Chapter 909: Again Price Increase

Imprinting the Blasting Spirit Pattern onto Fire Spirit Stones was truly not a difficult task for Lu Ye. Therefore, he held a Fire Spirit Stone in each hand; the one in his left hand was for imprinting the Blasting Spirit Pattern, while the one in his right was for his Talent Tree to devour.

Not only that, but a spiritual power vortex also appeared before him, and the numerous small spiritual energy funnels on his body were actively functioning.

Simultaneously cultivating while performing two other tasks in this manner was something only he could accomplish under heaven.

As for his righteous pronouncement before Gan Wudang about sacrificing his future for the sake of the Province Guard's future... that was completely untrue!

For cultivators, cultivation level has always been paramount. Lu Ye had long understood this principle: anything that would hinder cultivation progress, no matter how great the benefit, should not be touched.

Time passed.

In just half a day, all seven thousand Blasting Fire Spirit Stones were refined. Lu Ye even refined an additional two hundred before stopping.

The numbers couldn't be too exact, or it would look too unseemly. A yield of 7,200 Blasting Fire Spirit Stones from 10,000 raw materials was a perfectly presentable result.

Gan Wudang had given him seven days, and he couldn't leave freely for the remaining time, so he could only continue cultivating.

Instead of reflecting the origin of the Dragon Ascent Realm, he took out the Breathing Fruit Core, preparing to enter the Mirage for some tempering.

Since advancing to the True Lake Realm, he hadn't entered the Mirage, nor did he have many places to test his strength. Moreover, having recently acquired several new spirit patterns, Lu Ye wanted to familiarize himself with their practical efficacy in combat while tempering himself within the Mirage.

He was particularly looking forward to the Spirit Pattern of Shadow Splitting; among the seven new spirit patterns he acquired last time, this was the only one that could produce miraculous effects in solo combat.

Activating spiritual power into the Breathing Fruit Core, his vision blurred, and he found himself in the familiar small space.

There was a large door on each side: one led to a place for personal tempering, and the other to Xianyuan City.

Opening the door to Xianyuan City required ten thousand merit points. Lu Ye naturally wouldn't open it easily. Furthermore, when he returned from Xianyuan City last time, the City Lord had already informed him that he was considered a member of Xianyuan City's Ju Fu squad. Should war break out, he would be notified through special means and could then directly enter Xianyuan City to participate in battle.

To date, Lu Ye had not received any notifications from Xianyuan City, suggesting that things there were relatively stable. By his reckoning, only a few months had passed since the last major battle.

Lu Ye turned his gaze to the other door, raised his hand, and pushed it. A glow rippled across the door, immediately revealing a line of text.

He focused his eyes on it and thought, "As expected. The price has increased again!"

When he first obtained the Breathing Fruit Core at the Spirit Stream Realm, each use cost fifty merit points. Upon reaching the Cloud River Realm, it doubled to one hundred points.

Now that he was in the True Lake Realm, the merit points required to enter the Mirage had indeed increased further.

Similar to the price increase at the Cloud River Realm, it had doubled again based on the previous cost.

Two hundred merit points!

At his current stage, Lu Ye naturally didn't regard a mere two hundred merit points as significant. Without hesitation, he pushed open the door and stepped into the swirling mist.

The tempering process was monotonous and tedious. It simply involved enemies constantly charging out of the mist, only to be slain by Lu Ye, or occasionally, to kill Lu Ye themselves.

To Lu Ye's surprise, this time, his opponents were no longer limited to human cultivators and insectoids.

Two peculiar races, the Blood Clan and the Corpse Clan, actually appeared among his adversaries.

The Blood Clan were enemies he had encountered in the Dragon Ascent Realm, and the Corpse Clan were enemies from the Peerless Continent. There was no reason for them not to have appeared before, yet they suddenly did now.

Lu Ye speculated that the enemies appearing within the Breathing Fruit Core were likely related to the past experiences of the cultivator entering it.

Because he had encountered the Blood Clan and the Corpse Clan, enemies from these two races also appeared here.

If he were to encounter other miscellaneous races in the future, the Mirage within the Breathing Fruit Core should also be able to reflect them.

With his cultivation advanced to the True Lake Realm, coupled with significant improvements in his blade techniques, mastery of new spirit patterns, and successful comprehension of the second form of the Hegemonic Blade Art, this period of tempering yielded substantial gains.

The only drawback was the unbearable pain experienced each time he fought to exhaustion and was killed. It was a genuine sensation of death, which Lu Ye engraved in his memory, ensuring he would maintain sufficient vigilance in the real world.

In the Mirage, no matter how many times he died, it only depleted his mental energy. In reality, however, he only had one life.

In a flash, seven days had passed.

The cultivator who had delivered the Fire Spirit Stones arrived as scheduled and retrieved the Blasting Fire Spirit Stones Lu Ye had given him.

