Chapter 344: Fame and Rewards

"We'll see when the time comes."

"For now, I should first maintain the advantage of the True Flame Secret Art and keep this bonus going. Next, I'll utilize the rule of halving requirements for lower-tier techniques to quickly max out my top-grade spells, then switch to cultivating Daoist arts. If I seize the time, I might still be able to grasp the opportunity."

"If that really doesn't work, I can only say it's a pity, but it's not a big problem. I just need to prepare a few more compatible secret arts and Daoist arts. Besides, while Daoist arts cannot provide bonuses to cultivation methods, cultivation methods can provide bonuses to Daoist arts; it actually has both pros and cons."

For instance, that secret art taken from the Vermilion Bird True Method, 'Burning Together with the World', is clearly similar to the Phoenix Red True Flame, and might even be a better spell.

After Du En finished reviewing this aspect, he looked at the more fundamental ones.

"Originally, the accumulation time would have been four thousand years as a baseline..."

Four thousand years—even if one reached the perfection of the Spirit Severing stage, it would be impossible to live that long! However, after a quick calculation, Du En soon determined the amount of cultivation accumulation he could normally obtain each day while maintaining his current cultivation speed.

Zero point zero eight!

Converting that further, it would take about three and a half years to accumulate a full one hundred points!

"Hmm, I can basically maintain this speed. However, while I don't need to worry about basic requirements like spiritual Qi here at the sect, I will inevitably have to leave to take action later. If it doesn't take long, that's fine, but if it takes too long..."

Du En pondered this as he surveyed his own assets.

"Things like the Old Cang Ginseng and Great Flood Dragon meat can tide me over in an emergency. Seeing that there were no unusual actions from the Resolution side after they saw it, I can also cross-verify that there are no hidden dangers inside. As for those other spiritual materials obtained during the dismantling that cannot be used for cooking... I'll trade them."

He planned to find Meng Changqing later to exchange them for equivalent fifth-tier spiritual items to stock up on primary and secondary ingredients for cooking.

As for the other requirement, artifact refining.

"Judging by the Resolution's performance, they will most likely help me resolve it. Even if they don't, I can actually continue to take on side jobs."

With Du En's ability to mass-produce refined artifacts, he would be in demand wherever he went. If Meng Changqing didn't have inventory for him to work on, he could still work for other True Lords.

Earning materials is nothing to be ashamed of.

"Everything seems pretty good right now, but there are actually some problems."

For example, the further transformation of the spiritual body.

It is not that once one reaches the Spirit Severing stage and transitions from solid to void, one can ignore this physical body.

Because there is a subsequent realm called the Body Integration stage! The 'Yaohua Precious Canon' is a cultivation method that can reach the Great Vehicle stage. Although the whole thing is exceptionally obscure, he had successfully switched to it after studying it, and now he knew the general framework.

Naturally, it was impossible to ignore the situation regarding his physical spiritual body.

If it could be perfected, it naturally should be, but the 'Unexhausted Azure Spiritual Body' still required additional insights and additional elements to be filled in so that it could transform into a stronger and superior form when the cultivation method had another breakthrough.

Regarding this, Du En currently really didn't have a good entry point.

"Let's wait for the results from the Resolution side to see what Daoist arts I can switch to or choose, and then I'll see if there's anything I can get a handle on."

He did not dwell on it too much, waiting calmly while taking the opportunity to cultivate against the clock.

Meanwhile, with various parties intentionally fanning the flames, the news of Du En entering the Spirit Severing stage had already spread throughout the Southern Region. Every city was spreading it, and for a time, it caused a huge stir.

It was simply a legend! Stepping up from the bottom, starting from menial labor, in just a few short decades, he had already become a dignified Great Cultivator. It could make people's jaws drop to the ground and move countless others to admiration, or even worship.

After all, the largest number of people were at the bottom and lower levels. They naturally also wanted to turn their lives around, so once Du En's story spread, it triggered these emotions in droves, and countless people viewed him as a benchmark and role model.

At the same time, countless others sighed because of reality, and then, after a surge and release of emotions, they had to admit that Du En, who was able to turn his life around, was someone they needed to admire.

This led to even more fanaticism! In any case, under the fanning of the flames, Du En's existence had already taken root in people's hearts.

The upper and middle levels of cities everywhere unanimously lowered the intensity of their oppression and persecution.

Because Du En's faction was the Meng Faction, and because he came from the bottom.

As for those who were already in this faction, or those who pinned their hopes on Du En, they stood tall all at once. Their actions and demeanor seemed to have gained sufficient confidence, and they began to formally and gradually emerge to the surface.

