"Reach the same cultivation level as I have right now within the next five days."
The huntress's eyes widened.
"No way—that's impossible! You told me that usually, it took several days just to break through one minor layer, even at this low level—"
"Impossible?" Xuan chuckled, before turning away. "There is nothing 'impossible' in this world. I used to think the same way as you do now, but spending some time over here, your perspective begins to change. Besides—with the amount of progress you were able to make today, I don't think it's that difficult for you to reach Ninth Layer Core Formation by the time the Flaming Sands Field opens—especially since you won't be alone."
"I won't be alone?" The huntress narrowed her eyes. "What do you mean by that?"
Xuan stood up from his bed and began walking away. "Starting tomorrow, you will be a temporary disciple of Glacial Heights Pavilion. They will provide you with all the cultivation resources you need to advance—the rest is up to yourself."
"W-Wait, you can't just send me to some sect without asking me first-"
"It was your choice to become my student, was it not?" Xuan cut in, voice not cold but not exactly warm either. He was merely stating a fact, nothing more. "I'm not forcing you to do anything. You can also choose not to believe me—but if you walk in there with your lowly cultivation, you'll end up as nothing but food—both literally and physically, depending on who the enemy is."
She wasn't like Xuan—she did not have special powers and the experience that he did. If she wanted to survive, she needed a half-decent cultivation base.
"Rngh… alright, fine. But I have a bet to make."
Xuan paused, without turning around. "… Oh?"
"You say five days, right?" The huntress smiled, and pointed at his back. "If I can hit Ninth Layer Core Formation stage before then… you have to tell me about your past. Deal?"
Xuan was left stunned for a moment after hearing these words, but ultimately let out a soft chuckle of amusement.
"Sure, sure. Oh, and take these. I almost forgot."
Saying that, he took out the leather armor set he obtained from the breakthrough, along with the normal sword he had and the weapon known as 'Morning Wood'. Then, he tossed them all over to the huntress, who caught them in her arms in surprise.
"What the- what is this?!"
"Armor and weapons," Xuan replied. "Your choice whether to use them or not, but I advise the former."
With that, he left the room, leaving the huntress alone to gather her thoughts. As he stepped outside and shut the door behind him, he realized—yet again—that he'd forgotten to ask her for her name.
'… Oh well. I'll ask next time.'
Just then, he heard a notification sound pop up from below him, and he looked down to see a notification from his private messages. Since he only had one DM chat open, it was easy enough to guess who it was.
[Nine Heavens: Your proposal? I'm ready. What time?]
Slowly, a smile formed on Xuan's face, and he replied.
[Zero: Five days from now. And as for the location… how about Flaming Sands Field?]
After a few seconds, a reply came.
[Nine Heavens: Heh… I'll be waiting. But before that, I'd recommend checking the Global Chat. I know you've never used that feature much, but this is just a tip, as a fellow leaderboard player. You'll see what I mean when you get there. Scroll up a few hours.]
Lifting an eyebrow in curiosity, Xuan did as told, and switched the channel to global. Upon seeing the past messages, he immediately realized what Nine Heavens was talking about, and narrowed his eyes.
[Cui Dong: Flaming Sands Field is opening soon. Anyone got any tickets they can spare? T-T]
[Jiang Zemin: You can purchase a ticket from the System Shop, I believe.]
[Cui Dong: Wait, what?! Really?! Since when-?!]
[Hu Bao: This wasn't in the game before…]
[Jiang Zemin: I am not quite sure what is going on either, but it is not anything to rejoice about. The price of a ticket to the Flaming Sands Field is 100,000 Credits.]
[Cui Dong: wtf]
[Hu Bao: wtf]
[Zhao Xin: wtf]
[Li Shun: Where the hell do they expect us to get 100,000 Credits in this short amount of time?]
[He Yiren: It's impossible lmfao, just give up]
[Cui Dong: Then why bring it up in the first place?!]
[Anonymous: Incorrect. It was impossible in the past, but now, it is possible.]
The next message was a good minute later.
[Jiang Zemin: You're referring to… the bounty system?]
[Cui Dong: Wait, wait wait wait wait wait wait wait. Are you CRAZY? The only two people who have bounties right now are Zero and Nine Heavens! Do you want to trade a ticket into the Flaming Sands Field for a ticket straight to hell?!]
