Heavenly Merit

Star Lord became Yan Zu, Yan Zu became Guan Xi, Guan Xi became Ben Shan...

Wang Chen was having the time of his life.

As long as he imagined a face in his mind, this Human Skin Mask could create it.

It was lifelike, flawless in every detail.

However, when he switched to the fourth face, Wang Chen suddenly discovered that the mana in his Dantian had run dry!

He immediately reverted to the appearance of the Faceless Man.

This greatly surprised Wang Chen.

Using this mask to change his appearance clearly consumed mana.

The problem was, he had not noticed any loss of mana at all.

A thought stirred in Wang Chen's mind, and he summoned the Cultivation Panel.

His gaze immediately sharpened!

Beneath the Skill Bar, a new section had conspicuously appeared.

Equipment: Thousand Transformations Mask (Sealed): 3/100000

It showed as equipped!

Wang Chen tried peeling off the Human Skin Mask, then checked the Cultivation Panel again.

The Equipment section was still there.

But the space after it was blank.

When he put the mask back on, it appeared once more.

Now Wang Chen could fully confirm that it was this mask called the "Thousand Transformations Mask" that had activated the Equipment section.

This only left him with an even bigger question.

After giving it some thought, Wang Chen took that sword from his Storage Bag and held it in his hand.

Yet there was no change at all in the Equipment section!

Wang Chen was a little confused.

This sword was one hundred percent a Magic Tool, so why could it not be listed in the Equipment section?

In fact, Wang Chen had another Magic Tool on him.

It was the Storage Bag.

Just like the Magic Sword, it was clearly already worn on his person, yet it likewise did not appear.

No matter how he thought about it, Wang Chen could not figure it out.

Since he could not make sense of it, he stopped thinking about it and turned his attention back to the mask itself.

Wang Chen had not overlooked the "(Sealed)" suffix after Thousand Transformations Mask, nor the plus sign after 3/100000.

The plus sign gleamed gold.

This meant he could Add Points to this piece of equipment.

Break the seal?

But all those zeroes after that 1 made Wang Chen's balls ache just looking at them.

If his guess was right, breaking the seal on this equipment would require one hundred thousand Human Virtue points!

Just kill him already.

Wang Chen glanced at his current Human Virtue points.

15 points.

Over the past two days, he had painstakingly cleared the Spirit Field and killed more than a dozen demonized Earth Rhinoceroses, yet had only accumulated this much.

Though he was very curious what the mask would be like after being unsealed, Wang Chen, who knew his own limits well, decided to forget it.

He would talk about it later.

Wait!

Wang Chen suddenly made a new discovery on the Cultivation Panel.

Heavenly Merit (Fate Alteration): 6

At some unknown point, he had somehow gained 6 points of Heavenly Merit!

This discovery left Wang Chen both shocked and delighted.

He had been worrying all this time over how to obtain the Heavenly Merit needed for Fate Alteration.

And now he had it.

The plus signs after the five sections—Physique, Spiritual Root, Comprehension, Divine Soul, and Cultivation Method—had all turned gleaming gold—he could Add Points to every one of them!

It was truly a case of searching everywhere in worn-out shoes to no avail, only to find it without the slightest effort.

The bottleneck at the third layer of Qi Condensation could be broken through, and his inferior Spiritual Root and comprehension could be improved!

A life of Fate Alteration was about to begin!!

Wang Chen drew a deep breath and forcefully suppressed the excitement in his heart.

Stay calm. He had to stay calm.

Swallowing hard, Wang Chen first tried smashing 1 point into his Spiritual Root.

According to the original owner's memories, both physique and Divine Soul could be strengthened by cultivating their corresponding techniques.

Spiritual Root and comprehension, however, could only be improved by consuming Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures.

Golden Core True Persons would fight to the death over such Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures, and even Nascent Soul True Immortals would be tempted upon encountering them!

For a Bottom Layer minor cultivator like him, unless he stumbled upon an immense fortuitous opportunity, he would not even have a chance to lay eyes on one.

