Infinite Slaughter System: I Kill, Therefore I Ascend!-Chapter 170: Upgrading Daoist Arts! 4

It was around a full day later that Li Ling was able to open his eyes, raising his hands to activate his new Daoist Art with impatience. However, like his other Unique Immortal Arts that required something beyond what he currently had and were supplemented by the Infinite Slaughter System, Li Ling had to utilize an ’activation mechanic’.

Usually, it was one of the core Daoist hand seals, but this time, it was simply a gesture with an... incantation? It was more like a simple phrase to Li Ling, but he still performed it obediently to see how the Daoist Art would look.

He maintained his cross-legged posture, because it didn’t matter what position he was in, he could still use it. However, he had to push out one of his hands and angle it downwards with his fingers spread apart while keeping his forearm stretched, as if he was dropping a ball from his grip.

WHOOSH!

Immediately, a wave of power emerged from Li Ling that shook the area, causing winds to be generated in the cultivation chamber that blew back and forth, making the young man’s hair and robes flutter wildly as a black light surged around his feet like an inky pool of malice.

Then, in that same sitting posture, he suddenly turned his downward-facing palm upwards while extending his index finger and curling his other fingers inward, as if he were commanding something to rise from the ground.

Then he uttered the activation phrase calmly.

"Ten points pierce the world."

WHOOM!

Immediately, the inky blackness that had formed underneath his body behaved like a living being that had been given commands, with ten strands surging upwards from each direction, resembling spiky tendrils that could stab a person to death if used offensively.

These ten strands covered each cardinal direction around Li Ling and more, maintaining a firm posture yet flowing with energy that could dissolve any attack with ease, not allowing anything to harm Li Ling in the slightest.

Li Ling himself was subtly amazed by the technique. Putting aside its strange activation requirement, he could feel that this inky substance possessed its own cognition. If Li Ling were to describe it, it seemed very similar to the absolute defense that the young man of the sand village had from his mother.

Unfortunately, there was no way to properly test the defensive power of this Daoist Art here and now, so Li Ling could only deactivate it afterward.

He thought calmly and decided to name this skill the Chaos Barrier, because that inky black mass was a type of Grandmist power formed from merging the five elements, but was different from the Grandmist power that existed within his dantian as Dharma Power.

The starting price for the Chaos Barrier was 5,000 Slaughter Points, as high as the Heavenly Network. Li Ling hesitated greatly, but looking at his remaining Slaughter Points and the sheer list of Daoist Arts that still needed investment, he decided to skip over this and come back to it later on.

As such, his focus shifted to the Restoration Spell. This was a technique that went without saying, its value and importance nearly limitless as it could not only fully recover his own wounds, but even recover those of others.

Increase!

Li Ling paid 200 Slaughter Points to advance the Restoration Spell to the Advanced level. Unlike other Unique Immortal Arts, this spell didn’t gain new sub-abilities with each increase; rather, its range, cost of use, and applicability were all boosted positively.

For one, Li Ling at the Entry level could only heal physical damage done to the body, but the Advanced level now allowed him to heal damage done to the Sea of Consciousness and spirit sense. This was indisputably a very good increase because, while he hadn’t yet encountered such battles, it was always good to prevent those who could break his mental defenses specifically from leaving him injured and at their mercy.

Glancing at the panel, he paid 400 Slaughter Points to advance to the Expert level, and would you know it, he could now heal damage done to the core, which meant that he could now heal damaged spirit roots, broken dantians, and even recover crippled cultivators back to perfection.

Li Ling licked his lips because this upgrade... was a bit dangerous. In the cultivation world of Firmament Heaven, at least on Tian Ming Continent, there was no easy solution to crippling another person, which was why it was still a viable punishment.

The easiest way was usually to find a heaven-and-earth treasure called the Gleaming Lotus, whose petals could partly recover damaged foundations, restoring a person but leaving them weak and partly disabled.

But with a point of his finger and some Dharma Power expended, Li Ling could turn a hopeless cripple back into a cultivator with their full scope of ability restored. If word got out that he could do this, forget others, even the Six Paths Demon Sect might send an upper echelon to capture him and lock him in a dungeon to heal cripples for the rest of his life.

Another investment of 800 Slaughter Points advanced the Restoration Spell to the Mastery stage, where he could now directly heal soul damage. This was also a big deal, especially for Spirit Path cultivators in the fourth to sixth realms of cultivation for both body and qi, but particularly qi cultivators.

Li Ling could easily be known as a miracle doctor across the entire Tian Ming Continent if he opened a clinic to treat physical, mental, and soul injuries, with countless customers coming to him day by day to the point where he wouldn’t even know what to do with his wealth.

Ah, but don’t even entertain the thought. Don’t do that to yourself, because you should already know the nature of this fellow’s character, and how such a thing was impossible.

Just as he could gain great wealth from healing, he could also gain just as much wealth from killing, and with an Infinite Slaughter System, it was clear which path the fellow would take.

After paying a final sum of 1,600 Slaughter Points, Li Ling brought the Restoration Spell to Perfection, and at its pinnacle level, he could now heal damage to one’s Dao.

Indeed, that was correct, he could heal Dao-related damage, which was common at the Essence Path, from the Seventh to the Ninth Realms of mortal cultivation in both body and qi, but especially in qi cultivation.

If previously it was mostly the Middle Sect who would capture him to be a healing slave, then now the Upper Sect would definitely not let him go, because he was the solution to all of their problems.

But Li Ling didn’t come into this world to solve problems, but to create them!

So he would naturally camouflage this ability and use it on himself and those he controlled to prevent any unwanted leaks.

With the Restoration Spell maxed, Li Ling moved on to the Spirit Isolation Mantra, which was his second-realm sealing skill that could seal the power of any qi or body cultivator within the range of his spirit sense.

This one... to say it was useless, it was necessary when initially subduing a person so that he could plant his control over them. However, to say it was useful, Li Ling could even take down Nascent Soul cultivators at the third realm using his Rules as a cover, so what was the point of this Daoist Art?

Li Ling did not see a need to sacrifice it, but he also did not see a need to upgrade it. Even though it was a second-realm power, he could still seal anyone he wanted as long as his realm and mental power were up to par, so it wasn’t really about the technique itself.

However, its upgrade cost was cheap and he was already here, so...

Li Ling paid 100 Slaughter Points to limit break the Spirit Isolation Mantra, and immediately his mind was occupied by information that took a full day to transmit, meaning that he had now spent another week in seclusion just comprehending Daoist Arts since the Restoration Spell alone took a total of six days from beginning to end.

The new technique was called the Dharma Stripping Method, which now allowed him to seal up to third-realm powerhouses with almost no effort, relying on his Dharma Sense to target people in range. More importantly, he could now seal multiple targets at once and even detonate their sealed cultivation from afar if they tried to escape or betray him.

This was excellent value for a mere 100 Slaughter Points, because it gave Li Ling a new tool in his arsenal that could play an extremely vital role in upcoming issues; he could feel it.

With that over and done with, Li Ling now came to one of his most precious and most mysterious Unique Immortal Arts, the Yin-Yang Reversal Spell, which had also been his first of the lot. He had always been curious as to how it would look when perfected, but could never afford to splurge on it... until now!