Gold-Devouring Beast

First Saint Sect, North Hall of the Outer Sect.

Ye Xingchen casually flicked out a soundproof talisman, then plopped down on the hard wooden bed. With a flip of his palm, he turned the storage pouch upside down.

Clatter!

The sound of Spirit Stones pouring out was simply the sweetest symphony in the world.

A full six hundred thousand Low-Grade Spirit Stones instantly covered the narrow bed, nearly burying him alive. Added to his previous stash, his fortune had soared straight to six hundred and fifty thousand.

The feeling of getting filthy rich was damn amazing.

"System, convert them all."

Hesitating for even a second would have been disrespectful to this pile of Spirit Stones.

[ Ding! Spirit Stone energy detected. Converting... Conversion complete. Current Source Points balance: 650,000. ]

Looking at that string of dizzying zeroes on the panel, Ye Xingchen rubbed his hands together, adrenaline surging to the crown of his head like a gambler about to push all his chips in.

One Qi, Three Purities.

Its first realm, "Dao-Origin Awakening," was known in the cultivation world as a heavenly chasm—the dividing line between mortals and gods.

Even ordinary cultivators with mines in their homes might not succeed in awakening, but before a cheat-user, there was no hurdle that could not be crossed.

"One-Click Skip the cultivation process of the first realm of 'One Qi, Three Purities.'"

Buzz—

The next second, it felt as though someone had savagely struck him in the head with a club.

Five hundred thousand Source Points vanished into thin air, transforming into an overbearing torrent that poured down through the crown of his head.

"Ungh!"

Ye Xingchen let out a muffled groan, his entire body instantly curling into a shrimp.

Pain!

Not the kind of pain from torn flesh, but as if he had been thrown into a meat grinder—every inch of bone crushed and reconstructed, every cell violently ripped apart and forcibly stitched back together.

Crisp crackling sounds like beans popping came from within him. His blood raced as though it were speeding down the road, while his heart hammered wildly, shaking his eardrums as if they were about to burst.

Within his dantian, that pitiful Qi Refining Stage spiritual energy vortex was churned straight into fragments.

Then, a streak of tyrannical purple rose up.

Primordial Purple Qi—this was said to have existed before heaven and earth were split apart.

As the purple qi surged, his sea of qi began to collapse and contract, eventually turning into a hazy void.

There was no light, no darkness—only the most primordial chaos.

Ye Xingchen felt as though he had become a human-shaped furnace.

On one side was pain that tore into his bones; on the other was the bliss of soaking in the finest hot spring. This upside-down, polar-opposite sensation nearly made him ascend to heaven and fall into hell at once.

Who knew how long passed.

At last, the roaring inside his body stopped.

Ye Xingchen lay sprawled on the bed like a dead fish, gasping heavily. Sweat mixed with the impurities expelled from his body, leaving him sticky and uncomfortable, yet he grinned like a fool of a rich landlord's family.

He had succeeded!

He flipped off the bed and casually moved his limbs.

Crackle, crackle.

His joints rang out with sharp clinks like colliding metal, sounding nothing like mortal flesh and blood.

Walking to the bronze mirror, he saw that his features had not changed, but his entire aura had been reborn.

His skin was pale as jade, with a faint grayish sheen flowing beneath it. It carried the wildness of a ferocious beast, without the slightest trace of effeminacy.

"So this is Dao-Origin Awakening?"

Ye Xingchen clenched his fist.

The air in his palm exploded at once, producing a dull sonic boom.

He reached into his storage pouch and pulled out a chunk of black iron ore—this stuff was famously hard. Even ordinary spirit artifacts could only strike sparks against it.

He pinched it between two fingers and applied a little force.

Crack.

There was none of the resistance he had expected. It was like crushing a stale pastry. The hard black iron ore crumbled beneath his fingertips, turning into a heap of fine black powder that sifted down.

"Holy shit..."

Ye Xingchen stared at the powder on his fingertips, even he was stunned.

This physical strength was simply absurd.

Before, if he wanted to shatter this stone, he had to gather all his spiritual energy and smash it with his fist. But now? Two fingers, pure physical strength, and it was effortlessly crushed.

How was this even human? He was practically a humanoid tyrannosaur wearing human skin.

[ Ding! Congratulations, Host, on completing "Dao-Origin Awakening." ]

[ Current physique rating: Black Tier. ]

A Black-Tier Physique?

This was a massive profit!

In other words, his body was now comparable to a Black-Tier weapon. If cultivators of the same realm hacked at him with blades, they would probably only hear a clang and fail to even break his skin.

"System, what's the next stage?"

Once he had tasted the marrow, there was no turning back from this rocket-like rate of advancement.

[ Next stage: the second realm of One Qi, Three Purities—Chaos Seed-Grown Azure Lotus. ]

[ Requirement: draw in Chaos Qi and plant a Great Dao Golden Lotus within the void of the dantian. Use it to suppress oneself and forge the body into sainthood. ]

[ Estimated Source Points required: 10,000,000. ]

Pfft—!!

Ye Xingchen sprayed the mouthful of cold water he had just swallowed like a showerhead.

He stared fixedly at the long string of zeroes after that "1" on the panel, his eyes nearly popping out.

"How much? Say that again?!"

[ Ten million. ]

"System, are you jacking up the price on the spot? Even inflation isn't this outrageous!"

Ye Xingchen immediately jumped to his feet. "After five hundred thousand, it jumps straight to ten million? There's no transition? Where are the discount coupons? Where's the beginner's discount?"

Ten million Source Points meant ten million Low-Grade Spirit Stones.

He had originally thought the remaining one hundred and fifty thousand Source Points would let him live comfortably for a while. Now it seemed they were not even enough to fill the gaps between his teeth.

How was this One Qi, Three Purities? This was clearly One Qi, Three Paupers! Even a Gold-Devouring Beast could not eat this much!

Ye Xingchen collapsed into the chair, utterly lifeless.

But he also knew that if he wanted to achieve the legendary Chaos Saint Body, those ten million had to be spent.

Once he planted that azure lotus, his body would completely transcend mortal flesh. Even against an old monster of the Golden Core Realm, he could meet him head-on and punch his head crooked.

Ye Xingchen suddenly sat bolt upright, an old face flashing through his mind.

Zuo Tianhe.

Ten million!

Back then, he had casually named an astronomical price just to show off. Who would have thought that heaven's will had its own designs? That money happened to perfectly fill the system's bottomless pit.

Originally, his attitude toward the Left Clan's affair had been, I'll do my best and make a quick profit while I'm at it.

If he won, he would take the money and leave. If he lost, he would merely lose a little face. In any case, the money for buying stones was not coming from his own pocket.

But now, the nature of things had changed.

That was not merely ten million Spirit Stones. It was his "Chaos Seed-Grown Azure Lotus," his "Chaos Saint Body," and the capital he needed to settle down and survive in this world where the strong devoured the weak!

"I have to find them the Innate Spiritual Milk... Not one coin short of ten million!"

"Master Gu He... Ghost Hand Zhang Sanqian... Daoist 'Heavenly Eye.'"

Ye Xingchen murmured those names, and the casualness in his eyes gradually faded, replaced by the ferocity of a starving wolf guarding its food.

At this moment, anyone who dared block his path would be cutting off his source of wealth.

To cut off another man's source of wealth was like murdering his parents!

"You old bastards had better not provoke me, or I'll make you lose face so badly..."

"But improving my cultivation comes first. I still have one hundred and fifty thousand in my pocket."

"I want Foundation Establishment..."