by Translator: BornToBe; Author: Ordinary Magician (平凡魔术师); Licensed From: 17k
Meng Qi spent each day playing with Cloud. When a Magical Beast was just born was the best time to accompany and play with it, as that was the best way to form mutual trust and bonds.
At the same time, Meng Qi needed to keep a constant watch over Cloud and adjust things. If she felt any aspects of it were imbalanced, she would prepare some special food. She had to make up for its innate deficiency, and the best time to do so was while it was still young.
With everything settled, Long Chen got to work on condensing his third original rune. As a result, his expression immediately darkened.
The third original rune took forty thousand yuan spirit stones. He felt like he was about to go crazy. For others, condensing the original runes on the same level would take the same energy. It was just condensing them all in the end that would take some more energy.
But he had spent four thousand more yuan spirit stones condensing the third original rune versus the second. When he condensed the fourth one, it took forty-five thousand yuan spirit stones. He really did feel crazy now.
This was essentially a bottomless pit! Each original rune was costing him more and more.
After three days, Long Chen’s face was as dark as the bottom of a pot. That was because after condensing nine original runes, he had actually condensed a tenth.
For the first nine, he had spent six hundred and thirty thousand yuan spirit stones. But on the tenth one, he suddenly needed one million two hundred thousand yuan spirit stones.
On the fifth day, he condensed an eleventh original rune after spending two million four hundred thousand yuan spirit stones.
On the tenth day, he condensed a twelfth original rune, costing him four million and eight hundred thousand yuan spirit stones.
On the twentieth day, a thirteenth original rune appeared, and nine million six hundred thousand yuan spirit stones turned to dust.
“What am I supposed to do?!” Long Chen let out a crazy roar.
He hadn’t even condensed the foundation of his immortal platform. Just condensing these thirteen original runes had taken eighteen million yuan spirit stones. Anyone would probably go crazy.
“I refuse to believe this! You’re after all my money, aren’t you?!” raged Long Chen. “Fine, let’s play then! If you have guts, just try taking all my yuan spirit stones!”
Long Chen clenched his teeth and continued absorbing yuan spirit stones. After thirteen original runes, he didn’t condense another one. Instead, they began to compress.
As he constantly poured in more yuan spiritual energy, his thirteen original runes, which were like thirteen babies holding hands, slowly merged.
But this process was incredibly slow. As they merged, they formed a circular foundation. This was the foundation of the immortal platform, and at the center of it was a strange design. It was a flower with thirteen petals.
As soon as the foundation formed, an explosive sound came from his body, and his aura soared out of his control.
A pillar of light pierced the roof of his residence and into the sky. All the surrounding clouds were blown away, and then Long Chen’s residence collapsed on itself, turning to rubble. All of Crouching Dragon Mountain was shaken.
Chapter 1132 First Heavenstage of Foundation Forging
The disturbance at Long Chen’s residence instantly drew over all the Dragonblood Legion. Long Chen waved his hand to tell them that he was fine.
“What power.” Long Chen looked inside himself and saw that he now had the foundation of his immortal platform in all his 108,000 acupuncture points. The foundation didn’t move, but the flower design at the center slowly spun.
As the thirteen flower petals revolved, a kind of Dao-charm exuded out of them. It was as if the way they moved was its own law with boundless profundities.
As they revolved, energy was pulled out of the air and into the foundation, nourishing it.
“It can actually absorb yuan spiritual energy out of the air on its own! And this speed, it’s almost as fast as when the Dragonblood warriors absorb energy from yuan spirit stones!” Long Chen was absolutely shocked. A single yuan spirit stone contained about as much energy as a cultivator could gain by cultivating normally over several months or even a year. That was why yuan spirit stones were so precious.
Now Long Chen didn’t even have to do anything, but he could naturally extract yuan spiritual energy from the world.
With a thought, the flower designs began to revolve faster, and energy began to rush toward him from all directions.
“The speed has increased by ten times. Unfortunately… it’s still not enough.” Long Chen sensed it for a while and then shook his head.
