8-14

Chapter 8. 'Fishing' Makes Me Stronger

For the next few days, except for eating, sleeping, taking a bath, and looking at the refreshed system daily shop in case something important is placed there, Ren Qingquan only stopped training when Xiao Ling reported she had sent the metal he purchased into his storage. Slowly, he could feel the attributes and quality of his vital energy changing.

Every cycle of 'Body Tempering Technique' requires him to practice for 8 hours continuously. Otherwise, the technique will not have the effect of transforming vital energy attributes. Which required Ren Qingqian to practice until most of the day had passed.

At least the crazy amount of movement and time spent doesn't come to waste, as Ren Qingquan could feel the insanely high quality of vital energy generated by the 'Body Tempering Technique'.

'Looking at the quality, it seems my realm might drop after I finish changing the technique'

After all, higher-quality vital energy contains more energy in each strand. Which caused the amount of vital energy strand Ren Qingquan had to decrease.

After more than a week, Ren Qingquan finally transformed all of his vital energy from 'Dragon Dance' into vital energy from 'Body Tempering Technique'.

Opening the system panel, Ren Qingquan finally saw a change in his technique panel section.

[Name: Ren Qingquan

Realm: Seventh-stage martial apprentice

Point: 2

Technique: Body Tempering (Martial Saint)

Skills: Tiger subduing palm (middle),Feather step (low), iron cloth (low).

System functions: devour, shop, scan, library, map, calculate, and system storage (1 cubic meter).]

Upon checking his panel, Ren Qingquan continued his martial pact for several more days. The old Ren Qingquan was a training maniac, and so is the current Ren Qingquan. Well, at least for now, because the feeling of doing martial exercise is still fresh for him. After all, compared to the entertainment that exists in this era like drinking and eating at a tavern or visiting the Red Light District, training and feeling the increase in vital energy are several times more fulfilling.

That is, until Ren Qingquan sees what the system shop sells that evening after he finishes training.

[Daily shop (refresh at 20:24:19)

Water, 1 point. Description: normal drinkable water.

Air, 1 point. Description: breathable air.

Blood and flesh energy, 1 point. Description: If there is a lot of blood and flesh energy, excess energy will be lost.

Vital energy, 2 points. Description: one strand of energy generated from Ren Qingquan's 'Body Tempering Technique'.

Permanent shop:-

Note 1: ...]

Looking at the item written in the shop, Ren Qingquan couldn't help but feel shocked.

'System, what the heck? Do you even sell something like vital energy?'

***

Consciousness space

Feeling Ren Qingquan's massive fluctuation in emotion, I also feel speechless from my recent findings.

It actually started several days ago, as Ren Qingquan went into training maniac mode. I fell into boredom after scanning every single piece of item Ren Qingquan passed every day.

That is until I just placed [Scan] on Ren Qingquan, trying to understand how flesh and blood energy could transform into vital energy. Who knew [Scan] was actually so amazing? it actually copied the data from Ren Qingquan's vital energy.

After several boring days of repeatedly only seeing Ren Qingquan train, I couldn't stop my itchy hand and created one strand of vital energy and transferred it to Rent Qingquan during his sleep. Although I already used [Calculate] and the results say it is safe. I still immediately pulled the energy back. After all, who knows if adding random vital energy suddenly might cause someone to explode or something?

Seeing as Ren Qingquan didn't seem to feel anything the next morning, I also tried to use [Scan] to check his condition. Which is almost exactly the same as the previous day.

And so, I continued to send vital energy to him for another four nights with an increased amount of strand every night. Except for a slight flushing on his face after transferring five strands at once on the last day. There is almost no change at all in Ren Qingquan's body data. The small change in data every day is still within normal fluctuation.

And so, after a five-day experiment using my own customer, The new product is ready to enter the market.

***

Ren Qingquan's training room

As Ren Qingquan clicked purchase on vital energy, he could feel an additional strand of energy coming from who knows where.

Sensing the pure vital energy transferred, Ren Qingquan fell into silence and could only say, 'as expected of the system, a famous golden finger'.

'Sign. My precious feeling of achievement from training is gone. Darn, I always disliked those pay-to-win people in games. But who would expect I to actually turn into one of them after getting transmigrated?'

Seeing his point return to zero, Ren Qingquan felt a complicated emotion and lost his will to train.

Wait! Now that Ren Qingquan woke up from the high caused by his excitement about martial arts practice, he realized something. As he does a mental calculation, Ren Qingquan is extremely grateful for the system's timely help.

'To generate one strand of vital energy, I need to practice the body-tempering technique for twenty cycles which require one day for each cycle. It requires 1,000 strands of vital energy to break through from martial grandmaster to martial saint. It means I need to train for 20.000 days to achieve the Martial Saint realm. Wouldn't I have turned old already? No wonder this book is called rubbish.'

And so, Ren Qingquan just sits in his training room and surrenders to his fate as a system's worker while trying to think about how to increase his point.

After the last lesson from devouring a garden, which caused massive mayhem in the Ren family, Ren Qingquan suddenly found an idea about how he could get a huge amount of energy without causing a huge ruckus.

Walking outside of his training room, Ren Qingquan tried to search for Xiao Ling when she suddenly appeared from God knows where.

"Xiao Ling, get me a fishing rod and some bait. I want to relax and go fishing at the river."

"Yes, young master."

After some time and making sure Xiao Ling had already gone away using the system map, Ren Qingquan went to his storage room and placed some of the metal on the [Storage] function. After several minutes, Xiao Ling returned with a bucket and a pair of fishing rods.

"Young master, here is the fishing equipment you requested. I also have to ask the coachman to prepare the carriage. Do you need me to accompany you while fishing?"

"There is no need."

After Ren Qingquan waved to refuse Xiao Ling's offer, he went to the carriage, followed by Xiao Ling, who was holding his fishing equipment.

Upon arriving at the carriage, Xiao Ling placed the equipment and left.

Going outside to fish is actually what Ren Qingquan could think of to gather points secretly and safely. Of course, fishing is just a way to hide his real target.

Actually, Ren Qingquan could just use [devour] on random soil outside the Ren family's house, and it would not be noticed by anyone. But Ren Qingquan suspects his protective father might have some hidden expert guarding him somewhere. Never mind, scratch the 'suspect' and 'might'. His father definitely sent someone to protect him secretly. Ren Qingquan could see a blue dot that had been following him since he left the Ren family's house. As the system is his trump card, of course he wants to hide it as much as possible, even from his family.

Arriving at the riverbank, Ren Qingquan descended from the carriage and placed his fishing equipment. After placing the bait on the fish hook, he sat down with his feet entering the water.

'System, use [Devour]'

With that command, a small vortex came into existence at the sole of his feet.

That is right! Ren Qingquan planned to slowly use [Devour] on this river. This river bank is located quite near the Ren family's house which doesn't waste a lot of travel time, and far enough from Burning Sky City's harbor, which makes it rarely visited except for boats that travel at the center of the river.

The size of this river is also pretty wide. It is at least 100 meters in width with a pretty fast current, which makes the small vortex on his feet inconspicuous.

After close to three hours of sitting, the energy on his panel finally increased by one.

'System, how come the amount of energy gained is much lower than the garden?'

[Ding! The Ren family garden, which the host thoroughly devoured, used precious soil and contained plants with high energy content, which caused more energy to be gained upon absorption.]

Hearing system's explanation, Ren Qingquan just stayed on the river until night. Looking at his bucket filled with two small fish, Ren Qingquan smiled. After all, the biggest catch today is the two points he gained from [Devour].

Before returning to the carriage, Ren Qingquan spent all his points in exchange for vital energy. With that, Ren Qingquan's realm finally returned to the Ninth Stage Martial Apprentice.

***

Consciousness space

Looking at Ren Qingquan's means, I must acknowledge his intellect. While Ren Qingquan was fishing, I also secretly used [Anchor] on many things in the river. From a fish, a branch, a light rock, etc. As long as it seems to be capable of moving using the river's current, I spent a little time anchoring it with [Absorb] skill.

By the way, I also attached a fish with an extra [Scan] as I wanted to experiment with whether or not I could use the skill attached using [Anchor] if the creature I anchored into died.

With this, I finally found out which aspect of the [Absorb] skill got weakened. Compared to Ren Qingquan, who could generate two energy every three hour, *cough* 50% tax *cough*. I decreased the tax as we are on the same boat right now. If Ren Qingquan died, I might also get imprisoned in the consciousness space. Anyway, I regressed once again.

