Gu Zuo silently turned his head: “I asked the system a question, and the system said that my authority is insufficient… Moreover, when I previously asked it a question, it went from five strands of medicinal qi and increased to a hundred strands. How devious.”
Gongyi Tianheng stared blankly. After that, he beckoned to Gu Zuo: “Ah Zuo, come here.”
Gu Zuo walked over, and sat next to the couch.
Tianheng lifted a hand, and ruffled Gu Zuo’s hair: “Since your scope of authority is lacking, you need to upgrade your authority.” He paused, “There’s nothing we can do about the increased cost in medicinal qi. In the future, unless it’s absolutely necessary, you should analyze it on your own more often, and make fewer inquiries to the system.”
Gu Zuo: “Eh?” Then he nodded his head, “Oh.”
Tianheng smiled and said: “I remember that Ah Zuo once said that the system had issued a long-term mission — That it was the system’s initial upgrade mission.”
Gu Zuo recalled this at once.
Indeed, there was such a mission. However, that was still during the Hundred Countries Tournament. Ten-thousand strands of medicinal qi wasn’t considered too many, but at that time, Gu Zuo’s medicine refining skill level hadn’t reached its peak. Moreover, he and Tianheng were both short on money, and he also needed to use large quantities of medicinal qi for cultivation. As a result, he had thrown this mission off to the side.
Furthermore, the Gu Zuo back then didn’t have a lot of confidence in himself, and was heavily reliant on the system. Likewise, he had considerable doubts about the system, and didn’t dare to do something like rashly upgrading it. Yet, in the many days that followed, his sense of dependency upon the system also wasn’t that strong. Most of the time, he even preferred to listen to Tianheng’s words — After all, whenever Tianheng made any decisions, Tianheng would conscientiously explain it to him — Even now, he still didn’t have complete trust in the system.
…Perhaps it was because the system appeared so suddenly, while Tianheng was the partner he chose to rely on after much careful consideration.
Gu Zuo lowered his voice: “Big brother, I can squeeze out ten-thousand strands of medicinal qi right now, but would it be okay to upgrade it like this?”
Tianheng understood Gu Zuo’s meaning. He was also aware that, in Gu Zuo’s heart, the trust Gu Zuo had in Tianheng surpassed the trust he had in the system. The look in Tianheng’s eyes couldn’t help softening: “Right now, you and I are both at Xiantian stage six. Although the many item books that you possess cover a wide range, the realms that suit us aren’t necessarily very high. Consequently, it’s evident that we are merely treading upon the initial realms of the paths of martial arts and medicine refinement. It basically doesn’t amount to much at all.
He continued: “The system has never forced you to do anything, and it has also never forcefully taken your medicinal qi. Rather than incessantly guessing, it would be better to do that mission first and see what appearance that system takes after the initial upgrade.”
If it said that Gu Zuo’s scope of authority was insufficient, that authority most likely had something to do with the system’s upgrade.
Whether it was good or bad after the upgrade, they naturally would obtain even more information.
Gu Zuo was naturally convinced by Tianheng: “What big brother says is right. Then, I’ll just…upgrade it now?”
Tianheng had a smile on his face as he nodded.
Currently, to the outside world, he was in the middle of recuperating. However, he actually wasn’t injured at all. As such, this free time that he found himself with was just enough to let his little pharmacist handle this matter.
Gu Zuo was still very cautious. In Tianheng’s presence, he asked: “System, I’ll give you ten-thousand strands of medicinal qi. How long will it take for your initial upgrade?”
[Two hours.]
Gu Zuo looked at Tianheng: “The system said it’ll take two hours&#k2026;”
Tianheng faintly nodded: “Just in case, it’d be better if Ah Zuo lies down next to me. If anything goes wrong, I’ll respond without delay.”
Gu Zuo thought about it, and nodded his head. He got onto the couch, and lied down next to Tianheng.
Tianheng used one hand to embrace him, and patted his shoulder in passing: “Okay. Ah Zuo, be very careful.”
At once, Gu Zuo closed his eyes. He steeled himself, and gave the system a reply.
[Begin.]
The next moment, in the storage region that contained countless milky-white snakes, a bit less than half of those bright points instantly vanished. This made that storage region appear much sparser all of a sudden.
At the same time, Gu Zuo sensed an intense, white light burst out from the system within his consciousness. There were twelve storage regions, twelve black holes, which were originally shining clearly, but now he only felt that they were piercingly bright.
Gu Zuo’s consciousness sank. Unwittingly, he fell into a deep sleep.
On the couch, Tianheng kept his head lowered the entire time as he looked at Gu Zuo’s face. At this moment, he also sensed that his little pharmacist had fallen into such a sleep after a slight burst of involuntary shuddering. Fortunately, although Gu Zuo’s qi emissions had some fluctuations, his breathing was gentle and his complexion was rosy. It seemed that there wasn’t too big of a difference.
It could be seen that he wasn’t in great pain.
In Tianheng’s mind, he became bit more assured — The danger level of that system had also fallen by one point.
During the entire two hours, Tianheng watched over Gu Zuo. Shuangyun Hall’s people came over once, but due to this matter, when there came a knocking on the door, the staff member was tactfully declined entry by Tianheng.
Gu Zuo’s qi emissions were gradually stabilizing as well.
At last, the instant that the two hours ended, not a second more or less, Gu Zuo opened his eyes in a daze.
“…Big brother, I fell asleep?”
Tianheng smiled: “Now, Ah Zuo can take a look. After your system upgraded, you can see what has changed.”
