Starry Sky Professional

The municipal center.

On the second floor.

Inside the Professional Certification Office.

The hall appeared unusually spacious, with walls, columns, and furniture seemingly specially reinforced.

Before Fang Xing floated a glowing orb, hovering mid-air like something out of a fantasy.

"Hello, Cyborg WYX1882... Please select a certification profession: Warrior, Mech Master, Psion, Beast Master, Illusionist, Esper..." a mechanical voice resonated from the orb.

"Warrior!"

Fang Xing responded firmly.

"Please direct your martial will towards the target!"

The voice from the orb instructed as the floor split open to reveal a slowly ascending punching target.

Fang Xing touched his forehead, and with a surge of mental power radiating out, swept over the punching target. There was a faint sound of a dragon's roar.

"Beep... Confirmed as 'Dragon's Essence'. Mental energy projection confirmed... Congratulations, your professional certification is successful!" The voice from the orb seemed to carry a hint of excitement.

"Your privileges have been upgraded. You are now a level 1 citizen!"

"Your citizen ID is WYX1882..."

"You have unlocked the Professional Marketplace..."

The orb quickly projected message after message.

Fang Xing opened his phone and noticed that indeed many more options were now available to him.

First, he could finally access the 'Professional Marketplace', where countless goods and rare resources previously off-limits were now visible to him.

Furthermore, he now had the privilege to buy spaceship tickets!

Before becoming a professional, Fang Xing could not even leave the fledgling Hawk Star.

And now?

Looking at the string of zeros behind the ticket price, Fang Xing pretended not to notice and walked out of the municipal center.

In the void, a particle-sized drone was about to follow him.

The roadside surveillance cameras began capturing his presence.

This entire operation was being monitored in shadow by the members of the Prevention Department.

Their technology allowed them to surveil a Hidden Gem Warrior without leaving a trace.

“What is the target doing at the municipal center?”

“We’ll have an answer soon. Although our drones are effective, there are many places they can't infiltrate without causing trouble!”

Two members of the action team exchanged glances as they watched the surveillance footage.

Suddenly!

A vivid red warning box appeared:

【Warning! You are monitoring a Level 1 Federal Citizen!】

【No records of criminal activity found for this citizen. No superior surveillance order found!】

【This is illegal monitoring. Warning issued. If not deactivated within 30 seconds, a second warning will be given…】

“Oh no, it’s the Omniscient Brain!”

The lead action team member's face changed dramatically: “Immediately cease the surveillance!”

“Damn it!”

A nearby member punched the wall fiercely.

Though cutting-edge, official monitoring equipment naturally had backdoors planted by the Omniscient Brain.

“According to federal law, we can’t monitor Level 1 citizens without cause… but that Fang Xing… he, could he have just been promoted, becoming a certified professional?”

The leading member finally realized something, a look of sudden understanding on his face.

He then appeared extremely shocked: “How old is he? What were we doing at seventeen?”

“Probably brawling at school…”

The other member appeared somewhat dazed: “The critical issue is… unless we receive higher orders, surveillance like ours, once caught, has severe consequences. Now we have to consider how to write the report and prepare for the reprimand from the boss…”

At this thought, both of their expressions grew sour.

“Hmm... We've lifted it.”

Aboard the hover train, Fang Xing touched his brow, a slight smile appearing on his lips.

After awakening his psychic abilities, his senses had become much sharper.

Before, every time I stepped out of my house, there was this nagging sensation of being watched, like needles prickling my back.

But now, that feeling has finally vanished!

“Being a Level 1 citizen of the Federation, this status really comes in handy.”

“And this is only Level 1. What about Level 2 or 3? If I get into a top-notch university, it seems that only treason against the Federation would be a serious crime. Even murder might be swept under the rug, with the records sealed shut…”

“It appears fair, but it's actually the greatest unfairness…”

“However, having power within oneself is just like that…”

Returning to his home, he headed straight to his bedroom, placing another 'Guardian Charm' there.

