"I can't go on."
"Wait a moment, almost there."
"Just a bit more, get ready to sprint!"
"Hey!"
Zhang Ze used his last ounce of strength to bring Chen Qin to the mountaintop.
"That was thrilling, Brother knows how to have fun."
Chen Qin sat on the ground, wiped the sweat off her forehead with her sleeve, and smiled at Zhang Ze.
"Right? Instead of using the teleportation array, climbing the cliff on the other side of Little Divine Peak barehanded is much more interesting."
The little ball seemed to agree. It bounced around Zhang Ze twice before jumping back into his pocket.
[The Little Divine Peak map is fully unlocked, rewards have been issued.]
It's been a month since the Spiritual Snake Helm was bombed.
Aside from a few insiders, the news both internally and externally was that his master Li Guanqi, wise and heroic, broke through the Illusion Realm and single-handedly seized the entire Demon Path branch.
Zhang Ze was actually very pleased with this outcome, even very much hoped for it.
After all, if his master was blamed, the remnants of the Demon Path would at most grit their teeth, and their jaws would get tired after two days.
But if the Demon Path knew he did it, he wouldn't be able to leave the Sect before reaching the Golden Core.
There'd definitely be a mob of the Demon Path waiting to take his head outside the mountain.
Zhang Ze has been staying within the Sect and not going down the mountain for the past month.
Partly to lay low, lest any deranged members of the Demon Path take out their frustrations on him as an apprentice.
Of course, the other reason is that he's out of money.
To bomb the Spiritual Snake Helm, Zhang Ze used up all his cultivation and exchange points.
Then, during the scavenging phase, he picked three Sword Embryos that could only be used during the Golden Core Stage.
The Sect naturally gave him rewards as well, a lot of contribution points, and Zhengyi promised him future rewards once he ascends to Foundation Establishment and Golden Core.
But the problem is, these rewards all fall within the realm of ancient cultivation techniques.
There are differences with his Deep Blue cultivation style.
Now, the system tasks triggered by the Outer Sect have become useless, merely stealing tea leaves from Pavilion Master for Elder Wang, which are difficult and offer little reward.
Although Zhang Ze can freely enter and exit the Inner Sect due to a special privilege, perhaps because the Inner Sect is overly developed.
There are no unexpected encounters like with Sword Spirit Senior in the Heart Refining Cave.
The system's exchange points have accumulated again, but there's no source for cultivation points.
He hasn't begged the system to suddenly release tasks like the Lower Ninja Examination, martial arts tournaments, Third Stage of Fighting Qi, auction house victories, or similar.
But the system doesn't pay him any heed, it's very aloof.
Helpless, Zhang Ze can only turn his attention back to ancient cultivation methods and Chen Qin, the core loli of the Thousand Mechanism City task.
There's no shortcut in the ancient cultivation for the Qi Cultivation Stage, introducing Qi into the body, forging the physique, refining the divine soul, it's step by step.
So now Zhang Ze's life has returned to how it was when he first entered the Sword Sect.
Practicing sword in the training ground in the morning, disappearing at noon, climbing mountains and exploring maps with Chen Qin in the afternoon, soaking in medicinal baths and researching cultivation techniques in the evening.
It's not that he's not including Lin Feng, but Lin Feng has been mysterious lately, only occasionally borrowing a few cultivation techniques from Zhang Ze, but he's otherwise invisible all day.
Whenever Zhang Ze asks, Lin Feng won't say explicitly, only telling Zhang Ze he's also up to something big.
Wonder which poor soul Brother Feng has set his sights on next.
"What are you thinking, Senior Brother?"
Chen Qin's voice interrupted Zhang Ze's thoughts, pulling him towards Mei'Er's direction.
At the mountaintop of Little Divine Peak, there's a cave secret realm, where Mei'Er had already been waiting for the two of them for quite some time.
This secret realm was discovered by Mei'Er, and when discovered, Zhang Ze even unlocked an achievement.
[Imperial Uncle's Treasure]
According to Mei'Er, this secret realm isn't large and doesn't contain any mechanical contraptions.
