Huh? Isn't this an adventure kingdom building game?!-Chapter 679 - 665: Worth the Trip, All Worth the Trip
Just flew out to take a look, and sure enough, all the well-known ones have gathered here. Usually, they are active at different times, and the presence of the lord keeps the peace, but bringing them here today might not end well.
When the progress bar reached 60%, the ripple had already spread beyond the city.
The big guys were getting more and more excited, just waiting for the mystical treasure to emerge; even if it meant fighting with the bald monks, they had to act! A once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, if they didn’t try, wouldn’t it be a waste to have lived so long?
The fierce beasts under suppression howled in excitement, as if they had broken free from chains, seeing the blue sky and white clouds again, regaining freedom, and indulging!
When the progress bar reached 99%, an area encompassing countless miles with Cold Spring City at its center was saturated with spiritual energy. The demon beasts gathered sensed the imminent emergence of the treasure, and none wanted to fall behind, crowding to the front, ready for the contest.
Due to Zhiming’s earlier display of his true form as a threat, until they were absolutely certain, no one dared to damage even a small part of the city, not even touching the fragile array.
"Patron Jiang is about to emerge." Master Faxian, the chief of the Dharma Institute, sighed and uttered a Buddhist chant, "All disciples, prepare to act, an intense battle is inevitable."
The Buddhist cultivators responded in unison, knowing well that today’s battle was one where either the temple and city stood or everything perished.
Hopefully, the ruckus-causing Patron Jiang could join the battle quickly after emerging, or else there would be corpses everywhere and rivers of blood!
"Let me see what kind of treasure this is!"
"This spectacle is beyond a divine artifact; it must be a Supreme Divine Artifact!"
"Hahaha! Heaven favors me, with this artifact I can certainly ascend and become a Divine Beast..."
...
The uproar outside was matched by the frenzied fierce beasts, "Being closest to the water, I will surely get to the precious treasure first!"
The progress bar finally reached 100% complete.
"Phew!"
A massive whirlwind arose, roaring like a beast.
It then spread outward, appearing from above like a giant slap, sending the gathered drooling demon beasts rolling away for miles.
It was worth coming, definitely worth it!
"Thud!"
"Duang!"
Sequence of falls shook the ground constantly, like receiving a solid slap; the demon beasts that were howling excitedly a moment ago now all had blood at the corners of their mouths, clearly suffering internal injuries.
Crawling up in disarray, no one could laugh at anyone else. Recalling the power of that slap just now, they were all relieved to have survived, fleeing back to their lairs, afraid of being caught by that aura and losing their lives!
For the next ten or even dozens of years, these once-dominant demon beasts would have to stay low and heal, not daring to show themselves randomly again.
"The treasure has emerged! It’s mine! Mine..." The fierce beast under suppression in the dark was causing a commotion, but the remaining sweeping force slapped it as well.
Ensuring everyone got a share, neither favoring nor neglecting anyone.
"Whimpering..." The fierce beast whimpered like a little dog, curling up in pain, with no strength to jump or howl, and the world finally quieted down.
After hitting the arrogant and covetous demon beasts, the whirlwind gradually shrank, transforming into a pure energy that gently returned to the main hall, leaving only a gentle breeze by Jiang Yuan’s side, slightly lifting his hair.
"That was a great sleep! What time is it?" With the breeze on his face, Jiang Yuan stretched lazily and rubbed his eyes, only realizing belatedly that there was still a progress bar.
He hurriedly checked the history records in the lower-left corner and his eyes lit up instantly—[Ice Flame Upgrade], [Earth Spirit Flame Upgrade], [Soul-Devouring Demon Skill Upgrade]...
The history records were filled with instant skill upgrade notifications!
"Hahaha! This time spending both money and effort, it’s truly worth it!" Jiang Yuan opened the page and saw that the system’s mention of a significant increase in his strength referred to all skills, including basic ones, leveling up by one on their existing experience bars!
Even the Ghost Immortal Scripture, which was marked as unusable, had upgraded to Level 1, though it was still grayed out and temporarily unavailable.
The more you spend, the more you earn, quite rewarding!
Standing up and gazing around the main hall filled with countless skill manuals, he silently marveled at how many cultivation techniques the Buddhist cultivators in the temple must have gathered, allowing the system to absorb the energy from these book scrolls, truly a rare treasure!
"Creak～"
Jiang Yuan thought, with all the skills leveled up; the harvest was quite plentiful, and it was time to go home. There was still a lot of work waiting for him in the small courtyard.