The person was not in the Southern Region, yet the Southern Region had already begun to change because of him! In the Southern Hub City, the Great Cultivators were collectively plunged into silence, their hearts in turmoil. They never expected such a development, let alone that Du En would break through so quickly and in such a manner!

Everyone's plans and thoughts were completely interrupted and disrupted!

Even the Hub City Lord, True Person Zhen Hong, appeared stunned.

The sudden rise of Meng Changqing had already made them all feel insecure, and now that another Du En had emerged from this faction, no matter how one looked at it, it would only add frost to the snow, making people feel suffocated.

Originally, he hadn't taken it to heart, but now the other party was surging forward rapidly. And, a 'weak' heaven-gifted genius?! Since when was the threshold for a heaven-gifted genius so easy to step onto?!

He had worked hard his whole life, studying diligently to this day, yet he could only sit and wait for old age, unable to see the slightest possibility of a breakthrough. That threshold seemed to be right before his eyes, yet he could never step onto it! "..."

"Human hearts are about to be in chaos!"

This aged True Person reluctantly shifted his focus, otherwise his Dao heart would be shaken.

And his lament was not wrong.

At this moment, it was clear without much thought that the Great Cultivators of the Southern Region would no longer be able to barely maintain a facade of unity, but would begin to seek their own ways out and take practical actions.

He began to ponder supervision and containment, matters that could not lead to chaos.

Then, he looked at the rebuttal opinion given by Meng Changqing a few days ago, silently destroyed the original reply jade slip, and replaced it with one to rewrite. The wording and demands had clearly dropped by a major level, invisibly appearing even more twilight-stricken, which left his disciple Tang Wenren, who was serving him on the side, feeling complex.

Regarding Du En's breakthrough, he was naturally happy, as they did have a friendship after all.

But seeing his master behave this way, he couldn't help but feel sad, and thus his emotions were complex at this moment.

Regardless, current events and reality do not change according to human will or emotion.

Therefore, one can only choose to accept it.

Thus, it was soon a few days later.

"You really are obsessed with cultivation, you haven't changed at all!"

Meng Changqing's words of exclamation cut in just right.

So Du En temporarily stopped cultivating and pushed the door open to come out.

"Here, for you."

A seal was tossed toward him, carved with a mountain, and underneath were three characters.

Kongsang Mountain.

He tried to probe his divine sense into it, and suddenly his vision changed. Clouds and mist layered, surrounding an isolated high mountain covered in mulberry trees, with spiritual veins inside connecting in all directions, forming a unique space.

Located beneath the surface layer, it was in a crevice of the inner layer; without such a port, it would be difficult to intervene.

"Is this... a Blessed Land?"

"Yes, a Tier 6 Blessed Land, simply put, is a portable space. Inside, there is a Tier 6 spiritual vein, and the stored spiritual Qi is enough for your cultivation. If you are interested, you can also plant some flowers and grass or raise some pigs. Of course, the more critical use is that it can simulate various locations to satisfy the needs of cultivation insights."

"Many thanks."

Du En did not change his true colors; if he really should say thank you, he would not be stingy with it.

Because this Tier 6 Blessed Land was indeed exceptionally extraordinary, especially that last use—True Immortals would all drool over it! —the things that could be exchanged for with Grade A and Grade B merits had already added one more item: qualifications and time for locations for cultivation insights and the like.

They had to use this channel to satisfy their needs in this regard, so as not to have to stiffly gnaw on various Daoist techniques and secret arts; moreover, the cultivation and breakthroughs of many precious canons actually also required specific environments.

Examining it closely, all the strange and wondrous places within the territory of the Falling Feather Immortal Sect were basically under the absolute control and grip of this Immortal Sect, and most of those above Tier 5 were integrated into the cold steel buildings here in the Central Capital! In other words, it looked like this Central Capital had no human flavor, but in fact, True Immortals and Great Cultivators often spent merits to enter corresponding venues through special arrangements to conduct cultivation insights inside.

All in all, this spatial magical artifact was truly worthy of the name of Blessed Land; its value was immeasurable! Du En's thanks were sincere, which made Meng Changqing feel comfortable.

It was not in vain that I argued with them for so long! Thinking this, he smiled and spoke again: "Because you, Du En, defeated all enemies, suppressed all sects, and struck out the prestige and momentum of our Falling Feather, and also obtained a rare treasure from the Dragon Palace—a dragon egg that has been confirmed to have the talent of a Heaven's Pride and can gestate a True Dragon—you are heavily rewarded!"

Meng Changqing mimicked the tone of other True Monarchs, repeating what was likely sarcasm, only putting "raising the prestige of our sect" at the forefront, but he did not take it to heart.

"How heavy is the reward?"