Then, with a flash of silver light, he found himself at Qinglin Market.

Now that his authority had increased, all the surveillance had disappeared.

According to the Prevention Department's operational procedures, this team had to return and file reports and get approvals… Giving him just enough free time to make a quick trip.

In a superior cave dwelling.

In front of Fang Xing were several magical artifacts, the puppet mechanism bird he bought earlier, and two storage bags.

One of these storage bags was from Chen Yi, and the other from Old Ghost Long. Due to limited means before, he had been unable to open them. He was highly expectant about their contents.

“Innate warriors struggle to use these items... What about warriors at the Courage Realm?”

“My martial arts now, in the world of cultivation, are unsurpassed… and now I've awakened a spiritual ability, perhaps I should give it a try?”

In an instant... he 'saw' the micro-arrays within the mechanism bird!

This was something he couldn't perceive before, but through these micro-arrays, he could perform simple control of the puppet bird, such as taking off, landing, and other basic maneuvers.

“Infusing mana to activate... well, I don’t have mana…”

Fang Xing shook his head, though fortunately, puppets didn’t solely rely on mana input.

He flipped to the mechanism bird's underbelly and gently tapped.

Click!

The sound of gears moving came through, and the bird's underbelly opened, revealing a small indentation.

Fang Xing took out a dice-sized low-grade spirit stone and inserted it, then stimulated it with his spiritual power.

“Chirp chirp!”

Suddenly, the puppet mechanism bird seemed to come 'alive,' fluttering its wings as it took flight.

At first, it was slow and clumsy, but quickly its movements became agile, its eyes lively, carrying a slight anthropomorphic touch.

"Operating the puppet bird feels distinctly different... With the aid of spiritual powers, it's as if I'm truly there..."

Fang Xing compared this sensation to drone surveillance, identifying a fundamental difference.

"Mechanism puppets in the cultivation world seem to bring a part of my 'perspective' with them... while drone surveillance is merely visual."

After playing with the puppet bird for a while, he retrieved a lower-grade magical artifact.

He had long forgotten which unfortunate soul he had taken this artifact from, a small, palm-sized black shield.

Currently, with spiritual power infused, he could manipulate it fully, but...

"Damn... No magic power!"

Fang Xing 'stared' at the internal formations of 'size manipulation' and 'flight' within the artifact, feeling rather irritated.

Unlike puppets, this artifact required spiritual stones or a cultivator's magic power to activate!

And he had no magic power to speak of.

As a martial artist at the Gallant Spirit stage, beyond martial will, what flowed within him was still physical energy and true qi, although of much higher quality!

Fang Xing attempted to channel his considerably more abundant internal energy into this shield artifact.

The artifact remained as lifeless as ever, showing no signs of activation.

"Alright, it still won't work... It seems a warrior is just a warrior; cultivation is out of reach."

He grumbled, "Maybe I should wait until I'm at the External Realm or even the Golden Core stage... With a martial Golden Core's force, I refuse to believe I can't control artifacts to fly like bricks... Wait, if I reach the martial Golden Core stage, what use would trifling artifacts be to me?"

Feeling somewhat frustrated, Fang Xing picked up a storage bag.

"Hmm?"

This time, his eyes lit up.

Through his spiritual power, Fang Xing saw a misty 'space'.

This space wasn't large, roughly a cubic meter, and contained several items.

However, all the items were shrouded in a layer of mist that obscured them.

This mist was emanating from a spiritual imprint.

The imprint, like a flickering candle in the wind, seemed on the verge of extinguishing, yet it blocked his attempts to explore further.

"Dragon's Intent!"

Fang Xing's martial will charged forth, causing the spiritual imprint to shatter instantly, making the items clear.

With a thought, a pile of assorted items appeared before him.

Among the treasures, the most striking were fifty-six medium-grade spirit stones, along with several hundred lower-grade ones.

Beside these, there were numerous ores, each emitting a unique gentle or fiery spiritual glow.

