Tier 2 Resources

"Yang Chen is quite good. It's already a foregone conclusion that he'll take second place in Area 8 this month."

Lin Chuan looked at Yang Chen's name, more and more satisfied the longer he looked. As if thinking of something, a smug smile tugged at the corner of his lips. "Let's see how that crazy woman dares to push her luck with me now!"

The crazy woman he spoke of was the steward of Area 5. Among all the Outer Sect disciples of Hidden Sword Peak, almost everyone knew her.

For ordinary people, going all out was a last resort, but for that crazy woman, going all out was just the opening move.

What's more, her talent was astonishing, and her background was even more unimaginable. Therefore, almost no one on Hidden Sword Peak dared to provoke her.

There was a bet between the two of them. The terms were simple: as long as Area 8 surpassed Area 5 to take second place within the year that the cultivation rankings were active, Area 8 would win.

The stakes: 5,000 Spirit Crystals!

This sum was not small for them, who were on the verge of breaking through to the Transcendent Realm. But the Spirit Crystals were secondary. The main thing was to make that crazy woman eat crow, which was what truly delighted Lin Chuan.

Thinking of the crazy woman throwing a tantrum in his cultivation ground at that very moment made Lin Chuan feel as comfortable as if he had swallowed an immortal elixir.

He had decided that after receiving the 5,000 Spirit Crystals, he would keep half for himself. Of the remaining 2,500 Spirit Crystals, he would give half to the disciples who made the rankings and the other half to the disciples at the bottom.

He got to vent his anger and received 2,500 Spirit Crystals. Yang Chen and the others on the rankings would also benefit, and the disciples at the bottom would get a taste of it too. They wouldn't necessarily be grateful to the sect, but at least they wouldn't have too many grievances. This could be considered a win-win situation.

As for those troublemaking senior disciples, they had only themselves to blame for not working hard enough in their batch and failing to uphold the glory of Area 8.

While the outside world was abuzz, Yang Chen had already completed two rounds of cultivation at his residence.

After finishing his training, he summoned his status panel:

[Host: Yang Chen]
[Realm: Blood Martial First Layer, Punching Force: 18586]
[Daily Spirit Crystals: 10]

"After breaking through my cultivation, the boost from the Eight Directions Body Refining Technique is greater than in the Qi Martial Realm, but correspondingly, the time it takes to reach my body's limit has also significantly increased."

He had broken through that morning. He was naturally delighted by his cultivation breakthrough, as his daily Spirit Crystals had increased tenfold, which would allow him to advance smoothly in the Blood Martial Realm.

However, he had not forgotten to cultivate diligently. After his first training session, he discovered that his Punching Force had increased by several kilograms compared to the Qi Martial Realm, and the time required for each training session had also increased considerably.

But overall, the improvement gained from daily cultivation in the Blood Martial Realm was far superior to that in the Qi Martial Realm. Of course, the difficulty of breaking through in the Blood Martial Realm was also not ordinary.

To advance from the first to the second layer of the Blood Martial Realm required Bloodline Power equivalent to a 5,000-kilogram increase in Punching Force.

A single minor realm advancement required a 5,000-kilogram difference in strength. This showed how great the strength gap became as martial artists cultivated further.

Without the aid of resources, relying solely on personal hard work, it would take at least three months to advance a minor realm.

This was for those with sufficient talent and diligent cultivation. For those with slightly less talent and who were not as diligent, it would take at least two more months.

When advancing from the third to the fourth layer of the Blood Martial Realm, the required Bloodline Power would be equivalent to a 10,000-kilogram increase in Punching Force. A minor realm advancement would take at least half a year.

This was why many disciples could not advance to the Outer Sect. How could it be so easy to cultivate to the peak of the Blood Martial Realm within five years?

That evening, Yang Chen, for once, gave himself a break. This was perhaps the earliest he had slept in ten months. It wasn't that he didn't want to cultivate, but rather that his purse was empty. Those 10 Spirit Crystals would only be distributed tomorrow.

