This Young Master is not Cannon Fodder

Chapter 219: Wealth System + Illustration

Inside an inn in the capital of the Fu Dynasty, Peng Yun was staring at the air in front of him in a daze. Or, at least that was what it appeared to an outside observer. In truth, he was staring at a blue window with words and numbers on it.

Peng Yun hadn’t always been Peng Yun. In fact, he was originally an average citizen back on Earth. Well, average citizen that experienced the apocalypse. When he first opened his eyes, Peng Yun had thought he had been dreaming. However, he had truly gotten another chance at life!

His second life’s identity was the middle son of a farming couple. Although life was hard, compared to the apocalypse, at least it was stable and without the worry of death. At least, that was what Peng Yun thought until one day, a battle between two cultivators left him the sole survivor of his family.

Angry and bitter, Peng Yun once again reaffirmed that power was needed to survive. Whether it was personal power or the power of a group, Peng Yun knew he needed to grasp them in his own hands.

His first act was to attend the local sect’s trial to become a cultivator, but his aspiration failed at the first test. Peng Yun was born with a pentad shattered spiritual vein, making him unable to cultivate.

Unwilling to give up, Peng Yun started a business in the mortal world and gathered immense wealth. However, without power, he was but a mere fish on the chopping block to cultivators at the Foundation Establishment Realm or higher. This only reaffirmed Peng Yun’s goal of searching for a treasure that could improve his spiritual veins and give him the ability to cultivate.

Reality proved that the heavens did not forsake him. Peng Yun didn’t find a treasure to wash his spiritual veins, but he was bound by a certain Wealth System that could elevate his spiritual vein by using wealth and much much more.

Name: Peng Yun

Law/Concepts: Space Concept, Explosion Concept, Blaze Concept, Frost Concept, Accumulation Concept, Gust Concept, Shatter Concept, Wealth Concept

Cultivation: Glass Nascent Soul Realm, Fleshly Soul Nourishing Realm

Cultivation Method: Chaos Heavenly Scripture (Incomplete), Kunpeng Divine Transformation (Incomplete)

Physique: Twelve Heaven Meridians (Intermediate Rank)

Spiritual Vein: Dao Chaos Spiritual Vein (False), Flawless Fire Spiritual Vein, Flawless Water Spiritual Vein, Flawless Earth Spiritual Vein, Fractured Wood Spiritual Vein, Fractured Metal Spiritual Vein

Soul: Flawless Soul

Comprehension: High

Inheritance: Dragon Emperor’s Inheritance (Incomplete), Divinelight Inheritance, Fivelotus Lord’s Inheritance, Caisheng’s Inheritance, Houtu’s Inheritance, etc

Inventory: Spiritual Vein Upgrading Elixir (1), Random Item Box (1), Soulpiercing Awl Talisman (1)

Wealth: 504,567 SP

“Upgrade wood spiritual vein.” Peng Yun said.

In response, a mechanical voice without any emotions responded.

“[Forty thousand system points required. Proceed to upgrade?]”

Peng Yun felt his kidney ache at the thought of spending 40,000 points at once, but for his future, he gritted his teeth and said. “Yes.”

“[Ding! Forty thousand system points deducted. Begin spiritual vein upgrade.]”

Peng Yun closed his eyes as he felt an enormous amount of wood essence surge into his spiritual core. Since he had already formed his spiritual core, his spiritual veins had been integrated into his core. Upgrading his spiritual vein meant upgrading the rank of his spiritual core.

Sweat poured down Peng Yun’s forehead as he felt his spiritual core change under the influx of wood essence. Compared to essence, qi was just diluted energy.

Several days later, Peng Yun opened his mouth, and a misty fog full of polluted wood essence poured out. After his wood spiritual vein had been upgraded to a flawless spiritual vein, Peng Yun’s five-colored spiritual core had more green coloring swimming within it. Among the five colors present, green, red, black, and yellow were even, with only the white seemingly being drowned by the rest.

“Upgrade metal spiritual vein.” Peng Yun ordered.

After a few more days, Peng Yun’s metal spiritual vein became a flawless spiritual vein, giving him five flawless spiritual veins. The moment this occurred, his spiritual core underwent a metamorphosis and exuded a violet-gold light. Peng Yun’s spiritual core had evolved and directly skipped the gold grade and became a violet-gold grade spiritual core.

