Cultivation : I'm an Ancient Giant Bear-Chapter 487 - 460: Zhenyuan Tower
In the blink of an eye, fifty years have passed.
Just as Wang Wu had guessed, once the exploration issue with the Heaven and Earth Needle was resolved, the other matters became trivial.
The prisoner laborers stopped causing trouble, and no other factions came to provoke them.
Wang Wu would only come out twice every two years, once to help speed up the construction and once to assist with exploration.
Of course, he didn’t really complete the work every two years as the Frost Monarch had stated but extended it to two and a half years. The cost would be lower, but not excessively so.
Therefore, over the past fifty years, the Frost Domain was actually responsible for constructing only 21 Heaven and Earth Needles.
At this speed, they were already ranked in the middle among the eighteen engineering teams. The top five teams were only able to construct one every two years.
Wang Wu felt that this was pretty good.
He also experienced the happiest cultivation period of his life.
It was safe enough, no one dared to disturb him, and the key was sufficient Spiritual Qi.
In the past fifty years, he used his position to save the Frost Monarch eighty trillion points of Spiritual Qi and casually gained about one hundred billion points from it.
It was truly delightful.
However, one could not say that this hundred billion points of Spiritual Qi brought him significant improvement because he basically used it all to patch holes.
Among these, he spent twenty billion points of Spiritual Qi just to repair the hidden injuries of the Water, Wood, and Golden Spirit Pills.
Because he now had Level 19 Spirit Essence Micro, he discovered many hidden injuries and discrepancies that were previously undetectable.
He was revising and correcting as he went, which was very costly.
Of course, the benefits were numerous. Once the repair and correction of the Three Spirit Pills were completed, their status was excellent. Although they only increased by one grade overall and were now all Second Grade, the comprehensive potential they brought was undeniable.
However, Wang Wu temporarily had no opportunity to upgrade all the Three Spirit Pills to First Grade because he found that using Level 19 Spirit Essence Micro to observe the Creation Fire Spirit Pill, he could still discover some hidden injuries that were previously undetectable. There was no help for it but to start the repairs.
It could be said that in these fifty years, although he called it cultivation, he was actually just repairing hidden injuries.
The repair of the Creation Fire Spirit Pill was even more difficult and costly. He spent fifty billion points of Spiritual Qi on it, working tirelessly to finally complete the repairs.
The good news was that the thoroughly repaired Creation Fire Spiritual Qi successfully upgraded to Level 7 Creation Fire Spiritual Qi.
Unfortunately, this required an actual combat scenario to test the specific data and power.
Overall, these fifty years have been quite good.
He even took the time to upgrade his Level 26 Passive Concealment, Level 26 Danger Perception, and Level 22 Overlord Body, and conveniently upgraded Self-Healing to Level 25.
After upgrading the Healing Talent to Level 25, it naturally had a touch of creation, allowing for certain selective focus.
Wang Wu’s choice was rather standard, continuing with rapid blood recovery.
As a result, the Level 25 Self-Healing could restore 100,000 points of Life Value per second by itself, and with the passive effect of a Level 1 Blood Regeneration Divine Technique, it could recover 500,000 points of Life Value in three seconds, then cool down for three seconds before continuing this cycle.
It can only be said that this is still quite considerable.
At this point, he has used 12 billion points of Spiritual Qi to basically cover his shortcomings, and his foundation has been solidified in a new dimension.
As a result, the Four Clowns kept urging him to quickly find a senior sister or junior sister to spar with so they could observe his real-time combat power.
Wang Wu just treated it as wind passing by his ears because he now needed to move on to the next step, which was the final assault on Yin Fire Resistance.
It is worth mentioning that over the past fifty years, repairing the Three Spirit Pills and the Creation Fire Spirit Pill had cumulatively increased his Life Span Limit by another 5,000 years, bringing his total lifespan to 23,756 years.
One could say he is fully prepared and well-stocked with resources.
Consequently, during the inspection of the location for the 47th Heaven and Earth Needle, Wang Wu decided to launch the final assault.
However, there’s an annoyance: the third disciple of the Frost Monarch, that guy named Feng Muhai, always accompanied Wang Wu on explorations, even if it meant taking on all the dirty and tiring work. He remained endlessly persistent, insisting on protecting the senior’s safety.
Well, it’s understandable. This Feng Muhai is a reputed Taiyi Fifth-Stage True Immortal.
(Note: Earlier corrections regarding Senior Sister Qin’s realm to Taiyi Third Stage and Baiyu’s realm to Taiyi Second Stage.)
Ever since he arrived, he has suppressed all the old criminal prisoners, including Xiong Wang Shou, making them stay honest and obedient, which is quite telling.
Wang Wu wanted to enhance his Yin Fire Resistance, but he couldn’t just do it openly in front of him.
Though Feng Muhai is considered one of us now.
At this moment, Wang Wu held the Celestial and Earthly Compass in his hand, personally steering the Three-Defense Boat, while Feng Muhai maintained high alert behind him. They had been out for five days already, and under normal circumstances, they would complete the exploration in twenty days.
So essentially, Wang Wu was wandering around aimlessly, occasionally dropping by other groups’ sites to have a brief discussion.
