101: Chapter 101 System Upgrade?! One Hundred Million Crystals!!!

Prefectural Academy, Tingtao Courtyard!

The night was deep, and silence reigned!

Suddenly, a figure appeared in the bluestone-paved courtyard like a ghost. It was none other than Chen An, who had just returned from outside the city.

Pushing the door open and walking inside, Chen An did not light any lamps. With his current cultivation, he had long been able to see in the dark.

After entering the room, he first went to the well in the courtyard to fetch some clear water and then went to the bathroom to wash up.

The icy well water washed over his skin, as if rinsing away the bloody scent he had just picked up.

"Hoo!!"

Changing into fresh, dry clothes and shaking out his slightly damp hair, Chen An walked out of the bathroom and strolled back to his cultivation chamber. He sat cross-legged on the stone bed and finally let out a long, heavy breath.

"Indeed, when a tree stands above the forest, the wind will surely destroy it!"

He had not expected that he would suddenly be targeted by the Blood Demon Sect, such a notorious evil sect.

Although he had uprooted this stronghold of the Blood Demon Sect in Chengtian Prefecture, slaughtered every single cultist, and left not even a trace behind.

However, he could not guarantee whether the Blood Demon Sect had other secret lines lurking in the city, let alone whether the main altar would notice the anomaly and dispatch even stronger experts to seek revenge.

After all, the Blood Demon Sect had been able to run rampant within the Great Luo Dynasty for hundreds of years without being extinguished; its massive influence and deep infiltration were far beyond what ordinary people could imagine.

No one knew what kind of powerful figures might exist within the Blood Demon Sect.

Perhaps they were at the Martial King Realm, or it was even possible for them to have Martial Emperor Realm experts!

Today he could easily crush a branch altar only because the strongest person on the other side was merely at the Innate Realm. If a Devil Head of a higher Realm came, it would be troublesome.

"I am still too weak!"

Feeling the Martial Dao Golden Core floating in his Dantian, his eyes flickered. Then, with a wave of his right hand, a pile of yuan crystals resembling a small mountain appeared before him.

"System!"

"Top up!!"

With a thought and a flick of his hand, the mountain-like pile of yuan crystals vanished into the Void Realm as white light.

His gaze shifted, and a System panel appeared before him:

Host: Chen An

Age: 17

Aptitude: High-grade Martial Bone

Cultivation: Martial King Realm (Early Stage)

Skills: Qi Gathering Art (Perfection), Mountain Crushing Force (Perfection), Black Tortoise Breath-Concealing Technique (Perfection), Cangxuan Fusion Truth Technique (Perfection), Black Iron Golden Body Technique (Perfection), Flying Star Chasing Shadow Steps (Perfection), Cangxuan Qi-Condensing Art (Perfection), Ocean Overturning Wave Palm (Perfection), Flowing Cloud Thousand-Layer Step (Perfection), Heaven-Cleaving God-Slaying Saber (Perfection), Spirit-Restraining Technique (Perfection), Thunderous Hegemon Fist (Perfection), Seven Demonic Blades of Extinction (Perfection)

Concept: Palm Intent · Nine Fold Waves (Form-Shaping Stage), Step Intent · Void Image (Form-Shaping Stage), Step Intent · Chasing Shadow (Form-Shaping Stage), Saber Intent · Space Breaking (Form-Shaping Stage), Fist Intent · Mountain-Collapsing (Domain), Saber Intent · Extinction (Form-Shaping Stage)

Current Balance: 20025600

[PS: Per the request of book friends, the protagonist's skills have been listed, but rest assured, they will be omitted next time; I won't pad the word count.]

"Twenty million!!!"

Looking at the balance on the System panel, Chen An's eyes flickered, and a look of satisfaction flashed across his face.

"It's a pity that I didn't find an Emperor-grade Cultivation Technique!"

"Otherwise..."

However, immediately after, Chen An sighed slightly.

With so many yuan crystals, if he had an Emperor-grade Cultivation Technique, he could directly break through to become a Martial Emperor in one step and reach the pinnacle of the Cangyuan Continent.

Unfortunately, after the last Breakthrough to the Martial King Realm, he had understood the limitations of the System. If he tried to Cultivate by burning money without an Emperor-grade Cultivation Technique, it might just go down the drain like the previous fifteen million.

"Perhaps I can take it step by step!"

"First, deduce the King-grade Cultivation Technique!"

His eyes flickering, Chen An could not help but think of his current cultivation level.

