20: Chapter 20 A Deadly Situation for the Sect? A Reckless Man's Open-Book Exam!

The note curled slightly under her fair fingertips.

Shen Ji did not hesitate.

[ "Fine. I'll be there when the time comes." ]

[ Ji Mengxue loosened her fingers. The note fell into your palm. ]

[ "Straightforward." She lowered her head and continued clicking her abacus, not sparing you another glance. ]

[ You folded the note, tucked it into your chest, and pushed open the door into the cold wind of the twelfth lunar month. ]

The simulation text flickered for two lines and then stopped.

Shen Ji leaned against the earthen wall of the woodshed, staring blankly at the light screen.

No fee. Talk in person.

A shrewd woman who would haggle with you to the end over a six-percent commission suddenly waived the five Mid-Grade Spirit Stones information fee. The only condition was for you to "come over."

What was she after?

In his previous life, while wearing the "Elegant Temperament" trait, Ji Mengxue had taken the initiative to pour him tea, offer concessions, and confide in him. That was the green charm trait at work, manipulating hormones.

This life, he didn't have any charm bonuses equipped.

Standing before her was a burly man over two meters tall, covered in scars, and smelling of mine slag. His appearance had absolutely nothing to do with being "dashing and graceful."

Could it be that she had taken a fancy to him in his miner's attire?

As soon as this thought emerged, Shen Ji ruthlessly extinguished it.

Impossible. A person like Ji Mengxue had standards so high they could pierce the sky; in his previous life, if he hadn't equipped the trait, she wouldn't have even glanced at him.

It was most likely that she saw the business potential of "Shens Spirit Material Shop" and wanted to secure a long-term partnership.

But what if?

In the business world, the words "what if" were more dangerous than a poison pill.

Shen Ji rubbed the back of his neck.

Regardless of her motive, there was one thing that had to be done—change his attire.

It wasn't to please anyone. If someone wearing coarse miner's clothes walked into Wanbao Pavilion to discuss business, the fat shopkeeper's first reaction would definitely be to tell the clerks to throw him out.

Changing into decent clothes would at least allow the other party to sit down and speak three sentences with him, saving half the effort of arguing.

The simulation continued.

[ Age 30, the ninth day of the first lunar month. ]

[ You walked into "Jinshi Workshop," the most famous tailor shop in the east of the city. ]

[ Three seamstresses were busy in the shop, and the skinny old shopkeeper's eyes darted around quickly. ]

[ He scanned you up and down. ]

[ "Customer, coarse short-sleeved shirts are next door." ]

[ "I want to make long robes." You pulled eighty Low-Grade Spirit Stones from your chest and stacked them on the counter. "Three sets, merchant style, use the best material. Widen the waist by two inches and narrow the cuffs. Don't add any of those flashy embroidered patterns." ]

[ The old shopkeeper stared fixedly at the spirit stones, swallowing hard. ]

[ "This... three sets of top-tier long robes, sixty would be enough..." ]

[ "The extra is a rush fee. Deliver them to Shens Spirit Material Shop within three days." ]

[ You turned and left immediately. ]

[ The shopkeeper shouted "Go slowly, customer" three times behind you, his voice getting louder each time. ]

Shen Ji casually opened the system panel.

[ Luck Value: 130 ]

One hundred and thirty.

From the time he bound the simulator at twenty-eight until now, he had saved for two years and only gained this much.

Luck was linked to cultivation. The higher the cultivation, the more luck accumulated from doing things.

He was currently at Qi Refining Stage 4, barely counting as someone who could stand and breathe among the loose cultivators; naturally, his luck growth rate was as slow as a snail crawling over a grave.

Still had to cultivate.

But once the Business Sniffing trait was unequipped, doing business in the market would be like doing it blindfolded.

Shen Ji stared at the equipment slot, pondered for a long time, and made a trade-off.

Equip Business Sniffing when doing business. When in closed-door cultivation, switch to "Half-Step Spirit Root."

Half-Step Spirit Root, a white trait, the lowest-tier spirit root talent in the cultivation world.

In any sect, it was considered trash aptitude that would get one kicked out.

But for a laborer who didn't even have a spirit root and relied purely on spirit herbs to force open his meridians, even a trash spirit root was still a spirit root.

Better than nothing.

