Chapter 5: GOING TO TOWN

"Ding! Congratulations! The host has successfully broken through to the golden core stage!"

"Mission accomplished!"

"Issuing mission reward!"

Jin flashed a smile upon hearing the system's notifications. A feeling of expectation was welling up in him as he awaited the mission rewards.

"Ding! Congratulations! The host has obtained high grade spirit stone x1000! Gold x1000! Infinite space storage ring! Treasure map piece (1/3)! Eyes of truth! Silent steps! Open storage space to extract the rewards!"

Without wasting a second Jin gave the command to open the storage space

"Open storage!"

The rewards which were neatly stacked side by side appeared and like a homing pigeon, he landed his eyes on the "eyes of truth".

Eyes of truth: a unique ability bestowed on the host by the system. It provides the host with the ability to see through any illusion and determine the truth. Also when the host looks and focuses on someone, their full information will be revealed. This also works for appraising items. Nothing can be hidden from the eyes of truth!

"Awesome! This new ability can be totally overpowered if used correctly. I have no acquaintance right now so it's better to know who is real and who is faking it. System you're the best!"

"Ding! That is only within reason. I am the Ultimate Patriarch System and as my host, you should be nothing less than the absolute ultimate!"

A smug reply came from the system, hearing this Jin laughed and proceeded to absorb the ability.

"Extract"

Jin felt his eyes itch and closed them while taking a sharp breath through the teeth. Veins could be seen writhing over his closed eyelids as they started emitting faint golden light.

After a few minutes he was finally able to open his eyes. His perception of the world around him changed, he seemed to be able to see through reality itself and into the molecules that make up everything.

He found himself being able to easily identify things he previously thought to be mundane and not worth looking at twice. Even insects hidden in the caves crevices couldn't escape his piercing gaze.

"Sweet! This ability is already proving to be great, I can't wait to go out and see what the world really looks like!"

He thought to himself while reaching for the next reward in line "silent steps"

Silent steps: Heaven grade high-rank movement technique. Upon mastery, one is able to evade their opponents spiritual senses and silently approach their target at extremely high speeds.

Even after usage there are no visible footprints that can be traced thereby being immune to tracking.

With a thought the knowledge and insight of the technique was sent into his brain. After all the knowledge had been transferred Jin opened his eyes which had a glint in it.

Excitement was clearly visible on his face because of the overpowered system reward.

Treasure map piece (1/3): Part of a treasure map leading to the cave of a once powerful cultivator of the Quasi immortal stage who died after he failed his ascension. Due to his grave injuries he died in this cave with all his treasures and high grade cultivation techniques.

Infinite space storage ring: An immortal grade treasure equipped with infinite space for storage. Able to store even living beings. The bearer is also able to regulate the temperature and time flow inside the ring therefore preserving materials stored in the ring in their perfect state.

High grade spirit stone: The best quality of the crystallized form of Qi. Can be used as a cultivation resource by absorbing the abundant Qi stored in it and as a currency. 1 spirit stone,  even one of the lowest quality is much more valuable to cultivators than a gold tael.

Gold: a currency used for trading in the Xuantian world. 1 tael of gold is worth 100 taels of silver and 1 tael of silver 100 taels of copper.

Jin extracted all the remaining rewards at once and they appeared on the ground around him. He picked up the storage ring, made a little cut on his finger with his spear and dripped a little blood on the ring for it to recognise him as its owner.

After that he slipped the ring on and waved his hand over the rewards on the floor and they were all sucked into the ring.

He also stored his spear in the storage ring so he could get into combat mode easily in case of an emergency.

A beep sounded in his ear as a system notification followed afterwards

"Ding! Releasing the restriction over mountain cave! Host is free to leave and explore!"

"Finally! Ugh, I thought I would go insane first before being able to leave this place! It's about time I explored this new world!"

Jin threw a victory punch into the air as he shouted out in excitement. The thought of leaving this cave felt like the shackles keeping him in place loosened and his long cold adventurous spirit rekindled in him.

'Boom!'

He took off with a powerful jump that caused the rocky ground below him to be riddled with cracks. This jump was entirely powered by his physical body without the use of Qi, which goes to show just how powerful the body tempering technique he cultivated was. Skillfully utilising his Qi, he created a shield that kept the wind pressure from touching his body.

A Qi arc was formed behind him as he blasted towards the only exit right above the mountain.

Jin exited the mountain cave and hovered above it, he took in a deep breath and exhaled with a grin on his face. The air felt fresh to his lungs, birds of different sizes flew high in the sky all seemingly drunk on freedom. He relished the feeling of finally being free.

A few minutes passed and he slowly floated down to the foot of the mountain, upon landing he looked to his sides confused, unable to find his way out he panicked.

"Oh no! Don't tell me I am going to be lost in this blasted place after just leaving that cursed cave! System, why don't you help a brother out here"

"Ding! Seeing the current situation of the host, the map feature has been unlocked!"

'Blip'

The purple interface resurfaced in front of Jin's face but this time it was an extensive map with the location of cities, sects, clans etc marked on the map, it was even able to zoom in and out to see much farther locations. Jin's location was marked by a blue arrow cursor. There was also a search feature which made locating anywhere pretty convenient.

"Whoa! The system is really not to be underestimated, what competence" jin praised

"Hmph! This is only a little trick, get stronger and you will stand the chance of unlocking more features of the system"

The system replied in a proud tone that shocked Jin. He was witnessing a new side of the system and felt like they had become more connected.

Without wasting time Jin searched around the map and found the closest town from where he was. The spring lily town which was only 10km away from his location.

After marking it on the map, Jin took off in the direction of the town. He held his spear in hand as he moved with speed the eyes couldn't keep up with.

Many wild beasts and demon creatures that had the bad luck of being in his path were slain in one hit without them knowing how they died or who even killed them.

