prynovel Chapter 66 : Chapter 66
Chapter 66 : Chapter 66
Chapter 66: Upgrading! Peak Gold Talent!! Xiao Xuan’s Terrifying Strength!
But on second thought, that was perfectly normal. In battle, if an enemy suddenly appeared behind you and struck with a blade, then even if you were several times stronger than they were, so long as they could break your defense, you could still be killed in a single blow.
Xiao Xuan did not think a thousand meters was particularly short. In combat, even teleporting by a single meter could instantly change the outcome.
What truly left him helpless was the cooldown.
He could only use it once every ten minutes.
A single battle would probably not even last ten minutes, which meant he could use it only once per fight.
And if it were used to flee for his life, a range of only a thousand meters was not all that useful.
“It looks like both the trait’s level and my own strength need to rise. Only then will I be able to draw out the full power of this trait.”
“This is absolutely the best life-saving trait imaginable. In that case, I might as well upgrade it straight to Gold and see what its limit really is!”
After thinking it over, Xiao Xuan did not hesitate and made his choice at once.
【Command accepted. Beginning trait upgrade!】
The instant the Supreme Will responded to his command, it poured its power straight into Xiao Xuan’s body.
BOOM!!!
In an instant, terrifying spatial power surged madly out of his body and ultimately flowed into his Sea of Consciousness.
At that moment, the Teleportation ability orb within his Sea of Consciousness began releasing dazzling blue light.
As the light grew brighter and brighter, its color gradually turned purple.
Xiao Xuan glanced at the trait description.
The original ten-minute cooldown had already become one minute!
And the Mental Power cost had been reduced to 100 points per meter!
In other words, Xiao Xuan could now travel ten thousand meters.
Of course, that was still not enough. The trait was still upgrading.
Soon, the color lightened again.
It turned Silver!
And at that point, the cooldown had already become once every five seconds!
At the same time, the teleportation cost fell by another factor of ten! This time, he could teleport one hundred kilometers!
Yet even then, the upgrade still had not ended!
The Silver trait continued rising.
As time passed, flecks of golden light gradually began appearing within that silver radiance.
Those golden specks spread across the entire ability orb at a terrifying speed.
At last, a pale golden orb appeared within the Sea of Consciousness.
And around that golden orb, the surrounding space twisted from time to time.
【Congratulations. You have successfully awakened the talent trait 【Teleportation! Gold】. Eco Points consumed: 10 billion!
(A powerful trait born from space itself. Maximum teleportation distance: 10 meters per 1 point of Mental Power! If you have sufficient Mental Power, it may be used without limit. Interval between uses: 0.1 seconds.
Under normal circumstances, 1 point of Soul Value provides 1 point of Mental Power. You are at Ten Revolutions of Soul Condensation, so 1 point of Soul Value provides 10 points of Mental Power!
In other words, 1 point of Soul Value allows you to teleport 100 meters.
At your current level, your maximum instant teleportation range is 10,000 kilometers! The stronger you become, the greater your maximum teleportation distance will be!)】
As Xiao Xuan looked at his first-ever Gold trait, he was momentarily dazed.
This was the first time he had ever obtained a trait this powerful.
Then again, perhaps only those who possessed Gold traits were truly qualified to be called prodigies.
“As expected, choosing to join this absurd Genius Tournament was the right decision. Otherwise, every prodigy with a Gold trait would reportedly have a Martial Thearch-level Dao Protector until they reached the Martial Venerable Realm.”
“If I’d taken the route of leveling up on my own, how long would I have had to struggle before I ever got my hands on a full ten billion Eco Points?”
At that moment, Xiao Xuan could not help sighing.
Then, when he thought of all the prodigies inside the university who possessed Gold traits, the corners of his mouth rose slightly.
“From today onward, any prodigy who crosses my path will kneel!”
Boundless confidence rose in Xiao Xuan’s heart.
Because his upgrading was not over yet.
He still had 19.2 billion Eco Points left.
And besides that, he had not yet recycled the Gold trait and several Silver traits that had dropped from Tian Ji.
There was also the Myriad Souls Banner!
That thing was famous for one reason alone: it could absorb the souls of any living being under heaven and use them to rapidly strengthen one’s own soul power.
It was truly the delight of demonic cultivators.
