Chapter 8

The system interface was similar to the inventory screen of a game character, with all system items displayed in a grid. The various magical treasures and cultivation techniques he had stolen from the Tianwu Sect’s treasure vault were stored in another storage space.

Xu Que looked at the item labeled “Growth Gift Pack” and smiled slightly.

According to the description of the “Growth Gift Pack,” he roughly understood its function.

Every time he advanced to a new realm, he would get one chance to open the gift pack.

In other words, after opening it this time, the next opportunity would come when he transcended the Foundation Establishment stage and entered the Core Formation stage, and then the Golden Core stage.

Each time he opened the gift pack, he would receive various random rewards.

Xu Que felt that his luck was not bad today and decided to open the gift pack immediately.

“Do you want to open the ‘Growth Gift Pack’?” the system confirmed.

“Yes,” Xu Que replied solemnly, feeling a bit excited and nervous.

What kind of rewards would he get? A beautiful female bodyguard? A divine weapon? Or perhaps a powerful old man as a companion?

As he looked on with anticipation, the system interface flashed with several streaks of light, followed by a series of notification sounds:

“Ding, congratulations to the host ‘Xu Que’ for obtaining a new privilege, activating the ‘Recycling Function’!”

“Ding, congratulations to the host ‘Xu Que’ for obtaining one ‘Disguise Puppet.’”

“Ding, congratulations to the host ‘Xu Que’ for obtaining one ‘初级神行遁走符’ (初级神行遁走符 translates to '初级' as '初级' and '神行遁走符' as '初级神行遁走符').”

...

Xu Que was stunned for a moment. What the hell? Where's my beautiful bodyguard? My divine weapon? My powerful old man?

Just these few items, and they still call it a big gift pack?

All three of his wishes were unfulfilled.

Xu Que was disappointed, but his gaze still fell on the “Disguise Puppet” in the item list.

【Disguise Puppet】: 100% disguise of another person's appearance and form, and mimic their realm and aura, but does not enhance real strength. Duration: one hour. (Effective only for disguise targets at the Infant Transformation stage and below.)

“Damn, this is a typical tool for showing off!” Xu Que exclaimed immediately.

From the memory of the prince consort, he was very clear about the realm divisions in this world.

Starting from the Qi Cultivation stage, the subsequent stages were: Foundation Establishment, Core Formation, Golden Core, Nascent Soul, Infant Transformation, Void Condensation, Body Fusion, Tribulation Transcendence, and Great Ascension.

There were a total of ten major realms, each divided into ten minor stages, categorized by levels.

Therefore, the Infant Transformation stage was considered a very powerful realm in this world. For example, the current emperor of Huoyuan Kingdom was at the Infant Transformation stage, and it was rumored that the head of the Tianwu Sect was also at the Infant Transformation stage.

Now, with this 【Disguise Puppet】, Xu Que felt that if he disguised himself as an Infant Transformation stage expert and went out, it would be extremely impressive and a perfect tool for showing off!

“Unfortunately, the duration is only one hour. It would be great if it could last for a year or two,” he said with a hint of regret, then scanned the system item list again.

However, in the system item list, apart from the newly obtained “初级神行遁走符” and the “Growth Gift Pack,” there were no other items.

“Ah, I almost forgot. The first reward wasn't an item, it was something about a new recycling privilege, right?” Xu Que slapped his head, suddenly remembering, and quickly said to the system, “Quick, introduce me to the new privilege.”

“Ding! The ‘Recycling Function’ can provide recycling services. Whether it's magical treasures, spirit medicines, cultivation techniques, etc., the system can recycle them and convert them into corresponding essence values to be returned to you. Some precious items can be directly converted into show-off points. Here are the detailed explanations...”

After a series of explanations from the system, Xu Que finally understood the function of the new privilege.

It was more like a devouring function rather than recycling.

In short, if you threw a flying sword to the system, the system would analyze the sword's grade and then return the corresponding essence value, which would be stored in the essence pool for forging, to improve the quality and grade of various magical treasures and weapons.

