Chapter 44: Azure Sparrow Sword, Seven-Orifice Precious Pearl (Seeking Subscriptions, Seeking Monthly Votes)

As the same Tier 6 flying sword, Su Yu found that the Azure Sparrow Sword was far more agile than the Shari Sword, making identical sword techniques much easier to execute.

The attributes showed a +20% agility bonus for the flying sword, but once actually driven, he felt the efficiency improvement was definitely well beyond 20%.

"In the future when choosing flying swords, this attribute can be prioritized right after armor-piercing."

After putting the swords through their paces, Su Yu reached out to recall the pair, pursing his lips in thought.

Now with two Tier 6 flying swords in hand, his strength was vastly improved. While he could undoubtedly secure a steady victory against Lan Yiying, his chances against Ding Lingyu were still uncertain.

The Shari Flying Sword had a base damage of 1960. With the Golden Turtle Ring adding +200 flying sword attack, that totaled 2160 attack. Factoring in a +30% sword mastery bonus, the total output came to 2808.

The Azure Sparrow Flying Sword had a base damage of 1810. With the Golden Turtle Ring adding +200 flying sword attack, that totaled 2010 attack. Factoring in a +30% sword mastery bonus, the total output came to 2613, which was nearly 200 attack less than the Shari.

Based on the performance from the last minor examination, under normal circumstances, his output would probably just barely crack Ding Lingyu's defense—essentially just scratching the surface.

Only by activating the Shari Sword's Iridescence would he have sufficient output.

However, the Iridescence only lasted for 15 seconds, a duration definitely insufficient to melt away 360,000 health points in one go. Furthermore, with three months having passed, Ding Lingyu's strength would certainly have advanced further, raising his health and defense even higher.

"I still need to strengthen myself."

"Either raise the Great White Sword Formula to the sixtieth level, or raise my sword mastery by another tier. Satisfying either of these two conditions should be enough."

"Of course, I also need to prepare a decent defensive magical treasure."

Having sufficient output alone was useless; if his own defense was lacking, he wouldn't last long enough to defeat Ding Lingyu.

"I only have 70 gold right now and still can't afford a Tier 6 defensive magical treasure. I have to make money."

"There are still two months until the next minor examination. Let's grind levels first."

"If my sword mastery cannot be raised, I must first advance the Great White Sword Formula to the sixtieth level. I have to fulfill at least one of them."

Having made arrangements for the next two months, Su Yu immediately set them into motion.

After resting for a single day, he headed out the next day to continue leveling up.

This time, he remained cautious out of fear of being tracked. Before leaving the city, he spent 20 taels of silver to hire a guild member who specialized in Heavenly Mechanism spells to cast a divination-shielding spell on himself, preventing others from using similar heavenly mechanism spells or treasures to track his movements.

Upon leaving the city, he plunged straight into the Yuan River, departing via the riverbed.

Shortly afterward, he rendezvoused with Ao Run, traveled up along the Yuan River, and stopped only upon returning to their previous temporary cave dwelling. The human and the flood dragon then buried themselves in intense cultivation three to four thousand meters beneath the riverbed.

This time he had brought enough supplies, purchasing a full one thousand low-grade Returning Origin Pills solely for recovering mana, which cost a total of 5 gold.

"Whoosh! Whoosh!"

Two dazzling sword radiances intersected beneath the water. The body of a level 76 giant-mouthed lipid fish right at the center of the intersection instantly developed a deep-as-the-abyss bloody gash wrapping entirely around it, and seventeen blood-red blossoms burst forth in a single instant.

-2150
-2145
-1960
-1920

The Great White Sword Qi that followed closely behind landed precisely on the wound, directly slicing the giant-mouthed lipid fish in half.

The two intersecting flying swords spun a circle in the water, grabbed another nearby fish spirit, and nimbly circled around it, instantly causing dozens of blood blossoms to bloom.

After a few days of grinding, Su Yu abruptly discovered that the efficiency of the Azure Sparrow Sword in battle was not inferior to the Shari at all.

Although the flying sword's lethality could not match the Shari, the agility attribute granted the flying sword higher flexibility, making his efficiency even higher in actual combat.

Circling a target once with the Shari Sword could inflict eight stages of damage, while the Azure Sparrow, relying on its greater flexibility, could inflict nine stages of damage in a single circle. The extra stage averaged out to be no worse than the Shari.

