Picking Up a Bargain

When Chen Guan opened his eyes, the ceiling slowly came into focus.

Every inch of muscle in his body was protesting.

The excessive consumption of mental energy made his brain sting like it was being pricked by needles.

This was the aftereffect of continuous deaths and forced overexertion, more severe than ever before.

Long Ao sat on the chair beside the bed, his face pale, but his eyes remained clear.

It seemed his injuries had stabilized and there was no major issue.

Chen Guan closed his eyes, his consciousness sinking into the system panel.

The live comments had blown up.

Various words overlapped layer upon layer, making it almost impossible to read the content.

He simply turned off the comments temporarily. Fortunately, they could be closed, otherwise he wouldn't even be able to see the road ahead.

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However, before he could feel the joy of this harvest, Sys's voice immediately followed.

"Host, because the main body has digested the remnants of the godhood, although its strength has greatly increased, it is now in a contaminated state. To resolve this, you need to find a high-level medium to nourish the body and digest this power."

"For example, the current main body is like Long Ao when he previously forced the use of power he couldn't control. The system has now sealed this portion of power, but sealing it is not a long-term solution. It is better to guide it than to block it. Please make preparations early, Host."

"As of right now, if you want a one-time cure, it will require one million popularity points."

Chen Guan's heart sank.

He had planned everything, intercepted Blood Butcher's ritual, and presented a grand feast for his main body.

But this meal was too nourishing.

So nourishing that the main body was completely stuffed.

A massive sense of harvest intertwined with disappointment.

Just then, someone knocked on the room door, and two people walked in. One wore a white coat, likely a doctor, and the other Chen Guan was familiar with—it was Long Ye.

Long Ao's muscles instantly tensed up in response. The golden dragon aura had just overflowed from his body when it wailed and dissipated under that invisible aura.

Long Ye's figure was not tall, and given his advanced age, he shouldn't have posed any threat.

But just by standing there, the center of gravity of the entire room fell upon him, giving off a mountain-like sense of steadiness.

The old man's gaze swept past Long Ao and finally landed on Chen Guan in the hospital bed.

The gaze held no hostility, yet it made one subconsciously hold their breath.

"Grandpa!" Long Ao squeezed the word out through his teeth with difficulty.

Long Ye ignored his grandson.

He walked step by step to the bed and stared at Chen Guan.

When he spoke, his voice was not loud.

"It was my negligence to let you two juniors get involved in an incident of this level."

As he spoke, he bowed slightly toward Chen Guan on the bed.

"On behalf of the Great Wall, I apologize to you."

Long Ao's eyes widened.

He had never seen his grandfather bow his head to anyone. His grandfather was famously stubborn and unyielding.

Chen Guan's heart also skipped a beat.

He had anticipated many scenarios, but the only thing he hadn't expected was a personal apology from this former top powerhouse.

In his imagination, this old man should have been much more unreasonable.

Chen Guan didn't move, just looking at the old man.

Long Ye didn't release any aura; he was as plain as always.

"The Great Wall rewards merits and punishes faults. You stepped forward in a time of crisis and saved the entire city single-handedly. We will remember your contribution."

"But letting a student like you bear all this is our dereliction of duty. Compensation must be given."

After speaking, he gave a slight nod to the doctor in the white coat behind him.

The doctor understood, stepped forward, and handed over a thin metal tablet.

The metal tablet was activated, and a light screen was projected in front of Chen Guan.

The list was three pages long, densely packed with items.

Long Ye didn't speak, just watching Chen Guan, waiting for him to make a choice.

Chen Guan's gaze slowly swept across the light screen.

Pills, cultivation techniques, weapons.

Every single item could be considered a treasure of immeasurable value.

But his heart rate didn't change in the slightest.

These things could make the stats of his alt identities look gorgeous, but they couldn't touch the core of the contamination in his main body inside the coffin.

