171: Chapter 171 Investigation

Chu Xuan sat up abruptly from his bed.

As usual, he first checked his personal information in the System.

[Name: Chu Xuan]

[Rank: LV.4]

[stamina: 35]

[Strength: 35]

[agility: 35]

[spirit: 35]

[Charm: 14]

[Talent: Precognitive Dream]

[sequence: Illusionist]

[health points: 350]

[spirituality value: 145]

[attribute points: 4]

[skill points: 30]

[regular skills: Mixed Martial Arts LV.MAX (Perfect), Basic Swordsmanship LV.MAX, Firearms Shooting LV.MAX, Tongue Blooming Lotus LV.2 (Proficient), Kato Taka's Hand LV.3 (Expert), Basic Saber Techniques LV.1 (Novice)]

[Transcendent Skills: Heart Bewitchment LV.3, Myriad Forms (Temporary), Clone (Remaining Uses: 1), Teleportation (Remaining Uses: 1)]

[Current Status: Abnormal]

[Items: spirit Orb X1 (Stored spirituality value: 500), exclusive skill synthesis crystal X1, jiyue crystal X3]

Chu Xuan's gaze immediately fell upon his spirituality value.

He remembered that in the dream just now, after he finished upgrading his attributes, he had 195 spirituality value remaining. Then, he exchanged for 4 attribute points and spent 10 spirituality value to use the [Myriad Forms] skill, leaving him with 145 points.

Now, the spirituality value hadn't changed, which confirmed to Chu Xuan that he had indeed escaped the dream. However, to be safe, he still checked his phone's chat page.

As expected, there was no chat window for [Future Tang Zheng].

Next, his gaze fell on the item inventory. All the items he had sold to the Resurrection Society in the dream were still there; he had essentially gotten them for free.

Especially the spirit Orb!

The spirituality value contained within it was still 500 points; the 100 spirituality value absorbed by Tang Zheng in the dream had not been deducted.

Chu Xuan's eyes sparkled.

Then, he suddenly thought of something and immediately went to the next room to wake Tang Zheng up.

"Check your System. See if your attributes have changed or if your spirituality value has increased?"

"No, why?" Tang Zheng asked, looking completely bewildered.

"It's nothing. Go back to sleep."

Returning to his room, Chu Xuan paced slowly.

He could now be certain that in the dream, only the spirituality value he absorbed resulted in a real change that remained effective after waking up, whereas it didn't work for others.

In that case, in the next dream, he could exchange this spirit Orb—along with the spirituality value inside—for spirit money, and pluck even more feathers from the bird!

"My friend, your attributes have significantly increased once again. Congratulations. I wonder what kind of fortuitous encounter you had in this dream?" The Phantom Demon's voice rang out eerily.

Chu Xuan's gaze turned cold. Without any nonsense, he immediately used all 4 of his current attribute points to increase his Charm attribute.

[Your Charm +2]

[Current Charm: 16]

The Phantom Demon's wails instantly erupted: "Ah!! Why? Didn't we agree to increase the Charm attribute by 1 point periodically? Only one day has passed, why did you increase it by two points directly?"

"If you hadn't caused trouble in the dream, I wouldn't have earned such a small amount of spirituality value! Phantom Demon, you've tested my bottom line time and time again. Do you really think I don't dare to risk it all and play a game with you?"

Chu Xuan's eyes were icy: "As punishment for this time, you must give me more of the source power for Heart Bewitchment. Otherwise, I will convert all 500 spirituality value in this spirit Orb, including my current 145 points, into attribute points for Charm. You decide!"

"This..." The Phantom Demon's tone was slightly hesitant.

—System, exchange 10 attribute points for me first.

[You consumed 100 spirituality value. Your attribute points +10]

[Current attribute points: 10]

[Current spirituality value: 45]

Seemingly intimidated by Chu Xuan's Aura, the Phantom Demon's tone immediately softened: "No, don't! I'll agree to your request..."

As it spoke, a System notification appeared.

[Your Transcendent Skill, Heart Bewitchment, has been enhanced by source power. It still needs 25 skill points to reach LV.4. Current level: LV.3]

Chu Xuan's gaze was cold: "Seeing as you were sensible this time, I will delay the next increase to the Charm attribute for a suitable amount of time."

"My friend, you are truly generous. Thank you for forgiving my rashness this time."

"We'll see how you perform later!" Chu Xuan knew the Phantom Demon must be very disappointed, yet it still had to project a sense of joy. It was truly quite the endurance.

Chu Xuan said no more and closed his eyes to sleep again.

When he had previously checked the details of his [Precognitive Dream] talent through the System, he had learned that this talent only allowed him to enter a dream that rehearsed the future during the first time he fell asleep each day; it wouldn't work at other times.

However, this time Chu Xuan was just sleeping normally to relieve his physical and mental fatigue.

As for the matter of the mysterious powerhouse, he would deal with it after he had enough sleep. Currently, whether it was anxiety or idle speculation, it was all meaningless.

...

Inside a pawnshop in the Guomao Mansion commercial street.

"What exactly happened? Why has this bowl of spirit money all turned into powder?"

Wearing a red fox mask, Xinyue Fox stared coldly at the robed old man, her narrow eyes flashing with a sharp, cold light:

"I let you manage this stronghold for me, and your main task was to handle the spirit money exchanges for the society members! Therefore, I left all 120 of these spirit money coins in your care. Now they're just gone. Is this how you repay my trust?"

The robed old man was so terrified he knelt on the ground: "I don't know! I've been watching this place, and this bowl of spirit money was always stored safely. I don't know why it suddenly became like this."

"You don't know? This is clearly the appearance of spirituality being completely absorbed!"

Xinyue Fox's tone was icy: "The other two strongholds didn't have this problem. Why did it only happen here with you? Could it be that you're stealing from within?"

The robed old man trembled all over: "It really wasn't me, I swear!"

"You swear? Will this lost spirit money come back on its own just because you swear?" Xinyue Fox's voice remained cold.

The robed old man suddenly thought of something and hurriedly said: "I am willing to undergo Mind Reading and lie detection! I hope the Envoy will clear my name!"

"Fine!"

Xinyue Fox called over a young woman and said coldly: "Perform a Mind Reading on him, and then probe his memory images. Do not miss a single detail."

The young woman nodded quickly.

Xinyue Fox didn't actually think the robed old man would dare to steal, but she couldn't think of any other reason besides that.

A moment later, the results came out. Just as she expected, the robed old man was innocent and hadn't stolen anything.

"Then... who could it be?" Xinyue Fox gritted her teeth. "No matter who you are, don't let me find you!"

Meanwhile, in a certain dark place.

"How did [Revelation] respond?"

"It's not an issue with the spirit gathering holy grail, but rather something man-made."

"Who?"

"Unable to identify."

"So, these eight hundred-plus spirit money coins have just turned into waste for no apparent reason? If this continues, the Resurrection Society's Foundation will be unstable."

"[Revelation] says this might be caused by a talent skill that was self-awakened by someone who absorbed a rule fragment. We need to investigate as much as possible who has self-awakened talents recently, and then check if similar situations have occurred elsewhere."

"Order all the Constellation Envoys: investigate!"