Soon enough, Gu Yuan's reputation began to spread among the lower social class in the Dongxu Palace.
"That guy promised me a marrow-washing pill, but he gave me a clay pill after I paid him all my savings. Worse, he later grew my savings in the trash can to humiliate me."
"He said Senior Sister Ji was in love with me, and I believed it. But the truth was that she was in love with another guy."
"I was doing my stuff quietly and he began to accuse me of things I never did, that bastard ruined my reputation!"
Gu Yuan turned into a villain who used his status as a shield. If it was another person, Law Enforcement would have banned him from the Dongxu Palace already because of the amount of reclamations.
But Gu Yuan was happy with the evil deeds he did, for it rendered him many fruits.
As for his bad reputation, he didn't care. With the way the panel worked, he was doomed to be labeled as a villain by others. If he was afraid, it would be a waste.
Moreover, with his status as a registered disciple of the vice peak master, he was safe for the time being, even inner disciples wouldn't dare to hurt him too badly.
After one month of intense work, he amounted to a total of 3000 points. And it was only possible because he spared no effort and put no limit to his trolling. After all, he only dared to troll weaklings like him, so he had to be extreme to gain significant points.
Thinking about how he only amounted to ten troll points, in the beginning, made him feel ashamed of his lack of guts.
"I'm a new man now," he muttered in his room, with a heroic face, "My guts are only smaller than the land."
Of course, he knew he made enemies who wouldn't hesitate to kill him given a good opportunity. But because they were weaklings he didn't care.
"You villains pouched the resources of the sect in secret for too long," he muttered and sighed, "It was about time someone like me did justice."
In truth, it was a regular thing for low-level people in the Dongxu Palace to do shady things to grow stronger, and because of their lack of talent and opportunities, few lived completely honest lives.
But Gu Yuan would feel too bad if he just trolled innocent people, so he did as he felt to be just. Those who did a great evil received a great troll. Those who did a small evil received a small troll.
Yes, he was acting like a hypocrite, and he in truth knew it but felt too bad to acknowledge it openly.
Looking at his abundant but soon-to-be-not-abundant troll points, Gu Yuan felt conflicted.
He steeled his heart and added 1250 points in his spirit root. The (4) changed to (5), and his spirit root began to change drastically.
What once looked like a chaotic mound of mundane things and colors, began to take a more symmetric form, as if transforming into something else. The mysterious multicolored glow got stronger, and Gu Yuan felt his sensibility to spiritual energy growing many times.
When the transformation was over, Gu Yuan tried to circulate the cultivation technique and found that his efficiency in cultivation increased four or five times compared to before.
[Congratulations, your spirit root is now comparable to the most inferior four elements spirit root or a middle-class five elements spirit root.]
"Still ao bad?" Gu Yuan was surprised, he thought he would at least be comparable to those with the most inferior three elements spirit root.
[Because this is the first time you used more than 1000 points in one go, you gained a single free opportunity to upgrade a quality, cherish it.]
Gu Yuan was shocked by the sudden gift, "Why are you so generous?"
[It's not me, I'm following the rules]
"Who made those rules?" Gu Yuan asked tentatively but received no answer as expected.
He clicked his tongue and used the opportunity to upgrade his spirit root again, there was no hesitation. He knew that what he needed the most to stay in the Dongxu Palace and grow was talent, or he would be abandoned.
The (5) changed to (6) and a magical change began to occur in his spirit root.
Its symmetry began to increase and it slowly took the form of a flower or lotus, it was still not clear. However, the mysterious multicolored glow was much stronger and Gu Yuan's sensibility to spiritual energy increased many times again.
[Congratulations, your spirit root is now comparable to the most inferior three elements spirit root or a middle-class four elements spirit root.]
"Then, is it comparable to a high-class five elements spirit root?" Gu Yuan asked curiously.
[Obviously, it's such a simple correlation, why are you asking?]
"Thanks for your generous answer," Gu Yuan sighed and contained his anger.
In the following time, Gu Yuan began to use his newly gained talent to cultivate hard. He would only stop to rest, eat, and do some natural things...
His progress was many times faster than before, so much so that he was about to reach the second layer two months before the deadline. Of course, the fact that he had (Excellent Mastery) over the cultivation technique was a key factor as well.
Other ordinary disciples would need many years to reach that level of mastery over even such ordinary technique.
Just as he felt he could break through at any time he wished, the panel gave him bad news.
[Because of some reasons, you can only advance to the next layer when you reach a minimum quality of foundation on the first layer, and that minimum is (10)]
"Are you kidding me? How the fuck can I accumulate so many points?" Gu Yuan cursed out loud in his room.
[Hey, don't put your anger on me, I'm just stating the rules.]
"Fuck it!" Gu Yuan clenched his fists with bloodshot eyes, "Do you want me to be expulsed by the palace?"
[Is it so bad?]
"The fuck you mean?"