In the days that followed, Su Yu practically lived here, joining the battle early every morning and grinding continuously until dark before resting. Sometimes, stimulated by Ao Run, he even had to work overtime at night.

Seeing her frequently grinding for four or five days straight without sleep or rest, Su Yu felt that her surname shouldn't be Ao, but rather Ao (meaning to endure/stay up late).

The monsters here were at least level seventy or above, often reaching level eighty or ninety, and occasionally he would encounter level-one-hundred experience monsters. Coupled with the extra experience gained from Ao Run's nighttime overtime, the accumulated killing experience in a single day reached as high as roughly 2.2 million, occasionally yielding a few points of Dao insight.

Over a month, he accumulated a staggering 66 million killing experience points, alongside a piecemeal accumulation of 42 points of Dao insight.

Added to the 19.5 million killing experience points originally in his experience pool, this brought his total to 85.5 million killing experience points.

"Level up!"

Opening his character panel, his gaze landed on the Great White Sword Scripture. With a single thought, a continuous stream of cultivation points and Dao insight poured into it.

A short while later, a total of 82.5 million cultivation points and 300 points of Dao insight were completely consumed, and the Great White Sword Scripture flowed smoothly from the fiftieth level to the sixtieth level.

Great White Sword Formula Level 60: Flying sword damage +3600, attack speed +2400, sword-piloting speed +2400 km/h.

With the sword formula upgrading, his output rose accordingly.

The Shari Flying Sword's damage reached 2260. With the Golden Turtle Ring adding +200, and a +30% sword mastery bonus, the total damage came to 3198.

Sword-piloting speed reached 1580 km/h. With the Golden Turtle Ring adding +200, and a +30% sword mastery bonus, the total speed came to 2314 km/h.

The Azure Sparrow Flying Sword's damage reached 2100. With the Golden Turtle Ring adding +200, and a +30% sword mastery bonus, the total damage came to 2990.

His maximum output compared to before had increased by nearly 400. The damage inflicted on Ding Lingyu had changed from scratching with fine sand to... well, still scratching, but whereas he used to use sandpaper, he was now scrubbing with a steel wool ball.

Having completed the upgrade, Su Yu eagerly found a level 75 black carp spirit to test his sword. Shari and Azure Sparrow sliced it in two within two crossing passes.

"A steel wool ball hurts quite a bit too!"

After testing his sword, Su Yu's confidence in the third minor examination a month later rose by a notch.

"Now, I just need a Tier 6 defensive magical treasure, and I'll have a real shot at challenging Ding Lingyu."

"Looks like I'll have to borrow money this time."

***

Rubbing his hands together, Su Yu plunged back into the tedious grand enterprise of leveling up.

Grinding monsters crazily day and night, turning a blind eye to outside affairs, he buried his head and simply hammered away.

To succeed, one had to remain calm and endure loneliness.

Fortunately, this time Ao Run was keeping him company. Chatting and bantering when bored made it not entirely dull.

He ground in one breath until the third minor examination was imminent, leaving closed-door cultivation three days early to return.

Over nearly a month, he had accumulated a total of 61.8 million killing experience points and 54 points of Dao insight, bringing his total accumulation to 64.8 million cultivation points and 797 points of Dao insight.

Advancing the sixtieth-level Great White Sword Scripture to the seventieth level required over 160 million cultivation points—far from enough.

Su Yu pondered back and forth for a while and ultimately decided not to upgrade the sword formula, but instead to upgrade the Heavenly Ghost Transformation Art.

The same principle applied: his current strength was already enough to break through defenses. If he could win, he didn't need these two or three extra levels; if he couldn't win, adding them wouldn't change the outcome. It was better to think from a different angle.

This exquisite-grade transformation technique was quite powerful, essentially granting him a second life. If he fell into a deadlock, perhaps he could rely on this to break the stalemate.

With a single thought, a total of 31.25 million cultivation points and 250 points of Dao insight were consumed, raising the Heavenly Ghost Transformation Art to the fortieth level.

Looking at the remaining 33.55 million cultivation points and 547 points of Dao insight...

"Oh!"

"What a coincidence."

The remaining cultivation points could precisely raise the Heavenly Ghost Transformation Art to the forty-fifth level.

"Continue!"

With a thought, Su Yu continued to upgrade it.

