"Damn, so sour,"
Chen Xia spit out an orange segment, frowning unhappily.
He didn't expect the orange he paid money for to be so sour. Back when he was a patrol officer in Weixi Town, he would have returned sour oranges like these.
But here in the realm, oranges were probably just a different variety that people liked sour.
Who's to say?
He just went out for a quick trip into the mundane world, having been right at the threshold, so breaking through to the next cultivation realm was par for the course.
Entering the mundane world was just part of the process.
Chen Xia was just bored and wanted to get out for a bit. Otherwise, he could have easily broken through to the seventh layer of the Sea Inversing Realm while sitting at home. But that would have been boring.
Carrying the bag of oranges, he pushed open the door. Zhang DaoMing was inside drinking wine. Seeing Chen Xia return, he smiled and said,
"Back so soon? You haven't gone out for a while, you should have stayed out longer."
"It was boring," Chen Xia shook his head. He deliberately held up the bag of oranges higher so that it would catch Zhang DaoMing's eye.
As expected, Zhang DaoMing looked over curiously and asked, "Are those oranges sweet?"
Chen Xia casually pulled an orange out of the bag, made a show of peeling it, popped a slice in his mouth, chewed it, and nodded, "Pretty sweet, want some?"
He held up half of the peeled orange.
Zhang DaoMing nodded, "Sure, my mouth feels nasty from the wine. I could use something sweet."
"Here you go," Chen Xia tossed over the half orange and then lowered his head, pretending nothing was amiss.
Zhang DaoMing caught it without suspicion and immediately stuffed it in his mouth and started chewing. But he soon stopped.
Silence followed.
A long silence.
Finally, Zhang DaoMing said in a deliberately calm tone, "These oranges have quite an...interesting sweetness to them."
Chen Xia spat out the orange slice in his own mouth and asked incredulously, "You really fell for that? Zhang, even a yellow dog wouldn't fall for that!"
A crushing strike indeed.
Zhang DaoMing looked at the orange peel in his hand and said nothing.
And that concludes our interlude.
Chen Xia sauntered back to his room, stretched, and started waiting for the day to pass.
When this day ended, he would gain another fortune point. Then he'd have exactly one thousand points. At that time, there would be a qualitative change in his fortune.
He wasn't sure whether the change would enhance his pill refinement abilities or his combat strength.
If it were up to him, of course he'd prefer increased combat strength.
After all, his current pill refinement skills were already good enough and didn't need significant improvement in the short term.
But combat strength was a different matter. He desperately needed more of that. Being able to defeat his opponent was more important than anything.
He hoped this shift in his fortune would be combat-related.
Sitting in his chair and resting his cheek in his palm, he gazed at the sky and waited for the moon to rise high and the sun to peek over the horizon.
A number flashed through his mind: 1.
That last point was instantly added. His total blinked to a tidy: 1000.
A gleam flashed through Chen Xia's eyes, but there was no major change. An explanatory text flashed through his mind:
【Insight: Your understanding regarding mystic arts has increased, allowing you to suddenly gain comprehension and mastery of mystic arts just by meeting the basic requirements!】
There was an additional short explanation below:
【Gaining insight into mystic arts cannot surpass one's current realm. For example, a third layer Sea Inversing Realm cultivator can only gain insight into third layer Heaven Mending Realm mystic arts at most.】
This made sense. Otherwise, it would be ridiculously heaven-defying for a Heaven Mending Realm cultivator to suddenly comprehend Saint level mystic arts.
But this 'sense' was only relative. Gaining insight into twelfth layer Heaven Mending Realm mystic arts when you were still in the first layer wasn't exactly reasonable either, was it?
For example, if you were battling someone at equal first layer Heaven Mending Realm level, with equal status and backing, the fight would be dead even with no clear winner. But then you instantly whip out twelfth layer Heaven Mending Realm mystic arts. How was that fair?
It'd probably blow your opponent's mind.
Currently at the seventh layer of the Sea Inversing Realm, Chen Xia could gain insight into up to seventh layer Heaven Mending Realm mystic arts.
His eyes lit up with a subtle glow. His divine sense seemed to open up and his soul peered inward to perceive this fortune and insight.
The spirit energy within his body started to quiver. His blood turned scalding hot, seeming to ignite. Another gleam flashed through the depths of his eyes.
Insight!
【Ignite Blood Extinguish Soul Method!】
【Ignite Blood: Burn one's own blood essence to increase mystic art power by 50 percent.】
【Extinguish Soul: Consume one year of lifespan with every breath to increase mystic art power by 100 percent.】
【Ignite Blood and Extinguish Soul can be used together, but Ignite Blood must be activated first before layering on Extinguish Soul.】
Chen Xia quickly looked it over and grasped the basics. This was him gaining insight into the Ignite Blood Extinguish Soul Method. But its effects differed greatly from the original version.
This Ignite Blood Extinguish Soul Method purely boosted his combat strength. The only thing it had in common with the original was that it still required sacrificing lifespan.
But Chen Xia didn't care about lifespan. He had no qualms with sacrificing a hundred or two hundred years—that was still too little in his opinion! If not for having to first activate Ignite Blood before he could use Extinguish Soul, he would have just left Extinguish Soul perpetually activated as a passive skill.
As for Ignite Blood, it consumed his vital essence and blood, but didn't specify how much.
