Chapter 54: Lu Ziji Lends a Helping Hand with an Idea

Yunzhi returned to the hourly room she had rented at a small inn, and only then stepped out of her spatial safe house.

Checking out of that room, she hailed a cab, moved to a slightly more distant chain hotel, and checked in once again.

Why not stay at the small inn? Because it was simply too close to Liu Yuxuan’s residence, and she felt a complete lack of a sense of security.

When a person was inside the spatial safe house, staring at someone outside for just a little too long would cause the other party to perceive it. She had no idea just how formidable that fellow’s power truly was.

Moreover, that guy was actually over a hundred years old... Truly, an old man who lived long enough turned into a monster.

After thoroughly checking the hotel room to ensure there were no surveillance devices, Yunzhi once again flashed into the spatial safe house before opening the chat group system’s customer service page.

To put it bluntly, she had been infected by Liu Yuxuan’s neurosis, terrified that without her even realizing it, she might be tracked and spied upon by someone else.

"Little System, your spatial safe house is simply too unsafe! Why can people still discover me when I'm hiding inside and looking out?"

The chat group system replied very quickly.

"I didn't expect it either! In a place like Earth where spiritual energy is practically non-existent, someone's divine sense could actually reach the mid-stage Foundation Establishment realm, which is equivalent to a level five supernatural power."

"To save energy, the mental defense barrier built into the spatial safe house only reaches the peak of level five. I thought that would be more than enough!"

"I can also provide level six, or even level seven, eight, and nine mental defense barriers, but... you have to pay extra points!"

"Level six is 1 point per minute; level seven, 2 points per minute; level eight, 3 points; level nine, 5 points. Currently, the highest I can provide is level nine."

Yunzhi asked, "What level is Ziji's divine sense?"

The chat group system replied, "His divine soul realm is at the Great Circle of the Golden Core stage, and his original divine sense or spiritual power intensity is equivalent to the peak of level 9. However, constrained by his physical body, the highest he can currently exert is level 6 spiritual power. His spiritual power reserves are more than ten times that of a normal level 6, but if he uses level 6 spiritual power for extended periods, his body won't be able to bear it, leading to collapse and unconsciousness."

Yunzhi thought of the time during the rescue in the pastry country when Ziji continuously output level 6 spiritual power for six hours...

The price he paid was taking two Calming and Body-Nourishing Pills, followed by several other similar pills whose effects weren't quite as compatible with his body.

He had been unconscious for the better part of a day and had to sit in a wheelchair for several days.

Although the enemies this time were extremely troublesome and vastly exceeded her current level, Yunzhi had no desire to drag Ziji into this.

This was a commission task she had chosen to take on herself. The other party was the one who killed Bai Miao, the one who almost killed her maternal grandmother and her mother, and the one about to make a move against her. She should face them herself.

Ziji could appropriately provide her with some effortless help that was easy for him, but she could not let Ziji push himself to exert strength exceeding his physical limits once again.

If such instances happened too often, it would even damage the foundations of Lu Ziji in the immortal cultivation world. After all, one of the main ingredients for the Calming and Body-Nourishing Pills was raised with his own blood.

Deep down, Yunzhi very much wanted to continue with this commission. After all, regardless of whether she took the task or not, the other party had already designated her as their next target for fortune-stealing.

However, the benefits she ought to negotiate with the system still had to be fought for.

Yunzhi said, "Little System, you're asking me, a level two supernatural user, to deal with several level four or five, and potentially even level six or seven old monsters. To hide in space so I won't be discovered by them, I have to spend extra points, yet the reward is only a mere 2000 points. Is this reasonable?"

In short, spending points to upgrade the mental defense level of the spatial safe house? Acceptable!

But the reward for this commission task had to be raised as well!

The services provided by the system increased in price due to higher energy consumption; the work she had to do also required a pay raise because the difficulty exceeded expectations.

The chat group system: ......

Numb. Having a clever host had its advantages, but it also had its downsides—always demanding more points at the drop of a hat.

