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“Cheat when it is convenient.”
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Qai went back to his valley and decided to simply live a peaceful life.
But in the next few months though, he went from time to time to Maple City to look around if there was any property for sale—apparently, he never lost sight of his plan to own a shop in the city.
Life however did not proceed without trouble.
At one point, Qai was met with an ambush in a forested area towards the city. On that occassion, 2 masked Foundation Establishment stage cultivators surprised him along the way.
Unfortunately for the assailants though, little did they know that their target had a small army of level 4 Ant Soldiers.
Thus, what was supposedly a disaster for Qai turned out to be an opportunity to pillage the enemies’ storage pouches. Sadly, there were only Spirit Stones and Consolidating Pills inside.
As for the flying swords of the two, he gave them to the Crag Brothers.
Although Qai didn't find any clue from the pouches, he could only think of Ao Tian as the possible mastermind behind the ambush.
Qai let out a breath and, at that point, finally decided to learn about the powerhouses within the region.
So he frequented the city archives, inns, teahouses and some other places to learn a few things about the region, and of the continent as well.
Finally, Qai came to learn that the continent he was in was actually called ‘Crimson Edge Continent.’
And it continent was chiefly divided into 4 regions—each with an existing large sect to act as the overlord of the area. While there were many other smaller sects, they did not qualify to govern over an entire region.
The regions had no names.
They were just recognized according to the name of the ruling sect.
As for the Precious Tree Sect, it was situated in the northern part of the continent.
And according to Qai’s own deductions, the Kamaria Island must be in the middle of the ocean located in the far north since it was under the jurisdiction of the said sect.
Meanwhile, there were actually 8 great clans around the region under the control of the Precious Tree Sect. Apparently, the Ao, Shu, and Mo clans were just 3 of them.
Each clan had their own territories which regularly produced cultivation resources. And a portion of these resources belonged to the overlord sect.
And the Maple City was apparently the center of trade in the region.
Qai also came to know a bit about each clan.
‘So that’s why Ao Tian can actually send for some Foundation Establishment stage cultivators. It turns out his standing in his Ao Clan was not low.’
However, the ambush only happened once—and this made Qai’s life a bit easy thereafter.
Qai sent all the Spirit Stones he got to the Crag Brothers for their use. They needed to start enhancing their auxiliary skills in preparation for their shop.
Within that period, both of them actually broke through to Foundation Establishment stage—much to Qai’s satisfaction.
On the other hand, Qai finally decided to spend his month-worth of stay in the 9-story Cultivation Pagoda.
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And when he stepped his foot at the entrance, a sect official met him to whom Qai handed over his badge.
“Senior, I would like to use my one month reward and if I exceeded the time, please deduct the rest from my Contribution Points.”
Qai had already asked around what to expect inside the pagoda.
According to what he learned, once inside, he would be met by a number of faceless figures formed from spiritual Qi energy who will attack him.
And once all the opponents of the floor were defeated, their condensed spiritual Qi energy would instantly shoot into his body.
From there, he could stay on the floor to cultivate the absorbed spiritual Qi energy before he could go up the next floor. And supposedly the higher floor, the more difficult the opponents would be—but the richer their contained spiritual Qi energy.
However, according to many, the level of the opponents would depend upon the level of the participating disciple.
Thus, the key to staying in the Pagoda fruitfully was to finish off the opponents fast otherwise he’s Contribution Points would be depleted quickly.
“Alright, once all your Contribution Points are consumed, you’ll be thrown out of the Pagoda. The same thing will happen if you die inside. While death inside does not mean real death, you’ll experience a backlash so just activate this jade badge if you want to exit the Pagoda.”
The sect official thus handed over a jade badge before he allowed Qai to get in.
Fortunately, the Pagoda allowed a disciple to use his own treasures and abilities. But even then, not many were able to reach the ninth floor.
Once Qai got inside the first floor, a level 8 faceless image of a cultivator in the Qi Condensation stage appeared.
‘What!? Level 8!? No wonder not many were able to proceed.”
In Qai’s mind, if just on the first floor, the opponent was already on the same level as him, then how difficult it would be on the higher floors.
Of course, the opponent in front of Qai did not pose much challenge to him. But even then, it was much tougher than the outer disciples he faced in the ranking tournament.
‘Raging Bison.’
Baam.
‘Nightfall.’
Baam. Baam.
‘Sky Piercing Dart.’
Swoosh.
Qai sighed after the fight was over.
‘So in the end, I already had to use my stealth weapon technique to finish this one off.’
Once the faceless figure dissipated a streak of light shot towards his glabella. And a portal to the next floor appeared.
Of course, Qai already understood what just happened so he immediately sat down and circulated the pure spiritual Qi energy he just absorbed.
Two days later, he opened his eyes.
The spiritual Qi energy was so rich that his cultivation base rose by leaps and bounds.
‘Hah, if this goes on I will surely have another breakthrough and save me plenty of resources and years of cultivation.’
Qai stood up and went through the portal.
On the second floor, he was met by 2 level 8 faceless figures in the Qi Condensation stage.
Again, he was able to defeat his opponents and once again spent a few days to consolidate the rich spiritual Qi energy.
On the third floor, Qai fought with 3 level 8 faceless figures in the Qi Condensation stage.
This time, he encountered some difficulty and used plenty of tricks to break the opponents’ concerted attacks.
But after spending 5 days of absorbing the spiritual Qi energy, he finally broke through to level 9 of the Qi Condensation stage.
He immediately extended his Spiritual Sense and was astonished when he figured out that it can now cover a mile radius.
‘With this Spiritual Sense, I’ll be able to control my flying weapons much easier. Perhaps my flying ability will already be comparable to Foundation Establishment cultivators.’
Qai thus proceeded to test his control with the flying Dart through ‘Sky Piercing Dagger Arts.’
He was happy to find out that it did not consume much spiritual Qi energy and that he could apply the skill even if the target were in such a considerable distance.
He also tried to fly on his Guandao and carefully observed his speed.
In his mind, he felt that finally, he would be able to escape an opponent by flying.
‘This Pagoda is indeed a cultivation treasure!’
However, considering how expensive it was to stay in the Pagoda, not every disciple in the sect would be able to benefit much from it.
Thanks to the rewards he got from the ranking competition, his gains in the Pagoda were substantially high.
With a satisfied look, Qai passed through the portal on to the fourth floor.
But as soon as he stepped out, he was met by a level 9 faceless figure in the Qi Condensation stage together with a bizarre figure of a tamed Spirit Beast of equal cultivation base.
Qai sized up his opponents carefully.
Unaware of the opponents’ abiltiies, he did not give them a chance and immediately summoned his giant Ant General.
‘If it's a battle with a beast companion that you want, then I can give you one.’