After finishing her meal, Ling Xiaoyou tossed the takeout box into the trash, washed the chopsticks, and finally settled onto the sofa to rest.
Her eyes stared blankly at the ceiling, the pure white light shining on her delicate face, making her look even more flawless and pale.
Ling Xiaoyou always liked to sit on the sofa after eating, scrolling through her phone or just letting her food digest—killing time.
But today, she didn’t reach for her phone.
She just sat there, slumped like a dried-up salted fish, leaning against the sofa.
Because she was thinking about one thing: how could she catch up to Bai Shuanglian?
Currently, Ling Xiaoyou’s cultivation realm was at the peak of the Condensation Stage.
If she used a game’s experience system to describe it, her progress bar was at about 97 or 98—just a step away from crossing the threshold into the Soul Gathering Stage.
For a little Spirit who had only cultivated for a few years, this was already astonishingly fast, enough to be considered the level of a Heaven’s Chosen.
But Bai Shuanglian?
Though Ling Xiaoyou couldn’t sense Bai Shuanglian’s current realm due to the gap between them, there was no doubt she was much, much stronger!
After all, being able to effortlessly slay those demons meant she was at least at the Golden Core Stage.
She might even be just a step away from the Nascent Soul.
In the comparison between Ghost Cultivators and regular Cultivators, the Golden Core Stage equated to the fourth realm, Spirit Pivot Stage, for Ghost Cultivators, while Ling Xiaoyou was only at the second realm, Condensation Stage.
Even if she was about to advance, wasn’t Bai Shuanglian doing the same?
If their cultivation speeds were similar, Ling Xiaoyou would be at 2+1+1…, while Bai Shuanglian would be at 4+1+1…
This difference in realms meant Ling Xiaoyou might never be able to catch up to Bai Shuanglian—unless Bai Shuanglian hit some sort of bottleneck.
But Ling Xiaoyou couldn’t just hope for Bai Shuanglian to face a bottleneck, could she?
That would be too low.
She was supposed to be Bai Shuanglian’s nemesis!
She had to defeat her fair and square for that title to mean anything!
So, since the gap in realm couldn’t be bridged by just training harder, there was only one answer left!
She had to use external power!
System-chan, I need you to help me cultivate!
What? Using the System isn’t fair and square?
Who said so!
If the System is part of me, then it counts as my own strength!
Strictly speaking, it’s my own power, so it’s absolutely fair and square!
That’s right, calling it external power wasn’t quite accurate.
It should be, ‘I’m going to use my hidden power!’
Thinking this, Ling Xiaoyou shot upright from the sofa, no longer looking like a dried-up salted fish.
With a thought, the System-chan’s panel appeared before her—the familiar interface and UI she was already used to.
She’d probably earned quite a few Happiness Points from helping Xiaoyu earlier, right?
That should be enough for a round of self-strengthening.
With this in mind, Ling Xiaoyou subconsciously glanced at the Happiness Points number in the lower right corner.
Then she froze on the spot.
“Ones, tens, hundreds, thousands… oh no, the last two are decimal points, so it’s nothing… nothing—my foot!”
Ling Xiaoyou sucked in a cold breath, adding fuel to the warming of the Underworld.
“No, what did I do to suddenly gain over a hundred Happiness Points?!”
That’s right.
Ling Xiaoyou’s Happiness Points weren’t 0.34 anymore, but 131.34!
An increase of a hundred points!
She had never been this rich before!
Naturally, Ling Xiaoyou was happy.
After all, who wouldn’t be happy with more Happiness Points?
But she was also deeply puzzled.
Why did she suddenly get so many Happiness Points?
Could Xiaoyu really have been that happy, providing her with over a hundred points in one go?
Ling Xiaoyou shook her head.
Impossible.
There’s a limit to how much Happiness Points you can get from one person.
After all, it’s not like Ling Xiaoyou could make someone so happy they broke through the heavens and then just collect a billion Happiness Points from them.
That’s completely unrealistic.
Ling Xiaoyou guessed that the limit for earning Happiness Points depended on many factors: cultivation, potential, emotional intensity, willpower, and so on.
But she didn’t really know how it was calculated—and she was too lazy to think about it.
What she wanted to know now was why she suddenly had so many Happiness Points.
If she could figure out the reason, she might be able to repeat the same actions to get even more Happiness Points.
After all, if she wanted to improve herself and surpass Bai Shuanglian, this was her only option.
Thinking this, Ling Xiaoyou reached out her small hand and touched the Happiness Points total in the lower right corner.
The screen shifted to a more detailed interface.
The Happiness Points number was much larger, with a ‘?’ symbol beside it—a description of the use of Happiness Points.
Ling Xiaoyou had skimmed the description before and didn’t bother opening it now.
What she checked was the detailed list of Happiness Point acquisition at the bottom of the screen.
There, it listed exactly when the points were earned, from whom, and how many points each time.
She opened the detailed list—and was immediately greeted by a wall of Bai Shuanglian’s name.
23:09, Bai Shuanglian—5 Happiness Points.
23:12, Bai Shuanglian—3 Happiness Points.
***
5:32, Bai Shuanglian—10 Happiness Points.
Looking at the endless stream of Bai Shuanglian’s name, Ling Xiaoyou couldn’t help but click her tongue.
No way, this person just kept providing Happiness Points!
Don’t you ever get drained?!
How many Happiness Points did this person give in total?!
She tapped a few times, switching the detailed list to summary mode, then looked again.
June 27, Bai Shuanglian—39 Happiness Points.
June 27, Lan Qingyu—3 Happiness Points.
June 28, Lan Qingyu—7 Happiness Points.
June 28, Bai Shuanglian—82 Happiness Points.
Lan Qingyu was obviously Xiaoyu’s full name.
The total of ten Happiness Points provided by Xiaoyu didn’t surprise Ling Xiaoyou.
Don’t be fooled by Xiaoyu’s age—her special constitution made it normal for her to provide more Happiness Points than most people.
But…
Ling Xiaoyou stared at Bai Shuanglian’s name, falling into deep thought.
This person was clearly unusual.
Even if a Cultivator could provide a lot of Happiness Points, this was excessive.
From the time stamps, Bai Shuanglian started providing Happiness Points after they interacted last night and continued until they parted ways at dawn.
Thinking back over the entire night spent with Bai Shuanglian, Ling Xiaoyou’s expression grew strange.
Could she really have made Bai Shuanglian that happy? That joyful?