The chat group system attempted to bargain: "Their cultivation realms weren't attained through solid, down-to-earth practice, but rather stolen through improper means. Their spiritual power levels are just artificially bloated. As for Liu Yuxuan's physical constitution, it's a hollow shell—he's not even as strong as you, a level two!"

"Presumably, the others should be in a similar situation."

"Besides, these practitioners of the crooked path have committed countless immoral and wicked deeds, and what they fear most is heavenly thunder. Don't you have a full 100 lightning talismans? Those were drawn by Lu Ziji by channeling heavenly thunder power while others were undergoing their tribulation. They have an extremely strong restraining effect on those of the crooked path!"

"If you use more than 10 lightning talismans within a radius of a hundred meters in half an hour, it will even summon real heavenly thunder! Specially targeting wicked people!"

"If your lightning talismans can't kill them outright, they should at least destroy the magical artifacts on them that shield them from heavenly secrets. That way, the heavenly thunder will be able to lock onto them directly!"

"Those who do all evil will eventually be punished by the heavens! Heaven is on your side, what are you afraid of!"

Yunzhi thought to herself that if she hadn't brought up asking for more money, the chat group system definitely wouldn't have been so forthcoming and eager to share everything. Who knows, it might have charged her a bunch of points just to give her such crucial information.

Since they had fatal weaknesses, and she happened to have a method to restrain those weaknesses, getting rid of those guys didn't seem quite as difficult anymore.

The hard part was: how on earth could she gather all those masterminds in one place?

If Yunzhi only dealt with the second, third, and fourth elders, once they witnessed her true thunderous methods—given that their eldest senior brother's strength clearly suppressed the others by a margin and possessed at least level six spiritual power—he might take the opportunity to escape or go into hiding, making it very difficult to root him out in the future.

Moreover, besides Su Man, they seemed to have other disciples, such as the "Eldest Senior Brother" they had mentioned in passing.

Yunzhi asked the system, "Are you really not going to increase the points? Little System, just raise it a little bit as a gesture of goodwill! All the points I worked so hard to earn have been spent; when will I ever save up ten thousand points to unlock the cross-world travel function of System Mall lv3?"

"Since you're so stingy, from now on I'll just slack off and live off my family as a salted fish. Anyway, I have my grandmother's multi-billion fortune to support me; I can live very well without putting in any effort. Once I finish this task, I'll wash my hands of the underworld and stop taking new commissions!"

As for the current commission task, it concerned her family and herself, and she had already accepted Bai Miao's commission, so striking was absolutely out of the question.

She could only use the non-existent "next task" to threaten the system.

The chat group system: ......

You really have no shame at all!

In a fit of anger, the chat group system... threw a brief tantrum.

"Fine, fine, fine, you're threatening me, aren't you? As if I can't change hosts!"

"...... You guessed it right, I really can't. Sob, sob, sob."

"How about this: I will waive all the spatial safe house usage fees for this mission commission. But if you need to activate the level 6 or 7 protective shields, you have to give me attribute-less energy stones as fuel. One primary attribute-less energy stone is equivalent to 10 points, which can activate a level 6 protective shield for 10 minutes."

"I'm not making a single penny of profit from the price difference. In other words, apart from spending some energy stones, invisibility talismans, and lightning talismans, once the mission is completed, you'll make a net profit of 2000 points."

Yunzhi: ......！！！

Wool from the system was just like milk; if you squeezed hard enough, there would always be some.

Yunzhi continued to ask, "Ahem, can I exchange energy stones with you for points?"

Yunzhi mainly wanted to unlock that lv3 cross-border travel function sooner.

Even though she didn't need it right now, once the function was unlocked, she could use it whenever she wanted!

The chat group system: ......

The chat group system: "No, absolutely not!!!"

This girl, is there no end to her? Can't she leave the poor system with even a pair of shorts, must she fleece it completely bald all at once?

Yunzhi: "Alright then, if you can't, you can't. Why are you so worked up?"

Sensing she had pushed it far enough, any more fleecing and the system's fur would stand on end.

Recalling the 400 points spent previously for saving Dou Wanqin and this latest act of spying on Liu Yuxuan—the two instances of using the spatial safe house—she got them refunded. Watching her account balance happily return to a delightful 5,990, Yunzhi stepped out of the spatial safe house.

