Chapter Seventeen: Exchanging Resources, Registering for Demon-Slaying

Li Linliu had left, and Chen Fan’s life returned to its former tranquility.

During this period, Chen Fan had been running "Starforge Body Technique" in idle mode. Though he was still far from completing its progress, he had already gained some results. This art was a kind of external cultivation for strengthening the body. When practiced, it absorbed and refined the power of the stars, merging it with the flesh, slowly enhancing Chen Fan's constitution, and even bringing about some more wondrous changes.

The rapid increase in Chen Fan’s strength was not merely due to his swift progress in true cultivation, but was closely related to this technique as well.

In the days that followed, Chen Fan continued to take a Deer Fetus Pill every other day.

Half a month later, after finishing all the Deer Fetus Pills, his progress in the third stage of true cultivation surpassed forty percent. With another month or so, he would complete it!

Having finished the Deer Fetus Pills, he began searching for items that could aid his cultivation. The resources gained from his three gambling victories and those gifted by his senior sister Yun Wei still remained mostly unused. Many of these were insignificant to Chen Fan, being items given by Xiao Chunkong to repay his debts.

Though valuable, they were of no help in his cultivation.

As for the Energy Pills he had received over the past months, he had barely touched them.

“Things useless to me are meaningless, no matter how many I have… Better to sell them and buy other resources!”

Chen Fan found Lin Shiyu and asked him to help sell all the useless resources he had accumulated, converting them into silver.

Energy Pills were easiest to sell; after handing them to Lin Shiyu, he received payment the next day. The other items took a whole week to sell.

After deducting Lin Shiyu’s commission and fees, Chen Fan ended up with just over two thousand one hundred taels of silver.

He then went directly to the resource distribution area of White Cloud Dojo, purchasing materials required for true cultivation.

Since starting true cultivation, Chen Fan could no longer claim the secret decoction, but he could receive two additional resources.

One was a Primordial Stone—one per month.

The other was a special pill called the Essence Gathering Pill—ten per month.

A Primordial Stone could be absorbed to convert its contained energy into true essence, aiding cultivation and quickly restoring internal true essence. Unfortunately, to Chen Fan, it held no special value; its effects were the same as for ordinary people, unable to boost his idle cultivation efficiency—better than nothing.

As for the Essence Gathering Pill, it could enhance Chen Fan’s progress in true cultivation during idle practice, but was far inferior to the Deer Fetus Pill. Taking one pill equaled about half a day’s worth of idle cultivation.

In fact, given his efficiency, this progress was far above what most people could achieve with the pill. Yet compared to the earlier Deer Fetus Pills, it paled significantly. The advantage was that these pills carried far fewer toxins, so Chen Fan could safely take one daily.

Roughly calculated, though not as effective as the Deer Fetus Pill, it still boosted Chen Fan’s cultivation efficiency by about 1.5 times.

Chen Fan could receive ten of these pills each month. Purchasing additional ones cost over four taels each.

To take one daily would have been unimaginable before.

“One can’t take too many pills anyway. Keeping up this speed, it will only be a few months before I break through to the fourth stage.”

However, the drawback of the Essence Gathering Pill was that it only enhanced true essence cultivation efficiency; it offered no benefit for other martial arts or movement techniques in idle mode.

Chen Fan still needed to soak in medicinal baths daily to improve his martial arts progress. Both of his techniques had already broken through once, so his efficiency was astonishing.

In the blink of an eye, nearly two months passed. The progress of both the Nine Suns Tiger Fist and the Three Thousand Thunder Move reached completion, making further idle cultivation impossible!

But Chen Fan knew he had only reached the peak of the basic realm.

To enter subtle mastery, he would need another breakthrough…

During these days, Chen Fan also asked Lin Shiyu to keep an eye out for paintings related to his arts, preferably by renowned artists. Unfortunately, most were ordinary works lacking any spirit, a waste of money.

The more expensive paintings cost hundreds or even thousands of taels, beyond Chen Fan’s means.

He could only sigh at his earlier luck.

“I wonder if sparring with others could help me break through to subtle mastery?”

True essence martial arts clearly differed from physical strength techniques, and Chen Fan could only guess.

Even if it could help, it wouldn’t be so simple.