This cultivation speed would be enough to frighten others to death. But it was far from enough for his abnormal needs.
Even if he cultivated like this, it didn’t have much meaning. It would take him a few months before he could condense a new rune.
As for thirteen runes, it would take a few years or even decades. That kind of cultivation method didn’t have the slightest meaning to him.
To spend ten years to advance one Heavenstage was an absolute joke. But in any case, he had at least reached the first Heavenstage.
But the cost to reach this level was definitely unacceptable to him. He had first spent eighteen million yuan spirit stones on the thirteen original runes, and now he had spent twenty-two million yuan spirit stones to condense them into a platform. In total, it had taken him forty million yuan spirit stones, which was not something he could afford to continue.
He suspected that the Nine Star Hegemon Body Art’s Foundation Forging process was not meant to be done using yuan spirit stones. If just the first Heavenstage cost forty million yuan spirit stones, what about the rest of the thirteen Heavenstages? Furthermore, after the tenth Heavenstage, the difficulty would multiply.
He even suspected that even if the entire Martial Heaven Continent’s yuan spirit stones were to be given to him, he wouldn’t be able to reach the Jade Core realm.
But for sure, the Xuantian Dao Sect’s yuan spirit beads and stones would be insufficient for his needs. So he wouldn’t ask the Xuan Master to split half the sect’s limited resources with him when it wouldn’t help much.
“This is no good. There has to be another way. Does the problem lie with the fifth star?” wondered Long Chen. However, he had no way to get the fifth star’s pill formula if it didn’t appear on its own.
Just being panicked had no use. He had to continue as he was, but for now, he didn’t use any more yuan spirit stones. He couldn’t hold back the entire Dragonblood Legion just to strengthen himself.
Long Chen let out a punch. He felt his strength had greatly increased once more. Even his punch was faster, and his spiritual yuan circulated throughout his body without the slightest sluggishness.
“Lightning Finger.”
Long Chen pointed a finger, and a lightning arrow shot out with a sharp whistling sound. It pierced into the air.
“The speed has increased. It practically comes out as soon as I will it. This is the true meaning of instantaneous.” Long Chen smiled.
“Meteor Rain of Arrows.”
“Raging Flame Prison.”
“Raging Flames Devour the Heavens.”
Long Chen repeatedly formed hand seals, and the 108,000 immortal platforms in his body seemed to connect. Just as he formed a hand seal, he felt his acupuncture points, which needed to be slowly connected through various hand seals, instantly link up, and he unleashed his magical art in practically an instant.
“Nice, these forty million yuan spirit stones weren’t wasted.”
Long Chen was pleasantly surprised by this. As he tested it out, he found that his magical arts, which would have required half a breath’s time to activate previously, could now be activated almost instantly.
That delighted him. Defeating enemies didn’t depend on how strong your moves were, but on whether or not you could unleash them instantly so your opponent couldn’t defend or dodge.
In truth, big moves weren’t that useful. No matter how strong it was, your opponent wouldn’t give you time to use it. You would be slowly ground down from your opponent’s smaller magical arts. Such occurrences were a common sight in the cultivation world.
Although big moves were powerful and could kill hordes of people, and they were addicting and badass, the chances of actually pulling them off were low. Unless your opponent was also unleashing a big move because they were confident in using it to kill you, they would never give you a chance.
“Star Fall!”
Long Chen condensed a foot-long sphere in his hand, and space began to wildly twist. He hastily dissipated it. Even Star Fall could be unleashed much quicker.
When he had first learned it, it had taken three breaths’ time to use. Later, he had cut it down to one breath. Now, it was just a third of a breath.
Not only had the cast time shortened, but just this simple test had unleashed greater power than when he had used it against Han Zhenyu. And this was a far cry from his current limit.
Previously, he hadn’t been able to use Star Fall to its full power because his physical body hadn’t been able to bear it. Now that he had reached the first Heavenstage and had condensed his immortal platform, Star Fall’s power had risen greatly.
