The young swordsman's mouth twitched, and his brows furrowed tightly.

Looking at the empty treasure vault and the unfamiliar face, his expression gradually shifted from dazed to furious. With a sharp sound, he drew his sword and pointed it directly at Xu Que, demanding harshly, "Who are you? How dare you trespass into our sect's treasure pavilion?"

Xu Que glanced at the last remaining Swift Escape Talisman in the system package and smiled calmly:

"Brother, you don't even know who I am, yet you dare to point a sword at me? Do you know that in this life, the thing I hate the most is someone pointing a gun... uh, a sword at my head?"

"Ding, congratulations to the host 'Xu Que' for successfully showing off, you have gained 1 point of show-off value."

The young swordsman was momentarily stunned and confusedly said, "I wasn't pointing at your head!"

He immediately regained his composure and angrily rebuked, "Enough with the nonsense! Daring to break into my sect's treasury is nothing short of seeking your own death."

As the words fell, the sword in the young swordsman's hand buzzed, the sword's hum resounding, red light radiating in all directions, carrying the scorching fire elemental energy as it charged towards Xu Que.

Damn, this guy is no pushover! Way tougher than that little fairy, at least at the Foundation Establishment stage! But why are all these cultivators like this, always ready to fight at the drop of a hat, and so ruthless too?

Xu Que cursed under his breath and immediately mobilized the spiritual energy within his body to counterattack, but as soon as he moved, he realized something was wrong.

A sudden surge of immense energy burst forth within his body, coursing wildly through his meridians as if it intended to tear him apart. It felt like millions of needles piercing him, causing Xu Que to shudder all over and collapse to the ground.

"Ah..."

Xu Que clutched his lower abdomen where his dantian was located, feeling as if the spiritual energy was about to tear him apart, with a tendency to explode and die.

Why is it like this?

Xu Que recalled the large pile of pills he had swallowed earlier, and his face instantly turned pale.

It's over, we're doomed now.

So many elixirs consumed, it turns out they weren't ineffective, but required self-catalysis.

He hadn't even tried to circulate his spiritual energy after taking the pills earlier. It wasn't until he was forced by the sword-wielding youth that he made a move, which ended up catalyzing all those pills at once.

"Bold thief, what trickery are you up to?"

Zhang Suliang looked at Xu Que suspiciously, seeing him clutching his lower abdomen, and noticing the dozens of empty pill bottles scattered around him, he was instantly moved and exclaimed in shock, "You... you just ate all these pills?"

Xu Que no longer had the strength to answer him. His facial features twisted as he curled up on the ground, struggling, his face growing paler and paler.

Even with five spiritual roots within the body, it was utterly impossible to fully absorb this immense spiritual energy.

Zhang Suliang was also stunned. These spiritual medicines... they were usually distributed as monthly supplies to the outer sect disciples! A single ordinary Gathering Essence Pill was enough for a Qi Refining stage disciple to train for over a month.

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But this guy in front of me swallowed dozens of them in one go, and even took the Guiyuan Pills and Body Refining Pills used during the Foundation Establishment stage. Could it be that he intends to commit suicide out of guilt?

"Ding, it has been detected that the host 'Xu Que' has an overload of spiritual energy in his body, causing physical damage. Would you like to activate the auto-repair function? Note, the auto-repair function consumes 1 point of pretentiousness value per hour."

A system prompt sounded in his mind. Without a second thought, Xu Que responded with his consciousness, "Activate it quickly, and help me deal with this spiritual energy while you're at it."

"Ding, automatic repair function activated successfully, deducting one point of pretentiousness value."

"Ding, it has been detected that the host has only learned the elementary chapter of the 'Ancient Five Elements Technique' and cannot absorb all the spiritual energy. The intermediate chapter needs to be purchased."

Swish!

As the auto-repair function activated, Xu Que immediately felt the intense pain in his body significantly diminish. At the same time, a light screen interface popped up before his eyes, displaying the system's shop list.

This was his first time checking the system shop, which was filled with a dense array of options, including various spells and magical treasures.

But when he saw the price of the mid-level section of the "Ancient Five Elements Technique," he almost spat out a mouthful of old blood.

"The intermediate level requires a hundred points of pretentiousness? Damn, why don't you just go rob someone! I've worked hard all day to act cool, and I still can't afford a single spell." Xu Que immediately cursed in anger.

Zhang Suliang immediately frowned and was about to speak when Xu Que's expression suddenly changed dramatically, and he let out another scream.

"Ah..."

The scream was extremely tragic, not feigned, but because the self-repair function could no longer keep up with the speed of the spiritual energy's destruction. He had consumed too many elixirs, and his mortal body simply couldn't bear it.

"Rather than dying in such agony, wouldn't it be better if I gave you a swift end?"

Zhang Suliang felt a bit reluctant, but he gripped his sharp sword tightly and decided to give Xu Que a swift end.

Seeing this, Xu Que hurriedly mustered his last bit of strength and gritted his teeth, saying, "Don't worry about me. Everyone has to die eventually, some deaths are as significant as Mount Tai, others as light as a feather. If I don't go to hell, who will? Ah..."

As the words fell, there was a muffled "whoosh" sound, and Xu Que vanished without a trace. It looked as if he had truly exploded and died, his soul extinguished, leaving not even a trace of his physical body behind.

Zhang Suliang's mouth hung open, unable to recover for a long time, seemingly stunned by Xu Que's bold and heroic words before his death.

However, Xu Que did not die. He was just afraid that if he stayed, Zhang Suliang would kill him with a single sword strike, so he decisively crushed the Divine Escape Talisman and fled. He just put on a show before leaving.

But this act of showing off was quite mediocre, and the system still rewarded one point of show-off value. Compared to the hundred points needed for the mid-level chapter of the "Ancient Five Elements Technique," it was merely a drop in the ocean.

The key point is that Xu Que still has the auto-repair function activated, consuming a bit of his pretentiousness value every hour, yet the spiritual energy shows no sign of diminishing. On the contrary, it keeps growing stronger, like strong liquor with a powerful aftereffect.

Letting it drag on like this is not a solution at all.

Xu Que was transported to a mountain stream, leaning against a large tree. He propped himself up and summoned the pretentious system, and a light screen interface appeared before his eyes:

"Host: Xu Que

Realm: Qi Refining Stage, Level Ten (Initial Insight)

Experience Points: 0/1000

Pretentiousness Level: 15 points

Cultivation Technique: "Ancient Five Elements Art" Beginner Chapter

Occupation: None

Status: Prince Consort of the Fire Yuan Kingdom in the Eastern Wilderness Continent

Current vitality status: Critical.

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Seeing the last newly appeared line of text, Xu Que's mouth twitched violently.

Being in a precarious situation is not a good thing, just like receiving a critical condition notice in a hospital; it basically means a death sentence!

"Damn system, you promised to make me awesome and take me flying, didn't you? Hurry up and help me find a solution!" Xu Que clutched his abdomen, his face full of pain.

"Ding, detection complete. Based on the host's current pretentiousness value and life status, this system has found a solution for you..."

Hearing this, Xu Que's eyes immediately lit up, and his life was once again filled with hope.

But the next moment, his vision went dark again.

The system automatically popped up the mall interface, and there was a book of spells prominently displayed inside, titled "Severing One's Own Meridians"!