She took a shower in the hotel bathroom, then stepped back into the spatial safe house, retrieved a quilt and a folding bed from her personal space, and placed them in the open area in the middle of the safe house.

Finding the sofa and coffee table in the way, she put those two items back into her personal space first.

The chat group system instantly and proactively popped up a light screen window: "What are you doing???"

The font was enlarged, bolded, and colored red, making it extremely eye-catching.

Yunzhi found that she could speak directly and the system would still hear her, so she was too lazy to type out a reply in the chat window.

Yunzhi replied righteously and with full confidence: "Sleeping, duh! It's already eleven o'clock! What else would I do if not sleep? Staying up late ruins my beauty!"

Seeing how much Liu Yuxuan and Su Man cared about their faces, Yunzhi felt that she had been living far too carelessly. Relying on her youth and good foundation, coupled with having expelled impurities from her body multiple times, she usually couldn't even be bothered to use skincare products.

After all, the best skincare effects those products could achieve still fell short of her current skin condition.

However, when there were no pressing matters, getting an early night's sleep was still quite necessary.

The chat group system: "???"

"Although I said I'd waive the points for using the spatial safe house during the mission, this isn't how you use it!"

"The system's energy isn't grown in your backyard, you don't feel any heartache using it up, do you?"

"With you being so extravagant, when will I ever save enough energy to upgrade and be able to communicate with the host directly using intent like other systems? Not to mention buying the cute kitten morphing new skin I've already put in my shopping cart?"

"This isn't an emergency right now, why are you coming in here? Wasting energy!"

"Where can't you sleep? Out, get out!"

The next moment, Yunzhi, along with her small quilt, materialized right back in the hotel room.

Yunzhi: ......

Yunzhi couldn't resist poking at the system's sore spot: "What, isn't communicating with the host via intent standard equipment for systems? How come you have to upgrade first just to get that? You're way too useless!"

The chat group system: ......

Who asked it to be a former immortal artifact that changed careers to become a system? At the time of its career change, its consciousness had been on the verge of complete dissipation, though it managed to retain the most important characteristic of its days as an immortal artifact—communicating across myriad realms. As for functions in other aspects, naturally they weren't as comprehensive as systems produced in high-tech planes; it could only slowly accumulate energy to purchase upgrades over time.

Thick-skinned to the core, Yunzhi negotiated a free service with the system: if there was danger within a hundred meters, it had to immediately ring her WeChat voice call and give her an emergency wake-up call. Only then did she fall asleep in peace.

The chat group system: ......

No wonder senior system predecessors said that getting too familiar with the host wasn't necessarily a good thing.

Yunzhi slept soundly and sweetly.

At seven o'clock the next morning, she was woken up by her alarm clock.

A new day had arrived, and her goal for today was—to make a huge wave!

She needed to get Su Man's four masters, as well as her senior brother, all gathered together.

What kind of event could bring them all together under one roof?

Yunzhi pondered, opened the chat group light screen, and muttered to herself facing the customer service page.

"Hmm, cripple Su Man?"

"She has already asked her third master, Liu Yuxuan, for help once. In the short term, Liu Yuxuan won't be able to expend his own energy to save her again."

"That way, Su Man will turn to her second master or fourth master for help."

"However, her eldest senior brother probably won't make a move easily. To him, Su Man is most likely just a fortune-stealing tool to be discarded at any moment."

The chat group system knew this girl wanted it to help brainstorm ideas.

The system: ......

The system: "Don't look at me. With the time you spend asking me, you'd be better off asking someone else."

"I'm just a system baby who has only recently birthed self-awareness, what would I know about you humans and your winding schemes?"

Yunzhi's eyes lit up: "Thanks for the reminder, Little System!"

With that, she immediately opened her private chat interface with Lu Ziji: "Brother Lu, Brother Lu, are you there? SOS in the pugilistic world!"

Right, anything she couldn't think of on her own could be brought to an external helper.

