"Fellow cultivator Zi, it's been seven years! I hope your cultivation has progressed smoothly in this period!"

"Fellow cultivator Chen, your goodwill warms my soul!"

Xuan Zi was genuinely pleased to see his peers on the planet mingling together, sharing joy and sorrow, the spirit of a holiday encompassing their picnic spot.

Bowing to familiar faces, embracing long-neglected friends, winking dashingly at the single beauties...ahem, it was truly a wonderful day.

As he walked around, stories, discussions and gossip of all sorts buzzed in his ears.

"Master Ren, please receive this one's small gift. It's just a set of aphrodisiac pills," said a familiar middle-aged man not very far away from him, grabbing his attention.

"...Benefactor is too kind! This penniless monk cannot take such gifts." Replying to the middle-aged cultivator was a handsome young monk radiating a pure, fresh aura, his white kasaya bellowing gently with the wind.

"No, I insist, master Ren. These pills can even rouse what has been long dead-"

"Benefactor, it's not that I don't appreciate your goodwill. Simply said, this poor monk doesn't need an aphrodisiac to satisfy benefactor's respected mother. I may be penniless, but not penisless."

"Whoooaaaaaaaa!"

"You go, master Ren!"

"Hahaha! Take that, Yuan Long!"

Cheers rose in favour of master Ren, proof of the repressed anger at Yuan Long, the middle-aged man who was well known for being a disrespectful prick.

Yuan Long's expression turned unsightly.

"....Ahaha, this one didn't expect master Ren to be such a crude and vulgar monk. Are you certain you'll be able to achieve nirvana and step into the heavenly court with such a character? Hell might be a more likely destination." Yuan Long's recovery was quick, but master Ren's replies were unshakably profound.

"If I do not go to hell, who will?" He said, face serene, eyes closed, lips curved in a faint, benevolent smile.

Xuan Zi nodded approvingly, finding a trace of solace at the mature verbal wars that he had always been fond of, and walked over in long strides.

"Those pills give off an impressive aura!" He said, coming to a stop beside Yuan Long. "I wonder why fellow cultivator Long would carry them around..."

Sometimes, not finishing one's words conveyed more meaning than a complete message.

Yuan Long gloomily digested the insult in silence, too experienced at handling such situations to be trapped so easily and lose his cool.

"Hah, why is that a surprise to you, fellow cultivator Zi? We all know many of our fellow sect masters here are well past the age of passion. I simply prepared some because these pills would surely be a great gift for them!"

An outraged buzz rose among the crowd. Yuan Long happily bathed in his hateful glory.

"What? It's not like I'm lying! Quit pretending most of you don't think the same!" He shouted at the top of his voice, his eyes flickering toward the white-haired elders glaring at him from within the crowd.

"No matter how high your cultivation has reached, almost none of your lifespan has reached over 300 years, hmph! Many of you are physically past your prime, regardless of your cultivation base." His logic was sound, leaving no room for counterarguments, not that anyone would do so.

The older cultivators present shook their heads and decided to let it pass. They were familiar with Yuan Long's antics, and they were even more familiar with the powers backing him. It wasn't worth their dignity to keep arguing with this 'mischievous junior', ahem.

Xuan Zi wasn't one of those old sect masters and had an equally biting reply ready at the tip of his tongue. But he was on a mission today; such trifling battles could wait.

After socializing for a while, he decided it was time to proceed with the plan.

Xuan Zi walked over to one of the more elevated areas on the island and loudly clapped his palms together, attracting everyone's attention.

"Fellow cultivators, there is something we must discuss today."

Dozens of gazes locked onto him, some thoughtful, some suspicious, and some already anticipating the outcome.

Xuan Zi scanned the room one last time carefully before speaking.

"I assume most of you have noticed that the sect masters of the top three powers of our planet, the Beasthaven Sect, the Forestheart Foundation, and the Abyss Guild, are not here for this meeting."

"I heard they were displeased with the invitation sent to their abode," said an old woman, smiling in a wooden manner.

Lots of eyes shifted in myriad directions. The relationships among the sects in the alliance were complex. Many were enemies on the outside while in cahoots internally, many would embrace each other warmly while planning to snatch away another resourceful region from the other party. It was impossible for one man to keep track of it all.

"Perhaps," Xuan Zi remarked. "Or maybe they just needed an excuse to show off their superiority.

Regardless, we have something much more important to discuss today."

His status as the master of one of the well-respected sects ensured that everyone listened to him with rapt attention.

"My fellow cultivators, I'm sure all of you have seen the trials of the second and third rounds of the tournament. I can not be the only one to harbour some suspicion at how vast a change has been brought to our traditional structure of this long-running competition. Some of the trials seem downright suspicious and too roundabout a way to gauge the capability of our disciples. There are much easier methods to run the competition on its course.

For example, why must the elders of our sect take part in the second round of the tournament, while we, the sect masters cannot?"

"They did provide a good explanation, fellow cultivator Zi. Are you accusing the organizers of this tournament of harbouring ill intentions?" Someone from the crowd asked.

As the most powerful sects on the planet, the organizer sects had many powerful allies, most of whom were present in the crowd, and Xuan Zi knew that perfectly well.

But when faced with the threat of extinction, how many of these powerful allies would stay true to their friendship with those scheming giants...especially when THEY were the threat?

"I would not go that far, fellow cultivator Yan...but what harm is there in taking some precautions?" Xuan Zi answered with a measured smile.

****** ******* ******

Kong Ye's heart quaked as he took in the newfound information on his system screen.

