Chapter 13: Generous Rewards

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Chu Chen stood within the Gallery of Illustrations as the familiar prompt sounded once more.

"Successfully slain the Blood Demon Hawk, a fifth-tier beast. Reward: one copy of the Insight Technique."

"First time using a demon beast to slay another demon beast—extra reward unlocked: a piece of the Ancient Battlefield puzzle."

"Completing the Ancient Battlefield puzzle allows teleportation to the site of large-scale battles between human cultivators and beast clans, where treasures await."

"This place holds forgotten supreme magical weapons, ancient beast remains, top-grade elixirs, and other cultivation resources."

"Friendly reminder: Be sure to clear your inventory before entering the Ancient Battlefield."

"Successfully killed a rare demon beast, the Corpse Guardian demon, a fifth-tier beast. Rewards as follows:"

"One Spirit Refinement Breakthrough Pill."

"Weapon enchantment materials: one bottle of diamond sand, enchantment attribute choice of five elements, plus one additional enchantment altar activation."

"One Demon Control Bell."

"One spirit beast egg."

"One Divine Transformation Realm experience card, valid for one day."

"One silver-threaded protective armor: no effect against Qi Refinement Realm attacks, halves damage from Spirit Refinement Realm attacks, ineffective against Divine Transformation Realm."

"One thousand Spirit Resonance Pills."

"Utilizing demon beasts to slay demon beasts activated an additional reward: another piece of the Ancient Battlefield puzzle."

"Combined with the three pieces previously earned from the giant serpents, Chu Chen now possessed three puzzle pieces in total."

The voice in the gallery faded as Chu Chen eyed the floating bottles and jars before him, first retrieving the spirit beast egg.

About the size of a goose egg, its surface was deep purple, covered with needle-sized pores.

It felt hard to the touch; ordinary bumps and knocks could not harm it.

He lifted the egg, holding it up to the flickering candlelight, revealing a faint dark shape inside the purple shell—like a giant tadpole.

Satisfied it was a fine egg, he tucked it into his bosom.

In his hand, he held the Coiling Serpent Sword. The hilt ended in three serpent heads, the blade gleamed with metallic luster, faint serpent scale patterns barely visible.

A fifth-tier beast’s reward was a fifth-tier weapon.

This Coiling Serpent Sword had just met the minimum threshold for enchantment.

Chu Chen had a complete set of enchantment materials but hesitated whether to use them on this transitional weapon.

After all, the sword was an interim tool; enchanting it might waste precious materials.

Yet, the priority now was rapid cultivation and combat power enhancement.

"Activate the enchantment altar."

At his command, a black hole about the size of a basketball appeared in the gallery corridor, faint golden lines flowing within.

"Please place the weapon to be enchanted inside."

Following instructions, Chu Chen tossed the Coiling Serpent Sword into the black hole.

"Please place enchantment material: diamond sand."

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"Please place enchantment material: ancient beast’s vital blood."

"Please place enchantment attribute material."

"Please select enchantment attribute: Metal, Wood, Water, Fire, Earth."

Chu Chen pondered briefly. Using the Profound Thunder Sword Art, among the five elements, only Metal could achieve a synergy greater than the sum of its parts.

Profound Thunder was akin to lightning, and lightning’s conductivity was highest in metal.

Enchanting with Metal attribute would perfectly complement the sword art.

"Metal!"

Upon his decision, the black hole vanished instantly.

He blinked in confusion and exclaimed, "Where did it go?"

Were the items lost, or was the enchantment underway?

He had no idea how long enchantment would take or if there was a success rate.

Chu Chen reassured himself that the gallery rewards would never deceive him.

While waiting patiently, he flipped through the Insight Technique.

The human body’s meridians interconnect intricately, with channels crossing and merging.

Cultivators who open their meridians not only become vessels for spiritual energy but experience different effects depending on the flow speed and direction of energy within.

When practicing the Profound Thunder Sword Art, Chu Chen familiarized himself with the energy flow through his meridians.

Through continuous practice, he transformed the energy circulation into muscle memory.

If the difficulty of circulating energy for the Profound Thunder Sword Art was rated “one,” the Insight Technique’s energy circulation difficulty reached “three.”

It required not only precise flow direction but also regulation of three distinct flow speeds.

Chu Chen practiced repeatedly according to the book’s instructions—failing time and again.

Either the energy took the wrong path, or he forgot to accelerate when needed.

Each failure forced a restart from the beginning.

Though tedious and monotonous, it was a process that visibly improved over time.

After a while, he had mastered about ninety percent of the Insight Technique’s energy circulation.

Suddenly, the vanished black hole reappeared.

He immediately ceased energy circulation and stared at the dark portal.

The first thing to catch his eye was the three metal serpent heads at the sword’s hilt.

Then the faintly red hilt, the guard shaped like a serpent’s open mouth, and the slowly manifesting blade resembling a flickering serpent’s tongue.

Chu Chen gripped the hilt firmly, holding the Coiling Serpent Sword before his eyes.

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Its metallic sheen was dazzling, reflecting his face like a mirror.

The serpent scale patterns adorning the blade turned a pale gold.

As Chu Chen twisted the sword, the golden serpent scale patterns shimmered faintly.

He activated the Profound Thunder Sword Art; the sword crackled with sound.

The bright white electric arcs that had danced along the blade transformed into segments of pale golden arcs.

As he increased the energy flow, the golden arcs flickered restlessly.

Like a fierce beast pacing impatiently in the arena, ready to be unleashed.

Watching the transformation of the Coiling Serpent Sword, Chu Chen nodded in satisfaction.

He then donned the silver-threaded armor, pulling his consciousness back to reality, now holding a pill in hand.

Without hesitation, he swallowed the Spirit Refinement Breakthrough Pill.

Unlike the peak Qi Refinement pill, this breakthrough pill caused a tickling sensation.

It felt as if something was kneading, pressing, stretching, and tugging his meridians from within.

The movements were slight, with no pain.

As the itchiness faded, Chu Chen’s meridians were successfully reconstructed, now sturdier than before.

The red demon pill hanging at his neck sent another chill through him.

Since reaching peak Qi Refinement, that bead had seemed broken.

At peak Qi Refinement, the spiritual energy saturates the meridians, preventing further absorption of heaven and earth energy.

The breakthrough from Qi to Spirit Refinement was the process of reinforcing the meridians to withstand the spiritual pressure caused by the liquefaction of spiritual energy.

This process could be achieved through cultivation techniques, pill assistance, and time.

With ample resources and willingness to spend, one could reconstruct meridians in a year.

Without funds, it might take seven or eight years.

Having learned from others’ experiences, Chu Chen resolved not to reveal his Spirit Refinement Realm cultivation to anyone.

His gaze shifted forward as he drove the Insight Technique with spiritual energy to observe its true effect.

His eyes zoomed like a camera lens, bringing distant scenes closer.

"Hmm?"

He saw several beasts crowded together, fighting over something to gnaw on, with signs of recent combat nearby.

One beast, in a food dispute, tore into another, revealing half the body of a young girl’s corpse.

Chu Chen’s eyes widened instantly—the beasts were feasting on none other than Cheng Meimei, a colleague from the Demon Suppression Bureau who had come here with them.

He glanced left and right; Fang Lingling and Dong Qin were back to back, surrounded by several beasts.

Without hesitation, he pocketed the Insight Technique and charged forward.