The Three Realms Thief Chapter 10

“A historical branch has been established.”

“This historical branch was born from your will and did not affect anything that happened in past eras.”

“Congratulations.”

“You have gained an unknown personal history:”

“When you were seven years old.”

“While playing at home, you stumbled into a misty world when you entered a wardrobe.”

“Your father rescued you.”

As these small characters appeared.

Countless images floated through Xu Yuan’s mind.

He remembered what happened when he was seven.

In that misty world, his father found him, a smile of relief on his face.

“Dad, what is this place?”

His seven-year-old self asked.

“You’re too young; it’s not appropriate to tell you now,” his father hesitated.

“Dad, what if you’re not around next time, and I fall in again?” he insisted.

His father thought for a moment, sighed, and said:

“This technique is useless, and this world is just ruins, worthless.”

“——Its only purpose is to allow you to temporarily stay in the underworld to avoid danger.”

“When you awaken your spiritual power, I will teach you this technique.”

“What if you’re not by my side when I awaken my spiritual power?” his seven-year-old self asked.

“I will use a bloodline technique to call you and pass on this technique,” his father said.

“Remember, this technique is called—”

“Communing with the Underworld.”

The memory stopped there.

Xu Yuan suddenly opened his eyes and stood up from the ground.

The mystery was revealed!

No one would go to such great lengths to teach a secret technique to an ordinary high school student.

—But his parents would!

The shadow in his eyeball must be the bloodline technique activated by his father.

In this way, he passed on the method of entering the underworld to himself!

Xu Yuan took a few breaths, silently looking out the window.

Father…

Such a strange feeling.

But, he had to contact him now.

How to communicate?

Actually, for adults, this wasn’t a big problem.

Especially for a seasoned player of RPGs (Role-Playing Games), experiencing the father’s love for his son with the mindset of “participating in the plot”—

There was actually a slight touch of emotion.

Xu Yuan took out his phone and dialed his father’s number.

Beep—beep—

No one answered.

Archaeologists like them often become unreachable once they enter ruins.

Never mind.

He’d ask later.

Xu Yuan had no other choice but to compose himself and continue with his homework.

Eleven-thirty at night.

He finally finished all his homework, packed his bag, washed up, and lay on the bed, ready to sleep.

—The spiritual power at the first level of Qi Refining was too little.

Activating the “Communing with the Underworld” technique once, putting that mummy into the underworld, had already exhausted all his spiritual power.

After his mother’s illness, the family’s savings gradually dwindled.

There were no pills to replenish spiritual power.

He might as well sleep.

He could only wait for a night’s sleep to slowly recover.

But before sleeping—

Xu Yuan lay on the bed, opened the “Apprentice Qi Cultivator’s Combat Preparation Room,” and then took out the rare-grade item exchange coupon.

The shop immediately displayed the corresponding prompt:

“You can immediately refresh the shelves and exchange for rare-grade items.”

“Since you have unlocked the ‘Rare’ grade, all item grades are explained to you, from low to high: ”

“Broken, Common, Excellent, Fine, Rare.”

“The highest grade item in this shop is ‘Rare’ grade.”

Xu Yuan’s interest grew even stronger.

—That “Night Walk” dagger, which was quite useful, was only an Excellent grade.

So what was he waiting for?

Let him see it!

Xu Yuan whispered:

“Use the exchange coupon I have.”

No sooner had he spoken.

All the goods in the shop immediately disappeared.

Immediately after.

A pill appeared on the shelf.

The tag displayed the corresponding item description:

“Marrow Cleansing Pill.”

“Rare-grade pill.”

“Effect: Thoroughly transform your limbs, bones, and meridians, elevating your cultivation aptitude to a higher level, making your body worthy of your soul!”

“—Washing the marrow and cleansing the essence, reconnecting veins and reviving spirit.”

“Price: Exchange directly.”

Good stuff!

For cultivators, this was truly good stuff!

Xu Yuan exchanged the pill without hesitation, then swallowed it whole.

He got up from the bed, sat cross-legged, and waited for the pill’s power to slowly dissolve.

One breath.

Two breaths.

Three breaths.

Time slowly passed.

Xu Yuan unconsciously entered a strange state of oblivion.

If one looked closely, they would find his body trembling slightly, as if undergoing a baptism of some extremely powerful force.

It wasn’t until past four in the morning.

He suddenly opened his eyes.

What followed was a layer of black, foul-smelling substance suddenly exuding from the surface of his body.

—All sorts of impurities in his body were being discharged!

Xu Yuan hurriedly jumped out of bed, rushed into the bathroom, turned on the shower, and took a refreshing bath.

He also washed the sheets and his clothes.

He changed into a clean set of new clothes and settled down in the living room.

At this time, dawn had not yet broken.

All was silent.

Xu Yuan sat there motionless, yet he felt spiritual energy continuously pouring into his body from all directions in the void.

He felt as if his entire being had been sifted by spiritual energy.

He had inexhaustible strength.

Light as a swallow.

His mind was clear and sharp, and his thoughts moved at a different speed than before.

This made his “past self” seem like a drunken wastrel living a muddled life.

—Second level of Qi Refining!

He was already at the second level of Qi Refining!

With this strength as a high school student, he could basically get into all sorts of universities nationwide.

But to enter the top universities, such as Nine Luminaries or Luofu, he would need to reach the third level of Qi Refining.

Yang Xiaobing only received the special recruitment test notice after reaching the third level of Qi Refining.

“What a pity…”

Xu Yuan uttered two words but did not continue.

For esports, various talents such as visual reaction, hand-eye coordination, prediction, and multitasking are required.