A trail of dead creatures and beasts was steadily pilling up while he was getting bombarded with notifications of system points he gained with each kill.

Two hours later on the outskirts of a medium sized town, a young man with red flowing hair dressed in a black robe with several gold marks appeared. This of course was Jin.

He had been running and killing wild beasts for two hours and he didn't even look tired one bit. Instead he had a look of excitement and anticipation on his face.

"Ding! Killed a 2nd level foundation building stage Saber tooth tiger, gained 30 system points!"

[System points: 800]

He made his way to the entrance while the system notification sounded.

There, stood a high iron gate with giant walls that stretched out on each side.

Just above the massive gate hung an iron signboard with the town's name on it

[Spring Lily Town]

In front of the town's gate was a line of people who wanted to enter the town for one reason or another. After being searched and deemed fit to enter, they would pay a toll fee to gain access. This process was only implemented on the mortals as cultivators of a high stage could enter and leave freely without paying the toll. Jin didn't know of this rule so he stood in line and waited for his turn to enter the town.

On the line, there were horse drawn carriages bearing the flags of their respective merchant groups and members of escort agencies standing guard beside them, there were some petty traders who came alone with few sacks of their goods saddled behind them and even families seeking better living conditions.

"Hand over the toll and you can enter, 100 copper coins per head!" A city guard said to Jin when it got to his turn. Not having any copper coins on him, he took out one tael of gold and handed it over to the guard.

"Wh-what is this? I only asked for 100 copper coins! Are you trying to get robbed?" Said the guard in fright. Gold was mostly used by the rich and powerful, poor people holding on to them was only asking to be robbed. The guard not knowing who or how strong Jin was assumed he was a random person without any backing, which wasn't wrong.

Seeing how flustered the guard was Jin stepped out and looked to the back of the line. He walked up to a family of 6 who looked to be in a very tough situation, after convincing them he brought them up with him to meet the guard.

"I'm paying for them too so it should be fine right?" Jin asked the guard with a smile

"S-sure do whatever you want" he replied and let them all into the town as he gave one last look at Jin

"Thank you benefactor, without you we don't know how we would have been able to pay for everyone!" The parents spoke up while bowing to show their appreciation

With a smile on his face and a slight wave of his hand, Jin dismissed them and focused his attention on the densely packed area in front of him.

People of different colours and sizes walked around, there were stalls selling their merchandise, take out spots could be spotted too.

Different colourful buildings, short and tall, stood majestically, adding a subtle but obvious beauty to the whole scenery.

"Finally I'm in a place with people! I almost lost my mind in the cave, ugh. Having a delicious meal will make this day even more perfect!" Jin couldn't help but blurt out.

After a few minutes of asking around, jin made his way to the best inn in the spring lily town which was the 'moonlight inn' with the intention of eating till he couldn't anymore and dosing off on a soft bed.

. . . . .

[Moonlight Inn]

Jin finally made it to the inn and was seated in the vip section on the first floor as he requested, which he did by stuffing a tael of gold in the waiter's hand, almost causing him a heart attack out of fear.

There weren't many people up here as they either needed to be very powerful, spend a lot of money which most didn't have or have an extraordinary background.

His order was brought over by more than one waiter due to the quantity of food he ordered for. He felt like he could eat a whale after all those months of eating only the satiety pills given by the system.

There were dumplings, chicken, pork, some vegetables, noodles, soup, beef skewers, fruits, 3 bottles of their best wine and more. By the time they were all set down, the table was full of food and there was no empty space to place ones hand on.

The bill came out as 3 gold taels but due to how enticing the food looked and smelled, Jin doubled it and gave them 6 gold taels instead as a job well done. The waiters were excited and kept bowing to him as the extra money would be added as their tip.

For the ordinary waiters, this amount of money was enough for them to live comfortably with their families for at least 3 years.

Before they left he requested for some meat and dumplings to be wrapped up for him on the way out.

Everything that was happening at his table was seen by the people in the vip section.

At the other end of the large hall, a group of 5 young people were seated and enjoying their meal while observing what was happening over at Jin's table.

"Who could that be? I haven't seen that face in spring lily town before".

A beautiful dark haired girl spoke up. She had an innocent face, cherry red lips and green eyes. One look at her left one enchanted. Her name, Yue Lan.

"I know me too, he is quite good looking too! Brother Jiang Hai, do you think we should look into his identity?" A cheerful girl with twin ponytails, Bing Haoran, asked the young man beside her.

"To be handing out taels of gold like candy, I don't think he is a nobody. I can also detect a strong but held back aura coming from him. Just what is his background?" He replied to her, trying to unravel the secrets of the mysterious man a few tables away from him.

"Instead of asking questions here why don't we just go there and introduce ourselves?" A quirky Chen Song asked rather happily.

Immediately standing up, he walks over to Jin's table while the rest watched.

"Hello brother! I am Chen Song, may I join you?" he said with a smile while performing a little bow.

"Why?" Jin looked up and asked lazily as his meal was interrupted

"Well for starters, you are a young and handsome man such as myself. Maybe not as handsome as me but that doesn't matter"

A vein was about to explode on Jin's head because of what he heard, Chen Song continued speaking

"Secondly, I'm guessing you're new to this town and would need some information about the place, right? What do you say, I give you the information you want while you tell me about yourself?"

"Eyes of truth"

Jin softly said as all the information about Chen Song was revealed

[Name: Chen Song]

[Age: 20]

[Race: Human]

[Cultivation: 8th level of the foundation building stage]

[Spiritual root: Superior]

[Affiliation: Young master of the Chen clan]

[Feeling: Interested, Curious, Neutral]

After staring at him for some seconds and going through his information, Jin made a gesture with his hand and said

"Why don't you join me then?"