"Hell yeah! Why wouldn’t I go?"
Upon grasping the situation, Shen Mo hurriedly accepted.
The emergence of the Ghost Nation Ruins was a rare, favorable opportunity. After some time, they would either re-submerge into the Nether or be completely controlled by the Ghost Corpse School and Heaven Sword Sect, who were advantageously positioned nearby. At that point, he wouldn’t know where else to find Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures embodying the extreme of dark.
Besides needing to transform one of the sword embryos, Shen Mo’s current rate of earning Spirit Stones lagging behind his consumption was another significant issue.
Refining one furnace of Grade II Elixirs took two Shichen. Working day and night without sleep, he could only produce six furnacefuls. If he focused on top-tier quality, it was highly probable that only a single Elixir of exceptional quality would be produced from one furnace. Of course, if he didn’t consider the Elixir quality, the number of pills successfully formed could be slightly higher.
For an ordinary cultivator, this level of Alchemy proficiency could yield enough Spirit Stone profits to support the daily cultivation expenses of a Spirit Sea Realm expert.
Shen Mo, however, was different. He earned a lot, but he spent even more!
Just using [Martial Performance] to deduce cultivation methods and combat techniques consumed one hundred Lower Grade Spirit Stones every day and night! In a month, that amounted to an astonishing 3,000 Spirit Stones.
Furthermore, for the Big Dipper Seven Star Sword Formation, each sword embryo needed to be transformed into its final shape. This required seven portions of Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures, each imbued with an extreme intent. Even if such items appeared at auctions, which one wouldn’t cost an astronomical sum of Spirit Stones to acquire?
Not to mention the Dragon Elephant Blood Fiend Body, which also required Spirit Stones to purchase a large number of demon corpse inner cores. Recently, to ensure he had enough Spirit Stones to purchase materials for Grade II Elixirs, Shen Mo had made no progress with his Dragon Elephant Blood Fiend Body cultivation.
Besides, the thousand-year-old Python Dragon Flesh and Blood was almost entirely consumed by the Spirit Storage Rat. He would have to spend more money to buy Class II demonic beast Flesh and Blood; otherwise, not only would the little creature be unable to increase its strength, but it might even starve to death.
These were all expenses, item by item, account by account. If he didn’t get a windfall soon, his strength progression would be severely hindered.
Unless he was content with mediocrity, neglecting [Martial Performance]—indeed, with his current proficiency in Alchemy and the Talisman Path, he could live a very comfortable life!
The two of them agreed to set off early the next morning.
After seeing Chen Mengze off, Shen Mo began to prepare for the trip to the Ghost Nation Ruins.
Since it’s close to the Ghost Corpse School and Heaven Sword Sect, those two immortal sects definitely have the ability to expel other immortal sect disciples, rogue cultivators, and evil cultivators who go there to explore. Yet, they haven’t done so at present. Perhaps the news has spread too widely, and with numerous cultivators venturing into the ruins for training, the two major immortal sects don’t want to provoke public outrage. Another possibility is that the Ghost Nation Ruins are too dangerous. The Ghost Corpse School and Heaven Sword Sect are harboring malicious intentions, letting others act as cannon fodder to scout the path. Once the area is sufficiently explored, they’ll make their move on the ruins. In any case, places like ruins, tombs, and Dungeons are by no means safe or benevolent places. He had to make the most thorough preparations possible.
Shen Mo had already prepared various types of Elixirs. To refine more Grade II Elixirs now, time was a bit tight.
So, Shen Mo simply took out his Gold Turning Brush, beast blood, Sandalwood Ink, and other materials, and began crafting Grade II talismans. In certain situations, using talismans could often yield unexpected results.
Earth Prison Talisman, Wind Wall Talisman, Teleportation Talisman... He crafted one to three of each, depending on his needs. On the Destiny Panel, the proficiency and Talisman Path experience for the relevant talismans all increased. ᴛʜɪs ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ ɪs ᴜᴘᴅᴀᴛᴇ ʙʏ novel·fire·net
By the time he was nearly finished crafting the talismans, it was already dawn.
