Chương 72: Cultivation Slop Novel Expert’s Analysis.

After Ren Qingquan opened the system map, he immediately saw a massive blue dot on it. Blue dots mean the source of that energy comes from a living creature, and in terms of energy, the dot is almost on an equal level to Ren Qingquan's uncle, Gui Ruwen. The owner of that dot should be the second strongest being we have both encountered directly. Second only to Gui Ruwen. Ren Qingquan wanted to go and check who the dot represented, but I was against it. [Host, meeting an unknown expert is extremely dangerous. System suggests you use the map observation function instead.]'Alright.' Ren Qingquan readily agreed. After choosing a random store to rest at, he asked me to show him the situation around that massive dot. I opened a screen that showed the situation inside a building. On the screen, several people of varying ages are busy practising alchemy next to each other in a hall. The youngest among them is around their teens, while the oldest already has graying hair.

In front of them, an old man with white hair and a white beard watches them with rapt attention.

'System, are they currently taking an alchemy test with that white-haired old man as the examiner? By the way, where are these people, and where is the source of that massive dot?' Ren Qingquan asked me. [It is indeed an alchemy examination. The scene the system is showing right now comes from inside the Alchemy Association, a few hundred metres from your current location.] [As for the source of that massive dot, it actually comes from this kid.] I zoomed in on one of the examinees, a teenage boy who seemed to be having a difficult time while doing alchemy.

'Are you saying this kid is an expert?' Ren Qingquan asked, doubtful. [Just watch for now.] I have my own guess about the situation, and I am almost 100% certain it is correct. But I wanted to cross-check it with Ren Qingquan's own guess. Soon, a few of the examinees had finished their alchemy. As they left, they gathered in groups of two to four, chatting. One of the groups, in particular, took a roundabout route to pass by the young man I had shown Ren Qingquan, just to jeer him.

"Hahaha! Did that loser Su Ping take the test again? Why bother if he will only fail in the end?"

"Why did that idiot still force himself to take the alchemy test? Didn't his cultivation regress after he became a cripple? Is he just trying to waste the association's resources?"

"Just because he came from the Su family, did he think he could waste public resources however he wanted?"

"No wonder Lady Yu Meilin cut off their engagement. Who would want to marry this kind of shameless trash?" Except for those groups, the few groups that were leaving were also muttering softly. But unlike the group of four, these groups seemed to pity the young man called Su Ping. I occasionally heard them lamenting something like, "Sigh, what a pity. To think such a genius has actually fallen to such a low level.

Who would've guessed such a genius also had an unlucky day and somehow contracted an illness that continuously devoured his spirit qi and divine sense." Hearing the surrounding people's discussion, Su Ping's expression was cold, and he clenched his fist tightly. That made his alchemy process fail, and black smoke came out of the furnace in front of him. The white-haired old man frowned.

"Silence! Those who're done should leave immediately. Otherwise, I'll give you a failing grade!" After watching what happened on the screen, I could feel the gears in Ren Qingquan's mind turn.

'A fallen genius who continually loses his spirit qi and divine sense? Marriage annulment? Constantly mocked and humiliated by unknown NPCs out of nowhere? No matter how I see it, this kid has an extremely high chance of being a child of destiny!' Ren Qingquan continued, 'I've read some cultivation novels back on Earth where the protagonist, a genius, had his spirit qi constantly absorbed and became a cripple. Then his genius fiancé would cancel their marriage after hearing that he had fallen from being a genius.

Later, when the protagonist regained his talent and ascended to the peak, his fiancé would be filled with regret.'

'In those novels, the reason the protagonist's cultivation constantly decreased was a heavenly treasure or an ancient grandpa/grandma in a ring who tried to awaken from their slumber and accidentally absorbed the protagonist's cultivation.' After thinking up to this point, Ren Qingquan paused.

'Wait a moment! System, is the source of those massive dots from that kid's ring, necklace, bracelet, earring, jade vase, or some other accessory?' Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there. [Bingo! The massive blue dot system marked on the system map comes from the necklace that Su Ping boy wore.]'Holy shit! This world is crazy! Did I actually guess it right?! Is there the soul of an expert inside that necklace?' [Most likely.] Once Ren Qingquan reached the conclusion that Su Ping might be a child of destiny, he walked to the Alchemy Association and patiently waited outside. When Su Ping exited the building, he quickly activated the Turtle Divination Technique and glanced at Su Ping. I borrowed his sight and instantly saw a blinding light. Su Ping's light is almost twice as bright as that of the previous child of destiny with a dual pupil. Of course, it's still incomparable to Ren Qingquan's insane luck.

Instantly, Ren Qingquan told me, 'System, quickly add a level 1 subsystem to that kid!' Before Ren Qingquan even said it, I had already added a level 1 subsystem with [Scan]. Both of us watched Su Ping being ridiculed or being pitied for a few moments before Ren Qingquan left to meet up with Fatty Zhang. By the time we arrived at the administrative building, Fatty Zhang had finished his business and was already waiting outside. They went to the area where cultivators can set up temporary stalls.

Once they arrived, Ren Qingquan helped Fatty Zhang set up the stall before leaving to walk around the market once more. Yet after circling the market's public area twice, Ren Qingquan hadn't found another child of destiny. At the same time, the market was simply too big. Even after Ren Qingquan had turned the Turtle Divination Technique on and off to conserve his spirit qi, he was still exhausted after circling the market twice.

