CH 6

C6 – Double Experience Scroll

“Bang!”

“Hiss… Oh god, it hurts! Eh, it’s dawn already?”

The next morning, Liu Yuan suddenly woke up from his dreams as he bumped his head against the pillar of the bed. For a moment his mind went blank as he stared at the window, through which the morning sunlight flowed in. He slightly squinted, and the spiritual energy that had gathered between his palms instantly dissipated.

Liu Yuan looked at the Five Elements Spiritual Technique Initiation on his knees and, after thinking for a while, he stuffed it back into the blanket.

Although he meant to keep it in a safer place, it was simply impossible to hide a book under his shirt without being noticed by others — like people often did in the TV dramas — because his robe was very light and thin, and quite loose as well. Whatever hidden under the robe might fall off at any minute.

“Although most of the game system has disappeared, somehow I can still feel the subtle operation of the entire mechanism… It is quite novel, really. For example, players are able to easily gain experience and level up through meditation.”

Liu Yuan muttered as he stood up. He lowered his head and looked at his palm, pondering over the possibility of him being the one-in-a-million cultivation genius. The odds seemed quite low, to be frank.

Overnight, he had successfully attracted Qi and broken through to Level 1 of Qi Cultivation Stage. As an avid reader of cultivation novels, he knew clearly this was impossible.

“But it’s still too slow!”

Liu Yuan frowned. He knew how fast-paced the story was going to be. The normal cultivation speed wouldn’t be able to keep up with the cultivation level that players needed for the storyline.

However, he could not just go about killing monsters to level up like he usually did in the game. He would be considered insane if he started killing poultry for no reason in the manor!

Unless he applied to be a chef…

Liu Yuan thought about his cooking skills and decided to give up on this option.

He needed the “Experience Scroll”!

In the early stages, in order to allow the players a better game experience, the Novice Village offered free Double Experience Scroll, but one could only receive three scrolls for free.

If they wanted more, they could only pay for it. Given the high price, it was no different from robbery.

“Now that the System Store has gone, there is no way to receive or purchase the scrolls. Now for others, this may well be a dead end, but for me… it is actually an opportunity.”

The so-called Double Experience Scroll often came in the form of various painting scrolls in the system store in the Novice Village.

According to the description, it was a piece of work by the Hermit Xie Qian. It had a majestic and almost overwhelming touch to it, its artistic conception was displayed to perfection, and it even had the power to capture one’s soul. Take a look at it and one would be able to integrate his mind and body into a harmonious whole, and his sea of consciousness would become ethereal as well.”

Of course, one’s cultivation speed would increase drastically.

Liu Yuan chuckled. The so-called “Hermit Xie Qian” was an NPC that was extremely difficult to come into contact with in the Novice Village. Usually, people who went to visit the Xie Family Mansion could only get a reply from the gatekeeper saying that the master was not in.

However, once the visitor left, a conversation would be heard from the Xie Family Mansion.

“Go and get my zither.” The man’s voice sounded debonair.

“Yes, master.” The servant replied.

Then the sound of the zither would come from inside the high wall.

And the visitors would all be like: What the hell was this all about, huh? Didn’t they say the master was not home?

That man was obviously avoiding visitors and he didn’t even bother to hide his intentions.

Just how arrogant was he!

His painting was referred to as the Double Experience Scroll, and he was titled the Hermit. Unlike other regular NPCs, he had his own unique personality. In the Novice Village, he was always elusive and mysterious. Very few people could actually come into contact with him.

Thinking of this, Liu Yuan retrieved the virtual panel of the illustrated handbook.

He scrolled through those grey cards all the way down until he saw one particular card —

Character: Xie Qian

[Gender: Male]

[Title: Hermit – Forever Solitary]

[Level: Mortal – No Realm (Sealed)]

[Status: Normal]

[Attribute interface (Current status cannot be checked)]

Card Carrying bonus: – (Current status cannot be carried)

Liu Yuan was indeed a genius in the game!

He wouldn’t even let go of the details about male characters!

Actually he got this character card by drawing lots.

There was a card drawing system in this game, but the rate of getting good cards wasn’t high. Otherwise, there would definitely be a large number of players who would choose to draw a card directly. The characters drawn out were basically the same as those won from battles, only the initial favorability was 0, so they needed to send gifts to increase the favorability.

Liu Yuan was quite a generous player who would spend lots of money on games before he transmigrated. Although he was never a very lucky one, he had still managed to obtain quite a number of character cards, some of which were quite interesting.

Among all the cards he got, that of Xie Qian was definitely the biggest reward, but he had never told anyone other than those advanced players for whom he had written game analysis posts in anonymous.

Liu Yuan was not stupid. With the title and the sealed status of the character, normal players knew how valuable this card was. It would not be worth it to get into trouble for no reason. He would rather keep the card to himself and make a fortune.

Liu Yuan then increased Xie Qian’s favorability to the max by giving gifts.

“I’ll go find you as soon as I leave the manor. I have given you so many gifts, so you’d better be giving me a dozen Experience Scrolls in return.”

