112: Chapter 112 Ninefold Lock of Thoughts

The attendant leading the way stopped inside the main gate and gestured forward with one hand.

"Minister Li, the Great Elder has given the word. Anything in this core treasury that catches your eye, feel free to take it."

Before his eyes stood a whole row of shelves crafted from high-grade warm jade.

Jade boxes and weapons were neatly displayed, their outer layers covered in the shimmering light of various formations.

Any item here, if tossed into the black market, would fetch an astronomical price.

Li Zhengyang walked down the aisle, his footsteps light and his mind calculating clearly.

For single-target burst damage, he had the Nine Heavens Thunder Control Spear.

For defense and sustainability, he had the Prison Dragon Asura Armor and the Tyrannosaurus Bone.

For movement and escape, he had the Soaring Dragon Sky-Stepping Footwork.

Now, all he lacked was a crowd-clearing skill.

Every time he ran into thousands of demon people or demon beasts, stabbing them one by one was too inefficient.

Time is money; if his monster-clearing speed didn't increase, he wouldn't be able to make money fast enough.

"Do you have any area-of-effect martial arts here that can take down a whole crowd with a single wave of the hand?" Li Zhengyang turned his head. "Something specifically for clearing out cannon fodder."

The attendant pivoted and led him straight into the martial arts technique section on the right.

"Yes! For crowd-clearing techniques, our headquarters has nothing but the best."

The attendant walked over to an independent jade pedestal and lifted a jade slip with both hands, his breathing even becoming noticeably lighter.

"The S-rank 'Blazing Sun Eight Desolations Art'! It channels blood energy into a sky full of fire rain; one strike, and everything within hundreds of meters is scorched to barren land!"

Li Zhengyang leaned in to glance at the holographic projection introduction that popped up above, then turned and walked away.

"No good."

"Why not? The front-line legion commanders have requested it several times, but headquarters never approved it!"

The attendant grew anxious and hurried to keep up.

"It says here, 'Requires ten breaths to channel qi and condense fire'."

Li Zhengyang held up a finger and shook it. "Ten breaths? By the time I finish charging up the ultimate move, those demon people would have already run eight hundred meters away. I need something instantaneous!"

The attendant wiped the sweat from his forehead with his sleeve and rushed to another shelf, pulling out an ancient-looking scroll.

"Look at this one! 'Thousand Shadow Heart-Shattering Sword'! An SS-rank martial art! One breath turns into a thousand swords, a true no-blind-spot area-of-effect attack with absolutely no wind-up!"

Li Zhengyang saw the description of its power, and his face immediately darkened.

"One-tenth of my blood energy splits into a thousand sword auras, each with only one percent of the original power? You call this an area-of-effect attack? Are you trying to give the demon people a spa day to exfoliate their dead skin?"

"This..." The attendant was speechless.

"I want a one-hit kill, but I need to keep the corpses intact. If they're all blown into meat paste, where am I supposed to dig for demon cores? Power that is too scattered is just ineffective damage."

Li Zhengyang spread his hands. "Do you have anything more powerful?"

The attendant's scalp tingled.

The treasury had been open for decades; which general hadn't been dazzled by the choices upon entering?

But this guy? He turned his nose up at the most top-tier martial arts in Great Xia.

"Crowd-clearing techniques are inherently about wide-range coverage; spreading power is an iron law."

"There really isn't a divine skill that is instantaneous, has a wide coverage area, high power, and doesn't destroy the loot."

The attendant suggested with a bitter face, "Why don't you go check the weapons section?"

Li Zhengyang didn't respond and continued sweeping through the depths of the treasury.

If the stuff in the front didn't suit his taste, he would look deeper.

Suddenly, a faint fluctuation intruded into his perception network.

This fluctuation originated from a row of dilapidated wooden shelves in the innermost part, lightly pricking his brain nerves.

Li Zhengyang strode over, heading straight for the innermost corner of the treasury.

This area didn't even have dust-prevention formations; the shelves were covered in thick dust and piled high with pitch-black broken stones and shattered weapon fragments.

He reached out to push aside a pile of debris and grabbed a broken jade slip pressed at the very bottom.

The surface of the jade slip was covered in cracks; it didn't even have a label.

He casually wiped off the dust on his clothes.

The holographic projection screen flickered twice, and a few lines of text popped up:

"Nine Layers of Soul Locking" (Fragment).

[Introduction: Activates the brain region and forcibly opens up Psychic Power. Severely incomplete; missing the core qi-guiding method. Forced cultivation will lead to the collapse of the spiritual sea and brain death. Classified as scrap; possesses no collection value.]

"Nine Layers of Soul Locking," Li Zhengyang read aloud.

The attendant following behind saw what it was and lunged forward to snatch it.

"Minister Li, put it down! You can't touch that!"

Li Zhengyang dodged to the side, avoiding the man's hand.

"Why can't I touch it?"

"That thing is a deadly trap!"