I could feel the pulling force of [Absorb] on a stone I spent 1 energy to anchor, which is weakened to a mere 2% of Ren Qingquan. Not only that, half of the energy absorbed is missing to some unknown place. But still, at least I finally found a way to generate daily income. With that, I opened the panel that I just updated.

[Name: System

Skill: [Storage], [Transfer], [Calculate], [Absorb], [Scan], [Create], [Anchor]

Energy:17450

Daily income: 5 energy]

After the previous experiment on [Scan] and [Anchor] using stone, and adding this experiment, my energy decreased by more than one hundred. At least now, I could generate a daily income of five points a day. Not including the point Ren Qingquan gained from his daily 'fishing'

Chapter 9. Xiao Ling: Young Master Might Have Some Screw Loose

Just like that, one week passed. The gain from this week is quite bountiful as except for the first day of fishing, Ren Qingquan gained three points every other day due to him merely fishing until evening.

But, Looking at his wrinkled leg from being submerged in water too long. Ren Qingquan chose to have a day off from fishing today. As Ren Qingquan lay on his bed like a salted fish, 'inspecting' the stored book from Ren family library's first floor in the system. Xiao Ling knocked on his door just like usual. But today seems to be different as after preparing a bath and breakfast, Xiao Ling doesn't leave immediately but instead tells him something else.

"Young master, second elder and master are looking for you today."

Actually Ren Qingquan have a feeling of deja vu as he followed Xiao Ling, afterall the first time Ren Qingquan reincarnated into this body, Xiao Ling also says his father and grandfather are looking for him. As Ren Qingquan walked in a daze, both of them arrived at his grandfather, Ren Wangzhen's room.

With a familiar greeting, what comes into view is two middle aged men drinking tea together.

Looking at them, the first thought that come into Ren Qingquan's mind is why do they always drink tea together every time they call me?'

As for the second thought that comes into his mind, it is 'how much tea do they drink in a day.'

Upon arriving at the room, Ren Qingquan finally remembered to use [Scan] on both of them.

[Human: Ren Wangzhen, unable to devour

Age: 68

Realm: Ninth Stage Martial Saint

Technique: ???

Please study more about martial arts, anatomy, and other arts related to humans for further details.]

[Human: Ren Shiluo, unable to devour

Age: 37

Realm: Above Martial Lord (??? Realm) most likely a Martial Emperor.

Note: Unable to calculate specific realm due to insufficient data for creatures above Martial Lord.

Technique: ???

Please study more about martial arts,anatomy, and other arts related to humans for further details.]

Looking at Ren Shiluo's realm, Ren Qingquan's brain started to rotate quickly as he thought about some things. First, he finally could be at ease against Xiao Ling, afterall a suspected Martial Emperor having Martial Lord subordinates is normal. Second, why would Ren Shiluo hide his strength? Does he perhaps have some enemies? Should he start to be even more low key?

'Wait, if i haven't reincarnated as Ren Qingquan, with how protective and powerful Ren Shiluo is, won't he cause some massive calamity to this world? Afterall a Martial Emperor could easily flatten cities and kill many lives. Also, he would definitely try to beat Ren Qingchen to death? Afterall the original Ren Qingquan died due to depression from losing against Ren Qingchen.'

As he imagined many situations, Ren Qingquan was slightly in a daze as he listened to the two old guys.

"I have tried to send an invitation to Ren Qingchen asking him to join our side, but he has been missing since receiving the reward for the annual competition. It even caused some debates from the other old guys during the meetings, so I chose to wait until the situation calmed down before we started to search for him."

After listening to it, Ren Shiluo started his several minutes long complaints, which was followed by silence. Until Ren Wangzhen asked some seemingly unrelated question to Ren Qingquan.

"Well, Qingquan, how old are you this year?"

"I should turn 16 in three months"

The sudden weird question woke Ren Qingquan from his daze.

"During your age, I traveled around on adventure for several years. That is also when I found your grandma which I saved when she..."

"Yeah, dad, you already told that story several dozen times already. Anyway, Qingquan, it hurts me to say this but we are thinking about sending you to Martial Spirit Sect to meet with your peers. After All, only staying at home to train is not really good for your growth. Furthermore, recently the situation in the Great Azure Empire is a bit weird and it might turn chaotic soon. The price of many commodities actually increased greatly in recent times. Some of our family members that work in the palace also often heard that silly emperor's scream nowadays. I also sometimes sensed some big rat at Burning Sky City recently and due to some reason I might not be staying at the house. Anyway, With Martial Spirit Sect's special status and their absolute rule against internal killing, staying there until the chaos in the empire ceased or until I finished my business should be safer for you."

*Surprised pikachu.jpg*

"When should I leave?"

"It is better to leave within one week as the Martial Spirit sect will hold their annual test in less than a month. The journey to the location of Martial Spirit Sect's jurisdiction requires between one and two weeks of journey. Of course you don't need to join the test if you don't want to, I have asked your uncle who is an elder in the Martial Spirit sect to put you in as an outer disciple using some backdoor so, there is no need to start as a servant. But I still hope you will try the test, especially the competition part. Fighting against someone of your level is a good way to increase battle awareness. Also, Xiao Ling will accompany you there until the competition, but she shall return after you join the sect. Also, if you have some problem you could just ask your uncle there."

As Ren Shiluo spoke a little bit too fast, Ren Qingquan needed to digest the word for a moment before answering with a slightly excited face. This news came at the right time as he started to feel the point gained from 'fishing' is a bit too slow and without his father's guard secretly stalking him, he could use [Devour] much more freely.

"Alright, I don't have many things to prepare so I can immediately go tomorrow after resting."

As Ren Qingquan exited the room together with Xiao Ling, Ren Qingquan could still hear some conversation from inside.

"Sigh, looking at his excited face. Maybe I have tried to protect him too much."

"See, I told you. You should learn from your Zhang friend. Look at that fat boy he has. Although he obtained some bad habits, at least his son actually matured faster."

"I just want to fill in as his mother, afterall she..."

Ren Qingquan actually wanted to listen more, but as he slowly walked away the sound started to decrease and couldn't be heard anymore.

"Young master, I will leave to prepare your luggage for tomorrow."

"Alright."

Entering his room, Ren Qingquan sat and started some planning. As he is going to travel for sometime, Ren Qingquan wanted to increase his [Storage] skill's space size.

[Ding! Increasing storage space requires 1 point of energy every cubic meters for the first 10 cubic meters. It requires ten points per cubic meter up to 100 cubic meters. Etc.]

'Then System, upgrade [Storage] until it is 10 cubic meters first.'

Followed by that command, Ren Qingquan opened his system panel.

[Name: Ren Qingquan

Realm: Ninth stage martial apprentice

Point: 12

Technique: Body Tempering (Martial Saint)

Skills: Tiger subduing palm(Middle),

Feather step (Low), Iron cloth (Low).

System function: Devour, Shop, Scan, Library, Map, Calculate, System Storage (10 cubic meters).]

Entering his storage room, Ren Qingquan placed all the metal he bought into [Storage].

Returning to his room, Ren Qingquan lay on his bed like a salted fish.

'Well, I choose this day as my rest day. So let's just read those novel in system library *Cough* I mean, inspect the book in the system library.'

Xiao Ling reported something about how his luggage was ready at some point, but Ren Qingquan just grumbled in answer.

***

The next day

As Ren Shiluo and Ren Wangzhen sent him off, Ren Qingquan entered the carriage with Xiao Ling. Different from the carriage he usually used to travel within Burning Sky City, the carriage he used now is almost double in size and equipped with a small bed and storage area for food on the back of the carriage.

As the journey is pretty long and they need to pass several cities and villages during their travel, the carriage is surrounded by six horse riding guards to repel any robber or handle some problems during their journey.

To be honest, Ren Qingquan thought there was no need for any guards as Xiao Ling alone might be able to flatten a hundred man strong company as long as they don't have any Martial Lord and have less than a dozen martial Saints.

To pass some time, Ren Qingquan tried to chat with Xiao Ling. But as Xiao Ling is a woman of few words, he is already out of topic after half an hour of chatting.

'Sigh. It is during this time that I miss my talkative father. At least with him around the journey wouldn't be too silent.'

Looking outside the window, Ren Qingquan could only see a sea of fields and occasional small forest.

As they traveled using the empire's official road, except for greenery, there are only some small villages that are connected but located quite far from the road.

After looking at the field that is either filled with rice or other food materials for several minutes, Ren Qingquan is bored so he chooses to inspect the books stored in the system library.

'Luckily I am smart enough to scan the library's whole first floor'

With that, Ren Qingquan spent most of his time reading until night arrived.

