Any living creature is at its most vulnerable when asleep.
So vulnerable that it can be easily killed by an existence many times weaker.
Just like now.
The black cat bent down, its gaze fixed on the exposed neck of Chen Huaian.
It had just woken up and would struggle to match a full-grown man in direct combat, but once it recovered further and consumed more prey to regain its strength, even those four-wheeled metal boxes wouldn’t be able to harm it anymore.
Thinking about those four-wheeled metal boxes, hatred flashed in the black cat’s eyes.
Those cunning humans hid themselves in the fast-moving steel boxes with four wheels. The first time it encountered them, not knowing what they were, it almost got run over!
So.
Revenge would start by eating this human!
Whoosh!
The black cat pounced at Chen Huaian, its speed blurring into a shadow. It raised its paw, leaving a crimson trail in the air.
This claw aimed straight for the neck.
But just as it was about to succeed—
Roar!
A thunderous dragon’s roar echoed in the black cat’s mind, causing it to stagger and its agile limbs to stiffen, falling to the ground like a dead pig.
[Ancestor… Ancestor Dragon?]
[This aura… How is this possible?]
The black cat trembled as it climbed back onto the bed, shaking its dizzy head to look again at the sleeping man, disbelief filling its eyes.
The movement had caused Chen Huaian to smack his lips and turn over, revealing part of his back. The black dragon tattoo writhed, its eyes flashing with piercing gold light, exuding an aura of authority.
It seemed to sense the black cat’s gaze.
Roar!
Another dragon’s roar exploded in its mind.
The black cat’s mind went blank as the dragon-shaped tattoo leaped off the man’s back.
[Ah! Is it really necessary?]
The black cat turned its head in fright, ready to run away.
But the golden-edged, black-scaled tail swept across, sending it directly back into the shoebox.
The lid slammed shut.
[Ahh—! Damn it, this human has Ancestor Dragon protection!]
The black cat curled up in the shoebox, trembling in pain, feeling a burning sensation in its organs and spitting out blood.
Just waking up, its body was weak.
In this era devoid of spiritual energy, healing injuries was already difficult. First, it was hit by the four-wheeled metal box, then carried far by a torn bird, and now hit by the dragon’s tail, its injuries were worse than before.
[I must leave here, this place is not safe!]
The black cat struggled to stand, feeling dizzy and unsteady. It hadn’t taken two steps in the shoebox before completely passing out.
The moonlight remained quiet. The dragon-shaped tattoo circled the bed and returned to the man’s back.
Chen Huaian, in his sleep, smiled foolishly, scratched his butt, and turned over again.
…
At seven in the morning.
When the alarm rang, Chen Huaian, with his head buried in the pillow, grabbed his phone accurately with one hand and unlocked the screen, revealing a face with dark circles under his eyes.
Electronic Girlfriend, activate!
The girl in the small room was still meditating on the bed, actively absorbing the spiritual energy from the gathering array.
[Status: Cultivation]
[Cultivation Progress: 7631/9999 (Level 8)]
[Remaining Lifespan: 273 years]
[Friendship Level: 60 (Close)]
“Wow!” Chen Huaian instantly woke up seeing Li Qingran’s cultivation progress.
Since he didn’t have much money left, he only activated an intermediate gathering array for Li Qingran, but even so, she jumped multiple levels in one night, her strength skyrocketing.
Is this the terrifying power of a supreme dan field?
Chen Huaian felt a great sense of relief. Although the game was quite exploitative, the effects were immediate once you invested!
He tapped Li Qingran’s shoulder.
The battle pass system and some historical information popped up.
With each level increase of Li Qingran’s cultivation, there were rewards. For example, after jumping from Level 6 to Level 8 last night, three gold bag-shaped rewards were unlocked. Chen Huaian clicked to claim them, and the three bags instantly appeared on Li Qingran’s desk.
[Spiritual Stone Lucky Box (Contains a chance to get 1 Spirit Crystal, 99 High-Quality Spiritual Stones, 999 Medium-Quality Spiritual Stones, guaranteed to get 1000 Low-Quality Spiritual Stones) (Exclusive for Li Qingran)]
“Hmm, decent.”
