43: Differences in mental strength

Xun Xiuyuan looked at Xie Yunzhou's reaction and immediately explained, "It's not that I just advanced; it's been about ten days."

Xie Yunzhou looked at Xun Xiuyuan as if he were an idiot. Isn't ten days considered 'just advanced'?

"Do you know the mental power requirements for each advancement after the seven Body Forging Realms?" Xie Yunzhou asked.

Just as Xun Xiuyuan was about to answer, Xie Yunzhou continued.

"I can tell you don't know. Advancing to Xiantian requires fifty points of mental power, and advancing to Immaculate Realm requires five hundred points. And so on, each subsequent advancement increases by a factor of ten."

Xun Xiuyuan's mouth, which was about to speak, immediately gaped into an 'O' shape.

It was a good thing he didn't speak. It was completely different. He started with one hundred, and his subsequent advancements also increased by a factor of ten. Perhaps this was the downside of having a system? The difficulty of advancing became greater?

Xie Yunzhou saw Xun Xiuyuan's wide-open mouth and understood. He probably hadn't gone through systematic learning. He had to admit, he was a genius—a super genius!

What kind of teenager had over two thousand points of mental power?

"Can you explain? Five hundred to advance to Immaculate? How did your mental power reach over two thousand in these ten-plus days?"

It wasn't that Xie Yunzhou was suspicious; the Shadow Demon Clan's Emperor was very formidable in mental power research. It was said that he could control others with his powerful mental power.

However, what Xie Yunzhou didn't know was that the Shadow Demon Clan's Emperor had already advanced to Shattering Void Realm. If he had known, he wouldn't have dared to rush towards Shadow Demon City by himself.

Could this child be a puppet controlled by him?

Then he said directly, "The Shadow Demon Clan's Emperor can control puppets, which is why their mental power would be abnormal."

"I don't know. After I advanced, I was constantly being chased. I haven't slept in ten days. I also don't know why my mental power is so high."

Xun Xiuyuan knew the reason—the system—but he couldn't explain it.

With a flash of inspiration, Xun Xiuyuan took out a ningshen crystal and said, "Grandpa Xie, is it possible that this thing is the reason?"

In fact, ningshen crystals didn't have much effect on Xun Xiuyuan's mental power growth, but they were very useful for refining mental power and strengthening divine sense. When he had free time, Xun Xiuyuan often cultivated with ningshen crystals or soul stones.

"ningshen crystal? This is a good item, but using it now would be a bit of a waste. ningshen crystals can not only boost mental power but also contain a trace of the power of laws. It's more suitable for use after Transcendent Realm."

Xie Yunzhou said upon seeing the ningshen crystal Xun Xiuyuan took out.

Xun Xiuyuan was a bit confused at this point. He scratched his head and asked, "Since ningshen crystals are helpful for cultivators above Transcendent Realm, why do they still release half of their annual harvest to the City Passes on the surface?"

Xie Yunzhou smiled when he heard Xun Xiuyuan's question. "The surface is very important. People who can advance to Xiantian on the surface usually advance faster after coming to the abyss. Furthermore, the population base on the surface is huge, and the yield of ningshen crystals is low. After considering various factors at the time, it was decided to keep half of the ningshen crystals to support the City Pass cultivators on the surface."

After a pause, Xie Yunzhou returned to the previous question, "You mean your mental power was enhanced by ningshen crystals? How many ningshen crystals do you have to be able to increase your mental power so quickly?"

"Not many. Half of them went to the abyss. I only have about twenty thousand myself."

Xun Xiuyuan said lightly. This excuse didn't seem to work. How should he explain it? Would they really take him for a puppet of the Shadow Demon Emperor?

"How many? Over twenty thousand?" Xie Yunzhou almost spat out a mouthful of old blood.

Not many? You're clearly showing off, do you know that?

"Yes, I passed through the Ningshen Mystic Realm's eighth-tier Spirit Condensing Beast territory and obtained over fifty thousand in total."

Xun Xiuyuan explained.