Consuming another 33.41 million cultivation points and 175 points of Dao insight, he raised the Heavenly Ghost Transformation Art to the forty-fifth level.

Level 45 Heavenly Ghost Transformation: Vitality 90,000, Mana 18,000, Physique 2,700, Strength 4,500, Speed 1,800 km/h, Heavenly Ghost Physique, Five Elements Escape Technique, Illusion-Reality Transformation.

It also derived a new Five Elements Thunder Technique. He chose Geng-metal Divine Thunder, whose power was identical to Bing-fire and Gui-water Divine Thunder.

Upon completion of the upgrade, 140,000 cultivation points and 375 points of Dao insight remained.

Seeing this tiny remainder, Su Yu had an epiphany: his cultivation had temporarily hit a bottleneck, and from here on out, it would be difficult to experience such sudden, explosive leaps in progress.

Regardless of whether it was the Qi-refining mental cultivation method or other techniques, once they reached the sixtieth level, every subsequent ten-level tier required over 100 million cultivation points and several hundred points of Dao insight. Just grinding for killing experience points would take two months, and since he couldn't use Dao Heart Pills to rapidly boost Dao insight, efficiency would drop even further.

Each future upgrade would likely take two or three months, with the speed slowing down the further along he went.

Once he entered a sect to study higher-grade Qi-refining mental methods and sword formulas, converting to them would lower the level of his Qi-refining mental method, and the experience requirements would increase even further. By then, a single upgrade might take several large months or even half a year.

If the base requirement for cultivation points and Dao insight of a low-grade Qi-refining mental method was 1, the base for a middle-grade method was 2, high-grade was 3 times, and an exquisite-grade Qi-refining mental method required 5 times that of a primary-grade method.

If he were lucky enough to acquire a sect-suppressing-grade Qi-refining mental method, the experience requirement would be 30 times that of a primary-grade one.

If it were a supreme-tier Qi-refining mental method, the experience requirement would be 100 times that of a primary-grade one—extremely exaggerated.

However, the mana upper limits and spell damage boosted by top-tier Qi-refining mental methods were correspondingly exaggerated. While it wouldn't be a hundredfold exaggeration like the experience requirements, it would still be over tenfold.

At the same tier, with a tenfold bonus to mana and spell damage, one could easily imagine how massive the gap in strength would be.

With the Heavenly Ghost Transformation Art fully upgraded, all of Su Yu's accumulations over the past half-year were completely squeezed dry.

"I really don't have a single drop left."

Su Yu let out a soft breath and sent a message in the group chat:

"Brothers, I'm out of seclusion!"

"The missing person has returned!"

Zhuang Zhuo spoke up first:

"Where are you? At headquarters?"

"Yes."

Then Gu Zhiqiucaid:

"Wait for me."

Shi Ning and the others also chimed in one after another, asking about his current situation.

He sat on the sofa, responding cheerfully and one by one.

Barely a few minutes of chatting passed before someone knocked on the door. Through the door and window, he saw Gu Zhiqiuy standing outside.

With a flick of his finger, he opened the door. Gu Zhiqiuy walked in, looked him up and down, and asked directly:

"You look much stronger than last time. Do you have confidence this time?"

Knowing what he wanted to ask, Su Yu smiled and said:

"I still lack a bit of confidence and need everyone's support."

"What are you missing?"

"A Tier 6 defensive magical treasure."

"How much money is it short by?"

"At least fifty gold."

"That's simple. Everyone chips in a bit and it'll be enough."

Gu Zhiqiuy turned around and posted the matter in the group chat. Everyone readily expressed that it was no problem. Zhuang Zhuo said in the chat:

"Since you need money, our base has earned quite a bit over the past half year. Let's distribute a portion of the dividends first."

Su Yu was a bit surprised and asked curiously:

"If you hadn't mentioned it, I would have forgotten. How much did we make?"

"11 gold and 50 silver."

"Furthermore, I can personally lend you 10 gold."

Then Shi Ning also said:

"I can lend 10 gold as well."

Meng Chen followed closely behind:

"Count me in."

Finally, Gu Zhiqiuy initiated a trade directly with him, saying:

"When I distributed the Myriad-Insect Gathering Spirit Scripture earlier, we agreed everyone would give 10 gold. I'm returning that 10 gold to you, and lending you another 10 gold on top of that."