The system had already explained that the main body needed the nourishment of a high-level medium. As for him, he had no use for these things either.

He swiped the light screen, his fingertips sliding past the last page, and then looked up to meet Long Ye's probing eyes.

"Thank you for the profound kindness," Chen Guan articulated clearly. "It's just that, for me, these treasures would probably be like casting pearls before swine. Using them would actually be a massive waste."

You could hear a pin drop in the room.

The shock on Long Ao's face turned into a blank stare.

His mind was buzzing.

This was an opportunity that could allow a mortal to ascend to the heavens in a single step!

Oh, right, Chen Guan wasn't a mortal to begin with. Then it was fine.

Long Ye watched Chen Guan, and a slight ripple finally appeared in those weather-beaten eyes.

He had seen too many geniuses.

To remain calm when facing such a list of treasures already showed exceptional mental fortitude. But to outright reject it, this was the first time.

This kid either had a heaven-defying backer behind him and looked down on these things.

Or, his mental fortitude was so resilient that it made people take notice.

Regardless of which it was, he was worth re-evaluating.

"Interesting." The corners of Long Ye's lips twitched slightly. "Since you look down on conventional compensation, then take a look at some of the junk I've collected over the years."

He gently waved his hand, and a box appeared.

It was a very old box.

The dark red wood was covered in scratches, the corners wrapped in rough black iron that bore mottled rust.

A cloud of dust spread out, instantly giving off a sense of age.

"Inside here are all things recovered from battlefields or ruins. Their origins are unknown, their uses are unknown, and even the official appraisal institutions couldn't make heads or tails of them."

Long Ye spoke casually. "Take a look and see if anything catches your eye. Just treat it as a souvenir."

With that, he stepped forward personally and flipped open the lid of the box.

A box full of sundries was presented before Chen Guan's eyes.

A broken arrow.

A charred black scale.

Half of a rusted metal gauntlet.

A few ancient coins with illegible text...

It was all junk whose value couldn't be appraised—tasteless to eat, yet a pity to throw away.

Long Ao frowned. He felt his grandfather doing this was a bit inappropriate. Using a pile of scrap to compensate someone wouldn't sound good if word got out.

Even though Chen Guan had refused first, this was still too perfunctory.

Chen Guan, however, propped himself up and sat a bit straighter.

A premonition welled up in his heart. The real opportunity had arrived.

He reached out and slowly rummaged through the pile of sundries.

Suddenly, his hand paused. Could his eyesight really be better than Long Ye's?

"Sys, take a look for me."

He called out in his heart.

My lord, times have changed.

Sys, this little thing, was indeed knowledgeable and experienced. It looked through them very quickly. A series of negative feedbacks flashed by, but Chen Guan's heart grew even calmer.

His fingertips touched a cold, smooth object.

It was a palm-sized ink-colored jade stone, irregular in shape, with no patterns on its surface and an introverted luster.

Mixed in a pile of scrap, it was completely inconspicuous, but it felt exceptionally warm and smooth to the touch.

The moment his fingertips touched the jade, the system's voice rang out in his mind.

"Host, Soul-Nourishing Ancient Jade detected. It can construct a stable spiritual field, nourish a damaged divine soul, and neutralize the contamination of alien godhood."

Found it!

He really did stumble upon a hidden treasure.

It wasn't time yet; he couldn't smile just yet.

He tried his best to calm his wildly beating heart. He rubbed the piece of jade with his fingers a couple of times, then pretended to reluctantly put it back down and continued to rummage through the other items.

He picked up the other objects, making a show of examining them.

Finally, putting on an air of utter boredom, he casually picked the dark jade back up.

He rested the jade in his palm and held it up to the light.

The jade itself wasn't translucent. It merely reflected the pale light of the hospital room, looking entirely unremarkable.

"This stone feels pretty good in the hand, and it looks quite vintage." Chen Guan raised his head. "I'll just take this, as a souvenir of this incident."