Chapter 447: So many passive values, how to spend them?

Wow.

Happiness is back.

After sleeping until the dead of night, Xu Xiaoshou felt that all the exhaustion from the banquet had been completely swept away. This had been the most grueling banquet he'd ever attended. He hadn't gotten much to eat; the whole time was spent fighting. After dealing with the underlings, he even ended up taking on their leader outside, nearly draining him completely. Thankfully, the outcome was satisfying. He stayed on his feet while the other guy went down. That was the most commendable part.

"Even though Zhang Taiying is dead, the assassins from San Zhuxiang might not stop anytime soon," he mused.

"Maybe that guy paid the full amount instead of just a deposit?"

Xu Xiaoshou clutched the bedding between his knees, lying on the soft bed as he pondered. "But once news gets out that Zhang Taiying is dead and the Zhang family was colluding with gui shou, the Zhang estate will fall, and no one will want to get involved anymore."

He understood the principle of a beached whale. No matter how powerful a major force like the Zhang family was in life, once it declined, it was destined to be picked apart. He didn't even need to lift a finger—just time would take care of it. With the city lord's mansion imposing restrictions, even if the Zhang family still had two wang zuo, they wouldn't be able to rise again.

"Gui shou..."

Xu Xiaoshou murmured the word. Just the accusation of colluding with gui shou was enough for Fu Zhi to be certain that the Zhang family would be finished after the banquet. It was easy to imagine how terrifying that charge was. Zhang Taiying was indeed innocent, but Xu Xiaoshou had truly gotten tangled up with that thing.

"Xin Gugu, Tan Shen..."

For a moment, Xu Xiaoshou wondered if he could still enjoy himself carefree. The best way to minimize damage right now was to use the gui shou and then immediately cut ties. With his skills, even the Hong Yi wouldn't easily pick up on any traces in the days ahead. But ideas like burning bridges after crossing the river flashed through his mind only briefly. Actually doing it was something he could never bring himself to. People aren't heartless plants—who could be completely without emotion? Even knowing that Xin Gugu's existence might be a nightmarish calamity for this continent, how could anyone easily discard the camaraderie forged through battles side by side?

"Uh, happiness vanished so quickly..."

The adult world always had so many troubles. Xu Xiaoshou decided to set those thoughts aside for now. He turned his attention back to the red interface of his Yuanfu.

In the information bar:

"Passive value: 317,959."

Counting one, two, three, four... Xu Xiaoshou squinted and finally confirmed he wasn't seeing things. He sprang up from the bed in excitement.

"Holy crap, three hundred thousand?!"

He rubbed his eyes and looked again. No mistake!

"Set a new record—it's really three hundred thousand!"

Xu Xiaoshou vaguely remembered that the last time his passive value hit a peak, it was twenty-eight thousand at Hei Luo Cliff. But back then, the way he acquired it was nowhere near as effortless as this banquet. "Turns out, being around a lot of people and making a big scene is what suits me best."

He calmed himself down and sat back. This banquet wave was incredibly rewarding. Not only did it remove Zhang Taiying, that thorn in his side, along with the contention for the Bai Ku spot, but it also brought him so many passive values. Xu Xiaoshou knew that these three hundred thousand would boost his combat power more than even the eighteen Linglong Stones.

"So much passive value—how to spend it?"

No need to think—when you're broke, you save, but with three hundred thousand now, it's definitely time for draws, upgrades, and awakenings all in one go!

"Oh my god."

Xu Xiaoshou was so excited he couldn't sit still on the bed. "'Frenzied Giant' and 'Explosive Stance' are too powerful. This time, no matter what, I have to secure at least one more awakening skill." "And since each awakening stone costs ten thousand, let's set aside a hundred thousand for that first!"

Without hesitation, he allocated a third of it, planning to dip into the awakening pool. Theoretically, a hundred thousand should guarantee one... Wait, no—don't jinx it!

He didn't rush to awaken right away, because a ten-draw only needed fifty thousand passive values. What if some good stuff showed up in there? He could upgrade and max them out on the spot, then awaken immediately.

"Tsk, tsk."

Xu Xiaoshou was practically drooling. "But the best approach right now is to push all my existing skills up to Zongshi level as much as possible. They've been building up for too long."

He thought it over and didn't jump straight into draws. That stuff was addictive—if a few ten-draws turned up nothing and he blew it all, he'd regret it with no way back.

"First, spend a hundred thousand!"

Real combat boosts were the priority. Xu Xiaoshou focused on his panel.

