In the Starfall Mountain Range, Li Shaobai's chest heaved and sweat rolled down his neck, soaking the collar of his ragged cloak, as he leaned his back against a thick tree trunk.
The forest air was damp and sharp and full of pine resin and blood from the beasts that he killed.
He had been in the Starfall Mountain Range living like a savage for five days straight.
He'd stopped counting how many times he'd been scratched, bitten, chased, and almost trampled to death. At this point, he'd made peace with the fact that in this world, "rest" was a rumor meant for the strong and rich people.
Though, in the end, the results were real and Li Shaobai could not complain.
He'd cleared twelve novice benefit missions. Twelve. And in return, the system had showered him with trash.
Literal dogsh*t trash drops.
In these fine days, he'd acquired, chicken feathers, red-furred pig tusks, wild rabbit teeth, and strips of hide. They pile were a pile of low-grade "materials" so cheap even street vendors would roll their eyes.
And weapons? Don't even get him started.
He'd gotten "extraordinary weapons," sure. If your definition of extraordinary was "so fragile it breaks if you glare at it too hard."
He'd already switched most of the worst ones using the Unfair Upgrade System's basic inventory function, just to keep space. Still, his storage looked like a hoarder's nightmare.
Li Shaobai coughed, then dragged his pack forward and rummaged. His fingers touched something stiff.
Paper? Here hadn't seen them before. Maybe he just threw then in there absentmindedly, not even looking at the contents.
Then, he pulled out the paper. There were twelve square slips, each one the size of a palm, each one stamped with a single character in thick black ink.
He stared at them, expression turning ugly.
"No."
He laid them on the ground one by one.
Twelve words.
They could be made into a full sentence if you arranged them right. He didn't even need to try. The system practically radiated smugness.
Li Shaobai read them once, then again, then slowly pinched the bridge of his nose like he was about to get a migraine.
"Am I a fool."
"Am I an idiot."
"Am I a cheat."
He looked up at the sky through the branches, eyes dead.
"I'm out here getting mauled by beasts and freezing at night, and you reward me with a self-insulting tongue twister?"
He slammed his palm against the tree.
"System, come out! I swear on my ancestors I won't beat you to death! I'll beat you half to death and leave you breathing so you can regret existing in my, Li Shaobai's, body!"
His mind stayed silent and so too did the forest.
A bird somewhere chirped like it was laughing at him.
Li Shaobai's eye twitched.
"Fine," he muttered. "I'll say it. I'll say it since you clearly want me to degrade myself like a circus monkey."
He glared at the slips and spat the words out loud, voice full of pure contempt.
"I am a fool, an idiot, and a cheat."
For half a heartbeat, nothing happened. Then…
DING!
[Congratulations to host Li Shaobai for admitting: "I am a fool, an idiot, and a cheat."]
Li Shaobai froze.
"…Huh?"
The twelve paper slips in front of him suddenly crumbled, turning into gray powder and scattering into the air like ash.
Li Shaobai stared. Then, stared harder with his mouth slightly opened.
"You—"
DING!
[Congratulations to host Li Shaobai for completing the "Dastardly Reward" set.]
[Reward: 3000 EXP]
Li Shaobai's face blanked.
Then, the EXP slammed into him like a floodgate opening.
Heat surged through his limbs. His bones popped. His muscles tightened. His breath deepened so sharply it felt like his lungs had doubled in size.
He gritted his teeth as the tempering process ripped through him painfully but clean.
DING!
[Level Up!]
[Realm: Body Tempering — Sixth Layer]
Li Shaobai's eyes widened.
He actually hit the sixth layer just like that.
And then he remembered how he got it.
By admitting he was a fool, an idiot, and a cheat.
Li Shaobai's lips twitched.
"So, you're telling me," he muttered, "the secret to cultivation is humiliation? F*ck your mother, system!!"
The system didn't deny it. Somehow, it doubled down.
DING!
[Congratulations to host Li Shaobai for obtaining: Growth Gift Bag.]
