Chapter 258: 258. Chapter 255: Preparation

258. Chapter 255: Preparation

Bracelet?

Ding Huan blinked in surprise. The Ascension Token made sense, but why a bracelet?

Cen Fengqin took out ten Ascension Tokens and ten bracelets and handed them to Hu Wuxin.

"Grandmaster Hu, these Ascension Tokens are array plates for entering the Ascension Realm, unlike the one-time-use plates at the Ascension Platform—they're reusable."

"The bracelet is mandatory to enter the Open Heaven Battlefield; it serves as the array flag to activate the battlefield's entrance."

"It contains directional guidance—even if you get lost inside the Open Heaven Battlefield, you can use the bracelet to find your way out."

"So many have perished in the Open Heaven Battlefield; both Chancellor Shi and Lord Lin refuse to lose more lives, which is why they commissioned powerful experts to craft these guiding bracelets."

"Who is Chancellor Shi?" Ding Huan asked.

Cen Fengqin replied coldly:

"He is Senior Shi Qiqiu, Chancellor of the Changyan Academy in our Ascension Realm—he dedicates himself entirely to preserving the strength of the Third Heaven Star Continent."

Ding Huan sneered inwardly. Of course it's that thing.

He had heard from Liu Yinyu about Shi Qiqiu—she called him a hypocritical hypocrite.

Though he had never met Shi Qiqiu, he could see traces of him in Shi Jiantian.

If this bracelet was forged by that thing, he'd have to be cautious.

"Does everyone entering the Open Heaven Battlefield need one?" That question wasn't from Ding Huan—it was from Mo Zheng.

Cen Fengqin's tone softened considerably toward Mo Zheng:

"Yes, everyone needs one—but cultivators below the True Pill realm receive theirs upon entry; their bracelets have limited guidance range."

"The bracelets I brought are for cultivators above the Void God realm—we're worried someone might get lost deeper in the Open Heaven Battlefield."

"Chancellor Shi said our Third Heaven Star Continent has too few Void God cultivators already; if more perish in the Open Heaven Battlefield, it would be a terrible loss."

After speaking, Cen Fengqin stood up.

"If you have no other business, I'll take my leave."

Hu Wuxin hurried out to see her off.

"When do you plan to go to the Open Heaven Battlefield?" Mo Zheng finally asked the question he'd been holding back since Cen Fengqin left.

Ding Huan's strength was unquestionably the peak of the Void God realm—he secretly wanted to team up with Ding Huan to enter the battlefield.

As a mid-Void God cultivator, he was top-tier in the Daoist realm.

But that strength meant nothing in the Ascension Realm—he couldn't even carry the boots of their strongest.

Ding Huan wondered: What did Hu Wuxin mean by asking this? Was he trying to form a team?

Seeing Ding Huan's silence, Hu Wuxin assumed he wasn't eager to go and quickly added:

"Ding Zongzhu, I couldn't say this earlier with Cen Fengqin here."

"The Open Heaven Battlefield is mandatory—if you reach the Void God realm but refuse to enter, do you know what happens?"

Ding Huan didn't answer—he had a hunch.

Hu Wuxin continued:

"It's not that you're forbidden from entering the Ascension Realm—it's that the Ascension Realm's elites will kill you. I know their methods too well."

"For example, they gave us ten Void God bracelets and Ascension Tokens for the Daoist realm, making it seem like we only need to send ten Void God cultivators."

"But that's not true at all—we don't even have ten Void God cultivators in the Daoist realm, not even counting hidden ones."

Ding Huan nodded. Even without direct contact with the Ascension Realm's people, he agreed with Hu Wuxin.

"I plan to go to the Ascension Realm in eleven months," Ding Huan said honestly.

He still had one mid-grade Star Sky Spirit Vein—he'd use this year to maximize his strength.

Also, he felt something was off about the bracelet. Shi Qiqiu, the hypocrite Liu Yinyu labeled him as, wouldn't care a whit about others' lives.

"So late?" Mo Zheng blinked. Others set a year—you're going in the eleventh month?

"Haha, I think it's perfect—I also plan to enter the Open Heaven Battlefield with you, Ding Zongzhu," Hu Wuxin laughed.

Mo Zheng quickly said: "Then I'll join you both, Ding Zongzhu and Grandmaster Hu."

"I need to distribute all these jade tokens and bracelets. Ding Zongzhu, when you leave for the Ascension Realm in eleven months, could you please call for me? I'll wait here."

Hu Wuxin said eagerly.

Ding Huan didn't care:

"Of course. I'll come back here in eleven months and call for you, Grandmaster Hu."

Hu Wuxin chuckled again and added:

"Ding Zongzhu, Cen Fengqin isn't strong, but she's a tattletale—she'll report you the moment she gets back."

"You should be a little careful. Nothing major will happen, but some might give you trouble."

Ding Huan dismissed it, standing up:

"Thank you for the warning, Grandmaster Hu. I'm leaving too—we'll meet again in eleven months."

…

Ding Huan returned to Zangjian Mountain. If Lu Yuan hadn't blasted his protective array, he might have already split his fourth star by now.

In Ding Huan's estimation, with his cultivation speed, splitting the fourth planet of his main star would take no more than two months.

Ding Huan clearly overestimated himself—he only barely split his fourth star by the fifth month.

He couldn't keep cultivating. No matter how hard he pushed, he couldn't split a fifth star in the remaining six months.

Since he was entering the Open Heaven Battlefield, he needed to prepare.