Under mastery passive skills:

Swordsmanship Mastery (Zongshi Lv.1)

Culinary Arts Mastery (Zongshi Lv.1)

Textile Mastery (Xian Tian Lv.10)

His first focus was on the mastery passive skills—these were the ones that could instantly and comprehensively enhance his combat power.

"That 'Xian Tian Lv.10' is so glaring!"

Xu Xiaoshou frowned. Last time he upgraded, he was just short on passive values, so this skill didn't reach Zongshi. As a result, his use of the Hua Hai nested spirit array was limited to turning it into a concealment array for hiding fire seeds, without tapping into its true offensive potential.

"What a waste." This time, he was determined to max it out.

"Textile Mastery (Zongshi Lv.1)"

With a swift motion, that familiar rush of fullness flooded his mind. Even though it was only level one, the knowledge from Textile Mastery transformed from Xian Tian to Zongshi level.

Xu Xiaoshou familiarized himself with it and suddenly opened his eyes wide.

"Tianji Technique!"

As expected, once Textile Mastery reached Zongshi, it became something perfectly aligned with the heavens and earth. And what did the path of spirit arrays become when it harmonized with the heavenly dao?

The answer was clear: Tianji Technique!

This influx of experience made all that knowledge explainable through Tianji Technique. So, if he encountered someone like Fu Zhi again, he wouldn't have to awkwardly explain that he practiced "Textile Arts." Because Textile Arts now encompassed Tianji Technique.

But was that all Zongshi-level Textile Arts brought? Xu Xiaoshou shifted his focus to another aspect. Back when Textile Mastery first reached Xian Tian, he'd already grasped "Divine Control" and "Multi-Needle Spirit Embroidery," allowing him to set up arrays in an instant. At that time, two more concepts had started to form: "Spirit Control Finger" and "Puppet Strings."

The former was for manipulating spirit threads. At Xian Tian level, Spirit Control Finger only allowed specific spirit threads for arrays, but at Zongshi, it became fully flexible. He could switch the threads' thickness, length, and toughness at will. Even better, he could infuse a trace of his own spiritual intent through Spirit Control Finger for precise micro-control over living beings.

Xu Xiaoshou grew more excited as he explored. With the evolution of Spirit Control Finger, the pinnacle of his Textile Mastery—Puppet Strings—could now be implemented!

He recalled the illusion where every living or dead thing bore traces of the great dao's spirit marks, moving according to predetermined heavenly rules. Beyond the heavenly dao, what was there? Hands—human hands!

Zongshi-level Textile Mastery allowed Puppet Strings, based on Spirit Control Finger, to perform simple manipulations—or rather, interferences—on people or objects. Xu Xiaoshou knew his current passive skill level couldn't support absolute control yet. But in combat, a slight tug with Puppet Strings could disrupt an opponent's movement or even jam the critical point of their skill release...

"Whoa, this could make me take off right away!"

Xu Xiaoshou was stunned. Unable to hold back, he snapped back to reality and fixed his gaze on a teacup on the nearby table.

Whoosh!

A subtle thread shot out.

Crash!

The teacup shattered.

"Uh, a bit overkill—the impact's that strong?"

After gauging it, Xu Xiaoshou eased up his power. With a flick of his hand, another spirit thread flew out. As it neared the next teacup, the thread's end split into seven or eight fine strands, sticking to the cup without breaking it.

Xu Xiaoshou froze. He gently lifted his hand, and the teacup was pulled over.

"This..."

His eyes lit up with excitement. Xu Xiaoshou instinctively switched from flicking to curving his middle and ring fingers with his wrist, shooting out a thicker spirit thread.

Snap!

The thread pierced the windowsill, and as it neared the wall of the neighboring house, it split into fine strands that wove together into a spiderweb.

"Yohoo!"

Xu Xiaoshou let out an excited whoop. Feeling the web embed and stick to the wall, instead of pulling the wall to him, he used the momentum to swing himself over.

Whoosh—

The wind whistled past his ears.

Xu Xiaoshou's face flushed with thrill.

"Spider-Man!"

"Is this what it feels like to be Spider-Man?"

"Oh my god, this is amazing!"

As he approached the wall, he curved his other wrist, shooting another web-like thread that stuck to a higher wall. Using that force, he leaped again, soaring over his room and gliding freely down the street.

Whoosh...

Whoosh...

"Yohoo!"

"Xu Xiaoshou?"

Soon, a soft voice called out.

"Under suspicion, passive value +1."

With his incredible perception, Xu Xiaoshou barely caught his shimei Mu Zixi's call amid the wind. He turned to see the young girl staring in shock from the window, watching him whirl through the air.

"What's up?" Xu Xiaoshou turned back with a laugh.

"You... what are you doing?" Mu Zixi's mouth hung open.