“This thing may indeed offend heaven and harmony, but that depends on whose hands it’s in. In my hands, it will naturally become an instrument of immeasurable merit.”
Xiao Xuan chuckled, then wasted no time and directly pulled the Soul Refinement trait out of it and mounted it onto himself.
BOOM!!!
In an instant, Xiao Xuan felt his soul undergo a qualitative transformation.
A gigantic vortex suddenly appeared within his Sea of Consciousness.
That vortex began madly absorbing the nearby soul fragments.
Xiao Xuan clearly saw that the fragments of Tian Ji’s soul, whom he had just killed, were being drawn toward his body at tremendous speed and transformed into an unending flow of soul power!
Still, the grade of the trait was ultimately too low.
“Let’s raise it to Peak Silver first and see what happens!”
After a brief thought, Xiao Xuan directly poured another billion Eco Points into it!
BOOM!!!
In an instant, the soul vortex within Xiao Xuan’s Sea of Consciousness began spinning faster and faster.
By the later stage, a tiny black hole had even appeared at its center.
Violent soul power poured into Xiao Xuan’s body at a terrifying speed. Before long, Tian Ji’s soul had been completely refined.
His Soul Value rose by more than thirty thousand, reaching 130,000.
The main reason was that Xiao Xuan’s strength was already far above Tian Ji’s.
If Tian Ji himself had not been a skilled soul cultivator, Xiao Xuan’s Soul Value would never have risen by that much.
“This trait is rather terrifying. If it keeps absorbing like this, then if I can make it to five thousand years later again, I could absolutely rely on myself to reach the Supreme Realm.”
“And that’s only with this single trait! If the rest of my traits are upgraded as well, then the increase to my strength will only grow even more terrifying!”
Thinking of that, Xiao Xuan nodded in satisfaction.
【Congratulations. You have successfully awakened the trait: 【Soul Devouring! Silver】. It can refine any soul and soul fragments at extremely high speed,
transforming them into the purest soul power and thereby rapidly strengthening your soul!
Devouring speed x500】
The description was simple.
And because it carried no upper limit, that simplicity itself was what made it terrifying.
Because it meant that so long as one lived long enough and devoured enough people, one’s strength could increase without limit.
“There are elemental devouring traits, and now soul devouring traits too. Which means there should logically also be vitality-devouring traits.”
If I can get my hands on traits of that level as well,
then even if I lose the system one day, my strength will still be able to grow rapidly.
“As for the remaining Gold trait, I may as well recycle it now too. Any extra Eco Points can be used to upgrade my other traits.”
After thinking it over, Xiao Xuan quickly made his decision.
The remaining Gold trait was 【Darkness Control! Gold】.
It controlled dark power, but this sort of trait was far too common. Getting another one later would not be difficult at all.
All he needed was ten billion Eco Points, and he could simply upgrade another one to Gold.
A 120-fold increase in combat power versus a 100-fold increase made very little difference in practice.
But if the extra twenty billion Eco Points were poured into other traits, then his combat power could rise dramatically.
The remaining twenty billion would let him upgrade two more traits to Gold.
As for the remaining Silver traits, aside from Magic Technique and Dark Demon-Devouring Body, Xiao Xuan recycled all the rest.
After all, most of them were only things like Strength Enhancement and the like.
But midway through recycling them, Xiao Xuan’s eyes fell on Tian Ji’s bloodline trait!
【Dark Demon-Devouring Body! Silver】 (A Dark Demon Race bloodline. It can strengthen itself by devouring the bloodlines of other geniuses! Upgrade potential: Gold! Once activated, it can unleash the Dark Demon Body, increasing all attributes by 3500%)
Looking at that trait, Xiao Xuan hesitated.
Although it was only a Low Silver trait, it possessed the potential to advance all the way to Gold!
That alone made it an excellent trait.
And it was a bloodline trait at that, one capable of raising the combat power of dark-element abilities.
“Darkness is also an extremely powerful attribute. Sooner or later, I’m going to collect every elemental trait there is.”
As long as I have enough Eco Points, cultivating every element at once will naturally be the strongest path.
“And for every single attribute, the strongest combat power only comes when it is matched with the corresponding bloodline trait and the corresponding absorption trait.”
After thinking for a moment, Xiao Xuan made up his mind without hesitation.
“I’ll load this one too. Later, I’ll just upgrade it to High Silver like the others.”