His cultivation had already reached the Martial King Realm; if he used this to deduce a King-grade Cultivation Technique, it should be twice the result with half the effort.

"System!"

"Consume 100,000 balance, redeem 100,000 years of cultivation time, and deduce the Cangxuan Qi-Condensing Art with all your might!" Chen An thought for a moment and ordered the System.

Until now, his Cangxuan Qi-Condensing Art had remained at the Heaven Rank Low Grade level.

[Ding! System starting!]

[100,000 years redeemed successfully!]

[100,000 years of Cangxuan Qi-Condensing Art deduction experience beginning to be distributed...]

Rumble!!

Chen An felt his mind shake, and then countless profound techniques flooded into his mind like a tide.

A few breaths later, Chen An opened his eyes.

However, there was no joy on his face; instead, his brows were tightly furrowed.

"Why?!"

"100,000 years is still not enough?!"

"No, that's very wrong, it can't be like this!"

In that mysterious System space, he had repeatedly deduced the Cangxuan Qi-Condensing Art year after year.

With the feedback from his cultivation Realm, it took him less than ten years to deduce the Cangxuan Qi-Condensing Art to the Earth Rank High Grade, a point where it could not be advanced further.

However, afterwards, no matter how he deduced it, he could not make the Cangxuan Qi-Condensing Art go any further; he could not break the shackles and advance it into a King-grade Cultivation Technique.

Even in the more than 90,000 years that followed, he dismantled and reorganized the Cangxuan Qi-Condensing Art over and over again, but still could not break the Heaven Rank shackles at all.

Such a situation was clearly extremely abnormal.

Suddenly, a flash of inspiration struck Chen An's mind.

"Characteristics!!!"

He suddenly realized that once a Cultivation Technique reached the Heaven Rank, it would possess specific attributes, and these characteristics were prepared for the subsequent promotion to Martial King.

And the Cangxuan Qi-Condensing Art was merely something he had deduced step by step from an Incomplete Manual of a Profound Rank technique. It was a pure True Qi Cultivation Technique and did not contain any characteristics.

This was the reason why, no matter how he used the System to deduce the Cangxuan Qi-Condensing Art, it still could not be promoted to a Heaven Rank technique.

"So, how can I add attributes to the technique?!" Chen An muttered to himself in a low voice.

[Ding!!!]

[Detected that the host has encountered a bottleneck. Do you wish to spend 100 million balance to upgrade?!]

[Yes / No]

Just then, the System's cold notification sound suddenly rang in Chen An's mind?!

"What, it can still be upgraded?!"

Hearing the System's voice in his mind, a look of surprise flashed across Chen An's eyes.

However, upon seeing the consumption required for the upgrade, Chen An's slightly excited mood calmed down a bit.

100 million balance, that was 100 million yuan crystals!

"System, if you upgrade, what functions will you have?!" His eyes flickering, Chen An asked.

"After this System upgrade, it will be able to solve the host's problem regarding technique deduction!" The System's voice rang out again.

"Just this?!" Hearing the System's response, the corner of Chen An's mouth twitched slightly.

Upgrading a technique deduction problem actually required consuming 100 million yuan crystals; wasn't that too exaggerated?

System, you aren't really taking a kickback, are you?!

Although he thought this, after considering it for a moment, Chen An decided to upgrade.

Regardless, a System upgrade is always a good thing!

What's more, after the upgrade, if it could solve the problem of technique deduction, that would not be a loss for him.

He could sell an Earth Rank High Grade technique for seven million yuan crystals, so what about a Heaven Rank technique, a King-grade technique, or even an Emperor-grade technique?!

As for not having money?!

At worst, he could just deduce all the techniques in his hands to the Earth Rank and go sell them!

One isn't enough to sell, then sell two; two aren't enough, then five, ten!!!

With the System in hand, he would never lack Cultivation Techniques!

Taking a deep breath, Chen An temporarily pushed the matter of upgrading to the back of his mind, then looked at the System before him again.

The matter of the System upgrade, he did not have enough money now, so thinking about it was useless!

However, he still had 20 million balance right now; was he just going to leave it there waiting for an upgrade?!

Chen An was not the kind of miser who liked to sleep while hugging yuan crystals!

Money is meant to be spent!

Otherwise, he would not like going all-in so much!

Money is dead; only by spending it and turning it into strength does it truly become something that belongs to oneself.

Especially since he held the System, the biggest bug, in his hands; the thing he lacked the least was techniques that could be exchanged for money.

"System, first redeem 10 million years of cultivation time for me to increase my cultivation!!!"

...