Chapter 4: Spirit Affairs Pavilion

The sun was high in the sky.

The Spiritual Affairs Pavilion was bustling with people coming and going. This was where the Tiansang Spiritual Palace handled all kinds of trivial matters for outer courtyard disciples. It was remarkably large, boasting 108 service counters.

"Good day, Senior Brother.""Hello, Senior Brother Xu.""Good morning, Senior Brother... uh, good afternoon?"Xu Xiaoshou walked along with his sword on his back. He encountered both familiar and unfamiliar faces. Since he was a veteran, he didn't need to greet anyone; a simple nod was sufficient.

Entering the Spiritual Affairs Pavilion was like stepping into a bustling market; it was incredibly noisy. Most people there were signing up for the "Wind and Cloud Competition," as not registering would mean forfeiting. Forfeiting for three consecutive years would result in expulsion from the palace, and the same applied to losing for three consecutive years. A very small number of people, however, didn't want to participate and be disgraced, so they directly applied to become deacons in the secular world, essentially to live a quiet life without much ambition.

All 108 service counters were practically occupied, but Xu Xiaoshou walked directly to counter number one, which was empty. "Just as I thought!"

As he recalled, the other counters were staffed by outer courtyard disciples with sufficient qualifications, but only counter number one was managed by Elder Qiao Qianzhi of the Spiritual Affairs Pavilion. Elder Qiao was good in every aspect, except that he would always lecture people. Consequently, others preferred to wait in line rather than deal with him. Xu Xiaoshou, however, had a very good relationship with this elder. This was mainly because his potential had reached its limit, so Elder Qiao couldn't be bothered to lecture him. After all, this was a man who, despite putting in his utmost effort, still couldn't break through the Fourth Realm.

Entering the room, Elder Qiao was dozing off. Xu Xiaoshou quietly walked over and rapped his knuckles loudly on the table, "Wake up!" Elder Qiao, reclining in his chair with his lips slightly parted, was startled. Without even wiping the drool from the corner of his mouth, he slapped out. Xu Xiaoshou cleverly ducked, "Little trickster!"

"Oh, it's Xiaoshou... wait, Xu Xiaoshou?" Elder Qiao recognized the person and suddenly lost all sleepiness, his face full of surprise. "Weren't you in isolated cultivation to the death? You're not dead?"

A few black lines appeared on Xu Xiaoshou's forehead. "So I'm not allowed to break through, huh? Do I have to be a corpse to meet your expectations, old man?" "I died, and now I'm back as a zombie!" he retorted irritably.

Elder Qiao gave an awkward smile, pointing at the people outside. "Are you also preparing to leave and become a deacon outside?"

"Become a deacon? Isn't being in the top ten of the Wind and Cloud Ranking much better?" Xu Xiaoshou retorted.

"You?" Elder Qiao suddenly held his stomach, trying to stifle his laughter, his body shaking violently. He had been quite bored staying in the outer courtyard, and only Xu Xiaoshou dared to speak to him like this. Only in Xu Xiaoshou's presence would he drop his pretense and laugh freely.

"Received ridicule, Passive Points, +1."Ridicule? A new world has opened up! Xu Xiaoshou chuckled. It seemed, just as he thought, as long as he was sufficiently passive, Passive Points would continuously flow in.

"What? Don't believe my strength has greatly improved after my isolated cultivation?" Elder Qiao was wiping his drool with a tissue. After wiping, he picked up a cup to rinse his mouth, and the corners of his lips couldn't help but turn up.

"Received suspicion, Passive Points, +1."Xu Xiaoshou was amused. He continued, flinging his sleeve, and said with a serious expression, "To tell you the truth, I, Xu, have already broken through to the Innate Realm!"

"Pfft!" Elder Qiao spat out a mouthful of water. Seeing Xu Xiaoshou's earnest expression, he could no longer hold it in. His demonic laughter echoed throughout the entire Spiritual Affairs Pavilion, "Hee-hee-hee-ha-ha-ha..." "I can't, Xu Xiaoshou, that expression... you're truly hilarious." He casually used the drool-wiping tissue to wipe away his tears.

"Received praise, Passive Points, +1."Xu Xiaoshou: "..." Praise? 'What the hell praise? This is sarcasm, brother! This system is toxic, isn't it? I feel like you're creating something out of nothing!'

Outside, disciples whose ears were assaulted by the demonic laughter all stretched their necks to look over, trying to find out what was happening. "Holy cow, whose laughter is that? So demonic!" "Quiet down! Don't you know Elder Qiao's laughter? Do you want to be lectured?" "Who's so awesome that they can amuse Elder Qiao?" "I don't know, let's take a look?"

Their curiosity piqued, these guys stopped queuing. Anyway, committing an offense as a group wasn't considered a crime, so one by one, they crouched down and crept towards the door of counter number one. "Uh... is that Xu Xiaoshou? Wasn't he in isolated cultivation?" "Wow, you're well-informed! I heard he broke through the Fourth Realm and came out!" "Tsk tsk, you're not that great. I heard he reached the Fifth Realm yesterday." "Nonsense, I heard it was the Seventh Realm." "Eighth Realm!" "He just said inside that he's Innate..."