“Alright, I admit I’m not that regretful about the money.” Long Chen couldn’t help but feel like his previous grief had been a bit embarrassing.
Just as he was sighing emotionally, a figure suddenly charged at him, causing him to jump. It was the Cloud Chasing Heaven Swallowing Sparrow.
It had already grown to thirty meters in length, and some white feathers were growing out of it. It was incredibly fast as it rushed to Long Chen. It reached him in the blink of an eye and began to rub its head on him.
“Wow, you grew fast!” Long Chen hadn’t expected Cloud to treat him so intimately.
“Of course. I fed it only the best, and I told it that all that good feed was the result of your bitter labor. That’s why Cloud’s very grateful to you.” Meng Qi smiled.
“Hahaha, a man should naturally feed his family. How are you, Cloud?” Long Chen rubbed its head. Cloud knelt on the ground and enjoyed his caressing.
“Everything’s going well. Originally, Cloud would have grown even faster, but I controlled its growth. After all, its innate deficiency means taking some more time growing will be beneficial. It’ll give me more time to see problems and fix them,” said Meng Qi.
“Yes, be careful of mistakes. Just keep things steady.” Long Chen approved of this. There wasn’t that much danger right now, so there was no need to push things.
Cloud let out a few chirping sounds. Long Chen said, “Something about meat… and something about hunting?” With his powerful Spiritual Strength, he could understand the general meaning, but it wasn’t very clear.
Meng Qi laughed, “It’s saying that I’ve refused to bring it out hunting. It wants to eat fresh meat. To put it more simply, it’s gluttonous!” She turned to Cloud. “I told you, you can’t eat raw meat in your current state. It’ll make you grow too explosively and make your foundation unsteady.” The Cloud Chasing Heaven Swallowing Sparrow was an ancient species. Their swallowing ability was innate, and they needed the energy of flesh and blood to grow.
“Wilde can probably form a team with Cloud in the future,” joked Long Chen.
Wilde was about the same. No matter how much he ate, he wouldn’t get full. Wilde had even told him a few days ago that his rations were running out and he needed to go hunting.
“Meng Qi, you can issue some missions to the outer sect to gather some Magical Beast corpses at the sixth rank and below. Sixth rank Magical Beast’s flesh should be weak enough that Cloud won’t suddenly grow, but it can at least relieve some hunger. Otherwise, eating balls of medicine all day will make it want to vomit,” said Long Chen.
Hearing this, Cloud immediately started cheering. Meng Qi was speechless, but thinking about it, this was a good idea. There were far too many high ranking Magical Beasts in the Central Plains. Finding some that were at the sixth rank and below would probably mean going out and searching far away.
However, the outer sect’s disciples often went out to accomplish missions, so they should be familiar with this. If they issued this mission, it should be very effective.
“Long Chen, how are you only at the first Heavenstage?” Meng Qi suddenly looked at Long Chen curiously.
Long Chen was stunned, feeling so ashamed that he might die. Meng Qi had already reached the third Heavenstage, and that made him feel helpless and bitter.
“It’s a long story, and it’s depressing. Are the others also at the same cultivation base as you?” asked Long Chen.
“At this point, the majority has reached the third Heavenstage. There’s about a third still in the second Heavenstage, but they’ll quickly reach the third,” said Meng Qi.
That was because they were all absorbing energy from yuan spirit stones. Although their talent could affect how quickly they absorbed that energy, it wouldn’t be a huge difference. So all of their speeds were about the same. In at most three days, the remaining disciples would reach the third Heavenstage.
Suddenly, the sound of a bell resounded throughout the Xuantian Dao Sect.
Long Chen was startled. “What’s going on? Is a core disciple issuing a life and death challenge? But, other than me, who else has the guts? Was it Su Mo?”
“You fool, that’s not the bell for a life and death battle. The tone is completely different. It’s the bell to gather, so we have to go. We can call over the people in seclusion on the way,” said Meng Qi. She put away Cloud and took off with Long Chen.