The next day arrived quickly. Yang Chen immediately contacted Wang Feng and bought a Qi and Blood Pill from him.

Wang Feng's expression was somewhat regretful when he left. In the past, Yang Chen used to buy Qi Strength Pills in batches of two bottles, but now he was buying them one by one.

Yang Chen had his own difficulties. After breaking through to the Blood Martial Realm, Tier 1 resources had become much less helpful to him. To maintain high-speed cultivation, he needed Tier 2 resources.

The Qi and Blood Pill was a Tier 2 pill and the most suitable for Blood Martial Realm martial artists. However, it was expensive. A single pill cost him 4 Spirit Crystals. He still needed to save a few Spirit Crystals to inquire at the mess hall about Tier 2 Fierce Beast Meat.

However, this situation would soon ease. In a few days, he would have a considerable amount of Spirit Crystals, and he wouldn't have to worry about not being able to afford Tier 2 resources.

After returning to Spirit Field No. 8 and inspecting it, he eagerly entered the wooden house to begin cultivating. After reaching his limit, he swallowed the Qi and Blood Pill and began to absorb its medicinal properties.

Half an hour later, he looked at his status panel, his eyes filled with pleasant surprise.

[Realm: Blood Martial First Layer, Punching Force: 18672]

In just one cultivation session, his strength had increased by 86 kilograms! At this rate, his strength would increase by at least 130 kilograms per day. If supplemented with other Tier 2 resources, the daily increase in strength would be even greater.

He immediately began to calculate. He now had 300 Spirit Crystals at his disposal per month. He had inquired at the mess hall before dawn about Tier 2 Fierce Beast Meat: 80 kilograms of Fierce Beast Meat cost 5 Spirit Crystals. At a rate of 20 jin per day, it would cost approximately 0.8 Spirit Crystals per day.

When sold in bottles, a bottle of Qi and Blood Pills cost 15 Spirit Crystals, with four pills per bottle. This amounted to less than 4 Spirit Crystals per day.

Together, this would be less than 140 Spirit Crystals per month. With the remaining Spirit Crystals, he could invest in other resources.

For example, he could arrange to use Spirit Calming Incense and Muscle Relaxing and Vitality Pills daily. This would cost him about 90 Spirit Crystals per month. He also learned about a Tier 2 spiritual fruit called the Nine Leaf Profound Spirit Fruit, which grew on the Nine Leaf Profound Spirit Tree. It matured once every ten years, and consuming it could increase a martial artist's Bloodline Power without any hidden dangers.

The Nine Leaf Profound Spirit Tree only grew in places with abundant spiritual energy. Each harvest yielded ninety-nine fruits, and each fruit cost 5 Spirit Crystals. It was said that Hidden Sword Peak had a treasure land specifically for cultivating rare spiritual trees, guarded by inner sect elders year-round, making it one of Hidden Sword Peak's important industries.

He couldn't eat one every day, but eating one every three days was feasible. With these resources accumulated, he could increase his Punching Force by at least 200 kilograms of Bloodline Power per day. This way, his cultivation speed in the Blood Martial Realm would even surpass that of the Qi Martial Realm.

Thinking of this, Yang Chen felt invigorated.

If this trend continued, he wouldn't dare to claim first place on the newcomer cultivation rankings, as there were only three months left.

However, if it came to who among their generation could advance to the Outer Sect first, he felt he could compete with Huang Tianyu and the other two.

With this excitement, time quickly passed, more than a day.

After completing his final patrol mission of the day, Yang Chen headed towards the residential area. It was the end of the tenth month since he joined the sect. Three more people had broken through to the Blood Martial Realm in the past two days. He didn't want to be squeezed out of the top ten, so he was determined to show his skill on the Testing Stele today and stabilize his ranking.

Not long after he left, someone he did not expect appeared on his path back.

"Zhou Han!"

Yang Chen's eyes turned cold, and his body immediately tensed up.