The attendant was so anxious he was jumping up and down, pointing at the corner. "It was dug out from ancient ruins decades ago. Back then, a few people didn't believe it and insisted on training with it. As soon as they started operating the first layer, they all went insane! There wasn't even a chance for rescue; they suffered brain death on the spot!"

The attendant wheezed, continuing to persuade him. "Ever since then, this thing has been tossed into the scrap section to gather dust."

Activate the brain region and forcibly open up Psychic Power?

Does this mean that as long as one learns it, one can become a Psychokineticist?

A brilliant light ignited in Li Zhengyang's eyes.

Psychic attacks have many methods and a wide range.

Not only can it control weapons to carry out large-scale slaughter, but it can also directly attack the enemy's spirit, perfectly matching his needs.

"I want this one." Li Zhengyang gripped the jade slip in his palm.

"No, what are you even thinking? It's missing the core method; there's no way to train with it!"

Li Zhengyang didn't respond.

In his mind, a notification sound rang out.

[Detected incomplete psychic method "Nine Layers of Soul Locking"; system can deduce and complete it!]

[Completion target: SSS-rank Great Perfection (No-side-effect version)]

[Deduction cost: Ten billion great xia currency!]

One hundred.

Hearing this price, Li Zhengyang was happy at first, then his movements stiffened.

He glanced at the account balance on his tactical watch.

Previously, to level up three times and break into the Seventh-Rank Martial Venerable realm, he had dumped all twenty billion great xia currency into the system.

Ten billion wasn't expensive, but unfortunately, he didn't have enough money in his pocket now.

[Ding! Detected that the host's current account balance is insufficient.]

[System provides an alternative plan.]

[Detected a large amount of high-value spiritual items (pills, spiritual ores) in the current environment.]

[The host can activate the equivalent recovery function; the system will automatically absorb ten billion worth of items nearby for this deduction and completion. Do you agree?]

Li Zhengyang stood still.

He turned his head, his gaze sweeping across the vast core treasury.

On the left were small mountains of high-grade pills, and on the right were neatly arranged raw spiritual ores.

If he pointed at any shelf, the items on it were worth at least ten million.

The Great Elder had said personally: "You may choose one item from the entire collection! Whichever one you fancy, take it for free!"

Choose one item.

This broken jade slip is one item.

It fits the rules.

As for the system "borrowing" some pills to complete the technique, that's what the system did; what does that have to do with him, Li Zhengyang?

Li Zhengyang turned his face to look at the sweating attendant in front of him, a wicked smile on his face.

"Alright, this is it." Li Zhengyang shook the jade slip. "The Great Elder said one item is free; taking this one is within the rules, right?"

The attendant looked at this stubborn, unmovable "living deity" and slumped his shoulders powerlessly.

"It's within the rules... but you are truly wasting a heavenly treasure."

"Good, that's all I need to hear." Li Zhengyang gripped the jade slip and issued the command directly in his mind.

"System, activate equivalent recovery! Deduce immediately!"

[Command received, equivalent recovery activated!]

[Scanning surrounding item values... Locking onto the high-grade pill section!]

The moment the command was issued, an invisible suction force emerged from thin air around Li Zhengyang.

"Click!"

Five meters to the left, a jade box filled with 'Great Restoration Pills' shattered directly.

A dozen priceless pills inside turned into streaks of light in mid-air and vanished into thin air.

[Recovered Great Restoration Pills, calculated value: 200 million great xia currency]

The attendant had just turned to lead the way when he heard the crisp sound and spun around sharply.

He looked at the empty base, question marks popping up on his forehead. "The dust-proof box exploded on its own? Where are the pills?"

Before he could step over to check.

"Click!"

"Bang! Bang! Bang!"

A series of bursting sounds exploded in succession in the pill section.

The 'Purple Gold Creation Pills' in bottles, the 'Nine Flower Jade Dew Pills' on jade plates, and even the 'Ice Soul Spirit-Condensing Pills' stored in heat-preservation formations...

Those top-tier pills priced at tens of millions or even hundreds of millions.

Right in front of the attendant, they turned into streaks of light and vanished into the air.

[Recovered Purple Gold Creation Pills, calculated value: 100 million great xia currency.]

[Recovered Ice Soul Spirit-Condensing Pills, calculated value: 200 million great xia currency.]

[Recovered...]

"Alarm! Alarm! Abnormal loss of inventory in the treasury!"

The attendant's legs went weak, and he collapsed onto the floor, tearing the walkie-talkie from his waist.

"What the hell! Someone come quickly! The pills have grown legs and run away!"

Li Zhengyang stood in place with his eyes closed, his Psychic Power constructing itself within his brain region.

The ten-billion quota was met in the blink of an eye.

[Material recovery complete.]

["Nine Layers of Soul Locking" deduction started!]

Outside the main gate.

Great Elder Lu Anguo and Lei Qian were rushing toward the treasury gate at full speed.