Just some moisture and insect-repelling arrays, and lots and lots of books.
But Mei'Er didn't tell Zhang Ze and Chen Qin what those books were, only saying she dealt with them thoroughly.
Helplessly, Zhang Ze could only seek out Grandpa Wang for information.
Unexpectedly, Grandpa Wang actually knew.
According to Grandpa Wang's little historical story.
In his ancestor's time, one Senior Sister founded a reading club.
During spare time from classes, she led her Junior Sisters to read and write books.
At first, it was even praised by the Elders.
But the good times didn't last long, this Senior Sister was reported.
The jealous informant just wanted to disgust her.
Unexpectedly, upon investigation, it was found that the books she wrote with the female disciples and read every day were all Yellow Books.
Although the Elders' anti-porn actions were swift and fierce, this Senior Sister still managed to smuggle out most of her collection under the cover of her fellow Junior Sisters.
She announced that she hid these books within the Sect, and whoever could find them could inherit her treasure.
Afterward, many disciples attempted to find them, but all ended with no results under the strict crackdown from the Elders.
Time passed, and besides people like Wang, no one remembers this incident anymore.
...
Zhang Ze looked at Sister Mei'Er, he was very suspicious, Mei'Er's so-called 'dealt with' probably meant she hid the books away herself.
Mei'Er turned her head away, avoiding Zhang Ze's gaze, "Miss, everything's ready, let's start."
Due to the suitability of the cave environment of this secret realm, Chen Qin has turned it into her secret base, where she's been creating various mechanical contraptions recently.
"Senior Brother, do you think this works? Should we make it permanent continuous, might be better?"
Chen Qin showed Zhang Ze the little gadget she made yesterday.
A gadget similar to a sword guard, with a simple mechanical structure, just adding a switch for the array and some adjustments for size and tightness.
"Making it perpetual would cost too much in materials.
"Those loose cultivators wouldn't be willing to buy it."
"How's the effect? Did you try it yesterday?"
Zhang Ze asked.
"No, I wanted to wait for Senior Brother to open it together."
Chen Qin handed the strange mechanical sword guard to Zhang Ze.
Zhang Ze attached the sword guard to his iron sword, secured it tightly, then triggered the mechanism on the guard with his finger.
A streak of light emanated from the sword guard, spreading along the blade.
Soon, the entire iron sword was covered by a thin layer of blood-red mist, with dark red electric light faintly circulating within the blood mist.
Mei'Er gasped in surprise upon seeing this.
"Adding extra spiritual qi array to a magical artifact? This is the ability of a Golden Core stage cultivator, Miss, how did you achieve it?"
"I didn't really do anything, just designed a switch, the array was deciphered by Senior Brother." Chen Qin said with a shy smile.
"This is fake, Sister Mei'Er, just special effects."
Zhang Ze touched the blood mist, and nothing happened.
"I dismantled the Celestial Sect's Jade Light Array, combined with the Fog Poison Technique from the Spiritual Snake Helm."
"Removed the damaging parts of the array, combined them…it just kept the special effects, so it worked."
"It can even change color."
Zhang Ze took a crystal chip from Chen Qin and placed it into the mechanism, and then the red mist and lightning changed to another color.
"But what's the point? It doesn't have any power," Mei'Er was confused.
"But it looks cool," Zhang Ze casually twirled the sword, the streaming light on the sword blade left trails, "As long as it's cool, someone's bound to buy it."
Mei'Er thought about it and agreed.
When she first saw the gadget, she also wanted to have it.
"Develop a few more special effect versions with color options, who knows how many Spirit Stones we could earn." Zhang Ze removed the sword guard, tossing it in his hand.
"But wait. We don't lack Spirit Stones, is it necessary to spend time earning them?"
Mei'Er spoke in a matter-of-fact way, but it was indeed true.
Her Miss, Chen Qin, ranks among the top Second Generation Immortals on the Four Continents.
What does poverty feel like? Sorry, never experienced it.
"But some people lack them," Zhang Ze replied.