In the deep hours of the night, while Qin Mu was sleeping soundly, he was suddenly jolted awake by a series of consecutive prompt sounds.
"Your Ruyi Jingu Bang has increased to Level 15. You will receive a feedback of Gold Element Spiritual Root +1. You may choose the feedback recipient."
Still not fully awake, he rolled over amid the sound.
But soon, another prompt sound from the Ruyi Jingu Bang's level up rang out once again.
"Your Ruyi Jingu Bang has increased to Level 16. You will receive a feedback of Gold Element Spiritual Root +1. You may choose the feedback recipient."
One sound had barely faded when another rose.
"Your Ruyi Jingu Bang has increased to Level 17. You will receive a feedback of Gold Element Spiritual Root +1. You may choose the feedback recipient."
Amid this string of prompt sounds, Qin Mu finally opened his eyes, his face bewildered.
But a lingering trace of daze still remained on his face.
"Your Ruyi Jingu Bang has increased to Level 18. You will receive a feedback of Gold Element Spiritual Root +1. You may choose the feedback recipient."
Hearing this prompt sound, Qin Mu subconsciously blinked, and came to his senses.
Just as he sat up in the dark, the prompt sound rang out again.
"Your Ruyi Jingu Bang has increased to Level 19. You will receive a feedback of Gold Element Spiritual Root +1. You may choose the feedback recipient."
Hearing this prompt sound, Qin Mu was stunned for a moment, thinking he was still dreaming.
But when he reacted, his eyes immediately widened, filled with shock.
"Wait!"
"Level 19?!"
"How many days have I been asleep?"
In his shock, he hurriedly checked the experience gain records of the Ruyi Jingu Bang.
"Your Ruyi Jingu Bang devoured Geng Metal Ore. Experience +5!"
"Your Ruyi Jingu Bang devoured Geng Metal Ore. Experience +5!"
"Your Ruyi Jingu Bang devoured Geng Metal Ore. Experience +5!"
Amid the dense, packed experience gain records, there were also notifications of the Ruyi Jingu Bang rising from Level 11 to Level 14.
"Geng Metal Ore?"
As realization dawned on him, he noticed that the experience from Geng Metal Ore was actually this high — a full five times that of ordinary Iron Ore!
This was the first time he learned that experience actually differed depending on which metal was devoured!
A moment later, he realized he still hadn't chosen the feedback recipient.
At the same time, aboard the Towering Ship that the Misty Sect had docked at the center of Guanhai City—
In a certain room, Zhang Qianren sat cross-legged on his wooden bed, staring unblinkingly at a piece of Geng Metal Ore resting on his knee.
The Geng Metal Ore was fully head-sized, and the Ruyi Jingu Bang, still in the form of a Jade Hairpin, was slowly devouring it.
"Half an hour has already passed. Why hasn't this treasure's Spirituality recovered yet?"
"Could it be that because the Geng Metal Ore contains Spiritual Energy, it's taking the Supreme Treasure much more effort to devour it?"
Unable to stop himself from overthinking, Zhang Qianren's forehead was already covered in cold sweat.
After all, his actions tonight could practically be called "committing a crime against the wind."
Fu Qingfeng, along with all the other Deacons, were all in rooms not far from his.
Any one of them, if they simply extended their Divine Sense, could clearly know what was happening in his room.
Zhang Qianren originally hadn't planned to take such a risk — after all, right as night had fallen, his carelessness had nearly gotten him caught by the Vice Sect Master.
If he hadn't thought quickly and spun an outrageous lie, he'd already be dead.
Lying on his wooden bed that night, he had originally intended to behave himself for a while.
But the moment he thought of the Five Earth Immortals from the Great Yu Dynasty Court, his heart immediately grew uneasy.
After all, once they arrived, the entire Misty Sect would have to submit to their inspection.
Although Fu Qingfeng hadn't detected the Ruyi Jingu Bang on him the day before, Zhang Qianren hadn't let his guard down because of it.
After all, the Vice Sect Master's Divine Sense had only given him a cursory sweep.
The man's attention had been entirely fixed on his Storage Ring.
But the Five Earth Immortals about to descend on Guanhai City had long-accumulated authority, and their Cultivation Level had even reached Tong Tian!
No one knew exactly what methods they might have.
What worried him most was: what if they also brought along the Sky Monitoring Disk, which could observe the entire realm?
Zhang Qianren didn't dare gamble that they wouldn't discover the Ruyi Jingu Bang, so after tossing and turning, weighing it over and over, he gritted his teeth and decided to take the risk once more!
