"I didn’t take any from home, and… I haven’t even eaten today. So…”

  “Oh.”

  That was all the man said.

  Jin Yu face twitched. “You can get it back from Father. He’ll repay you.”

  “Oh.”

  “Do you have them or not?” Jin Yu snapped, irritation creeping in.

  “I was just wondering if my little savings could satisfy you. I heard about your little spree at the auction house. Really impressive. Such a filial son.”

  Another wave of heat rushed to Jin Yu’s face. He scratched his brow awkwardly.

  “So?...”

  The man shook his head and tossed him a spatial ring.

  “That’s ten million.”

  Jin Yu caught it and froze.

  “Ten million?”

  “Yes.”

  “That’s too…”

  “Small?”

  “Of course!” Jin Yu blurted, but then chuckled awkwardly under the man’s gre.

  “Sorry, I mean… I’ve got mouths to feed and, uh… expenses.”

  “Like buying dead eggs?”

  Silence......

  This man…

  "Whatever.” The man threw him another ring.

  Jin Yu caught it with a smile. “You have so many rings. Did you steal— ahem, I mean, thank you. How much is this one?”

  “Ten million.”

  “What?!”

  “What now?”

  “That’s...”

  Jin Yu trailed off, cursing inwardly.

  This poor man. I need billions, not chicken change!

  The man frowned at Jin Yu’s look of disdain.

  “Brat, that’s twenty million mid-tier spirit stones. One of those is worth ten thousand low-tier spirit stones. And you have the nerve to look ungrateful?!”

  “What?!” Jin Yu’s jaw dropped.

  “One mid-tier equals ten thousand?!”

  Then ten million means....

  “Hmph. Give them back if you don’t want!”

  “Ack—no no, I’m sorry, broth—”

  “I’m not your mate!”

  “Right, uh, sorry uncle! I didn’t know there were higher-valued stones. Forgive my ignorance,” Jin Yu grinned as he tucked both rings into his chest.

  “Hmph. Old Master wants you to earn back every stones you spent today before coming back home. Or else he’ll settle your previous score with you,” the man said with narrowed eyes.

  Jin Yu flinched and instinctively covered his left eye.

  He still remembers that?! So petty! You found the book, what more do you want from me?!

  He gave the man a forced smile. “Thank you, uncle. I’ll take it to heart.”

  “More like it.” The man turned and vanished into the forest.

  “Cocky bastard,” Jin Yu muttered under his breath.

  Then he looked up at the bright moon and smiled.

  “Thanks, old man...”

  His gaze shifted to Rainbow, still curled quietly around his wrist.

  He sighed. “You brat.”

  Turning back to where he had left Yin Rou, he found the spot empty.

  “That vixen,” he muttered. “She ran away, huh?”

  A cold smirk tugged at his lips.

  “If you think this is over, you clearly don’t know who you’re dealing with, me!. I’m passing through this forest again, and when I do, I’m spping your butt one more time.”

  With that vow, Jin Yu walked down the same path he had come through that afternoon. The mist had faded ever since he wiped out the beasts, allowing moonlight to stream clearly through the trees.

  As he walked, He could feel multiple pairs of eyes watching him from the shadows, filled with silent, fiery intent. He ignored them at first. But when the growls started, his patience ended. A sudden fre of his peak Essence aura swept through the forest like a tide, and in an instant, the creatures scattered in terror.

  He sighed. “Will I ever level up again?”

  One breakthrough, and he had almost died.

  “I’m starting to think this so-called system isn’t a golden finger, but a bck one. A cursed, pitch-bck finger.”

  As if on cue, a series of system notifications rang out sharply in his ears.

  ---

  DING!

  THE EON PROTOCOL HAS SUCCESSFULLY OVERRIDDEN THE SYSTEM!

  DING!

  HOST INVADED!

  DING!

  ANALYZING...

  DING!

  NO THREAT DETECTED.

  DING!

  LOOPHOLE FOUND IN SYSTEM!

  DING!

  SYSTEM UPDATING...

  DING!

  PLEASE WAIT WHILE SYSTEM UPDATES.

  ---

  “You useless dog! Where the hell were you when I was almost getting killed?!” Jin Yu shouted, clutching his head. “Will you stop ringing in my damn skull!?”

  Within seconds—

  DING!

  SYSTEM SUCCESSFULLY UPDATED!

  DING!

  ADDING ADDITIONAL ATTRIBUTE...

  DING!

  ERROR!

  DING!

  HOST TOO WEAK!

  DING!

  PLEASE LEVEL UP TO UNLOCK NEW FEATURES.

  DING!

  CONTROL GIVEN BACK TO THE SYSTEM

  ---

  “All these..... Eon protocol?....Additional attributes? I’m too weak?” he echoed in disbelief.

  He hastily pulled up the system interface and his jaw nearly dropped.

  ---

  [Dominion Protocol Interface]

  NAME: Jin Yu

  CORE ATTRIBUTE: Influence

  ATTRIBUTE POINTS: (Error: Level up required)

  PHYSIQUE: 100 (Peak Essence Core Realm)

  INTERNAL STRENGTH: 100 (Peak Essence Core Realm)

  SPIRITUAL TECHNIQUE: Uninitialized

  QI AFFINITY: Holy Qi, ???

  CULTIVATION TECHNIQUES:

  — Sanctum Sword Technique (Peak Stage)

  — Misty Veil Technique (Peak Stage)

  — Divine Phase Technique (Beginning Stage)

  TRAIT: Invading Qi Immunity

  PASSIVE TECHNIQUE UNLOCKED:

  — Hostile Qi Reversal

  ? Converts enemy Qi-based attacks into breakthrough energy

  ? Completely null spiritual attacks

  ? Absorbs refined hostile Qi directly into meridians

  ? Cannot absorb pure physical or neutral elemental attacks

  PROGRESS TRACKER:

  — Hostile Qi Absorbed: 43%

  — Next Breakthrough: 100%

  — System Note: Absorbing higher realm energy will accelerate progress

  BLOODLINE RECOGNIZED:

  — Golden Sun Bloodline

  — ??? (Second bloodline: Unavaible - Error)

  UPDATED FIELDS:

  — Attribute Points: Error – Level up required

  — Bloodline: Host body will not reject bloodlines

  — Qi Affinity: Error – Unknown Qi detected

  HIDDEN POTENTIAL:

  — Threshold Detected: ???

  — Warning: Accumuting too much unfiltered hostile Qi may trigger mutation or evolution…

  ---

  He stared bnkly at the interface.

  “Wow... what a whole mess of things.”