Zhang Chen looked at the red beads on the ground, and his eyes lit up instantly, not even bothered by Zhang Chen’s insults as he quickly stepped to the beads, wanting to see what good things had dropped from the Fox Spirit. When Zhang Chen came to the beads and took a look, he felt a bit disappointed: "Experience points again?"
The bead had ’+5’ written on it, not the skill Zhang Chen wanted.
However, Zhang Chen soon composed himself, consoling himself: "Having something drop is always better than nothing. Once I have skills, the points will become important. Accumulating more points now isn’t a bad thing."
Zhang Chen picked up the experience points, and then the experience points interface in front of him shifted:
[Name: Zhang Chen]
[Skill: None]
[Points: 45]
Zhang Chen carried the deer back to his yard, directly hanging the skinned deer on the wall, then turned and sat in the corner of the house, his eyes quietly watching the deer on the wall. However, it didn’t take long before the deer hanging on the wall disappeared into thin air, leaving only a red-yellow bead in its place.
Zhang Chen saw this and ground his teeth in anger, hearing a soft complaint from next door: ’Why wasn’t the deer skinned today? That poor hunter next door is getting lazier and lazier; I have to do it myself.’
Listening to the faint grumbling, Zhang Chen silently picked up the experience points ’+5’, his eyebrows twitching in anger.
"Too much bullying! It’s simply too much!" After collecting the experience points, Zhang Chen stood in front of the wall, looking at the gap he had plugged with mud. After a moment’s struggle, he took out a wire and carefully poked through the previously blocked hole.
To defeat the enemy, you must first understand them. I wasn’t discovered when I peeked before, so if I’m careful now, they too shouldn’t notice.
Zhang Chen carefully put his eye to the hole, and the scene from the next room appeared before him. To his surprise, the next room had two oil lamps lit, and the poor scholar wasn’t in the room. The white-clothed maiden was handling the deer, her hands bloodied, and cursing, "Damn hunter, getting lazier and lazier. I’m getting sick of eating deer meat every day. Can’t he change things up? And why can’t he at least clean the deer before bringing it back?"
Soon, the fragrant aroma of claypot rice filled the air, and the maiden transformed back into a white fox and leaped onto the kang. Just then, footsteps sounded outside the door, and the poor scholar Zhang Chen entered the room with a bucket of water, smiling slightly at the heaped table of food: "I wonder which passing Immortal bestowed this feast. I thank you here. But getting sent deer meat by the gods every day, even I am getting sick of it. If only they could send some chicken tomorrow. Thank you, Immortal!"
After giving thanks in a formal manner, the scholar sat down and began to eat heartily, also picking up meat from the table and feeding it to the Little Fox.
"You should be thanking me the most," Zhang Chen mumbled next door, grinding his molars almost to dust.
After dinner, the scholar cleaned the table and sat at the shabby desk. Just then, the Little Fox brought over a golden page from somewhere and jumped into the scholar’s arms.
"Alright, it’s time for our nightly reading... huh, where did this Golden Book page come from? Using gold leaf as a medium for writing, isn’t this too extravagant?" Cradling the fox, the scholar was shocked when he found the golden leaf page the fox had brought, examining it in his hands for a moment:
"A page made from gold, certainly extravagant! What kind of writings need to be inscribed on gold?" the scholar asked, looking at the Golden Book with great curiosity, holding it in his hand. "Let me see what this Golden Book records. Huh, this seems like text from Ancient Times. A few days ago, my teacher taught me about it."
Zhang Chen, peeping from next door, was suddenly stunned as he saw two clumps of ’skill points’ fall from the golden leaf page: "That golden leaf page is certainly not simple."
After examining the page for a moment, the scholar stroked the Little Fox’s head and said, "It’s an essay full of nonsense, talking about honoring gods and warding off evil, just fooling people. It’s a completely worthless piece of rubbish."
But the Little Fox was persistent, bouncing back and forth in eagerness, and seeing this, the scholar helplessly said, "Alright, alright, since you want to hear it, I’ll read it for you."
After saying this, the scholar began to read the text on the golden leaf, which had become a shared routine with the Fox Spirit, who often brought books from unknown dynasties. The Fox Spirit couldn’t read, so the scholar read to it.
"The Dao is everywhere, even in the lands of the barbarians and remote foreign countries. Where does this Dao not penetrate? Enlightening others once enlightened oneself, only a saint can shed light. Thus, even those in remote distant lands who adopt it are neither rejected nor abandoned..."
As the chanting of scripture echoed, the void in front of Zhang Chen from next door suddenly flickered, and the Golden Finger Interface shimmered brightly:
[Name: Zhang Chen]
[Skill: West Ascension Scripture#Fragment (0/10)]
[Points: 50]
[Remark: An incomplete mysterious scripture, adding points may cause mysterious changes]
"A skill? I actually gained a skill?"
