Son, Put Your Father To The Test (FF)

After putting away the massive imperial weapon, Qin Chuan fell into deep thought once more.

At this point, his name was renowned across the Eastern Domain.

He had completed the system's task, but this newfound fame presented a new obstacle for his future progress—Qin Zhi now had a formidable background!

His reputation had spread far and wide, and most of the Eastern Domain's factions wouldn't dare to offend Qin Zhi, let alone harbor any killing intent toward him.

Qin Chuan couldn't help but suspect:

Was the system deliberately making things harder for him?

"This damn system, could it have secretly upgraded itself, turning from easy mode to hard mode??"

He muttered to himself.

"Ding! The Strongest Dad System 2.0 is at your service," suddenly, a mechanical voice echoed in his mind.

Qin Chuan was stunned and asked blankly, "System, did you really... upgrade? When did this happen?"

"Ding! Without the upgrade, how could we have added the recharge function?" The system replied with a hint of smugness. "Did you think you could recharge without doing anything? Having hands alone isn't enough!"

Qin Chuan twitched at the corners of his mouth.

This system was getting cheeky.

He noticed that the system seemed to have developed more personality compared to before. It no longer felt cold and robotic.

"System, do you have a character panel?" Qin Chuan asked.

"Ding! You didn't ask before, but since you asked now, here it is," the system answered calmly, and a virtual panel appeared before his eyes:

Name: Qin Chuan

Cultivation Level: Saint of Three Heavens

Identity: Father

Equipment: Black Whale Imperial Sword, Azure Lotus Sacred Sword, Prison-Suppressing Cauldron

Skills: Three Flowers at the Apex, Hell Lotus, Nine Dragons Battle Qi, Indestructible Golden Bell, Azure Lotus Sword Art, Martial Emperor's Sword

Dad Points: 0.9 Lu Chong

Qin Chuan looked at it and couldn't help but laugh. His identity was now marked as "Father," and it seemed like some sort of achievement had been unlocked after completing the main quest My Father is Qin Chuan.

As for the 0.9 Lu Chong worth of dad points, he wasn't surprised. He had originally obtained 1 full Lu Chong but spent 0.1 of it.

Back at Lansheng Peak, when the Lu family had set up the barrier, his cultivation level had been insufficient to penetrate it. In order to break through and save Qin Zhi, the opportunistic system had taken advantage and charged him.

Breaking through the barrier had cost him 0.1 Lu Chong.

Normally, with the purchasing power of a single Lu Chong, it wouldn't have taken so much to break through that barrier. Perhaps just 0.01 would've sufficed. But to save his son, Qin Chuan had no choice but to be extorted by the system.

Damn merchant!

"Ding! The host still has 0.9 Lu Chong, which is quite a significant amount of dad points. Would you like to browse the Dad Points Store?" The system's voice, sounding as if it could smell money, reappeared with a slightly seductive tone, eager to drain Qin Chuan dry.

"Sure, let's have a look." Qin Chuan replied calmly, having already made up his mind—he would just browse without buying!

A product list appeared in front of him. Though it looked like it was in front of his eyes, it was really in his mind, visible only to him.

The product list was divided into five categories:

Divine Abilities

Weapons

Support

Cheats

Pets

Qin Chuan skimmed through and immediately passed over the Pets category. After all, he could barely feed himself; how could he afford to take care of a pet?

As for Weapons, he wasn't interested for the time being either. He already had the Azure Lotus Sword and an imperial sword, which was enough for now.

"Hmm, let's take a look anyway." Out of curiosity, he decided to see what kind of goods the Dad Points Store had to offer.

With a light touch, the Weapons section expanded:

 Imperial Artifact: Heaven-Suppressing Cauldron – 10,000 Lu Chong!

 Imperial Artifact: Nine Phoenix Furnace – 8,000 Lu Chong!

 Imperial Artifact: Xingtian Axe – 7,000 Lu Chong!

 ...