Name: Peng Yun

Law/Concepts: Space Concept, Explosion Concept, Blaze Concept, Frost Concept, Accumulation Concept, Gust Concept, Shatter Concept, Wealth Concept

Cultivation: Glass Nascent Soul Realm, Fleshly Soul Nourishing Realm

Cultivation Method: Chaos Heavenly Scripture (Incomplete), Kunpeng Divine Transformation (Incomplete)

Physique: Twelve Heaven Meridians (Intermediate Rank)

Spiritual Vein: Dao Chaos Spiritual Vein (Low), Flawless Fire Spiritual Vein, Flawless Water Spiritual Vein, Flawless Earth Spiritual Vein, Flawless Wood Spiritual Vein, Flawless Metal Spiritual Vein

Soul: Flawless Soul

Comprehension: High

Inheritance: Dragon Emperor’s Inheritance (Incomplete), Divinelight Inheritance, Fivelotus Lord’s Inheritance, Caisheng’s Inheritance, Houtu’s Inheritance, etc

Inventory: Spiritual Vein Upgrading Elixir (1), Random Item Box (1), Soulpiercing Awl Talisman

Wealth: 424,567 SP

Immediately, Peng Yun felt the advantage of dao chaos spiritual vein. Even if it was a low-rank one as a result of only having five flawless spiritual veins, the qi generation of his spiritual core increased tenfold. Ten!

‘I can feel the purity of my true qi rise by two levels. Even if the amount of true qi I could generate were the same, I would need a less amount than before to use the same techniques.’ Peng Yun had to do his best to hold back his excitement. Now he knew why people with heavenly spiritual veins were lauded as geniuses and so powerful in the early stages.

‘Even if I don’t have a heavenly spiritual vein, even if my dao chaos spiritual vein is only at the low rank, I can confidently say that my advantage is better than theirs!’ Peng Yun’s eyes sharpened. He that his comprehension of the concepts that acquired and unknown concepts become clearer.

Having tasted the benefits of having a dao chaos spiritual vein, Peng Yun wanted to acquire a higher grade, and to do so, he would need to upgrade all his spiritual veins into the perfect grade.

“Upgrade fire spiritual vein.” Peng Yun ordered.

“[Two hundred thousand system points required. Proceed to upgrade?]”

Peng Yun directly cursed the system. “You damn money-grubbing system! Didn’t I already feed you enough spirit stones!?”

After venting at the greedy system, appropriately called the Wealth System, Peng Yun sighed and said, “Charge balance.”

One of the first things Peng Yun bought from the system store was a spatial inventory. Unlike spatial rings or shrinking pouches, there was no physical accessory, so unless he stupidly revealed it, no one would know he had it. Thinking back, Peng Yun realized that it was simply to make charging the balance easier.

“[Host currently can exchange 575,433 system points with all items in inventory. Exchange?]”

Peng Yun took a deep breath. Somehow, he always had enough treasures and spirit stones inside his spatial inventory for whatever he needed. If you told him that this was an accident, he wouldn’t believe it.

“No, I’ll just save for a bit.” Peng Yun decisively rejected the system’s evaluation. After saying that, Peng Yun just stayed in the same position, without moving an inch for an hour until the Wealth System finally replied.

“[Host currently can exchange 625,433 system points with all the items in inventory. Exchange?]”

Peng Yun still didn’t answer. Instead, he moved some items out of the spatial inventory and moved them into his spatial ring. Then he said, “Exchange.”

The system stayed silent for a bit before replying again.

“[Host currently can exchange 575,433 system points with all items in inventory. Exchange?]”

Peng Yun rolled his eyes and said yes. ‘Forget it. I’ve already gotten used to this greedy system. After I upgrade all my spiritual veins into heavenly spiritual veins, I’ll diminish my use of it.’

“[Ding, host currently has 1,000,000 system points.]”

“Upgrade all spiritual roots to perfect spiritual veins,” Peng Yun said.

“[One million system points required. Proceed to upgrade?]”

Peng Yun gritted his teeth and said, “yes.” Immediately, Peng Yun felt five different types of elemental essence appearing inside his spiritual core. The process took two weeks longer than it did for upgrading his fractured spiritual roots to flawless spiritual roots.

