Chapter 21 1000 Points
Chapter 21 1000 Points
The agony finally broke.
Ye Chen lay flat on the damp cave floor. His chest heaved as he dragged cold air into his burning lungs.
The pile of looted Spirit Stones was gone. The raw gems had burned down to empty ash. His internal furnace had consumed every ounce of the fuel to survive the forced evolution.
He pushed himself up into a seated position. His body felt alien.
"System," Ye Chen commanded. "Status."
The blue interface flickered to life in the dark cavern.
\[Iron Skin Mantra: MAX LEVEL.\]
\[Swift Wind Steps: MAX LEVEL.\]
\[Mountain Crushing Palm: MAX LEVEL.\]
He raised his hands to the pale morning light filtering through the vines. His skin no longer looked like the pale flesh of a starving servant. It carried a faint hard bronze sheen.
He clenched his fists. The muscle fibers sliding beneath his skin were dense as solid oak. He stood up and took a step forward.
Gravity felt weak. His agility was weightless. The Swift Wind Steps had permanently rewired his fast twitch muscle fibers.
Ye Chen smiled a dark smile.
His Level One Iron Bone Vajra Skill provided an unbreakable skeletal foundation. The three maxed outer sect arts fortified his flesh and speed.
He was finally ready to hold the raging ocean of his Qi.
A sharp gasp echoed near the cave entrance.
Bai Yun sat up and rubbed his eyes. The young Azure Cloud Sect dropout had slept through the entire silent ordeal.
Bai Yun stared at Ye Chen in the dim light. The servant boy looked different. His shoulders were broader. The oppressive martial aura radiating from his skin made the damp air feel heavy.
"You survived the night," Bai Yun said carefully.
"Hmm," Ye Chen replied. He picked up his shredded gray tunic and pulled it over his skin. "Did you patrol the perimeter?"
"The woods are quiet," Bai Yun answered. "But the Capital is burning. I gathered fresh intel before I met you last night."
Ye Chen paused. He walked over to a flat rock and sat down. "Speak."
"Elder Wang is deploying squads of Enforcers into the lowest slums," Bai Yun explained. His voice carried deep disgust. " They are hunting humans."
Ye Chen narrowed his eyes. "Humans?."
"They drag beggars and starving orphans into unmarked iron carriages," Bai Yun said. "They specifically target people harboring deep resentment against the world. They want the angry and the broken."
Ye Chen understood the dark truth.
Su Rou needed concentrated despair to fuel her ascension ritual. She intended to bind his stolen Spiritual Bone to the sect artifact using other people's misery.
"My suffering was not enough," Ye Chen deduced aloud. "She needs an ocean of human pain to guarantee the binding process."
"It is causing riots," Bai Yun added. "But the sect is facing unexpected resistance. A rogue female cultivator is disrupting the sweeps."
Bai Yun leaned forward with genuine respect in his eyes.
"She fights like a maniac. She slaughters the Enforcers in the streets and frees the victims. She is drawing massive heat from the Inner Sect."
Ye Chen frowned slightly. A rogue woman hunting the Azure Cloud Sect in the Capital. He wondered if it was Hong Lian using her dark faction to cripple Elder Wang.
Or perhaps another victim seeking vengeance. The demonic corruption was causing chaos across the entire region.
"Let the righteous elites bleed in the streets," Ye Chen said coldly. "Watch the cave entrance Bai Yun. I have vital work to finish."
Bai Yun nodded and drew a short sword from his belt. He moved to the hanging vines to stand guard.
Ye Chen retreated to the deepest corner of the cavern. He sat cross legged on the freezing stone.
He reached into his silver spatial ring and pulled out the heavy lead lockbox. He flipped the metal latches open. The pitch black rotting silk manual waited inside.
A wave of freezing Demonic Yin energy washed over his face.
Last time this cursed energy had nearly torn his internal organs apart. The toxic Qi had invaded his weak meridians like freezing blades.
Today he did not flinch.
Ye Chen placed his bare hands directly onto the rotting silk pages. He opened his central meridians wide. He dragged the lethal demonic corruption straight into his body.
The freezing Yin energy crashed into his newly forged foundation.
His skin contained the intense pressure. His iron bones absorbed the shockwave without sustaining a single fracture. The demonic magic could not break his reinforced vessel.
His Chaos Body Tempering Art ignited instantly. The internal furnace roared to life.
The heavy golden Yang energy clashed with the freezing demonic corruption. The furnace used the lethal Yin magic as fuel.
Ye Chen forced the toxic Qi through the precise pathways detailed in the manual. The pain was brutal and sharp. But it was entirely manageable.
He gritted his teeth and pushed the energy deeper into his core. He commanded his veins to obey his will.
He completed the first full cycle of the Nine Hells Devouring Art.
A bright blue light illuminated the dark corner of the cave. The mechanical system chime rang clearly inside his skull.
\[Skill Learned. Nine Hells Devouring Art is Uninitiated.\]
Ye Chen exhaled a long breath of freezing white mist. The heavy demonic Qi settled calmly into his Dantian. He had conquered the bottleneck.
"System," Ye Chen ordered aloud. "Upgrade the Nine Hells Devouring Art."
The blue interface flashed a violent glaring red.
\[Error. Insufficient System Points.\]
\[High Tier Demonic Arts require 1000 Points for Level One Evolution.\]
Ye Chen stared at the glowing red text in the dark.
One thousand System Points. He only had ten points remaining in his balance.
Killing a Stage 8 mercenary leader only yielded fifty points. To master this demonic art he needed to butcher a massive amount of high level cultivators. He needed an active hunting ground.
He closed the heavy lead box and secured it back inside his spatial ring. He walked back to the cave entrance.
"Where do the worst criminals gather in this region?" Ye Chen asked the dropout. "Where do the exiled sect members and murderers hide?"
Bai Yun did not hesitate. "Blood Crag Valley."
"Tell me about it," Ye Chen demanded.
"It is a lawless city carved into a red stone canyon three days south of here," Bai Yun explained grimly. "The righteous sects dump their trash there. It is a haven for rogue martial artists and wanted killers."
Bai Yun sheathed his short sword. "There are no laws. The strong rule the streets and the weak are butchered for their boots."
Ye Chen smiled. It was a cold predatory expression.
A city of murderers was the perfect farming ground. He could extract their Qi and farm their lives for System Points without an ounce of guilt. He could grind the one thousand points he needed before the Ascension Tournament.
"I will rest today," Ye Chen said. "I leave for the valley tomorrow night."
Bai Yun dusted the dirt from his cheap clothes. He looked out at the morning sun hitting the mountain trees.
"I am returning to the Capital," Bai Yun announced. "I have personal issues to resolve. I need to find that rogue woman and see if we can form an alliance against the Enforcers."
"Survive," Ye Chen told him plainly.
"See you at the top, Ye Chen," Bai Yun replied.
The dropout slipped through the hanging vines and vanished into the dense morning forest.
Ye Chen turned back to the quiet shadows of his cave. He closed his eyes and sank into a deep healing meditation. The hunt for one thousand points was about to begin.