Seized by the System

“Big brother, big brother. Tell me, how do you live with your loved ones forever?”

Within the Draconic Arcane Realm, on the grass-green bank of the smallest river was Hong Hu, who had asked the question as she looked up at a handsome young man.

The young man rolled his eyes, ‘Becoming too young isn’t exactly a good thing either…

‘Did my own daughter just called me big brother?

‘Calling me uncle wouldn’t have been a problem.’

“Didn’t I tell you to call me uncle before? Even if you really can’t do it, it won’t hurt to call me elder uncle…” said Ren Ruofeng with a flick of his fan.

“But you look like you’re barely 20 years old. Isn’t uncle reserved for people in their 30s?” wondered Hong Hu aloud.

“Oh, it’s because of an ability that I cultivate, which helps me retain my youthful looks. In fact, my actual age is…uh…” Ren Ruofeng found it difficult to continue.

If he were to say he was already 76 years old, would the girl not call him grandpa instead?

That would be even worse than calling him big brother…

“Oh, oh, I get it now. You’re just like mother, you’re already tens of thousands of years old, right… Should I be calling you… Ancestor?” quipped Hong Hu.

“Oh… You’re an intelligent kid. However, I’m merely a mortal Cultivator, so my lifespan isn’t that long yet. However, I’m a friend of your mother, so it’s better if you called me uncle instead,” insisted Ren Ruofeng.

“Alright then. Uncle Ren, you still haven’t answered my question from just now,” persisted Hong Hu.

“Oh, it’s no wonder your mother gave you such a name… As expected, a headdress compares favorably with a beard ¹ and what would a sparrow and a swallow know of the aims of a swan? ² However, your future is going to be a difficult one,” lamented Ren Ruofeng.

“Uncle, only half of what you said is correct. Mother said that in the future, us Celestial Swine will no longer be differentiated into male and female, so there won’t be any difference between headdresses and beards…” said Hong Hu proudly.

“Ah!” Ren Ruofeng was stunned at this revelation. ‘What’s the meaning of this? Does this mean that Tian Zhu wants to turn her precious daughter into some punk?’

“Why are you so shocked, uncle? The way of cultivation doesn’t discriminate with respect to gender. As long as we reach a high enough state, exchanging between Yin and Yang will be easy,” said Hong Hu seriously.

“Ugh, you really are extremely intelligent. Although I’ve always known about that, I doubt that I’ll be able to compare to you, since I haven’t been able to do that yet. Could that be the difference between the blood of a deity and a mortal?” sighed Ren Ruofeng.

“Hmm, I guess so. After all, I’ve always felt that I was different ever since I was born,” replied Hong Hu confidently.

“Very well, then I’ll answer your question. To achieve what you asked, first you have to look at your concept of longevity. If you’re thinking about ten thousand years, twenty thousand years, then you’ll probably be able to it once you reach a high enough state that will allow you to alchemize Longevity Pills. However, if you’re thinking of being the same age as the heavens and earth, and having the lifespan of the Sun and the Moon, then the only thing you can do is to attain enlightenment to become a deity or something of equal so that you’ll be able to grasp the cycles of the heavens and earth. A physical body will age, and so will a soul. If your loved ones haven’t cultivated enough and can only make up for that the lack with pills, once the pills no longer work, all you can do is to have their souls reincarnated. Despite that, the specific details are unknown to me,” said Ren Ruofeng seriously.

“I see. So I’ll need to proceed in at least two phases,” remarked Hong Hu thoughtfully.

Ren Ruofeng watched the scene with complicated emotions. ‘Surely it doesn’t mean that my daughter, no, who knows whether it’ll be a son or daughter in the future, will never be able to have a happy childhood?’

‘Her actual age is barely a few months old. Would she be like Nezha from the legends? Being independent immediately after being born?’ ³

Maybe it really was just like the legend. If he remembered it correctly, this daughter of his did take a much longer time to be born compared to ordinary fetuses, which was similar to the legend.

If that were so, it might seem like just a coincidence. However, would there be such a likely coincidence?

Ren Ruofeng’s mind flashed with a hint of gloom.

“What ability are you practicing now?” Ren Ruofeng could not help asking.

“Oh, uncle. Mother said I shouldn’t simply reveal to others the details of my ability. However, you and one other person are the exceptions,” said Hong Hu seriously.

“Oh, one other person. Let me guess, could it be the true owner of this arcane realm?” asked Ren Ruofeng, relieved.

