Ashen God
Chapter 565 - 564 Sky Demon Blue Crystal Grass

Chapter 565: Chapter 564 Sky Demon Blue Crystal Grass

"As for the ’Spirit Stone’ in this corpse-nourishing soil, it looks kind of familiar; the Awakeners in the group chat seemed to have mentioned it before."

Zhang Yanhang remembered that this kind of Spirit Stone, similar to those in various Immortal Worlds, could be used to aid in cultivation. However, compared to aiding cultivation, the Awakeners in the group seemed to use these Spirit Stones more for breaking through bottlenecks to advance in rank.

Generally speaking, it seems that just to advance from First Tier to Second Tier one would need at least several dozen Spirit Stones, and what’s more, just having Spirit Stones is not enough. One must also diligently cultivate and then there might be hope for a rapid rank advancement.

As for how many Spirit Stones are needed to advance from Second Tier to Third Tier, Zhang Yanhang didn’t know, since he himself didn’t need such things. But by making a rough estimate, he felt that at least a three-digit number of Spirit Stones would probably be needed to be effective.

As for whether it’s the lower limit of 100 or the upper limit of 999 in those three digits, that’s unknown. After all, aside from practicing the same Limitless Universe Skill, the differences among Awakeners in terms of Talent Abilities, Skills, or Equipment and Artifacts are quite enormous.

Therefore, there is also more or less some variability when it comes to advancing in rank. For example, Zhao Yalan must learn all the Level 1 and Level 2 Spiritual Powers and use them to unlock the Third Level Spiritual Power in order to naturally break through the rank limit and advance to Second Tier.

While Zhou Muxi needs to absorb a sufficient amount of Yin Qi and Yang Qi to break through the rank limit and advance to Third Tier. As for how the group leader advanced, Zhang Yanhang didn’t know; after all, he had never paid attention to this before.

Zhang Yanhang felt that Awakeners like Zhao Yalan and Zhou Muxi, who possess strong combat-type Talents, being influenced by their Talents during advancement is an inevitable occurrence.

But those Awakeners with ordinary abilities probably still rely on using the most basic method of breaking through rank limits by cultivating the Limitless Universe Skill in order to advance in rank. Moreover, as far as Zhang Yanhang knew, this method is also the most common one.

But perhaps also the slowest, as this method is influenced by one’s Cultivation Talent. If the talent isn’t there, forget being slow; one might not even be able to advance at all.

The Extraordinary Stage of advancing from First Tier to Second Tier is something Zhang Yanhang felt should not hold up any Awakener. Advancing from Second Tier to Third Tier might also not hold up many Awakeners, but advancing from Third Tier to Fourth Tier, reaching the Immortal Land Realm, certainly isn’t that simple. After all, this Fourth Tier Immortal Land Realm clearly stands as a standard qualification watershed.

Although Awakeners will see some enhancement in their Cultivation Talent after awakening their Talent Abilities, the world obviously wouldn’t be that accommodating, or to put it another way, no cultivation system could possibly be without its limits. The fact that some Awakeners are held back at various ranks is a perfectly normal occurrence.

But thankfully, every Awakener is indeed a talent picked from a thousand, which is why there wasn’t an absurd situation like in the Immortal Power System where, at every rank, only one in ten or one in a hundred or even one in a thousand to ten thousand could advance to the next rank.

Otherwise, the two million Awakeners within the Empire would hardly be enough to boast about; even the most basic one-in-ten ratio would only yield two thousand Fourth Tier Awakeners, and the current number of Fourth Tier Awakeners within the Empire is definitely more than that.

Moreover, what’s critical is that it’s still the initial stage of the Spiritual Qi Recovery; it’s only been half a year. Those who have broken through to Fourth Tier are the ones with the most outstanding abilities. As time goes on, there will undoubtedly be a large number of Awakeners with slightly less talent advancing to Fourth Tier, like Zhou Muxi, who is at the Peak of Third Tier.

Fortunately for Zhang Yanhang, he faced no bottlenecks. He neither needed to break through the Limitless Universe Skill nor enhance his Talents like Zhou Muxi and Zhao Yalan to advance in rank.

He just needed to make a choice when he reached the limit of his Tier, and by consuming the Ash Source, he could easily advance in rank, which in turn would lead to an enhancement of his Talent.

