Super System in the Early Tang Dynasty

"Burp—" Skinny Monkey let out a burp. "This soup is really good, no worse than that damn Yunlai Restaurant. This time it'll definitely fetch a good price." Yunlai Restaurant was the number one restaurant in Chang'an, with exceptional dishes and naturally, high prices. Skinny Monkey had been lucky enough to eat there once and still couldn't forget it. He glanced around and saw the scholar still slowly eating his dry rations, and his elder brother slowly drinking his soup. Not daring to disturb him, he focused his gaze on the large earthenware pot containing the soup. Seeing that no one was paying attention to him, Skinny Monkey gently lifted the lid of the pot. Instantly, a rich aroma wafted out. Skinny Monkey closed his eyes and took several deep breaths of the aroma, and his stomach, which had just been full, began to rumble again.

"Damn, it smells really good." The big earthenware pot didn't release much aroma when it was burning over the fire, which is why no one paid any attention to it. But as soon as the lid was lifted, the tempting aroma wafted out, making people's mouths water! Even Li Xingzhi's stomach started to protest, and the little dog Dan's eyes no longer showed any panic or fear. He just stared intently at the soup.

Just as the skinny monkey was about to ladle soup into his bowl, he noticed two other people watching him. "Hehe," the skinny monkey gently shook the soup bowl, giving the two men a flirtatious glance that made Li Xingzhi grit his teeth in anger. "Big brother, look how damn delicious this soup is! I'll get you a bowl!" He glanced at the soup in the earthenware pot, then took the scholar's bowl. "Scholar, you have a bowl too, I'll fill it for you." He nimbly filled the bowls for the two men, finally settling down to a satisfied bowl for himself. Suddenly, the skinny monkey noticed two pairs of eyes still staring at him. He snarled, "What are you looking at? After I finish drinking, I'll poop out and give it to you, hmph!"

"Enough with the nonsense, eat yours." The two men next to him frowned, and the scars on the older brother's face looked even more terrifying, like a demon.

"Ding—Player has created a level 5 dish, gaining 32 experience points and increasing chef career growth."

"Ding—Player's experience points have reached zero. The Super Martial Arts System is now officially activated!"

Character: Li Xingzhi

Rating: 0

Experience: 19/100

Life: 35/35

True Qi: 10/10

Basic attribute: Strength 4

Agility 6

Constitution 6

Spirit 12

Root bone 8

Comprehension?

charm?

Good fortune?

Martial Arts Skill: Yi Jin Jing (Incomplete) (Beginner Level 2%)

Occupation: Chef (with a moderate success rate of 80%)

Magical arts: None

Attribute points: None

Li Xingzhi looked down again; the shop icon was lit up, but the cave icon was still a grayed-out, unusable color. He didn't dare to study it too much now, since none of the people in front of him knew when they might just "snap" them both.

Li Xingzhi hurriedly opened the shop, which was divided into several categories: cultivation techniques, medicines, food, weapons, pets, and miscellaneous items. He quickly opened the medicine option, not even looking at the others, just checking the price. A whole row of items cost only one copper coin, and he was immediately overjoyed. This meant he had modified the system, so if he opened a cave dwelling later, it would be a god-level one! Looking at the items, they were all ginseng. He flipped through a page, still ginseng; he flipped another page, still ginseng; he flipped and flipped and flipped, ginseng, ginseng, ginseng! My God, don't play this game with me! Even the best ginseng is useless now. There were probably hundreds of kinds of ginseng here, from Changbai Mountain ginseng to Korean ginseng to snow ginseng to the blood ginseng described in novels, from ten-year-old to hundred-year-old to thousand-year-old ginseng kings—everything imaginable was available. However, our classmate Li Xingzhi just wanted to cry. Things he rarely saw in his daily life were just common goods in the system!

At this moment, the three bandits were still eating with their mouths full of oil, only the scholar restrained himself a little, but he still ate quite a lot, and Li Xingzhi was becoming more and more anxious!

