Chapter 122: Dragon Elephant’s Domination, Eight Desolations Purgatory (III)

After the New Year, he would only be in the second semester of his first year, and he still had another six months after that before he could participate in the mutated beast trials to earn a significant amount of contribution points.

Originally, Chen Chu's plan had been to steadily advance to the Fourth Heavenly Realm; at its peak, his Dragon Elephant Art was comparable to ordinary high-level arts. He was also anticipating to break through in about two months, rather than the three that Pang Long had said.

By that point, with the additional enhancement from the Sword Armored Beast’s evolution and the regular improvement of his four major attributes, his combat prowess would rank among the strongest within the Fourth Heavenly Realm.

That way, when he would go to the mutated beast battlefield in his second year, he would easily be able to slay several level 4 mutated beasts and accumulate enough contribution points to exchange for high-level arts.

If he followed Pang Long’s suggestion, though, wouldn’t that mean wasting all of this upcoming time...?

Pang Long shook his head. "No need to hold back. Didn't I just say there's still time?

"With the increasing concentration of transcendent energy within the East Xia region, there are more and more low-level mutated beasts in the ordinary mountains, outside of the primitive ranges that the military has already sealed off.

"There is an annual large-scale purge to control the quantity and intensity of those ordinary mutated creatures. After some discussion, the authorities are considering increasing the frequency to twice a year and sharing some of the burden with major martial arts high schools by allowing freshmen to participate. This way, freshmen can accumulate practical combat experience earlier, earn additional contribution points, and accelerate their growth rate.

"In fact, this plan has been in development for a long time. It will be the real trial mission for future martial arts freshmen, and will continue to be indefinitely. Kyrola was just an unexpected factor.

"With your record of slaying a Blood Emissary in the Fourth Heavenly Realm, this major purge will pose no difficulty for you. Killing dozens of ordinary mutated beasts should be enough to afford the Dragon Elephant Tyrant Body."

"...A purge mission." For a moment, Chen Chu didn’t know what to think. The previous trial in Kyrola had been unexpected, but he hadn’t realized that a trial for freshmen had already been in the works before that.

At this point, Pang Long smiled and said, "Of course, if you feel that those ordinary mutated beasts will pose no challenge, you can also apply to me in advance to go to the mutated beast battlefield.

"Under normal circumstances, as long as one successfully breaks through to the Third Heavenly Realm, they can apply regardless of whether they are second-year students or not.

"However, since hardly any freshmen had been able to break through to the Third Heavenly Realm in their first semester in previous years, this exception was never announced."

"Applying in advance... never mind," Chen Chu shook his head slightly.

If he hadn’t just learned about the major purge mission, he might have been slightly tempted. However, the upcoming opportunity to earn a large number of contribution points was too good to pass up, and right now, the Sword Beast’s fourth evolution was more important.

Pang Long waved his hand. "Alright, this matter will be announced in a couple of days. It's still early now, so go to the thirty-third floor and pick a secret art."

As one of the top performers in this trial, Chen Chu was entitled to a reward of selecting one ordinary secret art for free. At the mention of that, Chen Chu couldn't help but inquire, "Sir, what is the difference between secret arts and the true martial arts we practice?"

Pang Long pondered for a moment. "The difference is significant. True martial arts belong to a systematic progression, where steady improvement is achieved through practice. Secret arts, on the other hand, are a form of extreme enhancement. They are divided into four major categories: enhancement, amplification, explosive, and special.

"The enhancement category, as the name suggests, can enhance strength, speed... I remember there's a secret art that, when mastered, can double the cultivator’s basic strength."

“Double?” Chen Chu was shocked.

Doubling didn’t sound like much at first, but it was important to understand that this was an amplification of basic physique, not of true power.

In other words, if the limit for the Fourth Heavenly Realm was an arm strength of four thousand kilograms, practicing this secret art would double it to eight thousand, which was already close to his current strength.

Chen Chu couldn't help but express his interest. "Sir, is it difficult to practice this kind of secret art?"

If he were to practice this secret art, wouldn't that double his basic strength directly, and propel his full force combat power directly to the Fifth Heavenly Realm?

Pang Long glanced at Chen Chu, knowing what he was thinking. "The difficulty of practicing this secret art is moderate. Someone with good talent could succeed in half a year.

"However, although it's said to double, there is actually a limit to the amplification. At the advanced level, it can only increase by a maximum of three tons, which is equivalent to three thousand kilograms of basic strength. You could say that all common secret arts have a certain upper limit, whether it's strength enhancement, explosive speed, or natural attribute reinforcement..."

