Chapter 66: Promotion and Preparation (Third Update)

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  "No need to go up the knife mountain and down the oil pot." Wan Gui Lao Zu's eyes revealed a cold and sinister look: "After this matter, once that dry bone finds out the truth, his master and apprentice will definitely hate me, Wan Gui Cave, to the bone. Rather than waiting for him to grow strong and take action against me, it's better to eliminate them early."

  "The disciple understands." In fact, there was no need for Wan Gui Lao Zu to say it, Lei Dong also understood that he could not tolerate the hundred-mile cloud. Since it had already become an irreconcilable blood feud, a fierce conflict would inevitably erupt between them sooner or later. However, his face showed some concern: "But, about Master Tu... I'm afraid it won't be easy to explain."

  "Tu Zhang Lao has already spoken, secretly taking action is not an option. If something unexpected happens to Bai Li Yun, even if it's not done by me, Wan Gui Ku, Tu Zhang Lao won't let it go easily." Wan Gui Lao's eyes flashed with a hint of cruelty: "However, in two years' time, it will be the sect's ten-year grand competition. When you meet him then, he absolutely won't let you off. It's a good opportunity for you to get rid of him. Otherwise, once he grows strong enough, it will not be a fortunate event for Wan Gui Ku."

  "Ancestor, you want me to participate in the Ten Year Grand Competition?" Lei Dong's face stiffened, and he said with a mixture of tears and laughter: "I'm just a disciple with only the sixth layer of Qi Refining cultivation, probably the lowest among all the personally taught disciples. Ancestor, isn't this sending me to my own death?"

  "Scram, don't think I don't know what you're up to." Wan Gui Lao Zu scolded in a bad temper: "If you can't even get me into the top three at the Ten Year Grand Competition, I'll send you to the desolate and barren lands, never to return for all eternity."

  “……”

  Lei Dong felt an urge to cry, thinking that his ancestor was really looking out for him. However, although the ancestor said this without a stern face, he knew that there was no room for negotiation in this matter, and had even uttered slogans like "going up knife mountain and down oil pot". If he were to hesitate or make excuses now, he would likely incur his ancestor's displeasure. And his ancestor was his greatest reliance, the foundation of his existence in this world.

  "Disciple obeys." Lei Dong's body straightened up, his expression serious and solemn.

  For Lei Dong's intelligent and serious attitude, Wan Gui Lao Zu was very satisfied and praised him a few times. After returning to the Wan Gui Cave, he gave Lei Dong one of his treasured rare artifacts.

  Having obtained that top-grade artifact, Lei Dong indeed felt a mix of sweetness and bitterness. The sweet part was that this top-grade artifact was extremely rare, not to mention for Qi Refining stage cultivators, even Foundation Building stage cultivators wouldn't easily obtain it. But the bitter part was that having taken this artifact, he had to get one of the top three places and kill Bai Li Yun in order to keep it. However, Lei Dong also knew that he didn't have the right or reason to refuse. This matter was trouble he had brought upon himself, so cleaning up after himself was only proper. Since he couldn't resist, he might as well just enjoy it honestly.

  As soon as he returned to his residence, Lei Dong began to ponder secretly. Those who participated in the Grand Competition were all top three disciples under each of the old ancestors, and none of them were easy to deal with. Who knew who had hidden their strength, and who knew who possessed some kind of bizarre and deadly trick?

  Life is a fragile thing, and Lei Dong only has one. He didn't want to die at the beginning of his life, especially not by being killed by some random passerby. Over the past year or two, Lei Dong had been working hard to improve his external strength, but his internal cultivation was growing very slowly. Of course, having strong physical strength and low internal cultivation is a kind of advantage that can numb people. Unfortunately, if one's internal cultivation is too weak, even with the same technique, the power will be much weaker than others. Especially with the Ghost Control Technique, even if you have high-quality ghost soldiers, if your own internal cultivation is not high and your spiritual awareness is not strong, you won't be able to control ghost soldiers that are too high in rank. Otherwise, even if it's a ghost soldier bound to you by fate, once it loses control, it will probably backlash against its master.

  Lei Dong thought that his biggest advantage at the moment was still the three high-quality ghost soldiers. Although their ranks were not high, the ghost soldiers of high-quality spirit ghosts could still be promoted quickly.

  However, with only two years left in the decade-long competition, Lei Dong also felt that time was quite pressing. To enhance the strength of the ghostly soldiers, it seemed that conventional methods could no longer be used; they had to spend money to purchase the corpses of demonic beasts and wild ghostly soldiers for the main ghostly servants to devour and absorb.

