“Soulshaping Pill?”
Ye Luqing fiddled with a perfectly round pill, its rich medicinal fragrance making it clear that this was no ordinary item.
[It’s a Heaven-grade Soulshaping Pill. Out of apology, the System has upgraded your reward, Host.]
The novel’s setting instantly flooded Ye Luqing’s mind: in this world, pills, cultivation techniques, and divine weapons were ranked from high to low as Heaven, Earth, Mysterious, and Yellow. Each rank was further divided into upper, middle, and lower grades.
Originally, the reward for reaching 100% Blackening Value was an Earth-grade Soulshaping Pill.
To make up for not reminding her of the crucial “Demonization Value” information, the System had compromised.
“At least my last life wasn’t a complete waste…” Ye Luqing muttered.
[After taking this pill, your soul will perfectly fuse with this body. Even a great cultivator at the Tribulation Crossing Realm wouldn’t be able to tell the difference.]
“Wow, so amazing (monotone).”
Lying inside the Mystic Ice Immortal Coffin, Ye Luqing nodded perfunctorily.
Though the pill had been upgraded from Earth-grade to Heaven-grade, she felt she didn’t really need a Soulshaping Pill.
When she transmigrated, the original owner had already been confirmed dead. Even without 100% perfect soul fusion, she was at least at 90% now. That little difference didn’t matter to her.
Besides, who would have nothing better to do than check her soul?
With a swipe of her finger, she saw another window, packed densely with all sorts of colorful items.
[Current Points: 1000]
[For every 1% increase in Destined Female Lead Xiao Qingxuan’s Blackening Value, you gain 10 Points.]
[Besides increasing Xiao Qingxuan’s Blackening Value, completing plot missions also grants Points, which can be used to buy items.]
This was the Blackening Value Shop she’d just unlocked. The Points she held now were also the reward for Xiao Qingxuan’s Blackening Value reaching 100% in her last life.
“This is getting more and more game-like…”
Ye Luqing’s eyes shifted as if she’d thought of something.
“If I lower the Blackening Value and then raise it again, can I get more Points?”
[No.]
Ye Luqing tugged at the corner of her mouth—of course bugs like that weren’t so easy to exploit.
She quickly browsed the shop. Though the items were sorted by category, each had thousands of options—there was no way she could finish looking anytime soon.
Hundreds of pills of varying quality flashed past her eyes, and at the very last row, Ye Luqing saw the Heaven-grade Soulshaping Pill, followed by a jaw-dropping number.
“So expensive!”
Ye Luqing’s hand holding the Heaven-grade Soulshaping Pill started to sweat. This seemingly ordinary pill was priced at a staggering 20,000 Points.
“Good grief, I’d have to push Xiao Qingxuan’s Blackening Value to 2000% just to exchange for one of these things…”
After a rough scan, Ye Luqing now had a basic understanding of Points exchange.
With the 1000 Points she currently had, she could buy most upper Mysterious-grade items, as well as a few “special” Earth-grade techniques.
“Threadbinding Art: entwines your true qi with another’s Dantian and Soul Palace. After planting the Threadbinding Seed, your dual cultivation partner becomes more dependent on you, increasing their affection…”
“Cloud-Transcending Hand: uses exquisite technique to guide true qi into the body. The closer the guided location is to the Dantian, the stronger the pleasure. Most effective in moist environments…”
“Flower Shadow Overlay: takes the dominant position during dual cultivation, swiftly conquers the other party, effective even on cultivators one realm higher than yourself.”
Hiss.
Ye Luqing sucked in a cold breath.
This so-called “dual cultivation”—was she supposed to take it seriously?
[If you’re interested, Host, these three Earth-grade techniques can be bundled and sold for an 800 Point discount—only 2000 Points total! Later, you can also unlock technique connection diagrams for combo use…]
Hearing this, Ye Luqing’s lips curled.
Well, not even pretending anymore.
“Isn’t my mission to make Xiao Qingxuan blacken? What use are these weird techniques?” she raised an eyebrow.
[Suppress before you raise. First, let the Fated Female Protagonist get hopelessly addicted to your body, then kick her away. Wouldn’t that make her Blackening Value soar?]
[Once you master the invincible Heaven-grade Dual Cultivation Pleasure Technique, you’ll definitely give the Fated Female Protagonist a big surprise!]
“Ugh, you’re really something.”
She reflexively scrolled through the shop and found the so-called Heaven-grade Dual Cultivation Pleasure Technique.
“Supreme Eight Desolations Art,” price: 50,000 Points.
Hiss, just the name alone sounded intense.
Just as Ye Luqing was sizing up the technique, the words seemed to come alive, flying straight into her brow.
In the next moment, a hazy vision entered her mind.
In a blur, she saw a black-haired female cultivator in a loose immortal dress kneeling on the ground, gazing up at a green-haired girl with a charming, flushed face.