Chapter 1133 Silent Slap
“What’s going on? Why did they suddenly summon everyone? Is the Infernal Devil Abyss acting up again?”
“Haha, that would be great! It just so happens I’m lacking a few points. I was worried about how to get some more!”
All the inner sect disciples were gathered. They were discussing all kinds of theories, but a scene that made them sluggish appeared.
That was the scene of the outer sect disciples flooding into the inner sect plaza. Seeing millions of them appear, they were all surprised.
“What’s going on? Even outer sect disciples have to participate in the battle? Are the devil beasts so fierce this time?!” Everyone’s expressions changed.
Following that, the Elders also appeared. And not just a few. All of them came, including all the department heads, the Alchemy Pavilion Master, Law Enforcement Hall Master, Sect Protecting Pavilion Master, etc.
They all came at the same time except for Liu Cang. At this moment, three more people arrived at the front. First was the Xuan Master, and behind him was a strict-looking dark-faced elder. He was the Tower Department Head that practically all members of the sect feared.
The third person was Liu Cang. Right now, there was a ball of light floating behind his head that looked like a twinkling star.
Seeing that ball of light, all people on the level of Hall Masters let out started cries. Luo Fan and the Alchemy Pavilion Master’s expressions sank as they were filled with fury and envy.
“Today, everyone was gathered because of a momentous event. Elder Liu Cang has advanced to the Life Star realm, raising the power of the Xuantian Dao Sect to a new level. Starting today, Liu Cang is no longer the Hall Master of the Elder Hall, but the Xuantian Dao Sect’s vice Xuan Master,” said the Xuan Master.
“Congratulations, vice Xuan Master Liu Cang!”
Congratulations rang out from the Hall Masters. In the Xuantian Dao Sect, Liu Cang was known as a person of virtue and prestige, and he had good relationships with most people. He immediately thanked his old colleagues.
But the Alchemy Pavilion Master and Luo Fan’s expressions were ugly, especially Luo Fan’s. It looked like he had just lost his father.
The Xuan Master continued, “Starting today, the Xuantian Dao Sect will hold a three-day
celebration. Inner sect disciples will receive ten thousand points, outer sect disciples will receive a thousand points, and workers will receive one hundred points as a reward.”
Cheering immediately burst out. Ten thousand points might not be much for inner sect disciples, but for outer sect disciples, thousand points was ten years of work. And to workers, this reward was absolutely enormous. It was a number they would never imagine obtaining.
“Other than that, the Dao Sect’s fine wine will be distributed for free, and disciples on duty will obtain ten times the pay. Go back and celebrate!” The Xuan Master’s words caused all the disciples to cheer excitedly. They returned to their homes, waiting to get their points.
Amongst the senior inner sect disciples, Su Mo and Mu Qingxuan were delighted, while Gao Xianyang’s expression was not so good. This sudden promotion was completely unexpected.
“Long Chen, you stay behind.” Seeing Long Chen following the crowd, the Xuan Master suddenly called out to him.
Now, there were no longer any other disciples present. Long Chen appeared especially conspicuous in the midst of these Elders.
“Long Chen, your position is special, and you’re also one of the Elder Hall’s people. Now that Liu Cang has become the vice Xuan Master, the Elder Hall needs a new manager. You can participate in this discussion,” said the Xuan Master.
Clearly, Long Chen was already being treated as a figure on the level of an Elder. With his power, he truly had the qualifications.
“Right now, the Elder Hall Master’s position is empty, and we need-” began the Xuan Master.
“Xuan Master, picking a person isn’t urgent. First, disciple has something he is unconvinced by,” interrupted Luo Fan.
“Luo Fan, you grow more and more insensible! Have you forgotten how to behave?” Before the Xuan Master could speak, the Tower Department Head shouted over him.
The Tower Department Head was exceptionally imposing. His face was dark, while his eyes were electric. He was frightening, and his words caused even Long Chen to shiver.