Chapter 371 - A Black Screen

‘This much?’

Xu Xiaoshou was puzzled.

The Passive Points were used up in his last visit. It had only been a short while since the last visit, but the points had increased immensely.

‘Were they multiplying?’ he thought.

‘No, it should be that time in Zhang Mansion…’

It struck Xu Xiaoshou that the points were accumulated during his visit to Zhang Mansion.

He had not paid any attention to the growth of his Passive Points after the cauldron explosions.

Many Spiritual Cultivators resided within Zhang Mansion.

Moreover, Dong Qing Street, which Zhang Mansion was located, was an expensive stretch of property.

Aside from the Zhang family, some other smaller clans and forces had congregated on the street. Hence, there was an impressive amount of Spiritual Cultivators present.

In the event of a battle, emotions like fear spread. More importantly, anyone who was a witness would be taken aback at the sight of it.

If Xu Xiaoshou were to calculate with the lowest number assumption which was 100 Spiritual Cultivators in one family…

If there were 10 families and everyone in each family gave him 10 Passive Points from Impressed, this would have amounted to 10,000 points.

‘Wow!’

The numbers were absurd. Xu Xiaoshou was taken aback by his own calculations.

The 80,000 Passive Points looked quite little after he had done the math.

‘The explosion and the sword technique later on, as well as the time I pretended in the void, all of that was only for eighty thousand Passive Points?’

He felt that his Passive Points were stolen somehow.

However, once he calmed down and thought through the process again, he remembered no one was around to witness him triggering the explosion.

It was after the impacts of the explosion that people had reacted and identified him.

The real spectacle that was witnessed by many would have been the final battle at the Hidden Scriptures Pavilion.

Hence, the high volume of Passive Points should have refreshed at that very moment.

The discovery left Xu Xiaoshou speechless.

‘Well, this was a surprise…’

He had unintentionally checked his status and did not expect to gain this massive amount of points.

The accumulation of Passive Points in the system had never failed to surprise him whenever he checked back on it every once in a while.

There were times when Xu Xiaoshou was unaware of his actions, but it had attracted the attention of many or even been a pain in the neck for them.

“Hehe!” He laughed aloud and thought, ‘It looks like large-scale events are more suitable for me…’

‘As long as others are watching, even a two-person fight will be beneficial…’

Xu Xiaoshou had plans to keep to himself and live a quiet and peaceful life, but the epiphany had given him the idea to crash the banquet at the City Lord Mansion and flaunt his powers.

If he could practice around 10 cauldrons of alchemy pills at the banquet, Xu Xiaoshou shivered at the thought immediately.

‘Killing Zhang Taiying is the focus here. These people are all Sovereigns, so I can’t go too far!’

Recollecting his thoughts, he returned to look at the 80,000 Passive Points.

Xu Xiaoshou paced around. ‘How should I use them?’

The strongest technique at present was Sword Technique Expertise, and it had already been maxed to the highest level. Theoretically, if he wished to improve it further, he had to tap on the Expertise Passive Skill.

The Sword Technique Expertise was the key for Xu Xiaoshou to understand and internalize the Sword Observation Manual, and it sped up the process of Sword Cognition from Observation.

All of the factors enabled the attack that split the Zhang Mansion pagoda in half.

‘Should I upgrade Cooking Expert?’

He was hesitant.

Cooking Expert did not have a corresponding fire-type text like Sword Observation Manual that he could refer to.

In other words, there was a possibility that the skills he would obtain after leveling up were limited to cooking and fire control.

These did not directly increase his battle skills.

Moreover, these skills were hard to be applied when it came to eliminating Zhang Taiying.

Infernal Heavenly Flames – White Flames and Dragon Melting Realm would be useful, but to master these spiritual techniques, I need the Advanced Infernal Fire Seed!’

‘However, I have no idea where to find it, so I can’t realize them now.’

Xu Xiaoshou was troubled by the situation.

Redirecting his attention, he inspected the Sharpness skill.

Of all the Passive Skills, it was the only one that directly boosted his battle skills.

