I Just Wanted to Live, but I Somehow Became Better Than the Main Character

Chapter 70: Man of Steel

The next morning.

With a roar from his body, Ye Yong broke through the magical 11th layer of the Foundation Establishment Realm and reached the 12th layer. Because he was studying art during this period, his cultivation had slowed down a bit. Otherwise, he would have broken through a few days ago.

As his spiritual veins expanded, the originally full eight spiritual veins became like hungry babies, craving to absorb more spiritual energy. Especially the 8th vein,-its demand was noticeably greater than the previous seven combined.

“It feels great to use them, but it’s also quite hard to maintain them.”

Neither the Physique Forging Encyclopedia nor the Foundation Establishment Encyclopedia mentioned the 8th spiritual vein. Even the novel didn’t mention it at all. Ye Yong was truly puzzled by the developments.

When he asked the system, the system didn’t know either, only stating that although this world followed a similar trajectory to the novel, this was real life, not a novel, and things could easily change at any time.

Ye Yong thought about it and realized it was true. After all, when the male lead attained the divine physique, he was already an immortal, unlike Ye Yong, who had obtained the divine physique at the start. The divine physique was not affected by cultivation level, so everything was based on it. Perhaps the Chaotic Origin Divine Physique, cultivated from the beginning naturally possessed 8 spiritual veins and the potential of 20 layers for a realm.

Ye Yong shook his head and stopped worrying about it because worrying wouldn’t change anything. Ye Yong swallowed several beyond-grade Spirit Gathering Pills to replenish the spiritual veins, and the 8th vein was absorbing energy like a thief.

If they are bird babies, then this 8th vein will definitely be the strongest and most loved bird child. Hey, System, how come I haven’t seen any lottery roulette or something like that? Over the past few days, Ye Yong had gradually accumulated some favorability with Wu Xue and Qin Shimeng and now had 110k transcend points. It wasn’t a small amount, but it also wasn’t a lot. He wanted to gamble and see if he could get some amazing cultivation arts or weapons.

Then… why haven’t you given me any mission after so long?

‘Staying alive is the mission given to the host.’

Ye Yong was speechless. Not only was there no traditional lottery roulette, but there were also no tasks. What kind of system was this? At best, it’s just a shop, right? I want to do some missions and earn points.

‘If host finds it boring, this system can assign missions, but there won’t be any rewards. There will only be penalties to increase the host’s desire and tension to complete the tasks.’

No, no, don’t do that. No rewards and only penalties for doing work? If I was given a task to kill the male lead, how can I possibly complete it? And this system is petty. It’s clearly imperfect with only a shop and a favorability rating. I can’t even criticize it in my heart without being roasted. Fortunately, this system is usually quiet. Otherwise, I might get high blood pressure just from arguing with it. Coming back to his senses, Ye Yong found Wu Xue in his arms, awake and staring at his face.

As soon as Ye Yong looked over, Wu Xue quickly averted her gaze, her cheeks turning red.

“Did I wake you up with my breakthrough?” Ye Yong asked.

“I woke up on my own.” Although Wu Xue didn’t have spiritual veins, as a martial cultivator in the 6th layer of the Qi Refinement Realm, she could still feel the flow of spiritual energy.

Ye Yong’s breakthrough to the 12th level of the Foundation Establishment Realm was no different from breaking through the crystallization layer- there was a significant flow of spiritual energy. It startled Wu Xue awake, but she couldn’t blame Ye Yong for it.

“Young Master, did you reach the Crystallization Realm? That’s amazing! Lady will definitely be very happy when she learns that you reached the Crystallization Realm at 18 years old.

“Uh… well…” Ye Yong’s expression was somewhat unnatural.

Wu Xue was puzzled. During the assessment, the Mirror said that Young Master was at the 10th layer of the Foundation Establishment Realm. So, now that he had broken through, he must have reached the first layer of the Crystallization Realm, right?

“Master, are you unhappy about your breakthrough? Is it because you can’t participate in the Secret Realm next month?”

“No, I actually haven’t reached the crystallization level yet.”

“Then, what cultivation level did you break through to?”

“The 12th layer.”

“What 12th layer?”

“Foundation Establishment Realm.”

“Foundation Establishment Realm to the 12th layer???”

