A Major Upgrade to His Innate Abilities

Luo Zhou had gone numb. With Pang Yunhua, there was only one word on his mind: kill!

Wherever he went, everything was sent tumbling and crashing down. He rampaged without restraint.

But Luo Zhou wasn't stupid. On the battlefield, he instinctively avoided second-tier sea beasts.

Second-tier sea beasts were equivalent to human Qi Refining cultivators. They had spiritual energy protecting them and could turn it into shields or armor.

Without using Dragon-Slaying Thrust, Luo Zhou couldn't break through their true qi defenses.

So he avoided them.

He focused on killing first-tier sea beasts. When picking persimmons, you always squeezed the softest ones!

After who knew how many rescues alongside Pang Yunhua, something suddenly changed. Lu Xingzhou turned around, and Luo Zhou realized they were back inside the city.

Pang Yunhua was covered in blood too. He panted heavily as he said:

"All right, you can rotate out now. We've done everything we could.

"Besides, night is almost here. Once the formations take effect, there's basically no fighting at night.

"Xiao Zhou, you can rest!"

At that, Luo Zhou collapsed, barely able to stand.

He had long since used up all his Qi Returning Powder.

"Xiao Zhou, are you going home to rest tonight, or staying on the City Wall to stand by?

"Those who stay on the City Wall get twenty Broken Spirits for the night."

"No matter how much you pay, I'm going home. I have to go home.

"I'm exhausted!"

"All right, come with me. You can collect your rewards, and then I'll have someone take you home.

"When you get back, remember to cultivate before you rest, no matter how tired you are.

"You have to push through the fatigue, or you could end up with hidden internal injuries.

"Also, don't sleep too deeply tonight.

"If there's an emergency and they urgently summon you, remember: don't come to the City Wall. Go to the City Lord's Mansion.

"If things have gotten bad enough for them to summon you at night, then the City Wall has already fallen!"

"Uncle Pang, I understand. Thank you for the advice!"

Pang Yunhua took Luo Zhou to collect his rewards.

After a shift change, cultivators could generally collect their rewards.

Strategist Captain Guo had calculated everyone's gains from this battle down to the last detail.

They fought and bled, and they received rewards in return. It made every cultivator who had taken part feel that all their efforts had been worthwhile.

They wouldn't actually give out Spirit Stones or Broken Spirits, though. That was to keep you from earning too much, getting rich, and deciding to dodge the fighting and run off.

Instead, they'd give you a Military Merit Scroll to record your gains.

You could see the rewards with your own eyes, but if you didn't fight next time, you wouldn't get a thing.

They dangled that Military Merit Scroll in front of you to keep you fighting for your life!

The number on Luo Zhou's Military Merit Scroll was 23,576 Broken Spirits!

That Siege Crab was worth 15,000 Broken Spirits. The rest came from killing members of the Sea Race.

That came to twenty-three Spirit Stones. Today's battle had been worth it!

Besides the Military Merit Scroll, Pang Yunhua tugged Luo Zhou along and said:

"Let's get you a new set of gear."

He took Luo Zhou to the armory.

"Do you have any Spirit Stones on you?"

Luo Zhou nodded. "I do."

"Give me one!"

Luo Zhou handed Pang Yunhua a Spirit Stone.

"Deacon Li, this is Luo Zhou. Captain Guo specifically asked me to make sure he got a set of armor!"

With that, the two of them shook hands, and the Spirit Stone changed hands, ending up with Li the Deacon.

The armory's Li the Deacon immediately nodded. "All right, no problem!"

He promptly brought out a full set of armor: a helmet, inner armor, breastplate, elbow guards, gauntlets, skirt armor, knee guards, and combat boots.

Luo Zhou had no idea what kind of spiritual metal the armor was made from. It was incredibly sturdy, yet light and flexible.

He liked it very much, but said:

"Could I exchange the helmet for a headscarf? Preferably a yellow one!"

In this battle, the golden armor from Overturning Rivers and Seas had saved Luo Zhou's life.

