This humble Taoist priest, Qianhe, begins his quest for immortality by slaying demons and monsters.

Chapter 79 Further Improvement in Cultivation, Gluttonous Dragon Elephant Technique

That evening, Zhong Bai sat cross-legged on a futon.

Looking at the five-digit number of demon-slaying points on the demon-slaying panel in front of him, he almost drooled.

"Now is the time to reap the rewards!"

With this thought in mind, Zhong Bai decided to invest one thousand demon-slaying points into his Divine Firmament Five Thunder Technique.

Use the remaining demon-slaying points on the Shangqing Dragon Elephant Technique. If there are any left, invest them in the Nine Nether Soul Transformation Technique that you just acquired.

In general, cultivation comes first, followed by the physical body, and then the spirit.

Having made his decision, Zhong Bai began to concentrate and calm his mind, trying his best to cultivate his energy and spirit to the fullest extent.

After the time it takes for an incense stick to burn, Zhong Bai took a deep breath and began to add points to his character's abilities.

[Consume 2000 Demon Extermination Points to exchange for 2000 days of Divine Firmament Five Thunder Technique cultivation]

As the demon-slaying points began to be consumed rapidly, a terrifying suction force suddenly erupted from Zhong Bai's body, drawing in the spiritual energy of the entire Jiuquan Town.

[On the 18th day, your cultivation has reached the seventh level of Qi Refining. The demand for spiritual energy from heaven and earth is becoming increasingly terrifying if you want to continue to improve.]

[On the 229th day, your progress in the Divine Firmament Five Thunder Technique is slow due to the scarcity of spiritual energy in the world, but your cultivation at the seventh level of Qi Refining has begun to show some signs of improvement.]

On the 677th day, perseverance paid off, and your cultivation finally broke through to the mid-stage of the seventh level of Qi Refining.

[On the 1285th day, after another year and a half of arduous cultivation, your cultivation has once again shown signs of weakening.]

On the 1788th day, even though the spiritual energy of heaven and earth was scarce, you still comprehended your Divine Firmament Five Thunder Technique to a level sufficient to break through to the late stage of the seventh level of Qi Refining and successfully entered the late stage of the seventh level of Qi Refining.

[On the 2000th day, the late stage of the seventh level of Qi Refining has been stabilized, and the Demon Extermination Points for this session have been used up.]

It has to be said that this time, the amount of spiritual energy in the world increased by more than a little bit after spending a full two thousand demon-slaying points. Don't be fooled by the fact that Zhong Bai's improvement speed is not as fast as when he was at the third or fourth level of Qi Refining. Even though two thousand demon-slaying points can't get him close to the eighth level of Qi Refining, in reality, it is definitely ten times more difficult for someone at the seventh level of Qi Refining to improve their cultivation than someone at the third or fourth level of Qi Refining!
Countless promising talents are stopped at the threshold of Qi Refining Realm. Those who can cross this threshold before the age of forty are all the most outstanding talents of their sects.

Zhong Bai could cover in just one night what others take years to do; that's absolutely terrifying.

As soon as the spiritual energy of heaven and earth entered his dantian, Zhong Bai felt a sharp pain all over his body, which could not be relieved even when his internal blood and qi surged out.

This is a manifestation of insufficient physical strength.

Besides this, the moment Zhong Bai opened his eyes, he felt a wave of dizziness.

"Improving both physical and spiritual strength is now of paramount importance..."

Zhong Bai felt somewhat helpless. The reason he didn't improve his physical strength and spiritual strength first was that deep down, he wasn't sure what to expect.

Heaven knows how many demon-slaying points are needed to successfully learn the Shangqing Dragon Elephant Technique and the Nine Nether Soul Transformation Technique.

What if you throw in tens of thousands of demon-slaying points and still don't see a ripple?

Zhong Bai felt it would be better to first apply some of the energy to the Divine Firmament Five Thunder Technique.

Thinking of this, Zhong Bai rested for a while.

Once he felt a bit better, he continued to add points to his cheat.

The Shangqing Longxiang Jue has nine levels.

Once the first level is mastered, one will possess the strength of one dragon and one elephant. The strength of one elephant is 12,500 jin, while the strength of one dragon is equivalent to ten elephants, or 125,000 jin!