Suddenly, he saw a page-jumping icon at the bottom. A thought struck him, and the store page jumped directly to page fifty. Thankfully, it wasn't ginseng anymore, and he breathed a sigh of relief. From seemingly hopeless situations to a breakthrough, the ups and downs of life were truly thrilling!

Li Xingzhi hoped to find a poison that could evaporate in the air and incapacitate people without them realizing it, but not one that would kill them outright, otherwise Li Xingzhi himself would also be doomed.

At this point, the drawbacks of the system shop became apparent. Although the system shop provided general categories, these categories were far too broad. Take the medicine category, for example: it included poisons, antidotes, common pills, external wound medicines, finished medicines, freshly picked herbs, semi-finished medicines, and even waste medicines. A single type of herb was further divided into different species based on its growing environment, and even more subdivided based on the year of its growth. Since traditional Chinese medicine believes that almost anything in the world can be used as medicine, while the medicine options weren't exactly endless, Li Xingzhi might not be able to browse them all in his lifetime. However, Li Xingzhi should be thankful that although the arrangement of medicines was irregular, at least the system automatically grouped similar or related medicines together, saving him a lot of trouble.

While Li Xingzhi was searching for medicine, the three bandits had already eaten and drunk their fill and were lying down to rest. Li Xingzhi was lucky; the three bandits had been busy all day and were exhausted, so they had no time to worry about him. Otherwise, he would have inevitably suffered some hardship. At this time, Little Dog Egg had also fallen asleep with a furrowed brow.

Another hour passed, and Li Xingzhi, having finally discovered some subtle patterns, found the most suitable medicine—

"Sad Breeze": Made by the Yipintang of Xixia, this medicine is made by collecting poisonous substances from the Joyful Valley of the Great Snow Mountain in Xixia and refining them into a liquid, which is then stored in small bottles. When used, the bottle cap is opened, and the liquid immediately releases a colorless and odorless poisonous gas. When the eyes sting, it means the poison has entered the brain. After poisoning, tears flow like rain, called "sadness"; the whole body feels weak, called "softness"; and the colorless and odorless poisonous gas feels like a gentle breeze, called "breathless breeze." The method of administration is complex. The antidote is also a gas, contained in a porcelain bottle, with an extremely foul odor. Once poisoned, no matter how high one's internal energy is, it is impossible to expel the toxin using internal energy alone.

Li Xingzhi breathed a sigh of relief; the life-saving item had finally appeared. He glanced at the sleeping puppy, Egg, and tried to smooth his furrowed brow, only to find his hands and feet still bound! Li Xingzhi frowned, then looked at the three bandits, all of whom were asleep, the eldest snoring loudly.

"Let's get the antidote out first, to avoid trouble," Li Xingzhi thought to himself.

Another half hour passed, and with some experience, Li Xingzhi finally found the antidote for the Sorrowful Breeze. Just as he was about to extract the Sorrowful Breeze and poison a few more people, he felt the rope binding his hands. He thought for a moment, "It's better to cut the rope first." After all, Li Xingzhi wasn't sure how potent the Sorrowful Breeze was, or if it would leave him too weak to even cut the rope. Anyway, there was still plenty of time.

Opening the weapon section, one is greeted by all kinds of longswords, from divine swords to sharp swords to rusty swords to swords broken in two. However, Li Xingzhi has no intention of studying these now. He spent some time finding a short dagger that could cut through iron like mud, yet was inconspicuous.

He exchanged a copper coin for a short dagger that could cut through iron like mud, and the dagger immediately appeared in Li Xingzhi's hand.

"Bang—!" The sound nearly made Li Xingzhi drop his dagger in fright. His heart tightened, and he gripped the dagger tightly. At the same time, he glanced over and saw the skinny-looking guy roll over, kicking over the earthenware pot beside him. The fierce-looking older brother also opened his eyes, muttered something under his breath, then rolled over slightly and went back to sleep. The scholar, however, seemed unaffected, still lying lifelessly in a corner.