[ Equipped Traits (4/4): Wealth Returns After Being Spent (Gold), Half-Step Spirit Root (White), Spirit Affinity (Blue), Glib Tongue (Green) ]

[ Age 30, first lunar month. You are in closed-door cultivation in the abandoned mine cave. ]

[ After the Half-Step Spirit Root trait was activated, the speed at which your dantian absorbed spiritual energy improved by a notch. ]

[ Although still incomparable to cultivators with proper spirit roots, the impurities clogging your meridians began to loosen. ]

Shen Ji calculated the time. At this rate, reaching Qi Refining Stage 5 would take at least another two years.

And in June, Elder Mo Song would come to Yunzhou City.

In his previous life, he only met Elder Mo Song at thirty-one, was tested with two questions, got them both wrong, and was kicked out immediately.

The first question was to solve a chess game. He didn't understand chess, so he flipped the table. Elder Mo Song thought he had flipped it because he saw the path to survival, but in reality, he truly didn't understand.

The second question was to identify a poison pill. He refused to eat it, reasoning that "the only person who would hand over poison and medicine together is someone who wants to kill me." Elder Mo Song criticized this as the behavior of a common brute, saying he wouldn't go far.

The essence of both questions was not to test martial power. It was to test divine sense and insight.

The correct way to flip the chessboard was to use divine sense to scan the flow of spiritual energy hidden within the game and find the only path to survival.

The correct way to identify pills was to use divine sense to perceive the minute details and investigate the differences in the spiritual energy patterns inside the pills.

In his previous life, he had no divine sense, so both questions were a waste.

This life... his Qi Refining Stage 4 divine sense was still trash, but at least it was no longer zero.

Shen Ji chewed over the two problems repeatedly.

Chess game. Find the chess manual in advance and memorize the moves for Elder Mo Song's endgame. Ji Mengxue's intelligence network was vast enough; asking her to find Elder Mo Song's commonly used chess patterns would likely allow him to find the original question.

Identify pills. Use the Spirit Affinity trait to replace divine sense.

This trait could enhance the perception of spiritual energy; although it wasn't divine sense, it might not be much worse than the divine sense of a late-stage Qi Refining cultivator when it came to capturing the spiritual energy fluctuations inside pills.

In his previous life, he had barged in, responding on instinct.

This life, it was an open-book exam.

The simulation accelerated.

[ Age 30, second lunar month. Your birthday. ]

[ Annual trait draw triggered. ]

[ Drawing... ]

[ Obtained white trait — "Love of Eggs" (White) ]

[ Effect: After eating an egg, mental fullness increases by three percent for one hour. ]

Shen Ji swiped the light screen aside.

He had drawn this in his previous life.

This thing was among the twenty-seven white traits.

Mental fullness increased by three percent, what kind of concept was that?

It was roughly equivalent to tossing and turning one more time before sleep, and feeling slightly, just a tiny bit, better when waking up in the morning.

The system was truly impartial. Even when giving a gold legend, it never forgot to stuff white trash into your bowl.

Shen Ji expressionlessly tossed the trait into the warehouse and continued closed-door cultivation.

[ Age 30, third to fifth lunar month. You jumped back and forth between cultivation and business. ]

[ Equip Half-Step Spirit Root when cultivating, switch to Business Sniffing when doing business. ]

[ The light of the traits on the screen alternated frequently, and you had almost carved this process of switching traits into your bones. ]

[ Third month. You bought a batch of unsalable Lingxi Ink in the market and resold it to a talisman master in the south of the city at a forty-percent markup. You made a net profit of seven Mid-Grade Spirit Stones. ]

[ That night, you returned to the mine cave for closed-door cultivation. With Spirit Affinity running at full power, the blockages in your meridians loosened by another two percent. ]

[ Fourth month. You spent twelve Mid-Grade Spirit Stones to buy a furnace of broken-grade Spirit Gathering Pills from the black market—the kind that were failed batches, with only thirty percent of the medicinal efficacy remaining. ]

In the woodshed, Shen Ji watched this simulation record, his mouth twitching.

Proper cultivators would treat this stuff as trash and throw it away.

He picked it up and popped it like a treasure.

Cultivating as a poor person was just this simple and unadorned.

