Chapter 4: First Part Secret Tome

“Of course I know,” Old Mi said, gently stroking his chin beard. Perhaps he was too forceful, or for some other reason, a few whiskers accidentally fell out. He quickly tucked them into his sleeve, a glint of coldness flashing in his eyes.

“How can it be resolved?” Zu An asked urgently, completely oblivious to these details.

Elder Mi glanced at him before speaking. “Your restriction is in a vital area, which is extremely fragile. If external force is used to remove it, it could easily cause permanent damage. You can only dissolve it with your own power. Once you cultivate to the Grandmaster realm, where qi transforms into soul, you will naturally be able to undo this restriction.”

“Grandmaster? What realm is that?” Zu An asked, looking confused.

Old Mi frowned. “How can you not even know this basic common sense? No wonder everyone calls you a good-for-nothing.”

As he explained, Zu An finally understood the cultivation realm hierarchy of this world. Most cultivators in the world are within the nine ranks.First Rank: Officially begin cultivation by synchronizing a unique breathing rhythm with the world’s elemental energy, drawing it into the body.Second Rank: Use elemental energy to temper the skin, to accelerate its absorption.Third Rank: Refine the flesh.Fourth Rank: Temper the tendons.Fifth Rank: Refine the bones.Sixth Rank: Refine the bone marrow.Seventh Rank: Refine the blood.Eighth Rank: Temper the internal organs and establish a complete network of meridians throughout the body.Ninth Rank: Perceive the Niwan Palace (Mud-Pill Palace) and begin storing qi.

When a cultivator gathers the chaotic elemental energy within their body into a vortex, continuously nourishing their limbs and bones, they break through to the Grandmaster realm.

If a Grandmaster can form divine sense, they become a Great Grandmaster. Under divine sense, life and death are at their command.

Above Great Grandmasters are Earth Immortals, who possess the power to move mountains and overturn seas with a mere gesture, like the deities of ancient myths.

“Tempering skin, refining flesh, refining bones? This classification method seems too arbitrary,” Zu An said with a strange expression. “What lies beyond Earth Immortals?”

“Beyond Earth Immortals?” Old Mi gazed up at the starry sky, a flicker of longing and fanaticism in his eyes. “Legend has it, that is the realm of divine wandering through the void, where one can achieve eternal life and immortality. Unfortunately, it seems no one has reached that realm yet.”

Zu An naturally paid no mind to this; such things were too far removed from him. He quickly focused on his own problem: “But some say my aptitude is terrible, and I’m already an adult. How can I possibly cultivate to the Grandmaster realm?”

Old Mi glanced at him. “For you, practicing normal cultivation methods in this world is indeed pointless. However, I happen to have a peculiar cultivation technique that I acquired many years ago, which is perfectly suited for you.”

“How is it peculiar?” Zu An’s heart skipped a beat.

Old Mi replied, “Ordinary people usually cultivate from a young age, assisted by elemental stones and spirit herbs, absorbing the world’s elemental energy into their bodies to temper themselves from head to toe, ultimately forming a network of elemental energy channels throughout their body. However, given your aptitude, even ignoring the disadvantage of your age, practicing this way would at most allow you to reach the Third Rank, and that would require tens of times more elemental stone resources than a normal person. Elemental stones are so rare and precious, who would be willing to waste them on someone like you with no future?”

“But my cultivation technique is different. It emphasizes ‘breaking first, then establishing.’ To successfully cultivate it, the only requirement is to take a beating. The harder you’re beaten, the easier it is to break through to the next realm.”

Zu An was utterly bewildered. “There’s actually such a… vulgar cultivation technique in this world?”

“Ignorant child! Do you know this divine art is the only one in the world that could possibly grant eternal—” Old Mi instantly flew into a rage, but realizing his slip of the tongue, he quickly changed his tone. “Ahem, ahem. Do you want to learn it or not?”

“Learn it, of course I want to learn it.” Zu An was now like a drowning man grasping at a life raft. With his future happiness at stake, he was willing to try even the most incredible cultivation technique. “But we’re neither kin nor close, why are you being so kind?”

Old Mi sighed deeply. “Only because I don’t have much time left in this world, and I don’t wish for this cultivation technique to be buried with me in the earth.”

Zu An then felt relieved. “May I ask for your esteemed name, senior? In the future, I will surely spread this cultivation technique far and wide, so as not to tarnish your esteemed reputation.” By now, he naturally didn’t believe “Old Mi” was his real name.

“Just call me Old Mi,” Old Mi chuckled with a half-smile. “It’s rare for someone to have such a thought; it proves I didn’t choose wrongly.” He gave a noncommittal hum. “Take this book and study it at your leisure. If you don’t understand anything, come find me again.”

After speaking, he threw a dark, nondescript scroll into Zu An’s arms, then turned and left. Inwardly, however, he was suppressing uncontrollable ecstasy: After all these years, I’ve finally found the most suitable vessel!

Many years ago, he was entrusted with a top-secret mission. He had barely escaped death to acquire this secret tome. But afterward, instead of reporting back, he killed his companions, faked his death, and went into hiding to cultivate in secret. However, there are no impenetrable walls in this world; recently, those people seemed to have gotten wind of his whereabouts and would likely find him here soon.

His divine art was not yet complete, making him utterly incapable of resisting them. After much deliberation, he devised a plan to escape, like a cicada shedding its skin: a soul-possession and rebirth technique he had acquired years ago.

