Chapter 17 The Offer
Chapter 17 The Offer
"My foundation is hollow."
Ye Chen sat alone in the freezing darkness of his secluded cave. The failure with the demonic manual still burned deeply in his chest.
He stared at his hands in the dim light. He had treated his cultivation exactly like a starving man at a wealthy banquet.
He had tried to swallow a massive boulder of power completely whole. His fragile mortal meridians simply could not digest the dense Demonic Yin energy.
He needed smaller stepping stones to bridge the massive gap.
The System was a multiplier of power. It was not a magical entity that could just bypass the fundamental laws of bodily cultivation.
The System interface had been perfectly clear. It could not upgrade a skill he had not successfully initiated.
If he could not learn one legendary skill today he needed a totally different strategy. He needed to stack multiple low tier skills immediately.
Every single skill upgrade provided permanent attribute points. The Chaos Bone Shattering Fist had granted him ten raw Strength points instantly.
If he initiated ten garbage skills and upgraded them all his base stats would absolutely skyrocket. Massive quantity would forge the quality he desperately lacked.
Ye Chen pulled the silver spatial ring from his pocket.
He channeled a thin thread of his golden Chaos Qi directly into the silver band. He dumped the entire contents onto the damp cave floor.
A pile of pure Spirit Stones clattered loudly against the solid rock. Ye Chen ignored the staggering wealth completely.
His cold eyes locked onto three small bound parchment scrolls resting near the glowing stones.
They were standard issue training manuals for Azure Cloud Sect outer guards.
He unrolled the cheap parchment carefully. The crude ink detailed the Iron Skin Mantra.
The second scroll contained the Swift Wind Steps. The final scroll outlined the Mountain Crushing Palm.
They were absolutely basic defensive and offensive techniques. The sect handed them out freely because they were considered entirely useless for long term progression.
They were incredibly easy to initiate for any beginner. But mastering them required decades of grueling and repetitive physical labor for very minor power gains.
Pampered inner sect elites completely ignored them. The wealthy disciples preferred expensive pills and elemental magic over brutal physical conditioning.
For Ye Chen and his unique System they were the absolute perfect fuel.
He only needed to perform the very first basic cycle to initiate them into the System interface. The evolution process would handle the decades of required physical mastery in a single agonizing second.
He reached for the Iron Skin Mantra scroll to begin the initiation process.
His newly enhanced Perception suddenly screamed a violent warning. The fine hairs on the back of his neck stood completely straight.
A lethal presence was actively approaching his hidden cave.
He had deliberately chosen this specific location because the narrow entrance was highly defensible. He had spent an entire hour rigging crude tripwires and heavy falling rock traps in the dark passage outside.
He heard absolutely nothing trigger. The carefully hidden traps were completely bypassed in silence.
The heavy and intoxicating scent of exotic flowers suddenly flooded the damp cave. It overpowered the smell of wet earth and ancient stone.
A figure stepped smoothly through the thick hanging vines at the cave entrance.
Hong Lian walked casually into his fortified hideout. She wore the exact same crimson dress from the mountain pass.
She did not float this time but her bare feet made absolutely no sound against the loose gravel.
"You are incredibly difficult to follow Ye Chen," Hong Lian said smoothly.
She looked around the crude damp cave with obvious disgust. She completely ignored the pile of glowing Spirit Stones on the floor.
Ye Chen stood up instantly. He gripped the heavy hilt of his sword.
"How did you find me?" Ye Chen demanded coldly.
"You possess incredible potential," Hong Lian smiled a predatory smile. "You burned away my charm perfectly."
She took a slow step closer to him.
"But the heavy floral scent still clung to your robes. I simply followed the perfume trail you left across the mountain."
Hong Lian stopped pacing and looked directly at Ye Chen. Her dark eyes analyzed his tense martial stance with genuine professional interest.
"I watched you fight the Enforcer at the ruined temple," Hong Lian revealed casually.
Ye Chen tightened his grip on his heavy iron sword. He prepared to strike her down immediately.
"Do not panic," she raised a pale hand dismissively. "I saw your brutal fighting style. I notice the chaotic nature of your golden Qi."
She tilted her head slightly. "You are completely one of a kind Ye Chen. You fight exactly like a cornered beast but you plan like a veteran general."
Her gaze drifted down to the damp cave floor. She saw the three cheap parchment scrolls resting next to the Spirit Stones.
A loud mocking laugh escaped her painted lips.
"You have a good potential," Hong Lian sneered openly. "Yet you sit in the dirt scavenging absolute garbage."
"They serve my specific purpose," Ye Chen replied flatly. He did not relax his guard for a single second.
"They are a complete waste of your chaotic Qi," Hong Lian stated firmly. "You need premium resources to survive Su Rou."
She reached casually into the deep neckline of her sheer crimson dress. She pulled out three smooth jade slips.
They glowed with a faint and highly concentrated martial energy.
She tossed the expensive jade slips casually onto a flat rock near Ye Chen.
"These are premium ancient body tempering arts," Hong Lian explained.
Ye Chen looked at the glowing stones but did not reach for them.
"They are incredibly easy to initiate," Hong Lian continued smoothly. "But they require decades of agonizing torture to fully master."
She smiled a very cold and calculating smile.
"Pampered rich elites refuse to practice them. They hate physical pain."
She pointed a slender finger at his scarred chest.
"But I watched you endure the Enforcer's heavy strike without flinching. You have an unnatural tolerance for suffering."
"I will give you these premium arts freely," Hong Lian offered. Her voice dropped to a dangerous whisper.
"What is the price?," Ye Chen asked coldly. He knew perfectly well that nothing in the cultivation world was ever free.
"You wish to burn the Azure Cloud Sect to the ground," Hong Lian stated.
She looked directly into his dead eyes.
"If that day ever comes, you owe me Elder Wang's head."
Ye Chen stared at the three glowing jade slips resting on the rock. They were the premium stepping stones his System desperately needed to break his current bottleneck.
They would forge his fragile bones into iron. They would give him the constitution required to finally master the Nine Hells Devouring Art.
He hated the fat corrupt Elder just as much as she apparently did.
"Elder Wang is a dead man," Ye Chen agreed coldly. He reached out and picked up the premium jade slips.