Du En, who had already placed his brand on the Blessed Land Kongsang Mountain and was in the middle of moving and shifting various items, asked in a very supportive manner.

"Besides Kongsang Mountain, the top-grade cultivation technique that was originally scheduled has already been advanced to you. However, I can give you two more secret arts now; 'Burning with the World' is among them, and there is also one related to eye techniques. You can go pick them yourself. Then there are two Grade B-Middle merits, opening up three cultivation venues of the corresponding tier for you, which can be used free of charge for half a year. Finally, there is a change in your official position."

"This won't be another nominal position, will it?"

"I can't tell that you're a fan of officialdom. It's not a nominal position, but a real one: Acting Special Envoy. As the name implies, it is a special envoy who walks outside on behalf of the upper echelons of this sect. It can also be said to be the title that Zhu Ding used when he went to the Southern End." "A special envoy of this sect, then that's still a nominal position."

It would inevitably belong to Meng Changqing's side, and the one acting on his behalf would naturally be him, so in the following, it was estimated that there would be no developments of bullying the weak, throwing one's weight around, or plotting to seize benefits.

Because he had reached the Deity Transformation stage, it was time to get to work!

"Haha, it's not purely a nominal position. With it, you can continue to stay in this sect; otherwise, that guy Huiqing would be nitpicking again, and... anyway, just hurry up and pick and choose, and get ready to adapt."

Meng Changqing first gave an awkward smile; after all, he did not have the demeanor of Du En, that unscrupulous contractor. There was another pause in the middle, which he briefly glossed over.

Because this position was fought for so that Du En could openly stay in the sect. In other words, it carried the meaning of being hidden away to avoid disaster, preventing him from being targeted by True Monarch Huiqing and being secretly assassinated, while at the same time, by using the cover of the sect and Meng Changqing, he could appear unknown when making subsequent moves.

He originally wanted to ramble on, but remembered that he didn't need to treat Du En like that, so he paused and skipped it.

After saying these things, Meng Changqing waved his hand and, looking like he had important matters to attend to, left directly.

There were indeed important matters.

Jin Miao'er was about to be handed over to the Rotten Forest Immortal Sect, and he had to show his face.

So his footsteps were visibly light.

Du En did not care about this and turned his head to look at the other side.

In the fenced courtyard in the mountains, there was now an extra treasure-radiating thatched cottage.

Jiang Ying's residence.

After she settled down here, she picked and chose from the Tier 3 gorgeous ornaments she had scraped from the Dragon Palace to decorate it. At this moment, she was still on the roof, completely immersed in a difficult choice. After much effort, she finally made a decision and hung a long, bright, pale red agate string on it.

Breathing a sigh of relief, she felt Du En's gaze. Looking at the blue agate string in her hand, she immediately raised her eyebrows, turned her head, and said: "Although you are a pit, the result is actually good, so I happen to have quite a few treasures left; let me decorate your house for you!"

As for the main reward, it had already been given or agreed upon, and she would not go back on her word.

And as for her saying this now, besides feeling generous and giving extra benefits, there was another point: these decorative treasures were piling up in her storage bag, which was truly a waste; it was better to decorate the house next door so she could see it every day when she walked out.

"Forget it, I'm afraid Jueyi will get a stomachache."

Du En retorted blandly.

In fact, regarding the sudden appearance of such a treasure-radiating, luxurious, and extravagant house in his own thatched courtyard, Meng Changqing was speechless.

But because Jiang Ying's gains were obtained through proper channels, he had no room to nitpick, so he could only endure the new helplessness and tacitly allow her to do the renovations there.

"Ah? Jueyi will have an opinion?"

Jiang Ying only realized it after the fact upon hearing this.

"Isn't that obvious? You shouldn't be too relaxed all at once, otherwise, there will be plenty of suffering in the future."

Seeing that she had finished decorating, Du En spoke directly like this.

Having escaped the sea of bitterness, she was indeed appearing exceptionally relaxed and casual these past few days.

Such a good coolie—ah, no, helper—could not be allowed to slack off.

So she was pulled back to reality by this direct sentence of his.

"Sigh, I know."

She couldn't help but sigh, looking conflicted, "So, should I take these down?"

"No need, Jueyi won't care."

Then why did you say that just now?

Jiang Ying's mouth twitched and her little face wrinkled at these contradictory words.

However, Du En had already returned to the house, and through the Treasure Tablet that appeared with his thoughts, he began to pick and choose which Daoist techniques and secret arts to switch to cultivating next.

The main thing was to consider the cultivation venues. The three Tier 5 venues—the short free usage time was not the key; the key was to use Kongsang Mountain to copy and paste, thereby bypassing the drawbacks of merit exchange.

