Chapter 494: Power Leveling in the Buddha Land, Ascension Refining Affinity, Arbitrary Pairing |
"In any case, a Final Ruin and a Radiant Sun are on the same level, so making do with it should probably work." Su Chen wasn't entirely sure either. "If it can't be used, then I'm truly out of options."
He eagerly wanted to verify this in his heart, but didn't dare to take out that Formless Heavenly Gate in this area. His movements, however, were swift enough.
Getting up, he left the door and went straight to the Nether-Rift.
High Firmament's control over the traffic between the Heavens was quite lax, basically adopting a 'take responsibility for your own life or death' policy. In the few times Su Chen went to Five Pillar City, no one had interrogated him.
"However, I ultimately caused some commotion when the Chosen was being picked. I still need to be careful. In case I am viewed as a competitor by some people, they might target me."
"Venerable Manifestation absolutely cannot be wasted in this kind of place in vain."
Su Chen did not go directly to the location of his clone. Instead, he concealed his figure and took a detour around Five Pillar City. During this period, he even went to the 'Top Hat' black market to arrange for a fake identity.
It was a mixed bag of dragons and fish inside, making it a good place to obscure his tracks as well.
After engaging in a battle of wits and courage with "the air" for quite a while, he finally used his fake identity to pass through the Nether-Rift and head towards his clone's location.
Reaching out to take the compressed comm-bracelet, Su Chen didn't leave. He flew deeper in with his clone, found a large mountain in the Nether Realm, and carved out a large cave.
He had his clone patrol outside. As a Nether Realm Creature, it inherently held an advantage and wouldn't be interfered with by the Nether Mist.
"I've finally gathered enough..." Su Chen first took out the Divine Blood. These 500 drops, added to his remaining stock, totaled over 570 drops. It was enough to extract the rewards from these two dispatches.
The status panel unfolded with his consciousness. He estimated that he should be able to extract it even using his clone, but he would eventually have to come here to retrieve the remaining Divine Blood and Faith Essence, so he might as well just use his main body to extract it.
The first was a segment of memory stolen by the World-Slaying Manifestation and other Sacred Classes, valued at 300 drops of Divine Blood.
"I hope it's the Seven Treasures Refinement..." Su Chen muttered in his heart. Being only just over 20% development progress away from Morning Star, estimating based on the longest time, less than a year would be enough.
His desire for an Ascension Refining method also grew increasingly profound.
Drop after drop of Divine Blood sank into his body, disappearing into some untraceable place.
In an instant, Su Chen only felt his vision blur, gradually shrouded by a hazy mist. A gentle voice reached his ears: "Mingguang, since you have the Azure God talent and have also planted the Sacred Tree of Seven Professions, now that all seven professions are complete, I shall pass onto you the Seven Treasures Refinement."
Mingguang? Su Chen subconsciously looked up, only to see a golden lotus throne in front of him. The lotus petals overlapped layer upon layer, flowing with light patterns as fine as gossamer.
A young bald monk wearing a cyan-white hemp robe sat cross-legged on it. His left palm casually rested on his knee, while his right palm was half-closed in an empty point, the palm facing slightly upwards. Golden light faintly flashed as his eyes opened and closed.
"Is this the World-Honored One?" Su Chen was slightly taken aback, but then saw the other party slightly lift his head, looking straight at him.
"Do you understand?"
Su Chen's heart palpitated, and then he heard 'himself' speak, containing hidden excitement: "Yes, World-Honored One."
"This is the scene of the World-Honored One passing the Seven Treasures Refinement to Mingguang..." Su Chen was quite surprised and couldn't help but look around, only to find that his perspective was difficult to turn.
Because he had inquired about some information regarding the Sacred Tree of Seven Professions, Su Chen actually knew this person. Mingguang was the Buddha Heir from the previous generation who had obtained the Sacred Tree of Seven Professions, and had already advanced to a Morning Star as early as four hundred years ago.
Currently, he had long since quenched more than ten streams of Morning Fire.
"...The Seven Treasures Refinement requires the mystic techniques of the tree as its root, and the Five Elements Sacred Classes as its foundation. Its primary function is to deploy the Mystic Tree..."