Startled, Li Xingzhi dared not linger any longer and cut the rope in one swift motion. He carefully placed the dagger on the ground, then exchanged for the "Sad Breeze" potion, opened the bottle cap, stood it upright on the ground, and finally exchanged for the antidote for "Sad Breeze".

Li Xingzhi gently shook the puppy, Dan, awake. The two lay sideways against the wall. He then let Dan smell the antidote, the stench of which made Dan wrinkle his nose. Had Li Xingzhi not covered his mouth, Dan would likely have barked out on the spot. Li Xingzhi then held the antidote to his own nostrils, and a stench immediately assaulted his nostrils—ten times worse than the rotten egg! Li Xingzhi vowed that he would never use this thing again unless absolutely necessary.

Li Xingzhi waited a moment, only to see the three bandits wiping their eyes, tears streaming down their faces. "Boy, what did you put in the soup? It hurts so much!" The skinny one, the most impatient, lunged forward, but then fell to the ground. They all assumed Li Xingzhi had poisoned the soup; after all, in their understanding, no one could imagine an invisible and odorless poison like "Sad Breeze." The fierce-looking man looked like he wanted to devour someone, while only the scholar-like man remained seated quietly, silent and lifeless.

The fierce-looking man turned his head, glanced at the scholar, and said, "Did you already know this?"

"I don't know, I just feel that these two children are somewhat unusual," the scholar said, not waiting for his elder brother to speak again, and continued to say to himself, "This child looks so much like her! Elder brother, I have repaid you for everything I was supposed to over the years, I don't owe you anything." After saying that, he remained sitting, like a pile of rotting corpses, lifeless.

Although the fierce-looking man didn't know who the scholar was referring to as 'she,' it didn't prevent him from understanding the meaning behind the scholar's words. He turned his head and said, "What kind of poison did you give us!" The eldest brother knew he was in deep trouble this time, but he still wanted to die knowing the truth!

Li Xingzhi ignored him, kicked the skinny monkey several times, and said viciously, "Haha! Serves you right for kicking me! Serves you right for kicking me! Wait till I see how I skin you alive. Should I boil you alive, or slice off pieces of your flesh and scald them to eat? I don't know much about the eighteen cruel tortures of the Qing Dynasty, but it would be good to show you." He had a smug look on his face, which frightened the skinny monkey so much that he turned pale and dared not speak back. "Such a young age, yet so vicious!" The elder brother wasn't angry. At this moment, he didn't forget to threaten, "We are working for the master. If you kill us today, someone will come knocking on our door tomorrow."

Li Xingzhi didn't care who they were, even if they were emperors; he'd seen that on TV too many times. "Hmph! Threatening me? I'm not afraid of threats at all! Looks like I'm going to 'chop' you all up today!" Li Xingzhi didn't say the word "kill." As someone who grew up in peacetime, although he wasn't lacking in courage, he was still somewhat hesitant about killing people; he had to be tactful, right?

"But to make sure you die knowing why, I'll show you my secret medicine." Li Xingzhi boasted like this for two reasons: first, traveling in disguise was too boring, and second, it was to satisfy his vanity. He picked up the already sealed bottle and said, "See this? This is the treasure that will poison you! It's called 'Sad Breeze.' Those poisoned will experience tears streaming down their faces as the poison enters their brains, hence the name 'Sadness'; they will feel weak all over, hence the name 'Boiled Breeze'; and the poison is colorless and odorless, like a cool breeze on the face, hence the name 'Gentle Breeze.'"

Li Xingzhi's eyes darted around, and he said, "This is what my master gathered from all kinds of poisons in the Joyful Valley of the Great Snow Mountain in the Western Regions. He left it to me to protect myself and save my life. It's a huge waste to use it on you petty thieves." After saying that, he glanced at that 'big brother', seemingly quite disdainful.