Chapter 192: Growth Equipment: Nine Ding Map

Chu Danqing took the Dragon Vein from Yue Lan Wuying; the moment he touched it, the nine-ding set effect of the Nine Ding Map activated immediately.

A weak, feeble dragon cry echoed as a broken, tiny dragon emerged from the Dragon Vein and vanished directly into the Nine Ding Map.

The jade Dragon Vein in his hand turned to dust, becoming bone powder.

It was precisely because the Dragon Vein had been housed within him that the anomalies occurred.

Now that the Dragon Vein had been transferred into the Nine Ding Map, it naturally reverted to its original form.

At the same time, the Nine Ding Map on Chu Danqing's body began to change, and the Paradise also displayed corresponding prompts.

【Task completed. You have received: Promotion to 1st-Dimension Adept, Return Eligibility, Paradise Points ×10000, Attribute Points +4】

（Note: Promotion permission activates upon return）

【The Nine Ding Map is fusing with the Dragon Vein to regenerate its attributes, effects, and purge negative effects. The regenerated Nine Ding Map will favor Adept Talents and Skills】

【Estimated time required: 10 minutes】

Seeing this, Chu Danqing felt a surge of joy—it was truly good news.

He could afford to wait ten minutes; during this time, he began cultivating to restore his mana.

He barely had enough mana to maintain all his summons, let alone having just activated the Five Elements Spirit Array, plus the Nine Ding Map's previous -30% mana recovery efficiency made recovery even slower.

The -30% mana recovery efficiency from the Fuxi Scroll · Wealth Qi had not activated just now.

Because the Five Elements Spirit Array was an inherited skill, it did not fall under the category of active skills.

Moreover, this was essentially a formation; Chu Danqing infused mana to amplify the Five Elements Spirits' effects, so calling it a skill was inaccurate—it was more like using equipment.

Ten minutes passed in the blink of an eye; the Nine Ding Map completed fusion and revealed its new attributes.

【Nine Ding Map】

【Type: Equipment · Scroll】

【Quality: Fine】

【Durability: 100/100】

【Charisma +9】

【Luck +5】

【Dragon Vein Power (Active): Consume 20% of maximum mana to boost all summoned creatures' stats by 20% for 20 minutes, cooldown 1 hour】

【Dragon Son of Stabilizing Fortune (Passive): Permanently summon one Dragon Son to fight for you; each minute consumes 100 HP to maintain; 24-hour cooldown when switching Dragon Sons; Dragon Son's cost borne by the Adept】

（Qiuniu Dragon Son: Restores 5% of maximum HP to allied summons every minute when out of combat）

（Yazi Dragon Son: Deals 1 point of true damage per second to enemies within 100 meters, based on Spiritual Attribute）

（Chaofeng Dragon Son: Grants the Adept and all summons a 10-meter danger perception radius）

（Pulao Dragon Son: Allied summons gain +100% to all stats within aquatic terrain）

（Suanni Dragon Son: Allied summons' buff effects and durations increased by 100%）

（Baxia Dragon Son: Grants the Adept a shield stacking 1% of maximum HP per second, up to 100 stacks）

（Bi'an Dragon Son: Every second, immobilizes one non-allied summon within 100 meters bearing negative status effects for 5 seconds）

（Fuxi Dragon Son: Allied summons' skill costs reduced by 20%）

（Chiwen Dragon Son: Every second, consumes a beneficial status from one non-allied summon within 100 meters; if successful, the Adept restores an equal amount of HP）

【All Dragon Forms Revealed (Passive): Charisma +10】

【Bell and Cauldron Feast (Passive): Refine nine Dragon Pearls / Dragon Crystals / Dragon Essence materials as fuel to upgrade the Nine Ding Map's quality to the next tier (Progress: 0/9, Evolution Count: 0）】

（Note: This upgrade requires Dragon Pearls / Dragon Crystals / Dragon Essence materials of Fine quality only）

【Equipment Requirement: Dragon Vein recognition, possessor of the complete Nine Ding Map, Charisma 10, possesses three Lv. AX Summoning-based Basic Skills】

"Growth equipment, damn!" Chu Danqing's eyes nearly glowed.

Chu Danqing immediately equipped the Nine Ding Map.

The equipment requirements were practically stamped with his name—just like the Su Nü Sword back then.

Although its effects were fewer and weaker than the Su Nü Sword's, its stat bonuses utterly obliterated it.

And its upgrade difficulty was far lower—just needed materials.

Dragon materials were easy to obtain; even without much effort, there were dragons in Guo Ming's trial world.

The original Jiaohun Ring, predecessor of the Tai Ping Ring, summoned a one-horned Jiao whose lineage descended from a Poison Dragon.

But now he shouldn't be thinking about acquiring Dragon materials—he needed to choose which Dragon Son to permanently summon.

He immediately ruled out Qiuniu; once out of combat, recovery was already handled by Bai Long.

Yazi tempted him—true damage was tempting—but the damage output was too low.

Chaofeng was kept on standby; not only did its danger perception range expand, but it had no cooldown.

Pulao and Suanni were skipped without a second glance.