Gu Zuo reacted. He turned over, and got up to sit on the couch.
Tianheng watched him acting this way, and felt it was interesting. He smiled as he watched Gu Zuo’s restless behavior.
Of course, Gu Zuo wasn’t really that restless. His consciousness just moved, and squeezed into his Tianfu Acupoint to see the present circumstances of the system.
With this one look, Gu Zuo was a little startled.
Because, previously, his psychic power could faintly perceive the general position of the system within his Tianfu Acupoint. However, when he really connected with the system, what he actually saw were just twelve black holes, which were the twelve storage regions that the system gave him. But now, the place that his consciousness connected to had undergone huge changes.
In that place, no longer were there twelve black holes. Rather, there was a seemingly simple and unadorned, yet towering and majestic, palace hall!
Even though this palace hall was inside his Tianfu Acupoint, even though it clearly shouldn’t have been that large, in Gu Zuo’s consciousness, it was gigantic, like it could accommodate over a hundred people!
— This was the system?
Gu Zuo couldn’t help asking in his consciousness.
Soon after, a dull voice echoed out.
[After this system’s initial upgrade, the storage space has been upgraded into the Divine Medicine Palace Hall. May the host use it appropriately.]
Gu Zuo was taken aback.
In the very beginning, when the system recognized him as its host, all of its dialogue had appeared in his mind as lines of script, which allowed him to comprehend its meaning. Over a long period of time, after his psychic power strengthened, those lines of script seemed to have become a voice. Every time, he almost seemed to hear it, which let him understand it as such. And now, he truly detected that he had “heard” a voice in his own consciousness. This was because he could distinguish that the system’s voice was very monotonous. It was an existence without the slightest bit of emotion.
Could it be that this was also a change following the upgrade?
[Yes. The connection between the host and system has grown closer.]
Gu Zuo carefully perceived his surroundings.
After that, he discovered that…he also had an ability to control this so-called Divine Medicine Palace Hall to a certain extent.
Moreover, the cultivation that he first obtained was the <<Divine Medicine Cultivation Method>>. After the system upgraded, it formed the Divine Medicine Palace Hall. The inner workings of this relationship were certainly very clear-cut… Right?
The Divine Medicine Palace Hall was just comprised of one main hall and two side halls.
In the main hall, directly ahead were twelve black holes. They seemed to have been embedded within the wall, and were filled with all kinds of things. They were classified as Gu Zuo’s twelve storage regions. Currently, these storage regions were neatly arranged in front, and it seemed that they had become a part of the Divine Medicine Palace Hall.
At first, Gu Zuo thought that the upgrade was the storage space becoming the palace hall. But now it looked like it wasn’t a transformation… After reconsidering what the system had mentioned before, and that the system suffered damage and required medicinal qi to mend itself… He suspected that the system upgrade was actually a system restoration. The Divine Medicine Palace Hall also originally existed. It was just that, because the injuries it suffered were too heavy, it only displayed those twelve storage regions.
After that, there were the side halls.
The volume of the side hall on the left was comparatively small, but it had a very large bed that seemed to have been made of jade. As for the side hall on the right, there were no less than twelve cages. Each cage was unbelievably huge. It wasn’t known what kinds of strange materials were used to cast the cages. They appeared to bear traces of a bloody stench. It was very scary.
Gu Zuo’s heart stirred, and he withdrew out of his Tianfu Acupoint. Facing him were Tianheng’s smiling eyes. Gu Zuo’s face became slightly hot, and his mood was somewhat excited: “Big brother, after the system upgraded, there really were huge changes!”
Even under such an emotional state, he could still clearly articulate everything he’d previously seen to Tianheng. After putting his train of thought into order, he said: “Big brother, you have no idea. Before the system upgraded, I had to ask everything about it. But it’s different now. After the upgrade, it’s like I’ve immediately come to know some things.”
Tianheng’s expression didn’t move: “Oh?”
Gu Zuo took a deep breath: “The twelve storage regions still exist and the functions are still the same, but the most important thing is that the palace hall…” He settled down his state of mind, “Big brother, you’ll understand after you watch this.”
The next moment, Tianheng found that Gu Zuo had disappeared right in front of him.
At the exact same time, an extremely small speck of dust, so small that one wouldn’t discover it without careful scrutiny beforehand, floated down as light as a feather.
No matter how calm Tianheng was, he also couldn’t help revealing an astounded expression at this moment: “You can actually…go inside?”
Immediately following this, Gu Zuo reappeared in front of him, and that speck of dust Tianheng was staring at also suddenly vanished. Soon after, Gu Zuo grabbed Tianheng’s arm. Two people disappeared together.
As for Tianheng, he was looking at the interior of that gigantic and ancient palace hall. He lowered his eyes to Gu Zuo: “Ah Zuo, can this Divine Medicine Palace Hall already allow people to enter it?”
Gu Zuo stared blankly, and shook his head: “This is…not the case.” He said with a bit of regret, “The Divine Medicine Palace Hall and the storage space are unlike. The storage space can only store inanimate objects and living things without sapience. But it won’t work with things like people, who possess intelligence. Big brother can come in because big brother is my guardian. In addition, our contract has already reached the second stage. Otherwise, only I would be able to go in.”
…Although, prior to the system’s upgrade, Gu Zuo had also entirely forgotten that the system could stow away non-sapient living things.
On the contrary, Tianheng wasn’t disappointed at all: “That’s still very good.”
T/N: Thanks for the corrections, Charysa.
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