Chapter 235: 13-Level Equipment Strengthening Stone

That day, Chu Danqing saw what true Yin Realm was like.

The entire vast, ancient Guling Mountain, visible to the naked eye, seemed to come alive—terrible monstrous entities awakened from their graves due to the surge of Yin energy.

Heroes and prodigies from every age had become ferocious corpse-lords, using the whole of Guling Mountain as their battlefield to block the Yin Realm’s invasion.

Perhaps from the very beginning, the human ancestors buried here were meant to seal the Yin Ming portal connecting to the Yin Realm.

But Guling Mountain was indeed a feng shui treasureland; once the ancients were buried there, it became a custom followed by all.

That’s why nobles, generals, and ministers chose to follow suit.

So theoretically, these ferocious corpse-lords should belong to the human faction.

This also explains why they never left their tombs—beyond the feng shui layout, they had a duty to guard.

“The Paradise has been holding this trial world away from the Death Realm for quite some time,” Chu Danqing muttered. “Too bad, it’s probably about to be reclaimed by the Death Realm.”

He suspected that before, this trial world had no Yang Realm—only pure Yin Realm.

Only after the Paradise seized it did the Apostles gradually transform it into this state.

Otherwise, Chu Danqing couldn’t imagine how the humans here ever managed to suppress the Yin Realm.

Take Wu Zhen, for example—in his era, suppression was already the main goal, proving even ancient powerhouses couldn’t overcome the Yin Realm.

So the conflict between the two can truly be seen as a war between the Death Realm and the Dimensional Paradise.

“Not necessarily reclaiming it—maybe just offloading a liability,” Yan Qi suddenly said.

Chu Danqing didn’t quite understand—how could a world become a liability?

“My mission has two parts: enter the tombs of nobles and generals, then obtain a spirit artifact of Fine quality or higher.”

“I assume yours is the same,” Yan Qi said.

Hearing this, Chu Danqing immediately understood the full picture.

“Same here. So you mean all Apostles entering this trial world have identical trial tasks?”

“Including higher-rank Apostles—their tasks are the same, only their deployment zones differ and the required spirit artifact quality varies,” Chu Danqing instantly realized why.

This is called maximizing utility.

“The outside world must be in chaos, and the Yin Realm is becoming impossible to contain—so the Paradise pulled off a switcheroo.”

“We’re not the first Apostles sent to loot this place, but we’re likely the last,” Yan Qi said. “That’s why the Paradise’s mission feels like ‘take it or leave it.’”

“Because the Paradise always intended to return this trial world to the Death Realm.”

“After all, you saw it—this trial world isn’t suitable for us.”

“Even Apostles of Death or Undead lineages find it barely useful.”

“Zero Spirit and Zero Perception are a burden and a severe flaw for most Apostles,” Yan Qi continued.

Chu Danqing had also scanned monsters transformed from corpses—both Spirit and Perception were zero.

Zero cost, zero attributes—this isn’t something Apostles should be happy about; it means you must pay a price elsewhere.

Not to mention cultivating such a summoned creature.

Although Da Bao and Da Bai have their attributes locked at 1 point, those locked attributes are judged by other attributes instead.

That’s why one has the IQ of a five-year-old and the other has no body and can’t leave Chu Danqing.

Even 1 point is a huge flaw—let alone 0.

“What are your plans next?” Chu Danqing asked.

With the cooperation mode as backup, he didn’t need to worry about other Apostles’ malice, so he inquired about Yan Qi’s situation.

“Find a place to cultivate—what else is there to do?” Yan Qi said. “Join me? Better to have company.”

Yan Qi extended the invitation.

But Chu Danqing declined: “No thanks. I’ve got too many people around—too noisy, disturbs your cultivation.”

Chu Danqing’s excuse was clearly just that—an excuse.

He never cultivated under strangers’ eyes.

This is cooperation now, but later it might be competition—his trump cards must stay hidden.

Yan Qi, upon hearing Chu Danqing’s refusal, merely smiled: “Alright, then farewell.”

He left immediately.

He’d only mentioned it casually—if Chu Danqing didn’t want to, he wouldn’t insist.

Besides, he only needed extra eyes—Chu Danqing didn’t need any.

He had so many summoned creatures—how could he not be able to watch his back?

Chu Danqing also chose a direction and left.

Find a safe place, wait for return.

“Finally, I can ride a war chariot,” Chu Danqing sighed in relief—he’d nearly thrown up walking through the mountains.

After boarding the war chariot, Chu Danqing took out six Bloody Chests and opened them all at once.

【You opened: 6 Bloody Chests, obtained: 12 Basic Skill Crystals, 12 1~3-Level Equipment Strengthening Stones】

Chu Danqing looked and his expression turned to “What the hell.”

“You’re giving me this crap???” Chu Danqing didn’t know what to say.