[He Yiren: Nah, nah, they've got a point. In the past, anyone who dared to challenge those two would be called insane, but things be different now]
[Li Shun: True… everyone's power levels were reset, and Zero's not even in the top ten in terms of cultivation leaderboards right now when filtering for players.]
[Zhao Xin: Yeah, but uh… his Soul stats? Guys? Did y'all forget about that?]
[Du Lingrong: If we all work together, shouldn't it be fine? I'm not as experienced with the whole System thing as you guys, but if he's not on the leaderboards, the in the end, his cultivation is still just low Core Formation stage or below, right?]
[Hu Bao: Yeah… good luck with that. I'm not risking my life over this.]
[Xu Luoyang: Uhhhhh, hold on guys… I just checked the leaderboards again, and it says Zero is rank 2, the same cultivation as Nine Heavens now…]
[Cui Dong: NANI? But I was sure he wasn't even in the top 10 just a few days ago!]
[Zhao Xin: +1]
[Li Shun: +1]
[Hu Bao: +1]
[Jiang Zemin: Is it really that surprising? This is the former number one player we are talking about here. If you still want to try and hunt him down, that is your choice, but… I would not recommend it. Especially after openly discussing it in a public channel like this one.]
[Zhao Xin: Yeah… great senior Zero, if you are reading this right now, I was wrong!]
[Li Shun: Sent an emoji - :I_was_wrong:]
[Cui Dong: Sent an emoji - :I_was_wrong:]
[He Yiren: Hmph, bunch of pussies… listen up, Zero! If you see this, I'll be waiting for you in the Flaming Sands Field. It's time I get revenge for what you did to me, after so many years…]
[Cui Dong: Hey! Who are you calling a pussy, huh?]
But the man named He Yiren had already disappeared from the chat.
[Jiang Zemin: He Yiren… why does that name sound so familiar?]
The conversation ended soon after that with no answers, as the topic shifted into mundane talk. Xuan exited his System, and immediately checked the Leaderboards tab. Under Cultivation Leaderboards, he set the filter to 'Players Only', and immediately saw the current rank 3's real name using the Divine Asura Eye.
<Withering Flame Lone Cultivator - He Yiren>
Xuan's eyebrows furrowed.
'Withering Flame…'
Even after being reborn, one cannot escape the consequences of their actions.
*****
Closing his System and heading out of the alchemist guild building, Xuan made his way out onto the streets of Cloud Catcher City, a certain destination in mind. All around him, civilians were discussing the latest gossip, news and idle chats as usual—but today, their conversations seemed to revolve around one topic only: the death of Zhou He's only son, Zhou Hai.
With this, the Zhou family was left without an heir—Zhou He had no other siblings and he himself had been publicly proclaimed 'missing' by authorities, so right now, it was the elders managing the family. However, their current situation would not last long. With Zhou He gone and Zhou Hai dead, Stealing Heart Sect has no reason to keep supporting the Zhou family, and very quickly, they would fall from power here in Cloud Catcher City.
'Speaking of Stealing Heart Sect… he did threaten the city lord here, didn't he? Hm… I wonder if destroying them would count as a good deed in the eyes of the Heavenly Way?'
Xuan pondered about this as he walked, trying to decide whether or not to interfere in this matter. He didn't care about Cloud Catcher City one way or another, so even if it got destroyed, it wouldn't really concern him. At the same time, however, those bastards from that evil sect had apparently tried to capture him…
'… You know, that's reason enough for me to take action, is it not?'
Now with a new task on his agenda, Xuan smiled and continued the rest of his journey in peace.
*****
Very soon, he arrived at the Zhou family residency—it was quite large, just as expected, and the size of the main building wasn't pale even in comparison to the city lord's. At the front gates leading into the main courtyard, two men stood guard, looking fierce and dignified. Upon spotting Xuan, they turned to him and narrowed their eyes.
"It's you… the one young master keeps complaining about… what are you doing here?!"
"Kept," Xuan corrected. "He's dead now, is he not?"
It was only natural that they recognized him. After all, his appearance was quite conspicuous—not many people had that level of charm, long white hair, and stunning red eyes. Even though he had Ruo Xi's appearance-changing notch activated, he could still objectively pass for handsome beyond normal belief.
"You killed him, didn't you?" The other guard asked, furious.
But Xuan only sighed. "I don't have breath to waste on you guys. Let me in—I am here to look for something."