Su Yu nodded:

"Then that's enough."

Three hours later, Zhuang Zhuo and the others rushed over, each lending him 10 gold along with their dividends, totaling 61 gold and 50 silver.

"Let's pay back some debts first."

Su Yu took out the 22 portions of Golden Thunder Crab Paste he had left over and shared their attributes with them:

"I'll price this stuff at 1 gold per portion. Does anyone want any?"

Gu Zhiqiuy immediately raised his hand:

"I want 10 portions."

Zhuang Zhuo raised his hand second:

"I want 10 portions too."

Shi Ning and Meng Chen were a step too slow and expressed some regret over being slow-handed.

However, they didn't fight over it. After all, this stuff only boosted physique and strength, and since they both walked the Qi-refining path, their demand for it wasn't high.

Even Gu Zhiqiuy and Zhuang Zhuo might not necessarily use it themselves; turning around to sell it to someone in need could easily fetch eleven or twelve gold.

Su Yu knew this as well; keeping it all along was with this exact thought in mind, but since he needed to pool money now, he let them make this profit.

The two of them each took 10 portions, paying off 20 gold of debt, leaving him owing only 10 gold each to Shi Ning and Meng Chen.

Selling the remaining two portions along with all the miscellaneous spoils of war acquired from a month of leveling yielded around 4 gold. His total assets now stood at 131 taels of gold and 43 taels of silver.

As soon as the money was in hand, he immediately opened the guild channel to enter the Qianyu Pavilion Chamber of Commerce, searching directly for Tier 6 defensive magical treasures.

Filtering out demonic and Buddhist treasures that were incompatible with his mental cultivation method, a neat row of eleven suitable Tier 6 defensive magical treasures appeared before him.

Sorting them by price from highest to lowest, his gaze involuntarily landed on the treasure right at the top.

Azure Cloud Canopy (Tier 6): Precious grade, defensive magical treasure. When driven, azure clouds pour forth, impervious to water and fire, untainted by myriad spells.

Attributes: Defense 80,000, Damage Reduction 25%, Mana Conversion Rate 100, Attached Spell: Auspicious Cloud Body Protection.

Auspicious Cloud Body Protection: Driving the canopy causes the azure clouds to condense into auspicious cloud body protection, possessing 5 times the magical treasure's defense, 50% damage reduction, lasting 3 minutes, with a 24-hour cooldown.

Equipment Requirement: Qi-refining mental method above level 50.

The attributes were so powerful that Su Yu's eyes went wide, but when he saw the price tag below, his face instantly collapsed.

Priced at 1000 taels of gold plus 100,000 guild contribution points.

A special note at the bottom specified that the buyer must hold elite guild member status to purchase, and it could not be discounted—the discount privileges of guild status did not apply to purchasing this item.

This price was already enough to buy an ordinary Tier 7 magical treasure.

And any slightly normal Tier 7 defensive magical treasure would surpass this canopy.

Therefore, it was obvious that this magical treasure was deliberately used by Qianyu Pavilion as an advertising gimmick, tagged with an exorbitant price that those who wanted it couldn't afford, while those who could afford it didn't need it.

Seeing this price, Su Yu shifted his gaze away without any lingering thoughts.

The second item returned to a normal price, but it was still a style he couldn't afford.

Lowering his gaze step by step, he quickly spotted a defensive magical treasure whose attributes were good and which he might actually be able to afford.

Nine-Aperture Pearl (Tier 6): Defensive magical treasure. Driving it can lower a layer of water curtain to block damage.

Attributes: Defense 48,000, Damage Reduction 20%, Mana Conversion Rate 50, Attached Trait: Nine Apertures.

Nine Apertures: Refining a strand of Qi-essence Soul into each aperture of the Nine Aperture Pearl can increase the magical treasure's maximum defense cap by 3,000 and damage reduction by 1%.

Equipment Requirement: Qi-refining mental method above level 50.

The magical treasure price was 150 taels of gold, but guild members received a 10% discount, costing only 135 gold.

He was a little short, but not by much.

This time he didn't ask them to borrow money again, instead taking the Still-Still Mirror and the Ice Soul and selling them off, netting a total of 5 gold.

As his strength had grown, these two magical treasures had gradually become obsolete; recycling them just in time meant he hadn't taken a loss.