Chapter 87: Golden Light Divine Spell Acquired

After settling the minor mood of the Tai Sui, Chen Shicheng opened the panel.

After clearing a huge wave of wild beasts, his experience bar had reached level 8 (155/100), meeting the upgrade condition, so he naturally upgraded immediately.

"Evolve, Chen Shicheng Beast!"

【Your level has reached 9 (Qi Refinement Tier 4)!】

【Name: Chen Shicheng】

【Level: Lv. 9 (Qi Refinement Realm Tier 4)】

【Experience: 55/100】

【Technique: Nameless Technique (Refining Spirit) (each level up: Essence +1, Qi +1, Divinity +3)】

【Essence: 30.3】

【Qi: 30】

【Divinity: 36.2】

【Equipment: Stealing Heaven Pendant (Unique) x1, Eye of Bai Ze x1, Evil Ghost Mask x1, Blood Killing Pearl x1, Tang Sword (Damaged) x1, Plain Sky-Cloud Bat Pattern Sturdy Outfit (Damaged) x1, Illusion Body Talisman x5, Soul-Attracting Incense x19, Incense of Nourishment x10, Concentration Incense x10, Incense of Nourishment x10, Qi Supplement Incense x10, Exorcising Incense x10, Divine Request Skill Jade Slip x1, Carrion Insect Scalp x1, Poison Sac x1752, Spider Leg x365】

【Skills: Basic Sword Technique (Sublimation), Eight-Step Chase Cicada (Perfect), Universal Rainfall (Perfect), Night Battle in Eight Directions (Mastered), Wind Sweeps Remaining Clouds (Mastered), Slaying Immortal Sword Intent (2.6%), Slaying Immortal Great Formation (Intro), Point Earth to Steel (Intro), Incense Crafting (Perfect)】

【Money: 1387 gold 22 silver 15 copper】

【Lifespan: 25/137】

【Merit Points: 1108】

After a brief swelter, Chen Shicheng's strength experienced another slight increase.

Unfortunately, the wild beasts around the gathering spot had been cleared in a wave, making another attempt in a short time a sheer pipe dream.

And even though the experience bar caps at 100, the experience penalty grows stronger with higher levels, making it increasingly hard to level up by slaughtering many low-level wild beasts.

Moreover, high-level wild beasts rarely appear in clusters, and Chen Shicheng can already imagine how arduous future leveling will be.

Of course, that's a concern for later; at level 9 he still has a place where he can quickly raise his level.

He hasn't forgotten that beneath the fissure he entered the underground palace, countless level‑12 wandering souls still linger.

The Cultural Tourism Bureau Logistics Department staff also discovered the spot while clearing the underground palace, but the wandering souls were so dense that a single one could instantly gather a crowd.

Furthermore, this wild beast, like the Evil Ghost Pill, also possesses phasing ability, allowing it to ignore the vast majority of attacks, so after several attempts the efficiency‑focused national team reluctantly abandoned the area.

After they gave up, the player community tried to organize several large‑scale grinding events, but after a few party wipes, everyone left muttering curses.

However, others failing doesn't mean Chen Shicheng can't; possessing the 15‑level summon Evil Ghost Pill of the same type makes that spot a true leveling treasure for him.

"Hui Siye, stop sucking, it's time to work!"

Chen Shicheng lifted La Tiao, which was suffering from appearance anxiety after a drastic change and was biting its own tail, and shouted at the contented Hui Siye in the corner.

"Got it."

Hui Siye lazily opened his eyes, took a hard inhale of the Reverence-God Incense before him, and the remaining short piece of Reverence-God Incense instantly burned to the end, a massive white cloud shooting into his nose.

After a comfortable shiver, it slowly flew onto Chen Shicheng's shoulder and activated the Five Ghosts Transport Technique.

Space shifted, constellations rotated.

The next moment, Chen Shicheng found himself at the very fissure where he had first entered the underground palace.

Seeing the aimlessly drifting wandering souls outside, Chen Shicheng waved his hand, "Evil Ghost Pill, advance!"

The manifested Evil Ghost Pill licked its fangs, grinned wickedly, and flew out; for the next two days, Chen Shicheng crouched at the bottom of the fissure grinding monsters to level up.

Although only the Evil Ghost Pill could deal effective damage and occasionally had to be recalled to rest its mask, by the third day he still managed to rise from level 9 to level 13 (23/100).

However, as his level surpassed the wandering souls, the experience penalty mechanism kicked in, instantly slowing his leveling speed.

Resigned, he began trying to have the Evil Ghost Pill control the wandering souls while sending La Tiao to finish the blows.

But whether La Tiao scratched with its claws or bit with its mouth, the damage was not merely negligible—it was essentially none, leaving it regrettably stuck at level 0.

【Essence: 34.3, Qi: 34, Divinity: 40.2】

With his refreshed attributes, Chen Shicheng once again arrived at the trading gathering spot as night fell.

It was the same spot as last time, with the same people.

Except for the main seat directly opposite the tent entrance being empty, each side of the crude table held four seats, all occupied, and the moment he entered, everyone ceased idle chatter, their gazes fixed on him. After scanning the room, Chen Shicheng's eyes landed on Yinhu on the right, his heartbeat quickening.

