The Joy of Cheating

Nine types? That's quite a few... Liu Bai thought as he looked at the Jade Slips in the hidden compartment.

In the original novel, Mu Feng had only collected three Spirit Grade Spiritual Arts after so many years, and they had all been Spirit Grade Low Rank.

After some thought, Liu Bai took out a Jade Slip from one of the upper compartments.

"Blazing Sun Art, Spirit Grade Low Rank!"

Not bad. He had started right off with a Spirit Grade Spiritual Art. Though it was only Spirit Grade Low Rank, it was already the highest-grade Spiritual Art available in the Northern Spirit Realm.

As for higher-level ones, perhaps Northern Spirit Academy had them...

Setting down the Jade Slip in his hand, Liu Bai picked up another one beside it.

"Nine Heavens Thunderclap, Spirit-grade Mid-tier!"

It was actually Spirit-grade Mid-tier?!

This truly startled Liu Bai. He had never expected the Liu Domain to possess such a powerful foundation.

"Hehe, what? Tempted? This is the Cultivation Method Spiritual Art your old man cultivates, and it's also the strongest Spiritual Art of our Liu Family!"

Liu Qingtian smiled as he watched his son hold the Jade Slip and ponder.

What Liu Qingtian had not expected, however, was that his son showed no other reaction and slowly placed the Jade Slip back.

"What, even this doesn't satisfy you?" Liu Qingtian immediately frowned.

Liu Bai shook his head. "Father, I heard before that our Liu Family possesses a Spirit-grade High-tier Attack Spiritual Art?"

Liu Qingtian raised a brow. "Oh? You know about it? Did your grandfather tell you?"

Naturally, Liu Bai could not say that he had learned it from reading the novel in his previous life, so he could only nod vaguely.

"No wonder you weren't interested in Nine Heavens Thunderclap, you little brat. If you truly want to cultivate that Spirit-grade High-tier Attack Spiritual Art, then Blazing Sun Art is your best choice. Your grandfather discovered those two Spiritual Arts together in an ancient ruin back then. They are a matched Cultivation Method."

"So that's how it is..."

No wonder Liu Mubai and Liu Yang had both cultivated Blazing Sun Art in the original novel. Liu Bai had originally thought that the Liu Family had no other profound Cultivation Methods or Spiritual Arts, so the moment he saw Nine Heavens Thunderclap, he immediately thought of something.

Having settled on Blazing Sun Art as his Cultivation Method, he then obtained that Spirit-grade High-tier Attack Spiritual Art from Liu Qingtian.

Great Sun Sea Burning Palm, Spirit-grade High-tier. Once Great Accomplishment was reached, a single palm strike could burn mountains and boil seas, possessing boundless power!

This was the strongest known Attack Spiritual Art to have appeared in the Northern Spirit Realm!

However, besides Great Sun Sea Burning Palm, Liu Bai also chose a Spirit Grade Low Rank movement art...

Blazing Step. Flame spiritual energy wrapped around the feet, then used the explosive nature of fire to unleash astonishing speed. It was as swift as thunder and an exceptionally explosive movement art.

After choosing his Spiritual Arts, Liu Bai immediately checked his attributes.

Player: Liu Bai

Realm: Spirit Movement Realm

Spirit Veins: None

Cultivation Method: Blazing Sun Art (Initiation 0/100)

Skills:

Mortal Grade High Rank Wind Breaking Finger (Minor Accomplishment 0/50); Spirit Grade Low Rank Blazing Step (Initiation 0/50); Spirit-grade High-tier Great Sun Sea Burning Palm (Initiation 0/200)

Experience Points: 0

Recording Spiritual Arts required no conditions. As long as he could hold the Spiritual Art in his hand, it would work. But cultivating them required Experience Points.

"I didn't expect even initiating a Spirit Grade Low Rank Spiritual Art to require so much experience..."

His Mortal Grade High Rank Wind Breaking Finger only required fifty Experience Points to advance from Minor Accomplishment to Great Accomplishment.

