Chapter 150: The Annoying Buddhist Sword Art

Ye Rong was in a very good mood. Even his lunch wasn’t synthetic food; he’d gone to a proper restaurant outside for a long-awaited, full meal. He’d even invited Su Tingyun, the student girl next door. Considering she often brought him breakfast and supper, he figured it was only right to return the favor.

That meal cost him nearly four hundred bucks. If he’d stayed in his cheap apartment eating synthetic food, that money could’ve lasted him two whole weeks.

But Ye Rong didn’t feel much pain or reluctance about spending it. The distinct sensations of sweet, sour, bitter, and spicy were worlds away from synthetic food, especially that roast duck with its golden color and rich meaty aroma—fragrant without being greasy. It was so good he felt like he could bite his own tongue off.

His sudden urge to splurge was because he’d sold all the Baiman players’ gear, plus some other odds and ends he’d accumulated, to Lei Laohu.

Lei Laohu’s shop wasn’t tucked away in a remote corner of the commercial district anymore. He’d moved two streets closer to the center and even hired two assistants. With the funds finally transferred from his other gaming ventures, operations were back to normal, and his business was starting to pick up.

Sixteen thousand bucks—that was the price Lei Laohu offered for all the gear combined, which matched Ye Rong’s own estimate almost exactly. The transaction went smoothly and quickly.

Of course, this amount was still far short of his goal to move into the central city district and enjoy a normal living environment. But it was a solid first step forward, bringing him closer bit by bit.

…

Ye Rong’s group was now split into two large sections. Half stayed grinding levels in the Tuojiang River Basin, while the other half remained stationed at the Nameless Lone Peak and didn’t come back. The Seven Avian Feather Fans and Mixed Gold Orbs they obtained daily allowed them to assemble several gear sets each day, massively boosting the overall strength of the players over there.

Over time, however, the members stationed in the Tuojiang base started voicing their displeasure. They wanted a piece of this good fortune too; they couldn’t let that group hog it all. Hengheng Haha had to shuttle between the two locations constantly, swapping players back and forth—sending some back from the Nameless Lone Peak and bringing others over.

This task was exhausting, easily offended people, and caused him no end of misery.

He’d complained to Ye Rong several times already, saying it was too tiring, that it left him little time for leveling himself, and that he wanted to resign and let Pecking Chicken take over instead. He’d just return to the Tuojiang Basin to lead leveling teams.

Ye Rong naturally refused this outright. Pecking Chicken was unfamiliar with the Nameless Lone Peak area. Sending him would require time to get acquainted, wasting precious time. Besides, the demand for those two gear sets was only a temporary phenomenon. Once most team members had them, there’d be no need to leave so many players stationed there.

Of course, he still had to reassure Hengheng Haha properly to not damage his subordinate’s morale. Ye Rong told him to hang in there just a few more days and that he wouldn’t be shortchanged. One of this month’s two nomination slots was given to him, allowing him to become a Tianshu Hall Disciple next month.

With this promise, Hengheng Haha finally had something to look forward to. Puffing himself up, he went right back to his supervisory duties.

The team members currently in the Tuojiang Basin numbered over two hundred. This was after Pecking Chicken kept strict control, carefully vetting and selecting applicants. Otherwise, with the ‘Yijian Kurong’ golden ticket, recruiting thousands of Qingcheng Disciples would have been a breeze.

The Tuojiang River Basin had practically become Ye Rong and his team’s territory, almost monopolized by them.

Ye Rong arrived at the Tuo River, gave Pecking Chicken a couple of words of encouragement, praised him for managing well and leading the team effectively, and then swiftly made his escape.

Being stuck actually leading these players again would have been a huge hassle. Pecking Chicken was extremely meticulous in his work, constantly reporting every tiny, trivial matter that would make anyone dizzy hearing about them. It was far easier and much more satisfying to just make decisions on major matters, delegate the small stuff, and spend time leveling himself up as usual.

…

Two thick white snakes, thick as arms, had already cultivated their Inner Elixirs. With a hiss, each spat out a ball of white, misty vapor.

“So cold! That Elixir Qi contains such intense icy energy—it could almost freeze everything it touches solid!”

The light of his Cast Snow Sword curved, bypassed the mist, and sliced both snakes into four or five segments each. The two Inner Elixirs left behind were promptly snatched up by Kasyapa’s Thousand Hands.

White Snake Inner Elixir: Upon consuming, increase True Qi upper limit by 10 points. Also serves as an alchemy ingredient.

“There. Finally finished today’s daily quest. Any more White Snake Inner Elixirs I collect, I’ll give them to Xuanhu Xiaoyao for alchemical materials. Without these, many pills can’t be concocted using just plant herbs.”

Ye Rong had already consumed a White Snake Inner Elixir at the start. He then discovered only one could be effective. Subsequent pills yielded no effect and no increase to his True Qi upper limit.

Collecting twenty White Snake Inner Elixirs was his daily quest for the day, rewarding him with 50 Sect Contribution points.

With the urgent need to gather 1000 Sect Contribution points to exchange for the advanced Sword Art Form, Ye Rong naturally selected daily quests that specifically rewarded Sect Contribution.

He currently had around 700 Sect Contribution points saved up. The thousand-point goal wasn’t far off; just a few more days of hard work.

