"Damn! What the hell is this guy doing? I only just fleeced him a little, and he's already in mortal danger!"
In a sealed place on a distant island, a resentful voice rang out.
"Host detected in mortal danger. Emergency loan activated. Host has borrowed ten thousand energy points. Sufficient energy available for system upgrade!"
"Mother! Fucking! Son! Of a bitch!"
Chen Yang had been quite pleased to hear the system's voice, but when it followed up with a system upgrade announcement, his expression turned ugly, and he began cursing at the top of his lungs!
"System upgrade complete. Emergency loan continuing. Host has borrowed two hundred thousand energy points. Sufficient energy available for another system upgrade!"
Chen Ming cursed as he ran. He was already annoyed enough, and now the system had popped up to mess with his head!
"System upgrade complete. Fifth-Level Lottery System."
He opened the system panel.
Character: Mo Juren Cultivation: tenth level of Qi Refining Spirit Root: false Attribute: none Energy: 102,001 "Note: host owes 210,000 energy points." Fifth-Level Lottery System. Each draw costs 100,000 energy points. Would you like to draw?
"Draw!"
Chen Ming answered without a second thought!
"Ding! Congratulations on drawing one Divine Stand-In Scroll!"
Chen Ming took it out and saw that it was just a scroll bearing a design. It was single-use, too.
Seeing the figure about to catch up to him, Chen Ming stopped worrying about anything else and tore the scroll open. A streak of black light shot straight toward his pursuer's brow.
The black light pierced his pursuer's brow and passed through his skull, then curved around and pierced the Spirit Beast Mountain disciple and the five cultivators of unknown origin trailing behind him as well.
"Now that's some power!"
Watching them suddenly collapse, Chen Ming let out a long breath and plopped down on the ground, sighing leisurely.
"System warning: host, do not court death. The emergency loan is available only once. Also, remember to repay it promptly!"
Yet just as Chen Ming was sighing, the system's synthesized electronic voice sounded again!
"Ah!..."
Back in the sealed place on that island, the figure who had just split off a wisp of his aura and attached it to the scroll suddenly suffered a backlash, letting out a cry of pain!
It was time for the most enjoyable part again: looting equipment. Chen Ming picked up the flying sword that the Foundation Establishment cultivator had used and toyed with it.
He then searched the bodies one after another, taking everything he thought was valuable.
The only rather frustrating thing was that whenever he found Spirit Stones, the system confiscated them as soon as he picked them up, chiming, "Ding! Ding! Ding!"
Once he finished searching, Chen Ming immediately opened the system panel to check it!
Character: Mo Juren Cultivation: tenth level of Qi Refining Spirit Root: false Attribute: none Energy: none "Note: you still owe the system 109,007 energy points!"
"This system isn't usually very reliable, but it can save my life when it counts. That makes twice now that my fate has been rewritten!"
Muttering to himself, Chen Ming slowly made his way toward Jiayuan City.
He had only just returned to the Mo Mansion and sat down when he spotted a furtive figure peeking around the doorway.
"Mo Caihuan, get over here! Don't think I didn't see you!"
Chen Ming slapped the table and hurriedly stood up, pointing at the sneaking, peeking figure as he shouted.
The moment Mo Caihuan heard his voice, she turned and took to her heels.
After Chen Ming's impressive display of power in Jiayuan City, the previously fairly well-behaved Mo Caihuan had transformed into the city's little she-devil within days, spending all day outside running wild!
"Still trying to run!"
Chen Yang was so angry he laughed. He shot outside, and before long, he brought Mo Caihuan back, holding her by the back of her clothes like a little chick!
"Daddy! I know I was wrong! Please let me go, pretty please..."
Knowing she could not escape, Mo Caihuan hurriedly put on a sweet, wheedling voice as he carried her back.
"You don't know you were wrong. You're just scared. Skip one day's beating and you'll climb onto the roof and tear off the tiles."
Chen Ming nearly laughed at her words, but immediately answered!
"And you! Still laughing? Zhang Tie, as her older brother, it's bad enough that you didn't keep an eye on her, but you even followed her around as her hired muscle!"
Seeing Zhang Tie following them back, covering his mouth as he snickered, Chen Ming promptly turned his scolding on him.
Meanwhile, far beyond Zhao State, a crack rang out in the Ghost Spirit Sect's Soul-Holding Hall. A Soul Token bearing the name of the inner disciple Youyang shattered.
The inner disciple guarding the Soul-Holding Hall had been lying in a rocking chair, his eyes half closed as he drifted off to sleep. At first, he paid the sound no mind.
Then, as though suddenly remembering something, he snapped awake and checked the displayed Soul Tokens one by one. When he finally reached Youyang's Soul Token and saw that it had shattered, his expression changed drastically. He grabbed the broken Soul Token and rushed out.
"Enforcement Elder, look!"
The disciple ran to the inner sect's Enforcement Hall, approached the elder at its head, and handed him the shattered Soul Token.
"Whose?"
The elder glanced at it and asked calmly.
"Inner disciple Youyang!"
The young man answered upon hearing the elder's question.
"All right, understood! Go back for now!"
The elder waved a hand lightly as he spoke.
After the disciple left, the elder picked up Youyang's Soul Token. He pondered for a moment, then rose and walked out of the Enforcement Hall.
"Is the sect master here?"
Arriving outside the Ghost Spirit Hall, the elder looked at the two guards and addressed one of them.
"Reporting to Elder Li! The sect master isn't here. He just went out with Elder Lan!"
The guard bowed slightly and replied respectfully.
Chen Ming had no idea that he had inadvertently disrupted the Ghost Spirit Sect's plans.
Three days later!
Chen Ming returned to Spirit Beast Mountain and looked at the gradually ripening Spirit Rice. This Spirit Rice actually ripens faster than hybrid rice. A few more days at most, and it'll be ready. It only takes about a month from planting to harvest. That's incredible!
Chen Ming returned to his house, took an alchemy furnace, a pile of medicinal ingredients, and spirit herbs out of the storage pouch he had looted from the Foundation Establishment cultivator, and began refining pills.
Chen Ming was now a second-grade alchemist. As long as he had the recipe and ingredients for Foundation Establishment Pills, he could basically refine them, though his success rate was another matter!
Recently, he had been tinkering with a new pill. With his talent for alchemy, it had taken only a few dozen exploding furnaces before he finally succeeded in refining a pill called the "Beauty Pill"!
One Beauty Pill could turn an ugly woman into a beauty or an ugly man into a handsome fellow. If one did not work, just take another. However, only Qi Refining Realm cultivators could take it!
If a mortal took one, they would suffer brain damage at best or die on the spot at worst. This pill reshaped the skull and face after consumption, and a mortal body could not withstand the impact of its medicinal power.
Chen Ming was really going all out to get Spirit Stones. Recently, he had also thought about making a "Slim Figure Pill." In a few days, once he harvested the Spirit Rice and completed the mission, he would take these pills to auction!
Just thinking about it was delightful. Would he still have to worry about lacking Spirit Stones then?
"I'm a genius! Hahaha..."
As Chen Ming thought about it, he burst out laughing!