Looking around, they finally stopped at a flatter piece of land. The guards started to pitch their tent and create a fire to cook some food. After Ren Qingquan ate some food, he entered the carriage and slept.

The next morning, Ren Qingquan woke up due to a sudden jolt from his carriage. While in a daze, Ren Qingquan just looked at his surroundings for a moment and then continued to read his novels.

***

As Xiao Ling looked at Ren Qingquan who had been in a daze staring at nothing and sometimes giggling by himself for close to two days already. She started to feel a bit concerned.

'I should tell master about the young master's condition during this journey which is quite concerning. What if he has a brain problem due to wrong practice.'

As Xiao Ling thought so, she closed her eyes and continued her practice. As a Martial Lord, she could practice energy circulation without using the move set. Although it decreases the speed of strengthening, something is still better than nothing.

Chapter 10. Wild Ren Qingchen Appeared!

After resting at small villages and camping outside for several days. Xiao Ling said they will finally enter the city tomorrow.

On the afternoon of the sixth day, they finally arrived at a city called Bear Forest City. Just like the name implies, the city is located near a Forest area that is known to contain many bears and a lot of precious resources that could be used for martial arts practice

Although not as prosperous as Burning Sky City, one could feel the activity of Bear Forest City especially around its main road. After finding a suitable inn to rest for today, the guards tended to his carriage and reserved several rooms for the night.

While the guards were busy, Ren Qingquan entered a bustling shopping street followed by Xiao Ling and two other guards.

Bear Forest City shopping street doesn't only have stall and store selling basic material needs like food and clothings. There are also some stalls selling specialties or random tinkers found from the forest nearby. 

As Ren Qingquan walked around while activating his [Scan], he actually found something that could be devoured for one whole point from a stall selling items from Bear Forest just after entering the shopping area for ten minutes! Purchasing the item, he continued to use [Scan] especially on those stalls selling things from bear forest while looking to win yet another jackpot.

***

Consciousness space

Looking at Ren Qingquan as he used [Scan] on many things one by one, I couldn't help feeling pity and added a function to the system map.

In essence, the system map is actually my [Scan] ability which could see an area within 100 meter radius although a bit blurry while detecting how much energy the things within that area contain. Which is also the principle used to show the size of blue dots in the system map.

Also, I guess I forgot to say it to Ren Qingquan but it is actually possible for him to use [Scan] on anything within half of the system map's range. Afterall I have been doing exactly that for a long time.

With those few things in mind, I updated the system map

***

[Ding! System map has added an adventure mode. Adventure mode will be activated within half of the map's maximum range. Adventure mode differentiates between items, beasts, and humans. The bigger the dots, the more energy they contain.

Notes: it is possible to use the [Scan] function within the area of adventure mode.]

'It came at the right time, and here I thought [Scan] could only be used on items within my sight.'

As Ren Qingquan purchased several dozen more things marked as big sized dots on the system map, Ren Qingquan finally stopped shopping and returned to the inn with Xiao Ling and the two guards.

Finally Ren Qingquan and Xiao Ling entered the inn to rest. The inn he is residing in is built on a wide three storied building, which is slightly higher compared to the surrounding two storied buildings. Entering the third floor, Ren Qingquan separated from the guards and Xiao Ling chose the room next to his. Entering a big room with a huge window that faced the road Ren Qingquan devoured all the things he purchased. 

'Open system panel'

[Name: Ren Qingquan

Realm: Ninth stage martial apprentice

Point: 25

Technique: Body Tempering (Martial Saint)

Skills: Tiger subduing palm(Middle),

Feather step (Low), Iron cloth (Low).

System function: Devour, Shop, Scan, Library, Map, Calculate, System Storage (10 cubic meters).]

The harvest today is actually a whole 13 points. I think I should visit the shopping street more often. While feeling happy, Ren Qingquan slept blissfully.

At night, Ren Qingquan woke up due to a sudden urge to answer the call of nature. Still in a daze from suddenly waking up, Ren Qingquan just slowly walked into the bathroom. Although his room is equipped with a chamber pot, Ren Qingquan is still unable to accept the concept of sleeping next to his piss for a whole night and would rather spend some time walking.

On his way to the bathroom on the first floor, Ren Qingquan could hear a huge ruckuss behind him but compared to the call of nature, those things are of much lesser importance. As he arrived at the bathroom on the first floor, a massive explosion sound could be heard from above. He could even hear Xiao Ling's loud voice asking those guards to protect him. With all that noise, Ren Qingquan finally woke up from his daze. Opening his system map, Ren Qingquan madly activated [Scan] on every dot. Looking at the result from one of the dots, Ren Qingquan rolled his eyes.

[Human: Ren Qingchen, unable to devour

Age: 15 

Realm: Fifth Stage Martial Master 

Technique: ??? 

Please study more about martial arts,anatomy, and other arts related to humans for further details.]

With the explosion and Ren Qingchen's existence, Ren Qingquan could be sure there is some exciting action unfolding above.

'Come on, faster faster. I want to quickly watch the drama above. Also, I should stop drinking so much water before sleeping.'

That is right, after being locked in a carriage with nothing to do except reading novels for close to a whole week, Ren Qingquan is extremely bored and wishes to watch some spicy drama.

(｡'▽'｡)

***

Several minutes ago.

As Ren Qingchen looked at the three storied inn where general Shi's messenger rested according to the information he got. Ren Qingchen looked at the inn's locked main door and took out a small iron rod as he opened the lock used on the door without causing much noise.

General Shi is a general that guarded the border between the Great Azure Empire and the Great Flame Empire. But due to the current incompetent emperor that has been blinded by his minister's collaborative effort to dupe him. General Shi's army has received less and less funds for provisions and salary. After sending two messengers that have been refused several times and finally beheaded by the emperor. General Shi still sent the third and most likely last messenger to ask for the emperor to increase his army's funds.

What Ren Qingchen wished to do tonight is to kill the messenger and make it look like the emperor's order of assassination to start general Shi's rebellion a bit faster.

'Once the rebellion succeeds, Azure Empire's luck should be at its lowest point. With that, I should be able to take the spirit weapon Azure Flute from higher world that is used as a luck condensing treasure by the Azure Empire without much backlash. Actually, I also wished to take the spirit weapon from the other two empire, but there is no more time. Before that, I still need to quickly increase my strength.'

Thinking until that point, Ren Qingchen sighed as he remembered the situation in his previous life.

'Soon, Ren Shiluo will go crazy and chase after me for causing his precious baby boy's death due to crying. I could indeed let myself lose against that crybaby Ren Qingquan, but both of that crybaby's parents have crazy high influences. Leaving him alive might cause massive differences in the future instead and make my advantage of foresight null.'

That is right, Ren Qingchen is actually a regressor that has already reached an extremely high level in his past life. Due to betrayal from his lover that worked together with his enemy, Ren Qingchen has been killed. Luckily heaven has pity and gives him a second chance.

Waking up from his reminiscence, Ren Qingchen circulated his stealth skill which made him become one with the surrounding area. As he started to run stealthily into the room where that messenger stayed, he could actually sense a strong expert at martial saint realm in the room next door.

Rechecking his imitation of the emperor's assassination squad's clothes , Ren Qingchen used his lockpicking skill and opened the door silently. As Ren Qingchen opened the door, he could feel himself triggering some kind of mechanism.

"Who is it!"

Suddenly, the man sleeping on the bed woke up and asked in a loud voice.

Ren Qingchen immediately circulated his Blood energy to activate his dagger martial skill. While doing so, Ren Qingchen doesn't forget to open the window and throw an explosive item he learned from some crazy alchemist to confuse the Martial Lord expert next door.

*Boom*

With a massive explosive sound outside, Ren Qingchen finished circulating his blood energy and struck the dagger he wields. As the messenger just woke up, his blood energy circulation has slowed down. Quickly picking up the sword he placed next to his bed, the messenger quickly pulled his sword to block the blow from Ren.

Before the messenger could feel relieved as he successfully blocked Ren Qingchen's dagger attack, he could feel something piercing his abdomen.

While the messenger's busy with blocking his dagger attack, Ren Qingchen already threw a hidden dagger which is also imitated from the emperor's assassination squad's usual hidden weapon sets.

Feeling the weakening of his body, the messenger retreated and opened one of the pockets on his clothes and started taking an antidote pill inside. After ingesting the pill, he could feel his condition at least stopped worsening.

Without giving the messenger any time to breath, Ren Qingchen immediately followed with multiple dagger strikes accompanied by a hidden weapon coated with a different poison.

"Protect the young master!"