A moment later, Lu Ye felt some movement in his battlefield imprint and looked down to investigate.

His name, identity, and cultivation level remained unchanged.

The change in location was self-evident: he had moved from Azure Flame Mountain Pass to Haotian City in Bing Province.

In the merit points column, over one hundred thousand merit points were gone, leaving more than three hundred and fifty thousand. After all, cultivating and entering the Mirage for tempering day after day incurred significant costs.

Most importantly, the war merit column displayed a significant increase!

Originally, after replenishing the power of his God-Slaying Sword, his war merits were just over one hundred thousand. However, a few days prior, he had gained an additional one hundred and thirty thousand war merits.

Needless to say, this was earned from the recent mission with Squad Alpha Three.

Normal missions wouldn't yield such immense rewards, but this particular mission encountered many problems and complications. Ultimately, a cultivator at the second level of the Divine Sea Realm was captured and slain by the combined efforts of Squad Alpha Three, which naturally led to a significant increase in rewards.

Furthermore, King Gengwu had stated on the return journey that he would report to the Commander and request the Commander to petition the Heavenly Secret, so that half of everyone's war merits from this mission would be transferred to Lu Ye.

All these factors combined allowed Lu Ye to receive such generous rewards.

Had it been the original mission for Squad Alpha Three to capture a cultivator at the ninth level of the True Lake Realm, a gain of ten to twenty thousand war merits per person would have been considered an excellent reward.

However, even with their gains halved and transferred to Lu Ye, the war merits received were still more than anticipated, at least twenty or thirty thousand.

As for the additional war merits just mentioned, they were naturally obtained from refining the Blasting Fire Spirit Stones, amounting to exactly thirty-six thousand points.

With all these additions, Lu Ye's war merits now totaled over two hundred and seventy thousand. Across the entire Nine Provinces, no one else could continuously acquire such large sums of war merits as Lu Ye, which was precisely why he was promoted to the rank of Commandant while still in the True Lake Realm.

Just as Lu Ye was checking his war merits, his Guard Token suddenly vibrated.

Lu Ye investigated and discovered that Gan Wudang had issued an order through the Guard Token, commanding him to report to the Legal Department immediately.

A Guard Token's command was absolute. While Lu Ye could bargain with Gan Wudang regarding the Blasting Fire Spirit Stones, he dared not be careless now. He instantly soared into the sky, heading towards the Legal Department.

Soon, he met Gan Wudang in the same private chamber as last time.

Compared to their last meeting, Gan Wudang's attitude was undoubtedly much more enthusiastic. Upon seeing Lu Ye arrive, he warmly patted his shoulder, saying, "Well done!" Although both parties had previously signed a Heavenly Secret Pact and made an agreement, it was only when the results were truly before him that Gan Wudang confirmed Lu Ye's actual ability to refine one thousand Blasting Fire Spirit Stones daily!

With these stones, the Legal Department's enforcement squads would have an additional means to counter enemies when carrying out missions, subtly reducing many casualties.

The slight displeasure he felt earlier due to Lu Ye's bargaining had long since vanished.

"As long as you are satisfied, Sir," Lu Ye replied. "I grant you one day off. Continue refining tomorrow, but I must tell you, you cannot fall behind in your cultivation progress. You should know that the higher your cultivation, the higher your refining efficiency will be." Lu Ye thought to himself that refining this item didn't seem to have much to do with his cultivation level, but he didn't need to voice that thought.

Soon, he noticed something amiss: "Sir, am I to remain in Haotian City to refine Blasting Fire Spirit Stones from now on?"

"Is there a problem?" Gan Wudang looked at him, puzzled.

Lu Ye said, "Sir, have you perhaps forgotten? I am from Azure Flame Mountain Pass. This trip was only for a one-day leave to get promoted in military rank. It's already been almost ten days of delay. Although the Pass Master hasn't urged me, it wouldn't be right for me not to return, would it? Wouldn't that be deserting my post?" He still held the titles of Garrison Guard and Patrol Guard of Azure Flame Mountain Pass at Great Moon Pass.

Of course, with his military rank promotion, he was now the Garrison Commandant and Patrol Commandant.

Staying here for an extended period would definitely mean losing the monthly stipends associated with these two titles, which Lu Ye absolutely could not accept.

The monthly stipends for these two titles alone amounted to sixty thousand war merits. Gan Wudang stared at him in astonishment, momentarily speechless.

He had been so engrossed in his joy that he completely forgot about this! Suddenly, his heart ached as if pierced by a knife!

Such a talent, and he wasn't from his Legal Department!

How regrettable! Why was the young man only at the ninth level of the Cloud River Realm when he first came to Haotian City, and not the True Lake Realm? If Lu Ye had been at the True Lake Realm then, Gan Wudang would most likely have recruited him into the Legal Department.

