"If the inner injury acts up in the future and the True Qi runs wild, you can swallow this talisman with warm water and follow this method of breathing control to alleviate abdominal pain, preventing you from being possessed by demons and endangering your life."

Huangfu Yi was startled, took the talisman paper, and bowed,

"Thank you, benefactor. May I know your esteemed name? I will surely repay you one day."

The Daoist bowed and said,

"I am Zhang, just a mere loose cultivator expelled from the mountain gate, no great name worth remembering.

Besides, it's just a talisman. No need to talk about repaying. If you truly master some skills one day, just remember to find me some more rice in the future."

"... Yes, I remember."

Knowing he couldn't solve the problem of feeding tens of thousands of mouths for him, Huangfu Yi didn't disturb Daoist Zhang's night cultivation and took his leave.

Returning to the tent, Pei Yuhuan had already occupied the floor mat, sleeping in a terrible posture, snoring like a dog.

Of course, Huangfu Yi didn't squeeze with the kid on the floor mat. He sat in front of the tent and looked at the talisman paper given by the Daoist in the moonlight.

"Xuanhuang Qi-shifting Divine Skill (fragment), garbage, can be completed, Xuanhuang Qi-shifting Divine Skill, Low-grade mid-level, trash."

Hearing the system's evaluation in his mind, Huangfu Yi couldn't help but roll his eyes.

"This is garbage, that is trash, I think you are the real trash."

The system said,

"Wrong, this system is a professional evaluation system. The grade is bound to the original body of the host, belonging to entry-rank garbage, not yet qualified to call itself trash."

"You..."

Huangfu Yi was left speechless by the retort. Who would have thought that after he exhausted himself for a week at Mega Harbor, barely managing to max out 998, he ended up with such a system that's completely useless except for insults, trash...

"Learning completed, Xuanhuang Qi-shifting Divine Skill (fragment), Ninth-grade low-quality, garbage."

In the next second, Huangfu Yi felt an upheaval in his Qi Sea, like waves rising on the sea, churning up a vortex. The True Qi group blocking his lung and meridian began to flow under guidance. Although it couldn't completely assimilate the two different inner energy Qi groups yet, at least the internal strife of True Qi wasn't causing pain in his lungs anymore, slightly alleviating the discomfort in his body.

Well, it couldn't be said to be completely useless; it still had some use.

In short, now with the help of this trash system, Huangfu Yi can instantly learn all trash skills. And if one day his rating breaks through the trash level and rises to garbage, the system will also upgrade, allowing him to instantly learn all garbage skills. It will also upgrade all previously learned entry-rank garbage to low-quality garbage for free.

How should I put it, it's still... quite garbage...

"This self-learning cost 200 points, remaining available points: 13."

"Huh? What! Didn't we agree it was free! Why is it costing points?"

"Of course it's free because merit points aren't money; they're tokens."

"Uh..."

Huangfu Yi was speechless,

"So every time I learn and upgrade a skill, I have to protect Mega Harbor and then exchange merit points?

Wait, wouldn't it have been the same if I directly exchanged merit for skills back then? Why did I have to spend an extra 998 then?

Do you have any other use besides evaluating trash and garbage?"

System,

"No, but my evaluations are professional."

"You... Wait, the garbage version of Xuanhuang Qi-shifting Divine Skill only costs 100 points! Why is your trash version even more expensive?"

The system said,

"You get what you pay for. Direct exchange only provides the secret book cultivation technique; the rest requires self-refinement, time-consuming and effortful, not to mention those with incomplete talent might drive themselves to the brink of being possessed by a demon.

But the professional evaluation system can assess all the world's cultivation techniques, eliminating hidden dangers in cultivation, custom-building a new version tailored just for you. It's an indispensable divine artifact for home traveling, immortal cultivation, and ruling the world.

One hundred is the service fee."

"You! I! Sigh... there really is no such thing as a free lunch in the world..."

"Lunch? Where's the lunch? What filling?"

Pei Yuhuan groggily got up, turned his head to see Huangfu Yi kneeling on the ground sighing, and shouted,

"That candied fruit!"

Huangfu Yi replied irritably,

"Your candied fruit is dead."

Pei Yuhuan was stunned, as if she woke up from a sweet dream to the decaying stench of reality. She was silent for a moment, sitting with her legs hugged, curled up into a small ball.

Huangfu Yi looked at her pitiable state and sighed, comforting,

"Don't be afraid, that scoundrel was killed by me. When dawn breaks, we'll set off and send you back to the Pei Family.

Oh, remember to ask your father to prepare ten thousand stones of grain to thank Daoist Zhang for saving your life."

