Exchanging for the System Space cost 1,000 Martial Arts Points.
Advancing his cultivation from the mid-stage Minor Grandmaster Realm to the early-stage Grandmaster Realm cost 2,800 Martial Arts Points.
By this point, Su Chen had spent a total of 3,800 Martial Arts Points.
Of the Martial Arts Points he had earned this time, 6,500 remained.
Even though Su Chen was now quite wealthy, spending roughly a third of his Martial Arts Points in one go still made his heart ache.
"This name, Pay-to-Win System, really isn't for nothing. It's practically a gold-devouring beast."
Though he felt a slight pang of regret, Su Chen did not halt his pay-to-win cultivation path because of it.
After three years in this world and countless battles in the martial world, Su Chen had long understood one truth: only one's own strength truly mattered.
Everything else was merely external.
If he begrudged his Martial Arts Points now and refused to spend them,
then when he encountered a powerful enemy in the future and was killed in a single move due to insufficient strength, it would be too late for regrets.
By then, no matter how many Martial Arts Points he had saved up, they would be useless.
That saying was indeed quite reasonable: the most painful thing in life was dying before spending one's money.
Casting aside the chaotic thoughts in his mind, Su Chen continued down his pay-to-win cultivation path.
He turned his attention to the system panel.
"It's been so long. It's time to raise the cultivation level of the Hundun Treasure Mirror."
Su Chen knew that one very important reason he had been able to defeat stronger opponents in his recent battles was the exceptionally high quality of the true energy granted by the Hundun Treasure Mirror.
Therefore, now that he had an abundance of Martial Arts Points, he naturally planned to raise the Hundun Treasure Mirror by another level.
"System, spend Martial Arts Points and advance the Hundun Treasure Mirror to the fifth level."
Ding. 5,000 Martial Arts Points consumed. Hundun Treasure Mirror advanced to the fifth level—Purple Star River.
"Damn, five thousand points."
Seeing his Martial Arts Points nearly emptied in an instant, Su Chen finally could not help swearing.
Although he had long expected that cultivating a divine-demonic level internal energy technique like the Hundun Treasure Mirror would consume a great deal of Martial Arts Points,
he had never imagined it would cost this much.
After all, the first five levels and the latter five levels of the Hundun Treasure Mirror were fundamentally on completely different tiers.
If the first five levels could still be explained as martial arts,
then the latter five levels, from Dark Chaos to Mysterious Universe, were entirely at the level of immortality cultivation or fantasy.
Now, merely advancing from the fourth-level Bixue Ice to the fifth-level Purple Star River had cost as many as 5,000 Martial Arts Points.
He hardly dared imagine how many Martial Arts Points it would cost to cultivate it to the highest Mysterious Universe Realm.
"I hope the Purple Star River level of the Hundun Treasure Mirror won't disappoint me."
Muttering to himself, Su Chen sank his awareness into his meridians and dantian to examine the state of his true energy.
The instant he checked, Su Chen was startled.
At this moment, the true energy flowing through his meridians had already completely taken on a different form.
It was rich and natural, faintly mixed with specks of starlight.
At first glance, it resembled a softly glowing river.
Even without his deliberate urging, the mere circulation of his true energy carried an unstoppable momentum, like a raging torrent.
One could well imagine that if he personally drove it, the power this true energy could unleash would be incomparably formidable.
With the quality of the true energy in my body now, it probably wouldn't be much inferior to the true energy of an Immortal of the Land tempered by Lightning Tribulation, Su Chen secretly guessed.
One had to know that in this world, the Land Immortal Realm was entirely different from the preceding cultivation realms.
To advance from Great Grandmaster to Immortal of the Land, one had to undergo Lightning Tribulation.
It was not merely a trial, but also an opportunity.
As long as one could endure the pain of Lightning Tribulation tempering the body, a martial artist's physique and true energy would be strengthened in every respect.
If the strength of an ordinary martial artist's true energy were compared to plastic,
then the true energy of a Land Immortal Realm expert was nothing less than steel.
