The light on the screen gradually faded, and ten items lined up in the system space. Lin Zhiyue first glanced at the duplicates—two Flowing Fire and Scarlet Stars hairpins and one Mist-shrouded Verdure collar, both of which she already had, so they were automatically converted into points. Of the remaining five new items, three were duplicate pieces of Ode to the Frozen Frost, and two were from a set she had never seen before.
【Congratulations on obtaining: "Dragon-Riding Dreamscape" - Azure Scale Wristguard (Right)】【Quality: Purple】
【Effect: Slightly increases arm strength and attack speed】
【Set: Dragon-Riding Dreamscape (1/12)】
【Congratulations on obtaining: "Dragon-Riding Dreamscape" - Wandering Dragon Pendant (Waist Accessory)】【Quality: Purple】
【Effect: 50 square meters of storage space, capable of holding living creatures】
【Set: Dragon-Riding Dreamscape (2/12)】
Lin Zhiyue took the two items out and examined them in her palm. The Azure Scale Wristguard was constructed from overlapping scale-like plates of dark green and silver-gray. It felt cool and smooth to the touch, just like real dragon scales.
The Wandering Dragon Pendant was a palm-sized circular jade pendant, completely teal-green in color. Its surface was carved with a winding, coiled dragon pattern, and holding it in her hand, she could feel the spiritual energy within flowing slowly like living water.
She flipped to the set preview interface, and her entire body froze.
Dragon-Riding Dreamscape, a twelve-piece set. Headpiece, left and right wristguards, left and right armguards, chestplate, waistband, lower hem, robe, boots, cloak, waist accessory, and sword.
A sword. The sword floated on the far right of the preview image. It was completely teal-green, with a slender, slightly curved blade. A silver dragon pattern wound along the blade from the hilt to the tip, and the guard was shaped like two symmetrical dragon wings.
The lines of the entire sword were sleek and sharp, possessing both the keenness of a blade and a spiritual aura that did not belong to mortal weapons—like a sleeping dragon curled into the shape of a sharp blade, ready to wake at any moment.
Lin Zhiyue stared at the sword for a long time, the corners of her mouth slowly curving upward.
“System,” she lowered her voice as if afraid of being overheard, “can I use this sword once I pull it? Can it be used as a proper weapon?”
The system popped up a line of text: 【Dragon-Riding Dreamscape - Azure Scale Sword, purple quality. The blade is forged from Dragonbone Jade and thousand-year cold iron, and the blade itself possesses armor-penetration attributes. Paired with the full Dragon-Riding Dreamscape set, it unlocks the set skill 'Nine Forms of the Wandering Dragon', an active sword-art skill. The sword itself can also be used as a standard weapon without needing to activate the set skill.】
Lin Zhiyue took a deep breath, closed the light screen, and stood up.
“How many draw tickets do I have now?”
The system calculated: 【Standard Draw Ticket ×3, Advanced Draw Ticket ×0, Limited-Time Single Draw Ticket ×0.】
It was a bit low, but it wasn't impossible to save up. She rolled up her sleeves, sat at her desk, pulled up the system quest panel, and swept her eyes over all the incomplete quests from top to bottom.
“Gather ten spiritual mushrooms from the rear mountain of the side peak—accepted. Go to the Library Pavilion to read three or more cultivation manuals and submit reading notes—accepted. Help Deacon Zhang of the Alchemy Room deliver medicine to the various peaks—accepted. Assist outer sect disciples in tending to the spiritual fields—accepted. Eat a meal at the cafeteria—even this counts as a quest? Accepted, accepted.”
She accepted all the quests on the panel in one go, creating a dense list of seven or eight items. Then she stood up, tucked in her robes, pushed the door open, and walked out.
When she first arrived at Tiance Palace half a month ago, she had still maintained some reserve, afraid that revealing too much would make her seem impatient.
But now, she couldn't care less. That sword was hanging in the system's preview, beckoning to her. The teal-green dragon pattern wound along the blade, and every second she didn't have it in her hands felt like a massive loss.
Over the next two days, the disciples of Tiance Palace frequently saw a figure running at lightning speed between the side peak and the main peak.
Before dawn, someone saw Lin Zhiyue squatting in the grass by the stream on the rear mountain, digging up spiritual mushrooms. She didn't even bother to wipe the mud off her sleeves; as soon as she had gathered enough, she stuffed them into her jade pendant, turned around, and dashed off.
At noon, someone saw her burying her head in books in the Library Pavilion, flipping through them one after another. A stack of note paper sat beside her, and as soon as she finished writing a page, she would tuck it away.
In the afternoon, she ran all over the mountains carrying food boxes. After delivering medicine for the Alchemy Room's deacon, she rushed to the outer sect's spiritual fields to help till the soil for an hour. By the time the work was done, it was already getting dark, yet she still appeared in the cafeteria, full of energy, scarfing down her food.
Liu Fengyao once ran into her on a stone bridge as she rushed past. She was dazed for a long moment before calling out, “Junior Sister, what have you been so busy with these past two days? You're running faster than a rabbit.”