The only way to find out was by testing it.
Chen Xia's divine sense stirred. He lightly tapped the table before him with a finger. The scalding blood in his body instantly boiled, bringing an intense burning sensation.
At the same time, a bright crimson streak flowed through the very depths of his eyes.
But there was no change in his strength. The spirit energy in his body didn't increase at all, nor was there any other change. His blood was simply boiling.
He stretched out a hand and held it in front of himself, then snapped his fingers.
Snap.
A common fire mystic art ignited, but it was much brighter and hotter than before, increased by 50 percent power like the description stated.
It seemed this Ignite Blood Extinguish Soul Method purely enhanced the power of one's mystic arts.
But therein lay the crux.
Chen Xia didn't actually have any go-to offensive mystic arts.
Could Heavenly Dragon Qi be considered a mystic art?
He wasn't sure. Chen Xia got to his feet and lightly stamped a foot. His body instantly vanished, reappearing dozens of miles away in an uninhabited area.
He raised a hand and drew it across his face as if pulling on a mask.
Pure white qi instantly manifested, but it only covered his face like a pale mask rather than his whole body.
Chen Xia's eyes glimmered. He could sense that his Heavenly Dragon Qi had indeed grown stronger compared to before. This meant the Ignite Blood Extinguish Soul Method was effective on it.
If that was the case, then the Reincarnation Extremity could also be considered a mystic art. Could it too be enhanced by this method?
The original Reincarnation Extremity allowed him to siphon away 30 percent of his opponent's strength, with the restriction that he couldn't siphon those much stronger than himself.
If Ignite Blood Extinguish Soul could affect Reincarnation Extremity as well, then wouldn't its numbers practically double, allowing him to siphon away 75 percent of his opponent's strength?
Could that even be called siphoning anymore?
More like outright robbing them!
u Chenyuan transmigrated into a female-oriented novel about a real and fake heiress, becoming the CEO elder brother of both. Unfortunately, the entire Lu family—including himself, the CEO—were mere cannon fodder in the story. Determined to save himself, Lu Chenyuan took action. The spoiled, attention-seeking fake heiress? Thrown into the harsh realities of the working class to learn humility. The love-struck real heiress? Pushed toward academic excellence, so lofty goals would blind her to trivial romances. As for the betrayed, vengeful arranged marriage wife… the plot hadn’t even begun yet. There was still time—if he couldn’t handle her, he could at least avoid her. "CEO Lu, are you avoiding me?" Mo Qingli fixed her gaze on Lu Chenyuan. For the first time, the shrewd and calculating Lu Chenyuan felt a flicker of unease.
ions, keeping it grounded and realistic】 After quitting his job, office worker Su Yang accidentally binds with the "Enjoy Life System." As the name suggests, simply by indulging in life's pleasures, he can earn random rewards from the system—no need to spend money on beautiful women or grovel before anyone. Just enjoy, and the money follows, making it all about effortless fun. The system comes with a scanning feature, allowing him to establish a favorability bond with women rated 85 points or above. Every 20-point increase in favorability unlocks additional rewards. After suffering through over twenty years of hardship, Su Yang trembles with excitement, his dull eyes suddenly gleaming with newfound hope. "Enjoy life? How hard could that be?"
ut it can buy an entire year of absolutely perfect training results! Su Yu stared at his empty wallet and decisively opened up various online loan platforms. “Borrow a thousand bucks! Recharge my vitality!” Boom! His vitality broke a hundred points, shattering the limits of the human body! “Borrow ten thousand bucks! Recharge my combat skills!” Boom! A basic punching technique so common it was everywhere instantly maxed out, revealing the ultimate assassination technique of Five Elements Unity—Inner Force! When a rich kid hired assassins for a midnight ambush, aiming to break both of his legs, they instead ran headfirst into a monster—a human-shaped tyrannosaur, brimming with dragon-like vitality. With just two fingers, Su Yu snapped a steel staff reinforced with alloy. Staring at the killer’s stash of stolen cash—a staggering quarter-million dollars—he showed a corporate-sincere smile: “Thanks for the pre-exam gift pack, Mr. Zhao! I’m gonna go re-invest this!” Three days later, at the National Martial Arts College Entrance Exam, while everyone else struggled just to reach the passing line, Su Yu threw a single punch—and more than a thousand vitality points literally detonated the entire arena!
he colors of other people’s emotions. Light red meant anxiety. Gray meant exhaustion. Orange meant excitement. Yellow... meant repression. At the same time, he could gain unlimited control over one of those colors. Pale cyan: relaxation. Using this ability, he started offering “two-yuan hugs,” spending an afternoon exchanging emotional-color experiences with others. Then came his final female customer of the day— a girl whose emotional color was pure black... —— A week later, Xu Chuan had become skilled at using pale cyan—Relaxation—treating it like a bottle of menthol balm whenever he needed it. That was when he discovered he had unlocked another unlimited emotional color: Purple, the color of fear. So these emotional colors refresh every week? Fine, I take it back—I’ll never call you useless again... —— Much later, after Xu Chuan had accumulated countless emotional abilities, one night, he suddenly found himself inside someone else’s dream. There, he could use the emotional colors he possessed to paint. And in her dream, he painted her a shower of pink shooting stars, spreading across the depths of the night sky...
