36: When you're poor, no one cares even in the bustling city; when you're rich, distant relatives come calling even in the deep mountains.

The atmosphere at the dinner table was somewhat silent.

Jiang Lijun's cooking was excellent; several home-style dishes were prepared with perfect color, aroma, and taste.

The sweet and sour pork tenderloin was crispy on the outside and tender on the inside, with a balanced sweet and sour flavor; the stir-fried local greens carried the 'breath of the wok,' fresh and vibrant green.

Zhang Huilan set the last pair of bowls and chopsticks in front of Jiang Ming, her movements somewhat stiff.

The family of three sat together, but no one picked up their chopsticks first.

Silence spread through the small living room.

In the end, it was Zhang Huilan who spoke first. She picked up a portion of greens with her chopsticks and put them into Jiang Ming's bowl, but she didn't look at him.

"Xiao Ming, your eldest aunt called me three times today."

"She said... isn't your cousin getting married? The bride's family wants to buy a wedding house in the city, paid in full, so your aunt wants to ask you to borrow five hundred thousand to help with the cash flow."

Jiang Ming didn't say a word, just listening quietly.

Jiang Lijun kept his head down, poured himself a glass of white liquor, and drank half of it in one gulp.

The pungent liquid burned his throat, causing a flush of red to rise on his naturally dark face.

"It's not just your aunt." Jiang Lijun set down the wine glass with a dull thud.

"That distant cousin of mine I haven't been in contact with for years somehow got my cell phone number. He said his son graduated from college and couldn't find a job, and asked if you could... use your 'connections' to arrange a job in Jiangcheng, something easy with a high salary."

The air at the dinner table became even more stagnant.

Zhang Huilan's narration became heavy; she didn't dare look at her son's face.

"There's also a distant relative from the same village. His grandson was born with congenital heart disease and has been on the waiting list for a donor heart. They heard you're a 'Living Immortal' who can make dead trees bloom, and they want to come beg you to use 'magic' to heal the child."

As she finished, the two parents looked at each other, their faces filled with undisguised exhaustion.

Ever since Jiang Ming became famous, the phone at home hadn't stopped ringing.

All sorts of distant relatives and even old neighbors who hadn't been in touch for years came knocking with various bizarre reasons.

Asking for money, for jobs, even for divine medicine or magic.

These matters annoyed them to no end and made them feel unprecedented pressure and fear.

Jiang Ming listened to it all.

He slowly set down his chopsticks.

The crisp sound made both parents look up.

Jiang Ming looked at his parents' haggard faces and calmly made a suggestion.

"Let's move."

"I'll find a new place for you to live."

Jiang Lijun and Zhang Huilan looked at each other.

They didn't refuse.

Exhausted by the social obligations and human relations of this period, they were indeed afraid and tired.

Jiang Lijun nodded, signifying his agreement to the proposal.

"Okay."

The meal was finally over.

After dinner, Jiang Ming returned to his room, which hadn't changed in years.

His high school review materials were still on the desk, and a faded poster of a basketball star was stuck to the wall.

Everything was exactly as it had been when he left home for university.

But the person sitting here was no longer his past self.

Jiang Ming sat on the edge of the bed, his consciousness sinking into the depths of his mind.

A golden panel unfolded in the dark space of his consciousness.

[Current total emotion points balance: 9,147,545 points]

It was time for the next transformation.

Jiang Ming decided to open the fifth Destinys Triple Choice.

[Do you wish to consume 1,000,000 emotion points points to perform Choice Enhancement on the fifth choice?]

"Yes."

[emotion points -1,000,000 points.]

[Choice Enhancement activated. The quality of the options for this round will be significantly improved.]

Immediately after, Jiang Ming issued another command.

[Do you wish to consume 5,000,000 emotion points points to open the fifth Destinys Triple Choice?]

"Open it."

[emotion points -5,000,000 points.]

The numbers on the system panel jumped violently before finally stopping.

[Current total emotion points balance: 3,147,545 points]

Six million emotion points points evaporated in an instant.

In the next second, three options, entirely pure gold and radiating a heavy texture, slowly emerged in Jiang Ming's consciousness.

This was the first time he had seen gold-quality options.

[Option A: Worldline Jump (One-time consumable)]

[Ability Effect: Can carry the host to randomly jump to a parallel world where other supernatural systems exist.]

[Note: One-way ticket. The journey is full of unknowns; please choose carefully.]

