While Guang Zhenqiang was pondering as to when she would be sending the money she had gotten from selling the Spirit Slag to both Jian and Qin, and Huang Yongzhen was pondering over ways where their clan wouldn’t be at the losing end of the deal with the Xu clan, Xu Zhoucheng was doing something else.

Standing at the center of the Xu clan’s ancestral hall, Xu Zhoucheng slowly kowtowed towards the man in front of him, seated on a throne seemingly carved out of exquisite wood and adorned with precious jewels. The man gave off the feeling that everything was under his control, as if each and every move made against him was already seen through.

This man was none other than the Xu clan patriarch, Xu Zhouhuang. He was also the father of both Xu Zhoucheng and Xu Zhoujian.

“You may rise,” Xu Zhouhuang said to his son in an indifferent tone. In response, Xu Zhoucheng slowly stood up and looked at his father eye to eye, waiting for his next words.

“What happened after you met your younger brother?” Zhouhuang eventually opened his mouth, asking this question as his tone quickly changed to that of a father who was worried about his son. After all, it had been two years since Xu Zhoujian left the Xu clan in rebellion of the arranged marriage that he was forced to agree to.

In fact, it had also been two years since the Huang clan’s leader fell into a coma. Then again, due to him being at the Stellar Fusion Realm, which was a considerably high realm in the world they were in, he was in no danger of truly dying… unless if one decided to aim for him in his most vulnerable state, which was now.

“There were talks regarding the awakening of the Huang clan leader, with the focus being the alchemy of the young miss of the Huang clan,” Xu Zhoucheng replied, explaining everything in a slightly nonchalant tone. “However, they also made a backup plan where they would buy the medicine that’s necessary to awaken the Huang clan leader again.”

“Oh? Where did they get the funds necessary for that? A medicinal pill that could stimulate the soul of a Stellar Fusion Realm cultivator is quite expensive, no?” the Xu clan patriarch said his response, his eyebrows raised in curiosity.

“Out of sheer luck, Zhoujian and the Huang clan’s young miss had stumbled across a budding spirit vein,” Xu Zhoucheng said in response, prompting the patriarch to go silent for a bit. “Although it isn’t capable of producing Spirit Stones yet, it is capable of producing high-grade Spirit Slag, which is a rare commodity nowadays due to the alchemy competition.”

“A budding spirit vein, eh?” Xu Zhouhuang muttered. “I guess it would be handy for the clan to get their hands on something like that.”

After seemingly making a quick decision, he looked at his son and said, “I’ll be arranging a 5-man team later to scout the whereabouts of the budding spirit vein.”

Just as Xu Zhoucheng was about to open his mouth in response to those words, Zhouhuang continued, “If you’re thinking they’d be caught by Jian’er and the Huang clan’s young miss, they’ll arrive there in the middle of the night. On top of that, I’ll be sending our clan’s best scouts, so they won't leave any traces behind.”

“I hope you do tell them the whereabouts of the two, though,” he added, to which Xu Zhoucheng nodded in response, though inwardly letting out a sigh. “Understood, Father.”

After that, Xu Zhoucheng felt like it was the right time to leave. However, just as he was about to turn around, his father asked him, “Speaking of which, have you tried persuading your younger brother to come back home yet?”

Shaking his head in slight confusion, Zhoucheng replied, “Although 2 years have passed since the incident, I’m certain that Zhoujian still has grievances towards the clan. It’s not so easy to coerce him to come back to the clan after what you tried to make him do.”

“Well, if you head there next time when you’re invited by him, do tell him that we could cancel the arranged marriage with the Huo clan at any time,” Xu Zhouhuang told him. “Even though allying ourselves with another clan would bolster our foundation, Zhoujian’s return to the clan is more important. His presence in the clan would eventually allow us to rise like a phoenix.”

“And you didn’t bother telling him that back then?” Xu Zhoucheng could not help but say.

“Everyone needs to experience setbacks in their lives, Cheng’er,” Zhouhuang said in response. “After all, it’s not great for one’s foundation to only be faced with success.”

“You can now leave,” the Xu clan patriarch said soon after, allowing Xu Zhoucheng to leave the ancestral hall. Though, as he made his way out of the hall, he tightly clenched his fists and gritted his teeth. Soon, blood started to drip out of his fists as his nails gradually dug under his skin.