Hearing a slightly familiar loud female voice beside the room, and sensing as the hidden weapon pierced through the messenger right at his heart, Ren Qingchen immediately pulled the weapon and jumped using the window and escaped into the night. 

The poison coated in his last hidden weapon is the strongest poison concoction the emperor's assassination squad have which he spent several weeks collecting the ingredients to make. The poison is the top poison capable of killing or at least greatly injuring Martial Emperors and without any antidote in this world. As a top brass of the assassination squad in his previous life, Ren Qingchen still remembered the poison concoction methods.

With all the trace he left, especially the poisons. Anyone with brains will think the messenger is killed by the emperor's assassination squad. Some conspiracy theorists might have thought of other people as the killer, but the last poison he used is a definitive clue. Due to the squad's special traits, the last poison's concoction methods are an absolute secret. Even if the poison is lost in some mission, they will find every method to retrieve it.

From a dark alley far away, Ren Qingchen could see the wall messenger's walls being exploded into smithereens.

***

When he returned to the third floor, Ren Qingquan could see Xiao Ling and the guard are busy looking for someone or something in the corridors and surrounding rooms. Meanwhile, the 'something' they are looking for is shamelessly walking slowly with a mentality of watching drama.

As Ren Qingquan found Xiao Ling standing at the room neighboring hers that has been destroyed to oblivion due to her attack, Ren Qingquan curiously poked his head inside. Looking at a blueish corpse with a distinct piercing wound on its body, Ren Qingquan vomited the dinner he ate that evening. All thoughts about watching a drama left his mind, leaving only two thoughts.'Someone has just died. This world is really dangerous.'

Sensing Ren Qingquan, Xiao Ling started to pull him outside of the room.

"Young master, let's leave here. The corpse has been contaminated with poisons. I am not sure whether the poison could disperse in air. Actually, let's look for other place to rest, as this poison actually give me a sense of extreme danger."

As Ren Qingquan still tried to recover from the shock of seeing a badly mutilated corpse for the first time, he somehow just followed Xiao Ling. The next thing he knows, he is already sitting in the carriage.

Chapter 11. A Living X-Ray Scanner!

After 13 days of traveling, Ren Qingquan and his group finally arrived at Wind Bamboo City. As they had been delayed due to Ren Qingquan vomiting every certain distance until the second day after leaving Bear Forest City when Ren Qingquan finally forgot about the blueish bloody corpse he saw at the inn. Wind Bamboo City is a city under Martial Spirit Sect's jurisdiction. It is located close to Azure Empire's border and is one of the place where the sect's test will be held. Wind Bamboo City is built near a massive bamboo forest that occasionally generates some whistling sound due to the breeze.

By the way, one might be able to realize it by now. Most cities in this world are named after natural landscapes near that city like bear forest and wind bamboo.

Ren Qingquan could already see a quite long snaking queue to enter the city. As they passed those people lined up for entry and drove into another much shorter queue.

Shouldn't they also wait in that line over there?This is slightly different than when their group entered Bear Forest City. As Ren Qingquan remembered, they also need to queue with other people to enter that city.

Seemingly able to sense the questioning glance that Ren Qingquan sent her, Xiao Ling explained to him.

"During normal time, most city only opened a small gate and everyone must line up on that gate. But during a special time like Martial Spirit Sect's test, a huge influx of people will arrive at the city. To keep noble families from throwing a tantrum, cities usually opened their main gate and set another queue for nobles. That long line you see are for common people, trade caravan, or low level martial arts practitioner. As a top family in the Great Azure Family, this carriage is equipped with Ren family's insignia which allows it to enter the main gate's queue."

"Ohhh"

Ren Qingquan nodded upon hearing that explanation. Although he felt it is unfair for the common people to queue at such a long line on this hot day, Ren Qingquan has no complaints as a beneficiary of these rules.

Long live the aristocracy!

As they entered the gate, Ren Qingquan looked at the system map that had been opened some time ago. Seeing several big dots just after arriving at the city makes Ren Qingquan have the illusion that martial artist practitioners are dime a dozen. As he continued to use [Scan] as the carriage advanced, most of those dots are Martial Apprentice and Martial Master and occasional Martial Grandmaster mixed in.

Arriving at a five storied inn, Ren Qingquan and his group entered it. When Xiao Ling went forward to book their room, Ren Qingquan could hear the price of the room which is close to ten times more expensive compared to the cost of his stay in Bear Forest City which already included reimbursement for the wall Xiao Ling exploded. Which is probably an insanely high price as Ren Qingquan could see Xiao Ling's expression turning ugly.

As the guard placed his luggage, Xiao Ling followed Ren Qingquan into the shopping street in Wind Bamboo City. Looking at the stalls and stores selling basic needs like food, only a few normal people come and trade there. The main attraction in this city during Martial Spirit Sect's disciple recruitment test is the stall opened by martial artists that flocked to join the test or just selling their trinket for money.

The things they sell are extremely diverse. From precious herbs to concoct medicine, minerals used to forge treasured weapons, some part of ferocious beasts, and even things excavated from ruins.

With the system's map active, Ren Qingquan went like a fish in water as he walked from one stall to another purchasing many things that contain a lot of energy. Together with Xiao Ling who is in charge of bargaining, Ren Qingquan doesn't need to be afraid of being ripped off. While at it, Ren Qingquan also tried to learn about how much money he actually has by observing the ongoing trade around and Ren Qingquan came to a conclusion. He is rich, as in extremely super filthy rich.

Ren Qingquan couldn't understand what goes in Ren Shiluo's mind as he gave him such a massive amount of money. This time, Ren Qingquan purchased more than a hundred items from herbs to trinkets like statues and broken swords. While going back to the inn, Ren Qingquan also took some herbs and 'ate' them in front of Xiao Ling.

Actually, Ren Qingquan used [Devour] on those items as they entered his mouth. Ren Qingquan does that as an excuse for the soon going to be missing items he has purchased and his sudden increase in strength. 

After seeing the corpse at the previous inn, Ren Qingquan finally truly realized how dangerous this world is and steeled his heart to quickly increase his strength, even if he needed to show some of the system's abilities. Especially, soon he needed to join Martial Spirit Sect without being accompanied by any guard nor Xiao Ling the missile. Every time he thinks about it, Ren Qingquan loses some of his sense of safety.

Looking as Ren Qingquan ate the precious herb they had just purchased, Xiao Ling quickly stopped him.

"Young master, what are you doing! A medicinal herb must be consumed after being concocted into medicine to discard its impurities, otherwise it might cause your martial arts practice to slow down."

"No worries, this is necessary to practice a technique I got recently from my dream called 'Mountain and Sea Swallowing Technique'."

Of course that mountain-whatnot technique is something Ren Qingquan just thought of and is used as a scapegoat for his [Devour]. Due to the crazy creativity of people in this world, there exist many weird techniques that require outside assistance especially by swallowing things. 

For example, the 'Mountain Trembling Technique' fatty Zhang used requires the practitioner to eat a lot of food every day and store the fat in their body to be used to assist transforming their blood energy into vital energy. Which is probably practiced by fatty Zhang as an excuse to eat a lot.

There is also a technique stored in the system library that requires the user to practice it while doing 'night exercise' to gain double the results.

After eating the herb, Ren Qingquan purchased a vital energy from the system, causing his realm to finally reach First Stage Martial Master right in front of Xiao Ling.

'System panel'

[Name: Ren Qingquan

Realm: First Stage Martial Master

Point: 23

Technique: Body Tempering (Martial Saint)

Skills: Tiger subduing palm(Middle),

Feather step (Low), Iron cloth (Low).

System function: Devour, Shop, Scan, Library, Map, Calculate, System Storage (10 cubic meters).]

Xiao Ling:(๏_๏)

As Ren Qingquan walked while being stared at by Xiao Ling like a rare animal. Ren Qingqyan could hear Xiao Ling mumble something without using movement and blood circulation.

'whoops, guess I forgot to fake the movement. I just hope Xiao Ling could fill it with her own imagination.'

Just like that, Ren Qingquan continued to swallow a broken sword and several other things he purchased until they arrived at the inn.

Entering the inn, one of his guards told him that his third uncle was waiting in one of the private rooms and so Ren Qingquan left the items he purchased to Xiao Ling and immediately followed that guard and entered the room where his uncle was.

His third uncle is the elder of Martial Spirit Sect, his is a man of few words which is the exact opposite of his father Ren Shiluo. But somehow they have a close relationship.

"Greetings, third uncle"

Cupping his hand, Ren Qingquan greeted his uncle who had stopped eating due to his entry. His uncle looked like a middle aged man with some resemblance to his father while having a cold temperament.