'Let's go back to the ship and rest for now. Tomorrow I'll circle the market once again, then buy some necessities to camp outside before starting my point-gathering plan.' The next morning, Ren Qingquan went to look for some necessities as planned. Because he could just rest in the portable space provided by Gui Ruwen, Ren Qingquan only bought some delicious food with long shelf lives. In front of a fruit stall, Ren Qingquan frowned at the fresh fruit on display.

'System, should I buy a bit more of this millennium watermelon, or should I buy other fruits too? These dragon grapes also look pretty delicious and cool, but I don't think I am in the mood for anything sour. So, should I buy these earth vein papayas instead?' While Ren Qingquan was contemplating the most difficult decision of the month, he heard a commotion not too far away. Intrigued, Ren Qingquan quickly pointed at the fruit.

"Sir, I'll be buying 10 of these watermelons, 10 kilograms of grapes, and these 3 papayas. Please freeze all of them except for one of the watermelons. Make it quick!"

"Sure! Sure!" the owner beamed while counting the price of the fruit. After Ren Qingquan paid, the stall owner froze the fruit with a cultivation technique and handed them to Ren Qingquan.

"Here's your fruit. Senior can deactivate the freezing technique by imbuing a little spirit qi into the slightly protruding part here." The stall owner pointed to a slightly protruding part of the ice surrounding the fruit. Then he added, "Does Senior need extra boxes? Although my Supreme Void Snow Technique can delay the expiry date and maintain the fruit's freshness, it's quite slippery and uncomfortable to hold."

'That's one hell of a domineering name for a technique to freeze fruit.' Ren Qingquan thought while shaking his head and collecting all of the frozen fruit into his pocket space. While walking towards the source of the commotion, Ren Qingquan held one of the watermelons in front of him and activated a small ranged Super Duper Something Something Turtle Shield Technique. When half of the watermelon was outside the shield and the other half inside, Ren Qingquan made the shield cut the watermelon.

He repeated this a few times, cutting the watermelon into eight parts. While munching on watermelon, Ren Qingquan watched the commotion. At the centre of a circle of cultivators, a cultivator in the Body Tempering Realm kept clawing at a fierce-looking cultivator in the Qi Refining Realm, "Bastard! Return Yi Linyue now!" Behind the fierce-looking cultivator stood a young man wearing a fancy outfit, surrounded by a few female and male cultivators.

Except for the young man, who was in the Foundation Building Realm, and a beautiful, crying female cultivator in the Body Tempering Realm next to him, the remaining cultivators around him were in the Qi Refining Realm. Suddenly, the situation changed as the Foundation Building realm young man, surrounded by other cultivators, slowly walked forward, violently pulling the female cultivator in the Body Tempering realm next to him. As the young man walked, the cultivators around him parted and made way for him.

When the Body Tempering realm cultivator saw the crying woman, he shouted, "Damned evil bastard! Return Yi Linyue!" Among the surrounding spectators, someone randomly introduced the young man.

"It's Young Master Song, a member of the great Song clan and an inner disciple of the Vermillion Lotus Sect! I heard he has practised a lost technique that let him fight someone beyond his realm! To offend the young master, that country bumpkin is done for!" While Ren Qingquan watched the drama, I instead focused my attention on the person who introduced Young Master Song. First and foremost, no one asked who Young Master Song was, yet he somehow went on to explain it, just like those passers-by in xianxia novels.

Second, I remembered him. He is exactly the guy who lamented over Su Ping's fallen genius state before. Where did this guy find all that information? I'd understand if what he's spouting were common knowledge. But based on the surroundings' surprised and amazed gasps, Young Master Song's information isn't something common. Ren Qingquan checked both Young Master Song and the so-called country bumpkin. But both of them have average luck. Seeing him deactivate his technique, I asked Ren Qingquan.

[Host, check this passerby's luck. I think he's pretty suspicious.]'huh? Why?' Even though he asked, Ren Qingquan still complied with my request. While Ren Qingquan activated his technique, I responded to him. [System has seen that passerby before. At that time, he was one of the examinees in the alchemy test. To be exact, he's one of the NPC-like examinees who sighed in pity while looking at Su Ping.] [Now, he also went on to explain Young Master Song's background. Somehow, System feels he's pretty suspicious.]'You mean, he seems like those passersby in Xianxia novels who usually pad the novel's word count with their useless ramblings or by spouting information that shouldn't be known by normal spectators?' [Yes.] As expected of a Xianxia slop novel addict. Ren Qingquan immediately understood what I meant. The instant he saw that spectator through the Turtle Divination Technique, Ren Qingquan slightly narrowed his eyes from the light.

That cultivator's luck isn't as bright as Su Ping's or the dual-pupil child of destiny's, but it's still several times greater than that of ordinary cultivators. That's probably why he didn't catch Ren Qingquan's attention before. His luck's glow is probably swallowed by Su Ping's immense luck. [Host. Although the System doesn't have a gut, my gut feeling says adding a subsystem to this passerby will be extremely useful.]'Alright, let's add a level 1 subsystem with [Scan] to him.'