Terrifying Phantoms, Sky Swallowing Art Mastery!

"What? A pound of Third-Rank Thousand Mountain Bull beef costs a hundred thousand?"

"Why don't you just rob someone!"

Looking at the price of Thousand Mountain Bull beef on the trading platform, Lu Chuan immediately exploded.

One hundred thousand per pound!

Who could afford this?

As for lower-grade Thousand Mountain Bull beef, there was none on the trading platform.

It was said that the Thousand Mountain Bulls that could go to the Starry Sky Battlefield were at least Third-Rank.

"Hoo!"

"Calm down!"

"For the Sky Swallowing Art, no matter how expensive, I have to buy it!"

Lu Chuan still had some funds left, so buying a few pounds of Thousand Mountain Bull beef wouldn't be a problem.

However, Lu Chuan didn't dare to buy too much. Who knew if this Third-Rank Thousand Mountain Bull beef could simplify the Sky Swallowing Art.

He'd buy a pound first to test the waters.

Lin City had Thousand Mountain Bull beef in stock, and since it was a luxury product, the express delivery speed was extremely fast.

In less than half an hour, Lu Chuan received his order.

Looking at the Thousand Mountain Bull beef in his hand, Lu Chuan smacked his lips, "I haven't eaten the meat of the Ten Thousand Races yet. I'll have to savor it properly later."

After speaking, Lu Chuan quickly began to cook.

Thanks to his previous experience stewing chicken soup, once one method was mastered, all methods became easier. Stewing beef wasn't difficult either.

Before long, the beef was out of the pot.

Taking a deep breath of the aroma emanating from the beef, Lu Chuan impatiently picked up a piece and popped it into his mouth.

"Mmm, it tastes good. No wonder this stuff sells for so much."

As Lu Chuan savored it, a towering phantom suddenly appeared in his mind.

The phantom stood proudly in the world, surrounded by hundreds of star clusters shimmering with extremely dazzling light.

Each of these star clusters represented a galaxy!

Beneath the star clusters, phantom images of giant beasts, existing only in ancient legends, lay prostrate. Each phantom image was as large as half a galaxy!

In front of these phantoms, let alone humans, even Earth seemed so insignificant!

Staring at the phantom, Lu Chuan even forgot about the beef in front of him, his entire mind falling into a daze.

"What… what is this?"

Before Lu Chuan could investigate, the phantom instantly disappeared.

In its place were insights about the Sky Swallowing Art.

While digesting the insights, Lu Chuan pondered.

"Could that phantom be the peerless expert who created the Sky Swallowing Art?"

"Or, could that phantom be the expert who cultivated the Sky Swallowing Art to its peak?"

Either possibility proclaimed the extraordinary nature of the Sky Swallowing Art to Lu Chuan.

Taking a deep breath to calm his racing heart, Lu Chuan buried the phantom and his questions in his heart, then focused on eating.

No, he should be eating beef.

As more and more beef entered his stomach, the insights about the Sky Swallowing Art in Lu Chuan's mind gradually increased.

Until the last piece of beef was consumed, this extraordinary Sky Swallowing Art was officially initiated!

[Host: Lu Chuan]
[Cultivation Method: Evergreen Spirit Art 1024/ (Mastered) Sky Swallowing Art 1/100 (Initiated)]
[Realm: Third-Rank Martial Artist (1/ )]
[Martial Arts: Eight Trigrams Swimming Dragon Palm 1067/ (Mastered)]
[Alchemy: Spirit Replenishing Potion 1/ (Mastered), Spirit Gathering Potion 1/ (Mastered)]
[Simplification Points: 12]

"A pound of beef only gave me one point of proficiency?"

"As expected of the Sky Swallowing Art, it's truly amazing!"

"What am I swallowing? I'm swallowing my life!" Lu Chuan gritted his teeth.

One hundred thousand for one point of proficiency. If he wanted to master the Sky Swallowing Art, it would cost at least ten million.