“Father, when will you stop thinking about Zhoujian…” he muttered to himself as tears started to brim around his eyes.

“…and think about me for once?”

…

About nine hours later after upgrading Qi Purity to the peak of Tier 1, Arthur looked at the decent pile of Spirit Slag he had produced in front of the bluish-white octahedron. Although it wasn’t much compared to the previous piles of Spirit Slag he had amassed back then, this pile was somewhat different. After all, it would allow him to upgrade [Qi Conversion] to Level 20.

Ding!

Would you like to exchange 900 grams of Spirit Slag for 900 System Points?

“Yes.”

Ding!

You have exchanged 900 grams of Spirit Slag for 900 System Points.

With 935 System Points available for him to use, Arthur went ahead and allocated the great majority of it towards upgrading [Qi Conversion] to Level 20. Once he had received a notification from the system, a feeling of satisfaction and happiness radiated off of him, which Sisa could not help but notice and ask, “Why the happy mood?”

“I finally feel like I’m using the system correctly for once,” Arthur said in response.

Ding!

[Qi Conversion] has been upgraded to Level 20.

You can now convert qi into Inferior Spirit Slag in 1 minute.

You can now convert qi into Spirit Slag in 15 minutes.

“Well, to be more specific, you’re using the system more optimally. You were already using the system correctly since the start,” Sisa could not help but correct him. However, those words of hers did not register in his mind as he looked at the cost to upgrade [Qi Conversion] to Level 21.

“That’s quite the jump,” he could not help but say, though after pondering over it for a bit, it made sense. Previously, the cost to upgrade [Qi Conversion] by a level was 100 System Points. Now, that cost had ballooned to 3000 System Points. Then again, the worst-case scenario in his mind was the cost ballooning to 10,000 System Points, given how the cost between Level 10 and Level 11 was a difference of a hundred times.

In any case, he placed the thought at the back of his head for now, contemplating as to whether he should continue with the idea of upgrading Qi Purity to Tier 2, Grade 0, or continue with the idea that just popped in his mind after upgrading [Qi Conversion] to Level 20.

Automate the conversion process.

On one hand, he’d be considerably improving almost every aspect of his skills. On top of that, with how the next tier of Qi Purity unlocked the next item he could produce with [Qi Conversion], reaching Tier 2 Qi Purity would allow him to craft the item above Spirit Slag from the get-go.

On the other hand, he could automate the conversion of Spirit Slag.

“Eh, in the long run, it’ll pay off,” Arthur assured himself, activating [Qi Conversion] once more as he made a mental note to upgrade Qi Recovery Rate once he had automated the conversion process. Though, just as he was about to look out through the use of [Spirit Sense] and gaze at the night skies, a group of people soon entered the boundary of [Spirit Sense], which he sensed, seemingly making their way to the house where both Jian and Qin lived.

“Do Jian and Qin know these people?” he could not help but ask himself, taking a quick peek inside the house of the couple, only to find out that they were fast asleep. Finding the current situation suspicious, he went ahead and focused his attention on the group of people. At the very instant he focused his attention on them, he immediately knew that they weren’t here for a good reason.

All of them wore black garbs, making sure that they would meld in with the darkness of the night. On top of that, the auras they radiated were significantly stronger than what Jian and Qin exuded, prompting Arthur to think that all of them were at the Essence Condensing Realm at the very least, perhaps even higher.

Well, with a quick [Spirit Analysis] on the five people that had entered his boundary, he had indeed confirmed that all of them were at the Essence Condensing Realm, the strongest among them being at the 7th Stage. In any case, even if Jian and Qin worked together, they were no match for the weakest among the five.

Sometime later, a small conversation was held between the five as they got closer and closer to the couple’s house.

“I wonder why the patriarch is telling us to do this. Do you have any idea as to why, leader?” one of the people could not help but ask.

“He told me it has something to do with a budding spirit vein being found near where the young master is currently living,” the man that was assigned leader replied. “From the reports of Young Master Zhoucheng, the budding spirit vein is able to produce high-grade Spirit Slag. And as you know, high-grade Spirit Slag is selling for a lot in our kingdom.”

Ding!

You have received an update to your narrative quest.

“Well… this doesn’t seem good.”