I was quite lucky to wear this toxic suit, because the Heaven Basin was filled with toxic plants of all kinds, beside other dangers like beasts, rapid torrents and unexpected waterfalls from floating islands above. The beasts were bad enough, not only the flying ones, but also the hidden predators lurking in shadows or bushes or even underground. But the plants could look harmless or even edible, and kill you at the slightest touch.

My Discerning Eyes were working in overdrive as I moved cautiously around, keeping quiet and waiting for my chance. Of course, my Perfect Memory marked the valuable herbs and their location on a mental map, as well as other looting opportunities like crystal caves and ancient ruins of inscripted stone.

Eventually, I found the perfect spot to look around, a jutting rock raised above the green and purple jungle. Below me, a classic drama enfolded as three cultivators chased another for his loot.

"Lin Fei, hand over the Saint herb!" the leader of the robbers yelled in superior tone.

"I saw it first, Senior Brother. Go find your own." the man called Lin Fei protested in mild outrage.

"Courting death! I was going to let you die with your corpse intact, but now I'm angry..." the Senior Brother exclaimed in anger, and signaled his henchmen to flank around.

"Sssssttt." A tiny voice at my side added for some reason. I turned my head gently to find a thin blue snake with its beady eyes fixed on the glittering herb in Lin Fei's hand.

'Heartbeat Flying Snake, uses soul poison. Worth 2 million spirit stones.' my eyes reported as they scanned the snake sharing the rock with me.

I moved my hand slowly and the blue snake vanished in my spatial ring. My own heartbeat seemed to want to explode in my chest, since capturing the beast might have broken my Concealment Skill. I looked down again, but nobody seemed to have noticed me, with the drama continuing.

One of the henchmen was already dead, and Lin Fei was fighting the other one with a glowing sword, when that Senior Brother conjured a purple head made of gas and flung it towards Lin Fei.

It won't be long until the drama ended, so I turned around and began climbing down the rock.

"Where did you get a Shield Talisman, loser?" I heard an angry voice.

"You're not the only one with an Elder helping them, Gu Wuxian." the voice of Lin Fei answered, less meekly.

"But do you have another talisman, loser?" Gu Wuxian asked mockingly just as I reached the ground and ran towards the jungle clearing.

Lin Fei didn't, and held the corpse of a henchman as a shield to block the incoming gas skull. The body corroded and decayed into white bones in mere seconds, giving me a hint of why the Noxious Swamp was kept as such by this sect.

I reached the other corpse and willed it to join my inventory in the spatial ring, while the two disciples battled over the glowing herb.

The contents of my ring were instantly clear in my mind: a sect token, a small bag of spirit stones, a steel sword, robes, sandals, a water skin, a small bottle with pills and a roll of bamboo stripes with a sutra on them, plus a human corpse with a hole in his chest. Jackpot!

I began to retreat as well, keeping an eye on the fight nearby. Lin Fei was losing, as the other disciple was stronger and better prepared.

I thought for a moment, then released the blue snake from the ring, before shifting inside my Tower.

The old ghost waited for me with a sneaky smile. "Failed already, little Pef?" he asked in a kind voice.

I victoriously took out the bamboo sutra and rolled it open. Xiantian combat technique, Tri-sword mantra. I sighed out loud. Not exactly what I needed.

"I did get something, but not that useful." I muttered and drew my protecting hood back, and prepared to return.

"Wait a few minutes, child. Your suit will not withstand that decay skull technique." the ghost said in a warning tone.

Ummm. The old ghost could see outside? I mean, he did build this Tower, so he might have abilities I don't know about.

Or sufficiently advanced senses that didn't even register to me. I was quite new to cultivation, despite the CYOA downloading a set of Artisan memories for my background.

I took out the entire corpse of the dead henchman, and set aside the slightly valuable stuff, like the spirit stones and the sword.

The ghost flew close and stuck his white hand into the chest hole of the dead guy. "Second level of Saint Realm, killed with a single punch to the heart. The killer must be in the 5th level of Body Transformation." he deduced with a knowing voice, then opened the small bag and simply ate a spirit stone like candy.

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I did the same, eating one spirit stone just to see what happens. A burst of energy exploded in my dantian, and my level grew into the 2nd level of Xiantian, just like that. The ghost stared at me while I stared at my hands. Did I even need to cultivate with a cheat like this? My Body of the Reaction God perk was too outlandish!

"Don't do that anymore, child! Your body and meridians could explode." the ghost warned me as my hand moved by itself to pick up another spirit stone.

I closed my eyes and ran a diagnostic on my internal organs, but everything seemed fine. My body simply converted the energy of the spirit stones directly into cultivation. "My body is perfectly fine, Grandpa. I'll try one more..." I decided on a hunch, then ate another glowing energy crystal.

I should be fine as long as the crystal wasn't larger than my head.

And indeed, the burst of energy pushed me over into the 3rd level, but barely. Spirit stones would help, but their impact would diminish as my cultivation realm grew. Not a perfect solution, but useful anyway.

