Swallowing the Stars: The Wind Sword Master.

Chapter 83 Exchanging Treasures

While cultivating, Ning Ze slowly stood up.

He kept his eyes closed, and a colorful vortex seemed to appear in his vision. It was the cosmic energy he saw, and now he could cultivate without any specific posture.

"A god of flesh!" Ning Ze said with certainty.

After Ning Ze entered the planetary level, his essence, energy, and spirit merged to a certain extent. Combined with the planetary level's symbol, the "star core," his control over his body was greatly enhanced, and he was able to capture the faint will within his body.

That was the 'physical will' left behind in various parts of his body by his main consciousness, which was equivalent to the 'hands and feet' of the will-body.

"The body also has consciousness, but compared to the main consciousness, this consciousness in the physical body is very weak. The true meaning of 'five hearts facing the sky' is to let the physical consciousness 'face' the energy of the universe."

"Evolution is the subconscious of life; whatever it sees, it wants to absorb. Normally, conscious thought dominates the body, but when conscious thought is weak, the spirit of the body becomes active. At this time, the body's consciousness manipulates the subtle parts of the body to absorb energy!"

Ning Ze was overjoyed. As his cultivation level improved, his understanding of cultivation also increased dramatically!

Once he understands the essence of cultivation, he can find a way to cultivate quickly. The problem that had been troubling him before now has a solution after breaking through to the planetary level.

He was quite curious as he sensed the will in every part of his body. He gently commanded those faint wills within his body: "Cultivate, cultivate quickly."

After a while, he still didn't feel any increase in energy; clearly, his body was slacking off.

Ning Ze frowned slightly. Unable to communicate, a thought flashed through his mind. He slapped his forehead and said with a wry smile, "I'm so stupid. Although the physical body and will can be considered a kind of thinking, they are like my hands and feet. I should find a way to control them, not try to communicate with them. At the very least, my current level is definitely not enough."

"Then how am I supposed to control them? I can't even sense them properly." Ning Ze was at a loss for a moment. As he thought about it, he remembered the feeling when he absorbed the spirits of ancient plants.

"Use life energy to lure them in, but don't let them absorb it; just let them passively absorb cosmic energy to cultivate?"

Ning Ze felt that this method was not very feasible, as the spirit of plants would eventually be exhausted, and he could not yet control the residual life essence in his body to prevent it from being absorbed.

"Force yourself into a cultivation state?" Ning Ze shook his head. "That won't work either. I've always been able to do this, but my speed is only up to this point. These five hearts have always been very diligent."

"It's possible that the 'Five Hearts Towards Heaven' technique is too low-level, and only has such a basic cultivation method." Ning Ze felt that this was very likely. This was just a cultivation method for quasi-martial artists, so it must be extremely low-level.

Not only is the "Five Hearts Towards Heaven" technique low-level, but his "One Sword Seals the Heavens" technique is not much better, not to mention his guiding technique. He is now stronger than Wu Daozi, and his guiding technique has never been of much use.

"Since we can't rely on external forces, we can only change ourselves. I've restrained my own will; they should be able to cultivate, that's for sure. But how do we get them to 'face' cosmic energy and generate the desire to evolve?"

"I feel joy in my body and mind when I absorb the spirits of ancient plants, and my subconscious mind is also very happy. So how can I make them happy?"

Ning Ze slowly withdrew his consciousness, but his cultivation speed remained unchanged, leaving him somewhat perplexed.

After much deliberation, the night had passed, and Ning Ze still hadn't found a solution.

"Ding!"

The communicator received a message and emitted a notification tone.

Ning Ze slowly opened his eyes. After a night of reflection, he found that his body was very lazy and he didn't want to cultivate easily.

He looked at his communication watch, which he had set up yesterday to only notify him when his family or Hong sent him messages.

"Has the curator taken care of the Moyun Vine?"

Ning Ze was very envious. This Cloud Vine was clearly a treasure, but alas... he couldn't defeat it, and his breakthrough came a little too late. If he had broken through earlier, he wouldn't have gone to the Australian continent.

"Sigh~ Am I just not meant to be with my sweetheart?"

Quickly composing himself, Ning Ze curiously looked at the system panel, "How much have I improved?"

Realm: Planetary Level 1, 45.6% (Martial Artist)

Ning Ze calculated his improvement: "Since my breakthrough, I've cultivated for twelve hours, increasing by 0.3%. That means I can increase by about 1% every day and a half, and advance one level every six months. A 1% increase every day and a half is 10000 kg, which is 277 kg per hour. Before, I could only increase by 7 kg per hour, so now it's 40 times that!"