[Open now?]
Li Shaobai's pupils expanded. A gift bag?
'Hopefully, it's not the bag that gives "one EXP and a copper coin.'
He sat up straighter instantly, heart pounding. This was the moment.
This was always the moment in system novels.
You open the bag and boom, your life changes.
Divine weapons, heaven-grade techniques, storage rings, bloodlines, ancient inheritances. He just wanted something crazy.
He swallowed hard, then hesitated for exactly one second as the trauma from the earlier "Beginner's Gift Pack" scams flashed through his mind.
Then, he clenched his fist.
"Open," he said firmly. "Open it right now. If you scam me again I'm going to find a way to punch a you."
DING!
[Growth Gift Bag opened.]
A series of notifications exploded one after another.
DING!
[Unfair Point Merchant Shop activated.]
DING!
[Recycle System Function activated.]
DING!
[Double EXP Talisman obtained.]
DING!
[Weapon Authority obtained: "Mirage" (active 1 day).]
Li Shaobai blinked. Then, blinked again.
"…Wait."
He stared at the words, waiting for the scam punchline.
Shop. Recycle. Double EXP. A weapon.
It wasn't divine-tier, but he still felt that this was pretty good as well.
This was finally a system progress that felt like actual progress.
Li Shaobai let out a slow breath, then immediately focused the Double EXP Talisman, wanting to see what it was about.
[Item: Double EXP Talisman]
[Grade: Low]
[Effect: Doubles EXP gained for 1 day.]
[Note: Has a validity window of 1 hour. Please use as soon as possible.]
Li Shaobai's face turned black.
"…You motherf—"
He stopped himself, looking up as if he could see the system, eyes murderous.
"A one hour validity?" he hissed. "So, you hand me a golden opportunity and then threaten me with a timer like I'm a dog you're training?"
He didn't even know what was worse. The system being stingy. Or the system being stingy with style. HR couldn't win at all!
Li Shaobai inhaled slowly.
"Fine," he muttered. "I'll use it. I'll use it right now. I'll squeeze every drop out of this like I'm f*cking ur sister, system."
Next, he checked Mirage.
[Weapon: Mirage]
[Grade: Yellow Rank — First Grade]
[Attributes: 1% Life Steal, 1% Critical Hit]
[Effect: Can transform into any weapon form the host desires.]
[Growth: Evolvable.]
[Hidden Effect: "Mirage Kill" — Activation rate 1%]
[Note: If the target's realm is not higher than the host by more than one major realm, Mirage Kill has a chance to instantly kill.]
"Okay," he whispered to himself. "This is actually… insane."
A weapon that could become any weapon was already beyond useful to him. And it had lifesteal and crit, and insta-kill. Even if it was only 1%, that was still enough for him to heal too full HP if he went without taking damage.
But, the cherry on top is that it could grow limitlessly. Such a weapon was undoubtedly a godsend for him.
Li Shaobai's lips curled. Only for him to frown in annoyance when he saw the final line:
Weapon Authority (active 1 day).
"Why is it only one day?" he growled at the sky. "You just love to scam huh?"
He closed the tab on the Mirage with pure resentment and opened the system shop.
[Unfair Point Merchant Shop]
The interface unfolded like a giant menu, split into categories.
Cultivation Techniques.
Martial Skills.
Weapons.
Pills.
Treasures.
Materials.
Food.
Miscellaneous.
There was everything he could think of for life and cultivation. So much so that Li Shaobai almost drooled in greed.
Without delaying, he mentally clicked on the Martial Skills tab and his face froze.
A long list appeared, but almost everything was grayed out, locked behind conditions he couldn't even see. Only a small section was lit up with low-level entries that looked like bait.
He clicked the first technique that sounded remotely decent.
Price: 100,000 Unfair Points.
Li Shaobai's soul left his body for a second.
He clicked another.
200,000.
Another.
500,000.
He clicked a weapon.
1,000,000.
He clicked a pill.
