Chapter 45: Too Much

Ye Chen felt a sense of despair regarding his talent. Without the system, he probably would’ve spent his entire life at the bottom of the cultivation world, with no hope of ever turning his fate around. But fortunately, he had the system. That made all the difference.

So, Ye Chen didn’t spend too much time brooding over his lack of talent. If he couldn’t learn, it didn’t matter. After all, his primary goal wasn’t mastery of talisman-making, but to find a way to get closer to Sun Ruoxin.

For the next few days, Ye Chen didn’t focus on talismans anymore. Instead, he continued his daily routine of cultivation and pill refining.

Notably, Lin Ke’er and Lu Jing’s attitudes toward Ye Chen became even more passionate.

Lin Ke’er’s enthusiasm was naturally because of the storage bag. As for Lu Jing, it was all due to a sense of crisis. Ye Chen had gone an entire week without giving her any gifts, yet he had given a storage bag to Lin Ke’er.

Did this mean Ye Chen was really starting to lose interest in her? Lu Jing couldn’t accept this.

At the same time, both women discovered that Ye Chen had somehow broken through to the fifth level of Qi Refining. Small breakthroughs in cultivation were hard to detect unless one had a special detection spell. But Ye Chen’s cultivation level now exceeded theirs.

Naturally, this made both women pay even more attention to him. After all, women were inherently drawn to strength. They preferred men who were stronger than themselves. Thus, the competition between Lin Ke’er and Lu Jing grew even more intense. Both of them became even more attentive toward Ye Chen, offering him even more benefits.

Ye Chen, on the other hand, had stopped giving away pills. Instead, he had turned to buying and selling for profit. The system didn’t refund when he directly gave spirit stones, and the gifts had to be something the recipient truly needed, not something that far exceeded their demands.

This meant Ye Chen had to be more generous with his spending. For instance, he gifted Lu Jing a set of robes worth two mid-grade spirit stones. He also gave Lin Ke’er a pair of white gloves made from heavenly silkworm silk, valued at three mid-grade spirit stones. If only there were black ones, preferably stockings, Ye Chen would have been even more thrilled.

Overall, Ye Chen’s generosity only grew. Despite both women looking down on his indecisiveness, his unwillingness to choose between them, and him two-timing them, they couldn’t resist the lavish gifts. What he gave was simply too much for them to turn down. In their attempts to outdo each other and claim his favor, both women upped the ante.

For example, Lin Ke’er had started allowing Ye Chen to touch her when they kissed. Though she hadn’t fully opened up, she was definitely warming to him.

As for Lu Jing, whenever they ate together in her room, it was like a show of indulgence. Her outfits became more and more revealing. Her modesty was becoming a thing of the past. She even sat on Ye Chen’s lap, feeding him….

It made Ye Chen feel quite content. Meanwhile, thanks to the tenfold rewards from his gift-giving, Ye Chen’s finances had become rather robust. The system was incredibly considerate, distinguishing when Ye Chen was gifting out of personal desire or to profit. Thus, the rewards came in varying quantities, types, and functions, ensuring Ye Chen wouldn’t be noticed when he sold them off.

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The only downside was that Silver Moon Market was still a small-scale place. No matter how careful Ye Chen was, if he kept selling, someone would eventually catch on. Also, because he was selling to shops, the prices weren’t very high, mostly around seventy percent of the retail value.

Even so, Ye Chen’s savings quickly grew to twenty mid-grade spirit stones, with more coming in steadily. Overall, Ye Chen’s life was going smoothly, except for one thing: His lack of progress with Sun Ruoxin. He had given up on talisman-making. He had considered it money well spent, simply to get closer to her. But the problem was, he had already attended three lessons, and he hadn’t even met Sun Ruoxin once.

This left Ye Chen feeling rather frustrated. He hadn’t come just to learn talisman-making. If he didn’t get the chance to meet Sun Ruoxin soon, he might as well stop going to the lessons. Giving away money for nothing wasn’t the way to go. He decided to wait for another opportunity.