Ten Thousand Spirit Machines

Earth really was far too remote in the universe.

After nearly two months of traveling around the world and finally visiting all six Base Cities across China, Chu He had reached this conclusion.

Remote and barren.

At first, Chu He had thought that if he could find nearly a thousand kinds of Spirit Machines near Northeast Base City, then traveling across all of China should let him find ten thousand.

But...

"Ah, I was getting ahead of myself!" Chu He shook his head.

He had more or less figured out the reason.

Although anything in the world could potentially give birth to a Spirit Machine, certain conditions were still needed.

First, the area had to be relatively rich in energy.

Second, Chu He suspected it might have something to do with intelligence.

Aside from monsters, whose bodies yielded Spirit Machines more easily, plants that had grown for many years—and even minerals—could also give birth to Spirit Machines.

Of course, these conditions only related to the birth of Heaven and Earth Spiritual Essence, and they were based on the Spirit Machines Chu He had encountered so far.

The different properties inherent to each kind of Heaven and Earth Spiritual Essence also had to do with the composition of the substance itself.

On that point, Chu He was at a loss.

Ultimately, when it came to Heaven and Earth Spiritual Essence, he was still just a beginner.

For now, however, most places on Earth where Spirit Machines could easily form were home to groups of Lord Rank monsters. Some were even in the territory of King Rank monsters.

With his current strength, Chu He didn't dare force his way into those places.

And among the Spirit Machines born in ordinary places, quite a few came from plants and minerals that overlapped.

As a result, even now Chu He had collected only a mere eight thousand or so different kinds of Spirit Machines.

That made sense. After thousands of years of development in China, by the time of the Great Nirvana, there had only been a little over ten thousand medicinal ingredients in total, nearly 10% of which were animal and mineral materials.

After the Great Nirvana, there were many more monster materials, but the total still wasn't very large.

And it was easy to predict that the further he went, the more these materials would overlap.

It was hard to say whether he could collect even a hundred thousand different kinds of Spirit Machines from across the entire Earth.

"There's a long road ahead!" Chu He shook his head and decided to head to Europe to collect different kinds of Spirit Machines there.

Paris Base City.

"This is the last Base City in Europe."

Chu He looked at the number of Spirit Machines, which had reached over 9,900, and felt inexplicably restless.

He knew that compared with his search back home, collecting them in Europe had been much easier...

Back home, Chu He had collected Spirit Machines within a three-day journey of each Base City. In Europe, that range had been only about a day...

But the number of different Spirit Machines he found was still far too small.

And a great many of them were duplicates.

So far, he had found only a little over a thousand new kinds, most of them contributed by monsters unique to Europe.

"Over 9,900 kinds..."

"Hopefully I can reach ten thousand around here."

As the number of Spirit Machines analyzed by the White Jade Wine Pot drew closer and closer to ten thousand, its appearance in Chu He's Sea of Consciousness grew smoother and more lustrous, and the light it gave off grew softer.

A mysterious insight spread through Chu He's Sea of Consciousness.

"Once ten thousand Spirit Machines have been reached, the White Jade Wine Pot will unlock a new function."

When he received the Wine God Inheritance, Chu He had sensed that as his strength grew, the White Jade Wine Pot would unlock more abilities.

But only now did he truly understand. The strength it referred to was measured by the number of Spirit Machines analyzed by the White Jade Wine Pot, not by his own strength.

That made sense. The cultivation systems in the Wine God's world and his own might be different, so why would the pot unlock abilities according to the cultivation levels of this world?

When he had reached a hundred Spirit Machines, Chu He had gained some fundamental understanding of Spirit Machines and Wine Recipes.

At the time, he had thought he'd come to that realization on his own. Now he understood that it had been information from the first stage of rewards, released by the White Jade Wine Pot.

The second stage was ten thousand Spirit Machines.

And following that pattern, the third stage would require a million Spirit Machines!

He probably wouldn't be able to reach that number on Earth. He would have to wait until he entered the universe before collecting more.

Walking around the outskirts of Paris Base City and taking in its architecture, so different from what he'd seen back home, Chu He turned to the French guide beside him.

"Whiteman, where's that Lord Rank Mountain Giant Ape you mentioned?"

Adams Whiteman was an Advanced General-Level guide whom Chu He had hired in Paris Base City.

To be honest, since coming to this world, Chu He had never studied a foreign language.

After all, the two strongest people in the world today both had Chinese ancestry. Even their martial arts books were written in Chinese.

As a Warrior, Chu He had no reason to go out of his way to learn a foreign language.

On the contrary, whether it came to martial arts philosophy or the pursuit of martial arts, China was the strongest on Earth.

So those who had trained at the War God Training Camp of the Extreme Martial Arts Gym or the Thunder Dojo had all learned some Chinese.

This trend had naturally influenced Warrior groups in other countries. To pursue the path of the Warrior, many had taught themselves Chinese.

Of course, when it came to technology, like Laser Cannons, America still had the more advanced technology on Earth.

But technology had nothing to do with Chu He, a Warrior.

The Adams Whiteman standing before him was a Warrior in Paris Base City who had taught himself Chinese.

Chu He had hired him as his guide for the past few days because he spoke Chinese fluently. He hadn't expected Adams Whiteman to bring him news of a Lord Rank monster.

According to Adams, the Mountain Giant Ape even seemed to be guarding a Spirit of Vegetation.

"Don't worry, Mr. Chu. I swear to God, that monster is in this valley, and its group really does have only one Lord Rank monster."

"Whiteman, if what you say is true, then after I kill that Mountain Giant Ape, I'll only take the Spirit of Vegetation and the ape's heart."

"You can keep all the materials on the ape that can be sold."

"Of course it's true!" Adams didn't even blink. He thumped his chest with a resounding bang. "I, Whiteman, wouldn't dare deceive anyone, let alone a War God!"

"Good." Chu He nodded and gestured for Whiteman to lead the way.

He didn't really care whether the other man was lying. Even if he had a group of people waiting to ambush Chu He, as long as they couldn't fly, Chu He could still escape if he couldn't beat them.

As for the Planetary Level...

It wasn't that Chu He looked down on himself. With his current strength, which wasn't even enough to make him an Invincible War God among Warriors, he wasn't worth a Planetary Level fighter's notice.

What surprised Chu He, though, was that Adams Whiteman really hadn't lied to him.

Once they entered the unnamed valley, a Mountain Giant Ape as huge as King Kong soon appeared in Chu He's field of vision.