Furthermore, among Spiritual Arts of the same rank, Cultivation Method Spiritual Arts required more experience than Attack Spiritual Arts.

Of course, he could also cultivate them himself and succeed that way, but there was no telling how much time it would take.

"Father, have someone capture several living low-level Spirit Beasts and send them over..."

Liu Qingtian was slightly taken aback, having no idea what mischief his son was planning now.

However, he knew that his eldest son had a calm and steady temperament and could not be treated as an ordinary youth. Since he had made a request, he naturally had his own reasons.

Besides... as the lord of the Liu Domain, what did a few low-level Spirit Beasts matter? Even if his son simply wanted to fool around, so what? He could afford it!

"Fine. I'll have someone handle it immediately. They'll be delivered to your courtyard in a couple of days..."

Liu Bai felt warmth rise in his heart when his father agreed without hesitation. He was immensely grateful that he had not been born an ordinary person without any backing. Otherwise, he would not even have the means to use his cheat and could only risk his life fighting...

How nice was this? With just a few words, he could safely obtain his first batch of experience and gain enough capital to continue onward.

Whether in the ordinary world of his previous life or the current Great Thousand World, that was clearly the same reality.

On his way back to his small courtyard, Liu Bai kept thinking about how to further strengthen his combat power.

In the Great Thousand World, combat power was not limited to Cultivation Methods and spiritual skills. Things like spirit arrays and battle arrays could likewise greatly increase one's strength.

This could be seen from Mu Chen in the original novel.

Battle arrays, however, were out of the question. Liu Bai did not even know what battle intent was yet, much less how to use a battle array to condense a Spirit of Battle Intent.

More importantly, he would not encounter anything related to it in a remote place like the Northern Spirit Realm, so his only choice in the end was spirit arrays.

"I suppose my system can also use Experience Points to raise my Spirit Array Master rank..."

It seemed he would need to test that as well.

"After this trip to Black Nether Abyss ends, I'll have Father find a Spirit Array Master to teach me."

After returning to his small courtyard, Liu Bai also tried cultivating Blazing Sun Art himself...

Very soon, the night passed.

Yet Liu Bai's Cultivation Method progress was far from ideal. He had not even reached Initiation, and it would likely take at least another three days.

But he clearly remembered that Mu Chen in the original novel had swiftly succeeded after obtaining the Great Pagoda Art, condensing his own Pagoda spiritual energy...

Could his talent truly be that far beneath the protagonist's?

Liu Bai quickly dismissed the thought. Perhaps there really was a gap between them. After all, Mu Chen could strictly be considered the number one genius of the Great Thousand World. He was, after all, the sole possessor of the Nine Divine Veins...

Combined with his Futu Clan bloodline, which was undoubtedly exceptionally compatible with the Great Pagoda Art, it was not too unreasonable for him to learn the most top-tier Spiritual Art the moment he got it.

As for Liu Bai, even if he had some talent, he was still within the range of ordinary people. There was no need to compare himself to one favored by fate. In any case, his improvements did not primarily rely on bitter cultivation.

"Young Master, the Spirit Beasts you requested have arrived."

Two days later, the voice of Uncle Liu, the steward of Willow Manor, sounded from outside.

Liu Bai was delighted and hurried out.

He saw five beast cages, each three meters long, placed amid a squad of family guards. Inside the cages were savage wolf beasts.

"Low-level Spirit Beasts, Green Armored Wolves..."

These were relatively common low-level Spirit Beasts. In the Liu Domain, many of them lived on a certain wasteland.

However, despite being common Spirit Beasts, Green Armored Wolves were not weak at all. They were comparable to cultivators at the Spirit Movement Realm Mid-stage. Combined with their wind-like speed and their tendency to move in packs, even Spirit Wheel Realm cultivators could only flee upon encountering a wolf pack.

Naturally, none of that mattered before a colossal force like the Liu Domain.