"mmhmm"

"Father sent me here to join the Martial Spirit Sect. I also wished to join the test and competition to battle against my peers before entering Martial Spirit Sect. "

"mmhmm"

What Ren Qingquan answered is just another nod. Seeing as his uncle seems to have no intention to speak after some time passed, Ren Qingquan chose to continue and talked with him.

"Uncle, is there anything else you need to say to me? Or is there something for me to take note of for the test?"

"Nope."

"Then, I will return to my room."

"Okay. Don't forget, the test starts next week"

As Ren Qingquan left, he met with Xiao Ling to take the things he purchased and continued to use [Devour].

Just like that, one week soon passed with Ren Qingquan spending time on a cycle of shopping and swallowing. He also purchased a poison that killed the guy in his previous inn for 20 whole points. From the system's description, that poison is extremely dangerous as it could kill even Martial Lord. The price hurt him but having a trump card that could kill Martial Lord is good enough. Although the system seems to warn him not to use it randomly.

Looking at his point that has grown quite a lot, Ren Qingquan showed a satisfied smile.

[Name: Ren Qingquan

Realm: First Stage Martial Master

Point: 45

Technique: Body Tempering (Martial Saint)

Skills: Tiger subduing palm(Middle),

Feather step (Low), Iron cloth (Low).

System function: Devour, Shop, Scan, Library, Map, Calculate, System Storage (10 cubic meters).]

Looking at his point that increased by 42, which is approximately 6 points a day. Ren Qingquan blessed whoever came up with the idea of a shopping street.

As the time of the test has begun, tens of arenas have been built at the city's central plaza. In the arena, there are several things that will be used for the test.

As more and more people arrived, Ren Qingquan could see his third uncle jumping and floating into the arena located in the center. With his arrival, the noisy crowd slowly grew quiet.

"The Martial Spirit Sect annual disciple recruitment test begins."

After saying that, Third Uncle immediately floated back and disappeared. Soon, some people wearing Martial Spirit Sect uniforms arrived and announced the test's rules.

"The test is separated into three categories based on age. Those below 16 will start first, followed by those below 25 and below 40 years old. For those who wished to enter the test, please line up to have your age checked."

Upon hearing the announcement, Ren Qingquan lined up next to the disciple holding a sign board with an age check written. After just lining up for five minutes, Ren Qingquan soon arrived in front of the examiner.

As Ren Qingquan looked at the examiner's eye, he could see it glowing with some light and soon he was judged to pass the age check.

"Pass"

With the word from the examiner, Ren Qingquan proceed to the arena.

Arriving at the arena, it is separated into three sections with three different test equipment. A set of boulders with different sizes, a huge log tied to a pole, and a device Ren Qingquan isn't sure about.

"The three tests tested are strength, endurance, and agility. As long as your score goes above 10, you pass."

With the examiner's explanation, Ren Qingquan walked into the set of boulders. The boulder here is written with different numbers to show its weight. Starting from 0.5 stone which is 30 kg to 10 stone which is equal to 600kg with a difference of 0.5 stone per boulder.

Pulling the stone with 2.5 written, Ren Qingquan successfully pulled it after some effort. Next the examiner asked a question.

"Do you want to try a higher weight or continue to the next test?"

"Let's go to the next test."

Next, Ren Qingquan walked into that mysterious device. Standing inside a circle at the center of a U shaped wall with many holes, the examiner seemed to see his confusion and explained.

"Someone will push some wooden stick from the hole in this wall, you need to evade those wooden sticks without being touched nor leaving the circle for as long as possible. We will begin anytime you are ready."

"Alright, I am ready."

With that, Ren Qingquan could immediately see several wooden sticks coming his way. 

Ren Qingquan immediately moved just like a feather that is being blown from the wind caused by the wooden stick's movement. What he used just now is his Feather Step skill which never got the chance to act since his transmigration.

After close to a minute, the amount of stick targeting him at once already amounted to ten with many of them targeting his handsome face, Ren Qingquan blundered and caused one of the sticks to hit him in the leg. With this, the agility test is completed.

"You have collected 14 points and passed, do you want to continue to the next assessment or do you want to leave? Please note, the amount of points you get here doesn't matter as long as you achieve the minimum."

Looking at some of the arena where the endurance test already started, Ren Qingquan chose to leave.

That crazy endurance test actually asks the examinee to get beaten by that large log for as much as possible. Ren Qingquan even saw one of the examiners being sent flying because that guy couldn't maintain his balance.

As he is one of the earlier people that finished the test, Ren Qingquan needed to wait until the others finished and healed their wounds. Which might require several hours.

***

Consciousness space

I have scanned the poison on that guy killed by Ren Qingchen. Not only that, I also used the remnant soul reading function that has been added to [Scan] a long time ago. From that guy's memory, he seems to think the killer is someone from the Emperor's assassination squad due to the special poison only the emperor's assassination group should know. I also found out that poison could actually kill Martial Emperors if they are careless and guaranteed to kill even Martial Lords. That is why I warned Ren Qingquan but still sold that poison to him nevertheless as a trump card.

Chapter 12. One Fatty Per Person

When evening almost arrived, the test has finally been completed. From the thousands of people trying, only slightly more than forty of them are left including those from under twenty five and under forty year old category. As soon as the last test is done, the examiner together with several other people quickly dismantled the item they used to test the candidate including the arena used so those watching could get clearer view.

The tests previously used seemed easy, but that is mainly because Ren Qingquan is already in the Martial Master realm. If he is like the other successful candidates which mostly have around Sixth Stage Martial Apprentice realm, then Ren Qingquan might need to take some beating from the endurance test to pass.

One might be confused as to why most of the people around his age are still at around Sixth Stage Martial Apprentice Realm if generating a strand of vital energy using 'Body Tempering Technique' which is already one of the slowest technique only require Ren Qingquan to practice for thirty day.

It is because before the Martial Apprentice stage, there is still an unofficial preparation stage and initiation stage. Preparation stages are to teach the children how to read and train their body as they wait for it to grow, otherwise if they started practicing martial arts at extremely young age, it will cause the body to deform due to lacking blood energy used to grow.

The initiation phase requires them to sense the existence of blood energy, learn how to circulate blood energies following the technique and whatnot. When they started to generate the first strand of vital energy and getting familiar with their technique. Those people might already be around fourteen to fifteen years old.

Combined with their talent and resources that is mostly lower than him, generating a strand of vital energy might require them to spend similar time as Ren Qingquan that used 'Body Tempering Technique' which caused them to stay at Middle Martial Apprentice stage.

After gathering the disciple candidate that passed the test, his third uncle showed himself again.

"Follow me"

With that, Ren Qingquan and the other disciple candidate followed his uncle into a carriage to enter Martial Spirit Sect's main city and join the competition part of the test. 

'Carriage? I thought there would be some magical means of transportation.'

While thinking like that, Ren Qingquan entered one of the carriages where the candidates from below sixteen years old gather.

Before entering, Ren Qingquan could see Xiao Ling and three guards riding a horse while guarding the carriage from the Martial Spirit Sect he is going to be riding. The other three guards probably guard his carriage that is left in this town.

As Ren Qingquan sat on one of the empty chairs, Ren Qingquan could hear the guy next to him speak.

"Hello there, brother. I have been observing you throughout the whole test. Are you already at the peak of Martial Apprentice? My name is Bo Xingfei, an Eight stage Martial Apprentice. You could call me fatty Bo"

"Hello there, you could call me Ren Qingquan. As for me, I have just recently broken through into the Martial Master realm."

As Ren Qingquan greeted fatty Bo, Ren Qingquan sighed.

'Am I perhaps a fatty magnet?'

Just like that, Ren Qingquan spent two whole days sitting and hearing fatty Bo's chatter.

Finally arriving at Martial Spirit city which is located between Martial Spirit Sect and the infamous Endless Mountain, Ren Qingquan departed from the carriage with fatty Bo following him. 

As they still have one hour before the competition starts, Ren Qingquan went to the shopping street to purchase things as usual this time accompanied by fatty Bo.

Upon arriving at one of the stalls opened by a martial artist, a familiar door smacking sound could be heard from the store selling noodles next to him.

*Boom*

"Fatty Zhang?"

"Brother Ren! Are you also here to join the Martial Spirit Sect?"

Ren Qingquan could see fatty Zhang pat his fat stomach and walk to his place before glancing at fatty Bo. Upon seeing fatty Zhang, fatty Bo clicked his tongue and bid farewell to Ren Qingquan

"Brother Qingquan, it seems I couldn't spend time together with you as I just remembered something I need to do here."

