Everyone ascended, but I didn't get on board

Chapter 187 Systemic Breeding Method

"A joint exploration team for secret realms?" Qiu Ci's eyes widened. What was that?

“Yes, Master.” Juanshan nodded seriously, carefully holding the ball of light in his hand as he earnestly explained, “This is information I obtained from the internal network of the Repair and Management Bureau.”

"Tell me about it." Qiu Ci poured him a cup of tea.

"This continent also contains many secret realms. Some small secret realms have already been opened to the public, but there are still many dangerous and unknown large secret realms that have not been fully explored." Juanshan explained seriously, "Especially some secret realms in border and remote areas, where opportunities and dangers coexist. Unlike Lanru Continent, these undeveloped secret realms are off-limits to ordinary cultivators. Only people from the Cultivation Management Bureau can enter."

"Then what does that have to do with the temple?" Qiu Ci asked.

“Of course it’s related,” Juanshan continued. “Because those secret realms are dangerous and unknown, they need a constant stream of people to explore them. For safety, the exploration teams are generally composed of high-level cultivators, mostly those at the Nascent Soul stage or above. The Federation doesn’t have many high-level cultivators to begin with, and some of them are even tasked with guarding key locations. So, when exploring secret realms, they can only ask the temple for help. And the temple’s border regions sometimes also ask the Federation’s garrison for help. Over time, the two sides have come to tacitly agree to jointly explore the secret realms that appear in both regions.”

"You mean, we should choose a secret realm that opens in the temple area, join an exploration team, and then go to the temple openly and legitimately?"

"Yes." Juanshan nodded vigorously, then touched the ball of light in his hand and said, "Thank you for your trouble, Lord Chen!"

The next moment, with a beep, the little ball of light instantly popped up a light screen, displaying information about several secret realms.

“Master,” Juanshan said, pointing to the information on the document, “These are the secret realm information that I found by opening the Bureau of Repair and Management’s intranet and with the help of Lord Chen. They are all secret realms within the temple area that have not yet been explored.”

Qiu Ci took a closer look and found that most of these secret realms were located near the border between the two domains. The only one that went a little deeper was in the north of the temple, and it didn't look like a very prosperous area.

"How do we join the exploration team?"

“That’s easy,” Juanshan said seriously. “The Cultivation Management Bureau has given me some authority. I can just ask to enter the secret realm for training. These secret realms are currently short of people, so they shouldn’t refuse Mahayana cultivators to join. The Cultivation Management Bureau will definitely add a few more people, and I will add you, Venerable One, to the team then.”

"..." So this is the benefit of getting in through connections? It seems it's time to improve my cultivation; I can't keep pretending to be a Nascent Soul cultivator forever.

"That's settled then. Let's infiltrate the temple's territory first." As for exploring the secret realm, we'll see how things go then.

“Okay.” Juanshan nodded, picked up the ball of light in his hand and said, “I will have Lord Chen send the application list to the Repair Management Bureau right away.”

The system on his phone beeped: [Beep, list sent!]
"Thank you for your hard work, Lord Chen." He patted the ball of light.

[It's no trouble at all, I'll do everything to serve the host.] Xiao Er replied obediently, the two of them were incredibly close.

"..."

It's only been two days, and you've already gotten so close?
Qiu Ci poked the ball of light in his hand and said, "Isn't it called Xiao Er? Why do you call it Lord Chen?"

"Because it is like Lord Xingchen beside you, also a Star Messenger, I cannot address him by his name directly." Juanshan subconsciously withdrew his hand, as if afraid she would break the ball of light, before replying, "To make it easier to distinguish, I have decided to call the one beside you Lord Xingchen and the one beside me Lord Chenchen from now on." "..." Well, is this the insistence of being a member of the Blue Star Clan?
Qiu Ci was about to say that he was holding the ball of light so carefully every day, and it would be bad if someone found out something, since others couldn't see the system.

Juanshan seemed to remember something, opened his storage bag and took out a bunch of things, saying, "By the way, Master, I have prepared some things, but I don't know which ones to use. Could you help me choose?"

She looked down and saw that they were all small clothes, each only the size of a palm, but they were made with great care and attention to detail. Some were shaped like birds with feathers, some were shaped like small animals covered with tiny scales, and some were shaped like various colorful, fluffy cubs.

Moreover, these materials are clearly not ordinary materials; each piece is even engraved with various superimposed magic arrays, and strange lights flow across them as if they were alive.

"What is this?" Qiu Ci was stunned.

"These are clothes I prepared for Lord Chen." As he spoke, he picked up a piece of clothing and put it on the small ball of light in his hand. Instantly, the ball of light transformed into a small bird with colorful feathers, without a single flaw. "I added some spells to conceal its true form, so that when people go out, they will only think that Lord Chen is my spirit beast."

"..." So this is a system skin? You old bastard, you have this kind of skill.

【Master…】The dog system also came over, and a pair of big eyes immediately appeared on the ball of light, looking longingly at the pile of little clothes, the whole system seemed to say: I want it too!
"If Lord Xing likes something, you can choose one." Juanshan wanted the dog system to choose one as well.

"No need!" Qiu Ci grabbed the dog back and stuffed it back into her pocket.

[Master...] No, I need it!
"..." No, you don't need it!
After much pleading and cajoling from the dog system, it finally chose one, but Qiu Ci didn't let it wear it, instead storing it in the system space. These clothes were indeed beautiful, but that was all they were good-looking about. If a high-level cultivator were to examine them closely, they would still be able to spot some problems.

Juanshan is a Mahayana cultivator registered with the Bureau of Cultivation and Management. It's understandable that he would have a spirit beast whose true form is unknown by his side, and others wouldn't easily suspect anything.

However, she is only at the Nascent Soul stage on the surface. If she also has one by her side, everyone will be able to tell that there is a problem, so it is better not to see it.

But it must be said that Juanshan treated this subsystem too well, with such carefulness that it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that it was like a precious treasure.

She later learned that Juanshan not only prepared these skins, but also built a special little nest for the subsystem, as well as a dedicated charging array. He would even wear various hats when going out, just so that the system could comfortably lie on his head.

Autumn Farewell: "..."

In truth, the system wasn't of much use to Juanshan. After all, he was already at the Celestial Realm, and the system's so-called cultivation assistance functions were of little significance to him. Qiu Ci's original purpose in binding himself to the system was simply to make it easier for the two of them to find a base, but now, he had clearly gone astray.

So, is it because he has too much of a bias against the creations of Earth?
After Qiu Ci was surprised, she didn't pay much attention to it and instead focused on waiting for news from the exploration team.

Juanshan's guess was correct. Sure enough, the Repair and Management Bureau soon approved his application to explore the secret realm, and Qiuci also quickly received a notification from the Repair and Management Bureau inviting her to join the joint exploration team.

She naturally wouldn't refuse, and on the third day after agreeing, the repair bureau informed her to gather and prepare to go to the border.