The World-Honored One's voice transmitted faintly. In his surroundings, phantom images of Buddhas manifested, demonstrating the key points.
Su Chen hurriedly focused his full attention. He didn't seek to understand, only to try his best to remember them clearly.
A long time later, after the World-Honored One finished explaining, "Have you understood?"
"I have roughly memorized it, it's just that I still don't know some of the tricks involved." This Mingguang said honestly.
"Mm." The World-Honored One nodded. "If there is anything you don't understand, you may come and ask me."
"Yes." Mingguang nodded, and Su Chen's vision bobbed up and down with him.
"...Such a piece of memory is actually worth three hundred drops of Divine Blood..." Su Chen clicked his tongue inwardly. He didn't know if the Seven Treasures Refinement was just too precious, or if this acquisition process was truly that difficult.
However, although three hundred drops of Divine Blood were worth one thousand five hundred portions of essence, which was a lot to him, trying to buy the Buddha Land's Seven Treasures Refinement for one thousand five hundred portions of essence was obviously impossible.
If strictly calculated, he had already made a massive profit.
The view before his eyes blurred, but to Su Chen's surprise, he didn't return directly to his main body. Instead, he arrived at another scene.
The surroundings were magnificent, with floor tiles carved with Bhikshus offering flowers laid out inch by inch.
"...The Five Elements as the foundation..." A murmur came from Mingguang's mouth. Surrounding him, a flame Arhat emerged, wielding a long spear and glaring fiercely. There was also a Bodhisattva holding a treasure vase, a white lion with hair like needles...
"This is..." Su Chen could clearly feel the various professional powers within the body operating, mobilizing, and connecting together following profound and mystical trajectories.
Suddenly, Su Chen only felt a sharp pain in his lungs. The lifelike white lion on the right gave a fierce roar and disintegrated. A golden-yellow elemental tide poured away, completely absorbed by the ground.
"Wrong..." Mingguang shook his head, reached out to pinch out a bottle of potion, and poured it into his mouth.
"This is the scene of him establishing an affinity with the Seven Treasures Refinement?" Su Chen realized.
Ascension Refining affinity was also a threshold, especially for this kind of top-tier among top-tier Ascension Refinings, which basically encompassed top-tier Sacred Classes. The difficulty of accommodating and matching them with each other was simply incredibly high.
Even the likes of Tong Zhuo, Zhong Yue, and Du Yunfei would require the assistance of their respective Heavens and expend an extremely long amount of time to achieve it.
And with this kind of comprehension of his, he could even sense the operation of elemental power within Mingguang's body.
Although the Sacred Classes of the two were not entirely the same, there was still a lot of experience to be absorbed from the connection process.
Just from this one time, he estimated that it would greatly shorten the time required for him to establish affinity with the Sacred Classes later.
Next, the scenes changed continuously, but the only constant was the process of Mingguang attempting to establish affinity with the Ascension Refining. Sometimes, the World-Honored One would also assist in adjusting and controlling it.
Even so, Su Chen estimated that Mingguang must have spent at least nearly a year before gradually becoming proficient.
The scene before him blurred again. Su Chen was somewhat speechless. "It's still not over..."
Looking up, he saw the World-Honored One. Su Chen was already familiar with this face. He concentrated, ready to comprehend today's changes.
The flowing light phantom images of an Arhat, a Buddha, a Bodhisattva, a white lion, a golden elephant... and so on gradually emerged around him. Some glared fiercely, some had benevolent eyebrows and kind eyes, and some took pity on the state of the world. Su Chen could clearly feel that the operation within the "body" was without the slightest sluggishness.
The various Sacred Class manifestations surrounding Mingguang intertwined, collided, and merged with each other. Fierce glares transformed into compassionate murmurs, solemnity and auspiciousness intertwined, Dharma forms and beast shapes overlapped, and elemental energy flowed slowly like the tide.
Eventually, they condensed into a cloud-like cluster. Through the shadow on the ground, Su Chen saw a small tree with seven branches emerging behind Mingguang.
"It's done." Su Chen felt it in his heart. He only saw the World-Honored One nod and lower his eyebrows, seemingly quite satisfied.
