Chapter 517: Chapter 339: The True Gathering Treasure Basin: Earth Gate! [Vote for Monthly Tickets!]_2
As an Innate, Jiang Bianliu has had contact with different levels, and his understanding of the detailed operations of ’King City’ and ’Earth Gate’ far exceeds that of Yan Chuan.
"Exactly!"
Yan Chuan’s eyes lit up.
With ’Earth Gate’ in his hands, the pricing of ’admission tickets’ is entirely up to him. As long as he holds King City and firmly controls the Earth Gate, will he still worry about lacking essence stones?
Absolutely not!
Jiang Bianliu!
Huang Wuniang!
Why would these two Innates be willing to come to Tan Valley Royal City and be subordinate to Yan Chuan?
Precisely because with the Earth Gate in King City, cultivation will not be delayed due to a lack of essence stones!
Otherwise, even Jiang Bianliu would not waste time here with Yan Chuan for his cultivation; he would have to lean towards the court to obtain enough essence stones and free access to the Earth Gate, which is far less free than in Tan Valley Royal City.
"So that’s it!"
"This ’Earth Gate’ is the real ’Gathering Treasure Basin’!"
Yan Chuan suddenly understood.
No wonder the court didn’t look up to the previous Fourth-Rank Treasure Basin—
"It’s said, the court controls seven large and small King Cities, bringing in countless essence stones every day and expanding rapidly." Jiang Bianliu sighed, "Don’t be fooled by the apparent scarcity of limit-breakers and Innates in Great Yan; in secret, in the Mountain and Sea Realm—especially within the territories of King Cities controlled by the court and major sects—nobody knows how many Heavenly Prides and experts are nurtured!"
The waters of Great Yan are deep indeed!
Unfathomably deep!
This is Jiang Bianliu’s newfound understanding after advancing to Innate in Great Yan.
After becoming Innate, one sees new heavens!
The view before him suddenly became clear!
But—
"The court isn’t short on money?" Yan Chuan clicked his tongue, "Not short on money but still withholds bonuses?"
Truly disgusting!
...
"Come in again!"
Yan Chuan entered ’Heavenly Ladder City’ for the second time.
In early the first month, Yan Chuan and three others participated in the ’Thousand-Person Battle’, while Wang Zhengyi competed in ’Arena Battle’, feeling disadvantaged, mainly reflected in the heavenly ladder points.
But in fact, both have their pros and cons.
The ’Thousand-Person Battle’ has a high scoring potential, up to 99 points a day, but the lower limit is also low; if the ranking is too low and the performance too poor, points may even be deducted, with luck playing a significant factor. Additionally, the Thousand-Person Battle hones the ability to adapt and change with Thousand Changes, tempering combat abilities, but does not leave time for martial arts verification and cultivation pondering.
The win rate in ’Arena Battle’ is mostly fifty-fifty, sometimes sixty to seventy percent, or as low as thirty to forty percent; matched opponents usually align with one’s ranking segment, generally evenly matched, with scoring being more about strength and steadiness. Plus, arena combat allows one to better understand the shortcomings and biases in their martial arts.
Fill in the gaps!
Enhance strengths and offset weaknesses!
This is the primary function of ’Arena Battle’.
Thus—
"Not lacking essence stones, martial artists who frequently linger in ’Heavenly Ladder City’ often choose ’Scene Battle’, thriving in multi-person battles, thriving in excitement."
"With few essence stones and opportunities rare, martial artists who occasionally enter ’Heavenly Ladder City’ more often choose ’Arena Battle’, one-on-one, selecting evenly matched opponents for a more stable scoring approach."
Yan Chuan barely belongs to the ’not lacking essence stones’ category: "Moreover, the ’Thousand-Person Battle’ has more participants, more spectators, and my martial arts lecture stage is bigger," with more feedback from "Mutual Teaching and Learning."
Based on this, Yan Chuan unhesitatingly continued to choose—
"Thousand-Person Battle!"
...
[Match Ended—]
[Survival Ranking: 1]
[Kill Ranking: 1]
[Overall Score: 99]
...
[Code: South Sea Crocodile God]
[Heavenly Ladder: 198]
[Rounds: 2]
...
[Match Ended—]
[Survival Ranking: 1]
[Kill Ranking: 1]
[Overall Score: 99]
...
[Code: South Sea Crocodile God]
[Heavenly Ladder: 297]
[Rounds: 3]
...
The fourth match—
"Boom!"
A pink figure drifted by, Yan Chuan suddenly regained his senses, but it was too late; his heart was shattered with one palm strike, and another palm immediately followed to crush his skull.
