Ding!

[Narrative Quest: The Fate Between Two Clans]

The user has finally chosen how to tackle the great problem that they have unintentionally been involved in, deciding to opt out in helping one side. However, rather than interpret it as the cowardice of the user, the system has interpreted it as the user taking on the road less traveled, being someone who not only wanted one side to benefit from their help, but both sides to benefit.

As the user is a being that wants to help all beings, which aligns with the concept of a true spirit vein, the system has given the user tasks that they must fulfill, which aids both sides in this gradually unfolding conspiracy.

Mission Prerequisite: Opt out from siding with either the couple or the clans. Mission Requirements:

Aid Xu Zhoujian in breaking through to the 4th Realm (0/1)

Aid Huang Qingqin in breaking through to the 4th Realm (0/1)

Have another person from the Xu clan recognize you (0/1)

Have another person from the Huang clan recognize you (0/1)

Tell either the Xu or the Huang clan of the whereabouts of the couple (0/1)

Mission Rewards: 100,000 System Points Note: As the user gains more information about the conspiracy and how the conspiracy proceeds, the requirements to complete the quest shall increase in difficulty. Naturally, the rewards of the quest shall increase as well.

“Where the hell did this system get the idea that I want to help both sides?” Arthur could not help but lament. “I don’t even want to involve myself in their problem at all!”

“Is it even possible to actually opt out from a quest?” he could not help but mutter. Surprisingly, Sisa picked his murmurs up, telling him, “Unfortunately for you, the system interprets every choice you make as something positive. This is most obvious when it comes to narrative quests or certain tasks from the system that relies on you making a choice.”

Hearing that, Arthur could not help but let out a long sigh, becoming silent for a bit as he read through the tasks of the quest once more. Unexpectedly, thanks to the increased mental acuity he had obtained from upgrading Qi Purity to Tier 1, he noticed that there were some loopholes he could use to already fulfill some of the tasks he had to do.

‘I think I can already cross off the third and fourth task as complete, seeing as the system just wants me to have another person from both clans to recognize my presence,’ he thought to himself. ‘With that being said, Qin’s uncle and Jian’s brother would totally allow me to complete this. Not to mention the fact that my system quest would also progress. Talk about killing two birds with one stone!’

With that in mind, his mood regarding the narrative quest had become better in an instant, seeing as the only tasks he really needed to focus on were the tasks involving Jian and Qin’s cultivation, as well as the task where he had to inform the Xu and Huang clan of their whereabouts. With [Spirit Aura: Infusion], he already knew how he would do the first two tasks, but for the latter, he did not even know if it was possible for a spirit vein like him to talk.

‘But since the system did give me a task like that, I guess I’ll unlock a skill in the future that would allow me to do that,’ he thought, focusing his attention on his [Spirit Sense] once more as the five had gone out of the house, making their way to where he was.

At this point, two hours had passed since the five started talking about the matter between the two clans. With that, Arthur now had a hundred grams of Spirit Slag in front of the octahedron, ready to be exchanged at any moment.

“Should I exchange them?” he asked himself as they made their way to the pile of Inferior Spirit Slag above him. Though, just as he was about to make a decision, he decided not to, waiting for a better time to do so.

With that, the five now stood in front of the pile of Inferior Spirit Slag, the place that the couple had considered the shrine of the God of Spirit Slag. However, from the gaze and aura Lady Guang was giving off at the moment, the couple could not help but think twice if the God of Spirit Slag was true or not.

As Huang Yongzhen and Xu Zhoucheng looked at the massive pile of Spirit Slag in front of them, the two of them could not help but look at the couple and ask, “Where did you get all of this Spirit Slag from?”

Hearing that, Qin looked at Jian for a bit, biting on her lip as she thought about telling them that this pile was the shrine of the God of Spirit Slag. In fact, she had also the urge to indoctrinate them into this religion that the two of them believed in, wondering if the God of Spirit Slag would take them in.

However, before she could even do so, Jian slightly shook his head at her, indirectly telling her to not talk about it and let him do the talking for now. With a light nod from her, Jian took a deep breath and told them, “Well, by the time we arrived at this place, this pile of Spirit Slag was already here.”