In any case, his current body was decrepit and old, and he had long wanted to switch to a new one. This crisis simply solidified his resolve. However, soul-possession wasn’t so simple. Firstly, the target had to be cultivating the same technique so that he could transfer his cultivation base; secondly, the target’s constitution had to be of the ‘Yin-dominant’ type.

One must understand that soul-possession is extremely perilous. The target must be chosen based on the most compatible conditions in all aspects. And since he himself was a eunuch, suddenly transferring into a virile male body could easily lead to his ‘yang fire’ consuming him and causing instant death.

But if he were to possess another eunuch, he felt a sense of unwillingness. Which eunuch in this world wouldn’t want to be a true man? Who would want to live again only to remain a eunuch?

Because of this dilemma, he had never found a suitable person, until he met this Chu family son-in-law. Although a restriction had been placed on him, making him appear like a eunuch, he wasn’t a true eunuch. Once he completely controlled the body, he could slowly restore it to normal.

Not only was the body suitable, but crucially, he didn’t have many family members or friends, making any abnormalities after soul-possession difficult to detect. Furthermore, as the Chu family’s son-in-law, he would undoubtedly enjoy wealth and prestige in the future, especially with a wife as beautiful as a celestial fairy.

Thinking of Chu Chuyan’s unparalleled beauty, even as a eunuch, Old Mi felt a surge of excitement.

Zu An, unaware of any of this, hopefully examined the scroll in his hand, as it was his only hope.

The scroll felt neither like silk nor metal; its material was indiscernible.

Just as Zu An was about to find Old Mi to ask about it, a cold voice suddenly sounded in his ear: “Detected the Secret Tome of Qishan: Phoenix Nirvana Scripture. Do you wish to absorb and activate the keyboard?”

Zu An was stunned. He never imagined he would acquire a secret tome so easily. Shouldn’t the twelve unknown lands sound mysterious and unfathomable, something one might not even obtain after facing near-certain death?

Despite his shock, he answered “Yes” without hesitation.

Immediately, a keyboard materialized in his hand. The scroll suddenly transformed into a ball of golden light and was directly absorbed into the F2 key. Points of light moved along the patterns and outlines on the key, and then the keyboard seemed to come alive, as the backlights of many keys illuminated.

“First secret tome acquired. Rage Value System activated. Partial lottery functions unlocked.”

“Rage Value System: As a keyboard warrior, your mission is to constantly incite impotent rage in your opponents. When a target becomes enraged, the host receives a corresponding amount of Rage Value, depending on the degree of anger. Rage Value can be spent on lotteries, purchasing items, and using skills.”

Zu An noticed a virtual screen had appeared above the keyboard. The words just explained were displayed on it. Simultaneously, there were several buttons on the screen that could be selected by moving a cursor. They read, in order: “Lottery” and “Shop.” Other buttons were obscured by a mosaic, making them completely unreadable.

The “Lottery” button was lit up, while the “Shop” button was gray, likely a function to be unlocked next.

The bottom of the screen resembled an in-game inventory bar, but unfortunately, it was empty.

Additionally, in the upper right corner of the screen, there was a small line of text: “Rage Value: 0.”

Zu An suddenly felt dejected. Earlier, he had clearly made that girl, Xue’er, so angry that her period doubled—why hadn’t he received any Rage Value? It seemed the keyboard hadn’t been unlocked then.

Moving the directional keys, he moved the cursor to the “Lottery” section. After pressing the Enter key, another line of text appeared on the screen.

“One lottery chance can be obtained for every 100 Rage Value consumed.”

“As this is the host’s first time activating the keyboard function, you will be rewarded with three free lottery chances. The probability of winning during these three draws is significantly increased. Reward items are random, and subsequent item drops will be linked to the host’s level. Do you wish to start the lottery?”

“Isn’t this just a newbie gift pack?” Zu An enthusiastically selected “Yes.” A light spot then appeared on the keyboard, rapidly moving across the keys.

Zu An’s heart pounded with excitement. What would he draw? A divine artifact that granted level 999 with one slash? Or an incredibly powerful divine beast? Of course, drawing a little fairy wouldn’t be bad either…

As he was fantasizing, he saw the cursor stop on the spacebar. Four large characters appeared on the screen: “Thank You For Participating!”

Zu An: “???”

“What about the promised significantly increased winning probability? What about the promised cheat? What about the promised miraculous system?”

“After all that grand, impressive setup, to just draw ‘Thank You For Participating’—you’re simply a disgrace to the system world!”

“Proceed with the next draw?” the screen inquired.

“I’ll be damned if I believe you!” Zu An gritted his teeth. Just as he was about to press again, he suddenly felt something was wrong. He rushed off to fetch a basin of water, washed his face thoroughly, and only then began the second draw.

This time, he dared not let his mind wander. He stared intently at the cursor, noticing it lingered longest on the spacebar, followed by the number key area, and flashed fastest across the letter key area.

He figured the less time the cursor spent on an area, the more precious the item drawn from it. But he didn’t expect too much; he just hoped it wouldn’t land on the spacebar again.

As if his prayers had been heard, the cursor finally stopped on the “Q” key. A blob of something appeared on the screen, and seeing it wasn’t “Thank You For Participating,” Zu An was overjoyed.

However, his smile quickly froze, because he noticed that the blob, no matter how he looked at it, resembled a steel wool scrubber commonly used for cleaning pots in the kitchen.

“Was the system telling him to become a chef? Or an interdimensional merchant?”

“This item—a pack of four could be bought for 2 yuan at a convenience store—and he drew it from *this* system? Zu An was starting to doubt his life.”

“Congratulations! You’ve drawn a Rich Woman’s Pleasure Ball!”