"Flying, of course."

"That's not flying at all! It's not flying!"

"Is it not flying? Then am I walking?" Xu Xiaoshou chuckled.

"Under a curse, passive value +1."

Mu Zixi didn't believe it was flying; she could only sense the spiritual energy fluctuations from the thread in his hand. But how was he achieving such precise control with it? How was that even possible?

Swoosh!

Xu Xiaoshou swung through the window into Mu Zixi's room. The girl hadn't even realized that her room's protective spirit array, set to maximum to prevent explosions, had been instantly cracked and entered without a trace.

Her mind was full of thoughts about Xu Xiaoshou's freely transforming spirit threads. From a fighter's perspective, she instantly saw how terrifying this spirit technique was. In areas with lots of obstacles, it would allow inertia-free flight switches—a god-tier skill!

And places with obstacles... Well, she was a wood attribute user!

With a press of her hand, a forest would spring up. Paired with this technique, wouldn't her enemies be left dizzy and disoriented?

"Teach me!"

Mu Zixi rushed forward and hugged Xu Xiaoshou's leg. She loved this spirit technique—it was cool and highly practical.

Xu Xiaoshou: How did he learn it? Their master must be playing favorites!

"Let go!"

Xu Xiaoshou felt awkward and quickly said, "I'd love to teach you, but you won't be able to learn it."

"I can!"

The girl was stubborn.

"This requires extremely fine spiritual energy control. Not just you—"

"Stop it, teach me—I want to learn."

Mu Zixi just stared at him with teary eyes.

"Under request, passive value +1."

Xu Xiaoshou's head started to hurt. This was the trouble with showing off. But he stayed calm, extended his hand, and gathered spiritual energy into a rose with a scorching aura.

"For you."

"Huh?"

Mu Zixi was stunned. Wasn't she asking for the technique? How did this happen?

Had Xu Xiaoshou suddenly figured it out?

She shyly took the spirit energy flower, but before she could speak, Xu Xiaoshou ruined the moment.

"Once you can instantly carve something like this flower with your spiritual energy, then you'll be ready to learn the technique."

Mu Zixi: ...

"Under a curse, passive value +1."

Seizing the moment while she was distracted, Xu Xiaoshou quickly pulled away, shot a thread, and vanished.

The uncontrolled spirit energy flower dissipated in seconds.

Mu Zixi felt a bit regretful but didn't dwell on it. Defiantly, she pouted and extended her hand.

Sizzle!

Spiritual energy misted out, but even with all her effort, she could only shape it into a vague oval, far from the lifelike petals and core Xu Xiaoshou had made.

Mu Zixi deflated.

"You jerk, Xu Xiaoshou—when did you learn to make rose flowers? Why not before?"

Safely back in his room, Xu Xiaoshou didn't dare show off anymore. Textile Mastery was too powerful. Not only did it turn him into Spider-Man, but it also let him casually see through and disarm the inn's spirit arrays without a trace.

And even...

"Puppet Strings!"

He hadn't tested it on a living person yet, but after his spider-swinging experience, he understood the principle. When the spirit thread entered a body, infusing it with his spiritual intent could allow brief control—or at this stage, interference. It would absolutely work!

Suppressing his excitement and steadying his trembling hands, Xu Xiaoshou quietly absorbed this transformative insight. Just one skill upgrade had completely rewritten his fighting style.

"And this is just the beginning."

Xu Xiaoshou glanced back at the information bar.

"Passive value: 312,959."

"Still three hundred thousand."

He murmured softly and checked his qi sea. That spree of swinging around had seemed effortless but actually drained most of his spiritual energy. Even with "Yuan Qi Full" restoring it, the recovery speed couldn't keep up.

"The same goes for Jin Zhao Fire Seed."

As his Culinary Arts Mastery leveled up, compressing or nesting fire seeds drained him significantly. After all, he was only at Yuan Ting realm peak—his cultivation level limited his reserves.

Luckily, he didn't rely on spiritual energy often. "If I only use 'Yuan Qi Full,' it's enough for fights without much energy drain. But for big energy uses, like inertia-free turns with 'Spider Spirit Thread' or compressing lots of fire seeds..."

"Not enough!"

Xu Xiaoshou decisively exchanged for ten skill points and maxed it out.

"Yuan Qi Full (Zongshi Lv.1)"

As that info appeared, his depleted qi sea visibly refilled. He could even sense the heaven and earth spiritual energy being drawn in and fused.

Sizzle, sizzle.

In just over ten breaths, his qi sea was full again!

"Incredible."

Xu Xiaoshou was in awe. The Zongshi-level "Everlasting Vitality" recovery was shocking, but this version of "Yuan Qi Full" was no less impressive.