If you recycled a pill, the system would return refining essence, which would be stored in the refining essence pool to improve the quality and purity of pills and spirit medicines.

If you recycled a cultivation technique, it would return cultivation essence, which could quickly advance the progress of martial arts and techniques but could not be used to advance the character's realm level.

In other words, the “Dragon Soaring Nine Transformations” technique that Xu Que was cultivating could be quickly advanced using this cultivation essence, but the “Ancient Five Elements Technique” could not, as it involved the character's realm level.

Even so, after reading the entire function description, Xu Que was so impressed that he wanted to shout, “Awesome!”

Originally, he was thinking about how to deal with the pile of magical treasures and cultivation techniques he had stolen from the Tianwu Sect’s treasure vault. After all, the quantity was quite large, and he couldn't use them all.

Now, with this recycling function, his strength could easily be further enhanced.

However, he didn't rush to dispose of the stolen items. He needed to take some time to carefully select which useful items to keep for himself, then recycle some, and sell the rest to exchange for silver and spirit stones.

After all, in this world, silver and spirit stones were the circulating currency, and he needed to have some on hand for emergencies.

“Phew, no matter what, this time has been quite fruitful.”

Xu Que took a deep breath, his face beaming with a joyful smile.

His lower body had already calmed down, and he had also taken off the red belly band, washing it clean.

Seeing no one around, he quickly climbed ashore, dried off the water, and changed into the light blue coarse linen clothes that Xiao Rou had given him. He tied his long black hair with a headband.

He looked fresh and handsome, and when he smiled, it exuded a cultured and refined demeanor.

After all, he had been a prince consort in the imperial palace, living a life of luxury for six years and consuming various spirit medicines. A simple coarse linen outfit couldn't hide the aura of his body.

Xu Que was very satisfied with his new appearance. In his previous life on Earth, such a face and demeanor would have been top-notch in the entertainment industry.

Wearing Xiao Rou's red belly band, Xu Que headed towards her home.

On the way, he occasionally encountered a few villagers, who all smiled at him and praised his bravery in defeating the wild beast earlier.

Xu Que smiled modestly, waved his hand, and humbly said that he could handle as many as there were.

The villagers all gave him a thumbs up.

But when their gazes fell on the red belly band in his hand, they winked and smiled meaningfully, making Xu Que stiffen, putting on a dignified and upright appearance, and walking forward with his head held high.

A little boy, wiping his nose, shouted, “Brother, my mom said the thing you’re holding is called a belly band, and it’s for women, not for men.”

The villagers burst into laughter, saying, “Little brother, children speak without reserve, don’t take it to heart. We all understand you.”

Understand my sister!

Xu Que's mouth twitched, and he fled in embarrassment.

Damn, he had lost face big time.

Fortunately, the villagers here were kind and simple, and they didn't mistake him for an underwear thief, or his reputation would have been ruined!

Xu Que returned to Xiao Rou's home, feeling like crying but unable to.

With a “creak,” the wooden door was pushed open.

Xiao Rou, holding the quilt he had worn earlier, walked out, apparently intending to wash it, as it was covered in ointment and smelled terrible.

But when she saw Xu Que, her face turned red again, especially when she noticed the belly band in his hand, making her want to turn and hide in the house.

Xu Que quickly ran over, took the quilt from her, and said with a forced smile, “I’ll do it, I’ll do it. Leave this kind of rough work to me.”

As he spoke, he subtly returned the belly band to Xiao Rou.

Xiao Rou's face turned even redder, her mouth opened and closed, but she couldn't find the words.

Seeing this, Xu Que was about to ask, but a commotion suddenly came from the village entrance, mixed with angry shouts, as if someone was arguing.

Xu Que's brows furrowed immediately. “Oh no, could it be that the wild beasts are back? Xiao Rou, wait here, I’ll go check.”

With that, he ran towards the village entrance.

“Wait...”

Xiao Rou called out immediately, but Xu Que was already out of sight.

She bit her lip, worried, hid the belly band on her person, and followed him.