Returning to the long-unvisited Tuojiang Basin, even the normally tedious monster grinding felt different to Ye Rong. The aquatic demonic creatures looked strangely appealing to him now.

In about an hour, he had already cultivated the Immovable Wisdom King Sword Art to the 10th level. He then replaced its slot in the cultivation queue with the Qingcheng Qi Refining Method.

Regardless of the Dao Scrolls, the experience required before reaching the 10th level was always manageable. Of course, exceptions like the Chongxu True Scripture didn’t apply; Dao Scrolls needing 100,000 experience just for the first level were rare indeed.

If he wanted to push the Immovable Wisdom King Sword Art further beyond level 10, the experience required for subsequent levels doubled and rose steeply. Investing experience into it currently seemed unnecessary. Ye Rong had cultivated it to the 10th level mostly to see what the second derived ability of this Buddhist Sword Art would be.

“What the—? Am I seeing right? Nothing came out?”

Ye Rong rubbed his eyes, almost thinking he was hallucinating. But indeed, only Kasyapa’s Thousand Hands was listed under the Immovable Wisdom King Sword Art as a derived ability. There was no second one.

“Miscalculation! A huge mistake! This Buddhist Sword Art is so damn stingy! It couldn’t even give a new derived ability every five levels? Did they really just slap me with a common grunt skill like Kasyapa’s Thousand Hands and call it a day?”

Getting a new derived ability every five levels was practically a standard feature of all Sword Art Forms. Even for forms with only around a dozen levels max, it wasn’t unusual to see new ones every three or four levels.

Mainly, Ye Rong had placed high hopes on the Immovable Wisdom King Sword Art, so the sudden loss of those expectations created a huge sense of disappointment.

After obtaining this Buddhist Sword Art, he’d even done some deep research on it, specifically messaging Blood Colored Poppy via Flying Sword Message for information.

It turned out the Immovable Wisdom King Sword Art was actually one of the Five Great Wisdom King Sword Arts, the supreme Buddhist sword-controlling methods. The five were: the Vajra Wisdom King Sword Formula, the Immovable Wisdom King Sword Art, the Yaksha Wisdom King Sword Formula, the Conqueror of the Three Realms Wisdom King Sword Formula, and the Peacock Wisdom King Sword Formula.

To combine these five Sword Arts, one needed to cultivate each to the Perfection Realm. Then, after passing layer upon layer of trials and finally meeting Juezunzhe (the Peerless Venerable One) of the Buddhist School and clearing the last test, the five Sword Arts could be merged into a single supreme, invincible Sword Art, unrivaled in divine power.

However, just collecting all five Immovable Wisdom King Sword Formulas was incredibly difficult enough. Cultivating each to the Perfection Realm would consume an unknown amount of time. Not to mention the subsequent series of arduous trials. The difficulty of succeeding in this path wasn’t much less than Ye Rong’s quest to obtain Qingcheng’s two supreme Flying Swords, Tiandu and Minghe.

“Forget it! I’ll focus on cultivating the Qingcheng Qi Refining Method for now!”

Ye Rong plunged headlong into the river until he reached a spot about a hundred zhang (approx. 333 meters) away from the Water Eye at the bottom. He stopped there. Every moment, hundreds upon thousands of aquatic demonic creatures swam past him, so many that even if he slaughtered them wildly, he’d never finish them all.

Eventually, he simply activated Arctic Ice Crystal Prison. Instantly, countless damage numbers popped up all around him. His experience points would jump a noticeable chunk roughly every two minutes. His Player Log refreshed with experience absorption information at a dizzying speed.

All he needed to do was use his Black Phoenix to finish off the aquatic demonic creatures with massive health pools that hadn’t succumbed yet, like taking attendance one by one. He also transformed two large hands to gather up various loot drops that fell onto the riverbed.

“AoE spells! This is the way to grind!”

Ye Rong simultaneously shielded himself with the Hundred Poison Cold Light Barrier. Any particularly ferocious aquatic demon monster that charged at him through the Arctic Ice Crystal Prison would be enveloped by the Xuan Cai Yunxia (Dazzling Cloud Veil) and instantly turn into a puddle of icy liquid.

The Hundred Poison Cold Light Barrier was truly formidable, offering incredibly strong defense while simultaneously freezing and poisoning enemies.

By the time the Arctic Ice Crystal Prison’s duration ended, Ye Rong’s Qingcheng Qi Refining Method leaped two entire levels straight, reaching the 13th level. Even his character level was close to rising, lacking only about four or five percent worth of experience.

He was just about to push through and level up when a Flying Sword Message pierced through the river water, arriving before him. It hummed and hovered, refusing to settle.

“A Flying Sword Message from Breeze Clear and Clouds Light?”

Ye Rong took the message to look. It was indeed from Breeze Clear and Clouds Light. He had mentioned earlier that he’d come to the Dujiangyan Waters area. He hadn’t expected him to arrive so quickly. It was a bit of a surprise.

“He even brought along the three hundred taels of gold the Herbal Hall owes me! Looks like I have to personally go meet him. My big leveling session has to pause again.”

Thirty thousand taels of silver! A full three hundred gold taels! This would likely fund multiple major purchases of elixirs for him, without worrying about running short on money. Just for that, sacrificing some leveling time was definitely worth it.

Breeze Clear and Clouds Light was already at the Fu River estuary. For Ye Rong to get there from his current spot would only take a few minutes; he’d arrive immediately.