800,000.
Li Shaobai stared at the numbers until his eyes hurt.
He slowly sat back against the tree in angst.
"System," he said quietly, voice trembling with anger. "Are you running an auction house for immortal emperors? Why unlock it if I can't even buy anything?"
Li Shaobai checked his Unfair Points. He didn't even want to say it out loud because it felt embarrassing. Poor. He was too poor!
He swallowed the urge to scream and forced himself to keep reading, because he wasn't stupid. If the system opened a shop this expensive, it meant there was a method to get Unfair Points faster.
Which brought him to the next function he'd unlocked.
Recycle System.So, he opened it.
[Recycle System]
[Description: Items may be recycled into Recycle Value.]
[Recycle Value may be converted into Unfair Points at a fixed ratio of 1:10.]
Li Shaobai's eyes narrowed.
"So, that's the hustle."
He immediately opened his warehouse and stared at the pile of "extraordinary weapons" the system had been dumping on him from novice missions.
That useless junk now had value now.
He grabbed a thin blade, so thin it looked like it would bend if you tried to cut wet paper.
"Recycle," he said.
DING!
[Recycling success.]
[Obtained: 0.1 Recycle Value]
Li Shaobai's mouth twitched.
"0.1," he repeated slowly. "You're telling me my reward is… a decimal?"
He recycled another.
DING!
[Recycling success.]
[Obtained: 0.1 Recycle Value]
Again.
Again.
Again.
He went down the list like a man possessed, recycling every fragile weapon and every useless trash artifact he'd gotten from missions.
After a full few minutes, his warehouse cleared out enough that he could feel it was bare.
The total appeared.
DING!
[Total Recycle Value: 120]
[Conversion: 1 Recycle Value = 10 Unfair Points]
[Converted Unfair Points gained: 1200]
Li Shaobai stared, shocked.
"Twelve-hundred Unfair Points," he muttered. "So, with this function, I can eventually afford to look at the shop."
He lowered his hands and stared into the deeper part of the Starfall Mountain Range, where the trees grew darker and the air felt heavier.
Wild beasts in the outer ring were basically animals with slightly stronger bodies.
They gave trash EXP and the loot they dropped was also trash.
But, speaking from a threat perspective, they were relatively safe.
Even still, safe meant slow progress. This was a cultivation world where the strong rule and the weak cower. What he needed wasn't safe. He needed demonic beasts, beasts who's life force is much higher than the trash he'd been killing.
In this world, wild beasts were like common people, stronger than normal animals, but still lacking true vital qi.
Demonic beasts were different though. They had vital qi in their bodies, like the human cultivators. Their flesh was harder, their instincts sharper, and their attacks carried real pressure. Even at the same layer, a demonic beast could bully a human cultivator through brute advantage alone.
And that meant one thing: Killing them would finally feel worth it.
Li Shaobai's gaze sharpened. He pulled the Double EXP Talisman out in his mind and gritted his teeth.
"One hour," he muttered. "Alright. I'm going to farm like a demon."
He activated it.
DING!
[Double EXP Talisman activated.]
[Duration: 1 day.]
A faint warmth settled behind his eyes like a buff settling into his body.
Li Shaobai stood up and started walking forward, deeper into the forest. It changed quickly.
There was less sunlight and more silence.
Even the wind sounded like it didn't want to make noise here.
After ten minutes, he spotted four rabbits. If looked at closer, one could tell that those weren't normal rabbits.
Their fur had faint red ember-like streaks under their skin. And their eyes were bright and predatory, complimenting their too muscular bodies for something that should be harmless.
Emberfur Rabbits.
They're Tier 1 demonic beasts who are roughly equal to first layer Body Tempering Realm cultivators in vital qi pressure, but faster and nastier.
Li Shaobai's lips curled.
"It's you," he muttered. "Perfect."
He stepped forward, drawing his butcher knife. The rabbits noticed him instantly. They crouched then lunged at him. So fast it was almost a blur.