"I wonder if a Level 26 Passive Concealment can fool this old guy?"
Wang Wu was quite worried. Several times he even thought, whatever, if he sees it, he sees it, we’re on the same side, why be afraid?
But his timid nature always held him back from crossing that line.
"Xiaofeng, once the exploration is over, I want to take a stroll inside the Heaven and Earth Needles of the other groups to learn from them, there’s no need for you to follow me."
"Senior, that’s absolutely impossible. My master instructed me to ensure your safety. Right now, you are critical to the construction of the Heaven and Earth Needle in our Frost Domain, and we must prevent any accidents. I have pledged my life to my master to guarantee your safety."
As expected, Feng Muhai rejected the idea decisively.
"But I feel like it’s nothing! Over the past fifty years, it’s been pretty safe. Just the mere Three Calamities, with the Three-Defense Treasure Armor and the Three-Defense Boat, what is there to fear? I hope you understand my need to explore other array patterns. Without understanding these patterns, I can’t rest in peace even in death."
"I’m sorry, Senior, there’s no room for negotiation. First and foremost, the other array patterns are the secrets of the Hidden Origin Association. If you’re discovered, you could potentially violate the laws of the Hidden Origin Association, possibly landing you in the Great Wilderness Sin Prison for thousands or even tens of thousands of years, and not even my master could save you."
"Secondly, you might think it’s been calm and serene over the past fifty years, but you don’t know that in the last fifty years, I have engaged in magical combat with these prisoner laborers over a hundred times to subdue them, dispersed invaders six times, and even killed a Taiyi Fifth-Tier criminal. Even now, there are three tails from different factions following us."
"You may not know, but everyone in the Frost Domain has made huge sacrifices for the construction of this Heaven and Earth Needle. My master had to work for three hundred years straight in the Outer Heaven, investing the foundation of the Frost Domain into this. While it may seem to you that the Frost Domain is vast and resource-rich, if we miss this opportunity, we will completely lose our voice in the future."
"So serious? But isn’t it just a Great Wilderness Sin Prison?"
Wang Wu was very surprised.
"It’s not just a simple Great Wilderness Sin Prison because it is an Eternal Firm Immortal Artifact crafted five million years ago, lost track of over five hundred thousand years ago, and could no longer be sensed until the descendants of a group of escaped criminals inadvertently brought it back into the world."
"The Hidden Origin Association paid a great price for it, not to restore it into a Great Wilderness Sin Prison, but to transform it into the Hidden Origin Association’s second Zhenyuan Tower."
"You know what a Zhenyuan Tower is, don’t you, Senior?"
"An upgraded version of the Hidden Origin Bell?"
"That’s right. One Zhenyuan Tower is worth ten Hidden Origin Bells. Our Hidden Origin Association strives for neutrality and fairness, but first, we must be invincible. Two Zhenyuan Towers ensure that."
"And the Vermilion Bird Heaven and Earth Needle we’re building now is the foundation for my Frost Domain’s intervention in the Zhenyuan Tower in the future. If we don’t build it, we’ll have to bow to other factions."
"I understand. But then, why didn’t other factions seize more shares initially? Why are they jumping around now?"
Wang Wu asked curiously. Normally, wouldn’t the big fish eat everything and the small fish get nothing?
"Because the Hidden Origin Association still maintains some semblance of fairness, at least on the surface. Moreover, restoring the Sin Prison Tower is a massive investment that other factions cannot digest quickly either."
"Most importantly, there are external forces outside the Hidden Origin Association eyeing us greedily. So the Hidden Origin Association had to unite and expedite the restoration of the Sin Prison Tower. The sooner we complete the restoration, the more the external environment will improve. Actually, Senior, you know nothing here and think the competition is limited to the small Heaven and Earth Needles."
"But in reality, over the past hundred years or so, the Hidden Origin Association has already agreed on three battles with other factions in Outer Heaven. In the Cultivation Realm, three sub-altars have been destroyed, and one sub-hall had to be transferred. The external pressure is immense, and the internal pressure is equally great. I won’t say what you did with the 12 billion Fighting Spiritual Qi you consumed over the past fifty years, but you have to ensure no trouble occurs, and regardless, you must complete the construction of these hundred Heaven and Earth Needles."
"And you must do it quickly, leaving no room for other factions to reap the benefits."
Feng Muhai’s words reached this point, and Wang Wu finally realized that he had been too limited, and it was no wonder Qingxue was transferred.
She, too, was moved wherever she was needed.
"Alright, then I have nothing more to say. Everything remains the same, but one thing: in the past fifty years, I helped you save 8 trillion in Fighting Spiritual Qi. My taking of 12 billion in Fighting Spiritual Qi is not excessive, right? You must not play the trick of killing the donkey after the grinding is done or burn bridges after crossing the river."
Wang Wu said alertly; such things must be clarified.
"Please rest assured, Senior, it’s just a metaphor. You naturally have your rights. All of this is legal; I just hope you can cooperate with us, and please don’t talk about borrowing alone anymore."
"Alright, I understand."
Wang Wu sighed, seemingly tempering his expectation for now.
However, the Zhenyuan Tower?
Suddenly, he had a bold idea.
