In a covert grassy clearing, located at the edge of the servant compound, a boy with black hair and blue eyes was sprawled on the ground panting heavily as if he'd just run a marathon.

It was Lin Fan!

It had been over a week since his altercation with Steward Qin, and his life had changed drastically due to the exaggerated rumours that labelled him as a hero, a true dragon amongst men!

From almost everyone being unnaturally kind and helpful towards him, people begging him to learn his secrets, to some even outright offering him money for so-called 'protection fees'!

Except from when he was taking a sh*t, he almost had no peace to himself!

And this, as you would expect, was really bad for Lin Fan- Who had to, effectively, speak to himself in order to communicate with the friendly grandpa who was inside of him.

Not only that, Lin Fan had multiple other secrets that he absolutely did not want others to find out, whether that be his sudden jump in cultivation level, to the mysterious god-like breathing technique he owned.

Luckily though, Lin Fan managed to find a decent spot that no one ever visited- A place where he could find peace of mind and focus on cultivation and martial arts.

After a few moments of gasping for air, Lin Fan shouted with a wide grin on his face,

"Hahaha!

I've done it!

I've reached initial mastery of the Crimson Emperor's Fist Art!

How's that old man?!"

After shouting that, a voice rang out in Lin Fan's head and said in a slightly surprised tone,

"Not bad, not bad, you brat!

It seems like you have some talent after all!

Of course, it still pales in comparison to this old immortal, who achieved initial mastery after a mere three days.

But nonetheless, this is quite an impressive achievement!"

Hearing the voice, Lin Fan's expression soured a little and he grumbled,

"You shameless old braggart!

Don't you ever get sick of flaunting your greatness to someone who's less than a fraction of your age!

I heard that when people grow older, they become more mature and humble. However, it seems that either you are an oddball, or the one I heard it from was talking nonsense!

And I'm more inclined to believe it's the former!"

Lin Fan then sat back up, and said impatiently with furrowed brows,

"And will you hurry up and let me continue cultivating properly?

I don't even get why you've abruptly decided to make me condense and destroy the ball of spirit energy that I formed to break through after I stepped into the seventh stage of the foundation establishment realm!

I could've effortlessly reached the body refining realm by now!"

Hearing the incessant complaints coming from the teen-aged Lin Fan, Old Man Yi felt a headache creep up on him.

"Brat Lin, I've told you before.

The path to cultivation is akin to building a large tower.

Every increase in a major realm is like adding on a new level to that tower, and for that tower to become tall and soar to the sky, it requires a stable foundation to be laid first!

Foundation. Is. Key.

To achieve an impeccable foundation, it is a necessity to break through under perfect conditions.

The reason I've only started to impose this level of strictness at the seventh stage, even though you were doing decently well before, was that the seventh stage has a profound secret behind it.

From old scriptures and tomes that I've gathered and read throughout my life, I was able to get a hint towards the importance of particular stages and realms.

And these scriptures had unimaginable origins, they were cultivation notes linking to Ancient Emperors!

They are individuals who held heaven and earth in the palms of their hands, people who even I can only look up to!

What's worse is that after finding out about the importance of these realms, I could only grieve over the fact that I hadn't had the chance to perfect my foundations and explore these mysteries!

So, now do you understand why I am doing this?"

After saying this, Old Man Yi began thinking to himself,

Although this brat is indeed still too impulsive and impatient, he is, without a doubt, a monstrous prodigy.

Even an old monster like me, who has seen and experienced a lot, cannot help but be shocked.

To think that there would be such a time where I'd see someone be able to achieve initial mastery on that insane technique. Even those Holy Sons and Daughters of top-tier factions would require a year or two, let alone someone like me who took a whopping twelve!

Heh, but isn't this great?

Instead of rotting in the netherworld like I was supposed to, I am able to watch and nurture this monster and bring out his potential!

Hahaha!

I wonder what those dumb fossils up there will feel after this kid thoroughly destroys their stuck-up descendants!

Whilst Old Man Yi was absorbed in his own thoughts, Lin Fan's eyes gleamed with ambition after listening to his words.

He started mumbling to himself,

"Flawless foundation...Ancient Emperors...Heaven and Earth..."

He paused for a moment to think before abruptly jumping up to his feet and proclaiming with fervour,

"I, Lin Fan, swear to the heavens that I'll reach such a level and beyond!

No matter if my bones get crushed, or tendons get severed, I'll forever work towards it!"

After swearing that oath, he took a deep breath before asking with determination,

"Hurry up old man!

Aren't you meant to be some big shot?

Give me some tips on how to better establish my foundation!

I want to see, personally, how great these so-called Ancient Emperors are and whether their notes are worth such praise!"

Listening to Lin Fan, Old Man Yi was speechless.

"..."

Hearing no reply, Lin Fan became even more confident and decided to tease a bit,

"What's with the silence?

Cat caught your tongue from my sheer awesomeness?"

Old Man Yi could no longer take listening to this audacious junior, and shouted angrily,

"YOU STUPID BRAT!

Just what is a greenhorn like you getting so cocky over?

Maybe, instead of looking down on mighty figures, you should concentrate on advancing from a toilet scrubber to an outer disciple in this backwater sect!

Isn't this competition meant to be happening in a few hours anyway?

You better get running, otherwise, you'll be back to cleaning up someone's leftover dinner in the form of brown sludge for another three months!"

As if his words were lightning, Lin Fan jolted out of his delusional arrogance and charged toward the servant compound.

As he ran, he said out loud with a beet-red face,

"I'm not a toilet scrubber, but an honourable martyr!