Dead!
[Survival Ranking: 205]
...
"This person!"
Yan Chuan’s ’soul’ floated, watching the woman kill without changing her expression, her body flashing as she headed towards the inner circle. Yan Chuan’s thoughts stirred, his ’soul’ floating, always following the woman, observing her figure and movement technique.
So far, he had participated in four matches in ’Heavenly Ladder City’, all ’Thousand-Person Battles’, with the first three matches achieving dual firsts in ’survival’ and ’kill’ rankings, amassing 297 points.
But in this fourth match, he completely overturned—
...
[Code: Hua Lei]
[Heavenly Ladder: 594]
[Rounds: 6]
...
"Six matches!"
"594 points!"
"Six dual firsts!"
Yan Chuan’s ’wandering soul’ followed Hua Lei, feeling a bitter smile. His three dual firsts pale in comparison to six dual firsts, easily discernible.
Hua Lei was barehanded.
Yan Chuan held a sharp sword.
Despite this, after ten exchanges, Yan Chuan was decisively defeated.
Yan Chuan fell in confusion; he hadn’t clearly seen it ’in life’, and only ’after death’, watching Hua Lei, did he finally see the truth—
"This person likely secretly hides a unique poison in her ten fingertips, and when attacking, she can infuse it into any of the opponent’s five apertures. With energy surging and poison invading, it can cause confusion and fainting. Even though I have the ’Yijinjing’, reputed to be ’immune to hundred poisons’, it cannot guard against Hua Lei’s poison finger skill."
Yan Chuan speculated that perhaps his "Yijinjing" was not fully mastered, and Hua Lei’s poison skill far exceeded his, making it hard to defend against.
Or it may be that the ’immune to hundred poisons’ of the "Yijinjing" only applies to the Fifteen States of Great Yan, and is not universally effective across different realms, with many inadequacies in the Mountain and Sea Realm.
For example, this time, Yan Chuan got hit.
"Poisons are myriad."
"Poison skills are hard to defend against."
"With only one ’Yijinjing’, I’m far from truly ’immune to hundred poisons’. However, after the ’Nine Yang Divine Skill’ research and development completes, I’ll have another ’immune to hundred poisons’ divine skill. Stacking the two—"
At that time, the ’poison resistance’ should be greatly enhanced, though it’s uncertain if it will be enough to defend against Hua Lei’s poison skills.
Yan Chuan looked at Hua Lei, finding her truly formidable.
Her movement technique was agile.
Her finger skill was exquisite.
This person achieving first place in six rounds was by no means only due to her exquisite poison skills but was also impeccable in other aspects as well.
She swept through with ease.
Slaughtered at will.
Yan Chuan knew he could not achieve her level of ease; there was an absolute power disparity between the two, completely not in the same class.
...
[Match Ended—]
[Survival Ranking: 205]
[Kill Ranking: 61]
[Overall Score: 70]
...
[Code: South Sea Crocodile God]
[Heavenly Ladder: 367]
[Rounds: 5]
...
After three consecutive days and three ’Thousand-Person Battles’, Yan Chuan walked out of ’Earth Gate’. Combining the specifics of all four Thousand-Person Battles, Yan Chuan can now more meticulously create a short-term cultivation plan for himself—
"In terms of cultivation, relying on ’Yijinjing’ and ’Innate Skill’, coupled with ’essence stones’ and ’Qi and Blood Pills’, aim for one Layer Heaven per month, striving to elevate from Postnatal Nine Layer to Postnatal Peak within three months."
Opening the Twelve Main Meridians is for ’Postnatal Twelve Layers’.
On this basis, further developing the Dantian Qi Sea leads to the ’Postnatal Peak’.
With the help of Wang Zhengyi’s contribution of the ’Hundred Rivers Return Grass’, Yan Chuan had already developed the ’Dantian Qi Sea’ back in the Postnatal Five Layer, so he does not need to go through the process of ’Postnatal Twelve Layers’ impacting the ’Postnatal Peak’. Once the Twelve Main Meridians are fully developed, he directly achieves the peak, initially catching up with Peng Fannian and a group of Heavenly Prides.
In conditions where ’essence stones’ and ’elixir pills’ are not lacking, having already developed the ’Dantian Qi Sea’, and both "Yijinjing" and "Innate Skill" divine skills having reached the Sixth Realm, aiming to reach the peak within three months sounds astonishing but is actually quite hopeful.
This is regarding cultivation.
Inner Strength!
Cultivation!
This is fundamental!
But at the same time, do not neglect the Absolute Skill necessary for standing one’s ground—
...