Liu Yuan snorted and closed the illustrated handbook. He then waved his sleeves and gathered a small amount of spiritual energy, forming a gust of wind that pushed the door open.

A cool breeze blew in from outside, dispelling the heat in the room.

Just as he had once said, his adventure had just begun!

Liu Yuan took his sword and walked out of the room. Outside was the Pool Feather Mountain Manor garden, which seemed safer and more familiar to him, compared to that at night.

Early in the morning, there were some pretty maids carrying plates and trays along the way. They walked in a hurry to the rooms of the masters and distinguished guests to serve them.

As for an ordinary guest like Liu Yuan, naturally no one paid any attention to him.

“You’re up so early?”

Liu Yuan was a bit shocked by the sudden voice. He immediately turned his head and saw Fuhuan — to be specific, he saw her waist.

Liu Yuan heaved a sigh of relief and thought to himself: ‘Why do these martial arts experts all move without a sound? Every time they would appear all of a sudden from nowhere, and they almost give me a heart attack.”

Fuhuan was indeed an expert in martial arts.

In the secular world, martial arts were divided into two stages, the Innate Stage and Acquired Stage. The Innate Stage was determined by the number of extraordinary meridians activated, and the Acquired Stage, on the other hand, was based on the cultivation of the spirit, which was divided into three sub-stages, namely the Extreme Intent, Divine Soul, and Penetrating Peak. Experts at the Acquired Stage had acquired a certain level of magical power.

Above the Penetrating Peak Stage was the true path of martial arts, but very few people could reach that level.

Fuhuan was already at the peak of the Divine Soul Stage, and she was powerful enough to fight a cultivator at the Foundation Establishing Stage.

“You seemed quite distracted. What’s on your mind?”

Fuhuan waved her hand to Liu Yuan’s face.

“Nothing.”

Liu Yuan averted his gaze and tried to stay calm. Although the girl had changed into a more loose black robe, her attractive curves were still well displayed.

Liu Yuan tried to start a conversation, “I just woke up. I was thinking about going out to get some fresh air.”

Fuhuan came up to him with a bronze mask on her face. Liu Yuan was slightly stunned. He then remembered that she would only reveal her face in front of her acquaintances. At other times, her face was masked.

Fuhuan crossed her arms and retorted, “More fresh air? Haven’t you got enough last night?”

Liu Yuan’s mouth twitched. He wanted to say something but in the end decided otherwise.

Forget it. He wouldn’t want to argue with her.

“Last night I was simply taking a walk.”

Liu Yuan explained.

Fuhuan stared at Liu Yuan in the eye and said, “I keep having this feeling that you are somewhat different from last night.”

Liu Yuan touched his face, “Really?”

Fuhuan looked at him for a while and then looked away. She waved her hand and said, “Last night when I saw you, you seemed so… I don’t know, so confused and lost. But today, you look radiant.”

Liu Yuan was stunned. He looked at the girl in front of him and smiled, “Thank you.”

Fuhuan blushed at the smile. She turned her head and snorted, “What is there to thank me for?”

Liu Yuan thought that the girl looked really cute. He pretended to think for a while and said, “I suddenly remember that I’ve buried a jar of good wine on Tiger Tooth Mountain. I will bring it back later and we can drink together.”

Fuhuan loved only two things in the world: one was martial arts, and the other was wine.

Tiger Tooth Mountain was known as the treasure hunting ground in the Novice Village. There was a chance of digging out a jar of century-old wine there, which had been stored by those wild monkeys.

Liu Yuan knew the location and techniques of the treasure hunting. Since they were friends, he was more than willing to get the jar of wine that was worth 10 gold coins as a token of his thanks.

Fuhuan’s eyes lit up as expected, but what she said was, “The wine buried in the mountain is probably tainted or stolen long ago. What’s so good about it? You might as well go to the restaurant outside the manor and buy a jar. It will save you so much trouble.”

Liu Yuan waved his hand, “But I don’t have a single copper coin on me. That’s why I can only go deep into the mountains and forests to dig up the wine that I buried.”

Fuhuan grumbled, “Forget it. You have to be careful, though. Don’t let the fierce beasts scratch the clothes that I gave you.”

Liu Yuan knew that actually she was worried that he would get hurt. She just wouldn’t admit it.

Liu Yuan replied with a faint smile, “Got it.”

After saying goodbye to Fuhuan, Liu Yuan went to Gu Siyin’s boudoir. But he did not go in. He heard from the maidservant Bi He that the young miss had been called to the main hall to discuss the wedding date with the disciple sent by the Water Moon Dock, Xue Zhui.

Liu Yuan knew that this was part of the plot. Although the disciples of the Water Moon Dock wouldn’t do anything at the moment, whenever he thought of Gu Siyin’s teary face and the way her soft hands tightly clutched his clothes, he felt that he would do anything just to make her happy.

After all, she was just a 14-year-old girl! She must be protected and loved!

Liu Yuan let out a deep breath and decided to see what was going on in the hall.