Ultimate Scheming System

The youth with a sword by his side frowned as the corners of his lips twitched.

He swept a glance at the empty treasure room before turning his gaze to this unfamiliar face standing in front of him. In a short while, his expression started to change into one of intense rage. ‘Zheng!’ He drew out his sword and pointed it at Xu Que and asked ferociously, "Who are you? How dare you trespass into my sect’s treasure room!"

Xu Que turned to look at the system interface screen and noticed the last remaining Divine Escape Emblem left in the item slot. He then started laughing out loud.

"Brother, you don’t even know who I am and you dare to point your sword at me? Don’t you know? In this entire life, the one thing I hate the most is for someone to point a gun… Oh, for someone to point a sword at my face?"

"Ding! Congratulations host ‘Xu Que’ for successfully acting tough. The reward is one act tough point."

The sword wielding youth paused, a confused look could be seen on his face, "But, I didn’t point it at your head!"

He then realized what he’d just said and snapped back into anger, "Cut the crap! You dare to enter our sacred treasure room. You’re clearly looking for death."

The minute his last word was spoken, the youth swung his sword with a ‘whoosh’. The deadly flash of the sword could almost be heard as bright red light reflected across to the four corners of the room. A stream of ember flames spilled out and charged towards Xu Que, causing him to feel an intense heat.

His mother, this kid is really unkind! And much more powerful than that immortal girl from earlier. At the very least, he’s at the Foundation Building Stage! Why do all these cultivation people so fierce and violent. They always attack to kill without giving any warning or speaking and their opening attacks are always so powerful.

Xu Que cursed out aloud as he charged some energy from within his body to defend himself. However, he felt something wasn’t quite right.

He could feel a colossal amount of energy welling from within the deepest recesses of his body. It seemed to swirl around his vital organs and wreak havoc all over. It was almost as if the energy was trying to rip his entire body apart and felt like a million needles were pricking every inch of him. Xu Que trembled before falling to the ground helplessly.

"Ah!"

Xu Que clutched at his lower abdomen, just above the navel, where the dantian was. The dantian was the region where Qi was stored and it felt like the immense energy was about to force its way out. It was so intense that he knew the amount of energy trying to escape would surely kill him and shatter his body.

Why was this happening?

Xu Que then recalled the number of pills he gulped down recklessly as his face turned pale.

I’m finished. I’m really finished.

With so many pills in my stomach I’m done for. So it wasn’t that the pills weren’t taking effect but that I had to rotate all the Qi around for me to feel it.

After consuming all those pills, he didn’t think to rotate the Qi around his body and thus didn’t feel the effects of it. Only after he was forced to utilize some energy to defend himself from the youth did he rotate his Qi.

"How dare you thief! What tricks are you trying to pull off this time?"

Zhang Su Liang glared at Xu Que, trying to size him up. Seeing him clutch his belly and all the empty vials around him. He finally understood the situation. With a face full of shock and fear, he sputtered, "You... Did you consume all those pills?"

At this point, Xu Que had no energy to reply him. His entire face was contorted as he grimaced in agony, his cheeks becoming paler by the second.

Even with five different spiritual roots, he was completely unable to assimilate such copious amounts of Qi.

Zhang Su Liang was momentarily stunned as well. All these pills... They were used to give the outer disciples for their cultivation every month! A single normal Energy Accumulation pill could provide enough Qi to a disciple for an entire month.

And this guy standing before him just swallowed dozens of these pills? He even ate the Origins and Physical Tempering Pills meant for the Foundation Building Stages. Was he trying to commit suicide?

"Ding! System detected that host ‘Xu Que’ is overloaded with Qi and is taking damage to his body. Activate repair and recovery capabilities? Notice : Repair and recovery would require 1 act tough point."

The voice of the system rang out within his head. Even without thinking, he hurriedly shouted out in his head, "Activate! Hurry get rid of this excess Qi in my body!"