Ziji was guarding the Lu family manor to protect her grandmother, but wasn't there still Lu Ziji in the immortal cultivation world?

Even when Lu Ziji was still in high school, he had already started mingling in the business circles.

There is no honest merchant without cunning; Lu Ziji was able to become a business tycoon as a fighter jet among legally cunning businessmen.

As a Golden Core Great Circle cultivator, unless he was in secluded cultivation, Lu Ziji basically didn't need sleep or food, having already achieved penance-fasting, and could replace sleep by absorbing spiritual energy through meditation.

Worried that Ziji might stir up some absurd mess in the modern world, Lu Ziji had no plans to undergo secluded cultivation for the sake of cultivation over the next few years.

Moreover, Yunzhi's chat window was set with a special notification for him.

He quickly snapped out of his meditation, much like someone being woken up from sleep.

"I'm here, what's the matter, Sister Yun?"

Finding typing too troublesome, Yunzhi used the voice message feature to concisely describe the situation she had encountered.

Directly placing voice calls and video calls weren't available yet; if asked why, it was because the chat group lacked sufficient energy for the time being, and those new functions were pending development.

This was actually the first time Lu Ziji had heard Yunzhi's voice.

It was very clear and pleasant to the ear.

Her voice carried the lively energy unique to a young girl, along with an abundance of trust directed entirely at him!

After listening to Yunzhi's voice message, Lu Ziji's first involuntary thought wasn't about the predicament she described, nor what kind of advice he should give to help her.

Instead, it was—

With such a lovely voice, what did Yunzhi actually look like?

Regardless of whether it was in the wealthy social circles of his past life or in the immortal cultivation world of the present, he had seen countless beauties.

Whether someone's appearance was outstanding or not meant very little to Lu Ziji.

No matter how pretty a face was, he would at most glance at it a couple of times with the appreciation for beautiful things, and then that would be that.

After a spark of curiosity arose, Lu Ziji's second thought followed—she must be very pretty!

When Ziji had vented to him about things happening around him, he had once mentioned how his grandfather made veiled inquiries, asking if his frequent interactions with Yunzhi meant he had romantic intentions toward her.

At that time, Ziji's reply to his grandfather had been: "Old man, stop trying to play matchmaker between me and every young, pretty, single girl you lay eyes on. I'm not dating! Absolutely not! If you don't want the Lu family line to die out, find yourself a second spring and have a third child, or let your two great sons have a second child, or count on Lu Ping—any of those is easier than nagging me to find a partner!"

Ziji had even reenacted his grandfather's reaction to him at the time, once again wielding his cane to chase him around the garden for half an hour.

Back then, Lu Ziji's main concern had been: this guy is upsetting grandfather again, I hope grandfather's health hasn't taken a turn for the worse because of him!

After specifically asking about his grandfather's health and confirming that the old man ate well, slept well, and was in high spirits—easily lifting a hundred-kilogram barbell during his morning workout—Lu Ziji had put his mind at ease.

At this moment, however, what came to mind instead was—even Ziji thought Yunzhi was pretty, so she must indeed be very pretty.

The third thought—

If Ziji had a girl he liked in the modern world, aside from Yunzhi, who knew him inside and out and was also his good friend, there wouldn't be anyone else.

Once you've met the best, how could anyone ever settle for anything less?

"Brother Lu, Brother Lu? Are you busy?"

After sending the message, having received no reply for quite a while, Yunzhi sent a text message to ask.

Lu Ziji, who had been lost in thought for quite a bit, was pulled back to reality and found an excuse: "Someone just sent me a transmission paper crane, I replied to a message, everything's fine now. Let me sort out what you told me, hold on a moment."

Lu Ziji silently recited the Heart-Clearing Incantation once to suppress the wandering thoughts in his mind, and began to think earnestly.

Before long, Lu Ziji replied: "Attacking Su Man is useless; her weight isn't enough."

"Why not try targeting Liu Yuxuan instead? But this time, you must not use the lightning talismans, which make a massive commotion and possess strong restraining power against them."

"Shielded by the spatial safe house and dealing with Liu Yuxuan alone, catching him by surprise, you still have a very high chance of winning."

