While Arthur was in the process of calming his mind after getting flashbacks from the notification he had just received, the couple had finally woken up from their deep sleep, having their morning breakfast as usual, thinking that today was going to be any other day like always.

Though, by the time they headed outside of their house, Jian and Qin’s feet froze up as they could not help but focus their vision towards the only other thing in the surroundings that was of note.

“The shrine!” Jian could not help but shout as he redirected all of the qi in his body towards his legs, propelling him forward as if he was running away from something. Simultaneously, Qin did the same thing, utilizing a movement technique she had learned in the past to make her way to the small pile of Spirit Slag that they considered to be the shrine of their god.

Normally, this pile would be made up of pristine white powder. Then again, back then, the pile was mostly made up of fine gray powder, which the two eventually attributed to the budding spirit vein beneath the pile improving over time.

However, the pile had a few red splotches on its side while a few cloth bags could be seen strewn around it. Not only that, a couple of small puddles made out of blood also surrounded the pile of Spirit Slag, making any passerby think that a small skirmish had happened here. Such a thought would totally be normal if it was any other place, but there was one thing to take note of.

Only the couple and a few others knew of this pile.

With that in mind, Jian and Qin look at the scene in front of them with dark expressions, quickly getting an idea as to what had happened while they were asleep.

Kneeling down on the ground to take a closer look at the cloth bags, Jian noticed that some of them contained the high-grade Spirit Slag making up the pile, prompting him to mutter, “It seems a few people have decided to eye the pile of Spirit Slag near our house.”

“I can see that, Jian,” Qin said in response, her tone solemn. “However, why would someone try to steal from the shrine in the first place? After all, only Third Uncle, your older brother, Lady Guang, and the two of us know of the existence of the budding spirit vein beneath this pile.”

“Although that might be true, there’s also the possibility that someone accidentally came across our shrine while we were sleeping in the middle of the night and decided to take the Spirit Slag for themselves,” Jian could not help but say. “After all, high-grade Spirit Slag is selling for a lot according to Lady Guang.”

“But isn’t that very unlikely? Who would go out of their way to head to the plains in the hopes of striking it rich?” Qin told Jian, finding his words unnecessary.

“I just told you that in case you forgot such a possibility might exist,” Jian said in response as his tone gradually became colder. “In any case, I have a good feeling as to who’s the cause of all this blood.”

After that, he stood up and looked Qin in the eye with a serious expression. “Qin, it kind of pains me to say this, but…”

“I think we shouldn’t put all our trust in people we know.”

“Eh? Why are you telling me t—“ Just as Qin was about to ask why Jian said that all of a sudden, something finally clicked in her mind, prompting her to sport a grim expression as she muttered, “You’re telling me… they betrayed us?”

With a light nod, Jian looked down at the dirtied shrine before saying, “I’m not quite so sure if your Third Uncle ratted you out, but my brother totally did. After all…”

“The blood of the Xu clan is scattered all around this shrine.”

“You must be kidding, right?” Qin could not help but say. However, once she looked at her husband, she instantly knew that he wasn’t joking around at all. Clenched fists that seemed to dig into his skin at the next instant, a gaze that gave off the feeling that it could kill, as well as intent that Qin had never felt for the past 2 years they had been together.

Killing intent.

Although Jian was suppressing the killing intent he now had towards the Xu clan for Qin’s sake, the gaze in his eyes alone was enough for her to know that he wouldn’t just stop at retaliation if he ever got the opportunity to get back at the Xu clan. Letting out a light sigh as she thought of that, she could not help but try to change the topic to something else as she asked him, “How do you know the blood around the shrine is from the Xu clan? For all we know, it could be from a beast that just got injured and decided to rest near the shrine?”

Hearing that, Jian could not help but look at Qin for a bit, wondering if she was just joking. Then, with a shake of his head, he told her, “You know that’s not possible, Qin. A beast with cloth bags? When would you ever come across something like that?”

“As for the reason why I quickly found out it’s from the Xu clan, that’s quite simple,” he continued, patting his wife on the head. “Our bloodline.”

“I don’t have to tell you anymore than that to understand, right?” he asked soon after, to which Qin shook her head in response.