If he recycled it, he would only get a few million Eco Points.
At his current level, that amount was completely meaningless.
Not only did he keep that trait, he also kept Darkness Control and Magic Technique.
As for Magic Technique, he could always learn actual magic later.
After all, he already possessed both lightning and fire elements. Learning magic in the future might prove useful.
【Ding... Congratulations. You have successfully recycled the trait 【Darkness Control! Gold】 and obtained 30 billion Eco Points!】
【Congratulations! You have successfully recycled 8 Silver traits and obtained 4.8 billion Eco Points!】
Very soon, after the system notifications sounded, Xiao Xuan’s total Eco Points rose directly to 53 billion!
If he kept ten billion in reserve for emergencies, then he could still upgrade four traits to Gold.
And he could still raise another thirty traits to High Silver.
Four Gold traits was perfect. One for each of the four most important categories.
Only by doing that could he maximize his strength to the most terrifying extent possible!
“Technique-type: Blade Mastery. Strength-type: Strength Enhancement. For elemental type, I’ll upgrade Lightning Control first.”
As for burst-type, Mad God Battle Body.
Everything else can be raised to High Silver for now. As for my realm, Martial King Fifth Heaven should be enough for the time being!
“What a pity. If I had more to spare, I’d want to raise the grades of my Cultivation Arts and Martial Techniques too.”
Xiao Xuan sighed helplessly.
As for the remaining ten billion, he hesitated.
If he used it to upgrade his Cultivation Arts and Martial Techniques now, then if danger really came, he would no longer have those points in reserve.
But if he simply left them untouched, that would also be a waste.
He could just use them to upgrade one more Gold trait. Then, if danger arrived, he could recycle it instantly and pour the Eco Points straight into his Vitality Value, allowing his strength to leap upward on the spot.
For now, however, the Fifth Heaven of the Martial King Realm was more than enough.
Of course, when Xiao Xuan said “enough,” he meant only for this Hundred-Province Genius Tournament.
After this tournament was over, he would make the geniuses of Huaxia understand what true realm suppression really looked like!
【Command accepted. Upgrade will now begin. Prepare yourself.】
The reply of the Supreme Will came.
BOOM!!!
In an instant, a violent and terrifying force poured into Xiao Xuan’s body.
The power that appeared in that single moment flooded every inch of his flesh and every cell in his body.
At that moment, his strength began rising at an astonishing speed.
Crack! Crack! Crack!
All the bones in his body trembled and rang as his bloodline and Vitality Power rose wildly.
His Vitality Value also surged upward from the original 100,000.
200,000. 300,000!
At last, it stopped only after reaching 1.6 million at the Fifth Heaven.
At the same time, stormy waves rose within his Sea of Consciousness, and amidst those waves, the strength of his soul skyrocketed at a terrifying pace!
The ability orbs floating above his Sea of Consciousness all blazed with dazzling radiance.
That silver brilliance grew brighter and brighter, while several of those orbs even began shifting toward gold.
At the same time, because his healing-type talent had improved, the rate at which Xiao Xuan burned Essence-Blood also surged upward madly.
In only a few seconds, the speed of his Essence-Blood burning had increased by more than ten times.
The amplification it gave his strength also more than doubled, reaching a terrifying level of over fortyfold.
That had already reached the amplification level of an ordinary Silver trait.
And this was despite the fact that the art itself had only reached Peak Tenth Tier. An ordinary Peak Tenth-Tier Cultivation Art could at most raise one’s strength by a little over twentyfold.
After all, this was an evil art cultivated at the cost of consuming one’s own Essence-Blood.
If it were only comparable to ordinary cultivation arts, then cultivating it would have been meaningless.
Although this round of strengthening was massive, only an instant had passed.
After the upgrade, Xiao Xuan still had 1.05 billion Eco Points left.
Which meant that aside from the few Gold traits, Xiao Xuan now possessed over twenty traits!
To raise that many traits all the way to Gold would require 200 billion Eco Points.
“Eco Points still aren’t enough. Fortunately, once this assessment ends, I’ll be able to come into contact with those so-called Heaven Ranking experts. Once that happens, if I keep them around and beat them up once a day, won’t my Eco Points start soaring?”
At that thought, Xiao Xuan felt rather expectant.
Then he looked over his current status panel.