He felt the golden armor had to be extraordinary, so he asked to exchange it.

"No problem. We have plenty of headscarves!"

Li the Deacon exchanged the helmet for a headscarf, then brought Luo Zhou two sets of armor.

Luo Zhou said, "One set..."

Pang Yunhua covered his mouth and said, "Two sets. One for fighting, one for backup."

The armory's Li the Deacon said, "All right. If the armor breaks, come to me and I'll exchange it."

That Spirit Stone hadn't gone to waste!

Pang Yunhua whispered, "We risk our lives fighting for the Fang family. What's wrong with taking a set of armor from them?

"If you don't like the armor, sell it when we're done. A set's worth three Spirit Stones!"

Luo Zhou nodded. "Thank you!"

The armory's Li the Deacon said, "You don't have a proper weapon, and you're still carrying that busted wooden stick.

"Come on, I'll get you a few good ones."

A saber, a Horse-slaying Saber, a Xuānhuā Axe, a Silver Iron Spear, a Bintie Club, a Bintie Shield...

He took eight weapons in one go, and every one of them was expensive.

The Bintie Club was especially nice. It was hollow inside, so you could hide a blade within it. Luo Zhou liked it very much.

Taking so many weapons made Luo Zhou feel a little awkward. Li the Deacon smiled and said:

"Take them. If the city falls, who knows which member of the Sea Race will end up with them?"

Luo Zhou had nothing to say. Li the Deacon had a point.

Li the Deacon also gave Luo Zhou three bottles of Qi Returning Powder and one bottle of Wound Healing Ointment.

Someone delivered all of these things specially to Luo Zhou's home.

Besides all that, there was all kinds of delicious food. They couldn't very well make cultivators who'd fought all day go home and drink cold water with dry rations, could they?

Luo Zhou thanked Pang Yunhua, then rode home in a special vehicle.

The armor, weapons, and food were all delivered too.

It was free, so he'd be a fool not to take it. This was all money!

Luo Zhou ignored everything else. Covered in blood from head to toe, he immediately went to take a bath.

Afterward, he washed it all down with a hearty meal.

There was a particularly delicious chunk of white meat, rich in spiritual energy.

It was meat from the Siege Crab's claw, which he had killed. After it was hauled back, it had been turned into a feast and shared with everyone.

After eating, Luo Zhou took his time and drank tea for a while.

Once he'd rested enough, he finally checked his gains.

There were already 1,351 Fate Points inside the Eternal Fire Sea!

During the battle, Luo Zhou had deliberately moved quickly, absorbing plenty of Fate Points from those who died.

He burst out laughing. What a haul!

Fate Points could be refined ten times, a hundred times, or a thousand times!

He wanted to go straight for a thousand refinements and get it over with in one shot.

But when he carefully sensed the limit, he realized his cultivation wasn't high enough. He couldn't refine them a thousand times.

He could only do a hundred.

Then a hundred it was. He began the hundredfold refinement.

He tempered his body and focused his mind!

As it burned, his body grew stronger bit by bit.

But Luo Zhou's attention wasn't on his body. He focused his mind instead.

He wanted to see how his many divine abilities and special powers would change.

Thirteen chances!

As he focused, Luo Zhou discovered that a hundredfold refinement really had no effect on divine abilities.

His divine abilities—Dragon-Slaying Thrust, Overturning Rivers and Seas, Three Thousand Weak Waters, and Nine Bulls' Strength—showed no change at all under the hundredfold refinement.

On the first attempt, the spiritual rune focused on the special power Flying Pounce, and began to burn.

Flying Pounce immediately advanced, going straight from a special power to a trait, then from a trait to an innate ability!

Innate ability: Instant Step!

Using this innate ability, he could take one step and instantly travel back and forth within a radius of four zhang and three chi around him.

The stamina it consumed was negligible. However, after each step, he needed five breaths to rest.

He could also only take ninety-nine steps a day. He couldn't manage a hundredth.