It was only after that did the two of them let out long sighs as they looked at the blue sky above them for a bit. After that, they decided that they should contact Lady Guang after they were done cleaning. After all, among the three people they invited previously, she was the only one not affiliated with either of the two clans. Of course, they were still going to be cautious in contacting her.

But just as Jian was about to head back to the house to grab cleaning tools, Qin stopped him as she asked him, “Now that I think about it, there’s something else we’ve forgotten to talk about, Jian.”

“And that would be…?” Jian raised his eyebrows in response, only to have a solemn expression soon after he heard his wife’s question.

“I’m pretty sure you already know the question that I have in mind, Jian.”

“Who fought against those from the Xu clan while we were asleep?”

…

Three hours have passed since Arthur had gotten a notification from the system that he had obtained a new skill to use. At this point, his mind had finally calmed down, finally allowing him to open up the skill’s description without having too adverse of a reaction.

Ding!

[Spirit Overflow Lv. 1]

Although a spirit vein normally yearns for neutrality, there are times where a spirit vein has to choose a side, may it be intentional or not. As for the user, these choices are of great importance in their path to become a true spirit vein. Hence, the system has given the user a way of meting out punishment towards those that deserve such punishment.

Adapted from the eventual effect of Qi Overflow from the overuse of [Spirit Aura: Infusion] on a single target, this skill allows the user to trigger the effect of Qi Overflow with lower cost, yet at the same time, greater efficacy.

The following is a table of how much qi it would take for a being at a certain cultivation level to experience Qi Overflow.

Points Highest affected cultivation realm 2 points of Qi Essence Condensing Realm, 3rd Stage 4 points of Qi Essence Condensing Realm, 6th Stage 6 points of Qi Essence Condensing Realm, 9th Stage 8 points of Qi 4th Realm, 2nd Stage 10 points of Qi 4th Realm, 5th Stage To increase the efficacy of the skill by one stage, the user must upgrade the skill to an even number. Upgrade cost: 500 System Points Note: Repeated usage of the skill on a single target would eventually cause the death of the target. Use wisely.

Figuratively taking in a deep breath, Arthur let out a sigh as he closed the skill’s description, saying, “So, this skill allows me to do the thing I just did to those four people back then, but more efficiently. Well, I don’t know when I’ll be using it again, but I guess it’s handy?”

“Anyways, from the looks of it, it’ll probably be a while until people like them come knocking on Jian and Qin’s door again,” he continued, looking out through his [Spirit Sense] to see the couple collect the bags and contaminated Spirit Slag, possibly for evidence.

With that in mind, he finally allowed his mind to ease up as he looked at the pile of Spirit Slag he had amassed in front of the bluish-white octahedron. Although he had stopped producing Spirit Slag due to the incident with the group from the Xu clan, it had been a whole nine hours since he started producing it again.

Right now, he had already amassed 3.6 kilograms of the stuff, which was equivalent to 3600 System Points. Deciding to slowly take his mind off the blood-filled incident, he focused on producing Spirit Slag yet again, only stopping around three and a half hours later when he had finally amassed a total of 5 kilograms of Spirit Slag.

Once he had double checked that he had enough Spirit Slag to buy the automation process, he went ahead and commanded the system, agreeing to the prompt without hesitation.

Ding!

You have exchanged 5 kilograms of Spirit Slag for 5000 System Points.

Only taking a brief glance at the notification, he then asked the system if he could automate the conversion process for Spirit Slag. Naturally, it responded a couple of seconds later.

Ding!

Would you like to automate the conversion process of Spirit Slag? This feature will cost 5000 System Points. Note that this will not automate the conversion process of any subsequent products made through [Qi Conversion].

“Well, it’s the reason why I grinded 5000 System Points in the first place. So… yeah.”

Ding!

You have unlocked the automated conversion process for Spirit Slag. You can toggle this feature on or off at any time.

After reading the notification he had received, only silence prevailed throughout his surroundings for a short while. Fortunately, this was quickly remedied with him saying…

“Huh. Nothing.”

“Kind of thought there would be fanfare after that.”