Chapter 4

The sun was high in the sky.

The Spirit Affairs Pavilion was bustling with people, a place where the Heavenly Mulberry Spirit Palace handled various trivial matters for the outer court disciples. It was enormous, with 108 administrative counters.

"Hello, Senior Brother."

"Hello, Senior Brother Xu."

"Good morning... uh, good afternoon?"

Xu Xiaoshou walked in with his sword on his back, nodding to those he knew and those he didn't. Since he was a senior, he didn't need to greet everyone individually.

Entering the Spirit Affairs Pavilion was like entering a bustling market, with a cacophony of voices.

Most of the people here were here to register for the "Fengyun Competition," as not registering would be considered a forfeiture.

Three consecutive forfeitures would result in expulsion from the palace, of course, three consecutive kneelings would also count.

A very small number of people, however, didn't want to participate and lose face, so they directly applied to become attendants in the secular world, living a life of idleness.

The 108 administrative counters were mostly occupied, and Xu Xiaoshou went straight to Counter No. 1, which was empty.

"Sure enough!"

In his memory, the other counters were managed by senior outer court disciples, while Counter No. 1 was managed by Elder Qiao Qian of the Spirit Affairs Pavilion.

Elder Qiao was good in every way, except that he couldn't go three sentences without lecturing, so others would rather queue up than provoke him.

Xu Xiaoshou, however, had a very good relationship with this elder, mainly because his potential had reached its limit, and Elder Qiao no longer bothered to lecture him.

After all, this was a man who, despite his utmost efforts, could not break through to the fourth realm.

Entering the room, Elder Qiao was dozing off. Xu Xiaoshou quietly walked over and knocked loudly on the table, "Wake up!"

Elder Qiao, who was leaning back in his chair with his mouth slightly open, was startled awake. Without wiping the drool from the corner of his mouth, he slapped at Xu Xiaoshou, who nimbly ducked, "Little brat!"

"It's me, Xiaoshou... I mean, Xu Xiaoshou?"

Elder Qiao, upon recognizing the visitor, suddenly became wide awake, his face full of surprise, "Weren't you in a closed retreat? You didn't die?"

Xu Xiaoshou's forehead creased with several black lines. So, he couldn't break through, and he had to become a corpse to meet your expectations?

"I'm dead, but I'm a zombie now!" he said irritably.

Elder Qiao chuckled, pointing at the people outside, "Are you also preparing to leave and become an attendant?"

"An attendant? Isn't the top ten of the Fengyun List more appealing?" Xu Xiaoshou retorted.

"You?" Elder Qiao suddenly burst into laughter, his body shaking.

He found life in the outer court extremely boring, and only Xu Xiaoshou dared to speak to him like this. Only in front of Xu Xiaoshou would he let down his guard and laugh freely.

"Received ridicule, passivity value, +1."

Ridicule?

Another new world opened up!

Xu Xiaoshou chuckled, it seemed that as long as he was passive enough, the passivity value would keep flowing.

"What? Don't you believe I've made great progress after my closed retreat?"

Elder Qiao was wiping his mouth with a tissue, then rinsed his mouth with a cup of water, his lips curling up.

"Received doubt, passivity value, +1."

Xu Xiaoshou was delighted. He continued, his expression serious, "To be honest, I, Xu Xiaoshou, have already broken through to the innate realm!"

"Spit!" Elder Qiao spat out a mouthful of water.

Seeing Xu Xiaoshou's serious expression, he couldn't hold back his laughter, his demonic laughter echoing throughout the Spirit Affairs Pavilion, "Haha... Haha..."

"I can't take it, Xu Xiaoshou, that expression... you're really funny." He wiped his tears with the tissue he used to wipe his mouth.

"Received praise, passivity value, +1."

Xu Xiaoshou: "..."

Praise?

What kind of praise is this, it's ridicule, brother! Is this system toxic? I feel like you're making things up!

Outside, the disciples, whose ears were assaulted by the demonic laughter, stretched their necks to see what was happening.

"Damn, whose laughter is so demonic!"

"Keep it down, don't you know Elder Qiao's laughter? Want to be lectured?"

"Who's so awesome that they can make Elder Qiao laugh?"

"Don't know, want to check?"

Curiosity piqued, they stopped queuing. Since it was a group action, it wasn't considered a crime, so they all crept to the door of Counter No. 1.

"Uh... it's Xu Xiaoshou? Wasn't he in a closed retreat?"

"Wow, your information is really up-to-date. I heard he broke through to the fourth realm and came out of retreat!"

"Tsk tsk, you're not much better. I heard he reached the fifth realm yesterday."

