Chen Xu's display of skill caught everyone on the field by surprise. Even Wu Xiqiu hadn't expected this year's top Dragon Seed to actually possess such genuine ability. She could feel a faint sense of threat emanating from the skeletal arms encircling Chen Xu's back.
"Hehe, Fellow Daoist Chen's move, Ten Thousand Buddhas Paying Homage: Bone Edition, is quite interesting." As a member of last year's Dragon Seed, Ma Ku could see the mechanics behind these skeletal arms. Controlling so many skeletal soldier arms at once required opening hidden portal apertures at specific locations to release them from the Necrotic Space.
Setting aside the power for a moment, the sheer level of mental strength control displayed made Ma Ku feel inferior.
"A trivial trick, not worth mentioning," Chen Xu said with a slight smile as he retracted the skeletal arms.
After returning to his hut from the commercial street, Chen Xu began to ponder how he should fight.
While he could simply summon skeletal soldiers directly, this was a cultivation world after all. Unleashing a massive horde of skeletons to hack people down felt a bit too jarring.
Furthermore, the Tianxin Assessment included arena matches, which likely wouldn't have enough space for many skeletal soldiers.
Fortunately, at this moment, 【Raise Skeleton】 had reached level 40, unlocking a new feature.
【Raise Skeleton (36+4 level): Summons a skeleton. If a corpse is consumed for the summoning, an additional bonus is granted based on the quality of the remains. Current enhancements: Cold Enhancement, Aura of Cold, Special Curse.】
【Raise Skeleton has reached level 40, triggering the 996 talent and granting the effect: Overtime Pay (Haha, you really don't plan on resting, do you?). Since Raise Skeleton is a low-level summoning skill, it can only possess a maximum of 3 enhancement affixes. This affix selection is changed to enhancing existing affixes and granting one new skill. Choose one from the following three skills.】
【Shield Bash: Use a shield to strike the target. When used against targets smaller than the skeletal soldier, it is guaranteed to cause a stun.】
【Bash: A powerful strike that deals higher damage to the target and knocks them back.】
【Stun: Focuses power to strike a target's weak point, causing a brief coma. When used against targets smaller than the skeletal soldier, it is guaranteed to cause a stun.】
There was bad news: skeletal soldiers could only have a maximum of three enhancement affixes. But there was good news: the skeletal soldiers could master new skills, and subsequent higher-level summoning skills should be able to break this limit.
【Shield Bash】 and 【Stun】 were immediately ruled out. As the enemies Chen Xu faced grew stronger, the two-meter stature of the skeletal soldiers was only enough to bully goblins and ordinary fallen demons. Even the strange snakemen in the Snakemen Stronghold were at least three meters tall. Thus, Chen Xu directly chose 【Bash】, which had no size restrictions.
Once the selection was complete, Chen Xu noticed a change in the skeletal soldiers' left hands. Originally bone-white, they had turned into transparent blue crystals with faint blue energy flowing within.
Could this be the enhancement of existing affixes mentioned in the panel description? In Chen Xu's perception, the power of cold within the skeletal soldiers had become more concentrated. The transformed left hand, in particular, was practically a crystal of ice elements.
With a thought, Chen Xu controlled a skeletal soldier to self-detonate. An Ice Ring carrying bone fragments exploded outward, its range slightly larger than before. Suddenly, a second, more violent Ice Ring bloomed, its range twice that of the first.
"This crystal arm can actually explode a second time."
Looking at that crystal arm, an idea popped into Chen Xu's head: "Maybe I should control skeletal arms to act as spells!"
For the rest of the day until the evening gathering, Chen Xu remained in his hut experimenting to see where his limits lay. Maintaining spatial rifts to the Land of the Undead for extended periods consumed mental strength. Normally, summoning only lasted an instant, so Chen Xu wasn't sure what scale of skeletal arms he could maintain with his current epic-tier mental strength.
After a busy afternoon, Chen Xu found his answer. He could maintain 50 skeletal arms as a baseline, where mental strength consumption and recovery were balanced. His upper limit was controlling 10,000 skeletal arms simultaneously, though he could not sustain it for long.
...
The next day, Shen Mengqi, Chen Xu, and the rest of the group arrived at the port of Peach Blossom Island.
At this time, dozens of cultivators wearing Peach Blossom Sect Daoist robes were already waiting. Seeing Shen Mengqi arrive, a white-bearded old man stepped forward. "Little Shen, this ship, the Myriad Miles of Peach Red, is the finest dharma vessel of my Peach Blossom Sect. Although we cannot provide personnel to join your team, the Seventh Elder and his disciples will accompany the ship as guards. Consider it a small token of our goodwill."
"Thank you, Grandpa Qi." Shen Mengqi seemed very familiar with the old man.