Pei Yuhuan looked up at him,

"Aren't you taking me to the Nine Yin Mountain?"

Huangfu Yi glanced at her, then at the treasure sword lying quietly beside them.

"It's called Sky Soaring, call its name and see if it responds."

Pei Yuhuan hesitated, turned her head to look at the sword, cautiously, like a cat meowing,

"Sky Soaring?"

However, the treasure sword lay quietly, moonlight like water spilling onto its blade, casting a silver glow on the ground, but did not respond at all.

Pei Yuhuan pouted,

"Why would it respond anyway? You call it."

So Huangfu Yi flipped his hand, and suddenly silvery light flowed, the sword light flickered, and in the blink of an eye, the Sky Soaring Treasure Sword flew up and fell into his palm, the sword spine emitting a faint glow, with a resonant metallic ring.

Pei Yuhuan's eyes turned red, curling up again into a ball,

"You're bullying me!"

Huangfu Yi didn't answer her, just looked at the treasure sword in his palm, gazing at the reflection of the bright moon on the blade light, lost in thought as he said,

"In my village, there's a relic of an Immortal Sword Formation. The skills I have were taught by the Sword Immortal.

With such skills, ghosts and gods dare not offend, demons dare not invade, and evil spirits steer clear, who wouldn't desire them?

Unfortunately, except for me, all who attempted to enter the formation to observe the sword were cut down by the sword light. If you calculate, more have died under the sword light than in the mouths of demons. Yet people continue to step forward to test their skills in the formation, simply because no one wants to be trapped in this icy world, living as ordinary people who could perish in the jaws of demons at any moment.

The companions who entered the formation with me, the teammates who exorcised demons by my side, the partners who shared life and death with me, each one, right before my eyes, right beside me, were sliced into bloody pieces by the sword light.

And even if I myself learned first and then tried to teach others, even with talisman painting and chanting in the same way, they still couldn't perform it. That's when I realized.

Immortal Fate cannot be forced.

It either exists or it doesn't. Just like the Pei family's accumulated assets, they would never willingly share even a bit with outsiders. The Immortal Fate understood by others, no matter how much you force yourself to attach to it, is just like catching the reflection of the moon in the water—visible but untouchable."

Huangfu Yi sheathed the sword, looked at her,

"Times are tough, you should go home and be the young lady of the house, maybe you'll live a longer life."

Pei Yuhuan shook her head,

"Father won't allow it. The word has already been put out in the mountains that the Pei Family must use ancestral property as my dowry. Father can't bear to poison me, nor is he willing to abandon the family estate.

So if I can't become an apprentice at Nine Yin Mountain this time, and can't find Grandmother, I'll have to find a Sword Immortal to follow even as a slave or maid, as long as they take me in, for there's no place for me in Jiangzhou anymore."

Huangfu Yi frowned,

"Was that person just now trying to kidnap you for marriage? East Splendor Mountain acts so overbearingly? But it doesn't make sense, why would a Mountain Man covet the mundane assets of commoners? Even if they don't marry you, your family would still offer annual tribute, no?

Besides, forming a couple is a huge karmic bond for cultivators. You haven't even cultivated a Golden Core, nor can you engage in Dual Cultivation yet, would it not be a loss to marry you so early just to raise you?"

Pei Yuhuan retorted indignantly,

"Hey! I have the qualities of a nation-toppling beauty, an appearance of a Heavenly Immortal! Plus, the Pei Family's accumulated family fortune for generations comes with me, how could marrying me be a loss?"

Huangfu Yi glanced sideways at her puffed-up bun face, looking like a pufferfish...

"What Heavenly Immortal beauty, your father is just trying to make you happy..."

"You! Humph! I may not be grown up yet, but my Pei Family has produced two Ziwei Fairy Queens! We're the family of six Honghu Fairy Commanders! The famous noble family known by all under the Ziwei Constellation!

Let me tell you, a blind man once read my fortune and said I was just born at the wrong time, otherwise, had I joined the palace selection, I would have at least been the equivalent of a White Phoenix! If I strived for it, I might have reached the peak of Ziwei Constellation! Become the dominant figure of the harem!"

"To be a dominant figure in the harem, you'd need to bring something to the table..."

Huangfu Yi rolled his eyes, hugged the sword, and lay down,

"Alright, alright, my ancestor was even a General of the Western Expedition, stop bragging, get some sleep, we have a long journey ahead tomorrow."

"You! Ahhh, you're infuriating me! You may look down on me now, but there will be a time when you'll regret it!"

Pei Yuhuan stewed in her anger for a while, but eventually fell asleep behind the reassuring silhouette of the young man.

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