"Hmm... I never expected the items I sold would end up back in my possession..."

Fang Xing picked up the high-quality Azure Lustre Sword with a peculiar expression.

This particular storage bag naturally belonged to that old ghost, Long.

He shook his head and continued rummaging through other miscellaneous items, discovering a few bottles of healing and hunger-relieving elixirs. There were none for enhancing magic power, as Old Ghost Long had reached the peak of Qi Cultivation, and there was no further advancement except for Foundation Establishment.

Additionally, there were several jade slips.

Fang Xing, long familiar with these cultivator-specific information carriers, used his spiritual force to probe them, uncovering a wealth of text and images, each vivid and lifelike.

"Hmm, far more expressive than paper..."

Fang Xing continued reading, finding a manual on crafting tools entitled "Mineral Identification and Mold Forging."

The remaining few were titles such as "A Comprehensive Guide to Refining First-grade Flying Swords," "Red Origin Craft Secrets," and others.

There was also a book titled "Fire Refinement Technique," a fire attribute cultivation method that could be cultivated up to the mid-Foundation Establishment stage.

"Pity, none of these are of much use to me..."

He shook his head again, beginning to put each item back into the storage bag with his mind, experimenting with the process of taking them in and out, enjoying himself immensely.

"This type of storage bag requires only a cultivator's spiritual consciousness to manipulate... truly convenient for me."

Fang Xing's spiritual force was slightly stronger than that of a Qi Cultivation stage cultivator's spiritual consciousness, making it a seamless task.

With a trace of anticipation, he picked up Chen Yi’s storage bag.

This cultivator's spiritual imprint was weaker than Old Ghost Long's, nearly dispersed, and Fang Xing shattered it with a single thought.

Although Chen Yi was a late-stage Qi Cultivation cultivator, he was evidently a pauper, as his storage bag contained little.

Only a few medium-grade spirit stones accompanied by dozens of lower-grade spirit stones, alongside a few magical artifacts and talismans…

"I thought Chen Yi managed to gather a lot of good items from the Wanfa Secret Realm; turns out he was just a pauper!"

Fang Xing, unaware that Chen Yi had exchanged the fortunate encounters he had for items that increased his strength, was dismissive.

The majority of Chen Yi's gains had been transformed into a superior quality robe, the storage bag, and pills for breakthroughs.

Due to his low cultivation level, upon his first venture into the secret realm, he couldn’t acquire many valuable items; he intended to cause a diversion to return and reap substantial gains with his late-stage Qi Cultivation power, only to be thwarted by Fang Xing.

If Chen Yi had heard Fang Xing's mockery, he would have been frustrated enough to cough up blood!

The room was silent as Fang Xing sat cross-legged, a small pile of storage bags laid out before him. His fingers traced the rough fabric of a particularly ornate one that shimmered even in the dim light filtering through the room.

He carefully undid the seal, his spirit energy flowing into the bag's narrow opening. What greeted him inside was a cascade of shimmering spirit stones, their glow almost blinding in contrast to the dark confines of the bag.

Fang Xing's eyes flickered with satisfaction. These spirit stones alone would be enough to sustain him for the next few months. He set them aside, eager to delve deeper.

Next emerged a beautifully bound manual, the cover adorned with mysterious runes. It was a cultivation technique manual—advanced, judging by the complexity of its cover.

He leaned back, contemplating its worth. Such manuals could grant him insights into new techniques or enhance his existing skills. Deciding it was valuable, he placed it carefully next to the spirit stones.

The final item was a small jade slip. Fang Xing held it under the light, peering at its translucent structure. Often used to record messages or important information, it was sealed with a practitioner's spiritual signature.

He hesitated, recognizing that breaking the seal would require both skill and caution. After a moment's consideration, he decided to leave it for another time.

With the storage bag now empty, Fang Xing sighed, a smile playing on his lips. This exploration was proving more fruitful than he had anticipated. Working quickly, he moved on to the next bag, grateful for the bounty left behind by less fortunate cultivators.