Among the Spirit Beast meat occasionally consumed at Willow Manor, Green Armored Wolf meat was one of them. It was even said to be highly nourishing.

Walking to the side of a beast cage, Liu Bai looked expressionlessly at the creature that was tightly bound by Fine Steel Chains yet still bared its vicious fangs at him.

"Give me your spear."

Liu Bai spoke directly to the guard captain beside him.

The man handed over his spear without hesitation.

Pfft!

Without any warning, Liu Bai drove the spear in his hand straight through the Green Armored Wolf's heart. Scarlet blood spilled from the wound and dripped onto the ground.

The guards were clearly startled. They had not expected their young master to kill a wolf so decisively.

Uncle Liu remained standing behind Liu Bai, his gaze lowered to the ground. Yet his entire body was taut, ready to attack at any moment...

Though these Spirit Beasts had already been firmly restrained, he did not relax in the slightest. He was prepared for any accident, ensuring that the young master would not face even the slightest threat.

Naturally, Liu Bai knew this, but he did not pay it much mind.

After all, Uncle Liu had been adopted by his grandfather since childhood. His loyalty to the Liu Family was beyond doubt.

Moreover, although Liu Bai did not know exactly what realm the man had reached, judging from the aura that had flashed across him just now, he was likely even stronger than Liu Bai's second uncle...

Ding! You have killed one low-level Spirit Beast. Obtained 80 Experience Points and 1 Beast Soul Point.

Huh? There was something besides Experience Points?

Liu Bai was immediately curious and looked at his attribute panel.

Player: Liu Bai

Realm: Spirit Movement Realm

Spirit Veins: None

Cultivation Method: Blazing Sun Art (Initiation 0/100)

Skills:

Mortal Grade High Rank Wind Breaking Finger (Minor Accomplishment 0/50); Spirit Grade Low Rank Blazing Step (Initiation 0/50); Spirit-grade High-tier Great Sun Sea Burning Palm (Initiation 0/200)

Experience Points: 80

Beast Soul Points: 1

Sure enough, besides Experience Points, there was now another category: Beast Soul Points.

What were they for? Could they be related to fusing Spirit Beast Cores later on?

It was not difficult to guess, but what made Liu Bai curious was this: if killing Spirit Beasts granted him Beast Soul Points, would the Spirit Beasts he killed still leave behind their cores?

His question was soon answered.

After the Green Armored Wolf died completely, a fist-sized ball of light quickly appeared atop its corpse.

The ball of light appeared somewhat dim, but upon closer inspection, he could still make out a blurry green beast silhouette inside. It was a miniature Green Armored Wolf...

Good. It seems the Beast Soul Points gained by the system do not have much effect on the Spirit Beast Core, Liu Bai thought.

Otherwise, when he wanted to fuse Spirit Beast Cores in the future, would he be unable to kill Spirit Beasts personally? That would be ridiculous.

Liu Bai then acted again, killing all four remaining Green Armored Wolves. He gained another three hundred Experience Points and four Beast Soul Points.

"It seems that even among low-level Spirit Beasts, the Experience Points each Green Armored Wolf provides are different. But the difference is small, only a few points."

After gathering information about his cheat, Liu Bai had Uncle Liu and the others take away the corpses and Spirit Beast Cores.

After instructing the servants to clean up the bloodstains, Liu Bai returned directly to his room.

The five Green Armored Wolves had given him nearly four hundred Experience Points, just enough to raise his strength a little...

"Open the attribute panel."

Player: Liu Bai

Realm: Spirit Movement Realm

Spirit Veins: None

Cultivation Method: Blazing Sun Art (Initiation 0/100)

Skills:

Mortal Grade High Rank Wind Breaking Finger (Minor Accomplishment 0/50); Spirit Grade Low Rank Blazing Step (Initiation 0/50); Spirit-grade High-tier Great Sun Sea Burning Palm (Initiation 0/200)

Experience Points: 380

Beast Soul Points: 5

First was Blazing Sun Art.