His Heavenly Merit instantly decreased by 1 point, while his Spiritual Root rose to 3 points.

Wang Chen immediately felt all the bones in his body itch, as though something were about to burrow out from within his marrow.

His heartbeat suddenly quickened, and blood surged through his body.

It felt as though his whole body were about to take flight.

But the sensation lasted only a brief moment.

Wang Chen very much wanted to smash a few more points into his Spiritual Root, but the plus sign after it had turned gray.

Since he had previously experienced Add Points to Gengjin Finger, he was not particularly surprised.

The way Heavenly Merit was used to Add Points was clearly the same as Human Virtue.

The first Add Points cost 1 point, while the second required 10 points.

As for whether the third would cost 100 points...

That still needed to be verified.

Since he could not Add Points to his Spiritual Root, Wang Chen smashed 1 point into comprehension as well.

Unlike adding to his Spiritual Root.

When his comprehension rose to 3 points, he felt absolutely nothing.

He did not touch the other options that could be added to—physique, Divine Soul, and techniques—for the time being.

The first two could be improved by cultivating techniques.

As for the latter, once it broke through, he would immediately step from the low Qi Condensation stage into the middle stage.

Given Wang Chen's current physical condition, that was clearly not a wise decision!

Wang Chen had already made up his mind.

Once his internal injuries had fully healed, he would immediately go to Yunyang City and rent a Cave Mansion to attempt his breakthrough.

The spiritual energy there was abundant, making it conducive to stabilizing his realm.

It would be greatly beneficial to cultivation.

But after adding only 2 points, Wang Chen still felt unsatisfied.

He added 1 point to "Thousand Transformations Mask."

Equipment: Thousand Transformations Mask (Sealed): 4/100000

Human Virtue (Breakthrough): 14

What it consumed was indeed Human Virtue points!

Wang Chen was thrilled—and gave up all hope.

Closing the Cultivation Panel, he removed the Thousand Transformations Mask and stored it together with his Magic Sword in his Storage Bag.

He returned to the quiet room and continued cultivating.

His Dantian was utterly empty. Without Mana to protect himself, if he encountered danger, he would not even have time to cry.

Whether it was an illusion or because both his Spiritual Root and comprehension had improved, Wang Chen could not tell.

When he cultivated the Five Elements Technique again, he could clearly feel that his grasp and understanding of the technique had deepened considerably.

Even the speed at which he condensed Qi had increased somewhat.

The next day, Wang Chen still kept his doors shut, recuperating at home until his body had recovered to its best condition.

On the third day, only after he felt that his meridians had fully healed did he leave for Yunyang City.

Wang Chen flagged down a passing carriage by the roadside.

These open-topped carts pulled by two Dragon Scale Horses were common in the areas surrounding the Yunyang Spirit Land.

They were mainly used to carry passengers.

As long as they paid the driver one Shattered Spirit for the fare, he could take them straight to the gates of Yunyang City.

The original owner had ridden a Dragon Scale Horse carriage only a handful of times. To save a single Shattered Spirit, he had been willing to walk fifty li.

Wang Chen truly did not care about such a trifling sum.

His savings had now surpassed one hundred Lower Spirits, and he had also made a fortune from looting corpses.

From now on, he would eat Spirit Rice without having to chew Grain Husk!

By the time Wang Chen boarded, the carriage already held more than a dozen people.

They were all Bottom Layer cultivators heading for Yunyang City, many of them weathered spirit plant farmers.

Most wore expressions of sorrow and distress.

Others sighed mournfully.

By overhearing their conversations, Wang Chen learned that the Earth Rhinoceros Insect Plague had already spread throughout the entire Outer Sect region.

Thousands upon thousands of Spirit Fields had been afflicted, and many spirit plant farmers had suffered devastating losses.

Yet the higher-ups of the Yunyang Sect had shown no response for a long time, leaving everyone to save themselves by exterminating the insects.

If this continued, they feared that few households would be able to pay their full Field Rent by the end of summer.

Here is the first update—please vote.