"The spirits of plants and trees should have improved my aptitude a bit as well, mainly because I've broken through to planetary-level gene evolution. Although the amount of cosmic energy I absorbed is more than 40 times greater than before, my foundation has also improved, making it more difficult to increase my strength. My basic cultivation speed has increased 40 times, not bad!"

"We should go find the curator!"

Ning Ze walked out of the training room and headed towards Hong's attic. He couldn't help but think, "This time I'll get to see the Master's secret stash! What kind of rich man would he have?"

Ning Ze had just arrived at the attic of the headquarters when Luo Feng happened to walk over from the opposite side.

"Did the curator call you too?"

Luo Feng nodded. He felt a powerful pressure emanating from Ning Ze. "Brother Ning, you've broken through?"

"I was almost at the breakthrough point, and the spirit of the plants helped me a lot." Ning Ze was in a very good mood after the breakthrough, and his mouth was full of smiles as he spoke.

Luo Feng fell silent for a moment. This breakthrough was not that simple at all. Many high-level war gods were close to their peak power and could break through under such circumstances, but they just couldn't.

He has now reached the peak of his mental power, but he feels no sense of breakthrough and doesn't even know how to break through.

"Let's go. The curator should be in a good mood right now. We need to keep our eyes peeled; opportunities to obtain treasures are rare."

"it is good."

The black man in the red robe standing in front of the door said softly, "Ning Ze, the master wants you to go in first."

Ning Ze nodded to the two of them and went to the familiar dark house.

Hong remained seated cross-legged on the futon, pointing ahead and saying, "Sit."

"Yes." Ning Ze sat down cross-legged on the futon in front of Hong.

Hong carefully examined Ning Ze, a slight smile appearing on his lips. "You've broken through?"

"Yes, my physical attributes reached that level, so the breakthrough came naturally. I also have to thank that ancient plant spirit." Ning Ze replied with a smile.

"How's your strength?" Hong asked with concern.

Ning Ze pondered for a moment, then replied, "It's improved by about ten times, right? It should be able to hold its own against a fourth-tier planetary-level opponent."

"Planetary level four!" Hong's eyes suddenly lit up as he stared intently at Ning Ze. "That much of an improvement? Usually, when a strong person breaks through to the planetary level, their strength increases threefold, their power increases twofold, and they gain attribute attacks."

"The power of the sword domain has increased, and my movement technique has also improved. After becoming a planetary-level expert, I gained an additional talent for wind control, which suits me very well. My strength has increased threefold, so my overall strength should have increased tenfold." Ning Ze wasn't entirely sure.

Upon hearing this, Hong couldn't help but smile. "You've already reached the mid-stage of the first tier of the Planetary level with just one breakthrough, which is a three-fold increase. If your attributes are just right, it could easily double again, making it six times the previous amount. Your domain and movement technique aren't that simple. Saying it's a ten-fold increase is an understatement."

"I'm not sure how to calculate my combat strength now." Ning Ze hesitated. Physical strength alone can only represent a part of one's strength. As for how much other abilities can increase combat strength, that's hard to say.

Hong smiled and shook his head, saying, "Keep working hard, and if you get a little stronger, you'll be almost as good as me and Thor."

"I will try my best!" Ning Ze said earnestly. He had always been diligent in his cultivation since he was a child.

Hong smiled with satisfaction, "Now let's calculate your contribution this time. Luo Feng discovered Fog Island and received 10% of the spirit of the plants there, and you received 30% of the mining contribution. If he doesn't find the Cloud Vine, then the Cloud Vine's contribution will be yours."

Ning Ze nodded slightly in agreement. This way, he was taking advantage of Luo Feng, but it was also a fair distribution based on the rules.

"Look carefully." The black-haired man waved his hand.

drop!

In the three-dimensional virtual projection, next to the dozen or so plant spirits that were floating, prices immediately appeared, namely '2 stars', '2.5 stars', '3 stars'... Each plant spirit had a price, the lowest being '1.5 stars' and the highest being '5 stars'.

"Those plant spirits are alright, there are 115 in total, worth 259.5 stars, I'll give you 260 stars. Luo Feng harvested 20 thousand-year-old plant spirits, which is about 14% of the total, so he can get 36.4 stars."

"You collectively hold 40% of the share, so you will receive 67.6 stars."

Ning Ze nodded in acceptance. Why did he always think Hong was a rich man?

Because of this pricing, when explaining the powerful beings in the universe to him, Hong showed him a contribution table and also introduced him to this "star" unit.

This price was simply set arbitrarily by Hong, based on his own understanding of the item's value.

