The Night Before the Battle (1)

<<Bleh! It was you who was so gullible to get cheated left and right. You're lucky that I'm using this to teach you a lesson. If I'm someone like the ex-female partner of yours, I'll milk you clean until...>>

<<Hey... Are you alright?>>

The Reliance System escaped Yanglin's attack and floated around to provoke the host to chase it. But the host seems to lost interest as he lowered his head after listening to what the System had to say.

<<Hey... Don't feel bad, alright? It's something that is considered a past. Don't you have an entirely new life going on now? Plus, if it's not because I cheated you, from where could we get these Foundation Pills to activate the Eight-Elemental Treasured Formation?>>

The Reliance System said.

<<It was for your own good too. Going for two different Elemental was different from focusing on one. Don't you know that getting too greedy at the start would result in having nothing done? And the process would be much smoother once you managed to get your Clarity Realm Vessel to the early layer of the Spirit Foundation Stage.>>

<<Are you still going to behave like that? If you... Hey! Cut the crap! Ah, help!>>

Yanglin reached out and grabbed the Spiritual Soul Infant and bullied the infant into venting out all the anger growing inside him. Although what the Spiritual Soul Infant said was true, it does not wipe away that it's been making a fool out of Yanglin.

"Ah... To think that I actually keep living like a beggar even after I could support myself financially. Don't you know a much proper living condition would make me do much better in cultivation?" Yanglin asked.

His mind wandered around the broken hut.

The thought about the bone-chilling wind at night and animal howls that came through those broken wooden gaps were traumatizing, particularly to someone who transmigrated here for less than a year. Although he was used to it by now, it wasn't an issue that can be tolerated by getting used to it.

<<If the world of cultivation were to rely on that kind of common sense from your previous world, then everyone would be cultivating inside a steamy, warm room by now. Who would bother staying outside in the cold weather?>>

<<Plus, having a better living condition contributes nothing to your cultivation. So, it is unnecessary to spend on those things. Not until you have more than enough in hand.>>

The reply from the System was like dropping a boulder on top of Yanglin's head. He was concerned about satisfying his own demand in lifestyle, but in the System's perspective, it was a waste.

<<Let's continue.>>

How can the Spiritual Soul Infant miss the chance to flick another Foundation Pill onto the Eight-Elemental Treasured Formation? After saying what it wanted to say, the magical circle flashed once before eight Tong Xun Mimics appeared and battered Yanglin.

"I hate you, Reliance System!" Yanglin's scream was getting softer until he collapsed in his mind.

...

...

...

"Huh?" opening his eyes wide, he noticed that he was back in the broken hut. It seems that the nightmare of getting beaten for the whole sleeping session is finally over.

Shifting his attention to his surrounding, Yanglin wondered why he felt something different about his broken wooden hut.

He felt like there's a hint of light particles all around him. Feeling like he has to savor this feeling right now, Yanglin paid more attention to the elemental particles hovering basically everywhere around him.

<<Aren't this marvelous?>>

The Reliance System manifests itself outside of his Realm Vessel. But the shape it was taking now is no longer an infant but a wisp of light. But that wisp of light was faint, to the point, it was about to vanish in mere seconds.

"Why are you looking like this?" Yanglin asked. He's considered a vagrant cultivator, after all. Hence, not knowing about these basics is normal.

<<I'm still your Spiritual Soul. Of course, I could manifest myself like the other Spirit of Mountains. Unfortunately, you barely grasp the feeling of a full-fledged Early-Layer cultivator. Savor these chances while you could because I can manifest myself at most for another minute before going.>>

The Reliance System said.

Its word made Yanglin immediately meditates and grasp the essence behind this development. Such an epiphany might not come to him if he were to sleep through the night due to exhaustion.

Exactly a minute later, the light particles vanish. Even the wisp of light representing the Reliance System was gone as they've never been here before.

But savoring the feeling doesn't require Yanglin to maintain himself in the epiphany position. After a few minutes of understanding and remembering it, Yanglin finally stepped out of his house and went into the forest.

It felt like the closer he was to the early layer of the Spiritual Foundation Stage, the more sensitive he was to his surrounding. And the further he went into the forest, the more often he can see the faint light particles here and there.

Using the Spiritual Siphoning Technique learned from the Reliance System, Yanglin tried to see what it could do. And to his surprise, the technique could assimilate the light particles into his Realm Vessel and making it much more substantial.

"This feels like I've refined a few Foundation Pills worth of Spiritual Energy into the Realm Vessel... What if I use this power to display what I've learned so far?" Yanglin thought. Although he had no martial skills whatsoever at his disposal, he could still display a few imaginary techniques learned from the movies and comics.

At this time, nothing could be better than imitating a few tricks and seeing if the move is viable in a real-life situation.

Yanglin then imagined that the Spiritual Energy he refined was flowing out from his Realm Vessel like a sieve. The thought of cladding his limbs using the refined energy then filled his viewpoint as he showered a tree with punches and kicks.

For the first time in his life, Yanglin enjoyed the feeling of throwing out blows after blows at the sturdy tree without fearing that he would hurt himself.