Infinite Slaughter System: I Kill, Therefore I Ascend!-Chapter 169: Upgrading Daoist Arts! 3

And coming right after the Dao Seeing Eye was the Heavenly Network, something that Li Ling knew would become exceedingly integral when he ascended to the Upper Sect.

This technique was essentially a late-game auxiliary one that allowed Li Ling to become a ’server’ that connected various ’clients’, able to facilitate long-distance communication between them. The minimum requirement for the clients was that they had to be in the Sixth Realm, for both qi and body cultivators to be able to access its features.

It was a passive technique that didn’t require much work from Li Ling himself, only that he had to be strong and within a certain general range for the transmissions to work, which would increase along with his cultivation. It was the type of art that he could use to be the grandmaster of a secret force, connecting the cultivation world’s upper echelon in the shadows after enslaving them, or he could also be a faction leader in the open, using this to manage all his members that followed whatever faction he established in the future.

But that was for the future, because he absolutely had no use for it until he himself reached at least Dao Integration or Void Refining and could properly bring such fellows under his control using his own power, not assumed power (i.e., through status in the sect or expectations for his future).

Not to mention that just the first level cost 5,000 Slaughter Points.

That was more than likely the major reason Li Ling decided to skip over it for now, especially since, given the power and scope of the technique, it might jump from 5,000 Slaughter Points for the first upgrade to 10,000 Slaughter Points for the second, which would swallow a huge chunk of his current balance.

Next was a normal upgradeable technique through limit break, the Spirit Sense Control Technique. Li Ling was a bit skeptical about this because at the Qi Refinement realm, where there was no ’telekinetic’ ability, the Object Control Technique was apt, using the connection between refined spirit qi and the object to move it.

Then there was the Spirit Sense Control Technique he currently had, which was born from the Foundation Establishment attainment of the ethereal spirit sense, using it as a medium to enhance the speed, flexibility, and mastery of ’telekinetic’ ability with regards to controlling external objects.

But all this was to say that in the previous two realms, there was a distinct lack of telekinetic ability, one where there was none and the other where there was a very weak one, so it made sense to have an external Daoist Art that focused on this.

However, Dharma Sense was not the same as Spirit Sense, already bearing the unique mental and spiritual signature of the cultivator in question, even possessing physical force on its own; otherwise, one wouldn’t be able to significantly compress their core.

So what was the use of an upgrade to this technique?

However, Li Ling was thinking from the wrong point of view, akin to how a wealthy person in the one percent would view a certain issue that plagued an average person as trivial.

In this case, Li Ling assumed that as long as one cultivated properly and normally, they would have a strong enough Dharma Sense to compress their core for breakthrough, but reality stated that this was not the case.

Li Ling had breezed through the Core Formation breakthrough with the help of the Infinite Slaughter System, making him miss the difficulty of breakthrough for the average person. For them, rather than just having weak Dharma Sense, it was due to weak willpower, because compressing one’s core was incredibly painful, like trying to bite your finger consciously.

Putting aside the pain, your own mind would prevent you from going on, so in that situation, to break through, you were going against yourself and your core, having to fight instinct as well as pain. When that happened, having the upgraded telekinetic ability from this technique’s upgraded version became not only extremely useful, but very vital to success for the average fellow.

Here, Li Ling was less likely to encounter average cultivators who only cultivated their Daoist Arts to the advanced level at most, focusing on promoting their overall cultivation realm first and foremost.

Now, with 600 years of life, many sat down and either pursued one of the Hundred Arts of cultivation, and also began perfecting their various core Daoist Arts.

And as stated, since this technique was vital to breakthroughs, most cultivators would progress as far as they could, many reaching the Expert level before giving up, with the few geniuses here and there reaching Mastery.

Once again, no matter how hard the effort, if reaching the stage of Perfection in a Daoist Art was so easy, people would not always scream and shout when they saw Li Ling unveil such techniques, nor would Li Ling himself treat Bai Yegui so seriously and even call him a mini protagonist.

A simple payment of 100 Slaughter Points and the new Daoist Art, named the Dharma Sense Control Technique, was ready to go at the level of Perfection.

There was nothing much to add or say about it. It didn’t increase the range of Li Ling’s Dharma Sense, but his loose Dharma Sense now had a bit more oomph behind it, though it did not yet reach the level of what the Nine Heights Pagoda should theoretically provide.

’Should’ was used here because the Daoist Art was still at the 6th level, meaning he at most had Foundation Establishment Perfection-level Spirit Sense. He was just comparing it to how it had been versus his loose spirit sense plus the perfected Spirit Sense Control, and the gap had been huge.

After this was the Earth Tunneling Art, and after acquiring the Tai Xu Mysterious Method, this art had quickly lost its value. Li Ling was in two minds as to whether to fuse it with something or to sacrifice it, but he didn’t have any other escape techniques that could merge with it suitably.

As such, Li Ling attempted a sacrifice for the first time.

｢System Prompt: You have sacrificed <The Earth Tunneling Art - Perfection> to the system. Calculating its numerical value, the system returns 150 Slaughter Points to the host.｣

Li Ling closed his eyes and felt his knowledge as well as his expertise in the Earth Tunneling Art fade away like clouds and mist, becoming a vague concept at the back of his mind that he knew he once mastered, but now needed to remaster to be able to use.

Also, the returned Slaughter Points seemed pitiful, but were not. It cost him 100 Slaughter Points to advance the Earth Escape Technique of the first realm from Entry to Perfection, then 50 Slaughter Points to limit break it straight to its current realm, so the books were balanced.

Its slot was replaced by the Golden Blockade Technique, which was one of his mainstays in battle for defense. The metal element, which the Golden Bell Shield and Golden Blockade Technique were from, was one that was strong in attack and strong in defense, just lacking in flexibility and agility.

However, after tasting Grandmist power and how it could break down all elements, Li Ling developed the idea of either upgrading or amending this Daoist Art to be one of such caliber, so that his defenses against qi-related attacks would be foolproof.

To do that, he had to first sacrifice the technique and revert it back to its most basic state.

｢System Prompt: You have sacrificed <The Golden Blockade Art - Perfection> to the system. Calculating its numerical value, the system returns 80 Slaughter Points to the host.｣

This one was also fair, because the Golden Bell Shield required 30 Slaughter Points to reach Perfection and swallowed 50 Slaughter Points to be limit broken. Once the knowledge of the technique left his mind, Li Ling was not disheartened, for he grinned widely and took out the manual for the Golden Bell Shield he purchased from Qiu Yaoli a month ago, as well as four other manuals of different colors.

The first was red-colored, called the Ring of Fire technique.

The second was blue-colored and was the famous Water Shield.

The third was green-colored, being the Wood Skin Shield.

The fourth and final was brown-colored, called the Earthen Wall technique.

Paired with the original Golden Bell Shield, Li Ling easily learned each of them to the Entry level in under a minute each. This was not only due to his enhanced cognitive faculties, but also the ever-present Grandmist power in his body that gave him deeper insight into the elements.

Of course, credit should also be given to the Five Elements Heavenly Spirit Roots; they also played a role.

But they were not the main show. Now that Li Ling had brought all five of these techniques onto the panel, they were eligible for fusion, and he immediately assented to the process on the spot.

Immediately, Li Ling felt a surge of excitement because a huge wave of procedural information hit his Sea of Consciousness, meaning that the Infinite Slaughter System was crafting another Unique Immortal Art!