Huh? Isn't this an adventure kingdom building game?!-Chapter 163: I’ll Cross the Tribulation First (Third Update)

Chapter 163: Chapter 163: I’ll Cross the Tribulation First (Third Update)

"I want this Black Jade Ring." Jiang Yuan didn’t have a hard time choosing, and immediately picked a relatively understated black ring after checking each detail.

As long as he could hide the accessory after wearing it, even overly eye-catching gemstone rings wouldn’t matter, but he wanted attack power and critical strike. As for speed, he could ride the paper crane and gold sculpture for transport, which was less important.

After trading a million Spirit Stones to the other party, a cool-to-the-touch Black Jade Ring was worn on the index finger of his left hand.

He couldn’t wait to test how powerful 1000+ attack power was, bid farewell to the Mysterious Jewelry Merchant, and turned around to run towards the general goods store.

Hu Zhile saw from afar that a human cultivator seemed to be buying something, and at the moment when he lifted his cloak, her keen sense of smell indeed detected the scent exclusive to Miss Yama.

With her rich experience, she judged that the other party definitely put that item in a Storage Bag.

The Snow Mountain Fox Race’s sense of smell is incredibly sharp, especially after cultivating the corresponding technique, they could sniff the most hidden scents. That’s exactly why Miss Yama sent her out to find clues after being robbed.

The cloak used to conceal the scent was of low level, paired with a not-so-high-level Storage Bag, any slight negligence could allow them to sniff out traces.

"Strange, why does this human cultivator have no Spiritual Power fluctuations?" Hu Zhile’s abilities were far superior to her younger sister’s and instantly detected the anomaly.

But from the magical treasure used by the other party, the Storage Bag’s level, and his body technique, he didn’t seem like a powerful cultivator; the lack of Spiritual Power fluctuations could likely be due to carrying other scent-concealing magical treasures.

The younger sister had stared at him for a long time, always acting alone without companions.

Either he was acting solo with no involvement in the robbery yet somehow obtained rare items through certain channels; or he was a runner for the mastermind behind the scenes.

Should she follow him?

"Take a gamble!" Following until the very last moment, Hu Zhile thought, after days of running without clues, it was hard to finally find clear leads; to not betray Miss Yama’s trust, she could only take the risk!

Skillfully concealing her scent, she transformed into a Qi Refining Ninth Layer form, and as she saw the human cultivator entering the house with the door about to close, Hu Zhile rolled on the ground to reveal her original form and squeezed in through the crack.

"Bang!"

As the door closed, Jiang Yuan suddenly saw a flash before his eyes. Upon focusing on the sight, he was stunned—a fluffy snow-white fox!

[Triggered Side Mission: The Stolen Goods]

[Miss Yama ordered and dispatched two fine hearts from the Demon Realm, which were snatched during transit. Assist her competent subordinate Hu Zhile in cracking the robbery case and retrieving the lost items for special rewards.]

[Task 1: Raise Hu Zhile’s favorability to three hearts. Reward: Spice and Herb Gift Package +1]

[Hu Zhile: Snow Mountain Fox Race, Wisdom Realm Seventh Layer low-level monster. Competent subordinate under Miss Yama’s command with superb racial talent in smell, adept at concealing scent and tracking. Currently disguised as a Qi Refining Ninth Layer white fox to trace the stolen goods’ clues.]

The system’s information pop-up was overwhelming, and it took Jiang Yuan a while to fully digest it.

This is an ally!

However, why did she disguise as a white fox to track clues to my shop? Could it be to evade danger?

Jiang Yuan glanced towards the door outside, "Whose home do you belong to? Is someone chasing you?"

Hu Zhile was very nervous, after all, following someone blindly when knowing nothing about them could likely lead to no return.

Yet the matter of Miss Yama’s lost items was too important, directly affecting the major goal of Wo Hu Temple in competing for the Immortal Peach to increase lifespan.

Time was scarce, delaying a day increased the chance of failure; she had no choice. The cultivation realm was cruel, a minor mistake could lead to catastrophic consequences, and favors were hard to repay—aside from risking her life, there was no other way.