This is only the first level. The second level is the power of ten dragons and elephants, the third level is the power of a hundred dragons and elephants, the fourth level is the power of a thousand dragons and elephants, and when you reach the fifth level, you can use the supernatural power of "Heaven and Earth Manifestation"!
As for the later floors, well, let's not even mention them!

In the entire Maoshan sect, only one patriarch is known to have reached the fifth level while still in the Nascent Soul stage.

When Zhong Bai saw the information about the Shangqing Dragon Elephant Technique, he never imagined that he could one day cultivate it to the ninth level; it was practically impossible...

Ahem, so, the fifth level of the Shangqing Dragon Elephant Technique is Zhong Bai's ultimate goal. Even though he has the Demon Extermination Panel which can cheat him, Zhong Bai still doesn't believe that he can one day successfully cultivate the ninth level of the Dragon Elephant Technique.

[Consume 2000 Demon Extermination Points to exchange for 2000 days of cultivation time for the Shangqing Dragon Elephant Technique]

When the demon-slaying points began to be consumed, Zhong Bai entered a mysterious state.

On the first day, you began to try to cultivate the Shangqing Dragon Elephant Technique, but since you had never been exposed to it before, you were quite unfamiliar and clumsy.

[On the 222nd day, after more than half a year of exploration, you have begun to have a concrete understanding of how to cultivate the Shangqing Dragon Elephant Technique.]

On day 223, you officially began your challenge against the Shangqing Dragon Elephant Technique.

[On the 444th day, after about two hundred days of arduous cultivation, following the cultivation method of the Shangqing Dragon Elephant Technique, you have been frantically tempering your physical body during this period.]

[On the 888th day, in the second year of cultivating the Shangqing Dragon Elephant Technique, your physical strength has increased by a full 2,500 jin, and you possess the strength of an elephant. However, you are still 108,000 miles away from the strength of a dragon and an elephant at the first level of the Shangqing Dragon Elephant Technique.]

[On the 1865th day, three years have passed, and your physical strength has increased by nearly 6,000 jin, reaching a terrifying 18,000 jin.]

[All demon-slaying points have been used up]

When the energy and blood in Zhong Bai's body began to be rapidly consumed by the demon-slaying points, it boiled like water, and his muscles, bones and skin instantly turned red.

Immediately afterwards, Zhong Bai felt his bones being broken and reassembled bit by bit. The excruciating pain made his face contort in agony. In addition, his heart was pounding rapidly, and he could hear the blood flowing through his body.

Pain and pleasure coexist; this is the price to pay for strength. When the two thousand demon-slaying points were exhausted, Zhong Bai's internal energy was terrifyingly potent. As it surged forth, the temperature of the surrounding void skyrocketed.

Zhong Bai felt that if he could keep little ghosts who hadn't yet become ghost soldiers away from him by ten meters when he used to activate his qi and blood, now he could keep them away by twenty meters, and even ghosts in the early stages of becoming ghost soldiers would have a hard time getting close to him.

However, these were not the biggest gains; the enhanced Qi and blood were merely icing on the cake for Zhong Bai.

The real benefit lies in the increased bone strength that Zhong Bai felt after his bones were broken and reassembled.

Even the internal organs and skin are strengthened, which is far superior to the improvement of qi and blood.

After all, Zhong Bai's main cultivation technique is the Divine Firmament Five Thunder Technique. No matter how strong his qi and blood are, they are not as terrifying as thunder!
Having tasted success, Zhong Bai planned to continue.

The Divine Firmament Five Thunder Technique consumed two thousand Demon Extermination Points, and the Upper Clarity Dragon Elephant Technique just consumed another two thousand Demon Extermination Points, leaving a total of six thousand three hundred Demon Extermination Points.

This amount can still be squandered.

[Consume 4000 Demon Extermination Points to exchange for 4000 days of cultivation time for the Shangqing Dragon Elephant Technique]

[Day 1: You have already experienced the benefits of the Shangqing Dragon Elephant Technique, so you plan to continue your arduous training.]

[On the 784th day, almost two years later, your physical strength has increased by 4,000 jin. You find that the more you train, the slower the progress is compared to the beginning, but you are not discouraged.]

[On the 1963rd day, a full three years later, your physical strength seems to have hit a bottleneck. In three years, you've only increased it by two thousand jin. You can't figure it out, but you can only persevere.]