Baxia's shield, Bi'an's immobilization, Fuxi's reduced summon skill costs, and Chiwen's consumption of enemy buffs to restore HP—all were excellent choices.

The only trouble was he could only choose one Dragon Son; he guessed that summoning more would require upgrading the Nine Ding Map's quality.

After some thought, Chu Danqing chose Baxia Dragon Son as his permanent Dragon Son.

Chaofeng's danger perception had a flaw: even if you sensed a powerful enemy, you might not react fast enough to defend.

Like Zhao Tiechuan before—he sensed the Emperor's Son trying to capture him, even drew his sword halfway out, yet still couldn't escape death.

For melee Adepts, it was a divine skill—they had higher neural response speeds and could react instantly upon sensing danger.

Chu Danqing couldn't—he wasn't a melee Adept, lacking such enhancements.

Bi'an's immobilization could be resisted or broken, and Chiwen's consumption of enemy buffs could be blocked too.

In contrast, Baxia's effect on Chu Danqing himself and Fuxi's reduction of summon skill costs offered the highest cost-to-benefit ratio.

So in this two-option choice, Chu Danqing prioritized fixing the weakness of his entire group of summons.

A 20% reduction in skill costs currently offered only modest improvement for his summons.

Percentage-based effects require sufficient base values to be meaningful.

Like the previous Pu Lao Scroll · Sea Frontier's -50% land movement speed debuff—it barely affected Chu Danqing.

His base movement speed was never high; halving it made little difference.

"Pity Bai Long isn't water-aligned—if she were, I'd sell everything to get her a water-domain skill." Chu Danqing sighed.

The strongest Dragon Son should be Pulao—pure stat amplification, timeless in value.

But restricted to aquatic terrain, it became useless.

Otherwise, doubling stats outright would've been an absolute bomb.

Especially against Guo Ming, the Emperor's Son, and others.

Bai Long was a Baojia Xian transformed from a Snake Soul, yet possessed no water affinity whatsoever; her race leaned toward a low-tier, restricted Ghost Immortal or Divine Spirit.

After selecting Baxia Dragon Son as his permanent Dragon Son, Chu Danqing immediately lost 100 HP.

Maintaining the Dragon Son consumed HP, not mana.

Fortunately, 100 HP per minute was negligible for Chu Danqing, especially with Bai Long healing him.

After the first HP deduction, a massive spectral image of a Dragon Head, Turtle Body, bearing a stone tablet—Baxia—appeared.

The spectral image solidified, then shrank until it became a shield on Chu Danqing's body.

"Not weak at all." Chu Danqing tested the shield and found that while its stacks were based on his maximum HP, its strength was based on his maximum mana.

"Most importantly, the recovery speed is fast—1% per second may not match the Five Elements Spirit's active mana infusion for instant shield restoration."

"But you can't compare them that way; if you compare passive recovery, Baxia Dragon Son is vastly superior."

"And the shield's strength and raw value far exceed the Five Elements Spirit's."

Chu Danqing was very satisfied.

But soon, he calmed himself and activated the Shanhe Pact.

The trial task was complete; now he needed to kill the Empress Dowager and Shuo Emperor.

【You summoned a Pact target; target's rank exceeds Pact limits】

【Allies exceeding rank limits require 5000 Paradise Points to summon, and consume 1000 Paradise Points per hour】

【You summoned a Pact target; this summon consumed Paradise Points ×5980】

【Pact Target #1 has responded】

【Pact Target #2 is responding】

【Pact Target summon cognition rationalization completed】

Guo Ming's response was still the fastest—he responded immediately upon Chu Danqing's summon.

Xiong Zhigang still needed to muster troops, but this time he noticed the summon cost had risen.

Guo Ming's rank exceeded the Shanhe Pact limit, so the cost rising from 2000 to 5000 was reasonable.

The extra Paradise Points meant Xiong Zhigang had also reached 1st Rank.

Being one rank higher raised his cost from 100 to 1000 Paradise Points.

This was good news for Chu Danqing.

"Brother Chu, are you… in a tomb?" Guo Ming emerged and immediately sensed the environment was off.

His first thought was that Chu Danqing was trapped in the tomb.

Otherwise, if there were enemies, he would've sensed them already.

He detected residual traces of battle in the surroundings—no hidden foes.

"The ancestral mausoleum of the Great Shuo Dynasty," Chu Danqing said.

Guo Ming studied Chu Danqing closely, sensing an inexplicable aura about him, yet unable to articulate what it was.

"Grand Coordinator Xiong hasn't arrived yet, and I have a favor to ask of you." Chu Danqing told Guo Ming the dragon materials needed for the Nine Cauldrons Map.

"That's somewhat difficult—it will take time to investigate," Guo Ming continued. "The main issue is the requirement for fine-grade material; it's hard to find dragon materials this low in quality."

"I'll have my family find a way to resolve it." Guo Ming's difficulty wasn't in obtaining dragon materials—he could simply slaughter thirty or fifty and extract whatever amount Chu Danqing needed.

The real problem was that the material had to be fine-grade—that was the trouble.

Materials aren't pills; fine-tuning them is still somewhat difficult.

(End of Chapter)