Thinking of this, Zhang Yanhang’s motivation to advance in rank grew even stronger, "At the beginning of the Spiritual Qi Recovery, ordinary Awakeners who had awakened their Talent had already advanced to Fourth Tier, and those with backgrounds, like that white-bearded old Taoist from the Lao Mountain, had advanced to Fifth Tier, while I’m still circling around at Second Tier, which really shouldn’t be the case.

If it wasn’t for the fact that there were no bottlenecks in rank advancement, I might never catch up with them in my lifetime. But thankfully, I will be able to advance to Third Tier within a week at most, catching up a big chunk of progress once again."

Zhang Yanhang figured that even the fastest Awakeners would need at least two months to advance to Third Tier. If he advanced to Third Tier in half a month, that would be equivalent to catching up one and a half months’ worth of progress, which is quite good.

"Since the least number of Spirit Stones needed to advance from Second Tier to Third Tier is a triple-digit figure, then these few scattered Spirit Stones buried in the corpse-nourishing soil are indeed useless to me. I might as well leave the task of dealing with the old Ghost of this abandoned haunted house to Zhou Muxi.

Conveniently, since there are some Spirit Stones buried there, they can be given to her as a reward for exorcising the Fierce Ghost.

Even though for Zhou Muxi, who is striving to advance from Third Tier to Fourth Tier, these few Spirit Stones might just be a drop in the bucket, fortunate for her, the corpse-nourishing soil that contains Yin Qi might be of use. Even though the amount of Yin Qi contained is also not substantial, having some is better than none, and she should not disdain it."

When Zhang Yanhang came to this realization, he suddenly wondered if he had encountered too many Fierce Ghosts tonight. To run into Fierce Ghosts in three consecutive Multiple Choice options was a bit too far-fetched, wasn’t it?

"Why exactly did I encounter Fierce Ghosts in three consecutive options? Could it be because my Energy Value limit has more than doubled recently, so the Multiple Choice ability has also improved?"

After careful consideration, Zhang Yanhang felt that besides this reason, there could also be two other reasons, both related to the permanent opening of the Transmission Channel.

The first reason could be that the permanent opening of the Transmission Channel led to a rapid increase in the concentration of Spiritual Energy in a short period of time, providing Fierce Ghosts with a more affluent and comfortable living environment.

The second reason could be that since the opening of the Transmission Channel, a large number of department members have been busy dealing with Monsters, so there might be some slack in the cleansing efforts of the Fierce Ghosts.

Zhang Yanhang felt that all three reasons were very likely, but he thought the most probable cause of the current situation was actually that these three reasons were true. Hence, their combined effect turned out to be so good that it allowed him to randomly trigger several options and continuously encounter fierce ghosts.

Of course, Zhang Yanhang felt that the predominant reason should still be because his Energy Value limit had been increasing too fast recently, which acted as a catalyst. After all, he didn’t encounter so many fierce ghosts when he was making choices on the 20th the day before yesterday.

Therefore, things like the permanent opening of the Transmission Channel should only be considered a secondary reason. Well, maybe not a secondary reason, it’s still quite important, since the permanent opening of the Transmission Channel directly changed the environment of the Main World and the concentration of Spiritual Qi, akin to a major version update.

Such a significant event should, in theory, be even more important than the rapid increase of Zhang Yanhang’s Energy Value limit. Or maybe, there shouldn’t be anything more important than this since it pertains to the future fate of the Empire’s two billion population. Zhang Yanhang was currently just an insignificant constituent caught up in it.

After pondering the national affairs that only the Fourth Tier and Fifth Tier Awakened at the pyramid’s apex really needed to worry about and think of solutions for, Zhang Yanhang, as an ordinary Second Tier Awakened, refocused his attention on the choices before him, which were his most crucial concern at the moment.

"The first two options at least have actual substances, eating the Sky Demon Blue Crystal Grass or eating the Corpse Nourishing Soil, but the third option just turned into drinking the northwest wind, without anything digestible. It’s just pure, unadulterated Bohai air. And they expect me to inhale it violently?

Why don’t they ask me to inhale it violently and then perform an impassioned foot-stamping dance?"

Zhang Yanhang reckoned that for the small mountain under his feet, if he stomped with all his might a few times, it would be uncertain whether it would still have a double-digit elevation left.

"It seems I really have no choice but to select the first option. The other two options, whether it’s eating Corpse Nourishing Soil or inhaling pure Bohai air, are all totally unreliable."