With equal quantities, steel-quality true energy could effortlessly break through plastic-quality true energy.
The two were not comparable in the slightest.
This was precisely one of the reasons Immortals of the Land were so powerful.
As these thoughts flashed through his mind, Su Chen's expression immediately changed.
"Worth it. Absolutely worth it. These 5,000 Martial Arts Points were so worth spending." Su Chen beamed with joy, repeatedly declaring that the 5,000 Martial Arts Points had not been wasted.
Let alone a mere 5,000 Martial Arts Points—even if it cost 10,000 or 50,000, he would still not hesitate if it meant possessing true energy of this level.
After rejoicing for a while, Su Chen began considering how to use his remaining 1,500 Martial Arts Points.
"Now that I have the fifth level of the Hundun Treasure Mirror and the Unique Saber Technique at the major achievement stage, my attacking methods are sufficient, but my defensive measures are still lacking."
Su Chen suddenly recalled how he had dealt with Ding Mian and the other two at Tingsong Pavilion using arousal-inducing true energy.
"Experts at the Minor Grandmaster level like Ding Mian and the others would also find it difficult to resist being ambushed by underhanded methods."
"Even though I'm already in the Grandmaster Realm, I still cannot let down my guard."
"If I'm careless and get poisoned by something like Muscle-Relaxing Powder, I could still end up capsizing in a ditch."
How could one always face enemies head-on while wandering the martial world?
This martial world had never lacked old schemers skilled in treacherous methods.
Sometimes, having high cultivation and great strength did not truly make one invincible.
One must remember: open attacks are easy to evade, but hidden arrows are hard to guard against.
Su Chen himself often used underhanded methods to trick others. He certainly did not want to fall victim to the same thing.
With that in mind, Su Chen began searching through the system store.
After searching for a while, he finally found something suitable.
"Body of Immunity to All Poisons. Immune to the erosion of all poisons. Price: 1,500 Martial Arts Points."
"This isn't bad. With Immunity to All Poisons, at the very least I won't have to worry about being poisoned to death by someone."
Su Chen muttered a few words, then chose to exchange for it.
Ding. 1,500 Martial Arts Points consumed. Successfully exchanged for the Body of Immunity to All Poisons.
As the system's voice rang out once more, Su Chen had successfully acquired the Body of Immunity to All Poison.
He then took a jade bottle from the System Space.
The bottle contained a poison he had collected during his travels.
This poison was called Five Steps Intestine-Piercing Powder, said to make a person's intestines rupture and belly rot within five steps.
Though its actual effect was not quite so powerful, ordinary martial artists would still find its toxicity difficult to resist.
Even Minor Grandmaster Realm experts who were poisoned by it would struggle to escape death without prompt treatment.
Su Chen opened the jade bottle, pinched out a pellet of poison, and swallowed it directly without using even a trace of true energy to resist the toxin.
However, under the powerful effect of the Body of Immunity to All Poisons, the Five Steps Intestine-Piercing Powder's toxicity had no effect whatsoever.
Half an hour later, Su Chen's complexion remained rosy, and he had not suffered the slightest harm.
"Not bad. The Body of Immunity to All Poison works quite well. These 1,500 points weren't wasted either."
With a light laugh, Su Chen opened his personal panel once more.
Host: Su Chen Cultivation: Grandmaster Realm (early stage) Internal Energy: Hundun Treasure Mirror (fifth level—Purple Star River), Nameless Fragmentary Scroll (major achievement) Saber Technique: Unique Saber Technique (major achievement) Lightness Skill: Tread Snow Without Trace (Grand Completion) Weapon: Ring-Pommel Saber with Chi Dragon Patterns Balance: 1,502.5 taels of silver (cannot be used for pay-to-win) Martial Arts Points: 0 Physique: Body of Immunity to All Poisons
Looking at his Martial Arts Points, which had returned to zero once more, Su Chen could not help but smile bitterly. "Great. My Martial Arts Points are empty again. Earning money outside and spending it outside—not a single coin gets brought home..."
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