Chapter 158: 73,000 Low-Grade Spirit Stones (Second Update)

  The fluctuations became clearer and clearer, and Ye Chen didn't have to exert much effort before arriving in a vast room.

  This room seems to be pieced together from dozens of ordinary rooms, a hundred feet square, with a height of over thirty-three feet. In the center stands a thick and sturdy pillar, on top of which rests a pure white light orb. Inside the light orb, a dark red secret book floats quietly.

  "Secret manual?"

  Ye Chen's heart and spirit stirred, he was currently lacking a earth-grade cultivation method, what kind of secret manual could this be?

  He took a few steps forward and Ye Chen's heart grew wary, hastily dodging to the right.

  Hiss!

  A two-meter-long white light spear suddenly emerged from under the floor, its speed extremely fast, emitting a sharp piercing sound. If not for Ye Chen's keen senses, he would have been pierced through and directly transmitted out of the Tian Meng War Hall.

  Standing still, Ye Chen looked up at the sky and thought to himself: There must be a mechanism on the ground. It's better not to rush forward recklessly from mid-air. The Tian Meng War Temple is mysterious and unpredictable, it wouldn't reveal such an obvious weakness. Most likely there are even more dangerous mechanisms in the air.

  At this point, Ye Chen took out a piece of low-grade spirit stone from his pocket and casually tossed it into the air.

  Pfft!

  A small hole opened on the left wall, and a beam of light shot out from it, shattering the inferior spirit stone that was still in mid-air, without leaving any ash behind.

  "With my current level of spiritual energy, I can't even defend myself."

  Ye Dun estimated (touched) the power of the light, and immediately shook his head. It was impossible to pass through from above, a dead end, and there was only one way left, which was to go through from below.

  The footsteps stopped, Ye Chen put it down again, and another figure appeared at the door.

  Mo Gongzi is cold and ruthless.

  Leng Wuqing was slightly surprised to see Ye Chen, he had not expected Ye Chen to last this long, it seemed that the other party had also entered the Bao Yuan realm.

  "What I need is martial arts secret book, what category do you need."

  Cold and unfeeling, without moving, he asked.

  "Kung Fu."

  He nodded and said coldly, "This is easy to settle. If it's a martial skill manual, it belongs to me. If it's a cultivation method manual, it belongs to you. If it's neither, then we'll just have to rely on our own abilities. You don't want unnecessary conflict, do you?"

  Leng Wuqing still had a great deal of apprehension towards Ye Chen. A beginner martial artist who had grasped the intent of the sword and was in the initial stages of the Bao Yuan realm was absolutely a tough nut to crack. He would rather face other high-ranking experts on the Hidden Dragon Ranking than directly confront Ye Chen, not because he feared Ye Chen, but simply because he didn't want to engage in a battle that would be both arduous and unfruitful.

  "It's possible, but I must add a condition. The martial arts manual falls into my hands, you can't take it away for nothing, and you have to exchange something of equal value in return."

  Ye Chen agreed that he was not a battle maniac and some unnecessary battles were better avoided, especially since he had lost the Yun Yin Sword and couldn't exert his full strength.

  "Good."

  He was cold and unfeeling, didn't believe he couldn't snatch it away, but when the other person said that, it instead ignited his competitive spirit.

  He paused for a moment, and Ye Chen's gaze swept around him before he spoke: "For now, let's just get closer to the stone pillar first. This place isn't simple."

  Upon hearing this, Leng Wuqing stomped her foot heavily, and a surge of energy spread out along the ground.

  Hehehehehehehe...

  White rays of light burst forth from the floor, piercing through the air.

  Two blinks later, the white light dissipated and disappeared.

  Leng Wuqing remembered the position of the white light thrust, but he was steady and cautious by nature. He stomped his foot again, dispersing even more air energy.

  Next moment!

  Half of the room was filled with white light spears, the tips of which were cold and piercing, like stars in the sky, making one's scalp feel numb just by looking at them.

  Furrowing his brow slightly, he said coldly, "The location of the light beam changes every time it appears, and during a fight, it's disadvantageous to both parties."

