Warning

Luo Qingyu took a deep breath, her fingertips lightly sliding across the System interface.

Looking at the newbie rewards issued by the System, she couldn't help but recall her recent card-drawing experience.

Remembering that unbelievable outcome, the corners of her lips curled upward. In that case, I shouldn't let any of these rewards go to waste.

“System, expand everything,” she chanted in her heart.

【Ding! Expansion command received. Executing...】

【Expansion successful! Congratulations, Host, on obtaining: Inedia Pill (Strawberry Flavor) x10, Advanced Teleportation Talisman x5, Shops in Cloud City x10.】

She couldn't help but gasp. Then, a massive grin spread across her face as she praised in her heart, As expected, this golden finger is absolutely overpowered!

Now that she had so many good things, what was she waiting for?

First, I'll try this strawberry-flavored Inedia Pill. I happen to be hungry anyway. With a thought from Luo Qingyu, a pink, tender pill emitting an enticingly sweet fragrance appeared in her palm.

The pill melted the moment it entered her mouth. A rich strawberry flavor exploded on her tongue, sweet and tart, with none of the bitter medicinal taste of ordinary pills.

“Mmm... delicious!” Luo Qingyu's eyes lit up. She felt a warm current slide down her throat and into her stomach. Her belly, which had been empty from going so long without food, was instantly filled, and her spirits were greatly lifted.

“Now that I'm full, it's time to get down to business.” Luo Qingyu clapped her hands and looked into the distance. “To Cloud City, to check out my shops.”

As soon as the words left her mouth, she flicked her fingers, and a Teleportation Talisman glowing with a faint white halo appeared between them.

She chanted excitedly in her heart, Cloud City, my shops, here I come!

With a flash of white light, Luo Qingyu instantly vanished from the spot.

The next second, the clamor of voices and familiar street cries flooded her ears.

Luo Qingyu opened her eyes and found herself standing on a bustling street. Before her, rows of quaint, grand shops lined the road, making the entire marketplace look incredibly lively.

Luo Qingyu nodded in immense satisfaction. This location was prime real estate.

Suppressing her inner excitement, she couldn't help but ask in her mind, System, quick, show me where those ten shops are!

007: 【Replying to Host, upon detection, nine of the ten shops under your name have already been leased under long-term contracts. They are currently being run by tenants, and the rent has been automatically deposited into the System account.】

【Only the leftmost shop, "Anecdote Bookstore," is currently vacant, as the previous tenant just moved out yesterday.】

“Great!” Luo Qingyu grinned from ear to ear upon hearing this.

“As for that vacant 'Anecdote Bookstore'...” Luo Qingyu stroked her chin, a brilliant idea instantly popping into her head.

Time to go back to her old trade!

Copying down all the novels she had read in her past life—like The Domineering Immortal Venerable Falls for Me or Reborn: I Am the Darling of the Demon Realm—would be an absolute dimensional strike in this cultivation world. It would be impossible not to become a massive hit!

When the time came, all she would have to do was write, and then she could just lie back and collect money.

“Perfect!”

The more she thought about it, the more delighted she became, her smile practically reaching her ears. “Collecting rent from nine shops and writing in one... now this is the life of an immortal!”

“From this day forth, I, Luo Qingyu, officially announce—I am slacking off!”

She had even already planned how she would place a comfortable lounge chair in the shop, cracking melon seeds while writing.

However, just as she was immersed in her fantasies of “beautiful days to come,” the mechanical voice rang out in her mind again, mercilessly throwing a bucket of cold water over her:

【Warning! Serious slackness detected from Host!】

【Forced System intervention activated!】

【Forced quest issued: Join the Changming Sect, one of the Five Great Sects, and become a Personal Disciple.】

【Quest Time Limit: 1 shichen】

【Failure Penalty: Return to original world, soul completely destroyed.】

The smile on Luo Qingyu's face instantly froze.

“...Soul completely destroyed?” She gasped, her beautiful “slacking-off plan” instantly shattered to pieces.

007, are you a sore loser? I just said I wanted to be a salted fish, and you immediately force me to grind to become a Personal Disciple? She ranted frantically in her heart. The Five Great Sects! Are they just places you can walk into? And a Personal Disciple at that! Why don't you just make me the Sect Master instead?

However, just as she was about to continue throwing a tantrum, the cold words “Changming Sect” suddenly flashed through the depths of her memory like a bolt of lightning.

Wait... the Changming Sect?

Why did that name sound so familiar?

Luo Qingyu froze.

Ever since she transmigrated, she had assumed she had merely come to an ordinary cultivation world. Every day, she only cared about how to survive and make money, never deeply considering the background of this world.

She slapped her thigh hard, her pupils dilating in shock. The Changming Sect... Isn't that the sect from the novel "Crossing the Starry River with a Single Sword" that I stayed up all night reading?!

Memories flooded back like a tide. In that book, although the Changming Sect was one of the Five Great Sects, its style was extremely eccentric. While other sects were grinding to the death and fighting over resources, the members of the Changming Sect all slacked off, focusing on a hands-off approach.