  Right after that, Lei Dong took stock of his possessions again. Except for the few top-grade magic tools he used himself, naturally couldn't be sold. The rest of the storage waistbands and magic tools plundered from the nouveau riche Wu Qianqiu also had a number of good items, although they were damaged during battle due to their quality, could still sell for a pretty penny.

  Additionally, some of the magical instruments that Lei Dong had eliminated himself were also handed over to Zhao Baiwan for inventory and disposal. In the end, he even obtained more than 10,000 spirit stones, plus his own savings and some from the storage belt. Adding them up, the total number of spirit stones reached 25,000 or so. Among the Qi Refining cultivators, this was considered a wealthy household. Even many poorer Foundation Building cultivators might not be able to come up with such a large amount of spirit stone cash.

  After clearing out the miscellaneous items, Lei Dong simultaneously announced in the Wan Gui Cave that he would be purchasing demon beasts and wild ghost corpses. Generally speaking, a first-level wild ghost corpse or an intact demon beast corpse was worth about one to two spiritual stones. Even second-level ones were only worth around three spiritual stones. However, for ordinary demon beast corpses at around level five, the value increased significantly, often requiring thirty to fifty spiritual stones.

  Further up, the price is even more expensive. However, for feeding ghost soldiers, the higher the rank, the greater the nourishment for the ghost soldiers.

  Lei Dong specially used 10,000 Ling Stones to collect these wild ghost soldiers and demon beast corpses, just to cultivate ghost soldiers. This is an extremely luxurious way of raising ghosts, with slightly fewer Ling Stones, it's simply not feasible. Only extremely wealthy people would do this. And Lei Dong, although he didn't dare sell high-quality spirit ghosts, medium-quality ones could occasionally be bought and sold. He lacked a lot of money, but wouldn't lack small change.

  According to estimates, the blood food soul materials collected by this Wanling Stone are enough for three high-quality ghost soldiers to be promoted to level 12, and at least three medium-quality ghost soldiers can also reach around level 10. Moreover, the cost of promoting a high-quality ghost soldier to level 12 is still much lower than that of three medium-quality spirit ghosts.

  That's why he did this, also because Lei Dong usually needs those three mid-grade spirit ghosts to cover up. Those three high-grade spirit ghosts are his real trump cards, and he will not use them unless absolutely necessary.

  He also spent 5,000 spirit stones to buy a pellet of Earth Spirit Dan, preparing for the bottle neck period. He then spent another 5,000 spirit stones to purchase a batch of rare and precious medicine, Cihua Dan, which was suitable for use during the Refining Qi stage and had an effect several times better than the common medicine, Peiyuan Dan, but at a price that was more than ten times higher. It was also a treasure for rich people to accelerate their cultivation speed. The last 5,000 spirit stones were used to separately craft a set of equipment for each of the six ghost soldiers using uncommon materials, which could greatly enhance the combat power of the ghost soldiers.

  Two years have passed in the blink of an eye.

  A batch of Huahua Dan, a grain of Diligent Spirit Dan, and only ten pieces of medium-grade spirit stones were all consumed. Lei Dong also benefited greatly from this. In just two years, with his qualifications, after borrowing resources that cost a large amount of spirit stones, he actually rose from the sixth layer of Qi Refining to the eighth layer. This cultivation realm, at a speed of one layer per year, was even faster than Zuo Chao's. However, the total resources he consumed were tens of times more than Zuo Chao's. Especially that grain of Diligent Spirit Dan, which pushed Lei Dong from the peak of the seventh layer of Qi Refining to the eighth layer in one go. This is the difference in qualifications between the two sides. Although Zuo Chao can't compare to Ding Yuanyan, with some Peiyuan Dan and low-grade spirit stones, his normal cultivation speed isn't slow, and bottlenecks rarely appear.

  Lei Dong was very satisfied with his cultivation speed, but he was tongue-tied by the terrifying speed at which he consumed resources. However, as long as he could reach the Foundation Establishment stage and enter the Golden Core stage, even if he had to spend all the world's resources, Lei Dong would not frown in the slightest. The only thing that made him shake his head with a bitter smile was that this lifetime, he would probably have to become a thief. Otherwise, with normal effort and earning spirit stones for cultivation, he wouldn't be able to reach the Foundation Establishment stage even if he lived a whole life.

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  Haha, it's great to see many of you big shots on the recommendation list asking for recommendations too! Currently, our Big Devil has been squeezed down to 15th place, and the pursuing troops are coming in strong. Brothers and sisters, please help me smash some more recommendation votes, let's hold out on the front page~ Tomorrow will still be three updates~