Without hesitation, he added Experience Points to it. In less than a second, Blazing Sun Art reached Initiation.

Liu Bai felt the spiritual energy within his body begin to circulate on its own according to the meridian route described in the Blazing Sun Art cultivation formula... After passing through one meridian after another, Liu Bai felt as though a sun had been born within his body, sending waves of scorching heat through him.

Of course, this sensation was merely an illusion brought about by initiating Blazing Sun Art. After all, the spiritual energy cultivated by this Cultivation Method inherently possessed the explosive nature of flame.

Player: Liu Bai

Realm: Spirit Movement Realm Early-stage

Spirit Veins: None

Cultivation Method: Blazing Sun Art (First Layer 0/200)

Skills:

Mortal Grade High Rank Wind Breaking Finger (Minor Accomplishment 0/50); Spirit Grade Low Rank Blazing Step (Initiation 0/50); Spirit-grade High-tier Great Sun Sea Burning Palm (Initiation 0/200)

Experience Points: 280

Beast Soul Points: 5

The initiated Blazing Sun Art directly reached the First Layer, consuming one hundred Experience Points.

His cultivation realm had also changed to Spirit Movement Realm Early-stage. In other words, before he had initiated his Cultivation Method, his Spirit Movement Realm had been empty in name, not even qualifying as Early-stage.

His palm curled slightly, and a strand of crimson spiritual energy swiftly gathered within it. Faintly, an overbearing, scorching ripple emanated from it.

Liu Bai sensed that strand of spiritual energy in his palm and felt its subtle changes. The next moment, his eyes narrowed sharply, and the previously docile crimson spiritual energy in his palm suddenly began trembling violently.

It was like a droplet of water splashing into boiling oil.

Amid that trembling, the fluctuation of the spiritual energy rapidly strengthened.

Liu Bai's hand trembled faintly. He could feel that this strand of spiritual energy was rapidly amplifying...

One layer... three layers... five layers... eight layers...

When the amplification reached the eighth layer, Liu Bai's palm shook more and more violently, and the spiritual energy showed faint signs of escaping his control.

"Only eight layers of amplification? To achieve eight layers right after Initiation, the maximum amplification should definitely exceed ten layers. It's somewhat stronger than ordinary Spirit Grade Low Rank Cultivation Method Spiritual Arts."

Having roughly figured out Blazing Sun Art's effects, Liu Bai saw that his remaining Experience Points were enough to raise his cultivation by another level. As for the remaining eighty points, he would use them to improve his movement art.

With that thought, Liu Bai did not hold back. He directly allocated two hundred Experience Points to Blazing Sun Art and fifty to Blazing Step.

After that round of upgrades, the nearly four hundred Experience Points dwindled to just thirty.

Yet those three hundred and fifty Experience Points had not only allowed Liu Bai to leap from having just entered the Spirit Movement Realm to the Spirit Movement Realm Mid-stage, but had also taught him a Spirit Grade Low Rank movement Spiritual Art. His strength had undergone an earth-shattering transformation compared to before.

It could be said that while the previous Liu Bai had only barely been capable of advancing from Earth Tier to Heaven Tier at Northern Spirit Academy, he could now be considered Middle-ranked even within Heaven Tier.

And all these changes had happened in merely a single minute...

This was the joy of a cheater!

Feeling the spiritual energy inside him, like fiercely burning flames, Liu Bai could not suppress the smile spreading across his face.

"Tomorrow! Tomorrow is the day I follow Grandfather to Black Nether Abyss. After finally getting such a good opportunity, don't disappoint me..."

If he broke through to the Spirit Wheel Realm directly while hunting in Black Nether Abyss, would that be too conspicuous?

It would be quite something if he gave Grandfather such a fright that something happened to him...

There will be more attribute panels in the early stages, but they will gradually appear less often later on. I'll try not to pad things out.