"Right, that miniature Asking Heart Illusion Array I gave you earlier isn't suitable for dealing with many people, but dealing with a level five spiritual power Liu Yuxuan is completely fine. The spiritual stones built into it should trap him for about three hours."

"Once he falls into a deep sleep due to the Asking Heart Illusion Array, whether you want to kidnap him or cripple him, it will be a piece of cake."

"Even after waking up from the Asking Heart Illusion Array, Liu Yuxuan's spiritual power will be in an extremely depleted state. He won't be able to invoke spiritual power at all, and even if he takes spiritual recovery potions, it will take him a month or two to recover."

Yunzhi: ......！！！

As expected of a seasoned cunning businessman! His brain was simply too sharp!

Yunzhi replied: "Brother Lu, this idea of yours is simply fantastic!"

"Yay, thank you! Thank you so much!"

"Hehe, count this as me owing Brother Lu a favor. If there's anything you need me to do in the future, just say the word!"

Of course, even without this incident, if Lu Ziji ever needed her help with anything within her power, she would have done her utmost to assist anyway.

Lu Ziji responded: "That sounds a lot like what I said when I first met you."

"Now we should probably be considered pretty good friends. Just helping out with an idea isn't anything to owe favors over, otherwise, you're just being overly polite with me."

"Go do your work! If you ever need me, just look for me anytime."

"Mm-hmm, then I won't stand on ceremony with Brother Lu! Hehe!"

Yunzhi sent a "muah" sticker; the little color dumpling was puckering its lips with flying kisses while little hearts twinkled around it.

This was something Yunzhi and Tang Panpan frequently exchanged when chatting.

"Love you" and "muah" primarily served to express gratitude.

On the other end, however, Lu Ziji found himself staring at the "muah" sticker, lost in contemplation.

It was the first time anyone had ever sent him a sticker like that.

The key was that he didn't feel repulsed or annoyed by it at all; if anything, it sparked even more curiosity toward Yunzhi.

Back when he was in school and working, it wasn't as if girls hadn't written him love letters or confessed to him in person, but Lu Ziji's reaction had always been—why date when studying and working are so much more interesting?

Yet chatting with Yunzhi never once felt dull to him.

Lu Ziji once again had a passing thought—why wasn't it him who stayed behind in the modern world to undergo the romantic tribulation?

If he were the one in the modern world and Ziji stayed behind in the immortal cultivation world, interacting with Yunzhi more often might have genuinely given him a chance to progress from friends to lovers.

Sigh, what was the use of thinking about this? He couldn't very well date across realms with Yunzhi, so Lu Ziji had no choice but to recite the Heart-Clearing Incantation yet again.

As for Ziji, the more he tried to advise him, the more counterproductive it became. Forget it, he couldn't be bothered to advise him anymore.

Anyway, not undergoing the romantic tribulation didn't mean there was a hundred percent failure rate in overcoming the inner demon tribulation; it just lowered the success rate to thirty or forty percent.

With how much Ziji tossed and turned in the modern world, who knew how long the suppression grass he raised with his blood could sustain him? Once Ziji kicked the bucket, whether his own body would be too depleted to cultivate to the Crossing Tribulation stage within five hundred years was anyone's guess—he would just take it one step at a time!

......

Yunzhi casually dispatched the sticker, closed the chat window, packed up her things, and used the spatial safe house's driving function to head toward Liu Yuxuan's residence.

She wanted to test whether the level 6 mental defense barrier provided by the system was easy to use, and see if she could snoop out more useful information.

However, Yunzhi had no intention of dealing with Liu Yuxuan in broad daylight.

Tonight, after Liu Yuxuan finished plotting with the second and fourth elders on how to deal with her, and after those two left, she would make her move.

That way, she would learn the true identities of the second and fourth elders. Even if they chose to turn a blind eye and watch coldly after Liu Yuxuan met his end, Yunzhi could still trace their interpersonal networks to dig deeper.

She could also eavesdrop on what the three of them planned to do to deal with her.

Only by knowing oneself and knowing the enemy could one emerge victorious in every battle!