Chapter 270 - 267: The Distinction of Magic
Time flew by.
In the blink of an eye, a month had passed.
Over the course of the month, Shen Changchuan had patrolled the four corners of the land, traveling from one village and cultivator settlement to another, slaying one rampaging Demon Beast after another.
In these past days,
he had traversed most of the region within a radius of several thousand miles around the Border Desolate Forest.
He had even reached the outskirts of other cities.
The scope of his activities,
was more than ten times larger than the area he had covered in an entire year when he was stationed at Dawan Village!
This was also the first time Shen Changchuan had ventured beyond the several-hundred-mile radius of Dawan Village, getting to see the wider world around him.
Of course,
his efforts
yielded considerable rewards for Shen Changchuan.
In one month,
he had killed three Demon Beasts at the Qi Introduction Ninth Layer Peak,
along with five more at the Ninth Layer Early and Middle Stages.
The remaining Demon Beasts at the Qi Introduction Seventh and Eighth Layers numbered more than twenty.
Converted to Sect Contribution Points,
this amounted to over two thousand points!
Such an amount
was enough to clear his Sect Contribution Point debt for the current year, and even cover his dues for the second and third years.
This left Shen Changchuan feeling somewhat satisfied.
It made the significant time and effort he had spent tracking down the Demon Beasts and slaying them one by one feel worthwhile.
After all, the time and energy he expended were not insignificant.
If he had instead spent this month in secluded cultivation within the Sect,
he could have practiced several more techniques, and the progress bar for his Divine Skill Sanqing Forest Sword Array would have inched forward.
However,
what Shen Changchuan didn’t know was that,
if his fellow disciples were to learn of his battle record and the speed at which he mowed down his enemies,
they would probably be sick with envy.
One must understand,
even genius elites among Cultivators, despite mastering numerous techniques and Magical Artifacts, couldn’t guarantee an unscathed victory against a Demon Beast of the same level.
This was because most Demon Beasts had an advantage with their tough hides and thick flesh, and they also possessed Talent Magic, which was nearly comparable to a human Cultivator’s Perfection Level techniques.
And most importantly,
a Demon Beast’s final counterattack when near death could cost you your life if you weren’t careful!
Factoring in the time and energy spent just finding the Demon Beasts,
even if several Outer Disciples at the Ninth Layer Realm teamed up,
killing two or three Demon Beasts at the Qi Introduction Eighth or Ninth Layer in a month would be considered a good haul.
How could they compare to him,
who mowed them down like weeds, slaughtering so many Demon Beasts in just a single month.
’This should be enough.’
After easily slaying an Eighth Layer Late Stage Demon Beast with Xiaofeng’s help and stuffing its corpse into a Storage Bag meant specifically for Demon Beast carcasses,
the thought occurred to Shen Changchuan, considering how much harder it had become to find Demon Beasts lately.
’Two to three thousand Sect Contribution Points,’
’should cover my expenses for the next three years.’
Although he would still have to pay a certain amount of Sect Contribution Points every year after this three-year "internship period,"
that was a problem for the future.
Based on his current progress,
Shen Changchuan felt he should be able to break through to the Soul Emergence Realm within two or three years.
Of course,
the most important thing was that after his sweep, there weren’t many rampaging Demon Beasts left in the area.
It had taken him several days just to find this latest Eighth Layer Late Stage Demon Beast.
The returns were already diminishing significantly.
’I should head back, then!’
Shen Changchuan had made his decision.
’Come to think of it, while the Demon Beasts on this trip didn’t pose much of a challenge, the real combat experience was still beneficial to me...’
’At the very least, my application of the many Perfection Level techniques I’ve mastered has become much smoother... Having real combat experience and having none are two completely different things.’
As he mused,
Shen Changchuan raised his palm.
In his palm, faint flashes of sword edges, lightning, and a cyan-green light flickered...
These
were reflections of the several Perfection Techniques he had mastered.
However,
possessing power
and knowing how to wield it
were two different matters.
It was like a game character with a full arsenal of skills off cooldown.
Without practice to use them smoothly, one could never unleash their true power.
However,
Shen Changchuan just shook his head slightly.
’In the end, this can only be considered a minor, unexpected gain.’
’It’s not worth spending too much time on this.’
’Perfection Techniques are just tools for me to accumulate experience.’
’My breakthrough to Soul Emergence is imminent. This stuff will soon be useless.’
’I’d be better off spending all my time on advancing to the Soul Emergence Realm.’
After joining the Dragon Cloud Sect, Shen Changchuan’s perspective had broadened considerably.
For example,
he now knew that techniques were divided into tiers.
The many low, middle, and high-grade techniques he had mastered
were actually all just considered Tier One Techniques.
And these Tier One Techniques were only suitable for Cultivators in the Qi Introduction Realm.
They were practically useless in a battle between those in the Soul Emergence Realm.
This was why,
even though a True Cultivator of the Soul Emergence Realm could master a Tier One Technique to Perfection in just two or three days, very few of them actually bothered to practice or use them.
True Cultivators of the Soul Emergence Realm practiced and used what were known as Tier Two Magic.
Compared to Tier One,
Tier Two Magic was immeasurably more powerful.
For instance, the Demon Cultivator Xu Ziming that Shen Changchuan had faced back in Dawan Village,
had used Tier Two Magic.
Once cast, it had enveloped the entire village of Dawan.
Its power was simply incredible!
That was a level of might that no number of Tier One Techniques could ever hope to match.
As someone on the verge of advancing to the Soul Emergence Realm,
Shen Changchuan naturally had no intention of spending any more time on methods that were destined to become obsolete.
As long as they provided the experience needed for his Perfection Traits, that was enough.
There was no need to deliberately practice weaving them together to unleash greater power.
After all, no matter how fluently he could chain them together or how much power he squeezed out of them, they were still ultimately just Tier One.
"Young Master Shen, Young Master Shen..."
Just as Shen Changchuan was about to leave,
at that moment,
a voice called out from the distance.
Shen Changchuan looked up.
He saw a tall, thin figure hurrying over from afar.
It was the village chief of Huangshi Village, whom he had met several days ago.
The Eighth Layer Late Stage Demon Beast he had just slain had been plaguing Huangshi Village.
It was worth mentioning,
that Huangshi Village was under the protection of the Tian Nan Shen Clan, and not affiliated with the Dragon Cloud Sect.
It was just that Shen Changchuan’s Demon Beast extermination had brought him to the area.
After receiving a distress signal from the Shen Family and understanding the situation,
he had decided to take care of it for them.
"What is it? Is there a problem?"