[ Scan completed ]

[Remaining Scan: 2/7 ]

[ Warning: Host Is advised to purchase a new scan package from the store ]

[Subject: Armour Fraction (Knee guard) ]

[ Fraction Rank: E+ (Damaged) ]

[ Armour Rank: A ]

[ Alert: By gathering and combining the rest of the fractions, the damaged armour can be returned to rank B ]

[ Alert: Upon gathering a sufficient number of the pieces, the system can synthesize blueprints for construction. Each joint will charge an appropriate amount of points ]

[ Properties ]

[ 1. Fools foreign senses if its wearer wills it. ]

[ 2. Can freely repair itself using treasures. ]

[ 3. Consumes qi to operate. ]

[ 4. Overdrive mode: Consumes the entire qi reserve of its wearer in exchange for a stronger level of temporary defence. ]

[ 5. Maximum attack blocking capacity: the peak of physique transformation realm. ]

[ 6. Vulnerable to non-physical attacks. ]

[ Note: The level of enhanced defence in overdrive mode depends on the amount of qi provided by the wearer. Larger the reserve, the stronger the defence. ]

[ Alert: Blocking attacks at its maximum capacity will deteriorate the rank of the armour-piece and at worst, completely disintegrate it. ]

[ Alert: Detected recent damage inflicted by host's qi, reevaluating current performance level of the armour-piece ]

[ Level of hosts's attack is estimated to have been at early soul reformation realm, beyond its current capacity! ]

[ Estimation: This knee guard will lose most of its functions if it downgrades by another rank and reaches rank- E ]

[ Remaining Capacity: A single block. ]

[ System's Remarks: Don't blame yourself, host. The esoteric design of the armour makes it hard to guess that it cannot even take on an attack at the soul reformation level. Your disciple just has shitty luck. If there was a way to measure luck like other stats...it would probably be an F- rank in his case. ]

The system's consolation did nothing to smother the burning regret inside Kong Ye's heart.

He had just screwed up his disciple's precious treasure due to his excitement. How could he not feel guilty? The second qi arrow had indeed carried the attack power of the soul reformation realm.

He was familiar with many sorts of enchanted armours, having seen such mechanisms and materials on a regular basis on his home planet.

This armour, while fairly powerful, was nothing to fawn over. Even the system hadn't given it a very high rank. It might have been ranked A when it was intact and run by someone with decent cultivation, but it was hardly useful for anyone in the lower realms of cultivation. But vulnerable to non-physical attacks?

How the hell was he supposed to know it would be that useless?

This was the reason why he hadn't exercised much caution in handling it...and now, the result had bitten him back in the ass.

Looking at his young disciple, Kong Ye couldn't find the appropriate words to explain anything to him.

Han Xuhan was oblivious to his internal struggle, prodding and attempting to explore the knee guard with a look of abject wonder on his mug.

Kong Ye found Han Xuhan's thirst for knowledge and curiosity heartwarming as a teacher. He appreciated that in children. But now, that thought only served to fuel his guilt.

"Erm, disciple..."

Han Xuhan looked up, eager to start testing his artefact.

"This little toy of yours...I have finished analyzing its properties already. There is no need to test it further."

"...Toy?" Han Xuhan sounded hurt, but he quickly hid the emotion in his tone and said, "Amazing! So what else does it do? What sort of attacks can it block? What's the limit? How do I operate it easily?"

Han Xuhan's flurry of enquiries made Kong Ye shift uncomfortably on his feet. But hiding the truth would only deteriorate the situation further. He decided to speak the truth...although not the whole truth.

"It has only one use left, Xuhan. It was too weak to function for long. You can block one powerful attack at the peak of the physique transformation realm with this artefact. Afterwards, it will be just a piece of scrap metal."

Han Xuhan stared at him, open-mouthed. Kong Ye stared back, unblinking as a statue.

"Just one attack?" Han Xuhan repeated.

"Yes." Kong Ye confirmed. "Think of it as one of those mythical life-saving amulets. As long as you use it within its limits, you can save your skin from a deadly blow."

Kong Ye had expected some sort of a tantrum to follow, at least a minute of gloomy complaints. Out of his four disciples, only Xiao Wu exercised proper etiquette around him. Han Xuhan refrained from acting unruly, but he frequently lost that respectful facade of his. Kong Ye didn't usually admonish them on the issue.

But Xuhan seemed less than surprised by the turn of events. After nodding once, he pulled his pants down and followed Kong Ye out of the house, ready to attend that day's lesson with his martial siblings.

Kong Ye was feeling all jittery inside when the blue screen popped up in the corner of his vision.

[ Sample analysis progression: 100% ]

[ Congratulations! ]

[ New item unlocked in the shop! Click here to visit it ]

Kong Ye quickly focused his mental energy to click and enter the shop.

A new row of products had been created inside. Only one slot in the row was occupied. The product was a cartoonish image of the vial Han Xuhan had presented to him.

Kong Ye examined its properties.

[ Item: Mind Killer ]

[ Attributes: Poisonous ]

[ Rank: C+ (upgradable) (downgradable) ]

[ Description: Same as the source of the sample, it paralyzes the mental defence of its victim. Stronger versions of it are deadly even in small dosages, and weaker versions can temporarily confuse it's target and affect their intelligence ]

[ Price: 999 points + one sacrificial ritual. ]

[ Do you want to buy the recipe? ]

[ Yes] / [ No ]

Kong Ye took a long, despondent look at his point balance at the corner of the screen. It displayed a measly 1275 points that he had saved up after half a month of hard work.

He chose to click on the first option.