"Congratulations, Patron Jiang!" Zhiming hurriedly came forward to congratulate him on emerging.
They were preparing for a desperate fight, never expecting Patron Jiang’s formidable power to beat the demon beasts so thoroughly, bringing peace to the vicinity of Cold Spring City for decades, the drastic ups and downs leaving Zhiming almost unable to contain his emotions.
"Congratulations to Patron Jiang on the significant improvement in strength." The other Buddhist cultivators followed suit with enthusiastic congratulatory remarks.
Jiang Yuan responded politely, wondering—how did they know all my skills had been upgraded?
Nevertheless, the joy in his heart was so overwhelming that he couldn’t suppress the smile on his face, which appeared to the Buddhist cultivators as inner joy from a great achievement in cultivation, worth celebrating indeed!
"Thank you, Master, for your kind words. I have gained much in the Prajna Hall, which is already sufficient, and the evil cultivators in Cold Spring City have been dealt with. I must return now. I also need to find the whereabouts of the Zhao family’s rogue practitioners and eliminate them completely." Faced with the fervent retention from the monks, Jiang Yuan politely declined.
To prove he hadn’t taken anyone’s cultivation techniques and was worried about absorbing too much of the accumulated energy in the hall, he invited Zhixian, the head of Prajna Hall, to inspect the hall.
"Huh? Where have those annoying little bugs gone?" Master Zhixian naturally didn’t need to check each one, as a sweep with his divine sense confirmed that all the texts were in their original places, untouched, but the numerous hard-to-catch bookworms were gone, to his pleasant surprise.
Jiang Yuan hurriedly explained, "Those golden bookworms would eat the text on the scrolls. Seeing their numbers, I worried about potential losses, so I caught them all."
After all, they are Buddhist cultivators who don’t kill, and saying they were killed outright wouldn’t be appropriate.
"Amitabha, thank you, Patron Jiang, for your help. Those bookworms couldn’t be removed or caught, and frequently ate the text of the cultivation books, causing me quite a headache. Thanks again to the patron." Master Zhixian couldn’t be happier internally; without the bookworms wandering around, there was no more worry about the texts disappearing intermittently.
The ripple he caused made the spiritual energy in the entire Cold Spring City multiply several times, and it seemed it would take at least three to five days to fade away, but Patron Jiang seemed unfazed by it.
Zhiming felt deeply moved, inferring that Patron Jiang’s abode’s Spirit Gathering Array must be even richer in spiritual energy than here, otherwise, no cultivator would give up such a good opportunity for cultivation to return home.
Seeing that Master Zhixian was only full of joy without any other expression, Jiang Yuan secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
Honestly, in novels, when the protagonist takes every last bit of unique treasures and essence wherever they go, it always felt off. They are not bandits, so why take everything?
Since the system’s absorption of the scroll’s spiritual energy didn’t affect the numerous cultivation techniques in the back hall, he felt at ease.
As for what Master Zhiming said about the abundant spiritual energy, he couldn’t feel or absorb it anyway, so there was no point in staying here.
Politely taking his leave, Jiang Yuan used a Teleportation Scroll to directly arrive at the small courtyard, happily counting his gains. First, he upgraded the distillery level to produce the spiritual wine needed for the task and then distributed benefits to the members in the small courtyard!
Meanwhile, the abbot of Cold Spring Temple, Fah Xuan, fell into silence upon hearing of Patron Jiang’s departure.
The immense power from the other side as he was about to emerge earlier gave the fierce beast a resounding slap, leaving Fah Xuan restless for a long time.
What kind of cultivation technique could be this terrifying?
Since Patron Jiang had thoroughly admonished the gathered demon beasts and the boastful fierce beast, it indicated his awareness of the secrets hidden by Cold Spring Temple known only to successive abbots for thousands of years.
"Without even showing up, merely a surge of power subdued it into inaction for some time; perhaps Patron Jiang could help Cold Spring Temple deal with this fierce beast?" The thought of no longer needing to exhaust one’s life suppressing the fierce beast, granting freedom to the next abbot, rippled through Fah Xuan’s long tranquil heart.
Let’s wait a bit longer, think it over carefully.
After all, dealing with the fierce beast, a wrong choice could bring endless slaughter to the Wilderness World, and Cold Spring Temple couldn’t afford the consequences of its escape. Besides, there must be a reason for asking someone to help handle such a vicious fierce beast, right?
