Chapter Thirty-Four: System Intelligence

Young prodigies were all those who had entered the Qi Induction Realm before the age of eighteen, thus earning the title. Each one was considered a dragon or phoenix among men. At present, there were more than five hundred such youths in Qingxue County City, with the number steadily increasing. Yet the ranks of the top hundred rarely changed, for to be counted among them, one needed at least to be at the mid-stage of the Qi Induction Realm; the top sixteen had already reached its pinnacle, and the top ten had stepped into the Qi Vein Realm.

Thus, even if many of the tavern guests guessed that Lin Fan was unafraid of Zhang Yuan because he was new to the city—perhaps with considerable strength—they still worried for him. After all, Zhang Yuan was at the peak of the mid-stage Qi Induction Realm, a step away from the late stage, hardly someone an ordinary prodigy could match.

At the same time, seeing Zhang Yuan make his move, Mo Qing, Yin Bing, and others had their pupils contract sharply. As the saying goes, a master can tell with a glance. The moment Zhang Yuan struck, his blade swept with astonishing speed, surging vital energy pressing down like a sea of clouds, an awe-inspiring force that could be felt even from afar.

In the blink of an eye, Zhang Yuan’s blade fell from the air, so swift that there wasn’t even time for a blink before it reached less than a hand’s width from Lin Fan’s forehead.

“He’s done for… this youth is doomed…”

“Remember, when you’re out in the world, sometimes it’s good to swallow your pride. Don’t act tough.”

“That’s right—otherwise, this is what happens!”

Witnessing this, many of the patrons sighed inwardly, for Lin Fan now seemed frozen in fear, motionless, making no attempt to defend himself. Given the swiftness of Zhang Yuan’s attack, the next second could see Lin Fan’s skull split open, blood spilling on the spot. Some guests even closed their eyes, unable to bear the sight.

Those with children used the moment as a lesson, while others nodded in agreement.

Zhang Yuan, seeing Lin Fan’s dazed appearance, wore a savage grin. In his mind, this arrogant youth who had offended him was dead for sure! Even some of the top fifteen experts would pay a heavy price, if not death, for trying to block his strike at this range—let alone this boy before him.

Zhang Yuan’s mouth stretched wide in a fierce smile, teeth bared with abandon.

“Young and already so hot-tempered? If you can’t win an argument, you resort to murder. If you fail to kill me, won’t you just die of anger yourself? And could you stop grinning? You’ve got a scallion stuck in your big front teeth. Disgusting… ugh!”

At the very instant Zhang Yuan’s blade was less than a centimeter from Lin Fan’s brow, Lin Fan suddenly spoke, his voice tinged with mockery and disdain, even feigning a gag.

With his words, a black shadow suddenly appeared before Lin Fan’s forehead. With a swish, it arrived before Zhang Yuan’s blade could strike, and blocked the descending blade head-on.

“What—?”

Those who had kept their eyes open gasped in shock, faces filled with disbelief. Even those who had shut their eyes snapped them open at the commotion, faces going pale, some rendered speechless by astonishment.

What they saw was simply beyond imagination!

“How can this be…”

Even Mo Qing, Yin Bing, and Xing Feng were wide-eyed, stunned.

For what Lin Fan used to block the razor-sharp blade was nothing but a chopstick—one of the ordinary utensils provided at the Four Seas Tavern.

By the tavern’s standards, the chopsticks were only valuable for their ornate design, not for their durability.

The hardness of the chopstick was no different from any ordinary wooden one. How could it possibly withstand a strike from a genuine treasure blade, one further empowered by Zhang Yuan’s rampaging vital energy?

Zhang Yuan’s savage grin slowly froze, his eyes filling with terror. Waves of shock crashed through his mind, leaving him dazed.

He had never imagined such a thing.

“Watch out—!”

Just then, Zhang Zhen, standing beside him, suddenly cried out. Zhang Yuan snapped back to himself, but before he could react, a streak of black flashed at his wrist. There was no time to dodge—the shadow struck his wrist.

Clang!

A wave of searing pain shot through his wrist, followed by numbness. The treasured blade slipped from his grasp and clattered to the ground.

“You can’t even hold your blade—still call yourself the Heavenly Blade? Get lost!”

A mocking voice rang out as Lin Fan kicked out, sending Zhang Yuan flying. He crashed to the floor with a thud and fell unconscious.

“Negative emotion value from Zhang Yuan: +1000!”

“Take his blade back to him, and tell him I said he’s nothing but trash. I’ll be waiting for his next challenge!”

