'F*ck!'

Ye Lingchen was enraged.

He had a feeling that his power would grow explosively once he absorbed that spirit stone. At the very least, it would allow him to fully compress the last 10% of his acquired Qi.

No wonder Xiang Guocheng managed to cultivate his Innate Stage to great completion. The further the progress, the harder it was to cultivate. Ye Lingchen experienced that first hand. So it turned out that apart from the dense spiritual energy, the Void Realm also had treasures like spirit stones. If that was the case, then what would the spiritual fruits from the Void Realm look like?

Despite its small size, the density of the spiritual energy contained without was beyond imagination.

If he created a formation using these spirit stones…

'F*ck! That would be so crazy!'

Ye Lingchen's rage turned into jealousy. If not for his lack of strength, he would have robbed Xiang Guocheng.

'That means…'

Ye Lingchen suddenly recalled the multitude of materials that he never heard of when he upgraded his Formation skill to advanced level. Could they be in the Void Realm?

For example, that spirit stone. It was the perfect choice as the core of the formation!

Along with the upgrading of his skills, the knowledge he had was slowly going beyond the scope of Earth. Since he could not find the materials he needed on Earth, then it seemed that he would eventually cross paths with the Void Realm after all.

"Uhm...Director Xiang." Ye Lingchen rubbed his nose, then smiled sheepishly. "I've contributed a lot for the Warrior's Department. That should have gotten me quite some merits right? Perhaps...I can exchange them for that spirit stone earlier?"

"Oh? Pray tell," Xiang Guocheng replied, grinning.

"I've cured Lin Tianxiong's old wounds!"

"Yeah, but you asked for ten million in medical fees."

"I've fought against Earth's Gate and killed their Inner Force martial artist!"

"That's one count."

"I've fought against Amaterasu Genetics and killed the mutants."

"That's another count."

"I have...fought off the Wind-Heat Syndrome Flu, cured countless people without asking for anything!"

"This is fine as well! Anything else?" Xiang Guocheng continued to grin as he looked at Ye Lingchen.

Ye Lingchen tried his best. "I have...nothing else."

"The Martial Arts Pavilion separates the lifeforms from the Void Realm into three grades—A, B, and C. Grade-C is equivalent to Inner Force martial artists and Grade-B is equivalent to peak level Inner Force martial artists. Meanwhile, Grade-A is equivalent to Innate Stage martial artists. Of course, there are still others that go beyond Grade-A.

"According to the merits requirements, killing of a Grade-C threat is considered one point, Grade-B is fifteen points, and Grade-A is three hundred points. Meanwhile, that spirit stone you saw earlier requires a hundred merit points for every gram."

Xiang Guocheng stared at Ye Lingchen with a grin on his face.

Ye Lingchen's brows twitched. 'So expensive!'

100 merit points was equivalent to killing seven unknown lifeforms equivalent to peak level Inner Force. For an average Warrior, that was just way too hard.

Peak level Inner Force! They were extremely rare. Even Qin Baichuan and the other chiefs were at that level.

"Let me add up your merits for you. Fighting against Earth's Gate and killing the mutants. There was only one that could be considered to be at peak level Inner Force. The others added up to forty three Inner Force martial artists, which gives you fifty eight merit points. As for the Wind-Heat Syndrome Flu…

"Its destructive power is on par with a Grade-A threat. For you to take action so quickly, I'll consider half the merit points for you. That'd be one hundred and fifty points. Altogether, that'll be two hundred and eight merit points! Is there a problem with that?"

Ye Lingchen shook his head. It would seem that the Warrior's Department had already tallied his points in advance.

"There you go. This is the merit card. After deducting the administrative fees, I'll round it off for you. There are two hundred merit points inside. That's about everything I need to say. You just go around and get acquainted with the place yourself. Oh, you should go to the lecture grounds to learn about the various basic knowledge we have regarding the Void Realm."

Xiang Guocheng threw a rose gold card at Ye Lingchen, then strode away, leaving quickly in a flash.

'This guy definitely knows levity. As much as I don't want to admit it, his speed seems to be slightly faster than mine. It seems...even the advanced Parkour skill is insufficient now.'

Ye Lingchen pouted. That was just too sloppy a welcome. He still had a lot of questions. 'He should at least tell me which direction I should head to.'

He strolled around and went along the path before him. Because of the spiritual energy, the greening of the area was excellent. At the same time, the area was empty with few people on the roads.

After asking around for directions, Ye Lingchen finally arrived at the merits exchange.

It was a spacious hall with an elderly person sitting in a lazy chair. He seemed to be very relaxed in his seat, with his eyes almost closed.

Seeing Ye Lingchen's arrival, that old man opened his eyes and said casually, "Newcomer? Fill in the forms and get your merit card."

Ye Lingchen's body stiffened up. A bad feeling welled up in his heart as he asked nervously, "Is there an administrative charge for collecting the merit card?"

"The merit card works as your ID here. Why would there be an administrative fee?" The old man laughed as he looked at Ye Lingchen. "If you really want to pay, then just pay twenty."

Twenty?

Twenty!

Ye Lingchen's mind was blown, feeling his body go numb.

Unresigned, he took out his merit card and asked expectantly, "Sir, can you help me check if there's anything special about this merit card in my hand?"

"Eh? So you have a merit card." The old man was surprised. Following that, he added, "No need to look. Everyone's merit cards are the same. What's so special about it?"

'F*ck!' Xiang Guocheng scammed me of eight merit points!'

Ye Lingchen was dumbfounded.

He stood there in a daze as the same thought echoed in his head.

Eight merit points was equivalent to killing eight Inner Force martial artists. Logically speaking, that was a lot. However, Ye Lingchen did not have the slightest clue about the merit points and he also felt that the director, Xiang Guocheng, would have no reason to scam him. He should have no reason to go after Ye Lingchen's merit points.

Unfortunately, Ye Lingchen thought wrong.

That was a f*cking scam!

"Kiddo, you're quite amazing to have two hundred merit points in there." The old man swiped Ye Lingchen's card and was very surprised. After that, he spoke up with even more surprise, "So you're Ye Lingchen? That's not right. I remember you should have two hundred and eighty merit points. How did it go down to two hundred?"

'WTF?!'

Ye Lingchen's head was about to explode. His eyes opened wide and stared at the old man in shock.

"Who gave you this card?" the old man asked.

"Xiang Guocheng!" Ye Lingchen grunted the name through gritted teeth.

"Oh, no wonder then." The old man gave Ye Lingchen a sympathetic look.

"But...why is it two hundred and twenty eight merit points?" Ye Lingchen asked, unable to accept the fact. After that, he told the old man Xiang Guocheng's calculations.

"Actually, apart from killing enemies, there are other methods to earn merit points. For example, one could contribute martial arts techniques or treasures to trade for it. One can also complete missions. One of the missions in the mission hall was to destroy Amaterasu Genetics' base of operations, which gives out twenty merit points."

"F-f-fuck!"

…