"Rubbish, I heard he's at the seventh realm."

"Eight realm!"

"He just said he's at the innate realm..."

As the last weak voice fell, the hall fell silent. The onlookers looked at the speaker, "I don't believe you for a second!"

Seeing the crowd at the door, Elder Qiao's head ached. Realizing his laughter had drawn the crowd, he immediately walked out and shouted, "What are you looking at? Go register!"

"Hehe, calm down, Elder Qiao, calm down!" The crowd waved their hands and scattered like birds and beasts.

Inside, Xu Xiaoshou was already holding his head, laughing uncontrollably. He looked at the information bar, which was constantly updating:

"Received doubt, passivity value, +42."

"Received doubt, passivity value, +31."

"Received doubt, passivity value, +16."

"Received doubt, passivity value, +3."

The Spirit Affairs Pavilion had a few hundred people, and dozens of them were onlookers. The passivity value gained from Elder Qiao's laughter was more than he had accumulated before.

This first wave of passivity value was probably from the onlookers, and the second wave was from the information spreading.

Xu Xiaoshou realized that each person could only give one point of passivity value at a time. To get more at once, there was only one condition:

More people!

He imagined that if he shouted "I'm an innate expert" in a crowd of ten thousand, would he instantly gain ten thousand passivity values?

Hmm, he might also be beaten to death for being a lunatic, although what he said wasn't entirely false.

"What are you grinning about?" Elder Qiao closed the door and sat back in his chair.

"Nothing!"

Xu Xiaoshou came to his senses and said, "Forgot to mention, I'm here to register for the 'Fengyun Competition.'"

"Afraid of losing face?"

Elder Qiao said, taking out a green token from a drawer and recording information on it.

Xu Xiaoshou rolled his eyes. He still didn't believe him, I really am at the innate realm, what face to lose!

He sighed. A genius's life is always accompanied by controversy and doubt.

"Fourth realm of Spirit Cultivation?" Elder Qiao asked.

Xu Xiaoshou thought for a moment and decided not to struggle, nodding.

"Here!"

Taking the green token from Elder Qiao, Xu Xiaoshou placed it on his forehead, quickly reading the information inside:

Xu Xiaoshou, Fourth Realm of Spirit Cultivation, Group 12, Number: 1130.

Over a thousand people...

Although he had expected it, Xu Xiaoshou still marveled internally.

Every year, the "Fengyun Competition" had over a thousand participants. Regardless of whether you had been in the outer court for one, two, or three years, if you were an outer court disciple, you had to participate.

The lowest-ranked participants, after a decision by the elders of the Spirit Palace, would generally be sent away if they didn't have outstanding performance.

Xu Xiaoshou was able to stay until now, thanks to Elder Qiao.

But while he could protect him for a while, he couldn't protect him forever. If he was at the bottom for three consecutive years, even Elder Qiao alone couldn't save him.

But, these issues didn't seem to be a problem anymore!

Xu Xiaoshou put away the token, raised his eyebrows at Elder Qiao, and rubbed his hands, "Elder Qiao, where are my spirit crystals..."

His first purpose for coming here was to register, and his second purpose was to retrieve his cultivation allowance.

Counting the two months before and after, he had twenty spirit crystals stored here. Since he bought "Zangku," he was penniless. Although twenty wasn't much, even a small amount was still something.

"You're a clever one!"

Elder Qiao laughed and scolded, counting out twenty spirit crystals from the drawer. He then shook his hand, producing an additional pill bottle, placing it on the table.

"What's this?" Xu Xiaoshou was surprised. The people who worked in the Spirit Affairs Pavilion were known for being stingy, let alone Elder Qiao. Why would he give him an extra bottle of pills?

"Private sponsorship, don't tell anyone!" Elder Qiao said sternly, pushing the spirit crystals and pill bottle over. His expression suddenly turned melancholic, "I might not see you again..."

Xu Xiaoshou's heart warmed, quickly putting everything away and chuckling, "Don't worry, even if I'm kicked out of the Heavenly Mulberry Spirit Palace, I'll come back to see you!"

"Haha!"

Elder Qiao laughed, "Can you even get in?"

"Don't worry, they can't kick me out."

"Let's hope so!"

Watching Xu Xiaoshou leave the Spirit Affairs Pavilion with a happy smile, Elder Qiao's melancholy faded, and he frowned, muttering, "I didn't expect this kid to break through, that's strange."

"At least he doesn't know about the information I sold, this pill can be considered compensation..."

He twirled his fingers, "Hmm, ten times the profit, this deal isn't bad!"