Chapter Fifty: The Wind Scatters Eggshells

Alright! Now I am no longer one of those carefree travelers from another world, but a person shouldering the vital responsibility for the fate of an entire planet’s people and the rise and fall of their civilization. Forget about leisurely raising a young girl; still, I must admit that Little Yueying is a lucky star. As soon as I pulled up the exchange interface, I discovered that all the inherited abilities from Yueying could be exchanged, since she had already mastered the jade slip. Even though she hadn’t acquired all the knowledge, the system’s abilities had made these options available for exchange, albeit requiring more points.

I had no idea how many points these originally needed, so I simply displayed the list on the screen.

“These are my gains this time. Not bad, really. Besides basic military formations, cloud energy cultivation methods, and usage techniques, there are some other things as well,” Sun Meng said. Next, it was up to the others to make their choices. He still had fifty thousand points left, but it was impossible to get everything from the list.

A sudden sense of poverty came over Sun Meng, making him uncomfortable. Just a moment ago, he felt like a wealthy man—clearly, points are never enough!

“Participant, among these items, those related to cloud energy and formations are essential. As for the Silver Moon’s Blessing constitution, public feedback shows it’s receiving the most attention.”

Sun Meng had already reviewed the cloud energy and formation options, so he focused on the Silver Moon’s Blessing constitution. Immediately, a string of numbers appeared: thirty-eight thousand points, and it only allowed cultivation up to the peak of the second tier!

Looking closely, first, at night, one could absorb the essence of moonlight and convert it into spiritual energy for cultivation, and upon breaking through to the second tier, gain an innate spell. Most importantly, moonlight would nourish the body, and after advancing past the second tier, one’s appearance would remain youthful, with further cultivation enhancing one’s beauty.

Glancing at Little Yueying, her silver eyes were beautiful. Combined with her skin and voice, one could be sure she would grow into a stunning young woman. It seemed women were truly willing to go to great lengths for beauty.

What Sun Meng didn’t know was that more foreigners supported exchanging for this option; after all, the cultivation methods released by the Huaguo government were progressing too slowly for them! Even the top officials of other major nations worried that after the year-end assessments, global culture would shift to a Huaguo-centered development, making their nations exist in name only, their civilization lost. This concern made them anxious.

While secretly supporting their own cultivators to develop new methods—though fundamentally different approaches were impossible—they at least had to demonstrate that their culture wasn’t Huaguo’s. To back this up, they even manufactured public opinion, claiming their countries had mastered ‘mages,’ ‘knights,’ ‘sorcerers,’ ‘warriors,’ and other fantasy professions, refusing to acknowledge they were cultivating according to Huaguo’s methods.

Of course, all this happened among the populace; officially, governments neither confirmed nor denied it.

Now, with a rare chance to create a new cultivation method, these people would not let it slip by!

Sun Meng looked at the screen. “Are you sure you want this? You should know the potential of this constitution is tied to Yueying’s cultivation level. She won’t break through this limit anytime soon, so those who choose it may fall behind others for quite a while.”

“No need to worry about that, participant. What matters most now is the year-end assessment, right? Those with this constitution can quickly boost their combat power and fill the current gap in mid-tier strength,” a red message floated by. Yet Sun Meng smelled a plot—no, an obvious scheme!

He glanced at his points—just five hundred left. His heart skipped a beat. Two results exchanged, and Sun Meng received feedback. Of course, under the system’s influence, he wasn’t limited by the constitution’s cultivation cap, only drawing on its advantages.

With a thought, a silver arrow appeared in his hand. The Moonlight Arrow, once fired, became invisible until striking its target. On impact, it froze and exploded, marking the target for an hour. Subsequent Moonlight Arrows could track and attack the target, and it could be blocked with defenses of equal energy grade.

Aside from the freezing effect, the rest wasn’t particularly useful for Sun Meng. Maybe it would help if he didn’t know the target’s specifics, but once he did and there was no mysterious power protecting them, the opponent was just a sitting duck!

Leaving the exchange interface, Sun Meng took Little Yueying to the entertainment district. Few people were around; Yueying eyed the variety of foods with longing.

“Master, does that taste good?” Yueying pointed to an elven-looking man savoring a floral dish—it looked delicious from the way he ate.

He glanced at a nearby specialty plant restaurant, checked the price list—

“Are you hungry, Yueying? But we still have something to do. Can we come back later?” Sun Meng tried to keep smiling. ‘What kind of dishes are these? The cheapest is a hundred points!’ If it were just him, he could order free food in his room, but with Yueying here, he couldn’t be stingy.

Arriving at the auction house, Sun Meng examined the auction items and found several great things, but he was strapped for points, so he switched to the auction selling page.

“System, appraise the value of the martial arts I’ve compiled.” Yes, he intended to sell some things. With more than a month left, theoretically, the system wouldn’t forcibly assign tasks, so either he could join the wasteland treasure hunt and earn a trial card, or just buy items to prepare for the final assessment.

As for leaving the city, his strength qualified him, but the dangers outside were too unpredictable. At this stage, stable development was most important!

“Appraisal complete. Detailed martial arts cultivation system from zero to the peak of the second tier. Starting price: thirty thousand points. Estimated maximum: one hundred thousand. Sell or pay one hundred points for appraisal?”

Heartless! Stingy!

“System, go ahead and auction it!” He needed points, after all!

“Listed. Auction expected to conclude within ten days.”

Sun Meng returned to his stall and checked his results. At first, he sold a few items, making five hundred points, but after a month or two, there were no gains.

He swapped out his stock and unknowingly found himself outside the arena.

This area used to be lively, but now it was quiet. Previously, everyone participated in team tasks, and though worlds differed, the format was the same. Most people were still in the task worlds and hadn’t returned, only a few remained in the city.

He glanced at the arena rankings—the first was a late second-tier being, not even humanoid, resembling a legendary dragon, though its size wasn’t revealed here.

Similarly, the wasteland treasure hunt was much the same. Taking Yueying along, he tried it once, matched against an early second-tier opponent, and won easily.

He got a trial card, but the remaining rewards were much less impressive than the first time, the best being a second-tier early spiritual herb, which could purify bloodlines by a minor grade below tier three.

“Master, can we eat now?” Yueying suddenly asked.

Sun Meng smiled. “Alright, let’s go now!” With a thousand points, they couldn’t afford gourmet food, but ordinary delicacies would be enough to fill them both.

All in all, this was Sun Meng’s first time truly enjoying life in the city. As he paid the bill, he smiled, thinking to himself—

“When the wind blows, the eggshell cracks...”