He had been longing for the Golden Light Divine Spell for a long time, his merit points already starving with anticipation.

At the glance, Yinhu understood his meaning, nodded with a hint of smugness, and silently gave him an OK sign.

Chen Shicheng instantly rejoiced, his lifted spirit settling, seeing that his investment seemed successful!

"Stop dawdling, we're all waiting for you to chair the meeting, 'Zi Shu Da Da'!" Shuigu Tang patted the sole empty seat, deliberately emphasizing the tease.

Giving Shuigu Tang a sideways glance, Chen Shicheng sat on the main seat under everyone's stare and lowered his voice, "Sorry for the wait, everyone; let's begin today's trading, the rules are the same as last time."

Finishing, he scanned the room, saw no objections, and took three attribute‑boosting spiritual medicines from the storage to display.

"Same as before, skill for spiritual medicine; if you want to trade, bring out your best hidden items. My medicines are scarce, first come first served."

"Hold on!"

Just as Chen Shicheng finished speaking, Yinhu couldn't help raising his hand, "Before the formal trade, let me finish the last transaction."

Speaking, he retrieved a jade slip from storage, pushed it before Chen Shicheng, and said, "Because you gave me the spiritual medicine in advance, I completed that task; this is the agreed skill 'Golden Light Divine Spell'!"

Chen Shicheng restrained his excitement, took the jade slip and examined it.

【Golden Light Divine Spell: One of the Eight Great Daoist Sect Spells, can coat the body with a layer of golden light, greatly enhancing defense, and according to the skill level, converts Qi attribute to Essence attribute.】

Great stuff! Chen Shicheng's eyes lit up, his breathing quickened.

He had thought the Golden Light Divine Spell was merely a defensive skill, but discovered it also boosts Essence attribute, which, when rounded, can serve as an amplification skill.

Not an exaggeration: if this skill falls into a body‑refining player's hands, it can create a top‑tier MT, maxing out both attack and defense.

Worth it! So worth it!

Even though Chen Shicheng primarily cultivates the Refined Spirit Technique, thanks to the system‑rewarded elixir, he is no less than other primary cultivators; with this skill, his power will surge instantly.

And don't forget, Eight‑Step Chase Cicada is a Body Refining Skill, and its speed depends entirely on the level of the Spirit Attribute.

After acquiring this skill, he even reduced his need for teleportation skills to the minimum; he can keep using Eight‑Step Chase Cicada, which is a win‑win. However, in that case the Spiritual Medicine he spent seems a bit meager, not matching the skill's value. Since Yin Hu is being so trustworthy, I can't be overly cheap either.

"The skill is excellent, far exceeding my expectations, but that means the Spiritual Medicine I give you doesn't quite match the skill's value."

After learning the skill, Chen Shicheng pondered briefly, then took out several incense sticks of different functions from his storage and placed them before him, "Take these incenses as compensation for the price difference."

"This"

Yin Hu was somewhat moved; he never imagined that Zi Shu Da Da would be so considerate, voluntarily covering the price difference. Yet taking these incenses of unknown use might seem a bit mercenary, didn't it? "Zi Shu Da Da has spoken, just accept them."

Chen Long saw Yin Hu's hesitation, stood up and thrust those incense sticks into his hand, "Zi Shu Da Da is a reliable person, you can rest assured. Whoa!"

The moment he touched the incense, the description on the system panel made him startle, and he hurriedly examined each one carefully.

After reading the detailed descriptions, he clicked his lips regretfully, "The items are fine, the functions are complete, they can serve as a cheap substitute for Elixir, but it's a pity they can't be used in combat."

"Nonsense."

Yin Hu shook off Chen Long's hand, solemnly gathered the incense sticks, "Elixir is so expensive; who can treat it as a regular consumable? Having a substitute is good enough, no need to nitpick."

"Can it replace Elixir?"

"Is that true?"

"Zi Shu Da Da, is there any left? May we see the specific Attributes?"

The others, hearing the two's conversation, instantly became interested in those unassuming incense sticks and began speaking up.

Under the crowd's urging, Chen Shicheng took out each incense stick one by one for them to peruse, which sparked a chorus of awe.

Watching the crowd's exclamations, he was somewhat surprised; actually his view of these incenses matched Chen Long's—they're a chicken‑rib product, neither here nor there.

But judging from the crowd's reaction, these incenses seem quite valuable; for ordinary players they are almost on par with Elixir, and in some functions even surpass Elixir, especially Soul‑Attracting Incense, which made Shuigu Tang's eyes shine.

"Such a good thing, why didn't you bring it out earlier? With this, who needs to hunt monsters around? Light one up and wait for monsters to come to you! It's a perfect monster‑hunting artifact!"

"A ten‑kilometer range—aren't you afraid of being swarmed by wild monsters?"

Chen Shicheng could not deny her words; the scene of General Mo Evil being overwhelmed by a swarm of wild monsters was still vivid in his mind. Apart from someone like him who possesses both formation techniques and spirit‑artifact skills, he could not think of anyone else who could stand against that massive horde of wild monsters.

(End of Chapter)