  "I hope the secret manual is either a martial skill or an internal skill!" Ye Chen smiled faintly, his cold and ruthless words not daring to be agreed with. In a fight, as long as he used his inner energy to lock himself in place, there was no need to worry about the opponent triggering mechanisms by vibrating the ground.

  The two of them cautiously approached the stone pillar in the center of the room.

  Hiss!

  Occasionally, a beam of light shoots out, and the two dodge at the same time. Neither of them dares to use up all their breath, as no one can be sure if there are still mechanisms in place where they land. If there are mechanisms, they can quickly flash open; if not, they can reassemble a complete breath.

  As for whether every landing point has a mechanism, this kind of thing should not be too likely to happen. If it happens, it means that today's luck is extremely bad and the luck is at its worst. You know that with the two people's cultivation, one mouthful of true energy can last for a long time, far surpassing ordinary early-stage warriors in the Huayuan boundary, but it can only support seven times. After seven times, if the landing point is still a mechanism, then they are doomed to be eliminated.

  Fortunately, such a thing has not happened yet, and the most dangerous situation is only four consecutive times with organs.

  Before long, both of them approached the stone pillar at the same time.

  "Come down."

  Almost simultaneously, the two stretched out their hands towards the light ball on the stone pillar and beckoned it to come over.

  The light ball pattern is motionless.

  At this time, Ye Chen's hands were filled with true energy and stuck to the stone pillar, quickly rising upwards. Along the way, his hands exchanged extremely regularly, always ensuring that one hand was in contact with the stone pillar.

  Cold and unfeeling as if he had something on his mind, he believed that Ye Chen did not do this for no reason, there might be danger in the air, it's not suitable to act rashly.

  With a similar posture, the cold and emotionless hands that contained true energy were also stuck to the stone pillar, chasing after Ye Chen above, with a speed as agile as a monkey.

  The stone pillar was only twenty-four zhang long, and in the time it took to blink twice, Ye Chen had already arrived at the very top.

  His left hand and both feet were stuck to the stone pillar, Ye Chen's right hand was claw-like, (wanted) to tear open the light ball.

  Wow!

  The surface of the light sphere had a powerful elasticity, almost shaking Ye Chen out.

  "There is a way!"

  The iron spear landed in his hand, Ye Chen let out a low growl and stabbed the spear into the light ball.

  With a clang, the gun muzzle was blocked by a hand, emitting a metallic ringing sound.

  "Everyone has their own skills!" Ye Chen laughed, and a red flame burst out from the iron spear, shaking off Leng Wuqing's hand. He then took advantage of the momentum to strike the light ball.

  The light sphere remained motionless in place, its surface sinking inward with a creaking sound as if it couldn't bear the weight.

  "Demon Earth Slash!"

  Leng Wuqing didn't fight with Ye Chen either, transforming his hand into a knife and slashing it at the other side of the light ball.

  The two of them seemed to have reached an agreement and launched a series of attacks on the light ball, hitting it repeatedly until it was dented and distorted.

  At the moment when the light ball collapsed.

  Ye Chen's body shook, and a dense array of air swords floated around him, covering the light ball and the cold, ruthless darkness that had enveloped everything in an oppressive shroud.

  A cold glint flashed in his eyes, and he raised both hands to shield the door.

  A series of golden iron explosions sounded, and Cold Unfeeling emerged unscathed. Those air swords couldn't even break through his skin, but as soon as he lowered his hands, the light ball burst, and the dark red secret book fell into Ye Chen's hands.

  "Hmmph!"

  Although he was angry in his heart, he had no intention of taking action.

  It was too inconvenient up there, so Ye Chen's body descended downwards and landed on the ground.

  With a cold and unfeeling glance, Ye Chen flipped open the dark red secret book and began to examine it.

  Half a moment later, standing twenty steps away, Leng Wuqing asked indifferently: "What kind of secret recipe is it?"

