Chapter 194: The Second Fate Chest

The Holy Mother Empress Dowager died, and the corrupt guards within the palace were cleared away by the Flying Bear Iron Cavalry.

The hidden quest has been completed.

Chu Danqing instructed Xiong Zhigang to help search for treasure-like items so Chu Danqing could convert them into Paradise Points.

Upon hearing Chu Danqing's request, Xiong Zhigang immediately agreed.

He had little he could truly assist with; it was rare for Chu Danqing to ask for anything, and finally there was a way he could be useful.

Then, Chu Danqing was sent back, and this time there was no handling fee.

【You returned your covenant partner. Repatriation cognitive rationalization completed. Current duration: 2 hours. Cost: 2160 Paradise Points.】

After being sent back, Chu Danqing left the palace immediately. He didn't need to worry about cleanup—such a vast capital as Shuo Jing, with its civil and military officials, would inevitably have someone step forward.

Originally, he hadn't expected everyone in the palace to become corrupt guards; had even one living person remained, Chu Danqing could have managed them.

But with no living souls left, he was like a skillful wife unable to cook without rice.

Secondly, if he didn't send Guo Ming and Xiong Zhigang away soon, the time limit would exceed three hours, forcing Chu Danqing to pay another 1080 Paradise Points.

After leaving the capital, he found a safe location and opened the Fate Chest dropped by the Holy Mother Empress Dowager.

【You opened: Fate Chest (Special). Obtained: Skill Book (Nurturing Basics), Skill Book (Harmonizing Basics), Race Gene (Tiefling), Bloodline (Succubus), Class (Bloodline Witch), Skill Book (Ninefold Hell Meditation Method).】

"Huh? Why no special skill?" Chu Danqing's expression showed disappointment.

That Holy Mother Empress Dowager clearly had some charm—surely she should've dropped a skill comparable to Dragon Pattern Phoenix Bearing.

"A Tiefling bloodline witch with Succubus bloodline? Makes sense."

"No wonder it felt familiar—but it's probably not the Tiefling or Succubus from D&D; more like the witch archetypes in webnovel fantasy." Chu Danqing muttered.

Chu Danqing glanced at the two basic skills, then immediately chose to learn them.

Nurturing Basics is a foundational skill of the Summoning school's Beast Taming branch; Harmonizing Basics is a universal foundational skill, crucial for Summoning.

—

【Nurturing Basics: LV. 】

【Skill Effect: Increases summoned creature's bloodline effect by 1%, enhances summoned creature's racial heritage.】

—

【Harmonizing Basics: LV. 】

【Skill Effect: Increases summoned creature's affinity tendency by 1%, harmonizes summoned creature system conflicts.】

—

Knowledge flooded into his mind, but Chu Danqing's expression showed little change.

These foundational concepts weren't much to him.

"Before returning, I should be able to raise Summoning's Nurturing Basics to around LV. ." Chu Danqing already had three Summoning foundational skills; unless he favored one, leveling them in sequence was no issue.

The Harmonizing Basics skill, however, felt entirely unfamiliar to Chu Danqing.

Since Chu Danqing specialized in Summoning, its effect became increasing affinity and harmonizing summoned creature system conflicts.

For Melee, it would increase skill tolerance and harmonize combat skill conflicts.

Every school needed it—even Life Skills required it; on the market, its value equaled that of primary foundational skills like Melee or Ranged.

The main reason was that this foundational skill required support-type skills—it needed a core foundational skill to function; alone, it was useless.

For Chu Danqing, this universal foundational skill was also extremely important.

Summoned creature system conflicts were deadly: with this skill, Ghost Mother and Ghost Infant could now benefit from the Heaven's Child's buffs.

Ghost Mother was a ghost, Heaven's Child an immortal spirit; if the buff landed on Ghost Mother, it would cause damage instead of strengthening.

Harmonizing effectively granted limited friendly-fire immunity.

But since it was only a basic skill, it couldn't erase the gap entirely.

As for affinity tendency, that was simpler.

Now that Ghost Mother and Heaven's Child had no system conflict, their incompatibility still remained.

At best, they wouldn't harm each other—but gaining buffs was still wishful thinking.

Affinity tendency addressed this: Ghost Mother now received 1% of Heaven's Child's buff effects.

Of course, this was the simplest, most crude application.

There were also Heji -style uses: forcing two opposing systems into synergy to unleash far more violent power.

As for Nurturing Basics, this skill resembled a lower-tier version of Summoning Basics.

Summoning Basics enhanced growth and potential; Nurturing Basics enhanced racial heritage.

The two complemented each other perfectly.

As for bloodline effects, Chu Danqing would have to figure that out himself.

Da Bao had Fallen Petal Essence to activate bloodlines easily; but Da Bai's case was special—he'd likely need to raise Nurturing Basics and Harmonizing Basics to LV. AX before activation.

Da Bai was a classic case of conflicting systems; without Harmonizing Basics, activating his bloodline would require Nurturing Proficiency for any chance of success.