The green-haired girl poured wine over her own leg, the liquid streaming down her fair calf to her delicate jade foot.
Looking down from above, the green-haired girl shook her foot, while the purple-haired cultivator reflexively stuck out her tongue, her slightly parted red lips unclear if they were craving the sweet wine—or something else…
Even though the image was censored, anyone could tell with their toes that this was her and Xiao Qingxuan.
As the sounds in the vision grew more wanton and indecent, Ye Luqing’s face burned hotter and hotter, feeling like even her phantom limbs were about to stand up.
Supreme Eight Desolations indeed…
If just a little “sweet pepper” was this wild, the paid content of the Supreme Eight Desolations Art must be out of this world.
Judging by the technique demonstration, being able to turn a cold and aloof immortal like Xiao Qingxuan into that—Supreme Eight Desolations Art was indeed worth the price.
But she really couldn’t afford a 50,000 Point technique, so into the collection it went for now…
[Supreme Eight Desolations Art added to collection. Host will be notified when there’s a discount.]
Pretty smart, Ye Luqing smacked her lips.
Putting aside those strange techniques, she noticed something else.
“The shop has a recycling function?”
She’d just scrolled to the bottom and found, in an inconspicuous corner, an item recycling section.
[Items can be recycled, but only for half their original Point value.]
“That’s such a rip-off…”
Ye Luqing pursed her lips, but it made sense. If they bought back at full price, she could just keep flipping items for profit.
Thinking of this, another idea popped into her head.
“Will the shop accept things I get from elsewhere?”
[Yes.]
Ye Luqing nodded in satisfaction. In the future, she could trade in unwanted items for Blackening Value, then buy what she wanted from the shop.
With nothing better to do, she continued lying in the ice coffin, browsing the shop with interest.
As someone who grew up reading fantasy novels, Ye Luqing was still fascinated by these techniques and divine weapons, a true Earthling at heart.
As she looked, she couldn’t help but marvel at the System’s resources.
From the most basic Yellow-grade techniques to Heaven-grade divine weapons, the shop had nearly everything except immortal artifacts.
Just this inventory alone would make any auction house green with envy.
“My top priority now is to get stronger,” she said to herself.
Judging from how quickly Blackening Value rose in her first life, her methods for provoking Xiao Qingxuan were effective.
The only problem was that she couldn’t beat her. So, she needed to improve her self-preservation.
“Jie jie jie, once I’m stronger than Xiao Qingxuan, I’ll make sure she tastes the ultimate humiliation!”
Ye Luqing let out a sinister chuckle, then seemed to realize something and quickly covered her mouth.
“Hiss, I can’t laugh like that. It’s bad luck…”
She continued browsing the Blackening Value Shop, skipping over divine weapons and magic tools. The ones she could afford were basically useless against half-step Combined Dao Realm Xiao Qingxuan.
What she really wanted were techniques—something that could truly boost her combat power.
But cultivation techniques and spells were non-consumables, making them the most expensive items in their grade, far pricier than pills or talismans.
“Supreme Array Subduing Art, Earth-grade lower, price 1200 Points…”
“Mountain-Cutting Azure Wave Formation, Earth-grade lower, price 1500 Points…”
“Greenwood Everlasting Art, Earth-grade middle, price 1900 Points…”
Although Ye Luqing’s current cultivation was only at Gold Core Peak, she’d dropped down from Nascent Soul Peak. Plus, she had innate talent in Array Arts, so she could just barely learn Earth-grade techniques.
Although the original owner was a genius Array Master, most of the arrays she’d learned were to support a certain Sword Cultivator, so she barely knew any offensive arrays.
If she wanted to put up a fight the next time Xiao Qingxuan went berserk, she had to learn some attack methods.
She only had 1000 Points, but she also had a Heaven-grade Soulshaping Pill worth 10,000 Points at recycling price, so her Points were actually quite plentiful.
“Should I sell it…”
Staring at these Earth-grade techniques, Ye Luqing’s mouth watered.
Selling the Soulshaping Pill would give her enough Points to buy several Earth-grade techniques, and maybe some decent divine weapons, armor, pills, and talismans.
But the Soulshaping Pill was a Heaven-grade pill, after all. If she sold it now, who knew when she’d get her hands on something of this quality again.
Even if she didn’t recycle it at the Blackening Value Shop, just auctioning it for spirit stones would make her fabulously wealthy.
However, just as Ye Luqing was struggling with whether to sell the Soulshaping Pill, the System’s notification suddenly sounded.
[Ding, detected an important plot character approaching. Generating mission.]
[Plot Mission: Evade the Soul Probing of Combined Dao Realm expert Bai Yuhan.]
[Mission Success: Reward 300 Blackening Value, one random Mysterious-grade pill; Failure: Enter BE Storyline.]
[BE Storyline estimated death rate…1000%!]