Unaware of the change in his expression, Lu Ye continued, "Sir, how about this: you give me the Fire Spirit Stones, I take them back to Azure Flame Mountain Pass to refine them, and you send someone to pick up the finished goods periodically. Although it's a bit troublesome, it's the only solution I can think of." Gan Wudang raised a hand to stop him: "Wait a moment."

Saying this, he tapped his battlefield imprint and sent out a message, though it was unclear to whom.

Lu Ye stood quietly to the side.

Gan Wudang paced back and forth with his hands behind his back, appearing somewhat anxious. He sent several more messages, but they all seemed to vanish without a trace.

Having no other choice, Gan Wudang could only look at Lu Ye: "Use your Guard Token to contact your Pass Master and tell her I need to speak with her!"

Last time, King Gengwu had asked him to recall Lu Ye from the front lines to join Squad Alpha Three, but he had feared Nian Yuexian would violently punish him and dared not agree. However, after realizing Lu Ye's ability to mass-produce Blasting Fire Spirit Stones, his desire for talent finally overcame his apprehension.

He was willing to risk it!

To his surprise, Nian Yuexian completely ignored him, which was quite awkward.

At this moment, Tang San's grasp of time, position, and distance was incredibly precise.

He knew clearly that even with his Tang Sect unique skills and third-rank Mysterious Heaven Skill cultivation, wolf demons were innately gifted and physically powerful. Facing them head-on, he might not be a match. Especially since he was young and lacked sufficient vitality, he definitely couldn't sustain a prolonged battle. If that human transformation hadn't killed one wolf demon, he might not even have acted against two third-rank wolf demons, as his own life was paramount.

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However, if he were to strike, it absolutely had to be a hit.

The wolf demon was in a state of extreme fury at this moment, so it only realized what was happening when Tang San's palm struck the side of its eye. It violently twisted its head, its wolf maw lunging directly at Tang San.

Tang San's other hand, however, had at that moment grabbed its clothing. Using the advantage of his small stature, he pulled on the wolf's fur, changing his direction. He almost flipped directly against the third-rank wolf demon's chest, landing on its other side.

His right index and middle fingers formed a sword-finger gesture. Activating Mysterious Jade Hand, his two fingers glowed with a pure white jade color as they lightning-fast stabbed towards the wolf demon's turning eye.

*Pfft!* His slender fingers instantly penetrated into the warm flesh. In terms of physical strength, Tang San was certainly far inferior to this third-rank wolf demon, but once he struck a vital point with energy of the same rank, there was no chance for luck.

Under the infusion of Mysterious Jade Hand, Mysterious Heaven Skill almost spun and plunged into the wolf demon's brain. As a result, the wolf demon's other eye also instantly burst, and its brain was pulverized into a paste. Its roar abruptly ceased as if choked, and its strong body fell to the ground.

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Tang San pushed off its body with his toes, flipping to land some distance away.

This attack achieved such a result thanks to his rich combat experience from his previous life. The child's small stature and the darkness of night provided the best cover, and the third-rank wolf demon's senses were dulled by its fury.

In a direct confrontation, Tang San's Mysterious Jade Hand might not have been able to penetrate the wolf demon's thick hide. However, the eyes were the most vulnerable point. Piercing an eye and injecting Mysterious Heaven Skill energy meant certain death.

With both feet on the ground, the third-rank wolf demon on the other side also fell silent. Only then did Tang San breathe a sigh of relief. He didn't rush to check on the human but quickly lay on the ground, pressing his ear close to it, listening for any surrounding movement and checking if there were more pursuers.

With his current strength, directly confronting a third-rank wolf demon was very difficult. No matter how good his technique, his young body was too frail. If he were hit even once by a wolf demon, it would likely be fatal. The seemingly simple attack just now was actually his full effort, raising his mental willpower to the highest degree.

There were no other movements around. Evidently, only two third-rank wolf demons were pursuing the human who could transform. This also brought Tang San a sense of relief; otherwise, he would have had no choice but to escape.

Only then did he approach the human, while still maintaining his vigilance.

As he got close to the person, he immediately noticed that the fur that had previously grown on them had vanished. This caused Tang San's heart to beat a little faster.

Given his young age and having no prior connection to the transformed human, the safest course of action would naturally have been not to intervene and wait for the wolf demons to leave. However, he still chose to act. One reason was that the pursued individual was human. Another important reason was the transformation he had just witnessed.

In Tang San's original world of Douluo Continent, there was a type of Soul Master who possessed a beast spirit and could have similar abilities. They could also continuously grow stronger by cultivating their beast spirit.

If such abilities existed in this world, learning them would naturally be greatly beneficial for his own strength improvement, and it would also make it easier for him to integrate into this world!

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