“Yes, that handsome uncle,” replied Hong Hu, nodding her head as she did.

“Huh, why are you calling him uncle when he obviously looks so young?”

“No, I think he’s more than 30 years old. His youth and yours are different,” replied Hong Hu firmly.

“Huh, you have quite an eye.” Ren Ruofeng could understand slightly that the girl was right. “Very well, then tell me about your ability.”

“Okay. I’m currently cultivating a divine ability that’s circulating in the outside world. It’s called ‘Nine Transformation Golden Core Technique’ and I’m already at the second transformation, converging the Qi!” exclaimed Hong Hu proudly.

“What?” Ren Ruofeng was shocked beyond belief. “Why didn’t your mother ask you to cultivate the divine ability of your ancestors?”

“Oh, Mother said that many don’t know the true value of this divine ability that is circulating in the outside world. It fits the Heavenly Axiom of this world well, and it will be able to converge the power of all beings in the future. This ability has great potential, far exceeding the divine ability that my ancestors have passed down. Although cultivating that divine ability is fast in the beginning, not to mention powerful too, there are some flaws that will always appear, which makes this ability incomparable to that,” said Hong Hu.

“I see. We might have known about the formidability of this divine ability for a while, but we’ve far underestimated it,” said Ren Ruofeng as he shook his head.

This ability did not discriminate between Cultivation Proficiency. As long as you were a human, you had a chance. All that was different was the level of difficulty one would encounter.

Furthermore, the most important thing was that once a person had cultivated either magical energy or internal energy, they would still be able to trade with others…

Essentially, a person would be able to freely convert their magical energy, which could only be used on themselves before, into power sources like diesel for trade.

The more it was developed as time progressed, the more powerful it would be and the more significance it would hold.

The one who had made this ability public was the Venerable Dragon God, which only served to prove that his open-mindedness was beyond compare.

If it were some other mighty being, they might have cultivated a large number of ding furnaces ⁴ in their personal arcane realms to be used as fuel cells.

“Hmm, since that’s the case, you better do your best in cultivating it. If there’s anything that you don’t know, feel free to ask me.”

“There’s nothing that I don’t know, since everything’s really easy to understand. Everything was written in extreme detail, as if the author was afraid that nobody would be able to understand it. On the other hand, that ancestral divine ability was far too vague, as if they were afraid that everyone would be able to understand it. Besides that, it doesn’t fit any other incantations, so cultivating them is beyond impossible. Mother said that the minds of the people that had created this ability can only be compared to the saints of the Upper Realm.”

…

At the same time, the System had overheard Ren Ruofeng and Hong Hu’s conversation, and was complaining about it to Fang Ning.

“Mr. Rich Boss, I feel like I’ve suffered a great loss again. If I had known, I wouldn’t have released ‘Nine Transformation Golden Core Technique’ for free…” complained Fang Ning.

“Alright, alright. You weren’t this upset when you were receiving the award from the Heavenly Axiom. Besides, the most valuable things don’t have a price,” deadpanned Fang Ning.

“What do you mean? Are you saying that there are more benefits in store for us?” asked the System, who already felt a business opportunity arising.

“You’re so sensitive. And here I wanted to tell you about this later,” said Fang Ning, rolling his eyes. “I’ve seen that ability of yours before. They want to trade internal energy, and it’s possible between two parties. However, haven’t you noticed that it’s possible if they want to trade on a small scale, but virtually impossible on a large one.”

“Oh, I understand. Now that you’ve mentioned it, it really is so. If somebody wants to make a purchase, they’ll need to make a one-to-many collection. Each collection takes an extremely long time, and they probably won’t even be able to collect from a lot of people in their lifetime. However, if we use too many people at the same time, it’ll cost too much. What are your plans?”

“It’s simple…” answered Fang Ning, “we’ll just need to build a Magical Energy Bank. You need to craft a tool that will allow containment of Magical Energy, as well as allowing people to store and extract Magical Energy as they please. Nobody is as credible as Vigilante A, and the follow-up to the ability isn’t finished yet, so nobody has any competitive strength yet. Then, we’ll make it so that we will only give them the follow-up to the ability if our bank reaches a certain number of transactions. This way, everyone will visit our bank for trading.”

The System was instantly excited beyond belief, and praised incessantly, “As expected of your wild imagination. It’s no wonder you were so willing to distribute the ability despite being such a stingy person. You’re right, free things really are the most valuable…”