Xie Yunzhou didn't disbelieve Xun Xiuyuan. It was just that Xun Xiuyuan was the intended person for his precious granddaughter, so he was a bit cautious.

"Alright, let's return to the Fortress first. We can discuss other matters later."

Saying that, he carried Xun Xiuyuan and rushed towards the human territory.

After Mu Tuo and Mu Jin returned to Shadow Demon City, the two Shadow Demons were discussing with the others about counterattacking the human Fortress.

"Husband, the humans actually sent people to assassinate our Transcendent Realm cultivators. We should also arrange for people to carry out assassination missions."

Mu Jin suggested to Mu Tuo.

Mu Tuo slowly shook his head after hearing Mu Jin's suggestion. "At this time, all the experts of the clan have been taken away by the Emperor. Even when the Emperor was here, we didn't have an advantage in high-end combat power. Our only advantage is that we have enough Xiantian, Immaculate, and Transcendent Realm cultivators."

Mu Jin asked in confusion, "Then what should we do?"

At this moment, a Transcendent Realm cultivator below stood up and said, "Leader, if it doesn't work, let's still have a Fortress battle, with Transcendent Realm cultivators leading the teams. The human's original territory has scarce resources for improving mental power, which is why their mid-tier combat power has always been inferior to ours. Our goal is to deplete their mid-tier combat power."

Mu Tuo slowly nodded after hearing this, then glanced at the other strong individuals and asked, "Do you have any other opinions?"

Another Transcendent Realm cultivator stood up and said, "Leader, I think a Fortress battle is feasible, and it's just in time. The Lingtian Relic in the battlefield between the Savage Bear Clan and Qiulong City is about to open. Their Immaculate Realm peak talents probably won't fight to the death; they'll definitely be planning for the Lingtian Relic."

Mu Tuo's eyes lit up when he heard this. "The Lingtian Relic is opening again? That's right, five years have passed again. Alright, let's have a Fortress battle. There's no need to capture the Fortress. The goal is to deplete their mid-tier forces and tie down their Immaculate Realm geniuses."

Fortress 100.

Lu Wenxiu, who was handling official business, heard a beep from his wristband. He looked down and saw Xun Xiuyuan's wristband signal displayed, approaching the Fortress at an extremely fast speed.

Lu Wenxiu immediately put down his documents and rushed to the north City Pass.

On the City Pass, he saw Xie Nanqiao, who came to gaze into the distance every day.

Lu Wenxiu's face was full of joy. "Miss Nan Qiao, Xun Xiuyuan's wristband signal has appeared, and he's on his way back."

Xie Nanqiao didn't have Xun Xiuyuan's wristband information, so she didn't know. Hearing Lu Wenxiu's words, her mouth suddenly gaped open in disbelief.

"Really?"

"Really. I set up an alert for Xun Xiuyuan's wristband number. As soon as he entered the signal range, I received the message."

Xie Nanqiao stopped speaking and turned to look north.

Xie Yunzhou carried Xun Xiuyuan, traveling at an extremely fast pace. However, along the way, they saw several small camps, and Xun Xiuyuan insisted on going down to eliminate them, saying that killing one was one less for the human race.

Xie Yunzhou, wanting to see Xun Xiuyuan's combat strength, let him do as he pleased.

So, it took them a considerable amount of time to return because Xun Xiuyuan went down to wreak havoc on Shadow Demon camps over a dozen times by himself.

Xun Xiuyuan was also incredibly happy. Unlike before, when he had to sneak around, hitting and running.

Now, with a Po Kong Realm expert watching over him, Xun Xiuyuan could just keep charging forward. It couldn't be more enjoyable.

Over a dozen camps increased his mental power by over four hundred points, and he had nearly five hundred lottery draws.

Xie Yunzhou no longer had any suspicion of Xun Xiuyuan. What kind of human traitor would slaughter exotic beasts like this?

In over a dozen camps, Xun Xiuyuan had killed no less than eight thousand, perhaps even ten thousand, exotic beasts.