Of course, they had value—Basic Skill Crystals sold for 10,000 Arena Points each in the Arena Shop.

But Chu Danqing had his own sources.

“Alright, twelve is still decent—it’ll let me level up once,” Chu Danqing didn’t complain.

After all, he’d risked his life to get them.

As for the Strengthening Stones:

【1~3-Level Equipment Strengthening Stone】

【Type: Consumable】

【Quality: None】

【Effect 1: When used, increases a +0~+2 strengthened item by 1 level】

【Effect 2: When using a Strengthening Machine to strengthen +3~+5 items, inserting one increases success rate by 20%/10%/5%】

(Note: 10 pieces of 1~3-Level Equipment Strengthening Stones can be combined into 1 piece of 4-Level Equipment Strengthening Stone)

(Note: Only one can be inserted per Strengthening Machine use)

“In some ways, these 1~3-Level Equipment Strengthening Stones are just as valuable as Basic Skill Crystals,” Chu Danqing became far more interested in the stones.

The key point was they could replace Paradise Points.

The part about boosting success rate? Chu Danqing ignored it.

He had no money to strengthen anyway.

“Good haul,” Chu Danqing didn’t use them immediately—he planned to save them.

Right now, he had only two items he could strengthen: the Moon-Flowing Cloud Robe and the Nine Cauldrons Map.

He didn’t really want to strengthen them—he wanted to directly boost combat power, meaning summoned-item equipment.

The Peace Ring and the Nine Ghost-Mother Map were only Fine quality—strengthening them now wasn’t worth it.

He’d wait until they reached Excellent quality before strengthening.

As he left Guling Mountain, human settlements gradually increased.

But everywhere he looked was devastation—years of warlord conflicts had left the land in ruins.

After so many years of fighting, the population had been wiped out.

Chu Danqing found a town abandoned for who-knew-how-long, then located a relatively intact mansion, tidied it up, and moved in.

Having a roof over his head was far more comfortable than camping in the wild.

Next, Chu Danqing monitored the public communication channel.

With so many fleeing or dead, the once-busy public channel had fallen silent again.

Only a few who hadn’t escaped remained, venting their despair.

They seemed doomed—within two days, they went quiet.

After that, Chu Danqing lost track of what was happening inside Guling Mountain.

So he settled into quiet cultivation, nurturing Da Bao, Da Bai, and Da Gu.

Nothing strange happened during this time—it was peaceful.

After all, he’d left the chaos behind—why would trouble come knocking?

Following tradition, Chu Danqing stopped everything one hour before return.

“Pity the resources are limited—attribute growth is too slow, but my skills improved a lot.”

Mainly because he had few resources—only skill leveling was feasible.

—

【Da Bao】

【Tear Claw (Active) LV.17: When activated, attacks deal 17 additional Tear damage and apply Bleed status; consumes 17 Blood Rage per minute while active】

【Bloodlust Pursuit (Passive) LV.17: When damaging enemies with Bleed status, gain life drain and add an extra 17 Bleed damage】

—

【Da Bai】

【Nine-Headed Spirit Scripture (Legacy) LV.19】

【Spirit Art: Spirit Healing (Active) LV.19: Consumes 19 Spirit Power to instantly restore 190 HP to target and purge one negative status】

【Spirit Art: Spirit Recovery (Active) LV.19: Consumes 29 Spirit Power to continuously restore 290 HP to all within range over 30 seconds and grant a 90-point shield】

[Spirit Art · Evil Curse (Active) LV.19: Consumes 19 Spirit Points; reduces all attributes of targets within range by 1.9 points and healing effectiveness by 1.9% for 29 seconds, stackable up to 2 layers]

[Spirit Art · Evil Words (Active) LV.19: Consumes 29 Spirit Points; inflicts Weakness and Poison status on target for 29 seconds, stackable up to 2 layers]

——

[Big Bone]

[Nine Chapters of Heavenly Questions (Inherited) LV.9]

[Sorrowful Whirlwind (Active) LV.9: Consumes 1 Rune Character; deals 1 time (Spirit × 190) fixed-tracked spell damage to targets within (Perception × 1) meters; upon hitting an enemy, deals (Spirit × 19) area damage; 1-minute cooldown]

——

The smallest one to improve was Da Bai, who seemed to have hit a bottleneck.

According to the pattern of the Nine-Head Spirit Form Scripture, when it reached level 10, it grew a second head; once it breaks through to level 20, Da Bai may grow a third head.

That’s why it’s stuck at level 19.

“With this many Paradise Points, I should be able to make a big upgrade,” Chu Danqing said, glancing at his Paradise Points.

The upgrade he meant was buying enough resources to boost the attributes of Da Bao, Da Bai, and Da Gu.

Ideally, he’d push them all straight to the Tier 1 limit of 30 points, then use any leftover points to raise their bloodline concentration.

(End of Chapter)