"Little Cai, why does it feel like your aura has reached the peak of the third level of Qi Refining?" Su Yuan squatted by the pond, sensing the aura of the three-colored fish with his spiritual sense.

The small fish surfaced, blowing bubbles from its mouth.

Su Yuan also noticed that the other fish in the pond were emitting faint spiritual energy fluctuations. Previously, they had been just ordinary fish, but now they showed signs of transforming into spirit fish!

Su Yuan's gaze toward Little Cai changed slightly.

He patted Little Cai's head, and the fish gently nudged against his palm, displaying obvious happiness.

Amused, Su Yuan took out some spirit stones to feed it.

Little Cai accepted them all without hesitation, swallowing the spirit stones one by one.

To Su Yuan's surprise, Little Cai had an enormous appetite this time. After devouring a full thirty spirit stones, its aura suddenly surged, reaching a new level, and its body grew slightly larger!

It now emitted the aura of a mid-grade first-tier spirit beast!

It had actually broken through!

Su Yuan was somewhat astonished.

At that moment, Little Cai levitated into the air, and its three-colored light suddenly burst forth!

Su Yuan was stunned, directly bathed in the three-colored radiance!

The next instant, the three-colored light transformed into a chain connecting Su Yuan and Little Cai!

A golden sword mark appeared on Su Yuan's forehead, now encircled by three-colored light, making him appear even more mystical.

After three breaths, the light dissipated, and Little Cai fell back into the pond, startling Su Yuan awake.

Su Yuan felt a mysterious connection forming between himself and Little Cai.

Then, streams of three-colored spiritual energy inexplicably flowed into Su Yuan's dantian.

His cultivation technique automatically activated, effortlessly converting it into Mystic Truth Qi!

Su Yuan's Mystic Truth Qi had inexplicably increased by a significant amount!

Little Cai transmitted a "Praise me!" thought to Su Yuan.

Su Yuan looked at the fish strangely: "Did you do this?"

Little Cai immediately nodded its fish head and swam around the pond rapidly, clearly delighted.

Su Yuan understood - this was a spirit beast voluntarily acknowledging its master. Such situations typically only occurred with high-bloodline spirit beasts possessing at least Golden Core-level potential. Through the connection, he had gained some feedback and learned Little Cai's true species - it was actually a Nine-Colored Celestial Fish!

"That merchant wasn't lying to me? I thought he was just boasting! I only bought it because I liked its appearance, but it turned out to be genuine!" Su Yuan was greatly surprised.

He felt touched - such a precious spirit fish sold for only 130 spirit stones. That vendor was truly kind! Could he have been another expert wandering the mortal world? If they met again, Su Yuan would have to thank him properly!

Su Yuan tried feeding Little Cai more spirit stones. The newly-breakthrough fish was indeed hungry and accepted them all.

After consuming twenty lower-grade spirit stones, as digestion completed, more three-colored spiritual energy followed the mysterious connection to appear directly in Su Yuan's dantian, easily converting into Mystic Truth Qi!

Checking his system panel, Su Yuan was shocked to see his rest period hadn't been interrupted. Was this exploiting a bug?

"Wait!"

Su Yuan's eyes widened as he looked at the system panel.

[Name]: Su Yuan

[Region]: Green Vine Continent

[Reputation]: Somewhat Famous (976/1000)

[Realm]: Fourth Level of Qi Refining (99/100)

[Trait 1]: Work-Life Balance: You excel at balancing work and rest. The longer you rest, the better your cultivation results. Current rest period: 39 days 11 hours

[Trait 2]: Dao Follows Nature: You have exceptional comprehension of nature. Easier to perceive the Great Dao from natural wonders.

"My reputation points increased by over 300? When did that happen?"

Su Yuan was utterly shocked!

He hadn't checked his system panel during this period and had turned off system notifications, so he had no idea when his reputation had risen so much!

Something was wrong!

Very wrong!

Su Yuan suddenly felt uneasy!

"Bang!"

Someone knocked on his courtyard gate.

Turning his head, Su Yuan extended his spiritual sense beyond the gate and saw a familiar figure - Ye Bufan.

Frowning, Su Yuan stood and opened the door.

Ye Bufan looked up, confirmed it was indeed Su Yuan, and revealed a faint smile.

"Su Yuan, I'm Ye Bufan. Do you remember me?"

"Of course. The genius disciple with supreme dual Spirit Root from our batch. To what do I owe the honor of Senior Brother Ye's visit?" Su Yuan asked.

"In a few days will be the once-every-three-years inner sect competition. All inner disciples who've trained for ten years can participate. I'm confident of placing in the top three," Ye Bufan declared with evident pride.

Surprised, Su Yuan asked: "Big rewards?"

Ye Bufan chuckled lightly: "Naturally. The key is I'll gain nomination as the inner sect's head disciple!"

Curious, Su Yuan asked: "Why do you want to be head disciple so much?"

"Because it's a prerequisite to compete for sect leader!" Ye Bufan's eyes gleamed as he openly declared his ambition!

Su Yuan was astonished: "You want to be sect leader? Impressive! Truly impressive!"

Ye Bufan smiled faintly: "Who in the sect doesn't aspire to be leader? You, for instance?"

"Me?"

Su Yuan pointed at himself, speechless. "I've no interest in being sect leader!"

"Then why did you open a shop to gather low-level disciples and build your reputation among them? Isn't that groundwork to compete for head disciple?" Ye Bufan's gaze sharpened. "Are you trying to rival me?"

Su Yuan finally understood the issue - his reputation points likely came from that shop. What exactly had Zhang Wei and Zhou Wuyou been doing?

Su Yuan shrugged: "Senior Brother overanalyzes. I just dabbled casually. The shop only has two months' lease and will close when time's up!"