[Option B: Absolute Friendly Domain (Beginner)]

[Ability Effect: Passive ability. Centered on the host, it expands a domain with a 10-meter radius. Any intelligent creature that enters this domain with clear hostility toward the host will have their hostility forcibly converted to a neutral or friendly state.]

[Note: This ability cannot affect units whose willpower exceeds the host's.]

[Option C: Child of Weather (Beginner)]

[Effect: Active ability. The host gains the ability to interfere with and control local weather. Within a specified range, the host can actively change basic meteorological parameters such as temperature, humidity, wind speed, and air pressure to create or disperse common weather phenomena like clouds, rain, snow, and hail.]

[Note: When you say there shall be wind and rain, it's best if the sky truly has them.]

Jiang Ming's brain worked rapidly, quickly analyzing the pros and cons of the three options.

Option A, Worldline Jump.

This option was extremely tempting, representing a brand-new world and a brand-new power system.

But the "one-way ticket" and "unknown consequences" in the note made it highly risky.

Jiang Ming wasn't arrogant enough to think he could thrive in any world. Moreover, his roots and his family were in this world.

This option would not be considered for now.

Option B, Absolute Friendly Domain.

An extremely powerful passive defensive ability, it could be called the "Bane of Talkative Enemies" and "Assassin's Nightmare."

Within the domain's range, one could be immune to almost all attacks originating from subjective malice.

However, its nature was too passive, leaning more toward self-preservation.

What Jiang Ming needed now was an active ability that was more disruptive, more performative, and capable of creating larger spectacles.

Option C, Child of Weather.

Summoning wind and rain.

For a "magician," was there any stage more grand, more spectacular, or more divine than this?

It could allow a concert to take place in a rainstorm or make it snow in a city during the height of summer.

Its strategic potential far exceeded any of the previous abilities.

This was the perfect puzzle piece for his next ultra-large-scale "performance."

Jiang Ming no longer hesitated and made his choice.

"I choose C."

The moment the words fell, Option A and Option B turned into golden specks of light and dissipated completely.

Option C, Child of Weather, turned into a majestic golden torrent that surged into Jiang Ming's core consciousness.

In that instant, vast amounts of knowledge and data regarding atmospheric physics, fluid mechanics, thermodynamics, and energy cycles were no longer dry formulas and theories but became an instinct deeply etched into his soul.

Jiang Ming closed his eyes.

He "saw" the flow of air in the room, sensed the existence of every water vapor molecule, and could even clearly distinguish the air pressure differences in different areas.

The entire world, in his perception, gained a brand-new dimension.

Jiang Ming did not lose himself in this new perception.

He immediately opened his personal panel to check the upgrade costs for the new ability.

[Child of Weather (Beginner) → (Intermediate), required emotion points: 300,000 points.]

[Child of Weather (Intermediate) → (Advanced), required emotion points: 800,000 points.]

"Upgrade everything."

[Consumed 1,100,000 emotion points points. Ability 'Child of Weather' has been upgraded to Advanced.]

[Current total emotion points balance: 2,147,545 points.]

Having done all this, Jiang Ming invested his final resources into his most fundamental attributes.

"System, enhance soul."

[Consumed 500,000 emotion points points. soul level increased to 11.]

[Consumed 550,000 emotion points points. soul level increased to 12.]

[Consumed 600,000 emotion points points. soul level increased to 13.]

With three consecutive upgrades, a cool torrent of energy constantly washed over his core consciousness.

Finally, Jiang Ming's personal panel was set as:

[constitution: 20 (Average adult male is 5)]

[soul: 13 (Average adult human is 1)]

[Abilities: Raven Summoning Technique (Advanced), Voice of the Mind (Advanced), Plant Control (Advanced), Child of Weather (Advanced), Innate Domain]

[emotion points balance: 497,545 points.]

His strength had once again undergone a comprehensive explosion.

Jiang Ming slowly exhaled a breath of turbid air, stood up from the bed, and walked to the window.

Outside the window was the night view of the old city area of Yuzhang City, with thousands of lights, warm and ordinary.

Jiang Ming extended a finger and lightly touched the cold glass pane.

He mobilized a sliver of the power he had just acquired and pointed toward the clear night sky outside.

In the next second.

On this warm early autumn night, a crystal clear, perfectly structured hexagonal snowflake condensed out of thin air in front of his fingertip.

It passed through the glass and drifted down lightly.