Wait, no—it wasn't that it was faster. It was because his cultivation was only Xian Tian level, yet he had Zongshi-level energy recovery. The relative boost was just bigger.

"Very strong, undeniably strong."

"This is the foundational passive skill—overpowered in its basics."

"From now on, as long as I don't need more energy than a Yuan Ting peak cultivator can handle, I can basically use skills non-stop."

Xu Xiaoshou pondered and finally found the right term.

"Infinite power?"

"So, that ten-breath recovery time is basically... a cooldown?"

Thinking about it, Xu Xiaoshou slumped onto the bed.

"Too strong—this is way too strong!"

"While others are still farming and developing, I'm already on infinite power."

"How can anyone fight me?"

He started worrying for his future opponents. This wasn't just invincibility in the same realm—with this progress, even challenging higher realms would be a breeze, as long as they couldn't do the same.

"The three foundational passive skills: two at Zongshi, and 'Breathing Method' left."

Xu Xiaoshou considered upgrading it, but his cultivation progress was already too fast. The banquet had only lasted one night, and he'd broken through two minor realms. Way too quick!

The true power of "Breathing Method" wasn't in passive breathing. Xu Xiaoshou felt his abundant Yuan Ting peak strength. He hadn't actually broken through to peak with Fu Zhi's pill—it was from the Hua Hai array setup.

Back then, his "Yuan Qi Full" couldn't sustain setting up thousands of fire seeds quickly, so he'd resorted to chugging pills. To kill Zhang Taiying, Xu Xiaoshou had ignored his cultivation entirely. In that half-hour of array setup, he didn't know how many Yuan Ting pills he'd swallowed or how much Lian Ling Liquid he'd used. Suppressing the breakthroughs was only natural.

After that battle, he realized "Breathing Method"'s real value was in its side-effect-free pill use. It wasn't a cultivation technique; it just acted like one before. It enabled rapid cultivation growth.

In short, with enough resources and insight, Xu Xiaoshou could breakthrough to Zongshi in no time!

"Of course, it's not completely without drawbacks..."

Why did the Hua Hai only have a thousand fire seeds instead of ten thousand? Xu Xiaoshou suddenly shivered, his body trembling. That was a memory he'd rather forget.

Don't bring it up.

"It can be upgraded, but there's no need."

"Three hundred thousand passive values is a lot, but it's still not enough to max out all skill levels. I have to be strategic."

Xu Xiaoshou shifted his gaze to the extended passive skills.

Extended passive skills:

Strength (Zongshi Lv.1) — Frenzied Giant

Agility (Zongshi Lv.1)

Sharpness (Xian Tian Lv.1)

Perception (Xian Tian Lv.6)

Rebound (Zongshi Lv.1) — Explosive Stance

Toughness (Xian Tian Lv.1)

"Three at Zongshi, three at Xian Tian."

Xu Xiaoshou narrowed his eyes, fixated on that "Xian Tian Lv.6." Truth be told, he had a bit of OCD. He couldn't even remember when he stopped at that level, but leaving it at 6 meant he was broke back then.

This was a support god-skill—he had to upgrade it.

"Perception (Zongshi Lv.1)"

The transformation hit instantly. The images in his mind were no longer fixed in a god's-eye view; he could switch to any position he wanted.

"This is basically a peeping master skill!"

Xu Xiaoshou was shocked. Not only that, his "Perception" shifted from a blurry-edged ellipse to a perfect sphere. The range expanded from one li to ten li, with crystal-clear, high-definition visuals. Even the tiniest microorganisms were visible if he focused.

"Oh my kidneys."

"This is terrifying."

Xu Xiaoshou was startled by his first glance—too many disgusting things. He subconsciously filtered them out and then marveled at how he could now reshape this spherical range: flatten it, stretch it, extend it.

His eyes widened as he reshaped "Perception" into a long ellipse.

The distance exceeded ten li! Like a satellite scan, he swept around and suddenly froze.

"Hee-hee-hee, hee-hee-hee"

Somewhere far away, a stark-naked old man was humming a tune while bathing. Beside him sat a dan ding.

" familiar?"

Xu Xiaoshou looked puzzled and glanced outward. A signboard read "Lian Dan Shi Association."

"Dan Ta?"

Xu Xiaoshou was stunned. From the inn, at such a distance, he could clearly visualize Dan Ta? Peering inside without any spirit array protection almost blinded him.

"Shi Ti, the guild master?"

The bathing Shi Ti suddenly paused, whipped around, and stared straight in Xu Xiaoshou's peeping direction.

"Who?!"