Chapter 71: Air Tentacles

The next day, Night Demon brought updates from the higher ups.

They agreed to let Su Chen borrow people.

One mid-layer Yang Opening, three high-layer Blood Boiling, three high-layer Qi Drawing. Not only was their strength was enough to suppress the Shadow Mountain Troops’ frontline, but they also sent an additional Blood Boiling cultivator and two Qi Drawing cultivators as backup. Of course, Su Chen still needed to pay for them. Employing a mid-layer Yang Opening cultivator cost four thousand low-grade Origin Stones per day, three high-layer Blood Boiling cultivators cost two thousand, and Qi Drawing Realm were much cheaper, only costing two hundred a day. The total was roughly six thousand low-grade Origin Stones.

Apart from this, the other party had also requested that battle spoils be distributed among everyone that had battled, and if the treasures that the Hidden Mountain Troops had was greater than six thousand Origin Stones, they would split half of the excess with the organization.

This request was not too extreme. Although Su Chen had devised the plan and it was his transaction at risk, the main strength for the operation was still provided by the other party. Without them, Su Chen would not be able to complete this mission. In addition, this was Su Chen; if it were anyone else, the organization probably would have requested a seventy-thirty split.

Whose fault is it that your own strength is not enough?

However, the other party had also expressed that if their expedition was successful, they would sell those Origin Tools to Su Chen for a price of eight thousand Origin Stones, and he would not need to borrow them anymore. They would even throw in the Cloud-Stepping Battle Boots for free – in any case, they were close to being unusable, so why not use them to improve their relationship. They had also gotten rid of the renting fee this time.

Although the three Origin Tools were all defective in some way, eight thousand Origin Stones was quite a good price. Su Chen was used to them, and the other party could thus get rid of a few things of little value, as well as improve their relationship with Su Chen.

Once the matters were decided, all that remained was waiting.

While he was waiting, Su Chen was not idle. Every day he would diligently practice his Origin Skills.

At the same time, Tang Zhen continued to closely study history materials and repeatedly double- or triple-check his work as he diligently translated the ancient Arcana script.

Today, Su Chen had just arrived at the True Jade Pavilion when Tang Zhen came to meet him, his face filled with excitement.

“Young Master!”

Su Chen understood that most likely the rough translation of the ancient Arcana script was complete. He said in a low voice, “You finished interpreting it?”

“I translated one sheet.” Tang Zhen secretly stuffed a piece of paper into Su Chen’s hand as he said in a low voice, “Just as Young Master instructed me, the original text is also present. When you have nothing better to do, you can study and compare the two.”

Su Chen held it in his hand and laughed, “It seems like I will need to ask head storekeeper for a few days of vacation.”

Tang Zhen also laughed as he stroked his beard, “Young people are like this. When they get a new toy, they want to play with it for a few days. Go, go, since I am here, Young Master only needs to focus on cultivating.”

“Then I’ll leave everything in your care,” Su Chen bowed to Tang Zhen, then left the True Jade Pavilion.

“Zhou Hong, take me to the back of the mountain,” Su Chen said, beginning to closely read the page as he sat in the carriage.

The ancient Arcana technique that Tang Zhen had translated was the Air Tentacles.

This was quite a practical ancient Arcana technique. It could construct air tentacles from out of thin air to tie down an opponent. These air tentacles could exist quite a long time, and activating it multiple times would create multiple tentacles that could attack simultaneously. Its weakness was that it could be broken, its restrictive ability was only average, and it did not prevent enemies from activating their own Origin Skills.

Even people like Iron Cliff or himself could use their own physical strength to resist the air tentacles. From this, one could tell that the strength of these air tentacles was quite low.

However, its Origin Energy Pattern was simple to learn, and activating it was fast. Because of this, it was also the easiest technique to translate.

After arriving to the back mountain, Su Chen instructed Zhou Hong to stand guard, then began to practice these Air Tentacles.

Compared to before, Su Chen could afford be much more extravagant when learning Origin Skills.