As for the race gene, bloodline, class, and inherited skills that followed, Chu Danqing didn't even glance at them—he shoved them all into his storage space.

He wouldn't use them; they didn't fit his Summoning system.

He'd wait until returning to bundle and sell them—he guessed only major factions could afford them; small teams and lone wolves couldn't possibly pay the price.

He hadn't yet decided what to exchange them for.

"I wonder how the Holy Mother Empress Dowager came to this world."

"A Western fantasy Tiefling appearing in a wuxia world—could it be another mess left by some apostle?"

Chu Danqing had now received his second Fate Chest and had gained considerable insight into how to obtain them.

Foreign, special, high status, high power—anyone meeting these four conditions, and killed during a top-tier kill-type hidden quest, might drop a Fate Chest.

Both Tai Chang Emperor and the Holy Mother Empress Dowager met all four conditions.

"I still have plenty of trial time left. Find a place to train."

"I'll focus on raising Nurturing Basics, and Da Bai will raise Nine-Head Spirit Form Scripture. No more meddling after this."

Chu Danqing had done enough—he'd defeated the biggest boss. Now it was up to the people themselves.

He wanted to guide them, but he lacked the power.

The prerequisite for sheltering all the poor scholars is thousands of grand halls.

If there are none, better to cultivate oneself in poverty.

Chu Danqing wouldn't isolate himself—he'd occasionally emerge during the remaining trial time to check the situation.

—

Time passed swiftly; Chu Danqing's trial time was down to half an hour.

He stopped in time, refusing to push further.

Balance between labor and rest was key.

These past days, he'd focused entirely on Nurturing Basics and Da Bai's Nine-Head Spirit Form Scripture.

Now Nurturing Basics had reached LV. —higher than his estimate by one level.

Bloodline effect increased to 8%.

Meanwhile, Da Bai's Nine-Head Spirit Form Scripture, aided by Nourishing Essence, surged rapidly to LV. 0.

From the start of the upgrade, Chu Danqing's mana had never exceeded 100 points for a single minute—all channeled into Da Bai's cultivation.

The inherited skill upgrade wasn't the focus; the key was that after level 10, Da Bai grew another head.

And this new head had self-awareness, shared memories, yet a completely different personality.

Now every day, two Da Bais shouted inside Chu Danqing's mind: "Daddy, hiss."

Sometimes in unison, sometimes taking turns—they were having a blast.

【Xiangliu White Snake · Household Spirit (Liu Changying)】

【Attributes】

【HP: 100%】

【Mana: 10200 (Current ratio: Spirit ×10×2; current recovery rate: 100 points per minute)】

【.】

【Spirit: 10×2】

【Perception: 10×2】

【Spirituality: 12】

【.】

【Skills】

【Nine-Head Spirit Form Scripture (Inherited) LV. 0】

【+1000 Mana per level; +100 Mana recovery per level】

【Inherited Skills】

【Spirit Art · Spirit Healing (Active) LV. 0: Consume 10 Mana, instantly restore 100 HP and purge one negative status】

【Spirit Art · Spirit Recovery (Active) LV. 0: Consume 20 Mana, restore 200 HP over 30 seconds within range, gain 10 HP shield lasting 10 seconds】

【Spirit Art · Evil Curse (Active) LV. 0: Consume 10 Mana, reduce all attributes of targets in range by 1 point, reduce HP recovery by 1%, duration 20 seconds, stackable up to 2 layers】

【Spirit Art · Evil Speech (Active) LV. 0: Consume 20 Mana, inflict Weakness and Poison on target, duration 20 seconds, stackable up to 2 layers】

—

【Multi-Casting (Passive) LV. : When casting a skill, release it two additional times, consuming half the skill's Mana cost】

—

With the Nine-Headed Spirit Image Scripture upgraded and a second head growing, Da Bai's auxiliary abilities underwent a qualitative leap.

Healing now carried buffs and shields, and crowd control gained additional effects and increased stacking limits.

Most powerful of all was multiple casting: previously, one head could cast once more; now, each head can cast twice.

This means one skill cast splits into three casts, and crucially, the latter two casts consume only half the Qi.

As for Da Shuo's situation, Chu Danqing had learned some: Wei Chu's Reform Army had grown steadily and seized Shuo Capital seven days ago.

Following Chu Danqing's orders, they implemented reforms, enlightened the people and strengthened their strength.

Though not yet unified, their policies favored the common folk, so they enjoyed popular support.

They may have had other ideas before, but after Chu Danqing "annihilated" the imperial palace, all members of the Reform Army fell silent.

"I wonder how much prices have risen in the Paradise since reaching Rank 1." Chu Danqing pulled out a card—the reward he'd received from Xue Ying.

【You used: Paradise Savings Card, obtained: Paradise Points ×50000】

"I hope it's not insane—I really can't afford it if it is," Chu Danqing thought helplessly.

As his words ended, the remaining trial time hit zero.

(End of Chapter)