Chapter 61: Trials and Expeditions

With ample pills, Ye Liuyun resumed his frantic cultivation regimen.

He must practice the four cultivation disciplines—Qi refinement, body forging, bloodline, and Divine Sense—every day!

Half a month later, Ye Liuyun's Immortal Overlord Body broke through to the third tier.

At this tier, his body can directly withstand True Essence Sixth Level attacks without sustaining severe internal injuries.

Moreover, even when wounded, his recovery speed is lightning‑fast.

The power of his bloodline, continuously boosted by bloodline pills, finally awakened to the first degree for Ye Liuyun.

This bloodline power not only raises attack strength and speeds healing, but Ye Liuyun also feels his link to the Ten Thousand Gods Command has become tighter.

Consequently, his cultivation speed and comprehension have improved greatly.

This astonished Ye Liuyun. To think that awakening just the first degree of his bloodline yields such change—what if it fully awakens? Ye Liuyun could only look forward to it.

He had cultivated Illusion Eye Technique merely as a far‑seeing ability, but after the first‑degree bloodline awakening, Ye Liuyun found many previously puzzling questions now clear.

Thus he now employs his Illusion Pupil to cast illusion arts, ensnaring even the Black Python and Bald Vulture.

Consequently, Ye Liuyun no longer limits himself to trapping foes with illusion; he also cultivated another technique, using Illusion Pupil to probe enemies' memories.

Its primary purpose is information gathering. Though it doesn't boost combat power, on the battlefield this move can prove immensely useful.

During this period, Ye Liuyun was wholly immersed in cultivation.

Although his realm hasn't broken through, his strength has increased considerably.

In the blink of an eye, more than half a month had passed since Ye Liuyun arrived at the prep camp.

That day, Han Shan summoned the ten house owners to his Grand Hall.

When Ye Liuyun arrived, seven or eight owners were already standing inside; he only recognized Tian Yuan and Tie Sen.

He had never seen the others before.

The others also sized Ye Liuyun up. They didn't expect that this True Essence First Level youngster had already defeated Tie Sen.

It should be noted that these people were hand‑picked geniuses, each capable of fighting beyond one or two levels.

"Just a True Essence First Level!" the second‑ranked house owner Wu Gang said, glancing at Ye Liuyun before losing interest.

His only target was the top‑ranked Shi Jing Tian.

Soon after, Ye Liuyun finally met the owner of the first Stone House, Shi Jing Tian.

He was about twenty years old, quite handsome, and his realm was True Essence Fifth Level, mid‑stage.

He did appear somewhat arrogant, casting a sidelong glance at the crowd before withdrawing his gaze.

"What are you pretending for! You just started a few years before me. Sooner or later I'll swap places with you!" the second‑ranked house owner Wu Gang said angrily.

Wu Gang also seemed to be in his early twenties, but he was a full tier below the first house owner, at True Essence Fourth Level, mid‑stage.

Ye Liuyun glanced over the group and realized he was the youngest here; in fact, the whole camp seemed younger than him.

At that moment, with everyone present, Han Shan stepped out, opened his mouth and barked, "What are you all shouting about? If you have the skill, go fight outside; stop arguing here! Now speak the business."

Then he announced:

"You should go out for some trials; training on the mountain every day is boring. There's a recent task to exterminate some roaming ferocious beasts, and it's yours now!"

Hunting bandits and exterminating beasts have always been among the Royal Mansion's duties. Protecting the populace is an undeniable obligation.

Of course, you won't work for nothing. The slain beasts—not only does the carcass belong to you, but there are also corresponding rewards. Use the beast cores to earn points. The Golden Armor Guard will have someone secretly tallying for you.

With those point rewards, you can exchange for techniques, pills, weapons, and other resources; request whatever you need, and we'll convert based on value.

The exchange rates are: beast cores from below the True Essence Realm yield 2 points; True Essence First Level yields 5 points; True Essence Second Level 10 points; Third Level 20 points; Fourth Level 50 points; Fifth Level 100 points; Sixth Level 500 points; Seventh Level 1,000 points.

Eighth… there's definitely no eighth! According to our investigation, True Essence Seventh Level is the highest.

After you return, you may form teams freely; no limit on numbers.

Any questions? If none, go prepare; we set out at first light tomorrow!

Someone asked, "What about beasts of True Essence Seventh Level—what do we do if we encounter them?"

Han Shan gave him a cold stare and said, "What else can we do? If we can't beat them, run; if we can't escape, just await death!"

No one laughed; it seemed the mission carried great risk.

Ye Liuyun asked, "What if my tamed beast makes the kill?"

"It counts as your kill!" Han Shan replied bluntly.

Everything on the mountain is under Han Shan's watch; he had already noticed Ye Liuyun's tamed beast.

However, the prep camp does not forbid keeping ferocious beasts; on the contrary, because Ye Liuyun can tame them, they value him even more.

"No wonder Old Seven and Old Eight call the kid a monster. Not only is he strong, he also refines pills and tames beasts—this kid is a true prodigy!"

Ye Liuyun himself didn't realize that among these hall guards he had already been dubbed a prodigy.

Otherwise, why would Han Shan help him gather herbs? Here, only by showing one's value does one earn respect.

The group left the Grand Hall together and returned to form teams.

Ye Liuyun didn't know the others and didn't want to seek out so many; he only asked Yu Wenlong and Lin Feng.

Naturally, the two trusted only Ye Liuyun, so the three formed a team with Ye Liuyun as captain.

They also agreed that whoever makes a kill claims it, and no one would snatch credit.

After settling that, the three went about their own tasks.

Ye Liuyun assessed his own strength.

He is now in the late stage of True Essence First Level. Once he reaches the True Essence Realm, his breakthrough speed will slow! So relying solely on True Essence, he can contend with True Essence Fifth Level.

However, his Immortal Overlord Body has already reached the third tier, allowing his body to resist True Essence Sixth Level attacks. Coupled with bloodline power, True Essence Sixth Level can be faced in a single battle.

But what about True Essence Seventh Level?

Aside from the Soul Sword, there seems to be no good countermeasure.

Illusion Pupil can also provide some restraining effect; his Divine Sense has recently risen considerably—not only the Soul Sword, but his Divine Sense can now extend beyond two li.

But killing a True Origin Sevenfold still has some gap! We'll have to decide based on the environment at the time.

Fortunately he still has Lei Ming and two ferocious beasts as helpers; even if he meets a True Origin Sevenfold, he can still maneuver.

Coincidentally his food is running low, so this time he can replenish. Lei Ming eats so much that in such a short time, the ferocious beasts Ye Liuyun previously stored will be devoured by Lei Ming.

Given Ye Liuyun and his beasts' levels, if they don't encounter a True Origin Sevenfold beast or too many True Origin Sixth beasts, their party can basically sweep through!

The only thing that now needs strengthening is his bow—this ranged weapon's killing power.

His Ice Moon Bow can now only slay warriors of True Essence First Level and below; True Origin Double depends on the situation, and against True Origin Triple warriors it poses little threat.

Ye Liuyun must find a way to raise it to a level that can threaten True Origin Seventh-level strong opponents, only then can he hope to hunt True Origin Sevenfold warriors.

Thinking that, he took out the Ice Moon Bow and pondered how to improve it.

In the end he settled on two approaches. One is material reinforcement: he has ready‑made metal ore for the bow body, a leftover from his aunt, but he lacks material for the bowstring; ideally it would be jiao tendon.

The other approach is to extract the thunder power and the deadly venom of the Black Python, refine them into the arrows, and boost their lethality.

With that in mind, he went straight to Han Shan and explained his purpose.