"On what right do you have to demand that?" The guard snorted, folding his arms. "Leave, now, before I force you to leave."
"On what right…?"
Xuan laughed, before pulling out a certain item from his pocket and tossing it over to the two guards.
"… Take a good look, pigs."
"This is… the patriarch's stamp?!"
Eyes widened to the size of marbles, the two quickly turned back to Xuan.
"W-Where did you get this?!"
"Where else? From your patriarch, of course," Xuan replied with an innocent smile. "He 'gave' it to me himself. Now, if you'll excuse me…"
Snatching the jade stamp back from the shocked guards' hands, Xuan waltzed straight on into the Zhou family's residency—but after just a few steps, he paused again.
"Oh, right. By the by… which way is the treasury?"
*****
Soon, Xuan was led to the Zhou family treasury by the two guards, who had no choice but to obey him. After all, the stamp of the patriarch was like patriarch himself being there. Since these two idiots couldn't possibly get it through their thick heads that it was Xuan who killed Zhou He with their cultivation difference, they did not doubt him. The news of Zhou He's death hadn't been publicized yet, after all—that would come soon.
"H-Here it is," one of the guards said. "The treasury…"
"Mm, good. You two may leave now."
The two men exchanged glances, gulping briefly before turning tail and running—towards the elder hall, Xuan presumed.
'Oh well. Let them come. They can't do anything to me, as long as I have the patriarch's stamp.'
He debated killing those two guards, but decided that would only give the elders a reason to hunt him down. He didn't want to make a scene, since as he was right now, he still couldn't beat all of them.
Instead, he simply focused on what was ahead—the Zhou family treasury—and smiled.
"Now then… let's see what treasures you hold."
Lifting his arm, Xuan inserted the patriarch's stamp into the square-shaped lock sealing the double doors. Immediately, a mechanical 'clank' could be heard, and the doors slid open. The stamp fell out of its socket, and as Xuan waltzed into the vault, he caught the item before stashing it back into pocket.
The treasury was organized into several shelves on the inside. There were about five in total, each holding with five rows. Unfortunately, contrary to Xuan's expectations, the shelves weren't actually that full—he could count on one hand how many artifacts there were in the treasury.
'The Zhou family is this poor…?'
Xuan couldn't really believe it at first, but as he retrieved the five artifacts one by one from their respective shelves, he soon realized why.
All of these were Origin-Grade artifacts, with a Saint-Grade artifact too among them.
He didn't know where the Zhou family accumulated all these, but Origin-Grade Artifacts were incredibly rare in Lower Asphodel, only sold in auctions, and Saint-Grade treasures were pretty much never seen at all down here. Even in higher realms like Elysium, Saint-Grade items were still treated with sacredness.
What he really was concerned about, however, was just how high-grade the treasures had to be in order for his Traveler's Compass to pick up on them. Just now, he hadn't detected anything coming from the compass—which he wore around his neck—despite there being a Saint-Grade treasure right here, which would only mean one thing…
'Divine-Grade and above…?'
That wasn't that big of a problem for Xuan since most of his past life treasures were Divine-Grade anyway, but still, he wondered why the compass only sensed that level and higher.
Perhaps it was simply because being able to sense Saint-Grade treasures would become a little bit annoying once Xuan reached Elysium—after all, in that realm, artifacts of the Saint level would be picked up on every once in a while. They were about as common as Origin-Grade treasures were down here in Asphodel—which wasn't that common, but wasn't that rare either. Having a vibration on your neck pop up every few minutes could be quite distracting and annoying.
But putting that matter aside for now, Xuan looked down at the five artifacts he'd gathered and laid out on a table. From left to right, they were a sword, a spear, a mysterious nameless book, a Saturn-esque amethyst orb surrounded by an ornate purple frame, and… what looked like an animal bone.
At first glance, this arrangement of items was… mostly normal, with the only exception being the rightmost one. What's more, surprisingly enough, of the five, the animal bone was actually the Saint-Grade treasure, whereas the rest were all Origin-Grade.
Upon closer inspection with the Divine Asura Eye, however, Xuan realized why that was the case.
<Azure Dragon Bone>
<Type: Item>
<Grade: Saint>
A bone that once belonged to an adult Azure Dragon. A priceless treasure that holds no use except for display, unless the user has a special body constitution…?
<Use (Available!)>
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