Upon leaving, he noticed a change in atmosphere among the dojo disciples. After asking around, he learned that the Monster-Slaying Festival was less than three days away, and registration had already begun!

Recalling this event, Chen Fan was invigorated:

“At last, the Monster-Slaying Tournament!”

His cultivation of White Cloud True Skill was exceptionally fast, aided by pills. In less than two months, he had refined most of his internal organs, and another month of idle cultivation would see him break through to the fourth stage. In terms of cultivation alone, he was already impressive, not to mention his solid foundation.

When he first arrived at Yan Capital, Chen Fan had heard of the Monster-Slaying Tournament, though he thought it was far beyond his reach.

Unexpectedly, with a turn of fate, he not only reached the third stage of martial arts but was close to the fourth.

The Monster-Slaying Festival was the grand annual event of Yan Capital. Naturally, Chen Fan didn’t want to miss it.

Participation in this festival meant even facing monsters in battle. If he could actually slay one, could he achieve a breakthrough?

“It must be far more beneficial than sparring with others!”

He first went to the third floor of the library, selecting two new true essence martial arts for idle cultivation.

No longer in the physical strength phase, he preferred quality over quantity, choosing techniques to ensure comprehensive development and avoid redundancy. Thus, he picked the "Flowing Cloud Sword Technique" and the "Cloud-Piercing Kick".

White Cloud Dojo lived up to its name—not only its arts, but many martial techniques were cloud-themed.

After borrowing and practicing them, Chen Fan began idle cultivation.

Their efficiency was not much different from that of the Nine Suns Tiger Fist…

Even with the help of Blood-Nourishing Medicine Packs and other resources, it would take two or three months to master the basics.

Afterwards, he went to register.

…

“Chen Fan, is that you? You’re here to sign up for the Monster-Slaying Tournament?”

At the registration desk, the instructor in charge recognized Chen Fan as the dojo’s prodigy.

“I recall you’ve only been practicing true cultivation for a few months. Have you already completed muscle tempering and reached the third stage of martial arts?”

Chen Fan nodded.

The instructor was slightly surprised, then full of admiration, saying,

“No wonder you could defeat Xiao Chunkong. You’ve already broken through to the third stage of martial arts! Truly worthy of being the master’s direct disciple—your talent is unmatched!”

He didn’t know how long Chen Fan had been cultivating, only marveling at his gift.

Chen Fan shook his head. “With enough resources at hand, I just took a few more pills…”

He remained modest.

“All martial artists have taken a few pills,” the instructor replied, unconcerned.

“Even if you’ve reached the third stage, I must remind you: in this Monster-Slaying Festival, every participant can battle monsters of their own level. However, these monsters are stronger than typical martial artists of the same rank, and their intelligence far surpasses that of ordinary beasts. Only martial artists with advanced techniques and movement skills can match them.”

“Fighting monsters involves real danger—even martial masters watching may not be able to intervene in time. Those who dare to sign up are all supremely confident. Among the core disciples of White Cloud Dojo, fewer than ten participate each year!”

“And among those at the third stage, besides you, there’s only one other.”

“You’re still young, just entering the third stage, and have never witnessed the brutality of monsters. Are you sure you really want to join this tournament?”

Chen Fan was taken aback, naturally hesitating.

Yet amid his hesitation, a surge of longing arose!

Life and death combat…

With martial elders overseeing, and opponents merely monsters of the same rank…

If he didn’t dare face even this, how could he aspire to reach the pinnacle of martial arts?

His martial arts and movement techniques had all reached the peak of basic mastery. Though not yet subtle mastery, he could dominate others of the same rank!

His strength even surpassed most fourth-stage martial artists, comparable to those at the fifth stage.

“I want to see if monsters of the same rank can match my vitality!”

His vitality had reached its limit, and his internal organ refinement in the third stage was nearly complete. If he still feared battling monsters of the same rank, he lacked resolve!

“I will participate!”

The instructor nodded, looking at Chen Fan with deep admiration.

In fact, registration required a strength test—those who failed had no right to sign up.

But since Chen Fan had recently defeated the third-stage peak Xiao Chunkong, the test was waived.

He would, however, have to pay the registration fee himself.