And this was only the initiated level.

At the mastered level, it would cost even more to increase proficiency.

Perhaps by then, a million would give it a bit of proficiency.

And this was just a fragment; if it were the complete Sky Swallowing Art…

Lu Chuan didn't dare to imagine. He figured even devouring the entire Dragon Country wouldn't be enough to cultivate it to perfection.

"Good heavens, I'm about to achieve my goal of being a national burden."

"As in, burdened with debt!"

After a brief moment of self-deprecation, Lu Chuan shifted his focus back to the cultivation technique itself. "No more thinking about that. Let's try out the Sky Swallowing Art first."

"Let's see if the Sky Swallowing Art is as powerful as it's said to be."

As a special cultivation technique, the Sky Swallowing Art was different from normal ones.

Normal cultivation techniques only required sitting in meditation to improve one's cultivation. However, the Sky Swallowing Art required the consumption of all resources containing spiritual energy to increase cultivation.

Coincidentally, Lu Chuan had just such a resource in hand.

"I didn't expect the Spirit Crystals I harvested a while back to be useful now."

Holding a Spirit Crystal, Lu Chuan slowly closed his eyes and then activated the Sky Swallowing Art.

Immediately, the Spirit Crystal in Lu Chuan's hand began to dissipate at a speed visible to the naked eye. At the same time, the number representing his cultivation realm on the panel started to climb rapidly.

About an hour later, Lu Chuan had completely consumed the entire Spirit Crystal.

His cultivation had also shown a significant increase.

[Cultivation Realm: Third-Rank Martial Artist (101/)]

"One Spirit Crystal increased my cultivation by a hundred points! If that's the case, I only need a hundred Spirit Crystals to break through to Fourth-Rank?"

"Hiss! That's too expensive!"

One Spirit Crystal was worth a million, and a hundred Spirit Crystals would be a hundred million!

If you want to know what a money pit is, this is it!

Of course, despite the heartache, Lu Chuan would definitely not miss an opportunity for rapid cultivation advancement.

Not to mention, the cultivation gained through the Sky Swallowing Art was not superficial at all. Compared to before, his foundation was even more solid.

It was killing two birds with one stone.

"It seems that if I want to rapidly improve my cultivation using the Sky Swallowing Art, I'll have to wait until I reach the Azure Dragon Academy."

If the previous Lu Chuan still had reservations about joining the Azure Dragon Academy, then the current Lu Chuan couldn't wait to get there.

Lin City was too small to support Lu Chuan's cultivation of the Sky Swallowing Art.

Only the Azure Dragon Academy, one of the prestigious Four Great Academies, had sufficient resources to support Lu Chuan's cultivation.

As for competition?

In the face of resources, none of that mattered anymore.

"Tomorrow, come quickly…"

Lu Chuan stood by the window, gazing out at the sky with anticipation in his eyes.

The next day, early in the morning.

After a simple farewell to his parents, Lu Chuan walked silently through the streets of Lin City.

Not far away, Chu Feng was smiling and looking at Lu Chuan.

As Lu Chuan approached, Chu Feng smiled and patted his shoulder. "You seem a bit sad."

"Sad?"

Lu Chuan shook his head and glanced back at the familiar streets. "Just a little reluctant to leave."

"There's no need to be reluctant."

Chu Feng continued with a smile, "When you become a Ninth Rank Martial Artist, or even break through Ninth Rank and ascend to the throne, you will realize that this is merely an insignificant fallen leaf in your vast life."

"The Azure Dragon Academy, the Starry Sky Battlefield, and the competition among myriad races are your stage, the places where you need to linger."

While the comfort wasn't particularly profound, Lu Chuan found that his reluctance had indeed diminished after hearing it.

That's right, with the Simplification System, he would absolutely not be confined to a single city.

Goodbye, Lin City.

Azure Dragon Academy, here I co