Chen Huaian wasn’t interested in these small rewards.
His attention was drawn to the grand prize of the cultivation completion award.
That interface shimmered with dazzling purple light, clearly something valuable!
[Tideborn Formula (Lower Rank Xuan-grade Technique): “As the sun rises in the sea, spring enters the old year.” The Tideborn Formula originates from the vast ocean, gathering the essence of tides and understanding the mysteries of yin and yang. Practicing this technique feels like standing by the sea, watching the alternation of day and night, sensing the tide’s breath. At the highest level, it gathers spiritual energy within the body to form a tide, allowing one to connect with natural spiritual energy, replenishing expended energy in battle, never fading. <This technique is a lower rank of Sea Wave Formula; reaching the peak cultivation can directly switch to practicing Sea Wave Formula>]
“Sss—! No wonder it’s a battle pass reward, truly astonishing!”
He nodded repeatedly.
Although he hadn’t asked Li Qingran about her internal cultivation technique, he guessed it wasn’t as good as what he got from the battle pass. After all, according to the game’s usual pattern, anything not requiring payment was likely low-quality basic equipment.
He opened Li Qingran’s character panel and checked the cultivation technique section, feeling embarrassed.
Red Cloud Technique — Li Qingran’s current internal cultivation technique, also ranked as Lower Rank Xuan-grade.
Though both are Lower Rank Xuan-grade techniques, and the Tideborn Formula has a higher version, relearning an internal cultivation technique requires discarding the old one, meaning all the hard work Li Qingran put into her current cultivation would be wasted. If Red Cloud Technique also has a higher version, asking Li Qingran to discard and relearn would be impractical.
“Forget it, it’s still a technique. Let’s see what it is.”
Noticing that the Tideborn Formula didn’t specify ‘exclusive for Li Qingran,’ Chen Huaian couldn’t help but smirk, his mind drifting to a strange thought.
“Could it be that I can use this Tideborn Formula too?”
He couldn’t help but imagine the Qinglian Sword Canon.
Could it be… that he needs to learn the Tideborn Formula first before teaching it to Li Qingran?
Chen Huaian thought that, given the game creator’s taste for mischief, such a scenario was quite possible.
“Making it so serious, as if practicing will make one immortal.”
Shaking his head in resignation, he considered these details as small touches by the game creators to enhance player immersion.
[Your electronic girlfriend has sent you a gift!]
[Your chosen loot has arrived!]
Two consecutive prompts appeared.
The gift was a bracelet made by Li Qingran.
As for the loot, it was dropped after killing Night Sky, including an incomplete inner cultivation technique called [Heavenly Demon Art – Fragment One], a low-grade magic sword, a broken medium-grade spirit weapon, and several spiritual stones.
At the time, the game prompted him to choose one as the [Real Loot].
So-called ‘real’…
He had played the game for so long,
He knew it was a gift from the game developer.
Knock knock knock!
Knocking sounded at the outer door.
Chen Huaian was initially stunned, then hobbled over with a cane and dashed to the door.
Today, he had to find out who delivered the package early in the morning!
But when he opened the door, no one was outside.
“Could it be that the person is a parkour expert?”
Chen Huaian looked at the dark staircase on his right, not hearing anyone coming down.
That meant the person must have gone through the window. If they had gone through the window, he wouldn’t have been able to catch them in time.
“Tsk tsk, quite shy, well, they ran away.”
Chen Huaian pulled his head back from the window. Two boxes lay on the ground.
One was small, just enough to fit a bracelet, labeled ‘Qingran’s Gift’. The other was long, measuring about 1.5 meters, simply marked with three big characters — Loot.
“As expected.”
He reached down to grab the boxes, but couldn’t lift them with one hand. They were extremely heavy, making a loud thud as they crashed onto the floor, creating a dent in the hotel’s flooring.
“Damn!”
Chen Huaian glanced around nervously, covering the dent with a corner of the carpet.
Only then did he carefully lift the long box with both hands, sighing inwardly:
“A fine sword, indeed a fine sword!
Hehe~”
Chen Huaian finally had his own sword.