"That Cloud Vine is more troublesome." Hong pondered for a moment. "You know the meaning of these stars. One star is roughly equivalent to 800 billion Chinese yuan, but human currency has no meaning to me. It's just used to measure the value of the treasures I have."

Ning Ze nodded, his expression somewhat helpless, but exuding a sense of heroic spirit!

Money means nothing to me!

That's the absolute truth!

The price of Dragon Blood is 800 billion, while the price of Water of Life is between 200 billion and 300 billion.

These plant spirits, even the cheapest one, can be exchanged for two or three portions of dragon blood, or more than ten portions of water of life.

A single star could easily be worth 2000 billion, but Hong doesn't want money! This star was obtained through contributions from members of the Extreme Martial Arts Academy, making it extremely precious!

"I've already told you about the Cloud Vine. It's a support life form from the universe. This life form has extremely strong regenerative abilities. As an offensive tool, it can entangle and surround, providing a means of attack. Because it can shrink and enter the body, it can enhance its own defensive capabilities, making it extremely precious even in the universe!"

Hong continued, "Even in my collection, it ranks in the top three. I've priced it at 1000 stars. As the discoverer, you'll receive a reward of 100 stars, for a total of 167.6 stars."

"I agree." Ning Ze readily agreed.

He had previously spoken with other inspectors, and they said that if it were truly based on contributions, accumulating 100 stars in ten years would be considered lucky. Income sources included, but were not limited to, contributions to the martial arts school, contributions made during their term of office, completing the school's tasks, training geniuses, creating secret manuals, and so on.

These 162.4 stars are a fortune!

If you were to exchange it with any other inspector, it would still be 162400 trillion!

16.24 trillion!

He thought that even other inspectors wouldn't have this much money. The underground alliance had such large total assets, but its liquid funds certainly weren't this much. That was an underground alliance that involved half of the economy of ordinary people in all walks of life worldwide.

"Since you agree, then see what you need to exchange." With a wave of his hand, the man in the Hong family created an even larger three-dimensional virtual projection in addition to the original dozen or so plant spirits. This three-dimensional virtual projection was divided into many categories such as 'secret manuals', 'intelligent fighter jets', 'battle suits', 'weapons', and 'spiritual medicines'.

Ning Ze pondered for a moment. This elixir could definitely promote his cultivation. After he opened it, a list appeared, divided into two pages.

At the top is Dragon Blood, worth 1 Star, followed by Spirit of Plants, which can be as high as 5 Stars.

Ning Ze frowned. "Master, these have very little effect on planetary-level beings. Even the number one Purple Dragon Eye only increases physical attributes by 20%, is worth 10 stars, and its effects are unstable. Furthermore, consuming dragon blood will grant immunity. This..."

"It's all been replaced." Hong's voice was very calm. "Over the years, the inspectors have replaced all the things that enhance strength, and I've used up some of them. The treasures in those ancient ruins are gone. This Purple Dragon Eye was obtained by purifying multiple portions of dragon blood. You know that it's not real dragon blood, but just a combination of medicines."

Ning Ze remained silent for a moment, then nodded and looked at the manual.

The fourth most valuable move is called "Lightning Flash" and costs 25 stars.

The second most valuable move, "Phoenix Soaring Strike," costs 36 Stars.

His eyes lit up slightly, and he quickly asked, "Master, how powerful are these two ultimate moves?"

Hong gestured forward expressionlessly, and instantly all the secret manuals disappeared. "You can figure it out yourself; you don't need to learn the manuals I created."

Ning Ze looked stunned. Originally, there were still six categories, but now one-sixth of them were gone!

Hong felt quite embarrassed. He hadn't put much effort into preparing the exchange form, just using an old template, but Ning Ze saw it instead.

If Ning Ze were to find out after practicing this technique that it wasn't as powerful as his own sword moves, he would lose all face.

Ning Ze didn't say anything, but silently opened the weapon and took a look.

He already has the Black God Set 5 Stars; he got it when he was level 5 in the Trial Tower. It was a freebie, so he doesn't need to go to Ruins No. 9 to get another piece to return it later, as per the rules.

The Nebula Sword 3 Star is twice as strong as the SS-grade Light Swallow Longsword. It is somewhat similar to the Light Swallow Longsword, with a dark blue blade and seemingly white clouds and purple starlight. It looks quite impressive.

Then there's the combat suit, worth 6 stars, named "Blue Rain." It's a sky-blue combat suit, made of twice the material of an SS-class combat suit. It should be a man-made product, representing humanity's highest achievement.

(End of this chapter)