"Squeak!" But hearing the human cultivator’s non-aggressive tone and attitude, Hu Zhile relaxed a bit, shook her fluffy big tail, pretended to be frightened, and hid beside the merchandise.

Jiang Yuan was even more bewildered; wasn’t fighting prohibited in the market?

Nevertheless, since it came to this, he might as well adopt her and complete the side mission for rewards. He thought of temporarily housing this Snow Mountain White Fox. Meanwhile, he needed to come up with a way to increase her favorability, getting it up to three hearts. Hopefully, Hu Zhile was like his disciple, frequently increasing favorability autonomously.

"The market is about to close soon, why don’t you hide in my shop?" Jiang Yuan thought, since she was avoiding pursuit, wouldn’t housing her increase favorability?

Hu Zhile was scared of risking but losing the clues, so she bravely approached closer.

Favorability didn’t even increase a bit, and he suddenly felt this side mission might be challenging, but the fact was that the system’s main mission was purely building a home, only the side missions done right would earn extra rewards.

There was no time limit anyway, he could take his time, do as much as possible, and focus on getting the rewards first.

"Do you want to follow me?" Jiang Yuan simply clicked to remove the Black Cloak, revealing his true self and smiled at her, reminding, "If you go to my home, you must be obedient."

Anyway, he had already tried the system’s contract pet, so there was no worry about safety; he opened the door and the originally desolate misty street scene of the market transformed into a cozy farmhouse courtyard.

Hu Zhile’s eyes instantly widened, how did he do that? What kind of Teleportation Spell was this?

"Come on out, it’s almost dawn, and I have lots of things to do." Seeing her standing still, Jiang Yuan laughed and beckoned.

The fluffy snowball-like white fox cautiously stepped out of the general goods store, stood in the courtyard, and watched the farmland growing crops, the simple thatched cottage and small wooden house behind, the entire courtyard enveloped in a faint glow, seeming no different from a common farmhouse’s courtyard.

The younger sister had watched the human cultivator for so long, unsuspectingly finding him to be a seemingly unobtrusive loose cultivator. How could he be related to Miss Yama’s lost items?

Hu Zhile couldn’t figure it out.

Wilderness Ascension, the courtyard welcomed a new day.

"Hu!"

A gust of wind suddenly arose, Bai Yunqi who was sitting and cultivating after swallowing an elixir finally reached a moment of breakthrough, his vertical pupils electrified as he stared upward at the sky gathering thunderclouds, with excitement and fighting spirit evident on his face.

"Venerable Family, don’t be nervous, let me cross a Thunder Tribulation before breakfast!" Standing up against the wind, Bai Yunqi transformed into his true form, without even a weapon, prepared to charge into the sky to face the Thunder Tribulation.

Seeing this, Jiang Yuan hastily pulled out a large bottle of pills from the Storage Bag and tossed it over, "There are ten Spirit Core Pills inside, take it and eat!"

Feeling the energy of the elixir inside the jade bottle was heartwarming for Bai Yunqi, which surged his favorability, "Thank you, Venerable Family, once I successfully cross the tribulation and ascend to Body Forging Realm, let’s celebrate together!"

With that, the colossal form soared up in the wind, akin to a white dragon lightly swaying amidst the dark clouds and lightning.

"Master, is this the Thunder Tribulation that Brother Long spoke of?" Wan Mingchuan just woke up, hearing the commotion, ran out of the thatched cottage, and shielded his eyes from the sun as he looked toward the sky, "It looks terrifying; do we human cultivators have to cross tribulations too?"

Jiang Yuan instantly felt stuck, how the heck did I know!

Luckily, Yun Mo resolved the situation, "Of course, humans and demon cultivators are only different in racial aspect; the terms for cultivation realms vary, but apart from that, there’s little distinction. You currently don’t have to worry, Foundation Establishment doesn’t require Thunder Tribulation; with your current cultivation speed, you likely don’t even need a Foundation Establishment Pill to succeed."

This chapter is updat𝙚d by f(r)eew𝒆bn(o)vel.com