The old ghost sighed and poked me in the forehead for a second. "Truly blessed by the Heavens. I've only seen a single man like you before, and he had the True Dragon bloodline. He went on to become a Golden Celestial." he revealed in a distant voice.

I scratched the back of my head. "My clan did perform careful selective breeding, but I don't think we had any dragon bloodlines." I admitted with a sheepish voice.

I did have the Good Breeding perk to account for some genetic advantages like beauty or charisma, but those wouldn't be enough, not for what I have just done.

"I know you don't, child. You're something else, perhaps the descendant of another True God." the ghost guessed almost perfectly. The Body of the Reaction God was probably a perk of True Gods.

I smiled cutely, showing my adorable 9-year-old dimples. "I wonder if my own children will get the same bloodline. I do need to rebuild my clan anyway." I said with child-like wonder.

It had been exactly 3 years since I arrived in this world, and things were starting to look great. I would need to find a wife or two and test the breeding theory, but that shouldn't be hard. I was quite rich already, and soon to become quite strong as well.

Best birthday gift ever, this random discovery!

I ate another spirit stone, and my level didn't manage to cross over again. I did reach the peak of 3rd level though, which was quite nice anyway.

"Don't eat more than 3 stones per day, young Pef. You're not yet fully grown, and I worry about hidden problems that might stunt your growth. You won't like it if you look like a child for the rest of eternity, right?" the ghost advised me in a wary tone.

I nodded. "Thanks, Grandpa. You make sense."

"Hohoho! Now I make sense, not before? Go pick up the bodies. They might have something valuable on them." he told me in a mocking voice.

I drew back the hood of my suit and shifted outside, careful as ever. The jungle clearing had become a devastated battlefield, with hundreds of broken trees and bits of clothes and weapons flung about, and three bodies, one snake and two humans.

I moved fast, collecting the bodies as well as the trees and all the broken metal I could find, then ran away towards the nearest ruin.

My planning was simple, but solid. Find a place where no toxic plants could touch me, then shift back to sift through the loot.

But instead, stepping on the round stone platform caused it to glow with green symbols, and I fell through it and landed in a cave.

My damn Protagonist perk lead me to another adventure!

I should wait before exploring more, though. This area wasn't meant for Xiantian newbies like me. So I returned to the Tower and began discarding the contents of my ring, trees to one side for more furniture, and bodies on another side, for the ghost to examine them.

"This man isn't dead...just poisoned. By the flying snake, I believe." the old ghost warned me before I could start looting.

I stared down, where Lin Fei lay at my feet in a deadly rictus. I touched his neck and he was certainly dead, no pulse, no breathing. "Perhaps not dead means something else to you, Grandpa. You're also not really dead..." I muttered in a childish voice.

The ghost coughed in surprise. "Oh, I am certainly dead, child. What you see is an Artifact's Spirit, not the soul of a dead person. Those look completely different. And they want to eat the living."

Hmmm. Basically an Artificial Intelligence, then? Or maybe an uploaded mind? Uploaded soul? It was good to know Grandpa wasn't going to eat me, though. Lucky!

The other man was certainly dead though, cut in half and having a big hole through his chest. Lin Fei didn't play around with his punches.

The ghost floated the glowing herb away from Lin Fei, and examined it with expert eyes, while I did the same. 'Three-stem Ganoderma, used to soul forge a Saint Soul. Worth 500 million spirit stones.' my Discerning Eyes discovered as the ghost raised a bushy eyebrow.

"Soul Forging?" I asked to make sure. My eyes could be wrong.

"This secret realm holds a lot of wonders it seems. Forging the soul of a Saint can take hundreds, maybe a thousand years. Sure, there are medicine sects out in the starfields that cultivate entire gardens of these, and even better herbs. But in this low realm world? Quite a wonder." the ghost mused in a thoughtful voice, then floated the herb into my hands.

I sat down and looked at the glowing plant for a long minute. Should I skip a thousand years of grueling cultivation? Wait a bit more?

Eat the thing and risk it?

My body moved by itself and I ate the herb by instinct. My soul shattered and the pain blinded me, for a moment. Again, I found myself outside my body, floating in the strange soul space. But this time, the ghost was there beside me, smiling knowingly towards me.

There was pain, of course. But my Unbreakable Will perk dealt with the pain for me, so I could move a little and explore. There was a huge skeleton in the Noxious Swamp, now partly covered in lava and ash. But it radiated a strong soul pressure, beside the decay qi.

The cave I discovered recently went on for days, leading to numerous rooms, some empty, some trapped or guarded by statues and some holding jade tablets. I imprinted the memory of the place for later and drew back, finding myself a new man, in a small body.

It was almost like my body was a suit of child clothes that didn't fit anymore. My soul was too big.

"This feels wierd. My body is too small." I muttered in a concerned voice.

"Which is why spirit beasts shed their old skin when they advance a realm. Their bodies feel too small. But for you...you're just a child, so there nothing you can do. Perhaps train more and get used to it." the ghost advised me with a careless shrug.

I just sighed and went to bed. Tommorow Pef could deal with this.