Although it was still at the original price on Meng Changqing's side, the more this original price was used, the faster the various old foundations originally stored by their faction would be depleted.

Du En was indeed the one carrying the load, but Meng Changqing also had other original subordinates and personnel, and now that there was a beginning, he would use better resource conditions to expand and recruit new talent.

In any case, Meng Changqing could not supply him alone.

However, he could not let Du En's progress slow down, so taking every opportunity to solve problems was the best and wisest choice.

Moreover, he didn't need to say anything extra; Du En could figure it out and get it done himself.

"Earth, Wood, Fire, mainly three. No, the Fire element probably isn't needed. Looking at the description of the secret art 'Burning with the World', it should be able to be combined with the Scarlet Phoenix True Flame."

"As for the eye technique, let's go with this one: Fiery Eyes Golden Gaze."

Du En quickly locked onto the target secret art.

Fiery Eyes Golden Gaze: to see into the subtle and profound, to see the root cause, to not be trapped by illusions, and to only see the true Dao—it was a quite extraordinary secret art that could be used up to the Integration stage, and it was very suitable for his situation.

His eyes already contained the True Flame seed!

So it should be very easy to successfully switch to cultivating it.

"Looking at it this way, a Fire-element venue might not be needed when the time comes. Instead, this secret technique might require a venue filled with dense illusions to practice?"

Du En was also unsure of the specific situation at that time, so he planned to reserve a venue slot first.

The other two Tier 5 venues were very clear: one Earth-element, covering three Earth-element spells, and one Wood-element, covering two Wood-element spells; this should be sufficient for the Spirit Severing stage.

"And then there is the matter of switching cultivation for the Myriad Control Art and the Ice Soul Art..."

With the other spells generally planned out, only these two remained as lone sprouts, making it difficult to form a system.

As for the Ice Soul Art, a suitable one could not be found for the time being, while for the Myriad Control Art, Meng Changqing had already urgently squeezed in some overtime to create a new secret technique, which could be described as maximum efficiency, fearing only that Du En would come to him asking for all sorts of materials.

Even emptying out one's entire savings couldn't withstand that kind of usage! "Earth-Wood Sacred Refining..."

This was the name of the secret technique.

Simply put, it was to let Du En use materials found on the spot, or create them himself, and then refine artifacts either in advance or on the spot to use!

It started from his already well-founded Earth and Wood dual-element direction, added a special method of fire-controlling artifact refining, and retained the entire essence of the Myriad Control Art; it could be said to gather all his main strengths, capable of unleashing its power to the greatest and most perfect extent.

"A secret technique tailored for me, it is truly not bad; the key is that it doesn't require merit points to exchange."

It was a special favor granted by Meng Changqing; although the previous resolution restricting special treatment was still in effect and, as expected, difficult to rescind, providing a few scattered special favors was not a problem.

"One special favor per major realm?"

Du En did not dwell on it too much; after formulating the general plan, he began to further refine it.

The part that truly consumed time had arrived: three Earth-element spells, two Wood-element spells, and the corresponding adaptive, inclusive venues—all of these needed to be carefully selected to ensure there were no errors.

Fortunately, one Yellow-grade Daoist technique, at its original price, was worth one Lower-Grade B merit; he now had two Middle-Grade B merits, which split into six, so he could currently have one Lower-Grade B merit left over, providing a margin of capacity.

Just as he was in the midst of selecting and exchanging Daoist techniques, in another part of the Falling Feather Sect, on another mountain, True Monarch Huiqing was silently withdrawing her gaze from the Fifth Peak.

Lou Shuyue was dead; if Du En could manifest the Nine-Foot White Silk, then in all likelihood, he was the one who killed her.

"Are the methods targeting lifespan also useless? Changqing gave him a life-protecting treasure—no, that shouldn't be it. From various signs, and most crucially, the fact that he is now the first to break through to the Spirit Severing stage, it can be completely determined that he still has some trump card."

"A reasonable deduction is that he possesses some kind of divine ability, which is a sort of entry ticket for guaranteed geniuses, and it is likely not of a common or ordinary type. If it was something he had already comprehended back in Nanmo, then..."

Consolidating various intelligence, pondering, deducing, and confirming, she was not shaken by Du En repeatedly shattering her previous assumptions, only revealing a dangerous gaze as she busily changed her strategy.

Meng Changqing wanted to keep him hidden to avoid disaster and conceal his tracks; this was actually quite easy to solve. It only required creating a situation that he could not ignore, one where, after careful consideration and judgment, he would choose to send Du En out.

In the heart of this True Monarch, a plan had already been formed.

(Volume Complete)

(Chapter Complete)