The next moment, everything before his eyes shattered. Su Chen returned to his main body, the solid feeling of his physical body putting him quite at ease.
This memory wasn't just the Seven Treasures Refinement; it also included Mingguang's experience from cultivating it hundreds of times, as well as the personal guidance of the World-Honored One.
To him, it was extremely precious.
But immediately after, the status panel opened. Amidst Su Chen's astonished gaze, a line of small text impressively emerged below the Forbidden Codex Tier Body Tempering and Meditation Methods—[Seven Treasures Refinement — Entry Level: 0%].
"This... I've directly reached the entry level?" Su Chen was slightly taken aback, his expression gradually becoming strange. "However..."
His heart moved slightly. Rolling blood qi surged up and condensed into a figure, bare-chested and robustly built. Its skin was a blood-gold color, shaped like a Vajra, exuding a chilling killing intent. It was impressively the Sacred Class manifestation of the World-Slaying Manifestation.
Following closely, black flames gathered and rose, howling incessantly, as the Cinderless Flame also manifested.
Cyan light coiled around as green wood grew from the ground. A languid figure lay beneath the tree—the manifestation of the Verdant Wood Guest.
The sound of splashing water rang out as the stocky Eternal Physique condensed.
Following closely, the Inexhaustible Titan, the Malefic Shadow Mountain, and the Nine Prisons of Thunder Eruption... all the Sacred Class manifestations emerged.
This large mountain was already unable to bear the heavy burden and cracked open from the center. Su Chen ignored it, allowing his body to fall and sit on the ground. The falling rubble around him was ground to dust by the surrounding Sacred Class manifestations.
The various Sacred Class manifestations gradually gathered. At the first contact, they erupted with blazing light. A fierce collision took place between the different attributes, as if water and fire were incompatible, and hardness and softness couldn't be reconciled.
But that was only the beginning. As time passed, they tore at and intertwined with each other. Black lines of fire pierced into the green wood, the green wood rooted into the water-blue vortex, and the World-Slaying Manifestation sank into the thunder prison.
The elemental energies of various colors converged, intertwined, and no longer had any obstruction, thoroughly merging into one.
The next moment, a treasure tree sprouted behind him, possessing seven branches. The surging torrent of elemental energy surrounding it all sank into it, releasing a massive burst of precious light.
"Hah... I succeeded too!"
A sense of perfect harmony rose in Su Chen's heart. "So 'entry level' meant establishing the affinity. Mingguang directly acted as a power-leveler for me."
Through Mingguang's memory, he had almost grasped all the key points and difficulties of the Seven Treasures Refinement. The only slightly troublesome part was the two Sacred Classes outside of the Five Elements, because the attributes chosen by Mingguang and him were different.
Even without a "power-leveler", he estimated that it would only take him at most a month to establish an affinity with the Ascension Refining.
Before the exhilaration in his heart could fade, he saw the status panel slowly open, already having jumped to the page of the Sacred Tree of Seven Professions.
He only saw that small tree tremble, and the elemental flowing light spreading from its branches actually gradually retracted, while the text below also gradually blurred and disappeared.
"What does this mean?" Su Chen was slightly stunned. "I've established an affinity with the Ascension Refining, but the mutual strengthening between the professions has disappeared instead?"
"That's not right. Could it be..."
Su Chen remembered what the World-Honored One had said about deploying the Mystic Tree. Before he could attempt it, he only felt the blood qi within his body boil, roaring and crashing.
His Psionic Power surged abruptly, and the two forces merged with each other at an indescribable speed.
In just the span of a single breath, Su Chen felt as if a red-hot piece of charcoal had been stuffed deep into his throat, feeling dry, cracked, and painful. The skin on the surface of his body was taut, with fine lines like a spider web surfacing on it.
His whole body felt as if it was being roasted by an invisible fire, with wisps of green smoke steaming out from his pores.
"This is..." He felt a slight shock in his heart and hurriedly dispersed the Ascension Refining manifestation. Only then did the roasting sensation within his body gradually disappear.
"Is this quenching Morning Fire? It's really intense."