Unfortunately, there was no reaction time testing software here, nor any dynamic vision training tools.

—Otherwise, he would definitely break a test record!

Unable to test, why not practice?

He sat cross-legged on the sofa, quickly forming hand seals for spells.

From the water and fire spells of Alchemy, to the artifact-driving spells of Artifice Refining, to the thirty-six methods of talisman refining, and then to the recitation and use of sword arts.

Xu Yuan practiced and summarized what he had learned in the three years of high school.

He had a mind to try the Communing with the Underworld technique again.

But the array on the main door had been broken by the police and hadn’t been replaced yet, meaning anyone could enter the house directly.

If he was discovered, it would be over.

He could only endure it and wait for a quiet place during the day to further explore the mysteries of this technique.

Unconsciously.

Dawn broke in the east.

It was half past six in the morning.

The alarm suddenly rang, “waking” Xu Yuan from his immersion in cultivation.

“It’s already half past six…”

He muttered, stood up, slung his backpack over his shoulder, changed his shoes, and left the house.

First, he went to the street to buy steamed buns, side dishes, and porridge.

Then, he cut through an alley, turned a corner, and arrived at the hospital.

—The archaeologist’s family compound was very close to the hospital, which was especially important.

Otherwise, Xu Yuan wouldn’t even be able to attend school on time.

He familiarially entered the inpatient department, went upstairs, and pushed open the ward door.

“Xiaoyuan is here.”

A tired female voice sounded.

“Mom,” Xu Yuan called out, placed his breakfast on the bedside table, and then pulled up a chair to sit by the bed.

He looked at his original body’s mother.

Zhao Shulan.

—This was a middle-aged woman just over forty, but with more than half of her hair already gray.

Xu Yuan resembled her greatly, both with oval faces, large eyes, and high nose bridges.

The difference was.

Zhao Shulan had suffered from illness for many years, her figure frail, her face pale and haggard.

—Zhao Shulan was also an expert in ancient artifacts in her early years, but she contracted an unknown poison during an excavation of ruins.

No medicine helped; she could only sustain herself.

“Are you hungry?”

Xu Yuan asked softly.

This ward had six beds, and the other patients hadn’t woken up yet.

“Not hungry,” Zhao Shulan shook her head, “What about you? Eat quickly, you have to rush to school soon.”

“There’s still time, no rush.”

Xu Yuan recalled his predecessor’s speaking habits and replied.

“How’s school recently? Did your teachers say anything about you?” Zhao Shulan asked.

“All good, don’t worry,” Xu Yuan smiled.

“I’ve been a burden to you,” Zhao Shulan sighed, “If you didn’t have to take care of me, you wouldn’t be working so hard every day.”

“Every day, don’t overthink things,” Xu Yuan interrupted, “By the way, I mastered the Flying Swallow Chain of the Yan Song Sword Art.”

“Really?” Zhao Shulan was indeed distracted.

“Of course.”

Xu Yuan held a disposable chopstick, his hand moving like lightning, continuously slashing out eight white, thread-like sword qi in the air.

*Snap.*

The disposable chopstick couldn’t withstand the force and broke directly.

“Sword Movement of the Eight Wilds.”

Zhao Shulan murmured solemnly.

The room fell silent.

To be able to unleash sword qi meant that his spiritual power was accomplished, that he was a Qi Refiner, allowed to enter universities for further study.

What’s more, he had pushed the most difficult sword art in high school to its limit!

Eight streams of sword qi released simultaneously, there was a saying, “Flying Swallow Chain, Sword Movement of the Eight Wilds.”

This was the highest realm of the Yan Song Sword Art, and also its limit.

If he could unleash such sword qi during the Gaokao, he would get full marks in the swordplay examination, and then getting into a key university would be a certainty.

Zhao Shulan’s eyes reddened, she covered her face with her hands, and choked out:

“That’s wonderful.”

“I’ve been restless lately, afraid something might happen, but who knew my son would be so promising.”

Xu Yuan was silent for a moment, then pulled out a tissue and handed it to her, saying softly:

“Yes, I am indeed promising.”

He waited for Zhao Shulan’s emotions to stabilize, then helped her sit up and brought over the buns and porridge.

Zhao Shulan wanted to eat by herself, but he glared at her.

Xu Yuan held the porridge, spoon-feeding her until she finished, and then stayed with her, chatting for a while.

When she started to feel sleepy.

Xu Yuan helped her pull up the covers and left.

Seven-ten.

Ten minutes until class.

Xu Yuan jogged towards the Fifth High School of Jiangbei City.

*Ding-a-ling-ling—*

Just as the bell for self-study rang, he finally reached the classroom.

“Have you eaten?”

His best friend, Zhao Afei, handed him a bun.

“Not yet. This bun is good, which bakery is it from?” Xu Yuan devoured it.

“From a new bakery behind the school, I think it’s good too,” Zhao Afei said.

“Lend me a sip of your soy milk.”

Xu Yuan grabbed the soy milk from Zhao Afei’s desk and drank it all in one gulp.

“Lend? When are you going to return it?” Zhao Afei said, annoyed.

“I’ll teach you alchemy,” Xu Yuan said.

“Bah, I’ll teach you, more like,” Zhao Afei retorted.

—Originally, Xu Yuan was good at sword arts and martial arts, while Zhao Afei specialized in alchemy.

Once he said that, Zhao Afei naturally had to object.

The homeroom teacher appeared at the classroom door.

The two who were talking immediately sat up straight with their books, no longer whispering.

“Students, prepare!”

As soon as the teacher spoke, everyone stopped reading aloud and looked up at the podium.

“At nine in the morning.”

“The team battle officially begins!”