Chapter 458: Local Tyrant Li Yanchu! Four Artifacts Worth a Hundred Thousand Merit Points Each! sentience! A Surveillance Artifact!?

The fat monk swallowed hard, ignoring the inn’s shopboy, and fixed his gaze on Qingyun Temple across the street.

“Did I... hallucinate just now? I could’ve sworn a beam of divine light fell into that temple...!” He gulped again.

Inside the temple, Li Yanchu glanced at the Jiaoslayer in his hand. Its shape was still similar to a Tang Saber, without much outward change. Water-like patterns rippled along the blade, its color dim and ancient.

But the aura of sharpness it radiated was overwhelming; it looked like a heavy sword without an edge that could be wielded well effortlessly.

The more he looked, the more he liked it. This blade had followed him for a long time, chopping ghosts and demons as effortlessly as slicing vegetables. Plus, it fit his hand perfectly.

After this enhancement, he could clearly sense that the saber now possessed its own awareness. Even without his command, it could float beside him on its own, and it behaved with a kind of affectionate closeness toward him.

This was the second treasure he owned with sentience, after the ancient alchemy furnace.

Li Yanchu checked his merit points and instantly froze. He now had 935,600 points!

“Enhancing it once costs one hundred thousand merit points!?” He was stunned.

A thoughtful expression flashed across his eyes.

“Nine is the maximum value... so once the maximum is reached, the cost jumps to a hundred thousand merit points? Does that mean the next enhancement will cost two hundred thousand!?” He was dazed.

So this really was something only the rich could afford. Still, the consumption of a hundred thousand merit points didn’t scare him off.

He decided to enhance his talismanic armor next. This armor’s defensive ability was extremely high and also amplified his blood-qi, but at his current strength, it was starting to fall behind.

With over 900,000 merit points remaining, he moved ahead.

“Enhance!”

- 7,000 merit points!

The runes on the armor lit up completely, a vast aura spreading out.

But still Li Yanchu wasn’t satisfied.

“I’ll start with a hundred thousand merit points!”

Excited, he chose to continue enhancing.

- 8,000 merit points!

- 9,000 merit points!

- 100,000 merit points!

Boom!

Another phenomenon erupted across heaven and earth. This time, within the sea of clouds, lightning and fire danced alongside brilliant crimson light, as though a blazing sun was hidden within.

Li Yanchu, now experienced with this process, quickly stowed the talismanic armor away. The celestial phenomenon came quickly and vanished just as fast!

However, across from the inn, the fat monk was dumbfounded. He swallowed with great difficulty, staring at Qingyun Temple in utter disbelief.

“What on earth is happening!? Why was that aura just now so terrifying!?”

Not just him, every cultivator in Wei City was shaken to the core. Seeing one peerless divine weapon appear in a single day was already monstrous, but now

another

treasure strong enough to stir heaven and earth had appeared!?

Usually, at a time like this, they would immediately start searching for the treasure’s whereabouts, kill their rivals, and seize the fortunes; that was the norm.

But today Wei City had witnessed a massacre. Countless demonic practitioners and evil creatures had been slaughtered by that young Daoist. The bloody lesson extinguished any trace of covetousness, because chances were extremely high that this terrifying phenomenon was caused once again by that young Daoist suspected of being at the third realm.

Inside the temple, Li Yanchu admired the talismanic armor with satisfaction. A majestic suit of golden armor floated silently before him, like a celestial warrior made manifest.

Needless to say, this armor, too, now possessed its own sentience!

“At this rate, am I going to end up inventing artificial intelligence...?” Li Yanchu muttered to himself.

This enhancement cost 124,000 merit points and produced yet another treasure with sentience.

Next was the Dao Dust Bead, a support-type artifact with heaven-defying effects. It could grant blessings; in a sense, it was an artifact that affected causality.

He had already used 6,000 merit points on its previous enhancement. Now Li Yanchu pushed forward and enhanced it four more times in one go. With 124,000 merit consumed, yet another sentient treasure emerged!

The terrifying celestial phenomena numbed the common folk of Wei City, but the hidden cultivators trembled like quails, speechless at what they saw.

Is this really the mortal world!? Isn’t this just a small, ordinary city!? What in the heavens is going on!?

Li Yanchu glanced at his remaining merit points: 687,600 points.

He had planned to stop, but suddenly remembered something, and he took out the Eight Trigrams Mirror. Its last enhancement had cost 3,000 merit, producing scorching divine light capable of damaging the soul. But what Li Yanchu valued most was its ability to pierce illusions.

He needed a powerful artifact that could monitor all of Wei City, and this mirror was perfect. He intended to smash future troublemakers with this overwhelming magical artifact.

- 4,000 merit points!

- 5,000 merit points!

- 6,000 merit points!

...

- 100,000 merit points!

He made seven enhancements[1] in total and spent 139,000 merit points!

An ancient, dignified bronze mirror emerged in the room, its surface rippling with shifting radiance and gleaming with divine light.

At Li Yanchu’s silent command, the mirror’s glow parted to both sides, revealing a surface clear as still water, which was bright enough to reflect his face.

He activated this hundred-thousand-merit-points artifact, and in an instant, its influence blanketed the entire city of Wei City. Across a spectral map of the city, clusters of powerful auras appeared as red dots. With a single thought, he focused on one of them: a man with a huge belly but a thin neck, stuffing food into his mouth nonstop.

It was a starving ghost, one of the most common beings in old folk tales. With the Eight Trigrams Mirror, he could now monitor every place in Wei City tainted by evil or yin qi.

The starving ghost kept eating, completely unaware that a young Daoist had already set his sights on him.

After enhancing four sentient treasures to the hundred-thousand-merit-points level, Li Yanchu was extremely satisfied. Even after all that, he still had 548,600 merit points remaining. Truly, he was wealthy beyond reason.

He didn’t continue enhancing. Instead, he began familiarizing himself with the four powerful artifacts.

Just like that, half a day passed without another disturbance. The cultivators hiding throughout Wei City finally let out the breath they’d been holding, and relief washed over them. This matter originally had nothing to do with them, but one heaven-shaking phenomenon after another had left them frightened half to death.

“It’s finally over!” Once they were sure it had stopped, they felt truly at ease. They all decided that they would

never

come to Wei City again.

To hell with this place, whoever wanted to come could come, but count them out!

At that moment, Li Yanchu pushed open his door and stepped into the corridor. From the neighboring room radiated a strong spiritual aura.

“Huh!? Cuihua broke through!?”

A hint of surprise crossed his expression. No wonder she hadn’t shown up earlier despite all the commotion, so she’d been advancing.

Thinking of this, he smiled. Cuihua’s talent was terrifying, so when she took a Buddhist Bodhi Pill, she broke through immediately.

He took out the Jiaoslayer and ordered, “Stand guard here. No one is allowed near.”

The saber responded with a crisp, ringing tone.

Clang!

The ancient blade slid from its sheath and stood vigil outside Cuihua’s room.

1. T/N: Author wrote 6 enhancements here, but it should be 7 enhancements, costing 4,000, 5,000, 6,000, 7,000, 8,000, 9,000, and lastly 100,000 for a total of 139,000 points. ☜