"Achoo—!"

Fang Yuan sneezed abruptly, the sound echoing lightly in the quiet courtyard.

"Master, are you cold?"

Bai Changlu hurried forward, already holding out a rough straw blanket with both hands, his expression earnest.

Fang Yuan didn't even look at the boy and instead flicked his forehead.

"Stop worrying about me," he said flatly. "Focus on absorbing the qi around you."

Bai Changlu winced, rubbing his forehead, but quickly sat back down, trying to re-enter his meditative state.

Off to the side, Bai Changxue remained undisturbed.

Her breathing was smooth, her posture flawless—spiritual qi flowing toward her in steady, visible streams.

Fang Yuan glanced at her and couldn't help the faint shift in his expression.

At this rate… she might reach the Nascent Soul realm before twenty.

He exhaled quietly.

Talent really is unfair.

Just then...

A translucent screen flickered into existence before his eyes.

[ Ding! Congratulations on successfully resolving the grain crisis within Hollowfall City. ]

[ Reward: 1 Talent Enhancement Shard ]

[ Due to the mission being executed exceptionally well with the assistance of a mortal… ]

[ Evaluation Result: S+ ]

Fang Yuan blinked.

"…What?"

Before he could process it...

[ Bonus Reward: 2 Talent Enhancement Shards ]

For a moment, he just stared.

Oh my heavens…

His eyes widened, a grin threatening to break through.

Hong Yiting… you're incredible! He screamed inside his head.

Three talent enhancement shards.

Not one but three!

"Evaluation result…?" he muttered under his breath.

That was something new.

Since obtaining the system, he had never seen anything like it before.

But honestly... who cares?

The result was all that mattered.

The screen shifted once more, lines of text forming with a calm, almost instructive tone.

[ A clan is one where its members support one another. ]

[ The Fang Clan has now gained its first mortal member, triggering the Evaluation System. ]

[ Evaluation Bar: Under the Fang Clan's name, missions will now be graded based on execution quality and associated risk taken by the mortals.]

[ There are no penalties and only the possibility of greater rewards. ]

"Master… how do I find the qi again?"

Fang Yuan glanced over, then, without a word, flicked his wrist.

A faint glimmer appeared in his palm and he tossed it over.

"Eat this."

The boy caught it clumsily, staring at the shard in his hand. He hesitated, uncertainty flickering across his face… but only for a moment.

Then he clenched his jaw and swallowed it.

Almost instantly, his expression changed.

His eyes widened.

"Master—! I… I can feel it! The qi in the air—it's clearer now!"

Fang Yuan gave a small nod, as if it were expected. 𝒻𝑟𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝑛𝘰𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝘤𝘰𝘮

"Good. Eat this as well."

It was another shard.

The boy froze for a second.

"Uh… okay…"

He swallowed it, then quickly sat down, closing his eyes and trying to sense the change.

…Nothing dramatic happened this time.

Fang Yuan watched him for a moment, then nodded.

"Fine. This is the last one. Take it."

The boy didn't question it this time. He swallowed the final shard and settled into position again.

And a breath passed before his body suddenly stilled completely.

His breathing slowed.

The qi around him began to shift, faint currents gathering, drawn toward him as if pulled by an unseen force.

Fang Yuan's brows lifted slightly.

"Oh… enlightenment?"

He clicked his tongue softly.

"Just like that, huh."

Deciding not to interfere, Fang Yuan rose to his feet. With a casual wave of his hand, a formation quietly spread around the boy, sealing off disturbances.

Beside him, Bai Changxue was still deep in meditation.

Without breaking her state, Fang Yuan carefully lifted her and carried her away, placing her outside the formation so the two wouldn't interfere with each other's flow.

Three days swiftly passed by.

The Silverwing merchants returned to the slum district igniting joy in the hearts of every slum residence once more.

But the inside of Hollowfall City wasn't as excited as the outside.

The Luo family had dissapeared overnight.

There was no survivor left to tell the tale, no witness to even share stories with.

People began to panic as thousands had been murdered right within the city...

Shops closed early and streets emptied faster than usual.

Even the rogue cultivators spoke in hushed tones.

Before long, the City Lord himself arrived to stabilize the situation.

He confirmed that the Luo family had been colluding with demonic cultivators.

After the Yi family uncovered the truth, they waste no time and tried their best to take out the demonic cultivators.

It was a clean and a decisive mission.

Whether it was truth… or simply justification, no one dared to question it.

The news didn't stop there, one of the Yi family elder, a beautiful girl to attract the attention of the mass stood out to spread more news.

The bandits blocking the Crescent trade route had been dealt with.

Which meant that trade would resume and prices would stabilize, going back to how they originally were.

Relief spread through the city almost instantly.

Merchants relaxed, commoners breathed easier, and just like that, attention began to shift.

Fear gave way to gratitude.

Meanwhile, for the cultivators, a different piece of news was spread.

"A lower realm was merging with the upper realm."

For cultivators, this was nothing short of opportunity descending from the heavens.

Resources. Territory. Techniques. And people.

In their eyes, those from the lower realm barely counted as equals.

Most of the time they were weak and unrefined.

A merging like this was a rare occasion, and such realms almost always held vast resources the people had never touched.

It was a chance to take it all… without consequence.

_____

After the Silverwing Merchants returned, Fang Yuan immediately summoned Hong Yiting and had her recount everything that had transpired over the past three days.

As Hong Yiting continued her explanation, Fang Yuan suddenly received a system notification.

From experience, he knew better than to ignore such messages.

Without breaking his composure, he tapped on the notification.

It read...

[ Congratulations! Your wife has successfully brought the entirety of the lower realm into the upper realm. ]