 Royal Artifact: Mountain and River Diagram – 100 Lu Chong

 Royal Artifact: Falling Moon Blade – 80 Lu Chong

 Royal Artifact: Xuan Yin Sword – 60 Lu Chong

 ...

 Royal Artifact: Missing Sun Blade – 10 Lu Chong.

Qin Chuan scrolled down to find that the cheapest royal artifact in the "Missing Sun" series still cost 10 Lu Chong!

"Heh, I never intended to buy anything anyway," Qin Chuan scoffed, swiftly exiting the Weapons section.

Having seen the exorbitant prices, he wasn't particularly interested in browsing the other sections either. Instead, he went straight for the Cheats category, which he figured would be the most practical.

Various cheats appeared before him:

 Martial Emperor Possession: Gain the battle strength of a random Martial Emperor. Consumes 10 Lu Chong per second.

 World Emperor Possession: Gain the battle strength of a random World Emperor. Consumes 0.1 Lu Chong per second.

 ...

 Instant Teleportation: Instantly teleport to a random location within 1,000 miles. Consumes 0.1 Lu Chong.

 Barrier Penetration: Pass through any barrier. The price varies depending on the level of the barrier. For barriers below the World Emperor level, the price is 0.01 Lu Chong. For barriers above the World Emperor level...

Suddenly, the last sentence began flashing, and the text was rapidly deleted as if someone were erasing a document.

Qin Chuan's mouth twitched, and he let out a contemptuous chuckle.

"Heh..."

But he decided not to dwell on it. After all, he had already spent the points. Expecting a refund from the system? Impossible!

He closed the Dad Points Store and began to strategize.

"Of all the cheats, the World Emperor Possession is currently the most useful to me. At a critical moment, it could serve as a trump card."

"However, with my current dad points, I can only maintain the power of a World Emperor for nine seconds. In other words... I'm a nine-second wonder?"

He shook his head with a bitter smile.

It seemed he needed to accumulate more dad points, which meant his son needed to keep stirring up trouble!

"At this point, the only people worthy of being humiliated by Qin Zhi are the young members of the three royal families and the two sacred sects in the Eastern Domain. Oh, and there's also Qi Huang from the Qi family."

"Everyone else would probably be overly respectful or eager to curry favor with Qin Zhi now, making it hard to provoke any conflicts."

"So, if I want to earn more dad points and improve my cultivation, I'll have to focus on these five powers."

"Shui Qinghan is currently at the Qi family. Although I don't believe he's truly loyal to Qi Huang, it's better to let him finish what he's doing. So, I won't be visiting the Qi family for now."

Just then, the system's voice echoed once more:

"Ding! Congratulations, you have triggered the main quest—My Son Qin Zhi Has the Bearing of an Emperor!"

"Note: As a responsible father, you must hope for your son to achieve greatness and become a true prodigy! Therefore, within three months, make the entire Eastern Domain recognize that your son has the bearing of an emperor!"

"Quest Reward: A World Emperor Divine Ability!"

Upon hearing this, Qin Chuan's eyes narrowed.

It seemed the system knew what he was planning and had given him a task that came with a nice bonus.

This was... actually pretty good!

Although it felt a bit like the system was playing him, he knew that every system had its schemes.

There was no need to worry about it for now. After all, with his current strength, he wasn't even capable of rebelling, let alone toppling the system.

"It's time for Qin Zhi to go out and challenge people. With his current status, it's only right that he challenges the other geniuses."

Qin Chuan smiled.

Now that his own reputation had been established, it had its perks. Previously, Qin Zhi couldn't even get into the same circles as these elite geniuses. But now, that was no longer an issue.

A genius without backing would be turned away by servants before even getting the chance to challenge someone from a major power.

But a genius with a powerful background was different.

When they issued a challenge, it garnered significant attention, and the challenged party would have no choice but to respond.

With that thought, he smiled kindly and called out, "Qin Zhi, come in here. Your father has another task for you..."