[Don't you think this place is too high-level for you right now? Won't it be good to go to a place where only weaklings exist? You can troll there and accumulate points faster!]
"Although what you said makes sense, where am I going to find the subsequent cultivation techniques and resources for my cultivation? And the spiritual energy in the outside world is much thinner than here!"
[Just go troll outside, lad, stop being a damn pussy!]
"Fuck you!" Gu Yuan couldn't control himself and cursed out loud.
Making a short story, Gu Yuan didn't pass the test given by Song Hao was was politely invited to leave the palace.
He tried to advance to the second layer separately, but the panel blocked all his attempts with great power, he couldn't advance an inch.
Maybe his dumb shit dog luck worked a bit, and Song Hao gave him the (Qi Refinement Chapter) of the Firm Mountain Cultivation Technique, he said that it was a final gift to end the cause and effect between master and disciple.
[See? Your luck is not so bad, at least you don't need to worry about the following cultivation technique for a long while.]
"Yes, I might die of old age before I'm able to reach the Qi Refinement Realm," Gu Yuan muttered with resentment.
Sensing the thin spiritual energy in the air, he sighed and walked through the spiritual farms. He was going home.
His parents were spirit farmers without cultivation, but the fact that they lived in contact with spiritual plants daily made their health great compared to other mortals.
They worked hard daily and were already over forty years old, but their bodies were very young-looking.
Looking at his small house, Gu Yuan felt warm in his heart and called, "Mother, Father, your unfiliar son is back."
After a few seconds, two figures appeared from between the plantations behind Gu Yuan.
"Son!" two happy figures hurriedly hugged Gu Yuan.
His father was named Gu Wuji, and his mother was named Gu Mei. He inherited the sharp facial features of his father and the dark brown hair of his mother.
But his bright green eyes were gifts from both of them, they also had beautiful evergreen gems.
His parents received him warmly without asking questions, they took him inside the house and prepared tea and snacks.
His mother was particularly doting, she asked if he was hungry or hurt anywhere. His father asked if he founded a family of his own outside.
Gu Yuan laughed, "How could I? I'm just sixteen, I don't even know a girl interested in me."
"At your age, I was already living with your mother," Gu Wuji snorted and cleaned his dirty face with a towel.
"Took you long enough to conceive me, then," Gu Yuan held back a laugh.
"You got quite daring after spending so long outside," Gu Wuji laughed and didn't care.
After a little while, Gu Mei seemed to have made a decision and asked, "Son, why are you here?"
Gu Yuan was silent for a while and sighed, "It's complicated... yet, it's tragically simple."
"It doesn't really matter, what really matters is that you are well and here with us," Gu Wuji seemed to have understood something and began to console him, "You are our son, regardless of the world."
"I'm sorry, but I was too talentless and was given up by the sect," Gu Yuan reunited enough will and spoke firmly.
"...I see," Gu Mei sighed and hugged him, "But it's just as your father said, it doesn't really matter."
"Mortals, immortals... Is the difference that big? Even the so-called immortals eventually die, why should we consider them superior?" Gu Wuji snorted and patted his shoulder, "Live your life, that was given to you, that is the most important thing. Be happy, die satisfied."
"Stop speaking of death," Gu Mei gave Gu Wuji sharp glares, "So insensitive."
Gu Yuan then spent some days with his parents, he had missed them dearly while in the Dongxu Palace. Moreover, he was just a sixteen-year-old boy, he had yet to mature.
But he knew he couldn't stagnate, not if he wanted to grow stronger and advance on the harsh road of cultivation.
He had such a great opportunity like the panel, despite it trolling him constantly with unreasonable demands, he couldn't just throw it in the trash.
He began to trace a plan for his future actions while spending the days helping his parents on the farm. With his great strength compared to ordinary mortals, many things turned easier for the family.
He took a separate day when his parents were too occupied to care about him and chose to upgrade his cultivation base quality from (4) to (5), he knew the following journey was going to be difficult, the greater his strength the better.
The change was dramatic, Gu Yuan thought he was going to die but silently endured the pain of having his insides tempered violently.
A gross layer of impurities and blood quickly grew above his skin, Gu Yuan would throw up blood from time to time during the transformation.
But when everything was over, even in a weakened state, Gu Yuan felt he was at least as strong as someone in the fourth layer, he could be considered a monster back in the Dongxu palace.
The Body Tempering Realm was divided into nine layers, and also in three stages. From the first to the third layer it was the Early Stage, from the fourth to the sixth layer it was the Middle Stage, and from the seventh to the ninth layer it was the Late Stage.
The difference in strength between the third and fourth layers was bigger than the difference between the second and the third because it was a division of stages. The same applied to the sixth and seventh layers.
After about a month, he gathered enough willpower and bid farewell to his parents, promising and reassuring them that he would return.
His destiny after leaving was a mortal dynasty far away, he had to spend many months traveling. But that place would be the perfect territory for his growth according to his calculations.