The others had been maxed out or were side skills used for power-ups.

‘Sharpness and my sword techniques share some overlaps, and I don’t know what direction it will take after leveling up. If there was no link or compatibility between these Passive Skills, then it’s not worth to level up this aspect.”

Xu Xiaoshou looked away and decided to head to the roulette located in the store.

‘Lottery or Awakening!’

Xu Xiaoshou had made his decision and agreed that it was time for him to have a few new Passive Skills in his inventory.

‘Every time I try, it is around 10,000 points. It would be a waste of effort.’

‘Not to mention Berserk Giant and Exploding Posture have not been fully refined yet. I have barely scratched the surface of their potential…’

He opted to not awaken it.

Rather than having the skill, he chose to spend more time researching the Exploding Posture.

There were areas of improvement in the one gas bead attack, and there was much to work on for the Exploding Posture.

Let’s do 10 draws in a row first. That would be 50,000 Passive Points!’

Xu Xiaoshou hovered his hand and was given 10 keys in exchange.

He returned to Yuan Mansion as he tried to patrol for a suitable location that was safe for use.

‘Water?’

Gazing at the active spirit fishes, Xu Xiaoshou flew out and laid down in the spirit pond. He took a few deep breaths after he had laid down.

‘This place should be a good spot!’

He laughed as a wave of comfort washed over his heart. He felt like he was the embodiment of the European Emperor Possessed.

If he drew his lottery slots in a new place and a new state, would he need a new way of speech as well?

For example, he decided to remain silent in the process.

Click.

Xu Xiaoshou watched Greedy the Cat Spirit reach out to touch the fish from above them. He wore a smile on his face as he slotted the key in his hands into the roulette.

Once the first key was in, he had to continue with the second key.

At that very moment, his world went pitch black. The scene of Greedy the Cat Spirit playing with the fish and the Chaos fog all disappeared.

Xu Xiaoshou almost jumped out of his skin.

Once he had gained his senses back, he leaped into the void as if he had been shot with an energy boost.

“What!”

With a thundering yell, Xu Xiaoshou had been teleported into a fantasy realm.

The earth was renewed, and an endless blue sky and a sparkling ocean stretched out before him.

Creatures of all forms, big and small, legendary and ordinary, were walking together and alongside each other.

As he slowly digested the scenery before him, he realized he had been teleported to an entirely new world.

The world had gigantic creatures from ancient times as well as new tender seedlings that were freshly sprouting from the ground.

Some aggressive battle-ready clans and tribes were engaged in a vicious battle with the enemy clans that resided beside communities that wished to live a quiet and peaceful existence.

A strange sense of balance struck Xu Xiaoshou as he was overlooking this world with an omnipresent bird’s eye view.

‘What is this fantasy realm trying to tell me?’

“Take the middle path? Live with the coexistence of Ying and Yang?”

Another fantasy realm appeared before him. It was full of in-depth learnings and understandings of the world. To an extent, one could describe them as representing the true meaning of the Expertise Passive Skill.

With the Sword Technique Expertise, the Sword Will was continuous. It was constantly rebirthed, and it was indestructible.

With the Cooking Expert, heaven and earth were the pots and stoves. every being was consumable. The world had turned into a kitchen.

He wondered if the fantasy realm that was presented to him now was triggered by the Expertise Passive Skills.

‘What do they mean?’

Xu Xiaoshou tilted his head. He was not ready to think deeply about the subject yet.

In the next second, all the beings that were living or had passed combined. The realm shone brightly with the spiritual glow of the Great Path.

Every leaf, stone, and being that was alive had glowing lines across their bodies.

It resembled the veins of a leaf and the lines of time left on the surface of a rock. They were the arteries and veins of life.

He was confuddled by the images he saw.

Xu Xiaoshou frowned.

‘Path?’

Suddenly, a word conjured itself in his mind.

After a moment of gathering his bearings again, Xu Xiaoshou surveyed the landscape around him. His eyes renewed with excitement but slight uncertainty.

‘Are these spiritual veins?’