56: tip of the iceberg

After meditating for a night in his Immortal Cave, Lin Ye did not immediately start hanging up as usual the next morning.

He pushed open the stone door, faced the rising sun, and walked directly towards a direction he had only visited once but remembered vividly.

Inner Sect, Scripture Pavilion.

Know yourself and your enemy, and you will never be defeated.

Before deciding how to acquire resources, he first had to thoroughly understand: what heights had the Inner Sect's Cultivation Technique System reached? And what price did those truly powerful Cultivation Techniques require?

...When Lin Ye once again stepped into that magnificent nine-story glazed pagoda, his state of mind was completely different from last time.

If last time he came here, he was still a newcomer full of curiosity and expectation for the Inner Sect.

Then at this moment, only two incomparably clear and cold words remained in his heart—contribution points!

Inside the pagoda, it was still as quiet and solemn as ever.

Rows of jade shelves made from thousand-year-old warm jade stood silently like giants. Dozens of Inner Sect Disciples moved through them, each person's face filled with focus and longing.

Lin Ye did not rush to find a specific Cultivation Technique; instead, he started from the first floor, slowly and carefully browsing row by row.

His gaze swept slowly over the Jade Slips, each emitting a faint spiritual glow.

【Internal Skill Mind-Cultivation Technique】

"Azure Wave Art," Profound Rank Medium Grade. Cultivate this method for long-lasting and ceaseless spiritual power. Exchange Price: One thousand contribution points.

"Burning Wood Mind Sutra," Profound Rank Medium Grade. Spiritual power is fiery and exceptionally domineering. Exchange Price: One thousand two hundred contribution points...

【Sword Technique】

"Heavenly River Sword Art," Profound Rank High Grade. The sword strikes like a heavenly river pouring down, continuous and endless. Exchange Price: Three thousand contribution points.

"Thunderbolt Sword Technique," Profound Rank High Grade. The sword's momentum is like a thunderbolt, striking to kill. Exchange Price: Three thousand two hundred contribution points...

Countless Cultivation Techniques, far more exquisite and powerful than the Wind Chasing Sword Technique, dazzled him and left him overwhelmed.

He even saw a Jade Slip on the top shelf, enveloped by an independent Restriction and emitting a brilliant golden light!

""Supreme Sword Canon" (General Outline), Rank Unknown. One of the Sect's foundational ultimate arts. Only the Sect Master and Core Elders can Cultivate it. Exchange Price: ???"

Lin Ye's heart was completely numb.

He was dazzled, but his heart grew colder.

Because he discovered that every Cultivation Technique here was like a towering mountain before him! And the only tool to climb these mountains was the ethereal yet undeniably real—contribution points!

Without contribution points, these peerless divine Cultivation Techniques, which would drive outside Cultivators mad, were to him nothing more than a mirage, visible but forever out of reach!

The cruelty of the Inner Sect was not merely the overt suppression and bullying by people like Han Meng.

It was also an invisible, deeply rooted, and despair-inducing class barrier within the rules!

The strong could use their power to complete more Advanced missions, acquire vast amounts of contribution points, and then use these contribution points to exchange for more powerful Cultivation Techniques, making themselves even stronger!

The weak, however, could only receive meager allowances, barely enough to sustain their Cultivation, let alone dream of those Advanced Cultivation Techniques that cost thousands of contribution points. They would only be left further and further behind by the Geniuses on this path, eventually becoming utterly insignificant dust!

What he had seen before was merely the tip of this enormous pyramid!

"Resources... without resources, one cannot move an inch!"

This thought had never been so clear and profound!

However, this despair-inducing reality did not make him feel the slightest bit discouraged; instead, it ignited the surging Battle Intent deep within him, an unyielding spirit born from a Transmigrator!

Rules are meant to be broken!

Barriers are meant to be crossed!

You have talent, background, resources... and I have the System!

Lin Ye slowly exited the dazzling Scripture Pavilion.

He did not exchange for any Cultivation Technique, but his heart was clearer and more determined than ever before!

He looked up, gazing towards the other direction from the Merit Hall, at the towering stone wall used for publishing Sect missions.

In his eyes, two blazing flames, capable of incinerating everything, ignited!

"Isn't it just contribution points?"

"I'll go earn them!"

Accompanying this silent declaration in his heart, Lin Ye slowly exited the dazzling Scripture Pavilion.