Name: Peng Yun

Law/Concepts: Space Concept, Explosion Concept, Blaze Concept, Frost Concept, Accumulation Concept, Gust Concept, Shatter Concept, Wealth Concept, Whirlwind Concept

Cultivation: Glass Nascent Soul Realm, Fleshly Soul Nourishing Realm

Cultivation Method: Chaos Heavenly Scripture (Incomplete), Kunpeng Divine Transformation (Incomplete)

Physique: Twelve Heaven Meridians (Intermediate Rank)

Spiritual Vein: Dao Chaos Spiritual Vein (Intermediate), Perfect Fire Spiritual Vein, Perfect Water Spiritual Vein, Perfect Earth Spiritual Vein, Perfect Wood Spiritual Vein, Perfect Metal Spiritual Vein

Soul: Flawless Soul

Comprehension: High

Inheritance: Dragon Emperor’s Inheritance (Incomplete), Divinelight Inheritance, Fivelotus Lord’s Inheritance, Caisheng’s Inheritance, Houtu’s Inheritance, etc

Inventory: Spiritual Vein Upgrading Elixir (1), Random Item Box (1), Soulpiercing Awl Talisman

Wealth: 0 SP

Looking at his zero balance, Peng Yun felt his heart drip blood, but at the same time, he reveled in the newfound power gushing forth in his body. It was another tenfold increase in power. Compared to when he entered the capital, his power had increased by at least ten times!

At the Nascent Soul realm, the amount of and quality of true qi was only part of the factor that determined a cultivator’s strength. More importantly, it was the cultivators’ comprehension of concepts and laws that played a far greater role in factoring his combat prowess. But, the increase of quality in Peng Yun spiritual core was just too powerful. The true qi was also strengthening his nascent soul. Given more time, his strength would increase again.

“System, how much would it cost to upgrade a perfect spiritual vein into a heavenly spiritual vein?” Peng Yun asked, preparing to calculate how many treasures he would have to use. The system’s reply shocked him to his core.

“[Five million system points.]”

“Y-y-you mean, five million to upgrade all five, right?” Peng Yun asked, fearing the answer. And his fears were proven correct.

“[Negative. Five million points are required for each spiritual vein upgrade.]”

Peng Yun felt as if his heart had stopped. If he hadn’t gotten lucky and inherited a deceased immortal’s wealth, he wouldn’t have been able to afford the previous upgrades to his spiritual veins. That meant that he would need to raid ten immortal inheritances just to accumulate five million points!

‘Luckily, I have a Spiritual Vein Upgrading Elixir. But damn, why is there such a large increase from two hundred thousand to five million!?’ Peng Yun’s eyes drifted to the random item box in his inventory. If he was lucky, maybe he could get another Spiritual Vein Upgrading Elixir.

Peng Yun chose to open the random item box, but he was doomed to be disappointed.

“[Formation Shattering Talisman. Any formation under the immortal rank can be destroyed. Singe-use item.]”

“Argghhh! Dammit. With my Minor Kunpeng Martial Body, my speed is unmatched, even compared to venerables. I’ll escape before my opponents can use formations. What’s the use?!” Peng Yun screamed as he grabbed his head. “You money-grubbing system. You purposely made it impossible, didn’t you?”

Finally, Peng Yun calmed down after screaming obscenities at the greedy system. He didn’t plan on using the Spiritual Vein Upgrading Elixir. What was more important for the dao chaos spiritual vein was balance. If he recklessly upgraded one of his spiritual veins into a heavenly spiritual vein, it would downgrade his dao spiritual vein, causing his strength to weaken.

After another month after Peng Yun had familiarized himself with his newfound strength, he exited the room. Peng Yun had come to the Fu Dynasty capital with a purpose, and that was revenge.

It wasn’t for revenge against the Fu Dynasty, but a clue leading to the culprit who caused his family’s death. Peng Yun had discovered that one of the murderers was a disciple of the Buzhou Immortal Sect. He had heard rumors that the Vast Heaven Young Master was going to appear, so he had rushed over. Peng Yun wasn’t as foolish enough to start a crusade against the whole Buzhou Immortal Sect. He simply wanted to kill the perpetrator and only him.

Of course, Peng Yun knew that he had to carry out his revenge secretly.

Peng Yun wanted to discover the exact identity of the perpetrator. He knew that it was unlikely since he didn’t even know his name, but forming a relationship with the Vast Heaven Young Master would aid him.

