The "residence" assigned to the servant-born bastard of the Xiao Clan was less of a home and more of a structural hazard. Located at the damp, overgrown eastern edge of the estate—where the clan dumped its garbage and discarded cultivation scraps—it was a single-room hut constructed from cracked mud bricks and rotting cedar planks. The roof had a hole large enough to let in both rain and the occasional stray rodent, and the door hung off its iron hinges like a broken jaw.
Leo stepped inside, ducked under a low beam, and immediately threw his hands up in disgust.
"Man, I thought Detroit slums were rough, but this place makes a condemned trap house look like the Ritz-Carlton," Leo muttered, coughing as a cloud of dust billowed up from the dirt floor.
He kicked a broken wooden stool out of his path and sat down cross-legged on a thin, moth-eaten straw mat resting in the corner. The mat was hard as granite, but compared to the damp ditch he had been lying in an hour ago, it felt like luxury.
Now that he was away from the eyes of the terrified outer disciples, Leo leaned back against the wall and focused his mind.
"Alright, System. Open status page or whatever it is you do."
Instantly, the sleek, gold-bordered interface materialized in front of his vision, glowing softly in the dim, dusty lighting of the hut.
[SYSTEM STATUS MENU]
Host Name: Leo Miller (Xiao Long)
Age: 15
Realm: Body Refining Stage 2 (Progress: 0/200 Chaos Qi)
Cultivation Method: Primitive Chaos Immortal Technique (Layer 1)
HP: 100/100
Passive Traits:
[Eternal Anchor (Lv. Max)]: Invalidation of true death. Fatal injuries trigger instant bodily reconstruction and short-term invulnerability.
[Sarcastic Glare (Lv. 1)]: Increases the anger generated in opponents by 30% when speaking, making them prone to tactical mistakes.
Inventory: Low-Grade Spirit Pill x5
System Points (SP): 50
Leo stared at the screen, running a thumb across his chin. "Body Refining Stage 2, huh? From what the kid's memories say, the Body Refining Realm has nine stages. Stage 1 to 3 are just physical conditioning—strengthening bones, toughening skin, increasing raw muscle force. Stage 4 is where you start channeling Qi outside the body."
He raised his right palm, opening and closing his fist. He could feel a subtle, warm current flowing through his blood vessels, radiating from his abdomen. Back on Earth, he had practiced basic kickboxing and spent hours in the gym, but this sensation was entirely different. It was like having a high-voltage battery wired directly into his nervous system.
"And Xiao Feng was Stage 3," Leo chuckled quietly. "I knocked out a guy a whole level above me with a single hit. Is this Primitive Chaos Technique really that busted?"
[PING!]
[System Query Answered:]
The Primitive Chaos Immortal Technique synthesizes raw environmental energy without refining out the 'impurities.' Where ordinary cultivation methods filter out heavy elements to create pure, fragile Qi, the Host's technique compresses ALL energy into high-density Chaos Qi. Thus, the Host's base physical strength and Qi density at Stage 2 are equivalent to an ordinary cultivator at Stage 4!
"So basically... I'm throwing lead pipes while everyone else is swinging foam swords," Leo summarized with a grin. "I like it."
He tapped the [Inventory] tab. Five small, iridescent silver pills materialized out of thin air, falling into his open palm with a faint, herbal scent that immediately filled the room. The aroma alone made his blood pump faster, clearing out the lingering fatigue in his muscles.
"Low-Grade Spirit Pills," Leo mused, sniffing one. "The clan hands these out like precious diamonds to the main-line kids, while servants like Xiao Long get maybe one a year if they beg for it. And I just got five for slapping a guy."
He tossed one into his mouth without hesitation.
The pill dissolved instantly on his tongue, turning into a scalding wave of liquid energy that shot straight down his throat into his Dantian. It felt as though he had just downed a shot of liquid fire mixed with ten cans of energy drink.
[PING!]
[Low-Grade Spirit Pill Consumed!]
[Refining Energy...]
[+40 Chaos Qi Added!]
[Current Progress: 40/200 Chaos Qi]
"Whoa," Leo gasped, his eyes widening as a warm sweat broke out across his chest. He felt his muscles contract and expand slightly, the fibers becoming denser, his bones hardening under the influence of the refined energy. "That felt better than a double-shot espresso. Let's keep this going."
Without delay, he popped the remaining four pills into his mouth one after another.
Gulp. Gulp. Gulp. Gulp.
[+40 Chaos Qi!]
[+40 Chaos Qi!]
[+40 Chaos Qi!]
[+40 Chaos Qi!]
[Total Chaos Qi Reached: 200/200!]
[Breakthrough Threshold Met! Automatically Advancing...]
CRACK-CRACK-CRACK!
A series of loud pops echoed inside Leo's body. His ribcage expanded, his spinal column lengthened by nearly an inch, and the weak, pale skin of his forearms took on a healthy, subtle bronze sheen. The air around him rippled with a tiny shockwave, blowing the thick layer of dust off his straw mat and sending it swirling through the hut.
[Congratulations! Host has advanced to: Body Refining Stage 3!]
Leo stood up, taking a deep breath. His senses felt absurdly sharp. He could hear the rustling of leaves a hundred yards away outside; he could smell the faint scent of pine resin drifting from the inner mountains; he could even see individual specks of dust suspended in the beam of sunlight streaming through the broken roof.