First, he took out Lu Yuan's storage ring.

He had too many cultivation resources on him now, and he didn't need pills, so after returning to Zangjian Mountain, he hadn't yet refined Lu Yuan's ring.

Now that he wasn't going to cultivate, he had time to see what was inside Lu Yuan's ring.

Ding Huan could guess that Lu Yuan's ring certainly contained no small amount of treasures.

Lu Yuan was the head of the Dao Cultivation World's first merchant association, the Dao Cultivation Merchant Association; it would be strange if such a man had few valuable items.

In just half a stick of incense time, Ding Huan forcefully shattered the ring's sealing barrier.

When Ding Huan's spiritual sense landed inside the ring, he couldn't help but marvel at how incredibly wealthy this man was.

This wasn't just a ring—it was a miniature world, wasn't it?

Ding Huan wasn't without a miniature world himself; he had once acquired a Big-Mouth Gourd from Si Tu, and that Big-Mouth Gourd should have been a miniature world.

But that Big-Mouth Gourd was clearly incomplete—it was missing a gourd mouth—and Ding Huan had never intended to develop it.

Ding Huan didn't know whether Lu Yuan's miniature world was of a higher rank than the Big-Mouth Gourd.

The items inside the ring were certainly the most Ding Huan had ever seen—even the space ring of the Immortal he had killed, Shi Jiantian, paled in comparison to Lu Yuan's ring.

In Lu Yuan's ring, aside from the absence of supreme-grade spiritual veins, everything else outnumbered what was in Shi Jiantian's ring.

Seventeen supreme-grade spiritual veins, twenty-one high-grade spiritual veins, and a staggering fifty-two mid-grade spiritual veins.

Supreme-grade, high-grade, and mid-grade spiritual stones piled like mountains; a rough scan with his spiritual sense revealed their total value exceeded one billion.

As for spiritual herbs, there was an entire herb garden.

Seven stalks of the Three-Tone Purple Rain Flower—something the Elder of Zi Xia Valley had once begged for in vain—were here.

Even a vial of Void True Essence he spotted; as for alchemical materials, forging materials, magical artifacts, and divine techniques…

They were all dazzlingly abundant.

Just how many valuable items had this man collected by running the Dao Cultivation Merchant Association? Had he gathered every treasure in the entire Dao Cultivation World into his own hands?

Without hesitation, Ding Huan refined the ring, making it his own.

With such a miniature world, what couldn't he store?

At the same time, Ding Huan pulled out a flight artifact from this miniature world—it was a supreme-grade spiritual artifact, a flying shuttle.

From now on, this would be his transportation artifact.

This Lu Yuan had worked tirelessly to establish the Dao Cultivation Merchant Association, turned it into the Dao Cultivation World's top merchant association, and even expanded into the Ascension Realm's business.

After decades of diligent labor, bearing countless insults, he had finally accumulated this vast wealth of cultivation resources for Ding Huan today.

After putting away all the items, Ding Huan pulled out another object from the ring—a mushroom-shaped thing.

At a glance, Ding Huan understood: this must be the Zi Yuan Mushroom.

He didn't yet fully understand the Zi Yuan Mushroom's use—he would study it slowly later.

The frustration of having spent five months cultivating just to split his fourth star had vanished entirely after this windfall.

In a relatively cheerful mood, he took out the Ascension Token and the bracelet.

His spiritual sense swept into the Ascension Token, and Ding Huan was stunned to discover it bore a seventh-level sealing barrier.

His spiritual sense swept into the bracelet—same thing: seventh-level sealing barrier.

Ding Huan felt increasingly suspicious.

Just an Ascension Token and a bracelet—why were both sealed with seventh-level barriers? Was he afraid they'd break or something?

Unfortunately, he couldn't yet perceive seventh-level barriers, nor understand their principles.

But this didn't stump Ding Huan—he was currently a sixth-level peak Array Master.

With his current Array Dao level, shouldn't it take little time to enter the ranks of seventh-level Array King?

Six months should be enough.

Thinking this, Ding Huan swept his hand, and piles of materials flew out, instantly piling into a small mountain.

Most of these materials came from Lu Yuan's ring; the high-grade materials came from Shi Jiantian, and some from Elder Qi Long and Yi Wandao.

He intended to reach seventh-level Array King within these six months.

In Ding Huan's cultivation system, Array Dao, Rune Dao, and Artifact Dao were all interconnected.

He had no interest in Artifact Dao, so now he needed to study Rune Dao.

He had encountered Rune Dao earlier than Array Dao and had studied the upper and lower scrolls of Dao Runes.

Although he'd been busy cultivating these past few years and hadn't forged runes, that didn't mean his rune-crafting skill was low.

Ding Huan pulled out materials and forged a third-level rune with extreme simplicity.

Looking at the third-level rune in his hand, Ding Huan himself was filled with awe.

Indeed, when one's cultivation is strong, things naturally fall into place.

This third-level Fireball Rune—he hadn't used a rune brush, merely his own true fire, and had forged it effortlessly.

He took out more materials; as the materials changed in his hands, the Dao rhythm shifted continuously.

A few minutes later, Ding Huan held a fourth-level Storm Rune.

The grade was slightly low, but that didn't matter—he knew it was because he hadn't practiced enough.

He had piled a mountain of materials here precisely to elevate his Array Dao level by starting with Rune Dao.

As the materials steadily diminished, the runes piled up around him in increasing numbers.

From low-grade fourth-level runes to high-grade fourth-level runes, then to low-grade fifth-level runes…