Name: Xiao Xuan
Race: Human
Level: Fifth Heaven of the Martial King Realm
Vitality: 1.6 million (Ten Revolutions of True Qi)
Soul: 1.6 million (Ten Revolutions of Soul Condensation)
Cultivation Arts: Bloodthirsty Demonic Art (Peak Tenth Tier! Combat Power x7100%), Nine Heavens Thunderflame Tribulation (Peak Tenth Tier! Beginner, 1400%, 120 million/1 billion), Grand Derivation Soul Art (Peak Tenth Tier! Beginner, 1400%)
Martial Techniques: Divine-Punishment Absolute Flame Slash (Peak Tenth Tier! Beginner, 1400%), Thunder-Punishment Sky-Treading Flash (Peak Tenth Tier! Beginner, 150 million/1 billion, 1400%), Adamantine Undying Body (Peak Tenth Tier! Beginner, 1400%), Dance of a Thousand Leaves and Myriad Blades (Peak Tenth Tier! Beginner, 1400%)
Traits:
【Teleportation! Gold】 (10 meters / 1 Mental Power, 0.1 sec, 0 / 100 trillion)
【Spatial Storage! Silver】 (10,000 kilometers! 1 billion / 10 billion)
【Telekinetic Force! Silver】 (Telekinetic power +5000%, 100 million / 10 billion)
【Soul Destroyer! Silver】 (Soul strength +5000%)
【Soul Blade Mastery! Silver】 (Soul Blade power +5000%)
【Magic Mastery! Silver】 (Magic power +5000%)
【Blade Mastery! Gold】 (Blade technique power x100)
【Decent Talent! Silver】 (Talent x1,000,000)
【Darkness Control! Gold】 (Darkness attacks x100)
【Lightning Control! Gold】 (Lightning attacks x100)
【Flame Control! Silver】 (Fire attacks +5000%)
【Strength Enhancement! Gold】 (Strength x100)
【Speed Enhancement! Silver】 (Speed +2500%)
【Defense Enhancement! Silver】 (Defense +5000%)
【Super Gigantification! Silver】 (Gigantification: 300 meters. Physical combat power +5000%)
【Mad God Battle Body! Gold】 (Normal physical body x50, damage-state cap 150%)
【Dark Demon-Devouring Body! Silver】 (Devour other bloodlines to strengthen one’s own bloodline. Upper limit: Gold! Dark Power +5000%)
【True Eye! Silver】 (Can see through enemies within a 200-fold strength range)
【Combat Mastery! Silver】 (Possesses powerful combat talent and can draw out one’s strength to an extremely high degree)
【Limb Regeneration! Silver】 (Rapidly restores damaged parts of the body)
【Soul Devouring! Silver】 (Grants soul-devouring ability; devouring speed x500)
【Flame Absorption! Silver】 (Fire-attribute energy absorption speed x300)
【Lightning Absorption! Silver】 (Lightning-attribute energy absorption speed x300)
Eco Points: 105 million
At this point, Xiao Xuan’s traits and attributes could only be described as terrifying.
“I wonder how much chance I’d have against Sister Ying now?”
Xiao Xuan felt a flicker of anticipation.
But very soon, the corner of his mouth twitched, because he remembered Mu Xiying’s two Domain-Type Traits.
Those two traits could not be stacked and only one could be used at a time, but either one could still raise her overall strength by as much as twentyfold.
It was cheating, plain and simple.
And that twentyfold should not be underestimated!
Even the final trait stacked onto a peak Gold talent would at most multiply strength by twenty.
But Mu Xiying’s twentyfold boost was stacked directly on top of a Peak Gold foundation!
If Xiao Xuan fought Mu Xiying now, then at best the odds would be one to nine.
In a single second, Mu Xiying could probably kill him nine times.
Of course, that was only assuming his realm did not continue rising.
If it rose further, then things would be different.
“I should finish this first round of the assessment before thinking about anything else!”
At that thought, Xiao Xuan glanced at the golden domain around him and walked straight out.
Crack!!
The moment he touched the edge of the golden domain, it shattered into countless golden fragments.
Then Su Qingwu and Gu Xuan appeared before his eyes.
“Where’s Zhao Ziyun?”
When Xiao Xuan saw that Zhao Ziyun was nowhere nearby, he could not help asking.