“Already here?” Naturally, both Huang Yongzhen and Xu Zhoucheng did not believe that. “You’re telling me that this massive pile of Spirit Slag was already here before you settled down in this place. Surely, you must be joking, right?”

“I wouldn’t be so hasty to come to conclusions if I were you, Huang Yongzhen.” All of a sudden, Lady Guang looked at Huang Yongzhen with a light smile on her face, prompting the latter to become silent as he knew that she was going to inform them where this pile came from. After all, among the five of them, she was the most knowledgeable.

“Would Lady Guang mind telling us where this pile of Spirit Slag came from, then?” asked Xu Zhoucheng, now curious as to why she would tell Huang Yongzhen that.

“Well, what if I told you that… our young master is actually telling the truth?” Lady Guang said in response, prompting Huang Yongzhen and Xu Zhoucheng to go slightly wide-eyed in surprise. Just as they thought that some sort of rich person decided to place a pile of Spirit Slag in the middle of nowhere as a joke, Lady Guang then asked them a question that instantly dispelled their previous thoughts.

“Have you noticed how the qi here is denser compared to before?” she asked, making the two of them stand in place as they closed their eyes, trying to sense the qi in their surroundings. Unknowingly, the two of them let out their full auras once more, making Arthur realize once again that the two were far stronger than the couple.

“Now that I think about it, what cultivation level are they at?” Arthur asked himself, prompting him to use [Spirit Analysis] on Xu Zhoucheng, the weaker one among the two. However, even though the maximum level of cultivation he could identify was already at the 1st Stage of the 4th Realm, the notification he got from the system was…

Ding!

This being cannot be identified.

“You’re telling me they’ve already surpassed the 4th Realm?” Arthur could not help but say, wondering what the couple were doing all this time. After remembering that they were the young master of the Xu clan and the esteemed young daughter of the Huang clan, he could not help but double down on this thought, recalling very well that people like the couple would normally be at a high level of cultivation due to their importance to their clans.

Placing those thoughts aside, he was still curious as to what realm of cultivation the three have attained, deciding to spend 225 System Points to upgrade [Spirit Analysis] all the way to Level 10. Thanks to that, Arthur now had the ability to identify even those at the Peak Stage of the 4th Realm. In fact, he also gained a few more things he could identify.

Ding!

[Spirit Analysis] has been upgraded to Level 10.

The limit of [Spirit Analysis] has been increased to the Peak Stage of the fourth cultivation realm.

[Spirit Analysis] now has the ability to identify the target’s age and cultivation aptitude.

Now with the ability to identify beings that were far stronger than before, Arthur tried using [Spirit Analysis] on Xu Zhoucheng once more, finally obtaining a result that left him quite surprised.

Ding!

[Xu Zhoucheng] Race Human Age 33 Cultivation Aptitude Five-Tiered Soul Palace Cultivation 4th Realm, 9th Stage (72%)

After that, he tried using [Spirit Analysis] on Huang Yongzhen, only to end up not getting anything. “Then again, I kind of expected that, seeing how he has a stronger aura than Jian’s brother.”

“How about this lady right here?” he said to himself, aiming [Spirit Analysis] at Lady Guang. However, rather than get the same result like with Huang Yongzhen, the result he obtained was quite surprising.

While Arthur was slightly caught off-guard by the results of Lady Guang’s [Spirit Analysis], the five continued to talk, with Xu Zhoucheng telling Lady Guang, “You’re indeed correct, Lady Guang. The qi here is indeed denser.”

“But isn’t that because there’s a lot of Spirit Slag here?” Huang Yongzhen could not help but say in response. “After all, all items that have qi in them do leak out a bit of qi in the surroundings. Spirit Slag is no exception to that.”

“Although that would normally be true, Spirit Slag does not have that much qi in them to begin with… definitely not enough to warrant the density of qi that’s currently around this pile,” Lady Guang said in response.

Picking up on her words, Xu Zhoucheng had a slightly curious yet excited expression as he asked, “Then… are you telling us that…”

“If you’re thinking what I’m thinking, then yes. That would indeed be the case,” Lady Guang replied with a smile on her face.”

“What we have under our feet is a budding spirit vein.”