Lin Fan lifted his head, regarding Zhang Zhen calmly. Yet even this calm gaze, after what had just occurred, left Zhang Zhen extremely nervous.

His brother ranked nineteenth among the youth, yet a single chopstick had blocked his full-force strike, and another had knocked his blade away. Then, like kicking aside a stray dog, Lin Fan had knocked him out cold. Such overwhelming strength—Zhang Zhen knew he was no match.

The pressure was immense.

Still, seeing Lin Fan pour himself another drink, ignoring him thereafter, Zhang Zhen let out a breath, hastily picked up the fallen blade, slung Zhang Yuan over his back, and hurried downstairs without daring to utter a word.

“Negative emotion value from Zhang Zhen: +999!”

Suddenly, the system in Lin Fan’s mind chimed again with a new negative emotion value, making him pause and chuckle wryly.

This Zhang Zhen—he’d already let him go, but still generated negative emotions toward him.

But then, Lin Fan thought, his brother, a ranked expert, had been knocked out so effortlessly in front of him, while he himself had been so terrified he couldn’t even fart in protest, fleeing in disgrace. If such a thing didn’t earn resentment, what would?

“I’m clever, though. By letting Zhang Yuan go, he’ll surely nurse a grudge, strive to improve, and come challenge me again in the future. He’ll remember me forever, and keep generating negative emotion for me—haha!”

Lin Fan’s eyes narrowed in delight as he continued, “When his negative emotions wane, it’ll mean he feels strong enough to challenge me again. Then I’ll give him another beating, and the cycle repeats. Isn’t this basically an exploit for farming negative emotion points?”

To Lin Fan, this was like having a cheat code in a battle royale game. “So you’ve got an eight-times scope? I’ve got level-four armor and a level-five helmet you can’t penetrate! I even have x-ray vision—pew! pew! pew!”

Lin Fan resolved that from now on, whenever he encountered people like Zhang Yuan, he would offend them mercilessly, turning them all into his personal exploit. The thought made him giddy—not only was this a cheat, it was like raising a flock of hens to keep laying eggs for him.

“Game master, come out! I want to report someone using cheats—it’s infuriating! We can’t allow such people to exist!” Lin Fan shamelessly called out to the system in his mind, overjoyed at having discovered a new way to farm negative emotion points. No wonder he was so pleased—he was flying high!

Ding!

“At the host’s request, Zhang Yuan’s negative emotion points have been canceled!”

The system’s cold voice sounded, and Lin Fan’s smile froze on his face.

“Damn it!” As the saying goes, pride goes before a fall…

He’d never expected that a casual boast would actually be granted by the system. Wasn’t the system supposed to be completely emotionless, only speaking for upgrades, draws, or new features?

What was going on now? Had it caught a virus?

Lin Fan twitched, unable to resist asking, “Are you infected? Why are you suddenly responding to me?”

“You’re the one who’s infected. Your whole family is infected!”

The system’s voice remained as mechanical and emotionless as ever, but that only made its words sting more.

Now, when the system insulted him, it was like a robot from his past life—each word crisp and monotone, yet somehow intensifying the effect.

“So what’s going on with you, suddenly talking back and scaring me half to death?” Lin Fan muttered in his mind as he checked the system interface, intent on seeing what had changed.

“As energy recovers, intelligence is awakening. Current level: Intelligence One.”

Upon entering the system backend, Lin Fan found nothing amiss, but the system’s voice sounded again, making things clear.

Back when the system had brought him to this world, it had exhausted its energy, only reviving after absorbing the power of a lava river he’d been thrown into. Now, with energy replenished and some unknown method at work, it had reached Intelligence One.

Lin Fan pondered and asked, “What does Intelligence One correspond to in terms of intellect? What effect does awakening system intelligence have for me?”

“Intellect equivalent to a five-year-old child—can help host filter or alert on records, and assist with advancement.”

The system replied in its stilted, mechanical monotone, making Lin Fan’s head ache.

If someone with OCD heard it, they’d probably die of frustration…

Clutching his forehead, Lin Fan asked, “Can you change your speaking style? It’s a bit awkward!”

“Yes. For 10,000 negative emotion points, you may choose from three modes: my current mode with physical manifestation, a neutral male voice with physical manifestation, or a coquettish female voice with physical manifestation. Please select.”

By the time the system finished this wooden recitation, Lin Fan had downed two more cups of wine. Hearing this, his mind buzzed.

[The rest consists of links and promotional text for the novel, which is omitted as per literary translation convention.]