“Probably so crushed by your beating that he lost the will to speak and just left.”
Gu Xuan replied.
“Then forget about him. We should focus on the assessment.”
Xiao Xuan said indifferently.
“Oh, right, Xiao Xuan. Since you mention it, I’m planning to do the assessment on my own. I want to rely on my own strength and see whether I can get into Imperial Capital University!”
Su Qingwu suddenly said to Xiao Xuan.
“Oh? Like that? Fine. The danger’s more or less gone now anyway. Just keep the protective talisman Sister Ying gave you close. Then there shouldn’t be any real problem with your safety.”
Hearing that, Xiao Xuan did not object.
“Brother Xiao, I’m planning to train on my own as well.”
At that moment, Gu Xuan also looked at Xiao Xuan seriously.
“I wasn’t planning to bring you with me anyway. Why should I care whether you train alone or not?”
The moment Gu Xuan said that, Xiao Xuan rolled his eyes.
Earlier, the only reason he had brought them with him had been Tian Ji.
He had been worried that if Gu Xuan split off and ran into Tian Ji alone, Tian Ji would refine him.
Now that Tian Ji was dead, although there were certainly other strong people in the area, Gu Xuan was not weak enough to be helpless.
Unless he ran into the absolute strongest batch, he was not going to be killed in an instant.
“I thought we were already sworn brothers. My heart truly aches.”
At those words, Gu Xuan instantly put on a wounded look.
“In that case, I’ll be leaving too. See you both in three days.”
Xiao Xuan did not linger any longer. He shot straight into the sky and vanished from Su Qingwu and Gu Xuan’s sight.
At the same time, inside a valley surrounded on all sides by mountains,
Mu Xiying sat cross-legged in midair, engulfed by golden flames.
Before her floated a gigantic furnace cauldron, and within it, the corpse of a Seventh-Tier, Ten-Star Ferocious Beast was being refined at astonishing speed.
Time passed little by little.
Soon, three hours had gone by.
The enormous Ferocious Beast had been refined into a transparent blood-colored pill and a transparent blue pill.
If any alchemy grandmaster above Grade Seven had been present, they would have stared in utter shock.
Because those two pills were both legendary Peak Seventh-Tier Perfect-Grade Pills.
A Perfect-Grade Pill could be absorbed completely, without any worry about pill toxins, medicinal resistance, or any of the usual side effects.
Such pills were the lifelong dream of countless alchemists.
If an alchemist could refine even a single Perfect-Grade Pill, even a First-Tier one, it would be enough to boast about for a lifetime.
And yet Mu Xiying had refined two of them at once, both Perfect Grade.
It was simply unbelievable.
Of course, for someone who had once been a Thirteenth-Tier Alchemist, this was nothing more than routine.
“These Peak Seventh-Tier Nine-Spirit Blood Pills and Nine-Revolution Soul Pills should be enough to raise my realm to the Martial Emperor level.”
What a pity. There isn’t enough time, and the materials aren’t quite good enough. Otherwise I could have refined some Eighth-Tier pills and raised my strength even faster.
“Still, this will do.”
Mu Xiying sighed softly.
Then she swallowed both pills directly.
BOOM!!!
In an instant, violent soul power and Vitality Power poured into her body.
Under her flawless control over energy, that terrifying amount of power—which should have instantly burst her apart—did not riot in the slightest.
Instead, it was converted into her strength at astonishing speed.
This kind of method of raising one’s power was something only a person like her, with over fifteen thousand years of cultivation experience, could possibly achieve.
In theory, before reaching the Supreme Realm, she never needed to concern herself with so-called foundation.
Her powerful talent and vast experience could resolve every problem related to foundation.
And so, while she refined the pills, time passed swiftly.
Very soon, three days later,
deep within a certain mountain valley—
Roar!!
Accompanied by a miserable roar, a Seventh-Tier, Seven-Star Ferocious Beast at the peak of the Martial Emperor Realm let out a final shriek.
Its terrifying body, more than a thousand meters tall, crashed heavily onto the ground.
The surrounding land instantly exploded in a cloud of dust.
Two mountains were smashed down by the impact.
And embedded in the body of that beast was a gigantic blade thousands of meters long.
SHING!!
With a cry of steel, that colossal blade shot into the sky and ultimately landed in Xiao Xuan’s hand.