As a precaution, while the Ruyi Jingu Bang devoured the Geng Metal Ore, he not only spread his Divine Sense throughout the room, but also kept the Geng Metal Ore right on his own knee.
The instant his Divine Sense was so much as touched, he would immediately pull the Jade Hairpin off the Geng Metal Ore.
Geng Metal Ore was the finest Spirit Ore under heaven, and Zhang Qianren had originally thought the Ruyi Jingu Bang would quickly recover a good deal of its Spirituality.
He had even fantasized that, with its Spirituality restored, the Ruyi Jingu Bang might manifest a new Trait to help him safely weather this crisis.
But over the past half hour, the Ruyi Jingu Bang had already devoured twenty-one head-sized pieces of Geng Metal Ore, and its Spirituality still hadn't recovered!
This left Zhang Qianren, already anxious, breaking out in a fresh sweat of panic.
He raised his hand, pinched the corner of his sleeve, and wiped away the cold sweat sliding down his temple, while also licking his somewhat parched lips.
Just then, a message appeared in his mind without any warning.
"The Ruyi Jingu Bang has gained a slight recovery of Spirituality, bringing you a feedback of Gold Element Spiritual Root."
As the message faded, a long-absent stream of cool Aura suddenly appeared out of nowhere in his Weiling Acupoint, spreading up along his spine straight into his mind.
That clear-headed, sharp-eyed sensation instantly swept away the anxiety in his heart.
Letting out a long breath, Zhang Qianren pulled up his sleeve and wiped away all the cold sweat on his forehead, then reached out and gently ran his fingers along the smooth, cool body of the Jade Hairpin.
He shook his head with a bitter laugh. "Good treasure, you nearly scared this old man to death!"
At this same moment, the prompt sound rang out once more in Qin Mu's ears.
"Your Ruyi Jingu Bang has increased to Level 20. Alongside gaining a new transform, you will receive a feedback of Gold Element Spiritual Root +1. You may choose the feedback recipient."
After the prompt sound ended, Qin Mu happily accepted this feedback, along with all the previous feedback.
"Too bad I don't have a Panel of my own that could display all this information clearly."
Thinking this, he got out of bed in the dark, found a flint, and lit the candle lamp.
Then he sat down at his writing desk, picked up his brush, and began recording.
Previously, since the Ruyi Jingu Bang's Level had been rising rather slowly, he'd never bothered to keep records.
But tonight, this Supreme Treasure had jumped ten levels all at once — if it kept leveling up at tonight's pace, it would soon reach Level 100.
And according to the explanations of the Qiankun Realm, every innate supreme treasure would possess unique Traits.
A full ninety-nine Traits — if he didn't record them, he worried he'd end up mixing them all up.
According to his own arrangement, every time the treasure rose ten levels, it would grant its Treasure Holder one feedback, while the other nine feedbacks would be intercepted by him.
After finishing his record of every feedback the Ruyi Jingu Bang had granted since it began leveling up, Qin Mu's eyes suddenly lit up.
He now actually had 18 points of Spiritual Root!
He recalled that when the original owner of this body had taken the assessment the year before, the young supervising Disciple of the Misty Sect had casually informed him of his Aptitude Level.
Below 10 points of Spiritual Root was called lower tier talent — upon entering the Sect, besides receiving a basic Qi Refining manual for enlightenment, one would also be saddled with a mountain of trivial matters.
Besides sweeping the houses and courtyards of the Inner Sect Disciples, one would also need to cultivate the Sect's Spirit Rice, feed the Sect's Spirit Beasts, and even go mining.
50 points of Spiritual Root was called medium tier talent — upon entering the sect, one only needed to handle a few of the sect's tasks.
90 points of Spiritual Root was called upper tier talent — upon entering the sect, aside from cultivating, one wouldn't need to be responsible for anything at all, and the sect would even provide servants.
100 points of Spiritual Root was called top tier talent, something almost never seen in a thousand years!
Anything above 100 points was called a Heavenly Spiritual Root — whenever one appeared, it would trigger a frenzied scramble among the Holy Lands, and upon entering a sect, one would become a Dao Child.
But such people were exceedingly rare throughout the ages!
Going by this scale, someone like him, above 10 points but below 50 points of Spiritual Root, fell into the category of mediocre talent.
And mediocre talent received no different treatment from lower tier talent in any of the major sects.
Just thinking of that kind of grueling, backbreaking life gave Qin Mu a headache — having finally been given another lifetime, he had no intention of becoming a corporate slave in some Cultivation sect.
"Better to wait until my Spiritual Root reaches medium tier talent before starting to cultivate..."
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