It was countless times stronger than his original special power, Flying Pounce.

Luo Zhou laughed out loud and continued the refinement.

The second one was the special power Rewarding Good and Punishing Evil. He hadn't expected it to come up, and Luo Zhou was delighted.

But his excitement was premature. The hundredfold refinement did nothing to Rewarding Good and Punishing Evil.

Its grade was too high. The refinement had no effect on it, and that chance to focus on the hundredfold refinement had gone to waste.

The existence of Rewarding Good and Punishing Evil completely overturned the common rule taught by the Daoist Academy: divine abilities came first, innate abilities second, traits third, and special powers were the lowest of all.

The third hundredfold refinement landed on the innate ability Rattlesnake.

Luo Zhou thought it would be another wasted chance, but the subsonic-wave attack from Rattlesnake gained one more soundwave.

The hundredfold refinement could promote a special power or trait into an innate ability, and it could further strengthen innate abilities too.

On the fourth attempt, the trait Evil Suppression turned into the innate ability Evil Control.

Before, it could only suppress evil. Now, he could control it. He could become evil himself!

Luo Zhou had a faint feeling that he'd gained the cultivation talent to practice evil cultivation techniques.

On the fifth attempt, the trait Insect Control turned into the innate ability Insect Emperor.

Every kind of spiritual insect would mistake Luo Zhou for its controlling Insect Emperor.

This innate ability was incredibly rare and precious.

Luo Zhou now had the cultivation talent to practice Gu cultivation.

On the sixth attempt, he got the innate ability Telekinesis, but he couldn't feel that it had grown much.

Telekinesis was a major innate ability. One round of the hundredfold refinement wasn't enough to show any obvious change.

On the seventh attempt, the special power Flash of Inspiration came up. Surprisingly, it didn't change at all, just like Rewarding Good and Punishing Evil.

Luo Zhou gritted his teeth. It looked like there was something special about that kid, Zuo Sanguang.

Could he be the Jellyfish Saint?

On the eighth attempt, Insect Emperor came up again. It was strengthened, but there still wasn't much of a change.

On the ninth attempt, the special power Dexterity began to evolve into an innate ability.

This time, something unexpected happened too.

Luo Zhou suddenly realized that he could keep going in the direction of dexterity and increase his agility.

Or he could change direction and turn it into an ability suited for casting spells.

Luo Zhou thought it over. He already had Rattlesnake for agility, so he immediately chose the spellcasting path.

It cost him another chance to focus on the hundredfold refinement.

The special power Dexterity turned into the innate ability Spirit Technique!

When he cast spells or divine techniques, entering a state of dexterity let him cast them quickly and saved thirty percent of his magical power. Casting felt easy and smooth.

But Luo Zhou would have to advance to the Qi Refining stage before he could cast spells or divine techniques.

On the eleventh attempt, the special power Clairaudience turned into the innate ability Clairaudience.

Apart from expanding the area it covered and making his hearing clearer, nothing else changed.

This showed that Clairaudience was no simple ability either. There were hidden depths to it.

On the twelfth attempt, Rewarding Good and Punishing Evil came up again, but it didn't change.

On the thirteenth attempt, it landed on the innate ability Telekinesis. Luo Zhou clearly felt that he had gained better control over it.

A few more rounds should let him fully master his Telekinesis.

By this point, beneath his divine abilities, he had the innate abilities Telekinesis, Rattlesnake, Evil Control, Insect Emperor, Instant Step, Clairaudience, and Spirit Technique!

Besides those, he also had the special powers:

Rewarding Good and Punishing Evil, Flash of Inspiration, Keen Dharma Eye, and Pathfinding Light.

Keen Dharma Eye and Pathfinding Light were the unlucky ones. They hadn't come up even once.

But Luo Zhou didn't mind. Tomorrow he would keep fighting, build up another dozen or so rounds of the hundredfold refinement, and keep washing away his limits, growing stronger and stronger!