"Really?" Ye Bufan narrowed his eyes.

"Should be!"

"In that case, Junior Brother Su, would you transfer the shop to me?" Ye Bufan finally revealed his purpose.

Su Yuan scratched his head: "But I didn't rent this shop - it was a senior brother named Niu Bin."

"Niu Bin?"

Ye Bufan hadn't expected this answer.

"Which inner division? I've never heard of him."

"An outer sect senior brother. You could discuss with him," Su Yuan said.

Ye Bufan inwardly sneered, taking this as rejection.

"So Junior Brother Su does have designs on the head disciple position after all?" Ye Bufan said calmly.

Su Yuan was exasperated: "What misunderstanding is this? At merely the fourth level of Qi Refining, how could I possibly compete for head disciple?"

"Is that so? Then let me test your mettle."

Ye Bufan's eyes narrowed as he reached for Su Yuan, flames rising from his palm with intense spell fluctuations!

Su Yuan's expression changed - he hadn't expected Ye Bufan to attack directly!

And in his own residence!

Sensing danger, Su Yuan instinctively countered. A year of playful sparring with Little Li had made his use of the Mysterious Truth Divination Art second nature.

A golden shield instantly enveloped Su Yuan's entire body, its metallic sheen appearing extremely sturdy.

Sizzle!

The flaming palm clashed with the golden shield, producing intense sizzling sounds.

Ye Bufan's previously casual expression immediately turned serious as his flames surged tenfold!

Yet the thin golden shield held firm like a tortoise shell, effortlessly blocking the attack.

Ye Bufan even noticed red light occasionally flashing across the shield, dispersing his flames!

After several breaths of stalemate, the golden shield suddenly pulsed!

Ye Bufan's body was sent flying out the gate.

Midair, Ye Bufan summoned his flying sword, steadying himself while airborne.

Looking back at Su Yuan, he saw the latter completely unharmed, gazing at him with profound eyes.

Ye Bufan's expression turned grave.

Silence filled the air.

Only the spirit fish by the pond continued blowing bubbles.

"This is my residence. Please behave appropriately, Senior Brother," Su Yuan said coolly.

Ye Bufan took a deep breath: "Su Yuan, I underestimated you. To think the most deeply hidden talent in our batch was actually you!"

Su Yuan remained calm: "What do you mean? What have you hidden?"

Ye Bufan stiffened, then said calmly: "Very well. I acknowledge you. I hope we can fight seriously during the competition!"

After one last deep look at Su Yuan, Ye Bufan immediately departed on his sword without delay.

Su Yuan snorted: "Psycho!"

After checking that nothing had been burned, he relaxed slightly.

He then sent paper cranes summoning Zhang Wei, Zhou Wuyou, and Song Cai.

Zhang Wei and Zhou Wuyou arrived quickly.

Song Cai also came promptly by sword.

Su Yuan looked at the three: "What exactly happened with the shop?"

"What's wrong?" Zhang Wei asked, puzzled.

Song Cai hurriedly reported: "Senior Brother, I took the liberty of adding a 1% service fee. Please punish me!"

Zhou Wuyou added: "This was Song Cai and my joint decision. It's not solely his fault!"

Su Yuan's mouth twitched: "I'm not talking about the 1% fee. Exactly how big has this operation become? What's the daily customer flow?"

Song Cai smiled: "Senior Brother, rest assured about my work. Everything's handled properly. We have at least 200 daily customers with turnover reaching three to four thousand spirit stones. Even at 1%, that's 30 spirit stones profit. Our shop's now quite famous in the Seven Extremes Sect vicinity! This is just the foundation - when our reputation grows further, we can enter mid-range products for even greater profits!"

Su Yuan's eyelid twitched: "Do you understand the saying 'Tall trees catch much wind'? Ye Bufan just came to see me!"

"Ye Bufan?" Zhang Wei's eyes widened. "He came? For what?"

"To demand I transfer the shop!" Su Yuan snorted.

"The audacity!" Zhang Wei fumed. "After all our hard work building this up, he wants to reap the rewards? So what if he has supreme Spirit Roots? We'll fight to the death if needed!"

Zhou Wuyou worried: "Senior Brother, what should we do?"

Song Cai cautiously asked: "He left? Did you agree, Senior Brother?"

"I told him to find Niu Bin - the shop's actual owner. He didn't believe me, then attacked!" Su Yuan was furious.

Zhang Wei examined Su Yuan: "Where are your injuries?"

Su Yuan rolled his eyes: "I repelled him!"

"Really?" Song Cai's eyes lit up. "Then we can keep operating!"

Su Yuan immediately waved his hand: "No! Stop selling those low-level items! Find Niu Bin and have him take over. Remember - fame is as dangerous for men as fattening is for pigs!"

Song Cai nodded thoughtfully - had Senior Brother Su already learned about the recent supply shortages?

After a month of heavy sales, the Seven Extremes Sect's low-level alchemists and artifact smiths had nearly exhausted their stocks. Transitioning to mid-range products was indeed timely, and Niu Bin could supply those. Clearly Senior Brother Su had anticipated this!

And to think Senior Brother Su had actually repelled Ye Bufan - he must indeed be aiming for head disciple!

Speaking of which, the inner sect competition was in a few days - he should register Senior Brother Su!

As a servant disciple under Su Yuan, he could handle such trivial matters.

"Senior Brother, will you participate in the upcoming competition?" Song Cai asked.

Su Yuan was speechless: "At only the fourth level of Qi Refining? I wouldn't even meet the threshold!"

Song Cai said: "There are no cultivation restrictions."

Su Yuan said irritably: "Then go register me!"

"Understood!" Song Cai nodded, planning to register Su Yuan's name immediately.