"With your talent, staying on Peach Blossom Island is indeed a limitation." The old man named Qi patted Shen Mengqi's head and sighed. "In the Tianxin Assessment, until the very last moment, the world never knows how many monsters are hidden among the participants. Even if you don't succeed, do not lose heart. After all, besides Tianxin, aren't there also the four great sects?"
Shen Mengqi nodded and replied, "Don't worry, Grandpa Qi."
"Then set forth. Seventh Elder, I'll trouble you to look after this girl for the rest of the journey."
"Mhm, Elder Qi, rest assured. With me, Tao Bai, here, nothing will happen on the road."
Under the leadership of the Peach Blossom Sect's Seventh Elder, Tao Bai, Shen Mengqi's group boarded the ship.
As the crew inserted spirit stones to activate the vessel, the Myriad Miles of Peach Red moved without the need for wind, heading toward their first destination: Sifang Island.
As the ship drifted further away, the old man named Qi remained where he was, staring blankly in the direction the ship had vanished.
"Grandpa Qi, are you unable to set your mind at ease?"
A beautiful woman with fiery red hair and dressed in a pink Daoist robe appeared behind the old man.
"The Sect Master must be joking. I am over four hundred years old. In my youth, I enjoyed the excitement and visited Sifang Island and Tianxin Island to watch the world's geniuses compete. Even the descendants of the four great sects have met with failure there. Even if this girl truly has talent, she is simply too young. Do you really believe she can do it, Sect Master?"
"I don't know. It's just that Ye Bufan said they produced an interesting girl this year with an excellent temperament. Since Ye Bufan thinks she can, I think she can too."
The old man named Qi simply shook his head, not intending to argue.
...
The voyage across the sea was quite tedious. Aside from the crew members who occasionally observed the environment, everyone else stayed in their respective rooms.
Chen Xu took out the book 《Anchoring Method》, which concerned the Sea of Spirit, and began to read. He chose this book because it was relatively thin and contained less content. According to the Peach Blossom Sect crew, if there were no accidents, it would only take two days to reach Sifang Island.
The author of 《Anchoring Method》 was an Archmage from the period following the hell invasion. During that time, the Akhan people accumulated knowledge of many worlds from dungeons. They also learned that among the myriad worlds, there existed some special ones, such as the hell that had once invaded Akhan, or the Sea of Spirit recorded in this book.
The 《Anchoring Method》 was a spell for anchoring the soul. Once the soul was anchored, one could enter the Sea of Spirit through a ritual. The Sea of Spirit was filled with dispersed Soul Fluid as well as various exotic creatures. For mages, the former was a high-quality consumable for increasing mental strength without side effects, while the latter were rare experimental materials.
...
"Everyone, Sifang Island is just ahead."
"So many ships. Are we going to fly over?"
In front of the Myriad Miles of Peach Red, there were over a thousand ships anchored.
"Sifang Island will send sky skiffs to pick people up. It costs 3 spirit stones per person."
"They charge money just to get on the island? The Tianxin Sect must have made a fortune from this assessment alone."
"Watch your words. These sky skiffs are provided by the Sifang Chamber of Commerce, which is backed by the four great sects. Sifang Island is also the territory of the Sifang Chamber of Commerce. As the number of people participating in the Tianxin Assessment grew, Tianxin Island could no longer accommodate everyone. Thus, a screening assessment was added before the formal one. Only the final ten teams are eligible to go to Tianxin Island."
Before long, an object resembling a blimp flew over from the sky. A rope was dropped from it, and a person slid down while gripping the rope.
"Do you all wish to board the sky skiff? Sifang Port is already full. If you want to get on the island, you must either use your own flight methods or take our Sifang Chamber of Commerce sky skiff for 3 spirit stones per person."
"Miss Shen, you go ahead. I will stay on the ship and wait for you," Tao Bai said to Shen Mengqi. He then turned around and produced 21 spirit stones for the person from the Sifang Chamber of Commerce. "Young man, I'll trouble you with this."
"I wouldn't dare. You flatter me, Master."
After taking the spirit stones, the man spoke to Chen Xu and the others. "Everyone, do you all know flight techniques?"
The group nodded and flew directly toward the sky skiff.
Shen Mengqi bowed to Tao Bai before flying toward the skiff as well.
At this moment, the disciples standing behind Tao Bai were also feeling restless. One of them spoke up. "Master, can we go onto the island too? In previous years, only a few senior brothers traveling abroad have seen the excitement of the Tianxin Assessment. Now that we are all here, it would surely damage our Dao hearts if we didn't go up and see!"
"That's right, Master. Look over there at the ships of the four great sects. Let us go and see the top disciples of the great sects. It will give us the motivation to cultivate harder."
Listening to his disciples, Tao Bai shook his head and said helplessly, "If you want to go, then go."
"Thank you, Master!" everyone answered in unison.
"Wait, young man! Hold on, there are more of us!" Having received permission, the crowd quickly shouted to stop the sky skiff that had just started to move, flying toward it one after another.
Rate on N.U.