Lin Zhiyue halted her steps, turned back, and smiled at her. “It's nothing, I just have too much energy!” With that, she ran off again, leaving a gust of wind in her wake.
Liu Fengyao stood in place and scratched her head, muttering, “The people under Martial Uncle Yanchen really are all a bit strange,” before turning to leave.
By the evening of the second day, Lin Zhiyue had finally cleared all the daily quests she had accepted. A long string of reward notifications popped up on the system panel. She had accumulated eight Standard Draw Tickets, which, combined with the three she had saved before, made a total of eleven. Rubbing her hands together, she stacked the eleven tickets and tapped the button for a ten-pull plus a single draw.
The light screen exploded into a vortex as ten spheres of light fell one after another.
Holding her breath, she looked through them one by one—
First item: Dragon-Riding Dreamscape - Headpiece. Dark green dragon-scale patterns interwoven with silver threads, feeling heavy and exquisite in her hand.
Second item: Dragon-Riding Dreamscape - Left Armguard. Excellent flexibility, fitting her upper arm perfectly.
Third item: Dragon-Riding Dreamscape - Waistband. Dark-patterned dragon scales trimmed with silver, allowing spiritual energy to flow through smoothly.
Fourth item: Dragon-Riding Dreamscape - Wristguard (Right). A duplicate.
Fifth item: Flowing Fire and Scarlet Stars - Robe.
With this, the entire Flowing Fire and Scarlet Stars set was finally complete. During the previous rate-up pool, she had drawn most of the other pieces, but this main robe piece had stubbornly refused to drop, which had almost made Lin Zhiyue rage-delete the draw interface.
She hadn't expected it to drop this time; it was truly an unexpected pleasant surprise.
【Congratulations to the host for unlocking the Flowing Fire and Scarlet Stars set—unlocking the Flowing Fire Formula cultivation technique】
Sixth item: Dragon-Riding Dreamscape - Cloak. A dark green background embroidered with dark silver dragon patterns, large enough to cover her entire back when unfurled.
Seventh item: Dragon-Riding Dreamscape - Lower Hem. A short armored skirt made of pieced-together scales, completing the look when paired with the wristguards and armguards.
Eighth item: Dragon-Riding Dreamscape - Chestplate. It fit so snugly it felt tailor-made, with a faint light rippling across the silver-gray scales.
Ninth item: Dragon-Riding Dreamscape - Right Armguard. With this, the left and right armguards and wristguards were fully gathered.
Tenth item—she stared intently at the light screen. As the sphere of light dispersed, a teal-green longsword floated quietly in the air.
The blade was slender and slightly curved, with the silver dragon pattern winding from the hilt to the tip. The guard's two dragon wings spread symmetrically, and the entire weapon exuded a serene chill. A row of golden words slowly appeared on the light screen: 【Dragon-Riding Dreamscape - Azure Scale Sword. Quality: Purple. Obtained.】
Lin Zhiyue reached out and grasped the hilt.
The blade let out an extremely soft hum, as if something deep within the blade had awakened for a split second before falling silent once more.
It felt slightly cool to the touch, and its center of gravity sat perfectly three inches from the guard. When she swung it, the sound of the blade cutting through the air was clean and sharp, leaving a faint, clear resonance of a dragon's roar. She brandished the sword a couple of times in the courtyard; though she didn't really know how to use it, it felt incredibly natural in her hand—countless times more comfortable than swinging a staff barehanded before.
She looked down at herself. She held the sword in her hand, and her body was adorned with eight scattered pieces of the Dragon-Riding Dreamscape set. Adding the remaining boots and belt would complete the full set. She had already obtained nine out of the twelve pieces, making her progress three-quarters complete.
She raised the sword to her eyes, peering closely at the silver dragon pattern on the blade. Upon closer inspection, an extremely faint light flowed deep within the pattern, like a dragon's lifeblood slowly traveling through the spine of the blade.
With her lips curved upward, she stored the sword in a dedicated slot within the system space, clapped her hands to brush off non-existent dust, and looked up at the sky.
The sky was completely dark. At the hour of Chen tomorrow, she still had to go to the martial arena on the west side of the main peak to learn sword techniques from Qi Yan.
She had a sword now!
Lin Zhiyue closed the courtyard gate, lit a lamp in her room, flipped the 《Wind and Frost Void-Returning Formula》 to the third page, and began her daily meditation and cultivation.
Suddenly remembering something, Lin Zhiyue retrieved the full Ode to the Frozen Frost set from her space, put it on, and then sat cross-legged to circulate her cultivation technique.
Starting from the tips, her hair turned silver-white inch by inch, like frost creeping up a windowpane.
Sure enough—wearing this set, her affinity for ice spiritual energy surged, and even her cultivation speed became noticeably faster.
The ice and wind spiritual energy vortex in her dantian had condensed a bit more since the day of her meridian clearing, circulating through her meridians in cycles both obediently and actively.
With her eyes closed, a faint smile remained on her lips, too lingering to be pulled back.
Rate on N.U.