Get it right, you damnable old fogey!"

From the pace Lin Fan was running, one could tell that he really didn't want to scrub sh*t anymore.

...

"Today's judgement day, shitheads!

Make sure to stick to the plan, and everything will be A-OK!"

As Tan Lin said this to the other four at the table confidently, he gleefully shovelled another rice ball into his mouth.

Hearing his words everyone began to happily chat about their aspirations after entering the sect, or what they would do for next year if they failed.

Except for Zhang Wei.

Currently, he was sitting on the simple wooden bench, that every table at the cafeteria had, not touching a single piece of food- which was incongruous with the rest of the table that was happily stuffing in as much as they could eat!

The reason for this?

Naturally, the notion that this was his new friends' last meal haunted him to the point where he had no appetite.

I'm f*cked.

Not a single word during this past week has gotten through to these braindeads!

It's as if they've all been possessed by the souls of martial arts maniacs!

Throughout the past week, the entire group all kept to their promises and worked incredibly hard to prepare for the tournament.

They sparred intensely for as long as they could, and then even during rest time they discussed aspects each person could improve on. At night, they would gather together and discuss tactics and plans for certain situations!

They were diligent to the point where Zhang Wei couldn't help but re-evaluate his opinion of them.

However, even with this, Zhang Wei never gave up on trying to discourage them from participating.

After all, regardless of how much effort they put in, a week's a week!

How could these slackers catch up to those diligent servants who have trained for ages to prepare for this?

These geniuses also think shovelling down as much food as they can is a good idea!

I've explained multiple times that if they eat so fast, they could get indigestion or stomach cramps!

What will they do if mid-fight they lose concentration, and die a miserable death?!

For the umpteenth time in this past week, Zhang Wei urgently felt a need to slap some sense into these guys. So he stood up and slammed the table to make a loud thud sound, and pleaded solemnly,

"Brothers, please don't do this to me!

I've known you all for multiple years and had the greatest time of my life with you all.

I don't want to see you all die a dog's death!

So, for my sake, can you all reconsider going balls deep into this suicide mission?"

They all looked over at Zhang Wei and shook their heads resolutely.

"Brother Zhang, I'm determined to do this. My ambitions won't let me back out!"

"Don't you get sick of repeating the same sh*t like a broken record? Even if we get an unlucky draw, we can just give up as soon as we get on stage!"

"The women are waiting for me, so I cannot comply."

"The food is waiting for my stomach, I cannot comply."

After saying that, they all continued eating and talking about plans and tactics, alongside some final tips for each of their martial arts techniques.

Zhang Wei, seeing that it was futile to say anymore, slumped back down on the bench and quietly ate a riceball to try to quell his nervousness and frustration.

You dumb, stupid, idiots!

As per those Xianxia novels, those bastards in the competition are all ruthless and merciless. Otherwise, how else can the authors justify the fact that the MC beating the living sh*t out of random people?

In fact, I'm betting my soul on the fact that you guys are going to be the sacrifice to introduce how heartless those f*ckers are!

Do you really think a simple, 'I give up, please don't hurt me' will stop them?!

After realising how certain their deaths will be, Zhang Wei clenched his free hand under the table and mentally brought up the System interface.

The moment he willed it, a translucent grey box floated in front of him.

Currently, the System screen only had one selectable option.

[Inventory]

He mentally selected the [Inventory], and then a grid replaced the previous screen- It was a 10x10 grid with equal-sized boxes.

Currently, only three boxes filling the first three across the top row had an icon, signifying an item in it, whilst the rest were blank.

One box contained an icon of a four-leafed clover with a 'x2' in the corner, the one next to it had a wooden spoon inside it, and the last one had a teapot.

He then mentally 'tapped' on the four-leaf clover icon, and the screen changed into a bigger version of the icon in the corner and some information.

The information read,

=========================

[Luck Booster (Temporary)]

[Method of use- Activates on command]

[Description- Boosts luck, what else do you want me to say?]

[Duration-Depends on your luck]

==========================

This sh*tty System!

I initially thought this thing would be the emotionless type that did its best to help the host, but only now do I see how naive I was!

Zhang Wei must've read this info page hundreds of times during the past week in hopes of any updates, but regardless, he still couldn't hold back the impulse to curse the System for toying with him.

What sort of description was that supposed to be?

Was this meant to be a funny joke? Did the System really think it was a great comedian?

Honestly, due to the ambiguity of the description, Zhang Wei had contemplated many times whether he really wanted to participate or not.

He really did want to believe in the System, but with the b*ullsh*t it's pulling, he couldn't bring himself to do so.

However, in the end, he still decided to go along with it.

Firstly, if the System was able to do something as great as boosting his cultivation then why would it let its host die due to a defective/trash product?

Also, it knew that this powerful System wanted him to assist these 'protagonists' for some reason, so he was somewhat confident that this thing would carry him to the top ten.

But what he wasn't sure of, but wanted to know, was the limits and true effect of this so-called 'luck-booster'.

He wanted to know whether its luck-boosting effects could spread to his friends, and protect them alongside him!

Unfortunately, the System seemed to give him no indication of any of this- So he could only put blind hope in it.

Just as he was about to further deliberate on the luck booster, Tan Lin's voice called out to everyone as he said,

"It's starting in half an hour, let's hurry up and go!

Remember to keep this in mind, if things go south and there is no retreat... Aim for cutting of the bloodline!"

The rest of them nodded with grins, and they all stood up to get make their way to the tournament site.

Zhang Wei also stood up last and followed behind whilst thinking nervously.

Surely that was just a joke...right?

...