Meanwhile, on Emerald Cloud Peak.
With two wads of cloth stuffed into his nostrils, Chen Yu was about to move this pot of biological weaponry outside when the door suddenly opened without warning. He looked up in bewilderment, only to find his female neighbor staring at him with a face full of loathing, disdain, and contempt.
"..."
Seriously.
Did she not have any other expressions?
His next-door neighbor seemed to have only two masks: one called social anxiety, and another called loathing, disdain, and contempt.
"What are you doing?" Xiang Baiwei asked coldly.
"Cooking."
"?"
Xiang Baiwei glanced at the Stone Pot Chen Yu was holding.
To prove that he really was cooking, Chen Yu lifted the lid, once again revealing the indescribable, mysterious sludge that had turned dark green after boiling over high heat.
Honestly, it stung the eyes a little.
Although Xiang Baiwei had sealed off her sense of smell with spiritual power, after seeing the contents of the pot,
she still found it unbearable.
So,
she immediately formed a hand seal.
The next second, powerful spiritual energy enveloped the Stone Pot.
Chen Yu felt the Stone Pot suddenly fly out of his hands, completely beyond his control. With a whoosh, it shot out of the room and vanished into the night...
"..."
Chen Yu froze.
Although he had long sensed that his neighbor's cultivation surpassed his own, only now did he realize that she was far stronger than he had imagined.
At least at the qi refining sixth-layer peak.
She might even have reached the level of the Dao Sect Inner Disciples.
Meanwhile, after throwing the source of all evil far away, Xiang Baiwei finally felt a little better. She gave Chen Yu a cold stare and warned, "Don't let it happen again!"
With that,
she turned to leave.
Chen Yu paused.
You threw away my Stone Pot, and now you think you can just leave?
"Stop right there!"
He immediately called her back.
Hearing him, Xiang Baiwei stopped after taking a few steps. When she turned around again, she had reverted to her timid, soft-spoken self.
Chen Yu, however, failed to notice. He barked at her fiercely, "You entered my home without permission and threw away my personal property. You've violated articles 531 and 422 of the Code of Conduct Manual!"
"Second, littering violates article five of the Code of Conduct Manual!"
"And your hair isn't pinned up, and your robes aren't properly arranged. That violates article one of the Code of Conduct Manual!"
"Four violations in total!"
"Come here and accept your punishment!"
His tone was so fierce that Xiang Baiwei was frightened into standing motionless.
Upon hearing those violations, she blinked blankly and stood stunned for a long moment. Then she lowered her head and whispered timidly, "S... sorry..."
With her head lowered, she walked over to Chen Yu, voluntarily removed the token hanging at her waist, and presented it to him with both hands.
"Please punish me."
"..."
Chen Yu froze.
Only then did he notice that his neighbor had switched personalities.
Seeing her standing with her head lowered, like a child caught doing something wrong by an adult, her eyes brimming with pure, unclouded stupidity and natural cluelessness, Chen Yu found his words stuck in his throat.
Fine. If you put it that way, what else could I say?
He took her token. "Oh... uh, it's fine. Just be more careful next time."
As he spoke, he recorded her four violations.
He took out his own token.
He lightly tapped them together.
Information immediately appeared on it:
[Dao Sect · Emerald Cloud Peak disciple, Chen Yu.] [Violations recorded: seven.]
Previously, he had traded leads for three violations. Adding his neighbor's four brought the total to seven.
He had long since completed this month's routine assignment. The four extra violations could not be saved for next month; they would simply be converted into contribution points at the end of the month.
Meanwhile, information also appeared on his neighbor's token.
[Dao Sect · Outer Sect disciple, Xiang Baiwei.] [Violations this month: four.] [Contribution points deducted: 12.] [Current remaining contribution points: 14,272.]
Chen Yu had not actually intended to look at her private information. He merely happened to catch a glimpse while returning her token.
Xiang Baiwei...
So her name was Xiang Baiwei.
Having recorded four violations against her in one go and deducted twelve contribution points, he looked at her naturally clueless expression and inexplicably began to feel a little guilty...
Wait...!
Hold on!
Chen Yu jolted!
His gaze locked onto the last line of information on the token.
Ones, tens, hundreds, thousands, ten thousands...
*?*
*!*
Over fourteen thousand contribution points?!
His guilt instantly vanished.
Chen Yu abruptly raised his head, staring at the sweet, meek, slightly clueless neighbor before him as though he had seen a ghost.
Seriously, where did she get so many contribution points?
There were only a handful of ways to earn contribution points on Emerald Cloud Peak. Other disciples were still risking their lives for a few dozen, yet she already possessed over ten thousand at such a young age! Had she hit the jackpot on a white pigeon lottery ticket?
Though utterly shocked, Chen Yu still handed the token back to her.
At that moment, his wealthy neighbor tilted her head and lightly pointed at the other token in his hand. "That one's mine..."
"Oh, is it?" Chen Yu passed it over disappointedly. "I gave you the wrong one by mistake."
"Mm-hmm, it's okay."
Xiang Baiwei smiled.
Then she turned and left, returning to her room.
Watching her go, Chen Yu lowered his head to look at the pitiful 175 contribution points on his own token and took a deep breath.
His Dao heart
was a little unsettled.
"Whew... calm down, calm down."
"With 175 contribution points in hand, I'm already ahead of at least ninety percent of the Dao Sect's outer disciples."
"Besides, isn't it just fourteen thousand two hundred and seventy-two contribution points? That's not even that much. What's the point of holding so many points that you can't even spend them all? What a joke. Honestly, I don't care about contribution points at all. I have a system and an entire immortal relic, and I'm the protagonist. What are a little over ten thousand
Contribution points worth, anyway? Absolutely laughable."
"So annoying. I'm going to cultivate."
Chen Yu sat cross-legged on his bed.
A dozen minutes later,
he entered meditation.
Then he suddenly opened his eyes. "Seriously, why does she get to have all that?"
No,
that was a mistake.
What Chen Yu had meant to say was: which cultivation manual was he supposed to practice next?
"Oh... the Earth-Warding Art."
He recalled the written description of the Earth-Warding Art from memory: "The earth bears all things; profound virtue upholds the heavens. Ten thousand contribution points, draw qi into the organs, settle the mind like a mountain. Earth nature is solid and steadfast, guarding all four directions. Refine dust into armor, ten thousand contribution points, strengthen the foundation and nourish the source..."
He ignored the irrelevant information that had inexplicably appeared in his memory, extracting only the key elements.
Naturally, the key elements were not "ten thousand contribution points."
They were the cultivation methods of the Earth-Warding Art.
"Step one: sense the qi of the earth's veins. Sit cross-legged on the ground, arms encircling as though embracing a mountain, feet pressed firmly against the earth. Feel the earth's weight and solidity. Sink your awareness into the bubbling spring points on the soles of your feet. Imagine yellow spiritual light surging like the tides, passing through your palms and entering your body through your soles, gathering in your dantian."
"Step two: visualize the spiritual qi in your dantian condensing like soil, refining it into a thin yellow glow. Circulate it along the prescribed pathways, gradually settling and thickening."
"Step three: disperse the astral qi to the surface of the skin..."