"Five pills to jump a full stage in ten minutes," Leo marvelled, flexing his arms. "If the clan elders saw this, they’d probably vomit blood from sheer envy."
Just as he was admiring his new biceps, the System panel flashed an urgent, alarming crimson.
[WARNING! EMERGENCY QUEST GENERATED!]
[Quest: The Arrogant Senior Sister Approaches!]
Context: The commotion at the outer training field has drawn the attention of Ling Yue, the eldest disciple of the Inner Sect and the clan's top beauty. She has heard that a 'garbage servant' mysteriously defeated Xiao Feng and has come to investigate.
Objective: Surpass Ling Yue’s expectations by acting completely unimpressed by her status and beauty. Do NOT act like a simpering creep.
Bonus Objective: Make her question her entire life choices using modern American logic.
Time Limit: Immediate. Target is currently 10 meters outside your door.
Reward: +200 Chaos Qi, Skill Book: [Ghost-Pacing Footwork], 100 System Points.
Failure Penalty: The System will force you to recite romantic poetry out loud while doing 500 push-ups in the center of the clan market.
Leo’s jaw dropped. "Recite romantic poetry while doing push-ups?! Are you insane?!"
BANG!
Before Leo could complain further, the weak wooden door of his hut was blown entirely off its hinges by a blast of frigid air. The shattered door crashed onto the dirt floor, splintering into kindling.
Standing in the doorway, framed by the bright sunlight, was a young woman who looked as though she had walked straight out of a high-budget fantasy film.
She wore exquisite, flowing robes of icy blue and white silk, embroidered with the silver lotus crest of the Xiao Clan's inner branch. Her long, jet-black hair fell past her waist, tied loosely with a sapphire ribbon, and her skin was as pale and flawless as unblemished snow. Her eyes—cold, sharp, and shining like cut diamonds—scanned the messy, dusty interior of the hut with clear disdain before settling on Leo.
Her aura was stifling. A chilling frost literally crept across the dirt floor where her leather boots touched down.
Ling Yue. Age 18. Inner Sect Rank 1. Body Refining Stage 7.
The memories in Leo's head screamed at him to drop to his knees immediately and beg for mercy. Ling Yue was a genius destined for the grand sects of the continent, a person who could kill a low-ranking outer disciple with a wave of her sleeve and face no repercussions.
Instead, Leo slowly lowered his hands, crossed his arms over his chest, and leaned back against the wall with an utterly bored expression.
He stared directly into her icy eyes and spoke in a flat, annoyed tone:
"Excuse me, lady. Does anyone in this clan know how to knock? Or do you all just enjoy destroying public property?"
Ling Yue froze mid-step, her hand resting on the hilt of the refined steel sword at her waist.
In her entire eighteen years of life—as a pampered genius, a peerless beauty, and the daughter of a high elder—no man, young or old, had ever looked at her with anything less than awe, desire, or trembling fear.
Yet here stood Xiao Long—the notorious, talentless trash of the outer yard, covered in dust and wearing tattered, blood-stained rags—staring at her as if she were a minor inconvenience interrupting his nap.
Her eyebrows knitted together in genuine confusion, her icy composure wavering for the briefest fraction of a second.
"You... Xiao Long?" Ling Yue's voice was crisp, clear, and cold enough to freeze water, but there was a hint of hesitation in it. "You smashed Xiao Feng's jaw, broke his pillar, and crippled his cultivation path for the next month. Is this true?"
"First of all, he started it," Leo said, waving a dismissive hand as if explaining something to a child. "He stole my copper coins, beat me up, and left me in a ditch. Back where I come from, that's called robbery and assault. Second of all, his form was terrible. I did him a favor by showing him what a real punch feels like."
Ling Yue's eyes narrowed dangerously. The ambient temperature in the room plummeted further, frost coating the mud walls. "Xiao Feng is a Stage 3 cultivator. You have no spiritual root and no talent. How did a cripple knock out a Stage 3 disciple with one blow?"
Leo shrugged nonchalantly, taking a step forward and looking her up and down without a single trace of fear or lust.
"Maybe he's just soft," Leo said smoothly. "Or maybe your inner sect's training methods are all talk and no action. You guys spend all day meditating on mountain peaks looking cool, but when a real fight happens, you fold like a cheap deck of cards."
Ling Yue gasped slightly, her hand tightening on her sword hilt until her knuckles turned white. "You dare insult the cultivation methods of the Xiao Clan?!"
"I'm not insulting it, I'm analyzing it," Leo retorted, tapping his temple. "You're all focused on flashy light shows and high numbers, but you lack basic spatial awareness, footwork, and tactical defense. You wanna test it?"
He gestured toward his own chin, flashing a arrogant, crooked grin.
"Go ahead, Senior Sister. Give me your best shot. If I flinch, you can have my hut."
Ling Yue stared at him, her chest heaving slightly under her silk robes as a mixture of shock, anger, and intense curiosity warred within her mind.
He isn't lying, she realized with a jolt, using her spiritual sense to inspect him. His breath is steady. His heart rate hasn't increased by a single beat. He genuinely... does not fear me.
[PING!]
[Bonus Objective Progress: 80%! Target's worldview is currently experiencing severe turbulence!]
"Very well," Ling Yue said softly, her voice dropping an octave as a dangerous aura flared around her. "Xiao Long... let us see if your tongue is as sharp as your fist."
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