Healing System

'What the...?' Michael stared outward with widened eyes.

He had just been in the hall—a tunnel a couple of thousand meters below ground—and yet, what greeted his sight was anything but that.

Michael found himself on the side of a mountain. He could even see further ahead, where a city in the far-off distance looked eerily similar to the one he had arrived at just a day prior.

The familiar four estates were in view, and a shining golden light emanated from the Golden Dragon Sect, which, as he glanced at it, swiftly disappeared.

'I'm back?' he thought, stepping forward and climbing out onto the rocky, mountainous ground.

But just as he decided to take a look behind him, he noticed the exit he had come out of had completely disappeared as well.

Now, a simple ditch remained, as if a mud puddle, which he chose to simply climb out of and fly into the sky.

This was a mountain he hadn't noticed earlier, mainly because it wasn't particularly big. However, it seemed to hold some importance to the Golden Dragon himself.

Even then, it didn't matter much to him in the end. He had participated in the trial and gotten much stronger.

And from the looks of it, there wouldn't be anything else—not even a system message saying he'd managed to complete it.

Alas, putting that aside, he decided to swiftly head back to the city, landing just before it to avoid arousing too much suspicion.

Immediately, the people who were Tier 3 seemed extremely easy to kill; the same went for Tier 4's as well.

He wasn't sure whether this was arrogance at play or just because his senses had grown to the point where he could simply gauge such strength disparity.

However, ignoring the gazes the people were giving him for some odd reason, he headed back to the Golden Dragon Sect.

As he approached the gate, he noticed something with his Eyes of the Great Sage, which, by now, he was trying to keep active at all times.

The pavilion he had entered was still there, but the door had blackened out, no longer allowing access.

Nonetheless, he waved it aside as confirmation that he had cleared the trials. Michael walked up to the unsuspecting Sect Elder Li and Hu Rong.

As he approached, they immediately flicked their heads backward, meeting his gaze.

Immediately, their faces turned to ones of shock—even Hu Rong was no exception.

"Y-You! How did you get over there?" Elder Li exclaimed in a startled manner.

"I finished that trial of yours," Michael responded with a shrug before continuing, "I think it's time we start bringing the sect back together, don't you think?"

Even though he said that, their startled looks didn't go away, causing him to grow confused.

That was until Hu Rong spoke. "Master Mujin... did you just clear a dragon's trial?"

"Looks like it," Michael affirmed, unsure of the complications.

Yet, as soon as he stepped a bit closer to the trial pavilion, it began turning to dust at a rapid rate until, finally, nothing was left.

Nothing—except for a small golden bead on the ground that didn't seem too unusual at a glance.

But as he paid more attention to it—specifically with Eyes of the Great Sage fully active—he noticed a little irregularity.

And that was the fact that this golden bead exuded mana that was similar to his own, yet in a more concentrated form.

However, before he could do anything else, it suddenly disappeared. Without even needing to question who it was, Michael already knew.

'What is the bead?'

It's important, so give me a moment. I'll finish compiling your chunni dragon language later, the system replied impatiently.

Michael furrowed his brows at that response. 'Why do you keep giving me shit? What is that bead?'

It had barely answered any questions ever since he entered the Murim—almost like when it was first corrupted.

But for it to happen again was highly unlikely.

Therefore, he could only attribute it to the system hiding something big from him.

That golden bead is of no use to you for now, but once you reach Tier 3, it will become useful. Now stop being cranky and let me do what I have to do.

He couldn't help but roll his eyes at the system's comment. As per usual, it was doing its own thing independently. Discover exclusive content at empire

Now, though, he had to deal with the other matters at hand—one of which was the fact that the sect he was joining was absolute trash.

Barely any disciples, and even the elders looked haggard.

But as long as he could win that tournament, all would change for the better, and he would be—

Michael suddenly froze. 'Wait... aren't I rich now anyway?'

'System, how much gold did you gather?'

17,400 gold. You could probably buy a good estate with this amount, but still, I will be giving you an allowance since you tend to overspend on stupid things.

'Do you take me for a child?' Michael questioned with widened eyes.

And the system replied in kind. Not always, just your spending habits are not the best for some reason. If I give you the 17,400 gold upfront, you'll just splurge it all within a week—two weeks at most.

'Unbelievable...' He turned toward the still-shocked duo of Hu Rong and Elder Li before questioning,

"So, for starters... we should probably clean the entire sect up, maybe even get rid of a few lazy disciples. What do you think?"

The question was directed toward Elder Li, and he replied with a serious nod.

"That could work... but if we get rid of too many disciples at once, our sect could be disbanded."

"Then let's hold that back for a later date—cleaning first, culling later," Michael announced before continuing, "Does that work for you? And, Disciple Hu Rong, you will be doing a different task. Act as an instructor for the disciples and write down the names of those who are useless."

"Understood," Hu Rong immediately agreed, cupping his fists.

And so did Elder Li. "I agree."

"Good. Let's begin."