???

What is happening? A fatty battle? Is there some kind of rule between fatty foods that he doesn't know of? Some kind of one fatty per person rule?

"Brother Zhang, I am a bit confused here. Could you explain what is going on?"

"Is that guy the sixth young master of the Bo family? The Bo family is one of the top families from the Great Flame Empire and also our Zhang family's business rival as they also mainly dabble in medicine. It seems recently one of my siblings in the capital has been trying to invade some of their markets in the Great Flame Empire causing them to dislike everyone from the Zhang family."

Hearing Zhang's explanation makes Ren Qingquan relieved. At least it is not caused by any weird fatty rules he thinks.

"By the way, fatty Zhang, are you also joining the Martial Spirit Sect's competition here?"

"Of course not, I am just waiting for the test to be done before immediately entering the sect with this group. My Sixth aunt is an elder here and has prepared everything for me. All I need to do is wait, afterall I know my limit and joining this competition is just asking for a beating."

With the fatty accompanying him changing, Ren Qingquan proceeded to continue his shopping spree until another voice stopped him.

"Young master, there you are!"

From several stalls behind them, Xiao Ling arrived together with three other guards. Looking at fatty Zhang next to him, Xiao Ling frowned but still kept silent because she didn't want to cause ruckus outside.

Just like that, the competition will soon start. Martial Spirit Sect's competition is mainly used to help the higher ups look for good seedlings and allowing the genius that reached top 16 to focus on practice by skipping the rank of servant disciple.

Entering the city's center where six martial arts arenas have been built, Ren Qingquan entered the waiting area for participants. As the waiting area is separated into three according to the age group, Ren Qingquan entered the one for participants less than sixteen. Inside the room there are already more than three hundred people waiting.

Soon, someone comes and makes them take a lot to determine their enemy. Looking at the number 3 written on it, Ren Qingquan is a bit nervous as the battle will start from the pair with the smallest number.

Not long later, Ren Qingquan could hear a loud voice that has been amplified by a martial skill.

"Participant with numbers one to six, please enter your corresponding arena!"

Ren Qingquan and eleven other people entered the arena. As Ren Qingquan and his enemy entered arena number three, a huge crowd consisting both participant and nonparticipant slowly gathered around them.

Looking at his enemy, she is a pretty girl with a cold face and pale blue hair on her body. She wore a white full body armor and sword scabbard on her waist.

"Third princess! Wooh!"

A loud cheering voice came from the people surrounding this arena. Hearing their scream, Ren Qingquan is disappointed.

'I thought they were here to cheer for me.'

"Third Princess! Third Princess!"

"Third Princess, show that brat the might of a genius Martial Master!"

"Go third princess! Beat that pretty boy until his parents couldn't recognize him!"

'Hey, you! I have remembered your face. Don't let me see you outside.'

As the examiner entered the arena, he talked some nonsense about the spirit of martial arts and not going too far during battle before starting the battle.

Activating his [Scan] Ren Qingquan looked at Third Princess's data.

[Human: ???, unable to devour

Age: 15 

Realm: Second Stage Martial Master 

Technique: ??? (ice attribute)

Please study more about martial arts,anatomy, and other arts related to humans for further details.]

Before Ren Qingquan could understand what it meant by ice attribute, the Third Princess pulled her sword. And prepared to dash toward him.

As soon as she pulled her sword, Ren Qingquan returned to his senses and screamed at the top of his lungs.

"WAIT! WAIT! I thought weapons were forbidden here?"

The third princess and examiner looked at him as if he was a moron.

"Of course not, otherwise how would a swordsman fight? They already spent time to increase their familiarity with their personal sword. Don't you think asking them to not use it and decrease their combat power to more than half unfair?"

Seeing as he was actually seriously asking about it, the examiner explained it to him.

'Then don't you guys ever think it is unfair for those using palm and fist technique?'

"Then, may I go and take my weapon?"

"Enough. Stop dillydallying and just fight!"

With that, the third princess immediately dashed toward Ren Qingquan while circulating her blood energy.

"Frozen Petal Blade!"

accompanied by her scream, the sword in the third princess's hand started to generate mist caused by low temperature.

Activating his Iron Cloth skill and focusing all of its defense on his right palm, Ren Qingquan parried the third princess's sword using the back of his palm. As he slapped his hand on the flat side of the third princess's sword, Ren Qingquan could feel the temperature on his hand quickly decrease and his blood energy circulation slowing down.

Quickly retreating while activating Feather Step, Ren Qingquan evaded another attack from the third princess's sword. He started circulating blood energy following his Tiger Subduing Palm and used a palm strike targeting the third princess's abdomen right after she slashed at him using her full strength.

*Dong*

Accompanied by a low colliding sound, Ren Qingquan could feel his hand hurting as it hit a hard metallic surface.

Ren Qingquan: ๏︿๏

As Ren Qingquan waved his hand that had been hurt from the collision, the third princess got the chance to take her breath, and waved the sword toward him. 

"I surrender." 

With a word from Ren Qingquan, the examiner quickly stopped the third princess's sword. Soon, Ren Qingquan could feel third princess's gaze.

"Hmph. Weakling."

As the third princess said that, Ren Qingquan could feel the nerve on his head going to explode.

'Little shit, if not to keep my trump card i would smash the ten tons of metal in system storage on your head! Also, you are wearing freaking full body armor! How do you expect me to win without any weapons?!'

That is right, the reason Ren Qingquan purchased metals previously is to be used as a means to smash others.

'Calm down, Ren Qingquan. You are a mature adult, don't let a little girl's words anger you.'

Soon, the spectators started to comment on the fight.

"Not only is the third princess beautiful, she is also extremely talented and has high combat ability."

"As expected from the royal family of the Eternal Snow Empire. Her vital energy actually contained a freezing attribute!"

"What a pity she didn't beat that pretty boy too hard."

Before leaving the arena, Ren Qingquan kicked a stone using all his strength 'accidentally' toward the guys screaming for the third princess to beat his face.

With that, Ren Qingquan lost the mood to enter the next competition for the loser's bracket and just watched the competition near his third uncle together with Xiaoling, fatty Zhang, and the guard. As he sat, Ren Qingquan vowed to learn many skills and create many equipment so he could smack others with differences in equipment.

***

During this time Ren Qingquan started to enter the arena.

Ren Qingchen quickly ran to the competition site while cursing those greedy people. When he arrived in Martial Spirit City, Ren Qingchen went to the shopping street to try his luck and try to get a bargain. Who knows, after he found and purchased a metal that is suitable to be used to forge a sword, a random young master actually tried to forcefully buy it from him for a dirt cheap price.

Unwilling to agree, Ren Qingchen chose to fight it out with that young master and give him a beating. But, one of his guards is an old guy at peak grandmaster realm causing Ren Qingchen to waste a lot of time trying to escape.

As he found the person in charge of handing the lot, Ren Qingchen immediately pulled one of the papers inside, luckily the number he pulled was not the one that had already started fighting. Otherwise he will be determined to give up the competition.

Entering the top sixteen is of incredibly high importance for him. Not only does it save his time from doing useless work as a servant disciple, starting as an outer disciple will make him rise in rank faster. Which increased his safety against Ren Shiluo's targeting.

Sitting in the waiting room, Ren Qingchen ate a blood energy pill which could recover his blood energy and waited for his turn.

That is right, Ren Qingchen still thought Ren Qingquan died from crying after losing the battle against him just like in his previoreus life. Which is indeed true if not for transmigrator Ren Qingquang taking his place.

Chapter 13. Finally Entering A New Map

Except for the fact that the guy screaming for the third princess to beat him is actually a participant and he got beaten pretty badly by his opponent. The early part until the quarter finals of the competition have nothing to note as its mostly one side beating the other senseless due to difference in level. Even if there is a battle of equal strength, they are just at Martial Apprentice realm and beating each other randomly

Quickly, the competition entered the semi finals. And just like what Ren Qingquan expected, Third Princess also entered the semi finals. Afterall, no one could beat her with that full body armor.

Ren Qingquan even doubted whether a Martial Grandmaster could destroy that full body armor of hers. During one of the fight Ren Qingquan could see her armor sparked after being hit by a massive double sided axe. That's right, it just sparked, leaving a little scratch.

Together with the Third Princess is Ren Qingchen and another male and female participant.

'Ayooo. How come I see him so often?"