As the last faint voice faded, the entire hall fell silent. The onlookers all turned their heads to look at the speaker, "I'll believe you when pigs fly!"

Elder Qiao saw the crowd at the door and immediately felt a headache coming on. Realizing his laughter had drawn this crowd, he promptly walked out of the room and roared, "What are you looking at? Go register yourselves!" "Hehe, Elder Qiao, calm down, calm down!" The crowd quickly waved their hands and scattered like birds and beasts.

Inside, Xu Xiaoshou was holding his head, laughing uncontrollably. He watched the continuously updating messages in his info bar:"Received suspicion, Passive Points, +42.""Received suspicion, Passive Points, +31.""Received suspicion, Passive Points, +16.""Received suspicion, Passive Points, +3."

There were probably a few hundred people in the Spiritual Affairs Pavilion, with dozens gathered to watch. The Passive Points Elder Qiao's laughter had garnered in one go were more than all the points Xu Xiaoshou had accumulated before. This first wave of Passive Points must have come from the onlookers. Were the subsequent ones from information spreading, or a second wave of suspicion? Xu Xiaoshou realized that each person seemed to give only one point at most per instance. To get more points quickly, there was only one condition: a large crowd! He fantasized: if he were to shout "I am an Innate master" to a crowd of ten thousand people, would he instantly gain ten thousand Passive Points? 'Hmm, or I might be beaten to death for being a lunatic, even though what I said might actually be true.'

"What are you grinning about?" Elder Qiao closed the door and returned to his designated seat. "Nothing!"

Xu Xiaoshou came back to his senses and said, "I forgot to mention the serious business. I'm here to sign up for the 'Wind and Cloud Competition.'"

"Aren't you afraid of being disgraced?" As Elder Qiao spoke, he took a green token from a drawer and held it against his forehead to input information.

Xu Xiaoshou rolled his eyes. 'Sure enough, he still doesn't believe me. I really *am* Innate, so what's there to be disgraced about?' He sighed. 'No helping it. A genius's life is always accompanied by controversy and doubt.'

"Refinement Realm Fourth Stage?" Elder Qiao asked. Xu Xiaoshou thought for a moment, decided not to struggle against it, and nodded.

"Here!" Xu Xiaoshou took the green token from Elder Qiao and held it against his forehead, quickly reading the information inside: "Xu Xiaoshou, Refinement Realm Fourth Stage, Group 12, ID: 1130." Over a thousand people... Although he had expected it, Xu Xiaoshou still clicked his tongue in silent amazement.

Every year, the "Wind and Cloud Competition" had thousands of participants. Regardless of whether one had trained in the outer courtyard for one, two, or three years, as long as they were an outer courtyard disciple, they had to participate. Those at the bottom of the rankings, if they didn't show outstanding performance, would usually be directly sent away, based on the decision of the elders within the Spiritual Palace. Elder Qiao's efforts were indispensable for Xu Xiaoshou remaining until now. But he could only protect him for a while, not forever. If Xu Xiaoshou ranked last for three consecutive years, Elder Qiao alone certainly wouldn't be able to save him. However, these issues seemed to be no longer a problem!

Xu Xiaoshou put away the token, raised an eyebrow at Elder Qiao, then rubbed his hands. "Elder Qiao, where are my spiritual crystals...?" His first purpose for coming here was to register, and his second, naturally, was to retrieve his cultivation allowance. Including the two months before and after, he had twenty spiritual crystals deposited here that he hadn't collected. Ever since he bought "Hidden Suffering," he had been penniless. Although twenty wasn't much, even mosquito meat was still meat, wasn't it?

"You clever rascal!" Elder Qiao laughed and scolded him, counting out twenty spiritual crystals from a drawer. With a flick of his wrist, he also produced a small bottle of pills and placed them on the table together. "This is..." Xu Xiaoshou was surprised. Everyone working in the Spiritual Affairs Pavilion was famously stingy, let alone Elder Qiao. Why would he give him an extra bottle of pills?

"Private sponsorship, don't you dare mention it outside!" Elder Qiao said sternly, pushing the spiritual crystals and pill bottle over. His expression suddenly turned melancholic. "Perhaps I won't see you again in the future..."

Xu Xiaoshou felt a warmth in his heart and quickly scooped up everything, chuckling. "Don't worry, even if I get kicked out of Tiansang Spiritual Palace, I'll come back to see you!"

"Heh!" Elder Qiao chuckled. "Will you be able to get in?" "Relax, I won't be kicked out." "Let's hope so!"

Watching Xu Xiaoshou happily walk out of the Spiritual Affairs Pavilion, Elder Qiao dismissed the melancholy from his eyes and muttered with a frown, "I didn't expect that kid could actually break through. That's truly peculiar." "Good thing he probably doesn't know I sold his information. These pills can count as compensation..." He twirled his fingers. "Hmm, ten times the profit. This batch wasn't a loss!"