"Ding! Activation of recovery, success. Deducting 1 act tough point."

"Ding! It’s been detected that the host’s only has the beginner’s level and thus is unable to digest the Qi energy. It’s required to buy the intermediate level.

Shua!

Following the repair of his physical condition, Xu Que felt the pain subside considerably. At the same time, he saw a white page appeared before his eyes. This was the shop of the system.

This was his first time seeing the shopping facilities of the system. Within it, there were a multitude of purchasable items and many different types of manuals and treasures.

However, the minute he saw the price attached to the intermediate levels of the he spit out a mouthful of blood.

"The middle levels required me to spend a hundred acting tough points? Fuck, why don’t you just rob me instead?! I’ve acted tough so hard the entire day and I can’t even purchase an intermediate level manual!" Xu Que shouted out in his head.

Zhang Su Liang furrowed his eyebrows and was just about to speak. All of a sudden, Xu Que’s face contorted in agony once again as he let out a distressed shout.

"Ah!!!"

The sound of the shout sounded excruciating and he wasn’t feigning it. He felt another surge of pain in his body since the recovery speed was unable to catch up to the speed of his Qi wrecking his body. He had consumed far too many pills and his body which was festered with impurities couldn’t handle the pureness of the Qi.

"Since you’re in so much pain, why don’t I put you out of your misery!"

Zhang Su Liang couldn’t bear to hear his screams any longer as he clutched the hilt of his sword and decided to end his sufferings.

Seeing the present situation, he mustered the remnants of his energy and gritted his teeth, "Don’t bother about me. Everyone has to die sooner or later in spite of how severe or easy their deaths would be. If I don’t enter hell, who else shall? Ah!!!"

The minute his last word echoed out, there was a ‘whoosh’ as Xu Que disappeared from sight. It did seem like he had really died then and his soul vanished from the spot. Even his body had been utterly destroyed as well.

Zhang Su Liang’s mouth was gaping wide as he struggled to believe what he saw. It took him a long time before he regained his senses. It was as if he was taken aback by the sagely words spoken by Xue Que.

…

Indeed, Xu Que didn’t die. He was just afraid that he would be hacked to death by Zhang Su Liang if he remained and thus he broke the final Divine Escape Emblem and activated it. It was just that he acted tough once before leaving.

And the way which he acted tough was anything but ordinary. The system however only rewarded him with a single point each time he acted tough. Compared with the points needed to purchase the intermediate level of the , it was a single hair out of nine cows.

At this point, Xu Que was still relying on the system’s recovery and he had to spend 1 acting tough points every now and then. However, the Qi within his body didn’t seem to dissipate. Instead, it seemed to grow stronger, like the aging of wine which grew stronger by tenfolds as time passed.

Assimilating such small amounts of Qi each time wasn’t going to solve the problem.

Xu Que was teleported to a side of a small creek and was backed up against a tree. He composed himself and conjured the system into view. A window interface appeared before his eyes.

Host: Xu Que

Cultivation Stage: Qi Refining Stage Level 10 (Beginner’s Access)

Experience Points: 0/1000

Acting Tough Points: 15 Points

Skill Path: Beginner’s Level

Occupation: None

Status: Prince Consort of Eastern Fire Country

Current Vitality Status: Imminent Danger

Seeing the last line of words, Xu Que’s mouth twitched.

Imminent danger couldn’t mean anything good. It was exactly like what people were told when they received news of terminal illness. It was somewhat like a death sentence!

"Damned system. You told me that you would guide me along this journey of acting tough and see that I soar. Hurry and think of a way to solve this problem!" Xu Que clutched his abdomen, his face grimaced in pain.

"Ding! Search complete. According to the host’s previous acting tough situation and present circumstance, the system has detected a solution to the problem..."

Hearing these words, Xu Que’s eyes lit up as if he had a renewed hope in life.

In the next moment however, his vision went black.

The system automatically ejected itself from the shops. It then displayed a manual which was titled, .