While Ren Qingquan is lost in his own thoughts, the battle between Ren Qingchen and the male participant has been completed, with Ren Qingchen suppressing the other side with his much higher martial arts realm. The last time he checked, Ren Qingchen was already at fifth stage Martial Master. With his speed of realm increase, Ren Qingchen might have reached the seventh or eighth stage already. Due to the distance, Ren Qingquan is unable to use [Scan] on him.

The same also applies with the Third Princess's fight. The only difference being Third Princess suppressed her opponent using her high spec equipment. Together with her opponent's main weapon which is a whip, Ren Qingquan doubts that the thing could even leave a scratch at her armor.

Soon, only Ren Qingchen and the Third Princess are left in the arena.

As soon as the battle commenced, Ren Qingquan could see Ren Qingchen quickly pulled his sword. After circulating his skill, a red color like burning steel could be seen at the sword. As Ren Qingchen waved his sword several time after dashing toward Third Princess, a crisscrossing crimson light is created from the afterimage.

Meanwhile, the Third Princess used her sword to defend against Ren Qingchen's attack. Their sword's collision somehow generated a cloud of mist like water vapor. 

Just during the first collision, due to their massive difference in martial arts level, Third Princess tumbled and lost her footing. Quickly taking that opportunity Ren Qingchen slashed his sword at Third Princess's armor. That slash actually successfully caused her armor to be split without causing much damage on Third Princess herself.

Looking at her armor's abdomen section that had been slashed, the Third Princess's face slowly paled and then turned red.

"I surrender"

With her declaration, the final has been completed.

Looking at their battle, his thought accidentally come out of his mind

"Mhm. I ship them"

"what?" Xiao Ling who heard it asked in confusion

"Nothing. I just think with how that Third Princess blushed after losing against Ren Qingchen, she probably either fell in love with him or utterly hated him."

After the final, it is soon time for those under 25 to fight. The participant for that age group is half the amount compared to the one under 16. But their battle is extremely intense with all of them having strength above the fifth stage of Martial Master Realm. The winner of that competition is a woman that could do weird contortionist things. During one of her fights, Ren Qingquan sees her fold her body backward to evade a sword attack before counter attacking by kicking her enemy.

As for the battle for those under 40, they are skipped as those people are already at Peak Martial Grandmaster realm. One of the uncles that joined the test together with him at Wind Bambo city is even a Martial Saint. If they fought in that arena it might get shattered.

As his uncle is not an examiner for the next test, when it was already close to evening, Ren Qingquan bid farewell to Xiao Ling and went with his uncle to ride a giant bird to the Martial Spirit Sect. Together with them is Fatty Zhang and his aunt. 

Finally, a ride worthy of the world with extraordinary power. This giant bird is at Martial Grandmaster Realm and is used by the Martial Spirit Sect's higher ups to travel between the sect and Martial Spirit City. It is somehow only capable of moving between the sect and city though. Which is why Third uncle went to and from Wind Bamboo City using a carriage.

Riding this bird is an extra benefit for those joining using a backdoor as they don't need to join the last test which is to enter the Martial Spirit Sect itself. This test is used to help some elders or peak masters to choose suitable potential disciples.

It's unknown what the founder of the Martial Spirit Sect is thinking to choose a group of mountains located between the Endless Mountain's outer and inner area as its location. 

The Endless mountain is separated into three areas with increased difficulty just like in a game. The outer area almost spans throughout the whole continent, which almost separated the continent into several parts with some openings here and there that are used as a road connecting the empires to each other. The Endless Mountain also separated the empire with the archipelago on the southern side of the continent. As for the inner and core area, it is much smaller in size and bordered the Martial Spirit Sect and the archipelago.

The outer area of the Endless Mountain contains ferocious beast from Martial Apprentice stage to Martial Grandmaster stage which make trading between empires dangerous as some ferocious beast might come out of the Mountain randomly.

The inner area of the Endless Mountain contains ferocious beasts from Martial Apprentice until Martial Lord Realm. Meanwhile its core is where the Martial Emperor level ferocious beast resides.

While in the bird, Ren Qingquan opened the system shop that has been refreshed and found something called unknown metal.

[Daily shop (refreshed at 20:47:26)

Water, 1 point. Description: normal drinkable water.

Unknown metal, 2 points. Description: Metal used in Third Princess's armor. (1 kg)

Blood and flesh energy, 1 point. Description: contain a lot of blood and flesh energy, excess energy will be lost.

Sunlight, 1 point. description: blinding light, contains some heat.

Permanent shop:

Vital Energy, 2 points.

Poison, 20 points.]

Ren Qingquan immediately purchased it to add it to the permanent shop. While at it, Ren Qingquan also purchased Blood and flesh energy to recover during battle.

Opening his system panel, Ren Qingquan could see the point that has recently increased and decreased once again.

[Name: Ren Qingquan

Realm: First Stage Martial Master

Point: 67

Technique: Body Tempering (Martial Saint)

Skills: Tiger subduing palm(Middle),

Feather step (Low), Iron cloth (Low).

System function: Devour, Shop, Scan, Library, Map, Calculate, System Storage (10 cubic meters).]

After the sky darkened, Ren Qingquan could see the Martial Spirit Sect that consisted of several groups of buildings standing on top of mountains. As the bird slowly descended, it soon arrived at a designated empty area in one of the mountains in the Martial Spirit Sect.

"Just follow the elder Zhang now."

With that word, the Third uncle went and disappeared quickly.

"Wait! Uncle, I thought you were going to introduce me around the place?" 

"Hahaha. That old virgin actually ran away from me so quickly, leaving you alone. Sigh, as time passes, I still remember you being so small the last time I visited you. Alright, I will introduce you all together with my family's fatty."

Ren Qingquan quickly thanked her.

"Thank you, Elder Zhang."

"Mmhm, no problem. Also, you might need to change how you call me into aunt soon~"

Elder Zhang led them to several places like the disciple registration hall to get his disciple's badge and the key and location of his room. There are also two other people wearing an older uniform with a youngster next to them. After exchanging glances they keep silent. Afterall opening a backdoor is not a glorious thing even though it is already a common secret tradition here.

He also visited places like the exchange hall to sell items for sect coins or trading coins for items. There is also an open stall for students to trade with each other, a mission hall to accept missions, a sect library that requires sect coins to enter, and several other buildings. Due to martial artists having some degree of night vision, even after it's dark like now. There is still a lot of activity inside the sect.

Finally arriving at the disciple's quarter, Elder Zhang left him and fatty Zhang here. As they entered at around the same time, Ren Qingquan's room and Fatty Zhang's are located next to each other. Entering his room, Ren Qingquan finally slept

***

Consciousness space

Looking at the giant bird Ren Qingquan rode to arrive at the sect, I madly activated [Scan] on it using my full power which is when the items are located within one meter of Ren Qingquan.

I separated [Scan]'s power into three based on its range. Within 100 meters range is the maximum distance where I could only sense some energy, within half of maximum distance which is 50 meters where I could differentiate the item scanned or sense some of their attribute and lastly at 1% the maximum which is 1 meter allow me to use X-Ray like vision to scan books or creature's interior including their energy circulation. It is also the distance required to [Scan] the memory of the remnant soul.

I scanned that bird using my 1 meter range which allowed me to see its whole biological data and stored it in [Storage]. With this, I should be able to create a living bird by spending energy. After I finished scanning the bird, I opened my own panel.

[Name: System

Skill:[Storage],[Transfer],[Calculate],[Absorb], [Scan], [Create],[Anchor]

Energy:17660

Daily income: 10 Energy]

One week ago, after thinking about it. I used [Anchor] on yet another set of stones at a river Ren Qingquan pass by. It increased my daily income to 10 energy. In addition to the point Ren Qingquan gained from devouring things, My total amount of energy increased by more than 200 in two weeks. 

On a side note, the result of my experiment with that fish was out several days ago. When the fish died, I lost my ability to activate [Scan] using it. It seems [Anchor] is connected to the concept of a living 'fish' rather than its material body.

Chapter 14. Second Princess Named Third Princess

Not long after Ren Qingquan left with the bird.

In Martial Spirit City.

An elder in charge of the last test loudly announced the rule of this test.

"Every participant could get one map from the examiner. Also, try to kill some ferocious beast and collect their hearts on your journey to the sect as the sect coins gained from this test is doubled and counted as a newbie benefit. The test will last for three days, if you haven't arrived at the sect within three days, you could still join. But, you will lose the right to double your coins."

Immediately, Ren Qingchen took the map given by one of the examiners, then he proceeded to purchase a tent and several dried foods in the city. That is when he heard a female sound from behind him.

"Hello there, do you mind if we travel together?"

Behind him, the Third Princess called into him.