As Pang Long proceeded to explain, true martial arts were like a complete car, while secret arts were like specific parts for enhancement or other functional equipment. All of these secret arts had a certain limit, and would appear relatively mediocre once the cultivator advanced to a higher realm.

Therefore, many people would likely choose to learn one or two secret arts to enhance their combat abilities after breaking through to the Third and Fourth Heavenly Realms, but they wouldn't exchange too many points for the cultivation of such.

A person's energy was limited, and they couldn't afford to focus solely on mastering secret arts at the expense of advancing their realm.

As the conversation neared its end, Pang Long suggested, "Since your main adversaries will be mutated beasts from now on, you might want to consider the Weapon Refining Art as your first secret art."

“Weapon refining?” Chen Chu’s eyes lit up.

Pang Long chuckled. "Weren't you curious about why our weapons are so powerful? Once you go up and read the introduction of that secret art, you'll understand."

With his curiosity piqued, Chen Chu took the elevator to the reading room on the thirty-third floor.

It was still early in the day, and with it being winter break, there wasn't a soul in the reading room. Chen Chu went straight to the internet cafe section where he had initially selected his arts.

𝕗𝕣𝐞𝐞𝘄𝐞𝚋𝚗𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹.𝚌𝕠𝚖

He randomly picked a small booth, closed the door, and then turned on the computer, entering his student ID for verification.

"Verification successful. Welcome to the Celestial Think Tank System."

"You are currently at level II+ in Nantian Martial Arts High School, with the qualifications to exchange for all high and low-level martial arts, ordinary secret arts, and resources below the Fifth Heavenly Realm.

"In addition, you can now access certain classified information below level II+, but please note that this information must not be leaked."

"Level II+? My access has increased so much after this trial." Chen Chu was a little surprised.

After completing Foundation Building within half a month, his initial access had been level I+, which allowed him to freely choose two low-level arts.

Xia Youhui and others who had completed Foundation Building within a week, on the other hand, were at level II-. Lin Xue, who had built her foundation in three to four days, was at level II.

The only one who had been at level II+ in the entire school before now had been An Fuqing, who had built her foundation within two days and reached the Second Heavenly Realm in half a month.

After breaking into the top fifty in the ranking competition, Chen Chu's access had elevated to level II-, indicating that his talent was comparable to those of ordinary geniuses.

According to Xia Youhui, there were even higher levels of clearance above II+. The freaks who could access those would all be top-level cultivators of the Ninth Heavenly Realm at the weakest, as long as they didn’t die prematurely, of course.

Chen Chu tapped on the access button next to his name on the touchscreen, and four options immediately popped up below, listing martial arts, secret arts, resources, and information, respectively.

Opening the secret art option, the screen suddenly changed.

Compared to low-level arts, there were only twenty-one secret arts. Chen Chu clicked on each one to read their descriptions, which were roughly similar to what Pang Long had said.

There were enhancement types that could increase basic strength by three tons, explosive types that could instantly boost speed by thirty percent, and attribute types that could make true power fiery, icy, and so on.

However, compared to these, the special class of secret arts was much more mystical, and there were only two of them.

One of them was named Hidden Divinity. Preliminary cultivation of this art could conceal one's own aura, while at the advanced level, it could further reduce one's presence and allow them to seamlessly merge with their surroundings.

This secret art immediately caught his eye. Chen Chu’s exaggerated advancement rate had always troubled him; he had no intention of pretending to be weak to catch others off guard, but he also didn't want to constantly remain in the spotlight.

With this secret art, he wouldn't immediately expose explosive breakthroughs in his cultivation in the future. Instead, he could choose a suitable time to reveal them gradually.

The other secret art was called Weapon Refining. As the name suggested, it involved refining one's own transcendent weapon. It was an art that most orthodox cultivators would choose after breaking through to the Fourth Heavenly Realm.

The F-grade alloy weapons used by Chen Chu and his peers were already at the pinnacle of weapons crafted from ordinary materials, and these were adequate for dealing with low-level mutated beasts. However, they proved insufficient when facing high-level mutated beasts with powerful energy defenses and formidable physical strength.

Not even blade qi was fully effective. Since high-level mutated beasts' bodies had been tempered by transcendent energy for a long time, they possessed strong resistances to energy of other kinds. Ultimately, it came back to the weapons.

In the face of this issue, some powerful individuals had collaborated to develop a secret art called the Weapon Refining Art.

Using alloy weapons as a foundation, this art infused the cultivator's true power, spirit, and even essence into transcendent materials, creating powerful transcendent weapons.