Shen Mo pondered for a moment and decided to use the 22 Destiny Points he had recently acquired to attempt an upgrade to his Basic Destiny.
As of now, drawing a Special Destiny cost 10 Destiny Points each time. He speculated that after a few more draws from the Destiny Pool, upon reaching a certain number of attempts, the cost would continue to rise. Twenty-two Destiny Points could, at most, be used for two Special Destiny extractions. There was also a high chance of drawing gray or white-quality Destinies; to unleash their mystical powers, more Destiny Points would be needed for upgrading. It’s better not to bite off more than one can chew. Extracting many white-quality Special Destinies couldn’t compare to having one exemplary blue-quality Destiny. He felt that the few he currently possessed were adequate. Instead, improving his Basic Destiny offered him enormous benefits.
Having upgraded his Talent from ’Excellent’ to ’Genius,’ Shen Mo had clearly felt the difference. Both his cultivation speed and his understanding of combat techniques and immortal arts had improved significantly.
He opened the Destiny Disc.
[Destinied Lord: Shen Mo]
[Vitality: Martial Bone]
[Appearance: Dignified]
Four green, one blue. The Fate and Lifespan attributes were still the same.
After a moment’s thought, Shen Mo used 20 Destiny Points on upgrading his vitality.
In terms of importance, every attribute in Basic Destiny was crucial. However, with the impending trip to the Ghost Nation Ruins for training, successfully upgrading his vitality would yield a more significant effect!
> You have spent 10 Destiny Points attempting to elevate your vitality to a new level, but failed.
> You have spent 10 Destiny Points attempting to elevate your vitality to a new level, but failed.
Two feedback messages appeared before his eyes.
"Eh?" Shen Mo’s face fell.
It had taken considerable effort to save up those Destiny Points, only for them to be wasted . Tossing them into water would at least have made a sound! However, this wasn’t something to be rushed; it would take time! As long as I save enough Destiny Points and attempt enough upgrades, I’ll succeed eventually.
He decided not to use the remaining 2 points for now. Except for that rather lackluster white-quality Special Destiny, ’Bold Temperament,’ he didn’t have enough points to upgrade any other Basic Destinies or Special Destinies!
"I’m long past being the rookie whose legs would tremble at the sight of a Double-headed Silver Ring Python."
"This ’Bold Temperament’ Special Destiny, even if upgraded to green-quality, wouldn’t be of much use to me."
"Unless it’s upgraded to blue-quality, perhaps it might exhibit other mystical effects. Unfortunately, I don’t have enough Destiny Points right now. I’ll deal with it later!"
Everything was ready; he just waited for Chen Mengze.
「The sun rose in the east, its brilliant rays illuminating everything.」
After meeting in the square before the mountain gate, Chen Mengze stepped onto her Flying Sword, rode it into the morning glow, and departed.
Under the splendid morning light, her silhouette appeared hazy and dreamlike in Shen Mo’s eyes, giving her an even more ethereal and detached aura than usual.
Shen Mo shook his head, dismissing the superfluous sentiments from his mind.
Chen Mengze, burdened by a blood feud, was solely focused on improving her cultivation Realm and strength to avenge her mother and the Chen Family. His ideals and aspirations differed from hers.
What Shen Mo pursued was ascending to immortality and attaining the Dao, to be carefree and at ease in both the dimensions of space (Yu) and time (Zhou)!
’Yu’ encompassed all of space—up, down, the four cardinal directions, everything between Heaven and Earth. ’Zhou’ represented all of time—from ages past to the present day. In layman’s terms... to go wherever he pleased and live for as long as he wished! All of this, however, was predicated on possessing formidable personal strength and a higher Cultivation Realm.
Chuckling softly, Shen Mo waved his sleeve.
The Dragon Sparrow Sword rose at his thought, accompanied by a cheerful sword hum, and landed before him.
Then, Shen Mo stepped onto the Dragon Sparrow Sword, transforming into a brilliant Sword Light, and chased after Chen Mengze.
With the aid of his increasingly profound Sword Control Spirit Technique, his speed while riding the sword was not the least bit inferior to Chen Mengze, who was at Layer V of the Qi Gathering Realm.