Looking at the Golden Finger in front of him, Zhang Chen felt a rush of joy. He hadn’t imagined that spying tonight would yield such an unexpected discovery. Eagerly, he put all ten points into it, and then the next moment the points before him transformed again:
[Name: Zhang Chen]
[Skill: Somewhat Mysterious Golden Light (0/50)]
[Points: 40]
Then Zhang Chen felt a sudden warmth in his body, a flow of energy appeared at his dantian, and a golden light seemed to be swirling in front of his eyes.
"What is this?" Zhang Chen was taken aback, feeling as if there was a mysterious golden aura gathering at his dantian. The aura was as thin as a strand of hair but undeniably real, pulsating with Zhang Chen’s breath in a certain rhythm.
Although the golden light was faint, it illuminated Zhang Chen’s spiritual world, suddenly imbuing it with a sense of retreating all darkness and cleansing all evil.
"What is this?" As Zhang Chen felt the golden light in his dantian, he was momentarily stunned.
He indeed felt the presence of a golden light at his dantian, pulsating with his breath.
The pulsation was there, but then nothing more, no feeling of any kind.
"What’s the use of this skill?" Zhang Chen was bewildered; he had acquired a skill but didn’t know what it was for.
"Some mysterious golden light can’t be used, it only shows that its level is too low. Once I level it up in the future, there will surely be great changes," Zhang Chen kept encouraging himself.
"If I gather more experience points, can this ’some mysterious golden light’ be upgraded? Then I’ll have a way to deal with that damn Fox Spirit," Zhang Chen muttered to himself, feeling the pulsations accompanying his breath in his abdomen, frowning: "What is this mysterious golden light? Could it be the legendary superpower or some divine technique?"
Zhang Chen was temporarily unable to understand it.
"A bit of a trap!" Zhang Chen scratched his head, looking at the experience points required behind some mysterious golden light—it actually needed fifty points. He glanced at the fallen experience points from the neighboring scripture and felt a wave of excitement.
However, upgrading the mysterious golden light needed fifty experience points, which should be enough if added to those two clusters from the neighboring room.
Zhang Chen carefully blocked the hole in the wall, then leaned against it, countless thoughts flickering in his mind: "There are two clusters of golden light on the floor next door; I wonder if they’re skills or points."
Thinking about the two clusters of golden light next door, a wave of excitement surged in Zhang Chen’s heart: "I need to find a chance to gather those two clusters of golden light. Then can my skills be upgraded?"
"Tomorrow, I wonder if Zhang Chen and the Fox Spirit will continue to go to the academy; they go out to visit their teacher daily." Zhang Chen pondered to himself.
However, Zhang Chen’s troubles soon saw a turning point. The next day, he didn’t rush out but waited for the Fox Spirit and the bookworm to leave before prying open the gap in the wall to peek over. The golden foil was gone, but the two clusters of dazzling experience points remained in their place.
"Should I go or not?" Zhang Chen hesitated, worried about being caught by the Fox Spirit and unable to explain himself. But looking at his own Golden Finger Interface, Zhang Chen made up his mind, as every single experience point was precious to him.
Zhang Chen left the courtyard, waited until he saw Zhang Chen disappear behind the village with the fox, then quickly climbed over the wall and entered the Fox Spirit’s house.
The scholar’s house was simple yet orderly, appearing quite organized.
Inside the room, there was only a water jar, a bucket, along with a desk, a bed, and a bookshelf.
Gazing at those two clusters of experience points, Zhang Chen’s eyes went wide—they actually read ’Experience Points +50’.
"What exactly was that golden page, since it dropped more experience points than the Fox Spirit." Without hesitation, Zhang Chen quickly collected the experience points, but did not leave immediately; instead, greed stirred within him: "If I steal that golden foil, could it continuously generate experience points?"
After pondering for a long time, reason ultimately triumphed over greed. Zhang Chen quickly withdrew, returned to his own house to calm down, then gazed at his Golden Finger: "For now, the Fox Spirit is not someone I can afford to offend. Once I level up my skill, that golden foil will be mine sooner or later."
[Name: Zhang Chen]
[Skill: Some Mysterious Golden Light (0/50)]
[Points: 140]
"The first upgrade is turning the West Ascension Scripture into some mysterious golden light; who knows what the second upgrade will be?" Zhang Chen had a faint expectation in his heart, faced with the oppression brought by the Fox Spirit, he was so fearful it was as if sleeping with unease, like having a bone stuck in his throat, hesitating even to sleep deeply, afraid he might accidentally say something he shouldn’t.
As Strange Tales stepped into reality, he did not envy the scholar’s Hongxiu Adds Fragrance at all! This feeling was like everyone wanting to stroke a tiger, but when one appears before you, all you want to do is run!
Just like the first time discovering the Fox Spirit, an overwhelming fear arose in Zhang Chen’s mind, thoughts of Hongxiu Adds Fragrance and the alluring Fox Maiden from Strange Tales turning into one question ’Will it harm me?’
"Is there a spirit in the house next door?"
"Will this spirit eat people!"
"This is indeed a spirit!"
...
ps: Asking for a recommendation vote, everyone!