I’m not an immortal cultivator. Young Master, don’t lie to me. Wu Xue was truly at a loss. Did I remember wrong or what? Shouldn’t it be a maximum of 10 layers?

“My physique is somewhat special. Don’t tell anyone.”

“Okay!” Wu Xue nodded. How could she tell anyone? Ye Yong telling her was proof of his trust in her, and she wouldn’t betray that trust. “Then, Young Master, what’s the difference between you at the 12th layer of the Foundation Establishment Realm and a regular cultivator at the 10th layer?”

“I don’t know.” Ye Yong was also troubled. With a cultivation level at the 12 layer of the Foundation Establishment, he couldn’t find an opponent. After all, he had to make sure that his secret wouldn’t be exposed. If it were the male lead, he wouldn’t have this trouble. He would encounter villains who wanted to kill him all the time and just use them for practice and silence them afterward.

Wait a minute, silence them? Ye Yong suddenly thought he could take on sect missions, like hunting beasts or exterminating disciples of demonic sects. Not only could he eradicate evil for the people, but he could also test his strength. Those 38 mystery-grade martial arts are hard at work cultivating. They worked so hard, and if I didn’t use them, how am I to justify all the hard work they’ve done?

Beyond grade battle arts would start to decline in effectiveness by the Golden Core Realm and become practically useless by the Nascent Soul Realm, because at the Nascent Soul Realm, both the male lead and his enemies almost exclusively used Earth grade or Heaven grade battle arts.

Opening the auxiliary system, Ye Yong saw 38 Mystery Grade techniques. With the Five Tiger Fist, which was learned first, in the lead, all of them had reached the exceptional level of proficiency and were moving towards a higher level.

Ye Yong was very moved. He had never cultivated them, and yet, they practiced so tirelessly. Ye Yong decided to go out and do a task. Even if it was not to test the strength of the 12th layer of the Foundation Establishment Realm, he had to do it to justify all the work the battle arts had put in.

“Lil Xue, I will leave the sect for about two days to go out on a mission. You stay here and work hard on cultivating.” Wu Xue is only at the sixth layer of the Qi Refinement Realm, so it might be dangerous to take her with him.

When Wu Xue heard that Ye Yong was leaving, she immediately panicked. “Young Master, is it because I said something wrong?” Wu Xue thought that it was because she asked what the difference was between the 10th and 12th layers of the Foundation Establishment Realm that led Ye Yong to decide to take a mission and test it through fighting. She didn’t know how dangerous it was outside, but when she thought about how her parents had never come back, she was very afraid that Ye Yong would be the same, and by that point, she wouldn’t have any hope to live on.

“Of course not? I have to do it if I want to stay in the sect. Every month, a certain amount of contribution points will be deducted according to your cultivation. We have been here for a week. Even if I don’t go now, I will definitely have to go later. Didn’t you just mention the secret realm? Wouldn’t it be better for me to complete the task earlier, come back earlier, and prepare for the secret realm in advance?”

Ye Yong didn’t tell Wu Xue that new disciples had a 3-month adaptation period. Even if he didn’t do any missions, he could still stay in the sect with 0 contribution points. Besides, he could just say, “Senior sister, hungwy, contribution points”, there will definitely be a bunch of senior sisters rushing to transfer contribution points to him, and he could live as a gigolo¹.

But how could Ye Yong, a man of steel, be willing to live like that?

Wu Xue didn’t know much about the sect’s rules, and she hugged Ye Yong tightly. Since becoming Ye Yong’s maid, she has never really left Ye Yong for long. Although they didn’t meet during his seclusion, at least they stayed in the same house. Now that Ye Yong was going out of the sect, she felt uneasy, but she acknowledged that she was a novice warrior and could not help him. She could only tell Ye Yong to take care of himself, stand at the door, and reluctantly watch him leave.

It wasn’t until Ye Yong’s figure disappeared that Wu Xue came back to her senses. Unlike usual when Ye Yong was around, her eyes were very determined. She wanted to become stronger so that she could follow Ye Yong wherever he went and drag him down.

Wu Xue immediately acted on her thoughts and returned to her room to cultivate.

Translator’s Notes:

¹ 小白脸. It’s sometimes translated as little white face, because that’s the literal translation. It basically means a young, attractive, useless guy who lives off of a woman. And yes, it can be used as an insult.