  Ye Chen smiled and said: "You're quite lucky, a manual of secret palm techniques, and it's very powerful, reaching the middle rank of the earth level. To be honest, I'm a bit tempted myself."

  His expression turned cold and his face sank, "But we had an agreement before, are you backing out?"

  Ye Chen shook his head, "What can you offer in exchange?"

  Without any hesitation, Coldly and unemotionally, he removed the heavy burden from his back and threw it to Ye Chen, saying: "Inside are seven low-grade earth-level secret books, sixty-five top-grade human-level secret books, a lower-grade dagger, a lower-grade light armor, a lower-grade short knife, three scarlet fusion fireballs, and five stalks of herbs, each worth no less than 50,000 taels of gold. They're all yours."

  Taking over the package, Ye Chen said in surprise: "Don't you take a look at the secret book? It may not be suitable for you."

  Leng Wuqing said: "As long as it's a skill with hands and feet, it suits me, no need to look."

  Open the bundle, as Leng Wuqing said, there's not a single item missing inside. Unexpectedly, only a small portion of these items were obtained by Leng Wuqing himself, while most should have come from other sect disciples. However, he doesn't care about the origin of the items; the value of what's inside the bundle is astonishing!

  Seven local-level low-grade secret books are worth more than 21,000 lower-grade spirit stones. Sixty-five human-level top-grade secret books are worth 3,250 lower-grade spirit stones. A lower-grade dagger is worth no less than 5,000 lower-grade spirit stones. A piece of lower-grade light armor is even more valuable, estimated to be worth over 20,000 lower-grade spirit stones. A lower-grade short sword is not less than 8,000 lower-grade spirit stones. Three scarlet light fusion fireballs are lethal weapons that can kill ordinary early-stage peak warriors in the Hugging Yuan realm, and mid-stage warriors who are caught off guard will also be blown to death. Each one is worth no less than 2 million gold coins on the market, which is equivalent to 5,000 lower-grade spirit stones. Three of them are worth 15,000 lower-grade spirit stones. As for the value of three herbs, it is the lowest, but it is still worth around 200,000 silver coins, equivalent to 500 lower-grade spirit stones.

  The total value is roughly 730,000 pieces of low-grade spirit stones.

  Ye Chen didn't intend to send the secret manual out, "Although there are many things, they can't compare to the value of a middle-grade earth-level secret manual. If I give it to the sect, I can get 3,000 pieces of mid-grade spirit stone, which is equivalent to 150,000 low-grade spirit stones. You should also know the importance of a low-grade middle-tier secret manual, it's enough to become the ultimate technique of a ninth-grade sect, and it won't be easily passed on to outsiders."

  He was taken aback, the other person was right, a middle-grade Earth-level secret manual wasn't something you could easily get, an ordinary Ninth-rank sect would be lucky to have one copy, an Eighth-rank sect at most had three copies. Even a Seventh-rank sect like the Barbarian Demon Sect only had five or six Earth-level middle-grade secret manuals, and most of them he had already seen. Two were cultivation techniques, such as his Earth Demon Tempering Body Great Technique, one was an auxiliary technique, and two were body techniques and leg techniques respectively, neither of which suited him very well, otherwise he wouldn't have placed so much importance on this secret manual.

  Ye Chen said, "If I give you this secret book, not only will you not lose out, but you'll also gain a lot. The upper echelons of the Demon Sect will definitely reward you with a large amount of low-grade spiritual thoughts or mid-grade spiritual stones. As for me, I'll be the one to suffer a huge loss, losing not just this secret book, but also 77,000 pieces of low-grade spiritual stones. Isn't that right?"

  "What do you think we should do?" asked Leng Wuqing.

  "Alright, I'll recite the contents of this secret manual to you, and you can remember it in your mind. You can cultivate it yourself after returning, as for the original copy, it will stay with me."

  After hesitating for a moment, Leng Wuqing agreed.

  PS: Today's fourth update is confirmed, everyone can rest assured. If I can hold on, I plan to stay up all night and continue writing the fifth chapter, but it's estimated to be around 3-4 am or 4-5 am.