More importantly—

Well, wasn't this the perfect opportunity?

Luo Qingyu's attitude instantly did a complete 180-degree turn.

“System Daddy!” Luo Qingyu immediately changed her tune, her voice so terrifyingly sincere it was frightening. “Isn't it just becoming a Changming Sect Personal Disciple? Leave it to me! For Qiaoqiao... ah, no, for the peace of the cultivation world, I accept this quest!”

Seeing his host change her face faster than flipping pages in a book, System 007 couldn't help but twitch his lips in his space of consciousness.

It fell silent for two seconds before reminding her in its flat, mechanical voice:

【...Host, given your willingness to actively complete the quest, please note that there is less than half a stick of incense's time left before the Changming Sect's recruitment ceremony ends for this year.】

【Additionally, given that you are currently very far from the Changming Sect's mountain gate, walking there is obviously too late. It is recommended that you use a Teleportation Talisman to go there.】

“Wait, half a stick of incense?!”

Luo Qingyu almost choked on her own spit, her voice cracking. “Didn't I have one shichen? How did it become half a stick of incense in the blink of an eye?”

007 facepalmed helplessly: 【Ding—Host, please note that the quest time limit issued by the System is one shichen, which does not refer to the Changming Sect's registration deadline.】

“Holy crap! Why didn't you say so earlier?!”

Luo Qingyu ranted frantically in her heart while scrambling to pull out a Teleportation Talisman, chanting in her mind, Changming Sect, Changming Sect...

As the last syllable fell, the talisman paper in her hand instantly dissolved into specks of golden light and vanished.

After a bout of dizziness, the expected clamor of voices did not appear. Instead, there was an eerie silence.

“Is this... the Changming Sect?”

Luo Qingyu steadied herself and opened her eyes, finding herself standing in the middle of a massive white jade plaza.

However, there was no grand spectacle of crowds lining up to register as she had imagined. At this moment, only a few scattered disciples were sweeping the plaza, looking thoroughly bored.

“It's... already over?” Luo Qingyu was dumbfounded.

【“Host, keep going! Since you're already here, hurry up and go!”】 System 007 urged frantically in her mind.

Luo Qingyu gritted her teeth. Thinking that she had already come this far, she braced herself and walked over.

A white-bearded elder was standing straight there. He had been staring blankly at the horizon when he suddenly felt the air in front of him warp, and a young girl's figure appeared out of thin air.

Elder Zhao's eyelids twitched violently. He stared with burning eyes at the child before him, his brow furrowing slightly. His tone carried a hint of the casualness and confusion unique to the Changming Sect:

“Where did this little kid come from?”

He sized Luo Qingyu up from head to toe. Seeing that although her clothes were dirty, she harbored no ill intent, he asked casually, “Are you here to register too?”

“Yes!” Luo Qingyu nodded vigorously, her eyes sparkling. She was not deterred in the slightest by the elder's casual attitude.

Elder Zhao didn't ask much about her teleportation trick either. He simply pointed at a pitch-black stone on the table and said flatly, “In that case, place your hand on it to test your spiritual roots.”

Luo Qingyu took a deep breath. With an excited heart, she pressed her right palm tightly against the testing stone.

The next second—

“Buzz!”

A blinding, icy-blue light instantly erupted from within the stone, and waves of tangible spiritual energy frantically rippled outward in all directions.

“Bang!!”

With a loud bang, the indestructible testing stone actually failed to withstand this power, exploding directly into powder before everyone's eyes!

Elder Zhao was so startled that his beard flared up. He stared wide-eyed at the pile of stone dust, then at the innocent-looking Luo Qingyu, his pupils shrinking violently.

However, before he could react, an excited exclamation suddenly came from the side:

“Ice Spiritual Root! Ice Spiritual Root! A Supreme-grade Ice Spiritual Root!”

Elder Zhou, who had been sleeping just moments ago, came stumbling over. Pointing at the stone dust floating in the air and emitting a bone-chilling cold, his voice cracked, “A genius has finally come to our Changming Sect!”

Hearing this, the look of shock on Elder Zhao's face instantly froze, immediately turning into a wave of unbelievable ecstasy.

He hurriedly patted the dust off his body, his previous disdain completely vanishing.

At this moment, Elder Zhao instantly became warm and amiable. His wrinkled old face smiled like a blooming chrysanthemum as he rubbed his hands together, looking at Luo Qingyu cautiously. His tone was so gentle, as if he were afraid of scaring away some rare creature:

“Come, little child, don't be afraid, don't be afraid. My voice was just a bit too loud earlier. Come, let this old man check. You aren't hurt, are you?”

He warmly took hold of Luo Qingyu's sleeve and said with a face full of smiles, “Good child, what a truly good child! This old man hasn't seen talent like this in decades.”

“Come, this old man will take you into the sect right now to see the Sect Master! Our Changming Sect will definitely have you as a Personal Disciple!”

Luo Qingyu was a bit dazed by this sudden warmth. Before she could speak, she suddenly felt a piercing sound of rushing air coming from above.

“Whoosh!”

A white meteor was flying toward this direction.