Chapter 144 - 173: Essence-Devouring Repair, 1 Point of Merit
The Qiongqi had already passed out completely.
As for the Seventh Sequence assassin from the Evil Spirit Pavilion, ever since the moment Su Bai had unleashed his Divine Techniques on Dongchan Mountain, the man had been plunged into a dazed, helpless, and uneasy state.
Fear and shock, like a swarm of venomous creatures, crawled all over the top assassin’s tempered heart, gnawing at its every corner.
To him, everything he had just experienced was like a bizarre nightmare.
It wasn’t until the black chain wrapped around him suddenly came to life and burrowed into his body.
Instantly piercing his Dantian Qi Sea!
He couldn’t help but let out a wretched scream, snapping back to his senses in an instant!
"Who are you? Who on earth are you?"
"Where is this? What have you done to me!?"
The Seventh Sequence roared and struggled with all his might, but he was completely unable to break free from the chains’ grasp. Like a tiny insect fallen into a deep lake, all he could do was screech in despair.
Su Bai paid him no mind, letting out a soft sound of surprise instead.
His gaze, tinged with curiosity, was fixed on the black chain binding the Seventh Sequence.
At first, Su Bai had thought these black chains were just made of a more special and sturdier material than ordinary chains.
After all, deep in the prison cavern, these chains had withstood the ravages of time without rotting or shattering.
But he was only now realizing the chains had another purpose entirely.
The black chain, slightly thicker than a grown man’s calf, had buried itself entirely within the Seventh Sequence’s Dantian Qi Sea.
Although not a drop of blood was spilled, Su Bai could sense the black chain continuously siphoning the True Essence Qi Blood from within the Seventh Sequence’s body.
It flowed along the chain, spreading toward the other end.
As this stream of True Essence Qi Blood was transferred, tiny, mysterious, and complex runes sputtered to life along the black chain.
’This is a special Law Chain!’
Su Bai followed the flow of True Essence Qi Blood all the way to its source.
He traced it to the deepest part of the cavern, to the 9th-layer-tall tower engraved with the two words "Venerable Nine".
Su Bai watched as a clump of True Essence Qi Blood was funneled into the tower, and then...
Within Su Bai’s Divine Sense, a tiny, almost imperceptible crack on the tower was rapidly healing!
’Repair!’
Su Bai’s face filled with astonishment.
’The chain absorbed the True Essence Qi Blood from the Seventh Sequence’s body, then transferred it into the 9th-layer tower to repair it!’
Su Bai now understood why so many corpses were hanging from the countless chains in the depths of the cavern.
They had all been drained dry by the tower!
’Why did this tower shatter?’
’What is being suppressed underneath it?’
’Is the purpose of repairing it just to keep that thing suppressed?’
’And what do the two words "Venerable Nine" mean?’
In that moment, a thousand questions flooded Su Bai’s mind.
He wanted to enter the tower and have a look, but his intuition told him it was best not to.
Intuition was a mysterious thing.
But sometimes, it served as a life-saving warning.
Believing that caution came first, Su Bai suppressed the urge.
’Besides, the 9th-layer tower is stuck here in the cavern depths; it’s not going anywhere. I can wait until I’m stronger to investigate. There will be plenty of time.’
’With these chains and the tower, this mysterious cavern is the perfect prison!’
’It could even restrain the third Sect Leader of Rashomon while he wielded the Celestial Net Sword. Who couldn’t it hold?’
A look of delight crossed Su Bai’s face, and he checked the Purification Tripod.
The Seventh Sequence assassin from the Evil Spirit Pavilion and the Qiongqi had both been contained by the Purification Tripod.
Moreover, because he had captured and imprisoned them single-handedly, his Suppression Involvement had skyrocketed to over ninety percent.
At the same time, for individually suppressing the Qiongqi and the Seventh Sequence assassin, Su Bai had also gained two chances to spin the prize wheel.
But before Su Bai could even get a clear look at the hourly yield from the Seventh Sequence and the Qiongqi, something suddenly happened with his own Tripod Master information!
Su Bai took a closer look.
He froze.
A new entry had appeared in his information panel:
Merit Points!
And right after it, clearly written, was the number "1"!
[Merit Points: 1]
One point of Merit!
’What are Merit Points used for?’
’Or more to the point, what can one point of Merit do?’
Su Bai stared blankly at the Merit Points entry.
’Was it because I repaired the 9th-layer tower?’
After thinking it over, Su Bai realized it was the only possibility.
’But why would repairing the 9th-layer tower produce Merit Points? I got one point of Merit just for fixing a minuscule crack.’
’I never got Merit Points for capturing all those other criminals...’
Su Bai now sensed that the 9th-layer tower in the cavern’s depths was likely far more extraordinary than he had imagined.
Of course, this wasn’t the time to be pondering the tower’s origins.
The most important thing was to study these so-called Merit Points and figure out what they were for.
’Can I add them to my Realm or my Divine Power Techniques, like Experience Points?’
As the thought crossed his mind, Su Bai immediately tried it.
But the moment the thought of using the Merit Point formed in his mind, it simply vanished!
Su Bai was dumbfounded.
’I didn’t even have time to decide what to apply it to!’
In the next instant, Su Bai felt himself connect with a vast, unseen will.
The feeling was somewhat similar to what he’d experienced when using the Body-Shifting Demon Scripture.
The only difference was that this will was far more immense than the one he had communicated with through the Body-Shifting Demon Scripture.
It was also more righteous, clear, and intimate.
’This is the will of this world’s Celestial Dao!’
The thought flashed through Su Bai’s mind.
But before Su Bai could think of anything else, the vast will rapidly faded and dissipated.
It vanished so quickly that Su Bai couldn’t even react.
"Uh..."
Su Bai stood frozen, looking at his unchanged self and the empty "0" in the Merit Points section.
Countless question marks flashed through his mind.
’That’s... it?’
’Nothing happened?’
’Did I just spend a Merit Point to briefly commune with the Celestial Dao Will?’
’I didn’t even get a proper introduction!’
’What was that?’
’The Celestial Dao’s appearance fee?’
Su Bai was speechless. He could only let the matter drop.
’I guess I’ll have to accumulate more before I can figure out the true function of Merit Points.’
Coming back to his senses, Su Bai returned to where the Seventh Sequence was.
He found that the man was no longer screaming.
Instead, his face was a mask of panic as he desperately tried to stop the black chain from draining him.
’The Ninth Level of the Spirit Transformation Realm... should be enough to drain for a while!’
Su Bai checked the information on the Seventh Sequence displayed by the Purification Tripod.
The man’s Sin Value was a staggering Nine-Star!
He would provide Su Bai with an income of 50,000 Experience Points every hour!
In other words, from the Seventh Sequence alone, Su Bai could obtain 600,000 Experience Points a day.
That meant six million in ten days!
The Qiongqi, on the other hand, had a higher Cultivation and provided an income of a hundred thousand Experience Points per hour.
Imprisoning these two for a month or so would be equivalent to killing a Daoist Palace expert.
’As I thought, imprisonment is the superior path. Killing provides a large number of Experience Points in the short term, but once it’s done, it’s done.’
’Imprisonment is a steady, long-term investment. Every little bit adds up.’
Still, the quick burst of Experience Points from killing was still very useful at times.
The key was knowing how to make the trade-off.
After some thought, Su Bai decided to spin the prize wheel.
VMMMM!
A massive, blood-red wheel materialized before Su Bai’s eyes.
The pointer began to spin slowly...
Finally, it slowly came to a rest on the section for Cultivation Techniques!