"mhm."

Ren Qingchen nodded, afterall Third Princess is the strongest in his age group. Having her tag along will make them have an easier fight against a ferocious beast.

After preparing everything, Ren Qingchen and the Third Princess proceed to enter Endless Mountain. As they are currently only at the periphery of Endless Mountain without much danger, the Third Princess started to talk with him.

"By the way, I still don't know your name."

"Don't you think it's rude to ask someone his name without introducing your name first?"

"Ah? I apologize. I thought you already knew my name, after all those people keep on screaming my name already. My surname is Jing and my name is Third Princess, you may call me Third Princess Jing. I am the second princess of Eternal Snow Empire"

"Huh?"

"Sigh. Most people are confused when they first hear it. I am named Third Princess due to my imperial father's hobby to overturn tradition. When I was born, my Imperial father got enlightened and wished to name me using some weird name. But my mother the Empress successfully stopped Him, after she threw some tantrum both sides compromised and named me according to my position as third princess. Changing the naming tradition in process."

"But don't you introduce yourself as the second princess of the Eternal Snow Empire? Why are you named Third Princess?"

Ren Qingchen somehow got absorbed into the Third Princess's story and asked a question.

"Oh, it's because one year after I was born, they found out the eldest princess is actually the imperial consort's child with someone else that secretly entered the imperial harem. Eldest princess then lost her life title, and got removed from imperial genealogy. So, every princess is raised by one rank. It also saved my other younger sisters from being named like me."

Soon, they already ran for three hours. Ren Qingchen could hear a rustling sound coming from one of the bushes. Rising their guard, the Third Princess slashed her sword at the bush.

*Hiss*

A long waist sized snake suddenly jumped at them. Third Princess quickly ducked immediately followed by a slash from Ren Qingchen that separated the snake into two vertically. After helping the Third Princess to stand up, Ren Qingchen collected the snake heart into the special airtight bag he had purchased to block the bloody smell from making other creatures surround them.

The both of them continued their journey while beating several ferocious beasts at Martial Master realm or below while escaping from ferocious beast at Martial Grandmaster realm.

On the second night, Ren Qingchen could already see the mountain where the Martial Spirit Sect is located. Both him and Third Princess have gained a total of 14 ferocious beast hearts from two days of travel. It just shows how many beasts exist in Endless Mountain.

As he entered the Martial Spirit Sect, Ren Qingchen let out a relieved breath.

'Right now, Ren Shiluo should be busy repairing and investigating the mine I collapsed. This should give me enough time to look for a suitable backer in the Martial Spirit Sect. With the Martial Spirit Sect's status as guardian of mankind from ferocious beasts and a strong backer, Ren Shiluo shouldn't dare to target me until his wife comes out.'

That is right, the main reason Ren Shiluo sent Ren Qingquan to the Martial Spirit Sect could be placed in Ren Qingchen. It is because he caused the mine Ren Shiluo was in charge of to collapse. In addition to the rebellion that has been advanced by Ren Qingchen.

Ren Qingchen and the Third Princess went to the disciple registration hall to get their disciple badge. Then they went to the sect exchange hall to trade ferocious beast hearts they collected to sect coins. After sharing half of the six hundred coins gained equally, Ren Qingchen and Third Princess separated.

***

Martial Spirit Sect's disciple quarter

One day before Ren Qingchen arrived.

Ren Qingquan quickly woke up and immediately went to the exchange office. As a member of the Martial Spirit Sect, they have a chance to trade silver for sect coins within a limited quantity every month. After trading one thousand silver for one thousand sect coins, Ren Qingquan ran to the sect library.

Right now, Ren Qingquan is not someone that is blind about money anymore. One hundreed silver could be used by a commoner to live luxuriously for a whole month. One hundred silver could also be used to purchase 10 stone worth of metal. Although it is a huge amount for a normal person, the one thousand silver traded for sect coins is just small change for him with that almost endless money of his.

The Martial Spirit Sect's Library is also a five-storied pagoda like the one at Ren family's house. The only difference being the Martial Spirit Sect's pagoda is bigger and has the same details from top to bottom unlike Ren family's with different details for the fifth floor.

Arriving at the first floor of the sect library which is the free section, Ren Qingquan immediately used [Scan] on all the books. The books stored on the first floor contain basic information about this world. For example the map of the continent, detailed map of the empires, and several other maps. There are also books describing things like medicine, ferocious beasts, ores, and other precious natural resources. There is absolutely no novels unlike a certain library

(¬_¬)

After scanning the whole floor, Ren Qingquan entered the second floor and third floor which stored skills with many wonderful uses. For example, X-Ray like skills probably exist on this floor.

This time, he is stopped at the stair by a guarding disciple. That disciple told Ren Qingquan that he must spend 100 sect coins every hour inside. If he wants to ask the elder in charge to copy it, he must pay an additional 100 sect coins. So, for those searching for a book, they must leave at least 100 coins otherwise the time spent searching will come to waste.

Nodding and giving his thank to that disciple, Ren Qingquan stepped into the second floor. Giving 900 sect coin he have to the elder sitting, Ren Qingquan started his journey to [Scan] all the book there. As Ren Qingquan walked quickly and just occasionally took a book and read its synopsis, When Ren Qingquan finished scanning everything on the second and third floor, he still had slightly less than half an hour left.

As there was nothing else to do, Ren Qingquan left the library and entered the stall where disciples usually trade. As this is the outer sect area, most disciples here are at the Martial Master realm with some Martial Grandmaster realm. Because to enter as an outer disciple requires someone to achieve Martial Master realm. Except for those entering through the backdoor like fatty Zhang.

Purchasing a bed and several dried foods, Ren Qingquan spent most of his coins, leaving only dozens of them. Afterall, the living cost in Martial Sect is incredibly expensive to push their disciple to kill more ferocious beasts and destroy any potential of beast tide happening.

With that, night already arrived and Ren Qingquan went to his residence. Upon arriving at his residence, Ren Qingquan opened his system panel.

[Name: Ren Qingquan

Realm: First Stage Martial Master

Point: 65

Technique: Body Tempering (Martial Saint)

Skills: Tiger subduing palm(Middle),

Feather step (Low), Iron cloth (Low).

System function: Devour, Shop, Scan, Library, Map, Calculate, System Storage (10 cubic meters).]

Ren Qingquan spent two points to turn his collected metal into a weapon to be used to smash others. After crafting most of the metal into a shape that screams danger, Ren Qingquan proceeds to ask the system about the system map.

'System, could I upgrade the distance for the system map?'

[Ding! Host may increase the system map distance by upgrading 'Scan'. Increasing the map's maximum range requires 1 point every meter until 1000 meter radius. Map's adventure mode and Scan's distance will also increase accordingly.]

'Ohhh, Nice then. Although the price is pretty crazy, at least it is upgradeable.'

While at it, Ren Qingquan asked the system whether he could increase the force of [Devour]

[Ding! It is indeed possible to increase the power of 'Devour' by spending points. There is no limit to the increase in strength, with more points spent, the stronger 'Devour' will be. But the system recommends the host to not repeat the previous act of devouring water as it might cause imbalance in this world's ecosystem in the long term.]

Seeing the system's reply, Ren Qingquan feels relieved before feeling a bit weird.

'System, did you forget your own name? You are called the World Devouring System. Why do you suddenly care about the ecosystem?

[...]

'Don't ellipses me. I have my suspicion since you used sarcasm not long after I transmigrated here. Are you perhaps sentient?'

[Do you wish to activate full calculation mode to answer that question? Note: during calculation mode, system function might get shut down.]

Ren Qingquan panicked a little.

'Cancel it, cancel it. Then system, what are you and where did you come from?'

[The system is a system. It comes from earth together with the host.]

'the one with M*Don**d's? A*p*e? Wi*do*s?'

[Indeed, the one with those brands. Also, if this will make the host more relieved. According to the system's calculation, upon the host's death the system might disappear. So, I hope the host will try to survive as long as possible]

Hearing that, Ren Qingquan chose to believe it. Afterall, being on guard against your own cheat is tiring and Ren Qingquan is the type of person that will choose to surrender to fate once something incredibly bad occurs. A true to the bone salted fish.

***

Consciousness space

Holy shieeeeeeet I misspoke and got caught red handed. Why does his mind get so sharp so suddenly?

Σ(っ°Д °; )っ

Even someone like Ren Qingquan could detect my sentience. Guess if there is a next host, I must decrease the amount of unnecessary words I spoke. But it's too hard, afterall the only person I could speak with is the people i anchored into. Without those little notes, I am afraid I might go insane.