“Big Brother Peng, are you out?”

When Peng Yun left his room, he saw Bai Weiwei outside. She appeared fragile as if she would shatter at any moment.

Peng Yun had met Bai Weiwei a few years ago. He was passing by and saved her from some rascals who wanted to rob her, or perhaps even worse. Originally, he planned on leaving her at a safe place, but the situation made her a constant follower of Peng Yun.

“Sorry, did I make you wait too long?” Peng Yun asked.

“N-no! I’m relying on Big Brother Peng. I don’t have any problems worth troubling you.” Bai Weiwei said, shrinking back.

“Haha, don’t worry. Your troubles are my troubles. If you have any problems, just tell me. As long as I can accomplish it, I will do it.” Peng Yun promised.

Bai Weiwei looked up at Peng Yun with eyes full of hope, but unseen by Peng Yun, within that hope was an abyss of endless hatred. She quickly hung her head again, “It’s nothing. I don’t want you to hate me like them.”

Hearing Bai Weiwei’s melancholy-filled words, Peng Yun felt his heart tremble. ‘Just what would cause such an innocent and kind girl to be so sad? Even before the apocalypse, such a girl is rare.’

To Peng Yun, Bai Weiwei represented a symbol of when times were good. Although he could live longer in the Huang Realm than on Earth, but his life was filled with constant danger. If he wasn’t powerful enough, his life could be at risk at any time.

Rubbing her hand, Peng Yun said, “Alright. Just remember, I’ll always be there for you. Okay, be obedient and wait here for me. I need to gather information.”

When Peng Yun walked away, Bai Weiwei’s eyes stuck to his back. Her eyes were filled with hesitation yet harbored a tiny hope different from the previous one.

It didn’t take long for Peng Yun to discover news of the false Vast Heaven Young Master, causing him to curse. Luckily, it seemed there was two real Buzhou Immortal Sect disciples present who slew the imposter. Peng Yun tried his luck at the Ling Ducal Estate but was rejected. Forcing his way through was obviously a stupid choice, so Peng Yun had to think of another method.

It was a good thing that the Fu Dynasty was currently starting a war with the Skybrush Sect. Peng Yun had the heart to join because it gave him a chance to interact with the Buzhuo Immortal Sect disciples and gain wealth, something he was in dire need of.

With his qualifications, Peng Yun was easily accepted by the Fu Dynasty. On the day of the first battle, Peng Yun finally got a chance to the two Buzhou Immortal Sect disciples. Strangely, Peng Yun felt that one of them was extremely familiar, as if he had seen her before.

“System, scan the Buzhou Immortal Sect disciples.” Peng Yun muttered so low that only he could hear.

“[Ten thousand points required to scan Buzhou Immortal Sect Disciple Jiang Daoyi. One thousand points to scan Buzhou Immortal Sect Disciple Ling Haitang. Proceed?]”

Peng Yun cursed once more and even thought about rejecting it but stopped himself. “Why is there such a difference?!”

“[Points are calculated based on the karma of the target.]”

Peng Yun frowned. Finally, after a moment of deliberation, Peng Yun agreed. Spending Eleven thousand of the points he just added.

Name: Ling Haitang

Force: Buzhou Immortal Sect

Law/Concepts: Blossom Concept, Photosynthesis Concept, Leaf Concept

Cultivation: Diamond Nascent Soul Realm

Cultivation Method: Soleblossom Diagram

Physique: None

Spiritual Vein: Perfect Wood Spiritual Vein, Perfect Water Spiritual Vein

Soul: None

Comprehension: Intermediate

Name: Jiang Daoyi

Force: Buzhou Immortal Sect

Law/Concepts: ???, ???, ???

Cultivation: Translucent Nascent Soul Realm, Organ Fortification Body Transformation Realm

Cultivation Method: East Flowing Nether River Scripture,

Physique: ???

Spiritual Vein: ???

Soul: Three Yin Soul

Comprehension: ???

Ling Haitang’s information was fine, but when the system brought up Jiang Daoyi’s information, there was a string of question marks, something that had never happened before. “System, was there an error or something?”

“[WARNING! WARNING! System’s probe has been detected, System’s probe had been detected.]”

Peng Yun felt his pupil shrink into needlepoints as the system warning blared into his ears. His head snapped up to meet Jiang Daoyi’s inquisitive gaze.