire rare treasures, the Puppet Master function allows you to seize treasures with a single click!]
[Paired with the Divine Rank Shadow Puppet, every inheritance treasure will belong to you!]
"I hadn't realized you were so considerate," Chen Mu replied.
System: [Thank you for the compliment, host!]
Then, a pitch-black passage appeared beneath the feet of the silver-white Shadow Puppet, whose body looked harder than black iron.
The Shadow Puppet swiftly dropped into it and vanished.
"You've already sent him out?" Chen Mu asked.
System: [In response to the host, the Shadow Puppet has merged with Ye Qingcheng's shadow. He can not only seize treasures for you, but also protect Miss Ye and the other Holy Land disciples.]
Hearing that, Chen Mu had no reason to refuse.
Since the puppet had already been sent out, he decided to let things take their course.
Today's warm sunshine felt even more comfortable than yesterday's.
The longer he basked in it, the heavier his eyelids grew, and the more his whole body softened...
Elsewhere.
Hundreds of Tianyuan Holy Land disciples, including Ye Qingcheng, boarded an enormous Flying Boat.
They sped toward the location of the secret realm marked on the map.
Ye Qingcheng stood alone at the bow.
Her cool expression made her seem like an entirely different person from when she was beside Chen Mu, as though she carried an aura that kept others a thousand miles away.
"I never expected Saintess Ye to join us on this treasure hunt in the secret realm."
"Saintess Ye might become our Young Madam someday. We have to protect her!"
Thump! Thump! Thump!
"Don't worry! Anyone who wants to harm the Young Madam will have to step over my corpse!" He thumped his chest and made his confident promise.
Young Madam...
Hearing those words, the frost on Ye Qingcheng's face couldn't help thawing a little.
Before she could let her thoughts wander, she noticed several Flying Boats heading straight toward them!
Before you continue