[On the 3999th day, six years have passed, and you are somewhat desperate. The Shangqing Dragon Elephant Technique seems to have completely stagnated. Even though you cultivate diligently every day, your power cannot be improved. You begin to doubt whether you are cut out for this.]

[Exorcism Points Exhausted, End of This Skill Point Allocation Training]

Zhong Bai opened his eyes, his resentful gaze seeming to pierce through the void before him.

"Gold-devouring beast, devour it!"

"After spending a full four thousand demon-slaying points, my physical strength only increased by six thousand jin, which is less than the initial two thousand demon-slaying points..."

Zhong Bai was utterly frustrated at this moment, but when he discovered a problem, he had to find the cause. So Zhong Bai began to examine the contents of the Shangqing Dragon Elephant Technique in his mind.

After a long while, Zhong Bai's lips twitched slightly. He really hadn't expected that the problem would arise from the fact that the Shangqing Dragon Elephant Technique required the use of demon beast essence blood.

The m version also requires the blood essence of a demon beast.

Zhong Bai knew about this at first, but he didn't take it seriously at all. He thought that as long as he had enough Demon Extermination Points, he could upgrade the Shangqing Dragon Elephant Technique.

In retrospect, this is very likely the reason why my four thousand demon-slaying points were basically wasted.

However, this is just Zhong Bai's guess, and it still needs to be verified.

Of course, there's no chance now. Monster blood essence isn't easy to find, and we can't just slaughter the Angry Sun Chicken in the yard, can we?

Even if we were to use the Angry Sun Chicken as a substitute, what good would it do if it's a Angry Sun Chicken that hasn't even reached the mid-stage of the Demon Soldier realm?

"Sigh, what a waste..."

Fortunately, demon-slaying points aren't rare; with a little effort, I can earn them back.

Zhong Bai comforted himself, realizing that he only had 2,300 Demon Extermination Points left, and he no longer had the mood to continue his cheat-like cultivation.

He simply got up, went to the bed, and, ignoring the raging flood outside, decided to get some sleep.

......................................................

Early the next morning.

Zhong Bai pushed open the door, and Xia He, that sensible girl, had already prepared breakfast.

Looking at Chunhua and Xiahe, Zhong Bai felt much more relaxed.

Chunhua and Xiahe are still young, only fifteen or sixteen years old. Although Zhong Bai felt that he couldn't let them take care of him for decades, now was indeed not the time to give them freedom.

Leaving Zhong Bai's courtyard, haha, this era really can be cannibalistic.

Fortunately, Chunhua and Xiahe hadn't considered leaving either; heaven knows how lucky they were to serve Zhong Bai.

They don't need to warm the bed or change the clothes. They just water the flowers and feed the angry-sun chickens every day. Xia He buys groceries and cooks meals. Tsk, most people can't even imagine such a life.

"Sir, are you awake?"

Chunhua put down the kettle in her hand, then walked towards Zhong Bai and said, "Sir, you just came back yesterday. There's something that Xiahe and I didn't think was very important, so we didn't tell you."

A few days ago, shrill screams were heard from the church from time to time. The news spread throughout Jiuquan Town. However, the old man of the Yang family did not send anyone into the church, fearing that it would damage the church's decorations. So he sent someone to ask the gentleman what was going on in the church.

There's no rush; we waited until this morning to inform you, sir. We hope you won't take offense.

Zhong Bai was somewhat surprised that there were still shrill screams coming from inside the church. As if realizing something, Zhong Bai roughly understood what was going on.

If nothing unexpected happens, it's that Japanese devil, Hanafuji Chiki, whose physical body has turned into a zombie.

However, Zhong Bai had placed a corpse-suppressing talisman at the well's entrance, presumably because Hua Teng Qian Shu's physical body, after turning into a zombie, could only be suppressed at the bottom of the well to leave, which is why it let out a roar that was heard by the people of Jiuquan Town.

Waaaaah, 13,000 words in four chapters! Damn, I said I'd do 16,000 words in five chapters, but I'm just so tired... I'm so sorry, dear readers, I promise I'll do 16,000 words in five chapters this week to make it up to you all. Waaaaah, I got a lot of monthly votes yesterday, thank you so much, dear readers!
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(End of this chapter)