Li Shaobai twisted aside, his assassin memory snapping into place. He let the first rabbit fly past, then stabbed downward.
The blade met some resistance in their dense muscle but he forced it through with raw strength. It let out a shriek before dying. He yanked the knife out and pivoted into the second one, using the first corpse as a partial shield.
A big clawed paw scraped his sleeve and a shallow cut opened on his forearm.
Pain flashed through him. His mythril skeleton technique ticked faintly, loving the "pressure" even from small injuries.
Li Shaobai ignored it because there was no time to baby himself. He killed the second rabbit with two clean stabs, then turned and hurled a stone into the third to disrupt its jump.
The stone hit its skull midair, swatting it out the air and landing wrong on the ground.
Li Shaobai stepped in and finished it with a single thrust through the throat. The fourth rabbit tried to flee.
Li Shaobai chased it down and threw his knife like a dart. It spun end over end and buried into the rabbit's back.
Silence returned.
Li Shaobai breathed hard, chest rising and falling. Then, the system chimed.
DING!
[Congratulations. Emberfur Rabbit killed.]
[EXP gained: 200]
[Unfair Points gained: 1]
Li Shaobai froze.
"Two hundred each," he whispered. "Now we're talking."
Another notification popped.
DING!
[Congratulations. Emberfur Rabbit killed.]
[EXP gained: 200]
[Unfair Points gained: 1]
Then again.
Then again.
The numbers weren't enormous, but compared to wild beasts? This was heaven.
Li Shaobai's grin widened.
"Farming demonic beasts is way better than farming wild beasts," he muttered, eyes bright. He proceeded to drag the corpses aside, wipe the blood off his sword, and headed deeper into the forest.
Not even 5 minutes minutes later, he spotted a snake with scales dark, corded muscular body, and eyes like cold beads coiled around a tree.
Sootscale Viper.
It was a first to third layer Tier 1 demonic beast depending on its age.
This one felt heavier though. It was more than likely at the third layer.
Li Shaobai swallowed, then smiled anyway.
"Continue," he muttered. "I didn't come here to play safe."
He stepped forward. The viper's head snapped up. It opened its huge mouth and a hiss burst out like steam.
Li Shaobai's instincts screamed. He jumped sideways.
A black blur shot where his head had been. If that hit, he'd be crawling back to Skybridge City in a coffin.
Li Shaobai's eyes narrowed, murderous.
He lunged low, moving like a blade as he aimed for the viper's neck. However, he didn't see the viper whip its tail around at him.
~WHAM~
It slammed into Li Shaobai's ribs. Pain exploded through his side, made him slide back which caused his boots to dig grooves into the dirt. His bones creaked and the body technique ticked happily.
Li Shaobai spat blood into the grass and wiped his mouth.
"Hit harder, damnit," he scolded the snake. "Help me upgrade."
Then, he charged in again. This time, though, he didn't meet it head-on. He circled it.
The viper then lunged, but he dodged it by inches. Only to stab down and let his knife sink into its head at the precise moment it overextended.
The viper thrashed violently, crushing brush and slamming against trees.
Li Shaobai held on like a madman, stabbing repeatedly until the thrashing slowed.
Finally, the viper collapsed.
Li Shaobai stumbled back, breathing hard against aching ribs. He couldn't use his sword because it was too long against such a swift beast. His knife did excellent against it in close combat.
The system chimed again.
DING!
[Congratulations. Sootscale Viper killed.]
[EXP gained: 400]
[Unfair Points gained: 1]
Li Shaobai's eyes lit up.
"Four hundred," he whispered, almost feeling rewarded for his efforts. That's the most any kill had gotten him.
Li Shaobai clenched his sword and smiled, ugly and fearless.
"Come on," he muttered. "Send me the real one."
And as if a beast had heard him, a low growl rolled through the trees ahead. Something that made the branches tremble.
Li Shaobai's breath slowed, eyes sharpening. He stepped forward anyway. Because backing down was the same as dying.