These weapons were sturdy, sharp, and seamlessly integrated with their refiners, making them feel like an extension of their wielders' bodies. They also possessed some characteristics of true martial arts.

The higher the level of transcendent weapons, the more powerful they were. Some weapons wielded by peak experts even rivaled legendary divine weapons, possessing various formidable abilities.

However, mastering secret arts required a significant amount of time and dedication. Especially the Weapon Refining Art, which not only required a long time to temper and refine the quality of the weapon with true power, but also various extraordinary materials to upgrade its level.

After reading through all of this, Chen Chu's gaze became quite peculiar.

Transcendent weapons were very similar to legendary artifacts, and the Weapon Refining Art was similar to his attribute enhancement. This secret art was basically useless for him, but at the same time, to conceal the issue of enhancing transcendent weapons later on, he would still have to exchange for it in the future if he didn’t choose it now.

Thinking about this, he felt a bit frustrated. He hadn't decided yet whether to use his free slot to choose the Weapon Refining Art or the Hidden Divinity.

As he mulled this over, he proceeded to click on the resources option. Scrolling through the list, his gaze settled on the special items category.

“The Sumeru Bracelet, a low-level spatial equipment made from special materials imbued with faint spatial energy. It contains an inner space of three cubic units that can extend and deform into a void space.

"Redeemable at the Fourth Heavenly Realm, with a level II or higher access, and 500 contribution points. This item contains an identification mark and is non-transferable."

"500 points." Chen Chu's eyes widened.

However, upon reflection, considering that this item involved spatial distortion, it seemed that 500 points, which were equivalent to five hundred thousand yuan, wasn't expensive at all. If you were to tell those billionaires that they could get such an advantageous storage space for just five hundred thousand, they would surely go crazy.

But 500 points... That’s really hard to accumulate.

Chen Chu shook his head and returned to the martial art options, then found the Dragon Elephant Tyrant Body True Art.

"The Dragon Elephant Tyrant Body, one of the most powerful high-level arts, requires three hundred contribution points for exchange, with an access requirement of level II+ or higher.

"At the fourth stage of this art, one needs to build a foundation using the essence of mutated draconic creatures. At the advanced level, one can condense the Dragon Elephant Battle Body and possess some of the power of the dragon elephant colossal beast, a domineering beast that can push aside everything in its path."

"The power of the colossal beast, the Dragon Elephant Battle Body!" Chen Chu paused in his breath.

But now, without any contribution points, he could only gaze longingly.

He returned to the high-level martial arts section, but this time he searched for high-level heavy weaponry arts.

As his physique grew more formidable, Chen Chu felt that his straight saber was too light, unable to fully utilize his increasingly terrifying strength.

The level of the Wisdom King Blade Technique was also restricted. After breaking through to the Fourth Heavenly Realm, there were no supplementary combat arts that could fully leverage the stronger true power.

Looking for a different weapon art so soon after enhancing the straight saber would probably be considered wasteful, but with the Sword Beast collecting Life Crystals, Chen Chu wouldn’t have any shortage of attribute points to worry about in the future. He would also be able to integrate the saber with the new weapon, passing along its enhancements.

However, Nantian Martial Arts High School only had nine high-level combat arts, and the only saber-based one, the Heavenly Decimation of Thirty-Six Slashes, didn't quite satisfy Chen Chu based on its description.

Finally, his gaze settled on a high-level combat art named the Eight Desolations Purgatory Halberd.

The Eight Desolations Purgatory Halberd focused on heavy and sharp strikes, sweeping in all directions. It required innate divine power to cultivate, but when fully mastered, one could dominate in all directions, causing even ghosts and gods to wail in despair.

On top of that, this high-level combat art only cost 100 contribution points... but he still didn't have any right now.

Chen Chu shook his head, then clicked on the information category, instantly seeing a lot of information that ordinary people and students weren’t qualified to know.

It turned out that every martial arts high school had the responsibility of suppression and assisting local authorities in protecting the safety of a city. Every teacher at a martial arts high school came from the front lines of the battlefield as a cultivator of the Sixth Heavenly Realm, typically rotating every five years.

In addition, each city's first- or second-tier martial arts high school had a special lightwave detection tower with a range covering the surrounding city.

These lightwave detectors could accurately detect energy fluctuations emitted by mutated beasts of level 3 or above, locking onto their location and enabling a swift reaction to protect the local area from invasion by mutated beasts, especially in coastal areas.

This information made Chen Chu ponder. Compared to human cultivators, those mutated beasts, with their large and unrefined energy fluctuations, would indeed be easily detected through this method.

It seemed that he would also need to pay attention to that when the Sword Beast returned later.