Su Chen let out a sigh of relief. This was the main function of the Ascension Refining. But since he hadn't advanced to Morning Star, there was nowhere to quench it, so he could only squeeze his body.
Cyan light swayed around his body, and that little bit of internal damage quickly vanished without a trace.
"The Ascension Refining has also been matched. Now, truly all is prepared; the only thing missing is advancement." Su Chen shook his head, temporarily suppressing his thoughts. He brought up the status panel and went to the Sacred Tree of Seven Professions page.
It was still the same as before; they didn't connect with each other.
With a thought from Su Chen, Fire and Earth were connected together.
[Calamity Star Conjunction: When using Eternal Physique and Cinderless Flame simultaneously, the Cinderless Flame will temporarily merge into the Eternal Physique, doubling basic physical stamina.]
Text emerged again below, exactly the same as before.
"It really is like this..." Su Chen understood. "As the foundation of the Ascension Refining, after establishing an affinity with this Mystic Tree of Seven Professions, the connections between the Sacred Classes are no longer fixed like before."
Previously, the Sacred Class enhancements on the Mystic Tree of Seven Professions were only autonomously connected due to their sequential order. But now, it was different.
He attempted to connect Shadow and Shadow together. This was an interaction that had never existed before.
[Cinder Flame Burning Shadow: When manifesting the Fire Elemental Body, one can set shifting coordinates for the main body.]
Sure enough, new enhancement text was born, seemingly capable of greatly exceeding the original coverage range of the Flash-Shadow Body.
Su Chen's playfulness was greatly aroused, and he tried various combinations. It was quite novel at first, but later, he gradually frowned: "The strength of a single connection is not quite enough, and the directions are too chaotic..."
For example, [Green Wood Acts as Fire], which consumed a Deliverance Seed to amplify the Cinderless Flame. But he didn't frequently use the Cinderless Flame.
"Hmm, I still have to carefully adjust them..."
He attempted to connect all the branches entirely to the World-Slaying Manifestation—[Harsh Gold Essence-Devouring: At the cost of temporarily being unable to use all the buffs and abilities of the Sacred Classes connected to the Sacred Tree of Seven Professions, the World-Slaying Manifestation will have zero consumption for a certain period of time.]
Although it was still Harsh Gold Essence-Devouring, the previous "short period" had become "a certain period of time," inevitably greatly extending the duration.
"However, with only power and no speed, I'd completely be a target."
He singled out the Flash-Shadow Body again and then nodded in satisfaction. "Mm, after establishing an affinity with the Ascension Refining, deployment is much more flexible."
"This set can be used as an offensive coordination." Su Chen thought for a moment and continued to deploy.
Focusing on three aspects: speed, recovery, and clones, he respectively formulated the most perfect pairings for each.
Speed primarily relied on the Flash-Shadow Body. Previously, there were also some Five Elements Power enhancements, but after adding the Nine Prisons of Thunder Eruption, there were new changes.
[Flash Shadow Returning Body: Can manifest Five Elements Shadows, each possessing the strength of a single strike from the main body.]
[Fractal Responding Body: Clones can invoke the Sacred Class abilities connected to the Sacred Tree of Seven Professions, and can also manifest clones again.]
[Origin Flow of Vitality: Any injury can be instantly repaired. If vitality is extinguished, two Deliverance Seeds can be used as embryos to reshape the body.]
The recovery type, which primarily relied on the Verdant Wood Guest, only required Deliverance Seeds to resurrect on the spot. It had become significantly more abnormal.
"With this, as long as I always keep a clone outside, even if my main body is gone, I can recreate it..."
"Not bad, not bad..." Su Chen deployed them one by one. In ordinary times, he would maintain a balanced combination, which was the mutual interaction before he started adjusting them.
Of course, there were other combinations, such as a physical stamina recovery type that stripped away the World-Slaying Manifestation and focused on the Inexhaustible Titan.
But he estimated that for now, it would be very difficult to handle the mutual consumption of fully opening all his Sky-Scars. To truly make it effective, he would have to wait until he advanced to Morning Star.
However, connecting the Sacred Tree of Seven Professions required a certain amount of time and couldn't be switched instantly in combat. He would have to wait a moment.