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A sparrow may be small, but all its organs are complete.
Sushang's head was not truly empty. Though her performance was inferior compared to Jing Yuan, Lingsha, and that entire group, at least all her functions were present and accounted for.
With how plainly Suyi stated things, Sushang only needed a moment before realizing her mother's true meaning.
She hesitated. "Mother, do you think I might be a little…"
Before she could even say the word stupid, Suyi hurriedly interrupted.
A mother still had to preserve her child's dignity.
She said, "Silly child, how could I ever think you're stupid?"
"Uu~~" Sushang's face instantly scrunched into a pitiful bitter-gourd expression.
Even if you denied it, why does this feel worse than saying it outright?
Trying to hide the truth but slipping up anyway hurts more than frank honesty…
She felt she understood now what people meant by 'Lies don't hurt—truth is the sharp blade.'
"Ah—Sushang, that's not what I meant," Suyi said, realizing she had accidentally spoken too bluntly.
She quickly tried to fix it. "What I meant is: the Sixth Realm is an unprecedented peak in the sword arts. Naturally, its difficulty is extraordinary. If the [Stone of Enlightenment]—the tiniest bit of help—ends up stopping you from progressing further, wouldn't that be far too unfortunate?"
Suyi reasoned with her first, then appealed to her emotions.
With eyes full of anticipation, she said, "Sushang, everyone in the family—including your mother—is waiting for you, our experts, to give us guidance someday."
"Mm~~"
That sentence hit right in Sushang's heart.
Me teaching Mother and those teachers who used to bonk my head with a ruler?
Me—a youngster—standing at the lectern, confidently reciting a string of profound, awe-inspiring concepts, while they sit below struggling desperately to understand?
Unable to comprehend, forced to jot everything down in their little notebooks, spending their spare time trying to decipher my lessons?
And those elders who used to call me 'Li Big Pillow'—lining up one by one, bowing their heads, coming humbly to seek a single phrase of guidance from me?
Yes. Yes. That was it.
There was nothing more satisfying in the world!
Suyi's words successfully ignited Sushang's imagination.
Whatever talk of "stupid or not" had been raised earlier was instantly deleted from her advanced neural center, as if her brain had emptied the recycle bin to maintain peak operating performance.
She straightened proudly and sided with her mother. "Mother is absolutely right. If missing just this tiny improvement from the [Stone of Enlightenment] prevents the Sixth Realm from being passed down, that truly would be a loss."
Sushang picked up the stone, mumbling, "Then I'll use it myself?"
"Go on, child, use it without worry. There's no better choice." Suyi smiled with a mysterious expression.
As if I couldn't coax this little one…
But then concern flickered in her eyes.
She's too easy to coax… I hope she won't get tricked by ill-intentioned people in the future.
Sigh… let's hope the [Stone of Enlightenment] is strong enough.
Sushang placed the blue crystal atop her head, tapped it lightly, and it dissolved into prismatic light that rained down upon her.
Soon, her scalp began to itch. She closed her eyes, calming her breath, sensing the changes within her body.
…
Inside the Curio Trash Cans Shop, Lingsha's slender fingers brushed across the remaining trash cans.
Though one couldn't see any difference, people always believed that extra gestures or shouted chants could increase their luck.
In her eyes, this was a kind of illness.
This symptom usually appeared before opening a trash can; after opening, most people sank into despair and reaffirmed their belief in materialism, loudly cursing idealism as something meant for fools.
Yet one minute before the next trash-can opening, the condition would relapse again, endlessly repeating.
As for those who didn't despair afterward—they would become staunch idealists, preparing elaborate rituals before the next opening, only to return to materialism after the results and curse idealism again.
She herself wasn't as sick as that… but she wasn't immune either.
If she could obtain a concept-grade artifact through this, it would be a windfall beyond measure.
And if she happened to pull a top-tier medical inheritance like Jiaoqiu's [Memory Bubble of the Spirit-Butterfly Alchemist], that would be even better.
These were things even draining all the Credits of the entire Interastral Peace Corporation couldn't buy.
Lingsha selected four trash cans, waving her censer lightly.
A puff of pink smoke drifted outward, and the lids opened under its influence.
Different colors of light intertwined. Before she closed her eyes, Lingsha thought she glimpsed a noble shade of purple flashing faintly.
Her heart thumped once—hard.
Something good. Definitely.
As the light faded and the four items appeared on the counter, Lingsha frowned.
"No weapon. No memory bubble."
She sighed.
Not only were the two things she wanted most missing, even a [Devil Fruit] wasn't among them.
So, what kind of Curio could she possibly get that would help her?
She had heard that Jiaoqiu once received a recipe book so simple that even an idiot could understand it—supposedly containing conceptual power. But its professional relevance was too narrow, and in practice, the only effect was teaching someone the most basic cooking skills.
Precious, yes—but ultimately shelved as a collector's item.
Don't tell me I'm getting something just as niche and useless…
Forget it. At least she was supporting a friend's business.
Boss Sylvester, meanwhile, examined the four items and raised a brow.
Lingsha's luck wasn't bad—no duds, no black-hole cans.
But Curios… ah, Curios were always good mixed with bad, bad mixed with good, good mixed with a little bad.
[Twin Nephrite: Increases critical hit rate by 15%. For fifteen seconds after defeating an enemy, increases attack power and movement speed by 20%.]
[Rotten Elixir:Upon consumption, instantly restores the user to full condition, but induces diarrhea after three minutes.]
[192GB Biological RAM:Hold it in your mouth to enhance cognitive processing.(Warning:Do not forcibly spit it out while thinking, or you may short-circuit your brain and become an idiot.) (Note: Comes with various accessories such as decorative stickers, RGB shell options, and a cooling jacket for customized appearance.)]
[Doctors of Chaos's Prescription Generator:Input symptoms on the display screen to automatically produce matching prescription medicine.(Note:Cures all diseases, but does not guarantee survival.)]