After deciding which option to choose, Zhang Yanhang didn’t immediately make his selection. He was struggling with whether to take advantage of this Time Pause to explore other Nameless Mountains. Mainly because compared to exploring other small mountains, he was more eager to get his hands on that Sky Demon Blue Crystal Grass.

After struggling for a good while, Zhang Yanhang finally decided to go pick the Sky Demon Blue Crystal Grass first. He estimated that he might not be able to finish scanning all the small mountains within Qin Island City during one Time Pause. Moreover, he also wanted to try to see if he could continue to trigger other options related to Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures.

"So, I choose Option One, eat grass!" Having made his final choice, Zhang Yanhang immediately found that a large portion of his Energy inside him was devoured. His Energy Value, which had been replenished to full from sleeping, was left with only a few hundred points.

"With such a huge consumption of Energy, I wonder whether Multiple Choice has refreshed a Sky Demon Blue Crystal Grass out of thin air or accelerated the growth of one?" Zhang Yanhang thought both possibilities were likely.

Fortunately, he had a four-digit number of Medium Magic Recovery Potions in his hand, and he quickly refilled his Energy Value by consuming them.

Mainly because he also wanted to try triggering similar options soon afterward. Otherwise, under normal circumstances, he would certainly rely on running the Limitless Universe Skill to recover his Energy Value.

After refilling his Energy Value, Zhang Yanhang used the compass on his phone to determine his direction, then immediately started moving straight towards the north, continually scanning all the gas stations he passed, particularly those near small mountains.

......

October 22, the fourteenth day after the end of the Mid-Autumn Festival and National Day holidays, also the second day since Zhang Yanhang left the Ashen World, 12:40 AM, in Licang District, on Yongnian Road, at Niumao Mountain.

After spending ten minutes traveling and carefully scanning all the gas stations along the way, Zhang Yanhang finally found that Sky Demon Blue Crystal Grass on Niumao Mountain, near a gas station on Yongnian Road about a dozen kilometers away from the previous Nameless Mountain.

Mainly because there were quite a few gas stations with small mountains along the way, which was why it took ten minutes. Otherwise, under normal traveling, he would have probably completed the dozen or so kilometers in five or six minutes.

Of course, the reason for encountering many gas stations with small mountains along the way could be considered a secondary factor. The primary reason was the abundance of gas stations within Qin Island City.

With a population of twenty million, Zhang Yanhang estimated that there should be at least a four-digit number of gas stations to serve the need. Of course, this included the various districts and counties. If only considering the city itself, there might only be five to six hundred at most.

But the issue was that he had crossed a large part of the city, from the Southern City District, through Shibei District, reaching Licang District. Thus, he scanned hundreds of gas stations along the way. Given such a large base number, encountering gas stations with small mountains naturally turned from a small probability issue into a relatively common phenomenon.

Compared to the previous two Nameless Mountains, which were only twenty and eighteen meters high respectively, Niumao Mountain, which had a name, was unquestionably a proper mountain. It had a height of at least seventy to eighty meters. Although it couldn’t match Beiling Mountain, it was still impressive, especially since it was just a small mountain within the city. Such a scale was the norm.

Moreover, Niumao Mountain, like Beiling Mountain, had been transformed into a forest park. However, in contrast to the purely forest park of Beiling Mountain, Zhang Yanhang unexpectedly discovered that there was a small village on Niumao Mountain during his scanning process, with the sign reading "Niumao Mountain Village."

"How can there be an urban village in such a place? How come I’ve never heard of it before? And there seem to be quite a lot of people living there?"

Zhang Yanhang quickly searched for information on his phone and found that Niumao Mountain actually included three peaks in total. The most level North Mountain had been developed into factories and residential buildings, while East Mountain had been made into a forest park.

Only South Mountain, due to the fact that it had always been inhabited, maintained its original state. This Niumao Mountain Village was known as Qin Island City’s smallest village-level administrative unit, which at its peak had a population of just over a dozen households. Of course, this data was from the early 21st century.

However, in the past few years, due to the internet, many people came to this urban village to rent houses, attracted by its low rent prices. This caused Niumao Mountain’s population to swell drastically. In just a few years, it had multiple times the increase, growing to a three-digit number, including programmers, internet celebrities, video creators, live streamers, and other professions closely associated with the internet.

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