[ The medicinal power of the broken-grade Spirit Gathering Pill rampaged through your meridians, almost blowing the newly cleared branch meridians back to their original state. ]

[ You gritted your teeth and rolled around in the mine cave for two hours. ]

[ The pebble you were biting in your mouth was crushed to pieces. The white trash trait "Sturdy Teeth" played a miraculous effect at this moment, forcibly helping you hold back the urge to scream. ]

Shen Ji was speechless.

So this was the correct way to use a white trait? To bite rocks when in closed-door cultivation?

[ Fifth month. Total assets: two hundred and four Mid-Grade Spirit Stones. Cultivation advanced steadily, but it was still at the early stage of Qi Refining Stage 4. ]

Money was rising, cultivation was rising, and June was getting closer and closer.

Shen Ji's attention began to focus on one thing—exam preparation.

[ Mid-fifth month. You found Ji Mengxue. ]

[ "Elder Mo Song of the Moyun Sect, what chess manual does he usually use when playing chess with people?" ]

[ Ji Mengxue's hand clicking the abacus paused for a beat. ]

[ "You want to apprentice under him?" ]

[ "Just getting to know him first." ]

[ "Elder Mo Song is obsessed with chess, especially fond of creating his own endgames. He has a set of chess manuals he compiled himself called 'Thirteen Games of Mo Ridge,' and it is said that no one has ever broken the seventh game." ]

[ "Can you get the chess manual?" ]

[ "There are rubbings of the endgame manuals for the first six games at Wanbao Pavilion, they aren't worth much. Only Elder Mo Song himself has the last seven games in his head." ]

[ You took out three Mid-Grade Spirit Stones. ]

[ "Help me buy back the rubbings for the first six games." ]

[ Ji Mengxue took the spirit stones and, for the first time ever, said one extra sentence. ]

[ "Elder Mo Song never tests people according to common sense. No matter how well you memorize the chess manual, it will be useless if he changes the question on the spot." ]

[ "I know." You turned and walked out, "But before we meet, I at least have to let him feel that I've put in the effort." ]

A brute who had spent twenty-eight years moving stones went to see a sect elder; if he opened his mouth to say he didn't understand chess, the other party wouldn't even give him a second sentence.

Even if he only memorized the six endgame manuals by rote, it was still an admission ticket. He wanted Elder Mo Song to see this relentless tenacity.

[ Late fifth month. You spent five days rote-memorizing all the variations of the first six games of Thirteen Games of Mo Ridge. ]

[ Your chess skill was still zero. But you remembered the position of every move more clearly than the lines on your own palm. ]

[ At the same time, you repeatedly used the Spirit Affinity trait to perceive the differences in spiritual energy fluctuations of different pills. ]

[ From the lowest-tier Qi Gathering Pills to the broken-grade Spirit Gathering Pills, you touched over a hundred pills. Until you could distinguish the subtle trends of different spiritual patterns even with your eyes closed. ]

This life, he chose to avoid the appearance and smell. He used the Spirit Affinity trait directly to relentlessly analyze the internal patterns of the pills.

The patterns of a poison pill would inevitably have reversals and fractures. Normal pills would flow smoothly.

He wanted to, under the condition of insufficient divine sense, forcibly carve the differences into his flesh using the clumsiest of tactile sensations.

[ Age 30, the first day of the sixth lunar month. ]

[ Ji Mengxue sent someone to deliver a note. ]

[ Two words: He's here. ]

[ You changed into the blue-gray long robe customized by Jinshi Workshop. ]

The new clothes were stretched tight everywhere on his muscular frame that was over two meters tall.

But at least it was clean and neat, eight blocks better than the miner's short-sleeved shirt.

Shen Ji squeezed his cuffs hard.

In his previous life, he was kicked out by Elder Mo Song with a "See the guest out."

This life, he brought the six chess manuals, the tactile memory of over a hundred pills, and a belly full of pre-arranged rhetoric.

An open-book exam. If he still failed, then he really deserved to move stones for the rest of his life.

The simulation text scrolled.

[ Age 30, the third day of the sixth lunar month. Yunlai Inn, side courtyard. ]

[ You pushed open the courtyard door. ]

[ An old man in a green shirt sat at the stone table. An endgame of chess was laid out beside him. ]

[ Elder Mo Song held a teacup, his eyelids lifted slightly, and he scanned you. ]

[ The attendant from last time stood behind him. The attendant's hand was already resting on the magical artifact at his waist. ]

[ Elder Mo Song put down the teacup. ]

[ "Sit." ]