One air tentacle after another appeared until he exhausted all the Origin Energy in his body. Then, Su Chen would absorb the energy from an Origin Stone and continue to practice.

All skills came about from hard work and repeated practice to succeed.

In the back mountain, Su Chen continued to rapidly absorb Origin Energy even as he was releasing it.

Because the air tentacles existed for a long time, Su Chen was rapidly surrounded by numerous air tentacles, with him in the center. These semi-transparent tentacles swayed in the air, like snakes. Under Su Chen’s control, they danced crazily. Because there were too many, Su Chen felt extremely flustered while controlling them. Often, if he focused on one of them he would lose control of the other.

This helped Su Chen realize that being proficient in the air tentacles was not just related to activation speed but also controlling them appropriately. Origin Qi Scholars truly familiar with the air tentacles could create multiple in a short span of time and control them to attack using different methods and tactics.

From this one could see that the Air Tentacles actually required a certain level of soul strength. People with strong souls should be able to control the air tentacles more proficiently.

As his understanding of this Arcana technique progressed, he continued to practice over and over again.

As he furiously practiced, one could occasionally hear the sound of things collapsing. That was the sound of large trees being broken by the air tentacles and falling to the ground.

After a day of cultivation had passed, Su Chen was surrounded by fallen trees.

The branches on these trees had been neatly trimmed. Only the bare tree trunk remained. Even the tree’s bark had been worn clean.

When Zhou Hong was called over by Su Chen, he couldn’t help but be stunned by this scene. Su Chen said, “Go tell the clan’s lumberjacks that there is some wood here. Ask them if they want it.”

Zhou Hong was also someone with foresight. He asked, “If they ask me where these came from, Young Master, what should I tell them?”

Su Chen said, “Just tell them Fourth Young Master is extremely poor these days so I’ve taken up woodcutting.”

“......Yes, Young Master!”

————————————

After bitterly training for a few days, Su Chen had achieved a basic mastery of the air tentacles. Thanks to him, the Su Clan’s lumber business had actually experienced a small explosion.

The day of the exchange had finally arrived.

Today, Su Chen dressed himself and walked out of the Su residence.

Iron Cliff followed behind him.

He carried a large iron trunk in his hand. Nobody knew what was in it. However, every time Iron Cliff took a step, a deep footprint would be left in the ground behind him.

Once he left the residence, Su Chen walked directly out of the town. After arriving in a faraway location, he whistled.

Seven people appeared from within the forest.

Of these seven people, six of them were covered in black cloaks, and their figures were shrouded in shadows, making it so that people couldn’t clearly see their faces. Even so, Su Chen was able to tell that one of them was Night Demon.

She was obviously one of the three high-layer Qi Drawing Realm cultivators.

The only one that hadn’t obstructed himself was a middle-aged male.

His body was extremely brawny, and his face was densely bearded. On his back he carried a large broadsword. Most interestingly, he also held a large iron trunk in his hands. It was quite similar to the one in Iron Cliff’s hands, only slightly smaller. When the two of them saw each other and the iron trunks in each others hands, a smile appeared on their faces.

Iron Cliff’s laughter was straightforward and honest, while the male’s laughter seemed to be much more profound in meaning.

At this time, the middle-aged man said, “Your preparations were much more sufficient than I had anticipated. No wonder it seems like everything is always in the palm of your hand. You were able to make a group of people who originally wanted to kill you serve you in the end, Young Master Su Chen. My name is Baron. I am the captain of the group that was ordered to help you this time.”

He specifically emphasized ‘ordered to’ and ‘captain’. Evidently, he was implying his own independence.

Su Chen gently smiled, “Many thanks for Baron’s assistance. This is just an example of no friendship without conflict.”

Night Demon didn’t come over to greet him, so he pretended that he didn’t know.

Baron said, “It’s just as you said. Originally, when the higher-ups sent me to do things for a blind man, I wasn’t too happy. Now, it seems as if you are actually quite smart. Something interesting might happen during our cooperation.”

“Thank you for the kind words.”