8: Chapter 8: Emotional Value Soars, Cultivation Breakthrough!

[Host: Su Changge]

[Cultivation: Qi Refining First Layer (True)]

[Special Effect: Myriad Laws Immunity (Pseudo) (Passive)]

[emotion points: 135,860]

The numbers on the System panel shimmered with a faint blue light in the night.

Su Changge stared at the string of numbers, his heart starting to race.

One hundred and thirty-five thousand, eight hundred and sixty.

In just one day, he had harvested over a hundred and thirty thousand emotion points. Sect Head Sect Master and Law Enforcement Elder Wang Tiemian had together contributed nearly seventy thousand.

"I'm rich..."

Su Changge rubbed his hands together, his thoughts directing him straight to the System mall.

The light screen flickered as the item list expanded. Cultivation Medicinal Pills, Cultivation Technique Secret Manuals, Divine Ability Spells, Divine Sharp Weapons, one-time-use items... the categories were clear and concise.

He clicked directly on the Cultivation Medicinal Pill category.

[Marrow Cleansing Pill (Mortal Grade): Cleanses the Meridians and scours the marrow, reshapes the bones, and improves cultivation Aptitude. Price: 10,000 emotion points.]

[Qi Refining Pill (Mortal Grade): Increases Qi Refining stage cultivation, mild effects. Price: 1,000 emotion points per pill.]

[Direct Cultivation Upgrade: Qi Refining Second Layer. Price: 100,000 emotion points.]

[Direct Cultivation Upgrade: Qi Refining Third Layer. Price: 200,000 emotion points.]

"Buying cultivation directly? A hundred thousand for just one layer? That's a total rip-off."

Su Changge's gaze rested on the Marrow Cleansing Pill. He knew very well that his Trash Aptitude was his true shackle. Better to teach a man to fish than to give him a fish; building a solid Foundation was the Righteous Path.

"System, exchange for a Marrow Cleansing Pill."

[Ding! 10,000 emotion points consumed. The Marrow Cleansing Pill has been sent to the System space.]

With a thought, a snow-white pill appeared in his palm. A refreshing fragrance wafted up, its medicinal power restrained.

Su Changge didn't hesitate, tilting his head back to toss the pill into his mouth.

The pill melted as soon as it touched his tongue, a warm current sliding down his throat and spreading to his four limbs and hundred bones. It was so comfortable he almost groaned aloud.

Then, Hell descended.

"Argh—!"

Intense pain tore through every one of his nerves.

Billions of red-hot steel needles pierced his marrow simultaneously. Every bone and every meridian was being brutally shattered, ground into powder, and then forcibly reconstructed.

Su Changge bit his lip until it bled, the metallic taste of blood filling his mouth. He couldn't scream; this was Changge Peak, and he was now a Senior Master. If a pig-slaughtering howl rang out in the middle of the night, his persona would collapse by tomorrow.

Black, oily Impurities oozed frantically from his pores, staining his white robes into a filthy mess.

Half an hour later, the pain receded like a tide.

Su Changge collapsed on the ground, feeling so light he might float away. He looked down at the black grease covering his body; the smell nearly knocked him out.

Scrambling on all fours, he rushed to the clear spring at the peak and dove headfirst into the water.

The cool spring water washed over his body, and the stubborn filth gradually peeled away. Su Changge scrubbed every inch of his skin vigorously until it returned to its original color.

When he walked back to the thatched hut bare-chested, the entire world had changed.

The surrounding Spiritual Qi transformed into brilliant points of light, scrambling to pour into his body. The Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi that had previously ignored him was now fawning over him, drilling into his body frantically.

His cultivation speed was more than ten times faster than before.

He sat cross-legged and began to circulate the 'Qi Induction Art'.

As soon as the technique started, the spiritual power within his body surged and grew significantly.

[Ding! Congratulations to the Host, cultivation has broken through to the Qi Refining Second Layer!]

[Ding! Congratulations to the Host, cultivation has broken through to the Qi Refining Third Layer!]

The System notification sounds rang out one after another.

With one Marrow Cleansing Pill plus the dense Spiritual Qi of this place, his cultivation soared from the Qi Refining First Layer to the Qi Refining Third Layer.

"Refreshing!"

Su Changge clenched his fists, feeling the spiritual power within him that was several times more robust. This was true power, the Foundation that would allow him to truly stand firm in this dog-eat-dog world.

Although the Qi Refining Third Layer was still bottom-tier Trash, he finally saw the dawn of escaping his fate as a weakling.

Still wanting more, he opened the mall again, his gaze stopping on the Special Effects category.

[Passive Special Effect: Temperament Beautification · Banished Immortal. Effect: Subtle adjustments to the Host's appearance, significant enhancement of temperament, comes with a soft-light filter; every movement exudes an otherworldly immortal charm. Price: 20,000 emotion points.]

"Good stuff, a posturing skill tailor-made for me."

Su Changge exchanged for it without hesitation.

A cool energy swept through his body from head to toe. He ran to the spring and looked at the water's surface by the moonlight.

The reflection in the water was still that face, so handsome it provoked both gods and men, yet it was entirely different.

His eyes looked as if they had been washed by moonlight, gaining a touch of dust-free detachment and indifference. His skin was as lustrous as jade, and his entire body was enveloped in a faint glow. He no longer looked human, but more like a deity walking among mortals.

"In the future, I'll be able to fool people into oblivion just by relying on this face."

Su Changge nodded with satisfaction.

He looked at the remaining hundred thousand or so emotion points. He originally wanted to exchange for an offensive item for self-defense, but he found that the items capable of truly threatening the powerful were all followed by a long string of zeros.

"Forget it, let's develop steadily and not get reckless. Professional matters should be left to the professional overthinkers."

Su Changge lay back on the grass and began planning his grand scheme of 'lying flat'.

"I'll just stay hidden on the mountain to Cultivate, occasionally head down to show my face, say a few ambiguous and profound-sounding words, harvest a wave of emotion points, and then come back to keep leveling up. Perfect."

Just as he finished speaking, a chill rose from his tailbone without warning.

Su Changge sat up and looked around vigilantly.

The moonlight was like water, the mountain breeze was gentle, and aside from the chirping of insects, all was silent.

"An illusion?"

But that icy feeling of being watched was incredibly real. He frowned, and the spiritual power within him began to circulate on its own—a reflexive defensive response of his body.

At this very moment, a cold and aloof young girl dressed in Utility Disciple robes was using the cover of night to step onto the only mountain path leading to Changge Peak.

She was none other than Ye Qingyao, who had shocked everyone with her supreme talent in the recently concluded Sect recruitment, but had rejected all the Elders' offers of apprenticeship due to her solitary and cold nature.

No one knew that within this young body was hidden a Soul that had once stirred the winds and clouds of eternity and reigned over the Nine Heavens and Ten Earths.

She was a Peerless Empress who had returned through Rebirth.

And her purpose for this trip was only one: to investigate just who that legendary, unfathomable Little Martial Ancestor—whom even the Sect Head held in awe—truly was.